gair rhydd - Issue 949

gair rhydd PHOTOS: Jake Yorath & Harry Sutton

Monday April 04 2011 | freeword – Est. 1972 | Issue 949

Varsity victory Ben Price News Editor Cardiff University retained the Varsity shield, beating a competitive Swansea University in a full day of high quality sporting action.

The 15th anniversary of the Varsity event kicked off at 9.30am with Badminton at the Institue of Sport in Pontcanna. This venue would play host to the majority of the day’s sporting action, before the eagerly anticipated finale at the Millenium Stadium.

A wet start to the day did not prevent a large number of Cardiff

and Swansea fans from turning out early on to follow the day’s competition.

Travelling Swansea supporters seemed to outnumber those of the home team, however, there was an equal number of fans from either University in attendance at the Millenium Stadium for the First Team rugby match.

This year saw a record turn-out for the rugby’s evening kick-off, with 14, 789 in attendance.

Despite victory for Swansea in the rugby, which saw Cardiff ’s adversaries lifting the Varsity rugby trophy, Team Cardiff won enough

events overall to put their name on the Varsity shield once again.

The rugby match at the stadium was broadcast live by S4C, which drew an overall viewing audience of 134,000, with a peak audience at any one moment of 70,000.

The day, in its entirety, was viewed as a success, however, it was not without its teething problems.

Certain events, in particular those played outdoors, suffered a few issues regarding crowd control.

This problem was most noticable in the First Team Football match.

The game was stopped by the

match officials on more than one occassion as both sets of fans encroached on the touchline, consequently preventing the linesman from running the line effectively.

The situation worsened at the end of the game as fans ran on to the pitch and surrounded the penalty box as both teams prepared for a penalty shoot-out.

Police, present at the game, were unable to move the crowd back to the touchline, which meant that players had to take penalties in a very unnsatisfactory manner.

Cardiff University’s Football Club captain, Lloyd Jenkins, said:

“As a club we are very unhappy with the organisation of the match in terms of safety, and we feel really disappointed given the extreme provisions for the rugby, while the second most popular sporting event can’t even get a barrier.

“The penalty shoot out was a farce. The referee, police and stewards all wanted to abandon the game, so we just spoke to the opposition and mutually agreed to take penalties, but it was only for us to get a result, as officially the game was a draw.”

Continued on page 3

02News

gr EDITOR Sarah Powell

CO-ORDINATOR Elaine Morgan DEPUTY EDITOR Dom Kehat SUB-EDITORS 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 SOCIETIES Bianca London SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT Tom Clarke Jack Parker SPORT Alex Bywater Lucy Morgan Alex Winter CONTRIBUTORS Joanne Southerd Jenny Lambourne Laura Amey Chris Andrews Catriona Camacho Asha Verma Jamie Evans Darren Wong Laura Evans Beth Crandon Millie Flint Bethan Cable Alex Calvin Hugh Rodger Edmund Schluessel PROOFREADERS Joanne Southerd Emily Kneale Catriona Camacho Steph Pugh Laura Evans Bethan Cable Amy Offord

Monday April 04 2011 • gair rhydd • news@gairrhydd.com

Pharmacy students walk for Kidney Wales Foundation Hannah Pendleton News Editor The Welsh Pharmaceutical Students Association (WPSA) took part in the Walk for Life on March 27, in a bid to raise money for the Kidney Wales Foundation.

The WPSA selected the Kidney Wales Foundation as their chosen charity to fundraise for this year, aiming to raise money which will help make a difference to the lives of people in Wales who are suffering from renal conditions.

The Walk for Life which took place in Bute Park, has been their most successful fundraising event so far, with 35 Pharmacy students taking part. They were joined by many other Kidney Wales supporters, including Leigh Halfpenny and other local celebrities.

Bethan Copp, WPSA's Chairperson stated: "I'd like to say a huge thank you to all Pharmacy students who were involved for making the day such a success. Everyone had a lot of fun, and we raised an incredible sum in the process.

"Renal failure is something that we will inevitably encounter during our careers as pharmacists.

"We want to do all we can to improve the lives of those suffering from Kidney problems all over Wales".

The total money raised so far has now reached just over £1000 with the Walk for Life raising £770.

The fundraising all began on St David's Day when a Welsh themed social was organised. Since, there has been a pub quiz and a pub crawl.

Kavita Datar, a third year Pharmacy student, said: "It was a really enjoyable morning, and a great chance to actually meet the people that our money makes a difference to."

Photos: Hayley Gorton

In this week's gair rhydd...

Results

Ethical EU Bullying Flawless Investors award

Civil service

World

Strike Fairtrade Syria Varsity

Downloading

Hope

Hollyoaks Fukushima Science

Rugby Heartbreak Nuclear Corruption Innocence Varsity Middle East Pension strike

News03

Monday April 04 2011 • gair rhydd • news@gairrhydd.com

Champions: gair rhydd takes a look at another successful year Continued from front A similar situation occurred at the Fresher's rugby match, where police were called in to move back the Swansea followers that were encroaching on to the field.

It would seem that the central location of this year's event seemed to attract more spectators than previous years, therefore increasing the difficulty of crowd control around pitches where only a piece of rope seperated the fans from the field of play.

However, this issue did not seem to affect the overall organisation of this year's event.

Describing the success of Varsity 2011, AU President, Jack Perkins told gair rhydd : "It was a was fantastic occassion. There was a great atmosphere at all the sporting events throughout the day.

"To have the rugby at the Millenium Stadium was amazing and the whole experience was memorable for all involved.

"The great shame now is that we have to wait another year for the next Varsity, but hopefully it will be just as unforgetable as this year.

"Congratulations to all this year's competitors, and well done to Team Cardiff for retaining the Varsity Shield."

Photos: Harry Sutton and Ellie Barmpagianni

For the full match reports and analysis turn to Sport, page 30

freewords EDITORIAL est.1972 Morgan Applegarth News Editor In my time here at Cardiff, I have been fortunate enough to enjoy two Varsity competitions held in the Welsh capital.

Spectating the different sporting events, soaking up the competitive atmosphere and enjoying the artistry of the Cardiff fans' chanting, Varsity is an event in the student calendar that should be cherished.

Having experienced the main event at the Millennium Stadium this year, I believe that there is no better way to cap off the annual competition.

While there has been some criticism toward the vast emptiness of the stadium, I feel that it is the perfect venue for the finale to be held.

After all, it provides a unique opporunity for the two teams to grace the grass of what will no doubt become one of rugby's most historic stadiums.

As Martyn Fowler pointed out, if Varsity is to continue to grow, the event needs to be held at such a stadium that draws the crowds in and heightens the standard of play.

This year's match merely underlined this notion.

Varsity 2011 in numbers

134,000

No. people who tuned-in to S4C's coverage of the Men's rugby match

10

The total no. of times Cardiff have won the Varsity Shield

121

goals scored throughout the day

A Welsh Varsity record of

18

Cardiff Shield Event victories this year

30

The total no. of different sport events

14,789

in attendance at the Millennium Stadium

49

pts

The biggest winning margin Ladies Rugby

3

The total no. of streakers throughout the day

04News

Monday April 04 2011 • gair rhydd • news@gairrhydd.com

Thousands march against cuts Edmund Schluessel recalls his experience at the 'March for the Alternative' protest last week I left Cardiff around 5:30am to go to London, travelling on a coach filled with teachers supplied by the teachers' union NASUWT. This coach was just one of hundreds on the way from Wales, where trade unions have a long and solid tradition.

I travelled with two Cardiff Uni graduates, Sarah Rose and Kay Short; the lack of CUSU-arranged transport has made everything piecemeal and the Cardiff University delegation is scattered across a dozen coaches put on by others.

Both Sarah and Kay received good degrees from Cardiff Uni, in archaeology and zoology respectively, and have been unable to find full-time jobs of any kind since then.

Both are currently job seekers.

Sarah is already working unpaid and both have been applying for as many jobs as they can find without any luck.

Government-proposed cuts to benefits will make life increasingly harder; there are after all, far fewer jobs than there are jobseekers with nearly one million unemployed

youth in the UK. If the UK government can find billions of pounds to bail out foreign banks; billions to bomb Libya, why can't they scrounge a few pounds just to continue the services already on offer?

The march looks enormous as we arrive around 10:30 and there's a crush in Victoria Embankment.

Already there's lots of noise as public sector union Unison has been handing out vuvuzelas. It makes it hard to talk to other marchers about how they feel.

The spirit is high but there's still no conversation. Attempts by many demonstrators to get chants going ("no ifs, no buts, no public sector cuts!") are easily drowned out by the plastic horns, drum bands, and other sources of noise various unions have arranged. I wonder if this is deliberate?

The biggest unions have a fixation with the Left "hijacking" demonstrations, and they may well prefer omitting any message. We're moving fast for a march, and I can see why, as I get updates over Twitter. There are so many marchers;

the number 450,000 is circulated.

We form a continuous line from the starting point at Victoria Embankment to its end in Hyde Park.

We're only delayed once, as we go up Whitehall (where I was kettled along with other Cardiff students on the December 9 2010 demonstration against fees) and through Trafalgar Square.

We arrive in Hyde Park and see row after row of political party tents, stands and newspaper vendors. Here there's a split: many of the marchers are continuing on to the official, Trade Unions Councilarranged platform, where Ed Milliband is speaking. We make our way to the alternative platform at Speaker's Corner, where militant trade unionists have arranged an alternative platform.

As we pass the official platform, I hear light jazz being played from a brass band (is 'Ain't Misbehavin' really the best music for a mass demonstration?). Then actor Tony Robinson (Time Team, Baldrick from Blackadder) takes the stage and talks about how the government-proposed cuts would hurt

the actors' union, Equity. The sad fact is, though, that the opposition Labour party proposed the same size cuts in its manifesto as the Lib Dems and the Conservatives, just on a slightly different time scale.

As Ed Miliband takes the stage thousands are still streaming in to the official platform 'listening area', but others are streaming out just as fast.

At the alternative platform Rob Williams, a Welsh trade unionist, is emceeing a rotation of educators, left-wing councillors, and shop stewards, many of whom are putting forward.

The message we heard from the more militant trade unions nationally, many, such as the civil servants' PCS, the rail workers' RMT and the lecturers' UCU, are making calls for unions to coordinate strike action against the cuts, building up to a general strike, where every worker in the UK would down tools and the country would grind to a halt in protest.

It hasn't happened in the UK since 1926, but the mood is definitely turning.

The platform is opened to the general public and Sarah takes the stage and speaks extemporaneously, about the cutbacks, about looking for work, about her fears for the future.

On the trip home I talk to some of the teachers who provided a ride. Many are lifelong trade unionists, but just as many have never been on any kind of demonstration before.

They don't have a particular party-political bent, nor are they the 'usual crowd' of people who are out protesting every week, but they want to do something, both for themselves and for their students.

Today's march has been the biggest since the 2003 demonstration against the Iraq War, a demo for which there was no follow-up - and the war went on.

Will the Trade Unions Council put out the call for a general strike?

Will the individual trade unions arrange one on their own? A s we travel west on the M4 the loudest question remains unanswered: now what?

Cardiff Law School hold Innocence Week Hugh Roger Reporter Last week Cardiff Law School held a week of events aiming to raise public awareness about miscarriages of justice.

Innocence Week, organised by law students involved in Cardiff ’s Pro Bono Scheme, provided members of the public the chance to participate in events where they could learn more about the Criminal Appeal System, and explore the difficulties faced by people wrongly convicted of serious crimes.

On Tuesday March 22, the Cardiff Law School hosted The Nettie Hewins Story, a play based on the ‘Merthyr Three’, an infamous case of miscarriage of justice in Wales.

On Thursday March 31, a ‘Question Time’ style discussion was held with Michael O’Brien of the Cardiff Newsagent Three, who survived a miscarriage of justice. The panel also saw human rights activist and honorary Professor of Cardiff Law School, John Cooper QC, Ewen Smith, the Criminal Cases Review Commissioner and solicitor Glyn Maddocks.

The Innocence Project was founded in 2005 by the Cardiff Law School and aims to raise awareness about the cases and important problems of miscarriages of justice.

The scheme offers students the chance to work on real cases while supervised by professional lawyers.

Cases are reviewed for serious criminal convictions where prisoners have maintained their innocence plea.

Dr Dennis Eady, Chair of South Wales against Wrongful Conviction said: “Students from the Cardiff Law School Innocence Project are

providing valuable help to South Wales against Wrongful Conviction.

Innocence Week reflects their concern about this sad and disturbing issue and their determination to try to do something about it. Their efforts are much appreciated.”

Organiser Julie Price said: “Our Innocence Project students wanted to hold an Innocence Week to raise awareness of the problem of the wrongful conviction of innocent people.

"They have produced a booklet of letters from our prisoner clients, which sends a hard-hitting message

about the effects upon victims and families.

"I hope people will support our events, and will look at our Cardiff Case Watch website to see the progress our students are making for clients maintaining innocence."

In 2010, Cardiff Law School submitted six cases for review to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

The progress of ‘The Cardiff Six’ cases can be viewed at: www. law.cf.uk/probono/innocence/casewatch

News05

Monday April 04 2011 • gair rhydd • news@gairrhydd.com

Flawless dancers donate £25,000 to University

British dance troupe donate thousands of pounds to University's breast cancer research on behalf of Hallmark's Cards for a Cure™ campaign Miranda Atty News Editor

different ways the body destroys breast cancer cells in order to find out which is the most effective.

British dance troupe Flawless donated £25,000 to Cardiff University on March 19 on behalf of Hallmark Cards. The donation will go towards the University’s breast cancer research project.

Flawless, the street-dancing group who were first discovered on Britain’s Got Talent, presented the donation to Cardiff as part of Hallmark’s annual Cards for a Cure™ campaign for Mother’s Day 2011.

“

“

This is a very significant sum of money

Dr Richard Clarkson and his researcher Syn Kok Yeo, from the University’s School of Biosciences, received the donation from Flawless at St David’s Hall after the dance troupe finished their award-winning show Chase The Dream.

The breast cancer research project will focus on discovering the

Learning more about cell death will help us to better understand how breast cancer develops

Dr Clarkson said of the donation: “This is a very significant sum of money and we are extremely grateful to Hallmark Cards for continuing to support Breast Cancer Campaign, which in turn benefits the essential work that we do.

“This project will look at different types of cell destruction mechanisms in breast cancer cells to determine which are most likely to lead to faster-growing, more aggressive forms of breast cancer.

“Learning more about cell death in the breast will help us to better understand how breast cancer develops. This vital information will

help scientists design new breast cancer treatments and look at new ways of treating the disease.”

Marlon “Swoosh” Wallen from Flawless said: “It is a real honour to be involved in such a worthwhile campaign and to lend our support to this fantastic research at the university. "£25,000 is a massive sum of money and we’re sure it will go a long way towards funding research around the disease.”

“

Above and below: Flawless donate to Cardiff University

For Flawless, our mums have always been a huge influence

Marlon continued: “Most of us know someone who has been affected by breast cancer and for Flawless, our mums have always been a huge influence on our lives, so linking this campaign in to Mother's Day is a great way to raise money and awareness for this very worthy charity.”

Pension strike round two Architecture Cardiff University lecturers joined a national pension strike on Thursday March 24. Members of the University and College Union (UCU) from across Wales gathered in the capital city to protest against changes to pensions and pay.

Strike action took place across the whole of the UK, with some 500 universities and colleges involved.

In Cardiff a small group of UCU members gathered outside the University’s Main Building at 8am to create a picket line. By lunchtime, roughly 200 people had accumulated outside the Senedd in Cardiff Bay, in what was the second strike from the Cardiff branch of UCU. It is thought that major funding

cuts to higher education may result in changes that could cost a member of staff under 55 years of age as much as £150,000 over the course of their retirement.

UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt commented on the strikes: “University and college staff really value their pension rights and have made their views of the detrimental changes crystal clear.

Strike action is always a last resort but the attacks on pensions and pay have created real anger. Staff are sick to the back teeth of being told that their pay and pensions need to be cut to pay for an economic crisis created by others.”

There has been some anger among students about the cancelled lectures that have resulted from the strike. While some of the cancelled

lectures might be in the process of rescheduling, this certainly does not apply to all cases. A firstyear Optometry student told gair rhydd, "One of my lecturers has said that they will put a powerpoint presentation on Learning Central, but it’s just not enough considering the amount we pay for tuition."

A student from the Humanities department said that they had received an email two days in advance, to say that a lecture would be cancelled: “This didn’t bother me in the slightest.

"However, when I turned up at a seminar to find that the tutor had cancelled it without warning, I was furious. I may as well have stayed in bed".

professor stars in reality show Miranda Atty News Editor Professor Richard Weston, from the Welsh School of Architecture, has found fame in a BBC reality show focusing on finding Britain’s next top designer.

The seven-part series, called Britain’s Next Best Thing, follows a group of amateur designers and their attempts to impress wellknown high street chains like Liberty’s, Boots and Habitat.

“

Britain's Next Best Thing follows a group of amateur designers

PHOTO: Chris Griffiths

Joanne Southerd Reporter

The show, which will air in April, sees Professor Weston and his scarf designs compete alongside 750 other hopeful designers and their creations at Liberty’s Best of British Design Open Call.

The potential designers have to perform pitches to Liberty’s store buyers in the hope of getting their work featured.

Professor Weston, whose work involves using high-resolution scans

of naturally occurring minerals and fossils within his designs, has seen huge success as a result of the show, with his work now featuring alongside famous designers such as Alexander McQueen in Liberty’s London store.

“

Professor Weston's work now features alongside famous designers

Professor Weston gave a public lecture entitled Transformations: Minerals, Digital Manufacturing and Architecture on Wednesday March 30 2011 in Cardiff University’s Bute Building.

He discussed his experience in using natural materials in order to create digitally manufactured products for architecture and design.

Professor Weston said of his appearance on the show: “Liberty’s, with its roots in the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau, is where I always thought my scarves belonged. Having the process of making them filmed from start to finish was a complete delight – and will hopefully lead to a buying frenzy.”

06News

Monday April 04 2011 • gair rhydd • news@gairrhydd.com

Cardiff University female academics face £10k pay gap Laura Evans Reporter According to figures commissioned by the Times Higher Education, a pay gap of up to £10,000 exists between women and men in full-time academic posts at Cardiff University.

Statistics from 2009 to 2010 showed that on average women were paid £42,540 while men in similar posts earned around £52,754.

Other universities in the Cardiff and South Glamorgan area recorded smaller pay gaps.

Audit figures showed the professorial gap was less than five percent.

Margaret Phelan, Wales Official for the UCU said: "If the difference in pay is below four percent, I’m not going to be looking at it forensically.

But when it goes above four percent, then I want some answers."

A University spokesperson

stated: "The University takes its responsibilities on equal pay very seriously. This means ensuring equal payment for equal work done at an equivalent level.

"For this reason the overall figures in the Times Higher do not reveal any useful information.

“

The University takes it's responsibilities on equal pay very seriously

"They are simply averages of salaries paid at different levels of academic posts.

"Currently, Cardiff is following guidance from the Equalities and Human Right Commission, which suggests that any gaps of more than five percent should be investigated further.

"The University is presently auditing all pay grades to check for any such gaps and will publish the results after consultation with the unions."

The spokesperson continued: "Cardiff University works to encourage the development of all academic staff and is strongly committed to supporting women in achieving senior academic roles".

In the past three years, it has been noticed that 82% of female applications for promotion to Professor at Cardiff have been successful as opposed to 72% of male applications.

The University has also been recognised in the National Athena Swan Awards for recruiting, retaining and promoting women in science, engineering and technology.

Cardiff is also an active participant in the Welsh Universities Mentoring Scheme, which supports careers development for female academics.

Cardiff's staff support recieves national award Bethan Cable Reporter Cardiff University has become the first of the twenty elite Russell Group universities to win the Investors in People accreditation.

The nationally-recognised award, which assesses universities’ dedication to both specific initiatives (such as support for female academics in ‘stem’ – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – subjects) and to supporting staff more widely across the academic spectrum, is considered to be a serious feather in Cardiff ’s cap.

The National Assembly’s Deputy Minister for Science, Innovation and Skills, Lesley Griffiths AM, personally congratulated the University on receiving the award.

She said: “People are the greatest asset of any organisation and gaining IiP status recognises a major investment by organisations and businesses in the skills and capa-

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bilities of their staff.”

The assessment was carried out in three phrases between June 2010 and January 2011, and many of the University’s 6000 staff members were interviewed.

Excellence in teamwork and communications was highlighted,while the need for continued improvement was mentioned in areas such as the leadership and management network.

It was recommended that the University take steps to build a consistent, University-wide approach to supporting staff.

Cardiff University's Vice-Chancellor, Dr David Grant, commented: “The Investors in People recognition is an important achievement, but it is a milestone on a journey.

"Our assessors recognised many examples of good practice but we can do more to share and embed these practices across the whole University.”

World News Homing 07

Spiderman's success Asha Verma Reporter French climber Alain Robert, known as “Spiderman”, has achieved success as he took just over six hours to climb the tallest skyscraper in the World – the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai The fearless forty-eight-year-old has previously scaled the heights of famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building and Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers.

Robert took on his biggest challenge yet with the Burj Khalifa, standing at 2,717 feet tall.

Unlike many of his previous climbs, Robert was forced to use safety equipment to comply with the rules of the emirate state.

However, his daredevil tendencies were revealed by reports, which discovered that he did not use a rope to pull himself up and instead found foot holes wherever possible on the glass and metal structure.

With the final stages of his climb falling into the night, he was aided by floodlight as he hung from the top of the skyscraper.

Ostrich Miranda Atty News Editor An ostrich that was stolen from a Romanian farm by bird rustlers managed to escape her captors to run all the way home. The ostrich navigated her way back to a farm in Pitesti, to the delight of her owner Florin Diaconescu.

Ostriches are known for their ability to run at high speeds, and this particular bird ran home at a speed of 40mph. Her owner said: “I saw this cloud of dust heading towards the farm and she came running into the yard as fast as her legs would carry her.'

Flushed away

Catriona Camacho Reporter An eight-year-old girl from Hanover, Germany lifted the lid on the family toilet to find a seven-foot snake staring back at her.

Police were called, contacting animal rescue – though not before managing to photograph the Boa constrictor. However, before animal rescue could capture the snake, it had disappeared down the U-bend.

The animal rescue department believe that it was a pet that an owner had tried to flush away once it grew too big for the house, com-

menting: "People buy these snakes when they are young and they grow very large very quickly and scare the life out of their owners who try to flush them down the lavatory.”

They believe that the snake was using the sewage system to move around looking for food, though a subsequent search for it proved fruitless.

Hitler house Penpal Fat Ho Burgers Chris Andrews Reporter The elderly owner of an end-of-terrace house in Swansea has become the brunt of a viral joke after her home has been said to bear resemblance to Hitler.

Thousands upon thousands of people have viewed or circulated the link of a photograph after it emerged on social-networking website Twitter.

The image shows the front of the house in Port Tenant, Swansea, which has a slanted roof that resembles the World War II dictator’s fringe. In addition, the top of the front door is said to be the mous-

tache and the top two windows are said to be his eyes.

The original tweet was posted by 22-year-old Charli Dickenson, who said: "I walk past the house all the time, but it wasn’t until the other day that I noticed it looked like Hitler."

Morgan Applegarth News Editor

Laura Amey Reporter

A 29-year-old male from Germany has received a response from a message in a bottle that he sent 24 years ago.

Thirteen-year-old Daniil Korotkikh, from Russia, found the bottle washed up on the beach.

The message read: “My name is Frank, and I’m five-years-old. My dad and I are travelling on a ship to Denmark. If you find this letter, please write back to me, and I will write back to you.”

The letter, dated 1987, was replied to by Daniil and his family and sent to the listed address, where fortunately, the sender still resides.

A Texan entrepreneur has achieved a memorable name for her new business.

Owner Lakita Evans has opened a fast-food outlet in the city of Waco, south of Dallas, ‘Fat Ho Burgers’, causing concern amongst at least one other local establishment.

The 23-year-old claims that she ‘did not mean to cause offence.’

However, she has done so in the eyes of Pastor Marsha Martie, voluntary worker at the neighbouring Gospel Cafe, who said: “[It] would’ve been nice to think a little more sensitively.”

Despite the criticism, Fat Ho

Burgers, which offers dishes such as ‘Super Fly Ho with Cheese’ and ‘Sloppy Ho Brisket’, has reportedly been inundated with customers.

Opinion08

Hollyoaks storyline opens up debate

Statistics are from a study conducted by the Fawcett Society Photos: Jacqui McQueen and Gilly Roach, characters in Hollyoaks

Approx.

6% of rape cases are convicted

Holly Howe Opinion Editor Hollyoaks may not be the first thing you think of when it comes to progressive and thoughtful television, but the long-running teen soap's mix of beautiful people and Public Service Announcement-style storylines has been a successful combination.

Hollyoaks has covered storylines on everything from drug addiction to transgendered living, and from domestic violence to male-on-male rape. The makers of the soap are obviously keen to fulfil it's diversity quota, with characters of different sexualities, races, disabilities, and family set ups. Arguably, the only thing that you won't see on Hollyoaks is unattractive people.

I stopped watching Hollyoaks a while ago, but a recent storyline has caught my attention. The soap's latest controversial storyline involves two of the longest-standing and most popular characters, Jacqui McQueen and Gilly Roach. Gilly has been accused of rape by Jacqui, after the two characters were seen going into a bedroom together. The viewers are not shown what happened. Hollyoaks, and other UK

30% of people say a woman is partially to blame for her own rape

soaps, have covered rape storylines numerous times before, yet this storyline is different.

Not only are the viewers not shown what actually happened, and the incident occurs between two friends, but a 'real-life' jury of viewers are going to decide the outcome of the case. Makers of Hollyoaks say that they want to open up a public debate about consent, yet criticisms of the show have suggested that adding a jury made up of viewers is turing a sensitive issue into a tacky personality contest between the two characters.

Hollyoaks does have the means to open up debate between young people. It has a large and dedicated audience of teenagers who will often become aware of some issues though television programmes and magazines, rather than through personal experience. The breadth of issues that the soap covers is certainly going to raise awareness for some people who have never considered such issues before.

The issue of consent is definitely an important one; statistics suggest that in up to 85% of rape crimes the suspect was known to the victim, and that around 30% of the time the rape is committed by the partner of the victim. Furthermore, a recent

85.7%

In of recorded rape crimes the suspect was known to the victim

“

Rape is never an accident that happens because you aren't being careful enough

1 in 4 women experience sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime study by Finch and Munroe found that 49.3% of rape cases reported to the police involved drugs and/or alcohol and that "jurors often take the view that it is 'reasonable' for a man to assume that silence represents sexual consent, even if the silence was due to the fact that the woman was totally intoxicated. Even in situations where the alcohol consumption was involuntary, jurors continue to hold the complainant responsible".

There is a horrible culture of victim blaming in our society, with both men and women believing that a victim of rape is to blame in at least some cases. There is a school of thought that thinks that if the victim got too drunk, or was wearing a short skirt, or walking home alone at night, then they are somehow to blame for their own assault.

Let me make one thing clear, the victim is NEVER to blame for their own rape. Rape is never an accident that happens because you aren't being careful enough, it is a choice made by one person (or people) to violate and abuse another person.

When rape isn't clear-cut, people are less quick to judge the suspect as guilty. It is said that "the only crime in which the victim has to prove their innocence is rape".

7595% of rapes are never Between

reported to the police

The recent film, Observe and Report starring Seth Rogan, had a scene in which a female character (who is so intoxicated that she has passed out) is raped. Yet this is meant to be a comic scene in which the notion of rape is never brought up. It is meant to be amusing that the female character is so drunk that she can't consent to sex. This casual attitude to consent exemplifies how our culture views instances of rape that are not a direct attack, or which are committed by a friend or partner.

The recent Hollyoaks storyline is important simply because of the debate it can inspire among young people, who have maybe never thought about rape as anything other than an attack by a stranger on a dark night.

The issue of consent is a vital one and one that should never be ignored. This article is going to print before the outcome of the trial will be revealed, but I can make a guess that Gilly will be found innocent simply because Jacqui was too drunk to say no and she went into the bedroom with him. For many people, this is enough to imply consent; for others, it results in the trauma of rape.

Opinion09

Monday April 04 2011 • gair rhydd • opinion@gairrhydd.com

Corruption in the EU Hugh Rodger Opinion Writer

Corruption allegations were rife in the EU once again last week as the European Parliament began an investigation after a fourth Member of European Parliament (MEP) was caught in a “cash for laws” scandal exposed by the Sunday Times, accepting bribes to change legislation.

Four MEPs were exposed after an undercover group of journalists from the Sunday Times posed as lobbyists from a fake company known as Taylor Jones Public Affairs set up by the paper. The journalists tried to meet 60 MEPs, and of the 60, 14 agreed to meet them.

The MEPs were offered money by the ‘lobbyists’ to push through two amendments to change legislation on banking aimed at protecting millions of consumers across Britain and Europe. Ernst Strausser, an Austrian MEP, and Slovenian MEP Zoran Thaler resigned from parliament after they were exposed by the undercover journalists last week. The third MEP has left his party, but has not yet resigned.

One week later, a fourth MEP was caught up in the scandal.

Spanish MEP Pablo Zalba agreed to amend draft legislation on consumer protection at the undercover journalists’ requests, despite refusing to accept any money. Claiming he was the victim of a “trap” and “deceived” by the journalists, Zalba attempted to justify his actions by decrying the journalists’ “lack of

morals” and that he wasn’t paid despite the fake lobbyists insisting he would be during negotiations. This may be true, but this does not make for an apology.

The Sunday Times released a video of Zalba secretly being filmed

by one of the journalists.

In the video, he agrees to sign the second contract after rejecting the first. He also negotiates the offer of a consultant position at £100,000 a year, agreeing on the condition that he would not have to run for

election. Later he is seen meeting with the ‘lobbyists’ again in the European Parliament members' bar, stating that he had submitted the amendment.

European Parliament rules state that MEPs must “refrain from ac-

cepting any gift or benefit in the performance of their duties. The Sunday Times may be considered to have a Eurosceptic agenda under Murdoch’s ownership, but this brings into question why these MEPs thought it was acceptable to engage in such evident misconduct, especially one that shows such contempt to voters.

Naivety is not a sufficient excuse.

The EU anti-fraud office, OLAF, has been denied entry into the European Parliament to investigate the cases. OLAF said: “Clearly this is an alleged breach of rules within the EU institutions so if it’s not a case for OLAF why do we have a mandate to investigate EU staff and members of the institutions?”

Not only must the problem be properly investigated, but many are suggesting that the lobbying register used in the European Parliament and European Commission be made mandatory. Currently, signing on to the register is only voluntary. While the undercover journalists used this flaw to help expose the MEPs, real lobbyists and MEPs engaging in suspicious behaviour could be properly punished.

Faith in the European Parliamentary system is low. Corruption damages faith in the system and democracy. Spain’s Popular Party, Pablo Zalba’s party, have allegedly leant him their support despite the scandal. If Pablo Zalba refuses to quit like the other exposed MEPs, he risks not only further harming his integrity but also damaging what little trust many people have in EU politicians.

Parents need to deal with cyber bullying Emma Jarret Opinion Writer

“

We need to see more pressure on parents to stop cyber bullying

New plans for the Education Bill will allow teachers to take students mobile phones, and be able to read and delete whatever they deem necessary, without the students consent.

These plans are supposed to help teachers combat cyber-bullying, but the National Association of Schoolmasters/ Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), believe that these plans will just create more conflict between teachers and students and parents.While NASUWT said that the new plans will give teachers ‘disproportionate powers’, the Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, said that the plans would help send out the message that teachers authority should be respected. This brings about the larger issue of school children having mobile phones at such a young age. Should the power to deal with mobile phones be not in the teachers hands, but the parents

or the schools?

Nick Gibb also said that he believes the government should do everything they can “to protect everyone from this unacceptable behaviour.” However will giving teachers these powers really help this issue? The nature of sharing information means that just deleting it from one mobile phone, will not get rid of the information if it exists on many phones. These powers also do not stop students from bullying outside school.

Yes, those who suffer extremely bad bullying of this sort should be protected, but can teachers really do this?

As NASUWT have said, it may just cause more tension between students and parents, as is often the case if a child says a teacher is being unfair. In taking their phone, a parent is more likely to believe them than the teacher.

To me, it seems that a more effective strategy would be to educate parents about cyber bullying. As children start to enter secondary

school, parents can be informed about mobile phone bullying, and then stop their children from either having mobile phones at a young age or tell them not to have a phone in school.

Ironically, often it is the case that parents fall back on a mobile phone as a safety measure, believing that if they give their child a mobile phone, somehow it will protect them from the outside world if they can be in constant contact with them.

What Nick Gibb is apparently calling for is more discipline and order in the class room. Yet taking students mobile phones doesn’t really tackle this issue: those who are going to disrupt the classroom have managed for years without mobile phones to aid them.

So what we need to see is more pressure on parents to stop cyber bullying, or overall policies against mobile phone usage within schools.

Giving teachers a little more power in taking mobile phones will not stop bullying happening.

Opinion10

Monday April 04 2011 • gair rhydd • opinion@gairrhydd.com

"Hello everyone, my name is Generation Y, and I have downloaded music illegally”

Photos: Illegal downloading isn't just prevelant in our generation, it is extremely common

Alex Calvin Opinion Writer The controversy surrounding the downloading of music is nothing new. As early as 2001, Lars Ulrich of Metallica was suing the p2p ('Peer to Peer' sharing sites) organisation Napster for illegally sharing files.

As recent as last year, Gene Simmons of Kiss came out as saying record companies should take the money back from ‘thieves’, going as far as to say “Take their homes, their cars. Don’t let anybody cross that line”.

I am very much of the school of thought that the music industry has over-reacted. As someone who has downloaded music, I would like to justify myself. Before I, or anyone else, had the Internet and, therefore ,access to illegal file sharing sites, people shared music in person. It was nothing. Back when I was twelve, to borrow a CD from a friend, and copy it for myself

was the norm. Music is meant to be shared; since the 1980's and 90's, people would share cassettes.

Of course, if you really like a CD you hear, odds are you are going to buy it. Even if you do not, as is the case with a lot of internet downloaders, record companies have not gained any more capitalthan previously. I fail to see what has changed, except for the scale. Yes, the music industry has lost a lot of money, but you have to ask yourself, why? If they were still producing a product worth buying, people would pay for it?

The music industry is very much trying to catch up with the internet, along with the lawless and anarchic elements that it has brought along with it. The 20th Century business model, i.e. where people having to buy singles and records, has gone, and they are only just waking up to this. While they were asleep, a culture of permissive downloading began, and now is too far spread to

stop.

In America, the RIAA (the Recording Industry Association of America) estimates that record companies have spent $16 million getting 20,000 illegal downloaders into court, resulting only in a $391, 000 retrieval. To illustrate this on a bigger scale, if the music industry went after everybody who has ever downloaded illegally from a p2p network, they would spend $48 billion and recuperate only $1 billion.

This is roughly one fortieth of the ‘damages’.

Much attention has been given to the music industry attempting to close down The Pirate Bay, a hub for illegal torrent files. The website even has a section devoted to displaying the warnings and threats they receive from the record industry, showing a clear lack of fear.

This is largely, in my opinion, down to the poor quality of music these days. There is so much repackaged rubbish, that people are

growing wise to it, and want something different. People are not stupid, and they know something that is not worth buying when they see it, no matter how catchy it is. Bands such as Radiohead and the Nine Inch Nails are so bold as to put their records up online, both for free, though in the case of the former, allowing the consumer to choose a price for their music.

This is a very interesting business model. The impact of bands releasing music independent of any record company poses a massive change to the industry. But is unlikely aside from bands with big fan bases and access the promotion.

The fact people are unwilling to pay for music could very well be down to the formulation of a permissive culture, where downloading is the done thing and is seen as acceptable, or it could be down to a disillusion of the consumer at the thought of the latest mass produced, lip synced girl band. Or Justin Bieber.

Bethan Cable Opinion Writer

Last week saw Rebecca Black mocked by what seemed like the entire English-speaking internet for what has (probably justifiably) been called the worst song in history.

She’s been tweeting on Twitter for nearly a week, been interviewed on US chatshows, and acquired millions of hits on YouTube.

And she’s easy to mock, after all: there’s the terrible, trite lyrics; the cheap video; her horrible autotuned singing voice. What few people seem to be talking about, however, is her age: she’s just 13.

I know it sounds like I’m being a killjoy here, but is it really fair for millions of people to be mocking a kid who’s barely even a teenager?

Especially on the internet, a medium not exactly known for tasteful commentary: she’s been called every name under the sun and quite a few more besides.

A glance at Twitter shows that even adult celebrities, well-used to playing the fame game, find attracting the negative attention of the internet at large almost impossible to deal with – but Rebecca Black has been expected to cope.

She’s not alone, however, there’s Hollie Steel, the ten-year-old who famously cried on Britain’s Got Talent after she forgot the lyrics and incurred the mockery of viewers and the British tabloids for it: is it really a good idea to suddenly dump a ten-year-old schoolgirl into the spotlight in front of millions of spectators, when scores of adults have struggled to cope with the same pressure? No wonder she forgot her lyrics!

Rebecca Black and Hollie Steel found their fame as part of the modern culture of celebrity, determined to find fame – ideally via reality television – whatever the costs, but the child-star phenomenon itself is a long way from being new.

They are far from alone in being young and in the international spotlight, after all: just off the top of my head I can name Britney Spears, Kelly and Jack Osborne, Lindsay Lohan, Drew Barrymore, Macaulay Culkin, Judy Garland, Michael Jackson ...

The reason most movie stars and singers are adults is because younger, less-experienced people have massive difficulties handling the pressure, and the result is the catalogue of mental breakdowns, drug addictions and other epic catastrophes that tend to befall child stars as they struggle to grow up in the spotlight.

Rebecca Black may be an easy target – and she may yet have the last laugh on her critics. But just because fame this young is easy doesn’t make it a good idea.

If you want to write a piece for You Reply about any Opinion articles you have read, or have any other opinions, email opinion@gairrhydd.com.

Columnist

11

by Henry

Burton

Going out or staying in?

A

s the Spring Term comes to an end, and with summer exams just over a month away, life seems to have merged into an endless pattern of going out, staying in, and people asking me to put my clothes back on because other people in the library are starting to feel uncomfortable.

Regular nights out offer a welcome break from revision, but in many ways they’re equally stressful. Getting served is a brutal example of natural selection, and one that can see me spend up to four hours thrust against the same bar, smiling hopefully at the bar staff while repeatedly asking the price of Carling in the hope that someone will acknowledge me. I usually return to find that everyone’s taken this opportunity to leave, forcing me to try and save face by miming the receipt of several hilarious text messages, then attempting to start conversation with an attractive girl nearby. She typically responds with vibrant unenthusiasm; perfecting the look of someone who’s only realised how much they were enjoying the previous five minutes since these one started happening, and excuses herself to giggle excitedly as someone in a Spartan outfit farts and points at his biceps. This process continues to repeat itself like some kind of Greek mythological punishment, until the night finally ends as the lights are snapped on - a sentiment along the

lines of, “look how ugly you are, now get out”, and there is widespread despair as all but the drunkest new couples come to realise the flattering effects of near-total darkness.

I often wonder if going out was more exciting when we were underage. Back then, evenings were based around elaborate attempts to hide the fact that you were 15, like trying to get past in a burkha, loudly reminiscing about the Miner’s Strike, or borrowing the ID of ‘your brother’s mate from work’, a plan which might have worked had he not been bearded and Iranian. Somewhat lax door policies saw you spend your time at hotspots of culture like Liquid and Q Bar, the kind of local establishments where everyone knows your name, as long as your name is ‘Gaz’. These places resembled the waiting room for Trisha; where middle-aged men leered indiscriminately across the dance floor, women resembled the later stages of the portrait of Dorian Gray, and the closest you got to a toilet attendant was someone trying to sell you smack by the urinals. Nights here either ended at the kebab house or the GUM clinic, but either way, you were sure to go home with some form of disease-ridden tubular meat.

Of course, this will all seem like a distant memory if you’re revising for finals. Your days will be mostly spent wrestling with MWE, the world’s first computer system with Alzheimer’s, or sobbing quietly as you browse through more pages of vague learn-

“

But if we told our parents about it, the magic would be lost

ing points than the Old Testament.

Cardiff exams are always interesting, thanks to the now-annual tradition of catastrophic typing errors; trivial things like writing all the questions in Wingdings, or printing the entire exam paper in white ink. And even after this, it’s still a good six months before you’re able to trust that the results were added up correctly – until which time it’s perfectly possible to receive a letter explaining that you didn’t actually qualify as a doctor, and what’s more, most of your career will now be regarded as indecent assault.

Still, there’s no denying that a degree from Cardiff can be an important as-

set, especially if you’ve run out of loo roll; and one that’s sure to open up your future to a variety of distinguished career paths, like being a hostage, or letting people punch you in the face for money.

Still, that’s the thing about university: you have to put in the hours eventually. It's a sad reality that life can’t just be all play and no work, or you end up like Charlie Sheen - rich, successful, and having sex with several beautiful women at once... I can't remember my original point anymore.

But either way it beats having a job.

Letters To The Editor In which our readers ask a series of common questions. This week: no-one asks me about my feelings Dear Henry, I feel like I’m ugly. I’m always wearing skimpy dresses and heels like the other girls, but no matter how much lipstick or make-up I put on, the boys never seem to look at me. What am I doing wrong?

Thank you for your letter Kevin.

Sometimes it’s easy to feel like the odd one out, but everybody’s insecure about something - I’ve suffered from abandonment issues for a long time, ever since my parents sold me on eBay. The truth is, it’s

not about how you look, but the confidence you exude; just look at Justin Beiber, who’s managed to achieve global heartthrob status despite looking exactly like Squirtle, and apparently suffering from the same backwards-infancy thing that affected Benjamin Buttons.

My girlfriend of ten years left me out of the blue, and I don't know how to cope without her.

It feels like my life is over - what should I do?

Life can be unexpectedly cruel, but the only way forward is to stay posi-

tive. When mum ran off twice with an amnesiac, my dad could easily have sunk into depression - but instead of giving up, he chose to lighten the atmosphere at home by involving us in loads of silly games, like driving the family car into a river, or our personal favourite, “cut daddy down from the ceiling fan”. Regular daytrips to the adoption home helped boost everyone’s spirits, even if he did often forget to pick us up again – and we soon came to learn that as long as you're looking for it, every cloud can have a silver lining. I'm sure he'll come back home any day now.

I read an article in gair rhydd about new methods of identity fraud. Should I be concerned?

It’s a sad truth that as technology becomes more advanced, so do methods of theft. Most muggers these days now operate via chip & pin, and my girlfriend had her identity stolen online: it was later stolen offline too, and for several weeks I had to put up with a strange Nigerian man wearing her clothes, snuggling me in bed, and constantly berating me for not texting him enough. It’s important to be careful, as more and more internet

scams are starting to target gullible people - I’m yet to see any enhancement in my penis, while my uncle lost thousands after signing away his details to someone claiming to be Nationwide, then discovering it was actually the Central Bank of Ireland.

And finally: last week’s ‘spot the difference’ winner goes to June, from Cornwall, who correctly spotted that while the Queen’s hat is blue in the first picture, the picture on the right is of a masturbating bonobo eating some nuts. Well done June.

13

Politics

The Middle East looks to Syria for a new hope

In the wake of an astonishing week of unrest, James Dunn examines the new Syria

A

t the time of this article being written, Libya is still in the midst of a virtual civil war.

A number of other Arab nations have endured their own revolutions since the sweeping revolt in Tunisia. Regime changes have since been seen in Tunisia and Egypt, with a swelling discontent emerging and dissipating in Bahrain. Now, the beginnings of a revolution have made themselves clear in Syria with truly remarkable consequences.

The violence began on March 18, with unseen sectarian violence being used against protesters in Syria. According to the Human Rights Watch, 60 people have been reported dead between the initial protest and March 28. This is a remarkably low figure compared to the revolutions in both Libya and Egypt, where over 300 people died in each state within a week. Yet the set up of the Syrian Government was re-

markably similar to that of Libya: upper councils formed largely of military personnel with close ties to their president, Bashar al-Assad.

Incidentally, his father, Hafez alAssad, took power in 1971 through a bloodless coup. Colonel Gaddafi, the Libyan leader who is currently under fire both nationally and internationally, also assumed power with a coup d’etat in 1969.

The protests in Syria have, surprisingly, been on quite a low scale.

The initial protest kicked off after government officials arrested a group of teenagers for spraying anti-government graffiti. International commentators have actually expressed surprise that a country that has a Sunni majority under the rule of members of the Shi’ah faith has not revolted yet.

Unlike Gaddafi and Mubarak (the former President of Egypt), the Syrian leader has experienced a vast wave of support. On Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of people turned out to express their sup-

port for their leader. It is therefore incredible, considering this huge and recently unprecedented support, that the entire government of Syria handed in their resignation to a man whose family has been in power for 40 years.

In January of this year, President al-Assad, stated that his country would never be forced to endure the same unrest as many of the other countries in the region because he was entirely in tune with the needs of the people.

In a bid to ensure any uprisings would not be for religious differences, the trained ophthalmologist has increased economic freedom for wealthy Sunni Muslim merchants.

In 2000, he closed the Mezzeh prison and released all the political prisoners who had been charged with threatening the security of the country.

President Al-Assad is also one of the more anti-Western leaders in the world perhaps superceded only by the Iranian leader, Mahmoud

Ahmadinejad. In 2007, the country blocked a range of websites that included Amazon, Youtube, Wikipedia and Facebook. These measures have all been heralds of the revolutions in other countries in the past months. Syria is also the worst offender in the whole of the Middle East for the use of travel bans against dissidents; such a measure is against international law. People who speak against the government are simply not allowed to leave the country.

Having claimed that the country has no political prisoners, it would appear that this is al-Assad’s method of ensuring a way to punish those who speak against him and his former government.

The President has also endured a wide range of controversies in his 11 years in power.

In 2003, Syria used its position as a rotating seat on the UN Security Council in an attempt to prevent the invasion of Iraq. However, their government was accused of selling

weapons to militant groups at the same time to strike at Israel. In the aftermath of the assassination of the Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri in 2005, an international crisis was sparked when allegations surfaced that al-Assad had in fact been complicit in his death.

The most difficult thing for the international community to swallow, however, was his claim this year that he was both ‘anti-Israel’ and ‘anti-West’.

Considering how much controversy he has faced for corruption since his election, the step to accept the (allegedly) willing resignation of his entire government is astonishing. It is also a step that, hopefully, will prevent him from facing the same issues that Colonel Gaddafi is having in Libya.

This bold move could be a precedent for other nations affected by revolution to follow. If it works, it will certainly increase the pressure on Colonel Gaddafi.

14Politics

Monday April 04 2011 • gair rhydd • politics@gairrhydd.com • Follow @GairRhyddPol

Another EU proposal rejected

Oliver Smith Political Editor The UK government has once again rejected an EU proposal, this time one which suggests banning petrol and diesel cars from city centres by 2050.

In a move which UK Transport Minister, Norman Baker, described as “lacking ambition,” the EU have suggested that the best way to cut emissions by up to 60% and

reducing the dependence on oil is a blanket ban which would only allow electric vehicles to enter the capital. This all comes as part of the EU’s ‘Single European Transport Area’, an initiative to create an integrated European Transport network by 2050. In a move typical of the UK’s reaction to any new EU proposal, Mr Baker out-right rejected the proposal adding that the UK “will not be banning cars from city centres anymore than we will

be having rectangular bananas.” A reference to the myth that the EU once tried to regulate the shape of banana imports.

“

We will not be banning cars from city centres

The governments' argument against the proposals, is that an EU-

wide policy should focus on emission targets rather than the fine details of city management. Mr Baker agreed that “high-level targets for carbon reduction” were the best way to protect the environment, but added that “it is not right for them to get involved in how this is delivered in individual cities.”

For Euro-sceptics this disagreement will add further fuel to the fire that Europe is trying to further increase its influence in national

affairs, raising the issue of sovereignty in this disagreement. However, the reality of the matter is that issues of the environment and climate change are often best dealt with at the European level rather than the local level.

While the government may reject what they see as European meddling by bureaucrats in Brussels, in fact European initiatives are often the best way to deal with transnational issues.

Your European Civil Service Needs You Oliver Smith Political Editor Graduate jobs are hard to come by, but here’s a proposal for you.

A starting salary of 45,500 Euros a year in a busy continental city with direct links to London and Amsterdam, the so-called hub of political Europe. The downside? Less than 2% of candidates make it through to the second stage of interviews, and of these, only a third are eventually offered a job, giving the average candidate a 0.33% chance of a job… I wouldn’t hold your breath.

But as part of the Foreign and Commonwealth’s EU Careers Month, David Lidington MP, visited

Cardiff University last month to persuade undergraduates to consider the EU as a career choice.

While the United Kingdom makes up 12% of the European Union’s population, it only provides 6% of the EU’s civil service. This is something the Foreign Office is keen to rectify. As Mr Lidington argued, it is important so that European decisions “take into account the British system,” and furthermore what “makes the United Kingdom tick.”

The overriding message of the event was that EU careers offer a graduate opportunity like any other.

The European Union has taken simplify its application process (reducing it from the original two years to only seven months) and this public-

ity drive again reinforces the message that Brussels is a “good place to work and a good place to live.”

“

It is this 0.33% chance of a graduate job that keeps this air of elitism in place.

“Let’s re-energise British representation!” declared Mr Lidington, highlighting the advantages of the EU’s recently created External Action Service. It was initially advertised as an exciting new opportunity in consolidating the European Union’s external image. However,

the reality, clarified after the Minister had left, is that the Service currently is in its infant stages, lacking purpose, direction and graduate opportunities.

It is true that within Europe the civil servants who come from the UK have a certain prestige, and are recognised as being the very best in the EU. For today's graduate, getting to this level would be an arduous task. I see little reason why an appropriately skilled graduate would apply for an EU Career over the Civil Service Fast Stream programme, for instance, that offers equally good opportunities with lower entry requirements and more graduate places per applicant.

There may have been a room full

of undergraduates listening to Mr Lidington last month, but his comments were really only relevant to a select few candidates, those of whom would probably be better off seeking out opportunities in the private sector and big business.

The EU Civil Service does have an air of competence and quality not written about in the pages of the Daily Mail. It is this 0.33% chance of a graduate job that keeps this air of elitism in place. Ultimately while David Lidington may have presented a strong argument for greater British representation in Europe, I believe it will be a long time before the EU enters the radar of the typical university student.

Features16

How do you like

In light of 'Fairtrade Fortnight' a few weeks ago, Millie Flint investigates w Cardiff to explore Fair Trade fashion and food, she urges Cardiff Universi

S

how off your label.

This infamous phrase was the slogan for the recent Fairtrade Fortnight held across the United Kingdom.

This article explores what Fairtrade is; how Cardiff, as a city, contributes to Fairtrade; what our University is doing regarding Fairtrade and will hopefully make you think ‘How do you like your cup of tea?’

It’s important to know what the vibrant blue and green label fundamentally stands for; although slightly insipid, the facts behind Fairtrade are essential. Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade.

Conventional trade discriminates against the poorest and weakest producers. Therefore, Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world.

What does seeing a Fairtrade label indicate, other than the funky colours? The Fairtrade Mark is an independent consumer label which appears on UK products as a guarantee that they have been certified against internationally agreed Fairtrade standards.

What is Fairtrade’s ultimate vision? It is a vision of a world in which justice and sustainable development are at the heart of trade structures. A world where everyone, through their work, can maintain a decent and dignified livelihood and develop their full potential.

The number of ethical labels is growing, but Fairtrade remains unique. While other schemes aim to ‘protect the environment’ or ‘enable companies to trace their coffee’, Fairtrade’s focus is purely on helping farmers and workers improve the quality of their lives and take more control over their futures.

Who needs Fairtrade? In rural communities in Third World countries, there is little evidence of the new-found urban wealth making its way into the hands of those working on the land.

Fairtrade encompasses almost all of Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Oceania and the poorest countries in Asia. Where does that extra money spent on Fair Trade produce go? Straight back to the farmer.

You can have confidence with Fairtrade, that a minimum price has been established, defining the lowest possible price that a buyer of Fairtrade products must pay the producer.

Therefore, the producer is not cheated in any way. For how long has Fairtrade been circulating?

The concept of Fairtrade has been around for roughly 40 years. 1988 was the Launch of the first Fairtrade label.

In that year, the first Fairtrade coffee from Mexico was sold in Dutch supermarkets. At the time it was branded ‘Max Havelar,’ after a fictional Dutch character who opposed the exploitation of coffee pickers in Dutch colonies.

Initially within the UK in 2002, only 20% people were aware of Fairtrade, in 2007 this had increased to 70% of the population recognising Fairtrade.

The UK’s market is doubling in value every two years, and in 2007 reached an estimated retail value of £493 million. The UK is one of the world’s leading Fairtrade markets, with more products and more awareness of Fairtrade than anywhere else. Around 20% of roast and ground coffee, and 20% of bananas sold in the UK are now Fairtrade.

What does our city offer?

As a city, Cardiff has excelled itself in areas of Fair Trade. In 2004 it became the World’s first Fairtrade

Capital City, an achievement which was recognised by the FairTrade Foundation.

Then in 2008, Wales made history, when it became the first ever Fair Trade Nation. Gripping the ‘Cardiff Fair Trade Guide’ tightly in my hands I set out to see Cardiff ’s Fair Trade for myself.

The Guide lists over one hundred places that ‘deal’ in Fair Trade, these places range from retail, food and drink and supermarkets. I was surprised to see the infamous Starbucks and Costa Coffee were nestled among the more alternative places.

I chose Milgi, however, to look into their Fairtrade efforts.

Where does that extra money spent on Fair Trade produce go? Straight back to the farmer.

Two hundred and thirteen doors down City Road, Milgi offered me a fantastic, quirky and comfortable night. Milgi was created in 2006 with a mission to bring together food, drink, music and art under one roof, "dedicated to supporting all things local we always aim to provide you with more than a meal.’"

It was pleasing to see that as well as supporting local produce Milgi also believes in Fair Trade: "FairTrade is extremely important to Milgi. We can guarantee all our bananas, chocolate, coffee and orange juice carry the Fairtrade mark."

This concept satisfied my companion to know that her banana milkshake and banana cake were made with ethical goods and she claims this ‘made them even more

delicious!’

Milgi supported Fair Trade Fortnight by holding an arts evening in their yurt. Some friends and I took part getting messy with fabrics, paints, buttons and glue to create some bunting to help break a world bunting record and to show off ‘Bintou’s’ Cotton.

What does our University do for Fairtrade?

Whether you realise it or not, you are probably purchasing Fair Trade goods from the university as you read this. For one, all the Cardiff University hoodies are Fair Trade. Beyond the clothes, the Taf and the Kitchen do their part for Fair Trade.

During the Fair Trade fortnight the Taf and The Ethical Chef presented a Fairtrade Vegan Lunch and the Union show-cased its Fairtrade products in the Union Shop, The Kitchen and The Taf. Furthermore, the society ‘People and Planet’, this is an ethical and environmental student group, put on a selection of events for Fairtrade. This included, a ‘stitch and bitch evening,’ making Fair Trade cotton bunting to break the longest bunting record.

They organised a fashion shoot with Quench using Fair Trade clothes only. And there was a stall outside the union giving away free fair trade food in hope of raising Fairtrade awareness.

Ever wondered why the union’s cola cans are slightly different to the regular Coca-Cola? Answer: its Fair Trade cola. Why don’t we stock Nestle on campus? Answer: bad ethical practises.

To get involved with Fairtrade within the university, become involved with ‘People and Planet.’

They are currently campaigning for all university goods to be Fairtrade.

Or, if you want to help beyond the university, Jan Tucker of Fair Do’s,

believes it would be great to have active student involvement in Fair Trade Cardiff, so that the group can represent a whole range of Cardiff people.

The Fairtrade Foundation has licensed over 3,000 products from coffee, chocolate, bananas to make-up, footballs and cotton pants, there is an inexhaustible list of Fair Trade produce, and I found no excuses to hit Tesco on the ‘Fairtrade’ label prowl, neither should you.

An amazing 140 million people a week snack on a banana, yet why not snack on a Fairtrade banana and empower yourself and the farmer you just bought it from?

Fairtrade isn’t a charity and it isn’t an expensive brand. You know what it is, so be loud and proud to show off Fairtrade.

Here's a quick Fairtrade recipe to make 7-8 large muffins.

Ingredients 100g plain flour 40g cornmeal 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 90g unrefined (golden) Fairtrade sugar 40g melted butter 1 egg, beaten 2 ripe Fairtrade bananas, well mashed 80ml buttermilk 50g Fairtrade milk chocolate, chopped into small chunks Method Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6. Sieve flour, cornmeal, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together into a large bowl. Stir in sugar. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, egg, bananas and buttermilk. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix gently (do not overmix). Fold in the chocolate chips.

Fill a muffin tin (ideally lined with muffin cases) to just under the rim.

Bake for about 30 minutes until golden-brown and firm to the touch.

Allow to cool in the tin. Eat.

Features17

gair rhydd • Monday April 04 2011 • features@gairrhydd.com

your cup of tea?

what it actually means to be a Fair Trader. As she takes to the streets of ity students to consider their stance on ethical trading.

After Milgi, I decided to check out Fair Trade in retail. Jan Tucker is a Fair Trader and is the manager of the retail shop ‘Fair Do’s.’ Fair Do’s is a not-for-profit company, priding themselves on being one of the best Fair Trade shops in Wales. They have a huge range of gifts, clothing, greetings cards, foods, snacks and beverages. They try to ensure that all their products come from suppliers that carry the fair trade mark. I managed to ask Jan a few questions: How did you become so involved with Fair Trade?

I started involvement over 30 years ago, when I left teaching to have a baby! Once I started learning about the world trade injustices, and that fair trade could sit alongside campaigning as an immediate response to such injustice; I was hooked!

Since then I have volunteered with Fair Trade opportunities, I have been a Traidcraft regional member of staff and now manage Fair Do's. I am also involved with the Fair Trade Cardiff and Fair Trade Wales.

For you, what does concept of Fair Trade suggest?

For me, fair trade means a trading partnership with producers in some of the world's poorest communities. Enabling them to export their produce at a fair price, and have the stability of a long term trading relationship with their partners.

Have you ever visited the countries where ‘Fair Do’s’ products come from?

No, not yet! But I have met many Fair Trade producers over the years; including olive farmers from Palestine, cocoa growers from Ghana and

a coffee farmer from Uganda.

The farmers were inspirational people: they were passionate about their products and committed to supporting their local communities through Fair Trade.

Their key message is usually: ' please tell people about us and encourage them to buy more fair trade products, as it makes such a huge difference to our communities.’

How did ‘Fair Do’s,’ participate in this year’s Fair trade Fortnight?

This year's Fair Trade Fortnight made an even bigger impact on our shop than ever. The farmers from Palestine, Ghana and Uganda [mentioned above] all visited to see the final part of the journey of their produce.

A large part of what we do is to support other people who want to promote fair trade. So we took the

opportunity in the Fortnight to offer a sale or return service to our supporters.

We provided stock and resources to dozens of schools this year, as well as churches and workplaces.

We had visits from several groups of school children.

How does the Fair Trade message come across to the children?

The children's understanding of Fair Trade is amazing, and they do inspire us. They are the future of the Fair Trade movement, and our hope for a better world.

Would there be anything you would like to suggest to Cardiff University students to encourage them to invest in more Fair Trade?

Look into it in depth, so that you see the importance of it. As consumers, we must be aware of where

our purchases come from.

Ask yourself whether their production may have damaged people or the environment. We have the ability and resources to make positive choices whenever we shop.

There is a huge range of Fair Trade products available now - not just foods!

Lastly, are there any products you are currently promoting any particular products in your shop?

We have just had a delivery of some fabulous leather goods arrive from North Africa, in bright jewel colours. On a more prosaic theme, we have also had delivered the first ever Fair Trade digestive biscuits!

Fair Do’s can be found on Llandaff Road in the city. If you are an ethical soul or merely interested pop along or visit www. fairdos.com.

18Features

Your Space.

gair rhydd • Monday April 04 2011 • features@gairrhydd.com

We want to hear your stories: anything goes. Just drop us a line on features@gairrhydd.com. This week Beth Crandon discusses the breakup rules and the heartbreak of being suddenly single at university.

A

s any good rom-com flick, angst-ridden Facebook status or Country and Western song will tell you, break-ups hurt. It doesn’t matter who you loved or the reasons why it didn’t work.

A bad break up can knock you off your feet and for some, it can be pretty hard going getting up again.

It appears that heartbreak has become an industry with endless magazines, self-help books, films and television programmes devoted to the subject.

Evidently, there are clear and concise rules to surviving a break up while maintaining your composure (ignoring that one blip when you left several tearful voicemails and then ate everything in the fridge).

These are as easy to follow as a simple recipe and display the many guidelines of breakup etiquette in the work-place or after a marriage.

But what happens when you experience a painful, life-altering breakup while at university?

There’s a whole new set of issues afoot.You’re likely to be away from home, away from the support network of your family and your oldest friends. Maybe your relationship was long-distance too and you’re unable to see a cagey ex to get any answers.

Alternatively you might have been seeing someone you met at uni, whom you now have to face every day through mutual friends, in lectures or even – gulp – across your corridor in student accommodation.

As self-help articles titled ‘How Not To Blow Your Student Loan On Post-Break Up Retail Therapy’ or ‘How To Survive Having A Bit Of A Meltdown In The Taf ’ are few and far between, finding yourself suddenly single at university can leave you feeling a bit lost.

This was the situation I faced recently. In January, during exam period no less, my ‘perfect’ boyfriend decided that Facebook was the ideal medium through which to break up with me and tell me about the hotter girl he had waiting in the wings.

After the initial shock and the

lasting hurt, I honestly wasn’t sure how I’d cope. How was I going to get through these deadlines feeling so lousy, especially when I was so far from home?

My initial thought had been to run home to the comfort of my family and school friends, but I couldn’t just nip home during exam period over a failed relationship.

Fortunately, it’s times like this that you realise just how much your friends and housemates have become a sort of pseudo-family.

No one does cheering up better than students – within two minutes of texting my housemate at 1am to inform her of my newly-single status, she’d replied "I’m downstairs.

Vodka’s poured."

What a friend. Venting over a drink is cathartic and once you’ve let it all out you can get your focus back on your work.

However, excessive alcohol is really not your friend.

What may feel like an excellent idea at the time (sending your ex a 4am six-page text detailing everything they did to annoy you) may not seem so brilliant when you wake

up the next day with a hangover.

It’s natural to want to drown your sorrows and a night out with your friends can be an excellent pick up, but when you’re feeling low and living in a busy student-populated city it can be oh-so-easy to fall into the habit of going out every night, and it definitely won’t help get your assignments done.

By the third night out in a row, I was certainly feeling the support from my friends, but I’d had enough of the booze.

It wasn’t helping me feel any better, so I started looking into other ways to have fun (minus hangovers) and stay on track with my course.

This was when I realised how brilliant it is to go through a break up at university.

As any agony aunt will tell you, an effective way to get over heartbreak is to keep busy.

There is nowhere you’ll have more opportunity and choices to fill your time than at university. I joined societies, the ridiculously cheap student gym, wandered round Bute Park and the Museums, went for 2-for-1 cocktails and had

many a hilarious B-Movie horror film night with my housemates.

There is always somewhere new to go, something new to do and someone new to meet and the break up gave me the push I needed to explore it all. I felt like a Fresher again and I was loving every second of it.

Just two months down the line after the end of a two year relationship and I am practically over it.

There’s definitely something about pulling through a break-up that makes you a stronger person, but getting through it standing on your own two feet at university gives you the feeling that you can conquer anything.

You’ll have good days and bad days, but you’ll learn so much about who you are and have the opportunity to really enjoy the freedom of being single.

If you’re stuck in the thick of it now and seeing no end in sight, I urge you to get out there with your friends and see all that your city has to offer you.

You may just find that find your break-up was the best thing to happen to your student life.

Science20

Nuclear hysteria strikes

Jenny Lambourne Science Writer In the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the Fukushima Daiichi plant has been the focus of extensive media coverage, and inevitably when the debate surrounding nuclear energy arises, the media has stirred itself into hype, perhaps doing more harm than good.

The magnitude 8.9 earthquake, and the subsequent tsunami that struck just off the coast of Japan, created widespread damage placing its many nuclear reactors at risk. Fukushima, one of four power plants directly affected by the incident, suffered minor failure as its cooling systems collapsed. Two weeks after the disaster, media hype surrounding the nuclear situation remains, with fears of radiation leakage, food contamination and the need for evacuation spreading much further than the periphery of the exclusion zone.

Nuclear energy remains a controversial subject and in the aftermath of an incident such as this, it is inevitable that the debate surrounding it will surface. However, the response from the media and foreign governments has been declared “totally irresponsible,” by Professor Gerry Thomas, the Chair of Molecular Pathology at Imperial College London. She is not the only individual to make a public statement denouncing hyperbolic media coverage with headlines declaring the situation to be a “complete meltdown”, “nuclear disaster” or perhaps the most unhelpful, a "repeat of Chernobyl".

What must be understood is that the current situation at Fuku-

Above: Trawsfynydd Power Station provided electricity for 23 years. With no accidents shima is not comparative to what happened in 1986. As well as differences in its physical construction, Chernobyl lacked the containment structures that Fukushima has. At Chernobyl, the reactor itself was burned; in Japan, only the outer buildings suffered damage from the explosions. The primary difference between the two is the response.

At Chernobyl, authorities were reluctant to admit the incident until they were forced to do so, when high radiation levels were detected at another power plant in Sweden.

The plant was left to burn without control for a significant period of time with no monitoring of radiation levels in contaminated food and water for years afterwards, contributing further to its widespread damage.

Chernobyl was rated at Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale and labelled a “Major Accident,” whereas Fukushima has been put at Level 5 as an “Accident with Wider Consequences.” Such comparisons are just an example of scaremongering, and not conducive to an understanding of the current situation.

Nuclear facilities are designed to withstand external events and in Japan, this extends to seismic disruption. If detectors register seismic readings above the equivalent of 6.7 on the Richter scale, an automatic shut down occurs, which Fukushima promptly did, bringing the chain reactions to a halt.

When this occurs, residual heat from the fission remains, requiring cooling systems to prevent the rods from melting, leading to radioactive release. Power was available to run the cooling pumps and this began as expected, but shut down later

when hit by the tsunami. Backup generators could not maintain the water level above the fuel rods, leading to the production of hydrogen, as a result of the contact between water and the fuel’s zirconium as the rods melted. However, workers had to release pressure build-up in the containment structure to avoid wider damage and when the hydrogen mixed with the vented gases, it caused explosions that damaged the outer buildings. The reactor was reported as intact after these incidents, a clear distinction from Chernobyl when the reactor itself burned.

The response from Tepco, the company that run the plant, and the Japanese Government, has also been criticised in media coverage.

The first, for a lack of information and the latter, for keeping the exclusion zone at 20km.

This, however, has been supported by the UK’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Paul Atkinson, who said that the current exclusion zone was “appropriate for the levels of radiation/risk currently experienced, and if the pouring of sea water can be maintained to cool the reactors, the likelihood of a major incident should be avoided.”

He also defined a case of “reasonable worse case scenario” as a “total meltdown of one reactor with subsequent radioactive explosion."

This is not what has happened in Japan and it appears inaccurate and unhelpful to report it as such.

He goes on to point out, that even if this did occur, an exclusion zone of 50km would be sufficient to avoid affecting people’s health.

Professor Thomas went further, saying that such misinformation is to blame for the current panic, es-

pecially with regard to Chernobyl.

“The media has got Chernobyl so wrong it’s unbelievable. At Chernobyl there was a massive release of iodine that shot high into the atmosphere and got carried on the wind.

We are not likely to have anything like that in Japan. Tens of thousands of people have lost their lives. Even if the worst case scenario happened and there was an accident ten times the size of Chernobyl, you wouldn’t have as many deaths as that. We are missing the point here and we are panicking that poor, savaged population, about radiation that is not going to harm them.”

The panic that she refers to has spread much further than the exclusion zone and has prompted mass buying of potassium iodine supplements. Such panic-buying has been deemed “entirely unnecessary,” by Professor Richard Wakeford, a radiation expert. It is only required for those who have inhaled quantities of radiation such as workers at the plant or have consumed affected produce. Long term consumption of such supplements can also have further health consequences.

The impact of the nuclear situation at Fukushima has spread significantly further than the current 20km exclusion zone.

Media coverage has been inaccurate and hyperbolic, leading to an increased panic and spreading confusion among a population rife with disruption. The question that now remains is whether its impact would stretch further if Fukushima is used to stop expansion of the nuclear power industry in the face of the never-ending, negative publicity.

freewords EDITORIAL est.1972 Tomos Clarke Science Editor Deaths directly attributable to the three Mile Island disaster 0.

That was the second worst nuclear disaster on record.

The worst nuclear disaster ever was Chernobyl, where a grand total of 14 people died as a direct result.

I'm not, for a second , trivialising the dangers of Nuclear power, but the media coverage of the events at Fukushima has been, at best, misrepresentive of the facts and, at worst ,scaremongering.

The media are often guilty of twisting scientific facts to fit their story, perpetuating myths such as the recent "supermoon" panic, by dressing them up in scientific language.

This media panic often precipitates a hysterical response from governments afraid of negative criticism.

Now, with the latest developments in Fukushima, there is cause to be concerned, but not the outright panic that has been precipitated by the sensationalist media coverage.

Not everyone is a scientist, but would the recent panic buying of Potassium Iodide in Japan have happened if the public were to know that with a half life of eight days, it would be quickly cleared from the environment with little or no health effects? Probably not.

Taf-od 22

Hwyl Fawr Derwyddon Elliw Mair Taf-Od

Daeth diwedd cyfnod Nos Sadwrn y 27ain wrth i Dderwyddon Dr Gonzo chwarae ei cord olaf (yn llythrennol gan fod yr allweddell bellach yn filoedd o ddarnau man ar lawr clwb).

Ers ennill brwydr y bandiau Cymdeithas yr Iaith yn 2005, mae’r Derwyddon wedi tyfu o nerth i nerth. Maent wedi cyrraedd brig siart c2 a chael eu gwobrwyo gan Radio Cymru am fand gorau a band gorau byw Cymru yn 2009.

Nid yn unig y cydiwyd calonnau'r Cymry gan y Derwyddon, maent wedi perfformio yn rhai o wyliau mwyaf Lloegr megis Gwyl Latitude ac wedi cael eu caneuon ar radio 1 sy’n gamp aruthrol i fand Cymraeg.

Er bod caneuon fel Chaviach a Madrach yn ganeuon gwych, ei perfformiadau byw a wnaeth Derwyddon yn fand mwyaf poblogaidd Cymru. Roedd ganddynt y gallu i gael y dorf i ddawnsio ar ôl un nodyn ac roeddent yn cyfathrebu yn wych gyda’r gynulleidfa. Ni all neb

a aeth i weld Derwyddon yn fyw ei galw yn fand boring. Nid oedd Nos Sadwrn, pan chwaraewyd eu gig olaf yng Nghlwb Ifor Bach yn eithriad ac mae 3 gair yn ddigon i ddisgrifio’r noson - orlawn, gwyllt a ffantastig, ac i ychwanegu gair arall - chwyslyd!

Cefais air sydyn gyda Dewi Foulkes – chwaraewr bâs y Derwyddon: Pam wnaethoch benderfynu ei fod yn amser i ymddeol?

Rydyn yn gorffen oherwydd bo ni'n meddwl bo ni'n stryglo mynd ymhellach efo be danisho neud fel band ac mae’n anodd cael pawb at eu gilydd i sgwennu caneuon gan bo pawb ar hyd y wlad ym mhob man.

Sut deimlad oedd hi i chwarae eich gig olaf ?

Roedd hi’n deimlad gwych chwarae'r gig olaf. Cynulleidfa brilliant unwaith eto.

Rydych wedi perfformio mewn sawl lleoliad, ble oedd eich gig gorau erioed?

yn Isle of Wight.

Rydych chi’n enwog am wisgo dillad gwallgo’ ond pa un oedd dy wisg orau?

Dim ond Y-FRONTS coch a gwyn.

Beth oedd dy brofiad gorau di fel rhan o’r Derwyddon?

Chwarae mewn gwyliau megis Wakestock, Bestival, Latitude a Headlinio steddfod Bala.

I chi'n meddwl y byddwch fel Meic Stevens ac yn chwarae tua 10 gig olaf ?

Na! Heb os, mae’r Sin roc Gymraeg yn mynd i deimlo colled enfawr y band unigryw hwn a roddodd cymaint o fwynhad a phleser i bobl Cymru.

Ni fydd gwyliau Cymru hanner mor wyllt heb y Derwyddon yn llenwi ein llwyfannau.

Hwyl Fawr a Diolch Derwyddon!

Maes-b Bala neu Gwyl Bestival

Un Nos Ola Leuad Meinir Williams Taf-Od Heb os, un o’r nofelau enwocaf i’w hysgrifennu yn y Gymraeg erioed yw campwaith Caradog Prichard, Un Nos Ola Leuad.

Doedd dim syndod felly y bu disgwyl eiddgar am gynhyrchiad diweddaraf Theatr Bara Caws wrth iddynt ddramateiddio’r nofel boblogaidd a mynd a hi ar daith ar hyd a lled Cymru. Er yn siomedig na ddaeth y cynhyrchiad i’n Prifddinas, cafwyd y rhai a fu’n ddigon lwcus i’w gweld wledd a hanner, ac yn sicr nid oedd y perfformiad yn siomi.

Betsan Llwyd oedd yn gyfrifol

am ei chyfarwyddo gyda’r cast yn cynnwys wynebau adnabyddus megis Carys Gwilym oedd yn chwarae rhan y fam, Siôn Trystan yn chwarae rhan y mab a Rhys Richards yn chwarae rhan y ‘dyn’ fel petai.

Teimlaf mai cryfder pennaf y cynhyrchiad oedd eu gallu i drosglwyddo yn glir feddylfryd y bachgen o gymharu â’r mab.

I unrhyw un sydd wedi darllen y nofel, nid modd gwadu ei bod yn gymhleth drwyddi draw gyda’i hiaith ffonetig dafodieithol, llu o gymeriadau a thuedd y penodau i anwybyddu trefn gronolegol yn llwyr.

Wrth ddarllen y nofel, ar brydiau

ceir hi’n anodd gwahaniaethu rhwng meddylfryd hunangofiannol y dyn a sefyllfa bresennol y bachgen.

Ond, rhannwyd yn eglur rannau’r dyn a’r mab rhwng y ddau gymeriad a llwyddwyd i drosglwyddo’r stori yn llawer mwy eglur ac yn hynod effeithiol.

Cryfder arall y ddrama oedd sut yr ymdopwyd â’r holl gymeriadau.

Gyda dim ond chwe actor yn gyfan gwbl yn rhan o’r cynhyrchiad, rhaid yw eu canmol am eu gallu i drosglwyddo o un cymeriad i’r llall mor rhwydd a naturiol.

Digwyddai cymaint o ddigwyddiadau yn y nofel, roeddwn yn tybio y byddai’r ddrama yn mynd am oriau! Ond llwyddwyd i ddewis a

dethol y rhannau pwysicaf yn effeithiol er mwyn ei gwneud yn ddrama awr a hanner oedd yn ddigonol yn fy marn i. Gwelsom y golygfeydd pwysicaf, y rhai oedd yn arwain at salwch meddwl y fam a chwymp cymeriad y bachgen.

Yn ddiddorol, ni ychwanegwyd rhannau o’r penodau ‘salmaidd’ eu naws yng nghanol a diwedd y nofel yn y cynhyrchiad o gwbl. Roedd hwn yn benderfyniad doeth gan y byddai yn sicr wedi gor-gymhlethu y plot.

Teimlaf fod yn rhaid rhoi ychydig eiriau i ganmol Rhys Richards am ei ran fel ‘y dyn’.

Mae fy nghlod yn bennaf nid yn unig am ei actio gwych ond he-

Want to write?

Come to our meetings on Monday at 5pm on the fourth floor of the Students' Union

fyd ei allu i gadw ffocws anhygoel trwy gydol y ddrama gan ei fod yn bresennol ar y llwyfan, yn y cefndir ai peidio ymhob golygfa.

Rhaid llongyfarch felly Gwmni Theatr Bara Caws am eu cynhyrchiad gwych.

Cafwyd golygfeydd llon a lleddf a chyffyrddwyd y gynulleidfa gan sefyllfa druenus y mab a’i fam a ddaeth yn fyw o flaen ein llygaid.

Rwyf eto i ddod o hyd i rywun nad ydynt wedi mwynhau'r cynhyrchiad. Ynghyd â’r set, y gwisgoedd, y goleuo a’r action, roedd y perfformiad hwn yn rhagorol.

Ond, Theatr Bara Caws, dewch a chynhyrchiadau fel hyn i Gaerdydd yn y dyfodol!

Listings

Monday

Tuesday

23 Wednesday Thursday

4th April

5th April

6th April

7th April

THE LASH, Solus, £3.50, 9.30pm The Lash promises all the best in chart and cheese, which doesn't really sound all that tempting to be honest. But if you're a sporting LAD then it's most definitely the place to be.

NEVER MIND THE PUB QUIZ, The Taf, FREE, 8pm A pub quiz. In the Taf. It's not big, it's not clever, but it's a bloody good laugh.

FUN FACT TREE, Solus, FREE, 9pm Fun Factory is an institution among Cardiff students and you simply must check it out.

Playing the very best alternative music, and with various cheap drinks promotions, you're sure to have the best night of the week here and I'm not even biased. It's a staple. If you like it alternative, if you like it rocking, and most of all, if you like it loud then there is only thing for it . There will also be live music courtesy of the Live Music Society.

LATE NIGHT LIVE, 10 Feet Tall, FREE, 8pm Live music, acts, comedy and DJs upstairs, new music and party tunes in the bar. Plus the added bonus of two for one cocktails between 5pm and 9pm.

UKULELE NIGHTS, Gwdihw, FREE, 8pm Strum your way into a four-string stupor at the monthly Monday Ukulele Night, Cardiff's uke-powered jam session. Prepare yourself for some right rollicking rocking and don’t be surprised if the odd kazoo or washboard joins in too. For more information check out: www. ukenights.org.uk

JUST DANCE, Clwb, £3, 10pm Just Dance returns every Tuesday night at Clwb Ifor Bach with one simple mission...to get you dancing all night long. A mixture of modern day pop, rock and R&B thrown together with some cracking blasts from the past... Cheap entry, cheap drinks prices and great, GREAT tunes.

10 FEET LIVE, 10 Feet Tall, TBC, 8pm Live music, singer-songwriters, bands and acoustic acts upstairs, new music and party tunes in the bar. Plus, there's the added bonus of two-for-one cocktails from 5pm until 9pm.

X FACTOR LIVE, Motorpoint Arena, £32, 7.30pm X Factor have now confirmed that the final nine contestants will be gracing the stage.

Representing the boys will be X Factor winner Matt, along with Aiden, Paije and One Direction, Mary and Wagner will be performing alongside runner up Rebecca, while Katie and Cher, will be bringing a touch of girly glamour to proceedings.

LISTEN UP, Clwb, £3, 9pm Listen Up has become an institution within an institution. Everybody loves Clwb. Everybody loves Listen Up. Playing a mix of motown, funk, indie and pop among three floors of cheap bars and trendy kids, this is the place to be every Wednesday.

JAZZ AT DEMPSEYS, Dempseys, £5, 9pm Music ranges from piano or guitar trio, saxophone or trumpet quartet, quartet with vocals to big band. Hear jazz standards made famous by the likes of Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, and Nina Simone, as well as original tunes.

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

9th April

10th April

11th April

BOOMBOX, Solus, £3, 10pm Playing an eclectic mix of electro, funk, drum 'n' bass, hip hop, dubstep and breaks with a turntablist twist. Featuring dance classics, chart remixes and old school classics. Expect to hear Pendulum, Calvin Harris, Dr Dre, David Guetta, Major Lazor, A Skillz, High Contrast, Prodigy and much more. To be fair, it's the cheapest Friday night this side of the bridge, fulfilling all your student needs and perfect for bringing those visiting mates too. Plus, there's the added bonus of our best Xpress DJ's spinning some great tunes at the silent disco. Go ahead kids, BOOM YOUR BOX. PAPER AEROPLANES, EVENING CHORUS AND ALEXANDER COMANA, Clwb, £6, 7.30pm Paper Aeroplanes are, quite frankly, wonderful. You must go and see them.

COME PLAY, Solus, £3, 10pm A safe bet for a Saturday night. If none of the other events do it for you, head to the Union for guaranteed good music and cheap drinks. Not the most imaginative of nights out, but you'll be sure to have a good time.

And who said that being able to predict the playlist down to the very last minute was a bad thing?

BEATBOX BALLROOM, Buffalo, Free before 11pm, 8pm "Booty-busting breaks, pimped out soul & clock-stopping rhythms." Apparently.

BA BA BOOM: LONDON AFROBEAT COLLECTIVE AND KING LOUIS COLLECTIVE, CAI, £2, 9.30pm There's not much information about this event online, so I can't tell you much about it. But King Louis Collective are brilliant, and so this event might provide an alternative to the usual Saturday night antics.

10 FEET TALL SUNDAY SOCIAL, 10 Feet Tall, FREE, 8pm If you have nothing better to do on a Sunday night and fancy heading out for twofor-one cocktails, perhaps give this a go.

THE BIG SUNDAY RECOVERY PROJECT, CAI, FREE, 12pm What’s the Sunday Project ? It’s a regular social gathering to end the week. You get together over a late Sunday Roast or just laze around with fellow hung-over friends on the sofas. Enjoy a Sunday ‘Institution’, weekly - Squeaky Hill Pub Quiz is back.

The only quiz that provides you with a general all-round work out, utilising the physical, mental and creative parts of your brain that other pub quizzes just can’t reach! It's free to play, and theres loads of exciting prizes to be won.

HAVE A SUNDAY ROAST Gather all of your housemates together and cook a Sunday roast. Or, if you can't be arsed, why not head to the Taf or CAI for a dinner that will rival your mum's.

BOUNCE, Walkabout, £4, 9pm If you really, honestly, have nothing better to do... actually, no, even that isn't a valid excuse. If you have any personal morals, that is.

C.Y.N.T, Clwb, £4, 10pm This is the only legitimate thing to do on your Thursday night.

SUGAR DROP, Ten Feet Tall, FREE, 10pm Midweek dancefloor dose of roots, electro, dub, party breaks, dubstep, drum'n'bass and mashups. There's regular live acts & guest DJs and 2-4-1 cocktails.

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25

Letters

Comments from the week’s news, opinion, features and sport at www.gairrhydd.com The results are in Anon --I dont recall seeing anyone setting up alternative polling stations?... All the candidates know that this would have been suicide for their campaigns. This allegation is just crazy, considering those candidates who took it seriously knew what was at stake? Perhaps these rumours have been fuelled more by those candidates who were a little red-faced after hearing the margins between votes, then actual angry students?

Anonymous date! ---

non-bitter

candi-

This article was a very interesting read, yet I can’t help but think I have heard this all through campaigning week and ever since. It would be nice to have some substantial backings to the claims e.g.

Timmy 1st year Star Wars studies had x amount of people come into his room, delete his coursework and then instruct who to vote AU President or the pet goldfish gets it.

Right now its just tarnishing the successful candidates, who most likely all would (hopefully) not have allowed this to happen. I think they should all be wished the best of luck (like I have already) and let them get on with doing a good job.

And also if these allegations are found to be true, can we realistically expect something to be done about it? I would like to hope so but the reality is, if the cheating has occured, there will be a couple of slapped wrists and we will are pretend nothing has happened.

Oh and to anyone who believes these rumours have been ‘fuelled by angry candidates’, I think you are ignorant. Either that or you didn’t see the groups of people going round together and the count-

less facebook messages of vote x for su and then y for au yada yada yada.

shamed. Terrible.

Good luck though to all those who were elected and I am sure you will all be great, just hope we see manifesto promises fulfilled and that no one goes all Nick Clegg on us

And I don’t see how you can call them “pointless elections” when they determine who will be helping run a £7m business. To say they have no power is very undermining and disrespectful; those elected are directors for the SU – so are actually very important and have a fair bit of power. You’ve actually argued against your own illthought-out argument, as the person behind the running of this paper has proved to have a fair bit of power purely by publishing THIS article – the one you’ve actively gotten involved in!

Z --Everyone knows there is “bending” of the rules every year, less so last year (bar Dickon “Hundred T-shirts” Baird) but two years ago with the nightclub sponsership incident. No surprise here that some rules are interrupted differently.

Whatever happened to “The spirit of elections,” huh?

James Thomas--In all honesty, I think that in order to actually cheat (rather than merely bend the rules) you have to be pretty desperate. All the winning candidates beat the runners up by a clear margin. If this was acheived through mass cheating (which in itself is unlikely) then it would be impossible to get away with it. The AU candidate who went round halls with a laptop would have been able to gain at most 100 votes this way, and in all honesty it was probably a waste of time; there are plenty of legitimate things they could have done instead that would have reached far more people.

Terence Henry--GR and its team are right to cover this because, while it may be ‘rumour’, there’s a lot of it flying around for it to be simply ignored.

There’s no smoke without fire, after all.

I am in agreement re: the homophobic comment. It’s disgraceful that this went on and whoever did it should be named and

Terence Henry---

A--Sabbs who sit in a nice cosy office, going away on weekends, charging expenses to union (yes I know expenses has been falling the past few years)...how can you justify their pay?

Best solution would not to be have any elections, have interviews. Get someone on a 2-3 year contract to sort the union out, this is a JOB you earn, not just a popularity contest. Winning a couple of votes (and I do appreciate the hard work that is put in, in election week) and having a cosy 1 year deal is not good enough.

As anyone who has half a brain, knows that short term fixes, which is what I am sure many Sabb offices try, do not always work. You need to plan for the long term and this can not be done with the constant changing of staff.

By allowing interviews (and you can be selective, choosing only former students), you can get the best person for the job and not just the best gimmick. I am pretty sure the best person doesn’t always get the job.

Cerys--As a candidate who came 3rd in my category, I refuse to be called a ‘bad loser’, and not to have made enough ‘effort’ as the other candidates to chat to students day and night.. I, along with the other candidates, worked my arse off before and during campaign week to build a memorable yet credible campaign to make a good impression on students, and losing my dignity in a silly costume while doing so. I wanted the job, not a gap year.

I agree that there is no smoke without fire. Though it won’t make much difference now, ignoring the ‘rumours’ or ‘allegations’ would be a bit of a shame. I don’t doubt that candidates tend to cheat every year, does that make it ok, though?

Like many of us have stated, it’s a bloody difficult job to do with major responsibilities, cheating shouldn’t be treated so light-heartedly.

Oh well. I enjoyed the campaigning and the competition. Good luck to the new sabb-team. And thank you to Gair Rhydd for this interesting article. Nice one!

Anon--This entire conversation is pointless, based on hearsay, and only serves to tarnish the winners of an election who worked bloody hard. That’s not to say that the people who didn’t win didn’t work as hard, but the way the elections are run will always give rise to allegations of cheating until there's a simple interview process.

why is there not ONE student out of

the 600 willing to support these ridiculous claims?! It is the same year on year with student elections, there has to be something contraversial for the Gair Rhydd to come up with, this article is based on absolutely nothing even vaguely substantial.

The victimisation of women b--I have to say I disagree with most of this article.

Advising people not to go around late at night wearing short skirts isn’t really taking away freedom and rights. It’s about general safety and common sense, I would similarly advise my male housemate not to take a certain route home or to get a taxi if he was drunk.

Bob--Your evidence of Cardiff being a place of misogyny frankly doesn’t hold up. You will need more than a simple anecdotal piece, and one that is more than something as trivial as someone pinching your bum. If you don’t like it, call the guy out on it, but you’re hardly going to accomplish much by just staying silent. Personally, I find it hard to see how Cardiff is some kind of sexist dystopia as you claim it is, but then again your man-hating agenda was always going to blow the slightest incident out of all proportion to try and paint men as nasty, violent villains.

Anon--Cerys – it is not that the ‘rumours’ are being ignored…it is that there is absolutely NO piece of evidence to back them up! If the candidates that won by 600+ votes cheated,

Join the debate online:

www.gairrhydd.com

sudoku.

HARD

Puzzles

27

EASY

crossword.

comic.

Across 1. Court call (7) 5. Not outside (7) 9. An outgoing personality (9) 10. East African oryx (5) 11. Act or sing (7) 12. Opening (7) 13. Thundershower (9) 15. Fastidious (5) 17. Sanctify (5) 19. Clearly or sharply defined to the mind (9) 22. Observer (7) 25. Sandstorm (7) 26. Fine-tune (5) 27. Bin Laden (9) 28. Exploit the power of (7) 29. Administrator (7)

Down 1. Pajamas with feet (7) 2. Moped (9) 3. Scented (7) 4. A type of ship (9) 5. Foreword (5) 6. Question after a mission (7) 7. Small African antelope (5) 8. Baronial (7) 14. Vortex (9) 16. Abducting (9) 17. Captivate (7) 18. Dapple (7) 20. Animation (7) 21. Harness racing horse (7) 23. Not our (5) 24. Locations (5)

By Daniel Judd

Societies28

Meet your new societies officer Bianca London Societies Editor

After a week's worth of face paint, megaphones, free sweets, sumo suits and seven exhaustive nights out on the town for candidates, campaign week came to an end with elected officers announced.

This week, I spoke to Societies, Events and Activities Officer elect, Harry 'Harry-Bo' Newman, about his campaign week experiences and his plans for the upcoming year in his new role.

Well done Harry! How does it feel to be the societies officer elect?

It was an honour to have been elected, naturally it was the perfect end for me to an extremely challenging week.

It is clear that the job itself will be tough but I have a lot to look forward to.

The really hard part now though is trying to pass my degree while preparing to take over from Cos. What were the highs and lows of campaign week?

The best parts were the times when complete strangers approached me and said that they had voted for me.

It was a huge morale boost every time. I also enjoyed seeing the other candidates for all positions out on the campaign trail.

Checking out all their creative ideas, noticing how their styles varied and enjoying the comradary, even among opponents.

The lows usually came around 7.50am when I realised that after five hours sleep, it was time to go out and be enthusiastic again!

way dialogue between the Students' Union and societies' committees, both to advertise new benefits we are able to offer the societies and also to ensure accountability. To make sure that they are as active as they can be; offering their members value for money.

What are your views on the budget cuts for societies and how will you deal with them if need be?

It is highly likely that societies will not face cuts in 2011/12 and there is a strong chance that we will enjoy an increase in the block grant from the university the following year.

“

The best part of campaign week was when strangers approached me and said they had voted for me, what a morale boost!

I will resist any upfront fee payable by students to the guild of societies (the AU model) for as long as possible.

It may well have to happen but this is a tough decision which will have to be made over the summer, once I have a better understanding of the existing study led by Cosimo

and the practicalities of it all.

My hope is that a societies membership card will encourage sufficient extra membership, such that no extra fees will be necessary.

What do you study this year?

Are you a member of any societies?

I am currenty a second year civil engineering student and have been involved with the Wine Society and Snowsports.

What do you like doing in your free time?

I love sailing, surfing, cycling and motorcycling.

This year I have joined the Engin Rugby team. I also love putting on parties and events, something which I am most looking forward to doing on a large scale in the year ahead.

What motivated you to run for the position?

I have been interested in organising events for some time and would be studying a course in it had I not decided to do engineering.

Extra curricular activities within Cardiff have really impressed me these past two years, as has our Union in general and I wanted to be a part of it.

I met Cosimo at a wine social and asked him a couple of questions about his experiences; his answers made me certain that I wanted his job!

Ancient History: Research Seminar 0.45 Humanities, 5pm Green Party: Pippa Bartolotti Nelson Mandela Room, 7pm Art Soc: Canvas Session Rona Griffiths Room, 7.30pm

Tuesday April 5 One Mission: STANZA AND FRED V Cardiff Arts Institute, 10pm-2am Harry Potter: Parody Night Bar 33, 7.30pm D of E: Training and Kareoke Room 1.25, Main Building, 7.30pm

Wednesday April 6 Engin Soc: Student Engagement Workshop CHEM Soc: AGM 1.25, Main Building, 2.30pm SVC: Community Project SVC Office, SU

Thursday April 7

What plans do you have for societies next year?

I am looking forward to devising a workable plan to encourage much larger membership to all societies.

For too long now, societies have been missing out on valuable membership fees from students who are able to participate in societies' activities without ever officially signing up.

Ultimately, I hope that these 'new' members will become more active within societies because they will feel that they must get their money's worth.

I intend on working closely with the AU President elect to formulate a plan to encourage inter society competition.

I also intend on extending two

Monday April 4

Arch Soc: Research Seminar 4.45, Humanities, 5.10pm RATPACK: OAP Social Meet at SU, 7pm

Friday April 8 DanceSport: Summer Ball Heath Sports and Social Club, 7.30pm

To feature an event or article email societies @gairrhydd.com Below: HarryBo Newnam

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

Sport30

Tennis claim stylish win Photo: Harry Sutton

Lucinda Mabbitt Varsity Tennis

Above: Cardiff claimed a clean sweep William Roberts-Phelps Varsity Rowing There was surely a no more convincing Varsity victory than that produced by Cardiff University's Rowing Club. Held as the warm-up event for the rugby at the Millennium Stadium, crews raced from University Stone to Channel View, a challenging course of 1800 metres.

The tone for the afternoon was set by the novice Women crew of Ellen Bright, Fran Hinds, Sam Amos, Beth Christie, Beccy Girling, Alex Tennant, Sally Wilson, Helen Irish and cox Sarah Davies, who rowed a clean and accomplished race to beat their opponents by five and a half boat lengths.

The most one-sided race of theday came from the novice Men, composed of Dom Breen-Turner, Chris Morris, Josh Bugajski, Shawn Howell, Jeremy Littlejohn, Rory Thompson, Huw Davies, Mike Ramselaar and cox Emily Evans, who led Swansea from the start and in the closing stages showed their immense power to cruise to a victory by an outstanding 38 seconds.

Despite admitting afterwards to not having had their best row, the senior Women of Jessica Wood,

Cari Davies, Helen Roberts, Sarah Faull, Amy Hill, Phoebe Hall, Laura Dentith, Sarah Goodison and cox Emma Fitzpatrick, showed their superior class and experience in dispatching their rivals by three lengths.

Finally, the pinnacle of the day came with the senior Men's crew, who had revenge on the agenda, as they set out to restore the pride of the Men's squad having not won this fixture since 2009.

With the crew of Ryan Price, Tom Tilston, Tom Allen, James Magee, Pete Robinson, Fred Hardman, Andy Warren, Vince Deluca and cox Anna Miles, they controlled their race from the start and never looked back as they went on to win by a comfortable four lengths. Overall, an incredibly successful day for the rowing club and with pride restored.

The Women's squad now move into the regatta phase of the season while the Men's crews can travel to London for the Head of the River Race brimming with confidence.

We wish them all the best of luck as they take on the 400 crews on London's gruelling tideway course this weekend.

Above: Cardiff won the novice men's race by 38 seconds

After winning Varsity tennis for the past three years, Cardiff Men were under pressure to repeat previous years' success.

The day started with the doubles as Paul Goldhawk and Luke Dixon took on a solid Swansea pairing.

After a close fought 6-1, 7-5 victory, Cardiff were off to a perfect start.

In the other doubles, Ben Wylie and Tom Foster had a very tight match with momentum shifting back and forth. Cardiff lost the first set 6-2 yet found form and won the second set 6-0 with Wylie and Foster playing some excellent tennis. However, in the deciding third set Swansea edged to a 10-8 win.

With the match tied after the doubles, the following singles matches were of vital importance. Paul Goldhawk put on a serving masterclass to blow away Swansea’s premier player 6-4, 7-5.

In the second singles Dafydd Loughran fought hard and competed well, yet lost 2-6, 3-6. Luke Dixon, Cardiff ’s player of the season, was solid and put on a show of attacking tennis, that ultimately blew his weak opponent away 6-2, 6-0.

With Cardiff narrowly in the lead going into the last singles rubber, it was all up to Jon Pryce to secure victory. In the knowledge that a loss would tie the match, Pryce was under immense pressure. However, he performed with a steely mettle, attacking his way to a 6-2, 6-2 victory that ensured the tennis

Varsity crown.

Cardiff Ladies stormed to an early lead against Swansea, winning both doubles in straight sets, with only two games dropped in both matches combined. Lauren Clarke and Lucinda Mabbitt then went to battle in the first two singles of the day. Clarke defeated the big-hitting number three Swansea seed in a very one sided match 6-1 6-0.

Mabbitt similarly won swiftly 6-0, 6-1, cheered on by the Cardiff supporters. Number one seed Alicia Goulding dominated her singles winning 6-0 6-0, clearly not distracted by a streaker. This meant the Ladies Team had beaten Swansea and Emily Farley needn't play her singles. It was a glorious victory by the girls who were overjoyed to have executed a stylish Varsity win.

Cardiff caught on break in IMG football Alex Bywater Varsity IMG Football Cardiff 1 Swansea 4 In the inaugural IMG Varsity football, Cardiff were defeated by 4 goals to 1 against what was a strong and physical Swansea side.

The Cardiff side contained players selected from a number of IMG sides including KLAW, Economics, Inter Menan and JOMEC. Despite fielding a strong side, Cardiff fell behind in the tenth minute when the Swansea striker headed a long free-kick past Cardiff goalkeeper Jak Hambleton.

Cardiff really struggled to get going early on and were lucky to escape as the Swansea number seven then had a goal disallowed. Against two extremely physical Swansea centre backs, striker Skip Curtis struggled on his own up front.

Having created nothing of note previously, Cardiff then hit the bar through Sam Pritchard, as the tall midfielder gambled on a ball over the top.

This seemed to encourage the home side who were then awarded a penalty when Pritchard was felled in the box. Unfortunately, Kevin Goodwin struck his spotkick against the post.

Goodwin then had a superb dipping shot from the edge of the area

tipped over by the Swansea keeper.

Despite their attempts to get back into the game, Cardiff went into the break 1-0 down.

With Cardiff looking to get back into the game in the second period, they were always susceptible to a Swansea counter-attack.

From such a break, Cardiff slipped further behind, when the Swansea winger hit the bar and the rebound was slotted home by the away side's number eight. Trailing by two goals, Cardiff responded well and were awarded a second penalty after a clear foul by the Swansea

keeper. Pritchard slotted home to give Cardiff a lifeline.

As Cardiff pushed forward in search of an equaliser, they were hit by two sucker-punches on the counter attack.

Two late goals gave the score a flattering score-line, but one which did not justify the effort and quality of play put in by the Cardiff side.

Despite the loss, the initiative shown in organising an IMG Varsity event should be applauded with the match hopefully becoming an important part of varsity in years to come.

Photo: Harry Sutton

Rowers' Revenge

Above: Cardiff 's Sam Pritchard had a good game in midfield

Sport31

Monday April 04 2011 • gair rhydd • sport@gairrhydd.com

Cardiff dominate Netball

Cardiff 57 Swansea 35 Having trained hard all season the Cardiff squad had played extra friendly matches in additional sessions in preparation for the match of the year, Varsity. Announced individually as they stepped out onto the court, both sides were looking confident. With phenomenal support in the stands both sides created an atmosphere to remember with traditional varsity chants ringing through the air.

With so many supporters and much riding on the outcome, the game got off to an intense start.

The Swansea attack were playing a physical game from the outset and their determination was evident. The score line remained tight through the quarter, with Swansea pulling ahead several times as interceptions in the centre third were capitalised on by their Goal Attack.

@jamiehuwroberts Still awaiting a streaker at the varsity match......

Photo: Laura Davies

Laura Davies Varsity Netball

With Lara Heywood feeding into the circle however, Cardiff shots were going straight in, Rachel Keable at Goal Shooter, getting off to a very strong start. At the end of the first half the score was drawn at 1212 with Cardiff having brought the score line back, scoring twice in the final two minutes.

The second quarter saw Patience Lewis, at Goal Keeper, come into her own, with interceptions that kept the scores close and turnovers for Cardiff. With Steph May at Centre leaping for every ball and Emma Thomas at Goal Attack, the movement up the court and into the circle saw Cardiff balls moving quickly towards the attacking end.

Having pulled ahead by three goals by half time Cardiff had regained confidence but they were not to get complacent.

A defensive change at half time saw Lowri Evans come onto the court at Goal Defence. Despite a Swansea change at Goal Shooter, Lowri’s accurate positioning and reactions meant Swansea were finding it difficult to get the ball into the circle. When they did, the shots weren’t going in and the rebounds were falling into Cardiff hands.

The final quarter saw Mel Tallon, having come on as Wing Defence, make four incredibly clean interceptions, turning the ball over and contributing to the increasing

Above: Cardiff score again Cardiff score. With Ellie Hughes keeping a quick pace at Centre the Swansea team were tiring. Apprehensive of Swansea making a come back, the Cardiff fans had been restrained but with both the players and fans growing quieter Cardiff chants of ‘you’re not singing anymore’ were ringing through the air.

This reflected the score line, which saw Cardiff pulling further and further ahead. The final score was 57-35 to Cardiff, a deserved win following an intense performance from both

the team and the supporters.

Speaking after the game, Club Captain and Varsity squad member Lara Heywood said, “The experience has been fantastic, one I won’t forget. All the hard work we’ve put in has certainly paid off. I’m so proud of the squad and the club – their support was amazing!” A big thank you must go to Bev Powell, the team Coach, to all the supporters that came to watch and to umpires Rosie Hill and Emily Plank.

Cardiff 1 Swansea 1 (Swansea win 4-1 on penalties) Swansea win on penalties following a 1-1 draw in a good-spirited 90 minutes of top level University football.

Cardiff opened the scoring following a goal-keepeing handling error by Swansea's number 1. Cardiff's striker, Rupert Murray, poked home the host's first and only goal of the game, having followed in a testing free-kick by Huw Corne, which was spilt by Swansea's keeper and pounced upon by Murray.

Cardiff were the stronger team in the first half and appeared to be in control of the game.

They created many half chances during the first half, with a few attempts narrowly scrapping just wide of the goal.

The second half started in a similar manner with Cardiff looking the most likely team to get another goal.

However, the second third of the half saw momentum shift more in Swansea's favour, as the away team began to play a more expansive game plan, with a number of at-

tacks up either flank. Despite this promising play from Swansea they never seemed to really trouble the Cardiff goal.

Swansea eventually found a breakthrough as the ball dropped kindly in front of midfielder, Matthew Hibbs, whose 25yard halfvolley found the top corner of the Cardiff net.

The final ten minutes of the game saw Cardiff pressing up the field in search of a winning goal.

However, a row of corner kicks for Cardiff proved fruitless in a game, which at times, lacked width, particularly until the final quarter of the game.

Some stand-out players for Cardiff included right-back, Aled Griffith, centre midlfielder, James MacEvoy and centre forward, Rupert Murray.

Cardiff Football Club captain, Lloyd Jenkins, said: "On the whole I was extremely proud of my players, as they handled the game and occasion very well, and put together a wonderful performance in which we deserved to win."

Playing his final match for the club, captain Jenkins, wished to express his thanks to Luke Bliss, Oli Sherwood, Huw Corne and Calum Brennan who sadly played their last match for the club.

Photos: Harry Sutton

Unlucky Cardiff Ben Price Varsity Football

Varsity on ....

Above: Swansea are awarded a free-kick

@Darryl_Light Varsity was amazing.

Cardiff I love you, even if we lost the rugby we still party hardest

@PresidentCSU Congratulations to Swansea in the rugby last night! But great to see Cardiff retain the shield for another year, Cardiff dominance overall! @nigelrefowens What a game tonight .

Well done both sides a credit to you all . Wish some of the top clubs would play rugby like this @DomDay5 Good varsity game! But it was all about the streaking, and there was none! So, poor game!!

@GairRhyddSport #Swansea collect the #Varsity cup but #Cardiff take the shield for most wins over the day. An excellent day of sport.

@LeCase23 Jersey presentation with Xav. Swansea Uni vs Cardiff Uni. Swansea very confident but hopefully Diff has something to say about it.

@xpressdanandtom What a day we've had today @xpressradio reporting for Varsity.

Final Score in the rugby- Cardiff 18 Swansea 28. Unlucky

@xpressradio Waiting on the penalties after a pitch invasion.

When we know what's happening, you will too!

Stick with us!

Above: The match was played in a raucous atmosphere

@GairRhyddSport Fans surround the penalty area for #varsity football! #drama

32Sport

Monday April 04 2011 • gair rhydd • sport@gairrhydd.com

Swansea no match for Cardiff in Varsity badminton

Darren Wong Varsity Badminton Badminton's Varsity started with girls Olivia Payne and Charlie Wigston (Captain) playing singles while Tess Hayden, Jess Shotton and Joanna Ha, Emma Davies paired up to play doubles.

Payne took down her first opponent with ease however, her second match proved a lot harder. Both Swansea games ended 16-21.

Despite Payne playing well; fighting for every point, it just wasn’t quite enough to beat the Swansea player.

Wigston had a tough start to the day and was unable to find her form in her first game.

However, she bounced back in the second game but was unable to take the match to a third set.

Wigston then took the first game from her second opponent with ease.

However, due to some unforced errors she had to take the game to three but then made no mistake in finishing off the match comfortably.

Ha and Davies played a great first match against Swansea despite having never playing together competitively. Ha produced some great attacking shots while Davies, on her debut, consistently finished off the rallies.

Sadly, the errors crept in, most likely due to nervousness and they

were unable to beat the first Swansea pair.

Their second match was a lot better and with their nerves calmed, they served a lot better and were able to take the first game. However they went down in the second and third games by 19 points to 21.

Hayden and Shotton had a shaky first game winning marginally 2118.

However things looked a lot better in the second as they won 21-7.

In the next match, the girl's again took their first game and lost their second.

A win from these girl's would secure victory for the girls' team.

However, despite playing some superb badminton, the pair lost narrowly 19-21 in the final game.

Next up were the men’s singles, played by Dominic Brown and Yee Wai Lim while the doubles were played by James Mignanelli (Captain), Nic Strange, Phil Nicholls and Richard Townsend.

Brown had no trouble beating both the Swansea players as neither could out manouvre him. Brown continuously controlled the rallies well and, when the opportunity came to finish them off, he did so with no mistake.

Wai Lim, having played and lost to his opponent in the Nationals two weeks ago, was very determined to seek revenge.

He played well in the first game but lost focus in the second, and therefore had to play a decider.

Some crafty looking dives kept him in some rallies, but once again, the Swansea player prevailed over Wai as the game finished 19-21.

Having lost his first match, Wai Lim wanted nothing more than to win his next.

Again dominating the first game and losing the second, both players were tired. Unwilling to give up, Wai’s superb court coverage and defence is what kept him in the final game, in which he ended up winning 21-18.

Above: Tess Hayden and Jess Shotton in action

Nicholls and Townsend beat both pairs in straight games. However , each game witnessed long and exhausting rallies. Great attacking and counter-attacking play kept the Cardiff pair in the rallies.

Nicholls played excellently at the back of the court while Townsend was able to intercept any bad returns and kill off the rallies with ease.

Mignanelli and Strange had no trouble taking down the Swansea pair as the latter powered his way

through the rallies with a series of big smashes, while Mignanelli mopped up at the front of the court.

At times, the Cardiff pair were in such control that they looked as they were just teasing the rival Swansea pair.

A day of badminton ended with the men’s team winning 7-1 and the girls losing narrowly 3-5.

However, overall the final score of both teams was 12-6, meaning a comfortable victory for Cardiff in this year’s Varsity.

Cardiff Tigers dominate Swansea Jamie Evans Varsity Basketball Cardiff 86 Swansea 61

Above: Indrek Bauer lays up

The eagerly anticipated Varsity basketball game ended in glory for Cardiff, as the Tigers completely outclassed Swansea University from the tip off.

In what was a high paced game, Cardiff ran out winners by 86 points to 61 at the Welsh Institute of Sport.

Cardiff started brightly in the first quarter and exerted their dominance early. The Tigers racked up a 9-0 lead with some exquisite shots from inside and outside the arc.

Vladislav Nedzveckij was a rock on the defence and acquired some big rebounds whilst also finishing in style at the other end.

Georgi Lokmadzhiev and Vesa Kahilampi also had hot hands on the offence in the first quarter, and

the period ended 21-15 in the Tigers favour.

Swansea upped the aggression in the second quarter and began drawing fouls. This did not impinge on Cardiff ’s game at all though as they took a decisive lead and went 20 points clear at one stage. This included some fantastic back-to-back lay ups from Cardiff ’s Indrek Bauer and solid shooting from Hal Oreck.

As a result, Cardiff went in at the half with a resounding lead as of 47 points to 29.

The half time show was eventful to say the least. As the Cardiff cheerleading squad were dazzling the stands with their impressive routine, a streaker emerged wearing nothing but Swansea face paint.

Swansea came out stronger in the second half, and started draining some baskets with their shooting guard fresh off the bench. Sadly for the away side, Cardiff had answers to everything Swansea had to offer including a nice put back from pow-

er forward Anthony Olowo.

Ioan Nickson’s aerial presence was also evident at both ends as the Tigers continued with their heavy scoring. The third quarter ended with Cardiff now ahead by 61 points to 45.

There were was a glimmer of hope for Swansea as they cut the deficit to just 14 points at one stage in the fourth quarter. However, a huge two pointer from Hal Oreck ended Cardiff ’s drought, and they pushed on from there with some exciting dribbling on the counter attack.

Vladislav Nedzveckij ended the game as impressively as he began it and the game was put to bed when Nedzveckij drew a foul from 3 point range. Nedzveckij then preceded to successfully convert his three attempts from the free throw line.

The Tigers then closed out the game and emerged as resounding Varisty winners as the game ended 86-61.

Sport33

Monday April 04 2011 • gair rhydd • sport@gairrhydd.com

Fowler looks to future after defeat

Cardiff's Head of Rugby says University sport needs financial backing to grow

Martyn Fowler was looking to the future after his Cardiff side were comfortably beaten in the 2011 Varsity match.

Cardiff failed to take their opportunities in a 28-18 defeat at the Millennium Stadium.

“We’re looking at the positives,” said Fowler, “we won the league and we’re in the British cup final.

“As a coaching team, we’ll try to take the emphasis off the defeat.

We knew we were up against it: you only have to look at the strength of their bench. They’ve got boys playing regional rugby.

“They play in a higher league than us week in, week out and that’s the overriding factor. There’s more structure to that league; there’s more directors of rugby; they play a much more structured game and you learn to cope with the pressure and the intensity of that level.

We’ve got to get there and we’re no where near that at the moment.”

Fowler said he was pleased that his side competed for long periods of the game but was disappointed that small margins made the difference. “I honestly thought our decision making in the first half was appalling, nowhere near our standard. We took the wrong options; we were very naive, our accuracy was off.

“I am actually not too disappointed with the defeat. What I am disappointed with is some of our set piece play.

"With the line out defence, we didn’t get a man off the ground once all day; on our line out ball, at times we looked amateurish. That has been probably the strongest area of our game all year. So that’s the biggest disappointed for today from my point of view. My gut feeling was I think we panicked,” said Fowler.

“

If this event is going to grow we need to invest in our clubs

Other areas of Cardiff ’s decision making also frustrated Fowler.

“From our elevated position, we could see the crossfield kick was on for three quarters of the game. We got the message on but for some reason we didn’t execute.”

Cardiff fly-half Cameron Pimlow missed three penalty attempts that could have brought his side back into the game but Fowler refused to rue those missed opportunities.

“He and all the boys are very, very

disappointed and exhausted. But it’s only two years since Cameron Pimlow won the Varsity match for us with his drop goals so what goes around comes around, everyone has his off day.

“Without Pimlow this year we wouldn’t have won the league so I’m certainly not going to put it on one man,” said Fowler who did accept that his side weren’t clinical enough in attack.

Photos: Harry Sutton

Alex Winter Sports Editor

Above: Cardiff Head of Rugby Martyn Fowler “For the first 20 minutes we were hard around the corner in defence and we folded well. But in the second half especially, we dropped off,” said Fowler, “we arrived late at the breakdown; we were taking round the legs and giving them to ability to offload. We’ve got lots to work on.”

Fowler was full of praise for the efforts his side put in but singled out prop Jake Cooper-Wooley. “I thought he was immense throughout the game. He had 18 carries.”

Having come under criticism for his appointment of Mark Schropfer as captain, Fowler also applauded his determination and spirit. “I’ve never met a kid with Mark’s attitude. I took a lot of stick for making him captain. But Mark’s attitude is never say die. If someone presents him with a negative, he’ll give you a positive. He is the perfect team leader for any team sport.”

Despite Schropfer’s efforts, Cardiff slipped to a consecutive defeat but contributed to a thoroughly entertaining game. “I’ve had some feedback from a few of my peers who coach in the Welsh Premiership they said the match came across absolutely fantastically on TV. “There will be a couple of boys there who would probably have picked up a contract off the back of that.

Cardiff have enjoyed a successful year, romping to the BUCs Premier B title, but Fowler said his side’s lack of quality preparation was a major factor in the result. “Winning games 107-0 does nobody any good. The last game we played we won 88-0 and it was finished with 30 minutes to go. That is poor preparation for a game of this intensity.

“Generally we finish the season and go into the Varsity match with a minimum of two high intensity games. We didn’t have that opportunity this year. Again, Swansea play at a better level regularly and that cost us this year without a shadow

Above: Cardiff Captain Mark Schropfer was highly praised by Martyn Fowl-

Above: Tighthead prop Jake Cooper-Wooley was immense, said Fowler of a doubt.”

Fowler is hopeful for the future but says, the Athletic Union needs backing if sport across Cardiff University is to improve. “The biggest test for us next year is proving our credibility. If we can maintain that standard [in Premier A] throughout the season I’ll be happy.

“Hartpury recruit through scholarships, so do UWIC, so do Swansea, so do Bath. Let’s see if the investment comes. We’ve been promised five scholarships off the back of this event; if they’re delivered maybe we can start looking to the future.

“If this event is going to grow, and

it is growing, we need to invest in our clubs. Not just the rugby, all the clubs. We were pushed close with the shield this year; all the clubs here punch above their weight. We need to invest.

“There needs to be avenues to recruit players, as Swansea do. There were nine Swansea players with scholarships; there was one Cardiff player,” said Fowler.

“I’m not saying we should have scholarships above anybody else.

What I am saying is that if we’re going to grow in line with this event, we’ve got to do something.”

It was the first time the Varsity match has been played at the Mil-

lennium Stadium and Cardiff ’s Head of Rugby was delighted with the event – a match fitting of the venue. “I think this event needs to be here every year,” said Fowler, “I’m good friends with the Director of Rugby at Oxford University.

He says they were at the same level as we are now 15 years ago. With their first TV coverage, they had 11,000 in attendance. He claims it grew by 5,000 people a year.

“We need TV and we need to work closer with the WRU. The focus as a student event should never be taken away but we need to use the expertise of the WRU to help the event grow.”

34Sport

Monday April 04 2011 • gair rhydd • sport@gairrhydd.com

Valiant Cardiff lose o Alex Bywater Varsity Rugby

After a tumultuous day of sporting action, the 15th anniversary of Varsity culminated in a thrilling finale at the home of Welsh rugby, the Millennium Stadium. In a tremendous game, Swansea retained the Varsity Cup after a clinical win over a determined Cardiff side.

Despite the defeat, Cardiff acquitted themselves well and were by no means disgraced against a top quality Swansea outfit.

Indeed the home side started the game in bright fashion after receiving possession from the kick off. A sustained spell of early pressure saw Cardiff left winger Will Jones escape and break into Swansea’s 22. This kick-started a continued assault from Cardiff as their opponents really struggled to assert themselves early on.

Cardiff ’s pack enjoyed a particularly impressive start, driving forward and continually winning set piece ball off the line out with prop Jake Cooper-Wooley particularly to the fore with some fantastic carries. From such a line out, Cardiff pressure resulted in an early penalty after Swansea strayed offside. Cameron Pimlow stepped up to put Cardiff into what was a well deserved 3-0 lead.

In contrast to Cardiff ’s impeccable early set piece, a loose ball from a Swansea line out eventually led to a second penalty given away by the visitors. Pimlow however was unable to punish the error as his kick from the right hand side sailed wide. As the clock ticked past the 15 minute mark though, Swansea did not escape unpunished.

An early tackle on open side flanker Stewart Hendry gave Pimlow the chance to make amends for

Photos: Robert Walton

Cardiff 18 Swansea 28

Above: Cardiff and Swansea come together in the line out his earlier miss as he pushed Cardiff into a 6-0 lead.

Despite Cardiff ’s impressive start, it only took one chance for Swansea to reply in emphatic fashion.

In what was a clinical move, Cardiff found themselves short of numbers on the blind side with hooker Ross Grimstone outnumbered. Winger David Evans’ offload

saw Swansea second row Henry Boot go over for the try.

Cardiff Coach Martyn Fowler later argued that the try should have been disallowed for crossing but Referee Nigel Owens failed to blow up.

Fly half Aled Lewis added the extras to put Swansea into the lead for the first time.

The score was a real blow to Car-

Above: Cardiff line up before kick-off

diff and came from the visitor’s first real attack of the game, demonstrating the strength of Swansea’s clinical attacking play. As the first half wore on, the physicality of the game came to the fore with both sets of forwards attempting to gain an advantage at the breakdown.

This was a very competitive area where Cardiff stood up well to what was an extremely physical Swansea pack.

Cardiff responded well to going behind and after Swansea were penalised for going straight down at a ruck, Pimlow had the chance to regain the lead for Cardiff. Sadly, a tough kick from wide out on the right hand touchline drifted wide.

With an extremely tight game unfolding, Swansea struck a dagger to Cardiff ’s heart just before the half time whistle.

Good offloading in the tackle and support on the shoulder of the ball carrier, pleasing features of Swansea’s attacking play, eventually saw scrum-half Tom Rowlands go over under the posts for a great score. Lewis again added the extra two points to put Swansea up by 14 points to six as the teams went in at half time.

Looking for an immediate response as the second half got underway, Cardiff were presented with a great opportunity when they

were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Disappointingly, Pimlow again put his kick wide. Although the missed kicks would have been unlikely to change the outcome of the game, they would still have been a cause of regret for the Cardiff side.

As the second period wore on, both sides made a series of substitutions. As Swansea Coach Richard Lancaster put it after the game, “there were a lot of tired bodies out there” that necessitated the need for replacements.

For Cardiff, James Reeves and Jordan Wood entered the fray though the constant stream of replacements seemed to undermine the flow of the game to some extent.

Both sides struggled to retain possession and arguably kicked the ball away too much.

Cardiff ’s lack of accuracy, knocking the ball forward on 11 occasions was also a particular irritation to Coach Fowler who also described their line out as, “shocking.” The seven turnovers conceded

by Cardiff also did no help to their chances.

With Cardiff behind, Fowler made more changes in an attempt to freshen up his side.

Rhys Price and Josh Porter came on in the forwards but were immediately forced to watch as Swansea

Sport35

Monday April 04 2011 • gair rhydd • sport@gairrhydd.com

out in thriller

Individual mistakes cost Cardiff dear Alex Winter Analysis

Above: Cardiff fly-half Cameron Pimlow lines up a kick at goal

Above: The two teams battle it out at a scrum pulled further clear courtesy of a try from powerful number eight Dan George. Lewis again converted to put Swansea into a comfortable 21-6 lead.

Swansea’s efficiency in turning pressure into points was one of the main differences between the sides, their ability to off-load in the tackle causing severe problems for Cardiff ’s defence.

Despite tiring bodies, Cardiff responded admirably when it looked like the game was slipping away from them. From a penalty on the halfway line, Pimlow kicked to the corner where the forwards won set piece ball.

After a series of phases, a short pass from captain Mark Schropfer saw impressive prop Cooper-Wooley crash over just to the left of the

posts. Pimlow added the conversion and with an hour gone Cardiff had a sniff of a comeback.

With time ticking towards the 80 minute mark, the game became increasingly stretched as both teams tired. Pimlow produced a brilliant chip and chase over the onrushing Swansea defence but failed to gather and from the resulting break, only a fantastic tap tackle prevented Swansea replacement Rhodri Apsee from going over.

Cardiff ’s desire to get back into the game was commendable, though with the game so open, Swansea always looked like scoring another.

Indeed from a breakaway attack, Lewis sealed the win for Swansea and broke the hearts of the thousands of Cardiff fans. The fly-half escpaed the clutches of Cardiff's

gair rhydd sport

Man of the Match Jake Cooper-Wooley

defence and touched down despite a fantastic last ditch tackle by Cardiff winger Brett Chatwin.

Despite failing to regain the Varsity trophy, Cardiff can be proud of a performance which saw them compete admirably with a side that plays in a league above them.

Their resilience and tenacity of performance showed signs that they will be able to compete well in the league next year. As Fowler put it afterwards, this will be the real test of this side into the future. Indeed before the final whistle was sounded, Cardiff responded with a late try. Replacement forward James Reeves touched down in the left hand corner after being set up by fellow substitute Jack Perkins but sadly it was too little too late.

Cardiff: Ieuan Coombes, Brett Chatwin, Adam Greendale, Ross Wardle, Will Jones, Cameron Pimlow, Mark Schropfer (captain); Dan Lewis, Stewart Hendry, Nic Huntley, Lee Bray, James Murphy, Jake Cooper-Wooley, Ross Grimstone, Geoff Lewin Replacements: James Reeves, Rhys Price, Nathan Bridson, Josh Porter, Gareth Jones, Jordan Wood, Joe Casella, Steffan Morgan, Jack Perkins, Charlie Simpson Attendance: 14,789

It was a big occasion that required a big performance. Cardiff couldn’t quite raise their game to what was needed at the Millennium Stadium.

They did plenty of things well.

They worked hard, competed well at the breakdown and generally matched Swansea physically.

They also tried to play rugby.

There was plenty of ambition in the backline and only a knock-on yards from the line prevented a flourishing move being finished in the first half.

However, for all their endeavour they lacked that ounce of quality both in technical skill and intelligence that could of made the difference.

Handling is a rudimentary skill of rugby and while the occasional lapse in concentration can be excused, Cardiff made far too many mistakes.

The result being, the pressure they were able to apply was released too easily. A knock-on cost them a try in the first half and maybe cost another when Cameron Pimlow failed to gather his own chip and chase in the second half. Other handling errors saw promising positions breakdown.

Swansea became more comfortable in defence knowing that remaining organised and making their tackles would force a mistake.

Time and again, especially in the second half, it did.

But Cardiff applied plenty of pressure, especially in the first half where they dominated possession and territory.

Critically, what they failed to do was turn pressure into points – the cardinal sin of rugby. The number of visits to the Swansea 22 in the first half should have produced at least one try.

They would have been let off the hook had Pimlow not missed two penalties but the half time deficit was particularly demoralising given the balance of play.

And that was the difference between the two teams. Swansea were starved of ball in the opening 40 minutes but the first time they put three phases together in the Cardiff half they scored and went over again with their second meaningful attack.

Swansea had the quality to get support runners in the right positions. All of their tries came from good offloading, keeping the attack moving forward and stretching Cardiff's defence.

Cardiff also lacked the intelligence to recognise where opportunities had opened. Numerous times the Swansea full back was standing far too deep and space was available to kick into. Only once was this space realised and a box kick gained Cardiff 30 yards.

More intelligent use of the space available, especially in the second half where Cardiff lacked the territory they enjoyed in the first, may have applied more pressure on the Swansea back three.

Match Statistics Cardiff

Swansea Tries scored

2

Scrums

5

4 4

Penalties conceded

4 7 11 55%

12

Turn-overs

3

Knock-ons

2

Possession Source: gair rhydd Sport

45%

Your Varsity 2011 << Inside

Sport

Photos: Harry Sutton

Varsity 2011

Last Wednesday saw hundreds of students participate in the 15th annual Welsh Varsity. The Welsh Institute of Sport played host to some thrilling matches and the day culminated in the gripping mens rugby match - held for the first time at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. gair rhydd Sport were there to see it all and this week we give you comprehensive commentary and coverage of all the day's events.

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