The Leopard (March 2011) by The Leopard

March 2011 Issue 004 Free

Web: www.theleopard.co.cc E-mail: leopard@su.gold.ac.uk Twitter: @leopardnews

ELECTION RESULTS IN - SABBATICAL AND ASSEMBLY POSTS

CONTENTS: ON UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE. NEWS POETRY.

SU Sabbatical Elections Produce Close Result DEVIL’S ADVOCATE. COMMENTS. LEOPARD’S EYE. REVIEWS. COLUMNS. LISTINGS EVENTS PAGE 12 Johnny Blonde, Editor-in-Chief The results are in, amid a crowded Students Union bar, Democracy and Representation officer Denis Shukur announced the winners on a tense Thursday evening. Due to the new

online voting system, the results were available almost as soon as the polls had closed earlier that day. From a field of four candidates & the Re-open nominations option [r.o.n], James Haywood had the election called in his favour by a wide margin to become President-elect for next

year. Seen from the outset as the frontrunner, Haywood won with a margin of 353 votes and reaching the quota required in the first round. Sabbatical Positions The presidential result was the last of

Veggie down at the #Meateasy By Seb Wheeler

There’s a cult in operation above the old Goldsmith’s Tavern and it’s called #MEATEASY. The smell of it alone has convinced people to become fully fledged converts. It’s amazing what a burger can do. The ones that #MEATEASY specialise in have had journalists raving, foodies rejoicing and anyone with even a passing interest in

good-time fast-food falling over themselves to get a taste at the high alter of minced beef. But #MEATEASY has darker intentions than its American diner style menu lets on. Because beneath the spot-on selection of comforting soul-food lies a long list of defeated vegetarians, all of whom have broken their moral

the Sabbatical positions which ended with all three Sabbatical incumbents remaining from this year. James Haywood, current Campaigns and Communications officer will become president. Continues on Page 4 code to try one of #MEATEASY’s famed patties. The memory of each veggie is chalked up on the wall of the #MEATEASY premises and cherished by those who operate its sizzling kitchen. Before my arrival they had so far coaxed 25 people. I was the 26th and latest in a growing number of vegetarians to forgo all ethics for what many are calling the best burger in London town. Continues on Page 10

Now 16 pages for March! New Lifestyle & Culture section 8-10

SPORTS INTERVIEW. VARSITY 2011.

GUEST COMIC ACTVITIES CROSSWORD

THE LEOPARD MARCH 2011

WELCOME News in Brief Stories for the breakfast table.

Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania. Photo: Ali Damji

Politics Dept. shuns grant report

Last academic year, third year International Studies student Joshua Palfreman was awarded a politics department grant by Goldsmiths named the George Blunden Travel Award. He was given this award to research issues concerning waste management and

recycling in Dar es Salaam,Tanzania. After finding it difficult to publicise his research after his department had ‘no further interest’, Joshua has completed his report and published it online. The full report can now be read on; http://www.scribd.com/doc/47108532/ Waste-Management-in-Dar-es-Salaam and more information on the George Blunden Travel Award can be found on; http://www.gold.ac.uk/ug/costs/ travel_study_abroad_awards/

How should we make decisions with our students’ union?

A working group has been set up to review the Students’ Unions current democratic processes in order to increase participation from students in decision making. We would like to gain an insight into your experiences so far of democracy in the Union, and find out what you want, or need, so that your voice is heard and what we should change so that you can be involved in decision making, in a way that you want to. If you are interested in sharing your opinions to help change the way we make decisions then please go to this page: http://fs2.formsite.com/Bindz/form1/ index.html

The design cafe it its original location, a stairwell now fills the space.

Design Cafe stays shut

Late last year the student run Design Cafe had to close due to remodelling in the Lockwood building foyer where it is located. While the building work was taking place the contractors took over the location leaving no space for the cafe to operate, indeed even the counter of the cafe itself was used without permission to store paints, tools and stereos brought with the workmen. However since the start of this term,

there has been little to no service run by the third year design group for the cafe. The work has been completed on the foyer and the design cafe was moved to a different part of it, and was only seen open for one week since. It is not known why the design cafe has remained shut and nor is it known why the counter has been removed from the entrance. However the third year design group have recently announced that there will be a Spring Ball on the 30th March at the Rivoli Ballroom in Brockley. This organised no doubt by the loss of revenue from the closed cafe.

- From Goldsmiths Students’ Union communication.

Letter from the editors

The Leopard Editors-In-Chief: Johnny Blonde Hannah Wright Layout: Pug Rock Design Leopard Logo: Emily Harthern Executive Editor: James Haywood

Sub Editor: James Howell Sports Desk: Steve Howe Illustration Desk: Abbie Cohen Contributors:

Nindya Atmodipoero Catherine Madden Interested in becoming a Francine Maynard-Gay contributor in any area of Guthrie Mitton-McKellar The Leopard? Rachel Rowney E-mail: Bacon Stopar leopard@su.gold.ac.uk Natalie Trendler Seb Wheeler Joyce Yang A special mention to our Student Alice Yehia Awards nominated writers: Nindya Atmodipoero Steve Howe Joanna Jackson Seb Wheeler The Leopard is a publication printed on newsprint, so after you have finished with it please pass it on so others can read it or take care to recycle or re-use it. Save those trees, reduce those rubbish dumps and be kinder to the environment!

As I sit here writing this, we still haven’t got everything done. We’ve done everything from hunting for the main cover image to getting all our articles in from our wonderful contributors. But we haven’t finished yet and we were meant to go to print yesterday morning! The sports section is the one big thing left to be finished, got some great coverage on Varsity from our dedicated Sports Editor, Steve. This month’s issue has definitely been the hardest so far we’ve gone up from 12 pages to 16 and at the busiest time of year it seems. We’re approaching Easter and most the third years are running around like headless chickens and too involved in their courses to devote all their time to extra-curricular activities and it’s not exactly un-busy for any other year either. We’re in the process of launching an online version of The Leopard too, that should be live by the time you read this, so head on over to www. theleopard.co.cc or find us on the Students’ Union website and we’ll be there. What does this mean? You’ll be able to submit and read articles all year round while you’re waiting for another issue to fall into your hands. The weather has been getting better recently and we definitely are headed for the spring, so enjoy it readers and have a great Easter too. (I hear someone’s getting married) As for us, we’ll see you in May but don’t hesitate to e-mail if you want to contact us sooner! See Ya. Johnny + Hannah

Four police officers cuff and arrest an unidentified man in the library. Photo:leopardmedia

Man arrested during 24 hour library period

In January during the 24-hour opening period of the Rutherford Information Services Building a man was arrested after assaulting a security guard. The event, which took place on the 17th January 2011 started when a man, suspected of not being a Goldsmiths student tried to access the library carrying a few cans of lager in a bag. When questioned by the security guard he insisted that he had friends inside the library who had invited him. The unidentified man, who appeared to be in his late twenties to early thirties proceeded to enter the library with the security guards repeatedly telling him to leave the premises as he wasn’t a Goldsmiths student. The well-spoken

but visibly drunk man protested vocally for a few minutes until he then turned violent and punched a security guard almost knocking him down. At that point more site security came down at which point the man was trying to leave the library, but at this point he was being stopped from leaving until the police arrived. After a few minutes two policemen entered the library and the man began violently resisting them as they tried to calm him down. They had to resort to restraining him which proved a hard task until more uniform arrived to assist. Eventually Seven police officers were present at which point the man was subdued after being forced to the floor and was read his rights. After the altercation had ended and the man carted away, the library returned to it’s normal study focused way. One police officer also suffered a minor injury requiring first aid.

MARCH 2011 THE LEOPARD

NEWS

Goldsmiths students to be on University Challenge TV round

The Goldsmiths University Challenge team have made it past the non-televised rounds for the first time since formation of the team. Kettle ‘mascot’ not allowed. The university team based quiz show hosted by Jeremy Paxman usually has teams from the colleges of Oxford, Cambridge and other red-brick establishments, who often go on to win series after series. Hobbies for the contestants tend to be rowing, yachting and wine tasting. So it may come as a surprise that Goldsmiths have now qualified to join the elite in being grilled by ‘The Pax’. The only University of London team to ever win a series of University Challenge has been Birkbeck College who won back in 2003 and were also the runners up in 1998. So that means Goldsmiths have a bit of form to live up to. Through the trials Tom Bush, the team’s captain said the trial stage was fine despite having to answer 40 ‘fairly tough’ questions; ‘There wasn’t too much pressure. Essex uni were doing it with us and they were really dull’. Within Goldsmiths it has been Manoj Kerai who has overseen the team selection for the last couple of years and he seemed excited that a team from the college have made it through

this year. He said that they have made Goldsmiths proud but remained tight lipped about who won the TV round. No kettling tactics from BBC The show, which is scheduled to be broadcast in September has already made National headlines. The Telegraph reported recently that the team were banned from displaying their quiz mascot; a white kettle. While Paxman apparently found it funny, the BBC did not “Teams are allowed toy mascots, but it was deemed not appropriate to have the kettle.” Tom described the confiscation as ‘disappointing’ and the BBC’s actions clearly struck a nerve saying he was ‘censored by the oppressive BBC fascist bureaucracy’ but was glad that the audience were booing loudly in solidarity. And Paxman’s really nice in real life apparently.

It will be Goldsmiths sitting opposite from Paxman this September Photo: Jodrell Bank

THE LEOPARD MARCH 2011

UNION NEWS - ELECTION RESULTS Three Sabbaticals retain positions in Students Union

Election Tables

Two part time officers also ran for re-election and won Goldsmiths SU have moved away from paper ballots like this to an online fomat. Photo: Grodada

Continued from front page Francesca Bancarino moves to the changed post of Education officer from Welfare and Education coming 1st out of a field of 5 candidates and r.o.n. Manoj Kerai, current Activities and Services officer also stormed to his second successive win in as many years to become Welfare and Diversity officer for 2011/12. Haywood’s vacant post of Campaigns and Communications officer presented the chance for at least one new Sabbatical officer as the two candidates have not held a Sabbatical position before. The post for next year, which will become just a Campaigns role was contested by Laura Hartley and Samson Osun and it was the closest result of the night and for any election in recent memory (including the 13 vote margin of victory for Jennifer Jones in the ‘09 elections). Under the STV (Single Transferrable Vote) system any candidate needs over 50% of all the votes cast for that position to win it. As you vote in order

of preference, i.e. your first vote for candidate D and second for Candidate B if no one candidate reaches the 50% quota, then the candidate with the fewest votes gets eliminated and their second preference votes get allocated to the remaining candidates. In this case the magic number needed was 403.5 votes. Laura Hartley had 399. Samson Osun had 401. R.o.n. 23. Two votes separated the top two candidates. After r.o.n was eliminated Laura Hartley had 401 and Samson Osun hit 406. New Campaigns officer for ‘11/12 won by 5 votes and two and a half over the quota needed. That’s what they call close in any election. At the results night the atmosphere was filled with static. Before the excitement of the Sabbatical results, the student assemble positions were revealed and despite Denis Shukur accidentally announcing that Soren Goard was trounced by r.o.n for the position of Campaigns coordinator when it was infact the other way round, these results were a less tense affair. The new position of Sports officer was

Below and on the opposite page are all the results of the 2011 election. Starting with Student Trustee (because it won’t fit on the other page) and continuing onto the Sabbatical positions Student Trustee Amy Pidwill Arif Ali Anglea Batchelor Matt West RON Total votes: Result:

hotly contested but Paddy Donovan and Grace Godfrey [jobshare] won it convincingly after the 3rd round run-off. All four Student Trustee candidates were also elected, there being four vacant positions for the Trustee board next year, with Matt West getting the most votes by a margin of 36. Amy Pidwill was also re-elected as a Student Trustee for a second year. Tom Williams was also running for re-election in his post as Assembly Chair and he won by 40 votes beating opposition from Harry Hughes. An increase in votes Last year 1249 people voted, a year in which the Union still issued paper ballots and this year 1489 people voted

then to the Assembly chair and Student Assembly positions. There are no RON upsets this year but take a look and see who was running, how many people voted and who won by the largest margin.

4 positions open 165 (165) 164.96 (101) 138 (138) 126.4 (201) 37.4 (27) 632 All elected

using the online system, amounting to a modest increase this year over last year, which is still a rise but nothing like the 300% increase we saw in the online by-elections earlier this academic year. Writing on the Student Union website Denis Shukur said ‘2011 saw an electoral turnout of 18% which is up from the previous year by 3%’, this number is still far from having a majority of students vote for their union (the college has an electorate of around 8000 students) but it’s a step in the right direction. Keeping it clean Unless reports come out in the future, it seems that this election and its campaign was a clean and pleasant affair, there was no mudslinging between candi-

That’s it until next year, when there will definitely be three new Sabbatical officers running whatever happens.

You’ve voted for Goldsmiths now vote for London

Things don’t stay quiet around here for long

the Student Union elections. More elections, this time without the political twist. Instead they will be focusing on three parts; Firstly, the university’s media like Wired, Smiths, Made in Goldsmiths and for the first time ever The Leopard. Also the 16 Departmental representatives are being elected and lastly our NUS Delegate who will go with the Union president to the NUS annual conference. Voting takes place for these positions on the 29th and 30th March and the results are announced at noon on Thursday 31st March.

dates and the corridors did not become hostile voter hunting grounds like in the past. However it was heard that one candidate had to ditch a nice batch of baked goods as that could’ve been seen as a bribe. This atmosphere was no doubt helped in part by the fact that we have seen a very stable and motivated Students Union this year with lots of talk and action benefiting Goldsmiths students and beyond. A successful Nursery campaign and attending national demonstrations would be grand examples of this. All candidates and voters this year seemed to be keen to further this positive attitude.

ULU Elections up next

Coming up after the elections...

The election fever around the Union and the rest of the college has died down, the dust has settled and people are going about their normal everyday business again. Varsity is happening (of which we have plenty of coverage about), the Student Awards are coming up (and we have 4 great contributors nominated) and there’s always more posters to put up and take down advertising gigs and what not. But there is no normal day around here, the dust may settle but it’s going to get kicked back up again. Protests are about, there will be Marches in March and not to forget

% 26.1 26.1 (15.9) 21.8 20.0 (31.8) 5.9 (4.2)

Current ULU President Clare Solomon

Hot on the heels of our elections comes the University of London Union elections, which usually receive a lot less promotion and coverage round the streets of New Cross. We’re trying to remedy that. By the time we’ve got to the news stands they polls will almost be closed (12:00 16th March - vote if you read us early!) so the early birds here really will get the worm. The elections this year might be of significant importance because Claire Solomon the current ULU President is running for re-election. You may

remember her as one of the first student figureheads to speak out against NUS President Aaron Porter and support the direct action that occurred on the 10th November in the vicinity of the Millbank Tower. One other position of interest, particularly for us here at The Leopard is that of the London Student Editor, our sister (or aunt?) paper of the University of London. Running for Editor is Hesham Zakai and Alex Hackett, who is current Editor-in-Chief for The Heythrop Lion, another new paper for a UoL college this year.

Voting takes place online at; http://www.ulu.co.uk/elections/ election/ and the full roster of candidates running is; President: Vratislav Domalip Clare Solomon Vice-President: Ikramul Choudry Sean Rill Raczka Kaye Selby Viktoria Szmolar Emilie Tapping London Student Editor: Alex Hackett Hesham Zakai Student Trustees: Ian Drummond Abs Hassanali Hannah Kelly James Meadway Christopher Miller Ross Speer Daniel Valentine and of course R.O.N Good luck to all candidates.

MARCH 2011 THE LEOPARD

President James Haywood Robert Searle Mark McCormick Simon Richardson RON Total votes: Result: Campaigns Officer Samson Osun Laura Hartley RON Total votes: Result: Education Officer Francesca Bancarino Peter Hose Adiata Sabina Carey Christian Chris Costello RON Total votes: Result: Welfare and Diversity Officer Manoj Kerai Jack Perry Steve Howe Sarah Finney RON Total Votes Result: Sabbaticals 2011/12

James Haywood

Samson Osun

Francesca Bancarino

Manoj Kerai

ELECTION RESULTS - UNION NEWS 493 140 128 118 27 906 James Haywood elected

% 54.4 15.6 14.1 13.0 2.9

% 406 (401) 49.3 (48.7) 401 (399) 48.7 (48.4) 0 (23) Redistributed under STV 0 (2.8) 823 Samson Osun elected % 393 (361) 50.2 (46.1) 142 (137) 18.2 (17.5) 131 (115) 16.8 (14.7) 82 (75) 10.5 (9.6) 0 (72) Redistributed under STV 0 (9.2) 0 (15) Redistributed under STV 0 (1.9) 782 Francesca Bancarino elected % 508 53.8 170 17.9 139 14.7 117 12.4 11 1.2 945 Manoj Kerai elected Assembly Chair % Tom Williams 381 61.5 Harry Huges 201 32.5 RON 36 6.0 Total votes: 618 Result: Tom Williams re-elected Womensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Officer % A. Rheingans & T. White 522 85.6 RON 88 14.4 Total votes: 610 Result: Rheingans & White elected Student Parent Officer % Rebecca Wright 392 70.4 RON 165 29.6 Total votes: 557 Result: Rebecca Wright elected Sports Officer % P. Donovan & G. Godfrey 379 (287) 54.0 (40.9) G. Jefferies & G. Sidwick 240 (194) 34.2 (27.6) Fleur Ydema 0 (111) (redist. votes) 0 (15.8) Pratik Shah 0 (77) (redist. votes) 0 (11.0) RON 0 (33) (redist. votes) 0 (4.7) Total votes: 702 Result: Donovan & Godfrey elected

Black and Minority Ethnic Students Officer

Yomm Alkaisi Bishara Abdi RON Total votes: Result:

396 322 51 769 Yomm Alkaisi elected

Campaigns Coordination Officer

Soren Goard RON Total votes: Result:

560 143 703 Soren Goard elected

Campus Officer

Siobhan Finnegan RON Total votes: Result:

561 114 675 Siobhan Finnegan elected

Disabled Students Officer

Lee Jones RON Total votes: Result:

460 184 644 Lee Jones elected

494 110 604 Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal elected

Mature Students Officer

Katharina Herold Eric Vincent RON Total votes: Result:

320 (317) 314 (311) 0 (28) (redist. votes) 656 Katharina Herold elected

LGBT Students Officer

Joe Killin RON Total votes: Result:

519 113 632 Joe Killin elected

Ethical and Environmental Officer

Mille Cartwright Rasty Sherwani Ahmed Kamel RON Total votes: Result:

% 83.1 16.9

% 71.4 28.6

81.8 18.2

% 48.7 (48.3) 47.8 (47.4) 0 (4.3)

% 82.1 17.9

International Students Officer

Mohammed Kellow Kaman Abilov RON Total votes: Result:

79.7 20.3

Palestine Twinning Officer

Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal RON Total votes: Result:

51.5 41.9 6.63

378 59.5 167 26.3 90 14.2 635 Mohammed Kellow elected % 390 159 127 14 690 Millie Cartwright elected

56.5 23.0 18.4 2.1

*Numbers in brackets note first round votes/percentage of votes.

THE LEOPARD MARCH 2011

NEWS Political issues turning sour in Dairy State By Bacon Stopar - Wisconsinite reporter

You may have never heard of it, but Wisconsin is a pretty swingin’ state (politcally speaking). There, in the 1850’s, an anti-slavery political group called the Republican Party (the then liberal northerners) was signed into existence. For 38 years between 1910-1960 its largest city was the only Socialist city in the nation; in the 1950’s Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy started a communist witch-hunt later nicknamed ‘McCarthyism’ in his honour, and in 1970 a state university building was blown up to protest the Vietnam War, killing a security guard. Most importantly, just this past February, our very own the Green Bay Packers won the Superbowl for the fourth time in history. Unfortunately, this recent victory has been soured by the newest political upheaval in the state. When newly elected governor Scott Walker of the Republican Party attempted to “fix the budget on the backs of the working class,” the outrage was monumental. Walker’s bill, which was mostly aimed at state unions, cut health-care and

pension benefits to state workers. The unions agreed to these measures, but refused to accept a darker aspect of the bill that would see their collective bargaining rights disappear. In the past two weeks we’ve seen 8,000 people occupying the state capitol building in Madison and up to 60,000 people protesting the bill in the area immediately surrounding it. Nearby school districts have had to cancel classes for up to a week while teachers ‘called in sick’ to join the march. Although the Republicans have enough votes to pass the bill (19), they need at least 20 members of the House to be present to vote on it. Knowing this, the 14 Democrat congressmen have left the state for Illinois, refusing to return until the voices of those they represent are heard. But it’s not just local news. With celebrities such as Michael Moore and Tom Morello coming to show their support for the unions, and Tea Party members from around the nation fighting on the side of Scott Walker, it’s heating up debates all over the country.

The protests have been featured on a variety of national news programs, and even headlined The Guardian’s website for a few hours. The final outcome will likely affect a variety of other state bills also trying to balance their budget along the same premise. Basically, whichever way Wisconsin falls, it’s likely other states will fall as well. It may seem unlikely that a place you never heard of could have such an effect on all of the United States, but hey, it’s happened to us before; we’re used to it. Since article was written by our correspondent, the ‘Wisconsin situation has changed’ to the effect that the bill has acutally passed, with the Republicans removing all the financial initiatives from the bill. In the state a money bill requires 20 members of the house to vote but a non-money bill does not. The issue still hangs by a thread over many an American. - Ed.

Protesters marching in Madison, WI, the State capital. Photo: xylite

International Women’s Day Poetry news By Catherine Madden

Piropo on International Woman’s Day

Dreams and fears in finding the perfect job By Alice Yehia

Spring has arrived, and with it, 3rd year and master’s degree students are about to say goodbye to the student life and prepare to embrace their new journey as full time graduates. Although many choose to continue their studies and remain in the academic environment, for others the time has come to face one of the toughest competitions and challenges out there: finding a job. Being a University of London graduate should represent a stepping stone towards a great career and future, and with help like the Goldsmiths Career Service, one should think that it would be fairly easy to get an internship, work as a volunteer or get a job. However, nowadays with the recent recession and increasing demands, it has become harder to make the transition from being a student to being fully responsible and independent when it comes to earning your own money and building a career.

Photo: Matt Ward

When thinking of Goldsmiths, the first thing that might come to someone’s mind is art. Therefore it would only be logical that most of the students here would wish to pursue an art related career. When talking to some soon to be Goldsmiths graduates, all the opinions on the desired job seemed to be unanimous: definitely something that has to do with what they have studied, and nothing that does not require their years spent studying, researching and missing out on parties and fun nights. Lucinda, a Goldsmiths student doing her master’s degree in Design - Critical Practice confesses: ‘I’ve studied graphic design before and I’m trying to find a job in art or design’, but admits that ‘I think it will be hard to find an art related job’. Her thoughts are also shared by Yuhan, an MA in Community Arts student, who has applied as a volunteer for different jobs, but unfortunately did

not get them. Her dream job would be: ‘working with art to make social change’. The essential questions we should ask ourselves in this case are: how hard is it to get into this field? What kind of qualities does someone need in order to make himself or herself stand out from the crowd? Is today’s society ready to embrace the idea of art as a necessity and not just an ‘extra’? What is clear nowadays is that, according to the Office for National Statistics, unemployment amongst new graduates has doubled in the last ten years, reaching a whopping 20%. This harsh reality might be the factor that could trigger a stop in searching for the perfect job and a start in looking for a more immediate one ; a job that pays, but that does not necessarily represent our hopes and dreams, or reflect our qualities, a job that is here ‘today’ in order to ensure our ‘tomorrow’.

She, who is loud And loyal and burpy, Distorted her face Away from the child Who spoke like a man. “Nice tits!”

And I, who’ve read of such things, Said nothing But a nervous laugh. A nervous laugh And a nervous life To be scared of kids and Their tits.

WANT MORE?

CONTRIBUTORS WANTED. leopard@su.gold.ac.uk

MARCH 2011 THE LEOPARD

COMMENT & OPINION

Who Are We Electing?

Rachel Rowney admits her lack of knowledge about who represents her and questions the reasons why.

DEVIL’S ADVOCATE By James Howell

OK, I’m going to admit something, I’ll probably be hunted down for it, but oh well here it goes – I only found what Goldsmiths’ current head of the Student Union looked like about two weeks ago. Yes, yes I know, shocking isn’t it; but hang on, who’s to blame? I’m not exactly knee deep in extra curricular activities, but apart from the odd email, I don’t think I’ve ever even been (nor anyone I know) approached by someone who is supposed to be representing ‘me’ at Goldsmiths. With the student elections drawing to a close, I have to ask, will we ever (‘we’ meaning the electorate of Goldsmiths) really be influenced and changed by these people’s policies? These student elections were definitely sprung upon us; the Student Union seemed an unreachable group of people who were there today (as far as I knew as a naïve and innocent fresher) and always had been. Then, suddenly, I have people throwing themselves at me along the corridor, thrusting pink and green slips of paper into my hands, telling me passionately to ‘vote for them’, and even invading the beginning of my lectures to argue across their manifesto. Now, please don’t misunderstand me, I

admire hugely the effort and courage it takes to put yourself out there in front of others. However, how am I supposed to vote for someone as a ‘Campaigns Officer’ or ‘Sports Officer’ when I don’t have a full understanding of what his or her job entails? Or how much of their manifesto has come from their own opinions, or asking others? Or even what their degree or last name is? As a first time voter in 2010’s General Election, the live debates between the party leaders really grabbed my attention; could something similar to this (albeit on a smaller scale) be introduced to Goldsmiths? Some may call me cynical - and I really hope I am proved wrong - but how often will I see these people again? Are there going to be meetings, fundraisers or even social events that have the primary function of ‘getting to know your union reps’? Are these people really interested in my time and experiences at Goldsmiths, or do they just want to fluff up their CV? I suppose the phrase, ‘too little, too late’ springs to mind, but may I suggest if someone is thinking of standing to run for a spot on the next year’s Student Union maybe start campaigning a little more than two weeks before the elections? Just a thought.

The ‘Miss Universe’ Manifesto

By Nindya Atmodipoero Is plain talking the smart thing to do in an election or should we all start speaking of our own Big Societies? Running for an election is like working in an advertising agency, only more politicized. Various campaigning methods: online, flyers, speech, manifesto, and etc. work as advertisements to draw attention to the candidates in the eye of the voters. Within these campaigns, the candidates’ political intentions and goals are foregrounded as it is asserted in their manifesto. Whilst it is true that a manifesto should include positive and beneficial working plans, I often find this statement rather far-fetched, if not utopic.

Initiatives such as “Bringing justice and making positive impact”, “Equality for all staff and student” are vaguely preposterous. In addition, these pledges sound as cliché as the “World Peace” pledge of beauty pageant contestants. Perhaps these are just a matter of wording selection, however if the goal of these gimmicks is to attract voters, then to the contrary it has failed to do so. In relation to the recent Goldsmiths’ Student Union election, it turned out that candidates with ‘small’ working plans were more favourable than candi-

A Jewish man protesting in support of Palestine in London and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Photos: naughton321/masser

Presuming Palestine

After a reasonable personal response to the first Devil’s Advocate column I have been allowed to continue to prod and poke the issues in and around Goldsmiths and the Student union. With the elections just gone it has been hard to know where to start. However something struck me when browsing through the manifestos of the candidates. Apart from there being quite a lot of repetitive elements in the manifestos, one of the agreements was that Goldsmiths should be a pro-Palestinian in the troubles over Gaza and the West Bank. The issue that must be raised with the heavily pro Palestine agenda in Goldsmiths is that there is no debate whether a British institution should be so heavily involved in Middle Eastern politics and the ramifications this has dates with grand manifesto. Another thing that I noticed from the winning candidates’ manifesto is the detailed plan of actions, for example: twicetermly student sportsmanship awards and Landlords Blacklists. It is this specificity that won the vote of the students. Thus, presenting grand manifestos is not only a futile attempt to win them over, but also indirectly undermining their political intelligence. I don’t mean to impose cynicism and discourage grandiose plans since I do believe that everything is possible. Nevertheless, for leadership is a matter of succession rather than creation, attainability is the key to the mission’s accomplishment. Right: A grand manifesto lost in the words?

on the university. For example, the newly elected Palestine Twinning officer, Jaswinda Blackwell-Pal, states in her manifesto ‘I have helped put on successful meetings and debates on a range of topics surrounding the occupation. In the future I would want to encourage wide debate on issues such as the possibility of academic and cultural boycott of Israel.’ It appears for Blackwell-Pal, that there is a collegewide consensus that Goldsmiths is all pro-Palestine, a claim that is surely not entirely true. For a university that champions its diversity it seems to be more evidence of a controlled and skewed diversity. Furthermore the issue of how the Jewish section of the university feels about this consistent condemnation of Israel without a chance to debate is ludicrous. It would be taking the argument too far to say that Blackwell-Pal and James Haywood, another serious campaigner for Palestinian control of the West Bank, had Anti-Semitic tendencies. However

the total lack of acknowledgment to another side of the argument and the dogma of an evil Israel persecuting the feeble Palestinians shows Goldsmiths’ Student Union to be ignorant. It must be acknowledged that Goldsmiths was twinned with Al Quds Open University in Palestine in 2006 and is one of the longest running campaigns in the Union. This twinning campaign organises scholarships and trips across to visit the Al Quds University. The argument being that this is why they are interested in Palestinian affairs, but which came first? Would Blackwell-Pal et al be interested in the middle eastern country had there not been these set of troubles? It is highly doubtful. A twinning campaign that is based on western interventionism and politically motivated, nevermind alienating to certain sections of the university, is wrong to be continued without proper debate and acknowledgment to the whole issue.

THE LEOPARD MARCH 2011

LIFESTYLE & CULTURE

Romansick

Column: Fresher’s Diary Where’s My Bachelor? By Nindya Atmodipoero

Yeah yeah, quite often love gives us nausea. For that sickness, quickly rush out to The Leopard’s own love doctor who can cure your emergency and hopefully ease the misery. Problem 1: Dear Dr. Romansick, I have had a crush on a boy I know for a few months now, and I can never tell if he likes me back! He and I are friends, so how can I let him know about my feelings without spoiling our friendship? * In love and confused Perhaps it’s due to my geeky nature that when I think of university, the first thing that comes to mind is giant textbook. Needless to say, that association daunts me since I’m more of a viewer than I am of a reader. That is, until my mom said to me, “Well, there are going to be lots of hot guys there,” Right. Hot guys. I almost forgot this particular reason of why I (and I’m sure it applies to some of you too) go to school in the first place. So based on my so-called theory, there are three reasons why people go to school/university. The first reason is the manifest need of education. Not to mention that you need a degree to get a job, where else can you be academically enlightened and get involve in intellectual discussions if it’s not in school? The other two reasons are quite latent, yet equally important. The second reason why people go to school is to get a social life and I am one of the supporters of this argument. If all I need is knowledge, I can just spend my time in a library, but if that is the case, my circle of friends will certainly be limited. That’s why I go to school, for networking. The third reason, as already mentioned above, is hot guys/girls, in other words eye candies. Every kind of people goes to school and so it is such a great place to find these eye candies. Plus, since you all have routine schedules, chances are you’re going to see these people often! Yay! Regarding this notion of hot guys, I have to say that most teenage movies have mislead girls to believe in the silly conception that claims “university + guys = boyfriends by the end of first term!” I know that it is true for some of my fellow freshmen, who have already gone steady, but for the rest, they

remain single. And apparently, for certain reason that I’m still not sure about, some people find this “single-ness” disappointing. I’ve seen many of my girl friends already complaining about the perpetuation of their ‘status quo’ as jokey comments like “I am STILL single” and “Where’s my boyfriend??” often slip away in conversations. I’m not going to be a hypocrite here. I admit to having high hopes that my single status would change as soon as I get in university. However, with my current, hectic university lifestyle, I am actually glad that I have no boyfriend! True, there are many perks of having a boyfriend (bodyguard, affections, jacket lender, ‘food-waste’ eater, etc. etc.) yet considering that I barely have the time for a goodproper sleep or a regular phone call with my mom, how am I going to manage a time for romance? I might have come to terms with my singleton life, unfortunately not the people in my life. One of my mom’s regular questions besides “You still have money?” is none other than “You met someone cute already?” The question of “How’s love life?” has also become a substitute for “How are you?” every time I go on Skype with my high school friends. It seems that everyone except me is more concerned about MY love life. Then again until that time comes, for every “When can we hear about ‘The Bachelor’?” question they ask, I’m just going to tell them about the bachelor of my dream whom they can all meet in 2013, the one whose name is Bachelor of Arts. Nindy is a first year MediaCommunication student who is happily single and not ready (yet) to mingle.

Dr. Romansick recommends… A slowly-but-surely move will do! Start with the simple stuff like sending him “Good Morning” text every day or two, perhaps. Or you can always ask him about projects, movie recommendation, etc. etc, the key is to make YOU on his mind in a more constant basis! See how it goes and if his responses are positive, you can move on to the next level, “friend-date”. Go to cinema/museum/gigs, just the two of you – if he goes for this, chances are he might like you back! Oh, and if I may suggest, just in case you have nothing to text him about, don’t send him “Happy Weekly/ Monthly Birthday”, it won’t work, and it’ll make you a creepy freaky friend.

someone and hopefully he’ll go away and you’re not the bad guy! Problem 3:

Problem 2: Dear Dr. Romansick, I’m friends with this guy, and from the way he acts around me, I’m pretty sure he might like me. The thing is, I don’t like him back and I’m really uncomfortable whenever he’s around me! How do I stop him from behaving this way without hurting his feelings? - Stop hanging around me all the time, you’re really making me ROMAN-sick! * Anonymous Dr. Romansick says, On the bright side, you (might) have an admirer, everybody seems to like to be ‘crushed on’, don’t they? But anyway, there are 3 steps to push someone away. First is ‘to disappear’, if you can avoid him for a while, at least keep conversation at the most minimum way, so that you minimize the possibility of being asked out or other ‘love’ topics. Second, is ‘find a boyfriend’, doesn’t have to be a romantically involved, just hang out often with one of your guy friends so that it’ll make him think that you’re with someone, if not, you can always have an imaginary boyfriend, right? Third method, and this is the hardest, “find him a girlfriend”. Pretty obvious, just set him up with

Doctor, Me, and my boyfriend, we’ve been in this on-off relationship for 2.5 years. Honestly, I’m sick of the whole make up/break up thing but I don’t want to waste all this time we’ve spent together. Not to mention, to start it all over again with someone new…what an effort! Another thing, we’re in the same circle of friends so if we really break it off, it’s going to make things awkward. * I love him/I love him not Dr. Romansick suggests… Whilst it is true that relationship is all about compromise, YOUR happiness should not be one of the things you give up just for the sake of the relationship. Perhaps you two just don’t get along as a couple, why bother maintaining such unhealthy relationship? I am sure there’s someone out there who will suit you both better. The world might be small, but isn’t it an overpopulated world? So, take the leap, go out and get to know other people! It’s going to be worth it. Don’t worry about your friends, things might get slightly awkward at first, but if they’re good friends, they’ll understand. Remember, only you two are involved in this relationship, so you both are the priority.

Places to Eat and Drink: Cafe Crema

By Francine Maynard-Gay Subway may now be open, but there’s still more eateries kicking about.

Café Crema, situated just a stones throw from Goldsmiths, at 306 New Cross Road SE14, is a quaint, cool little hangout. With its red walls (dotted with posters of upcoming events in and around Café Crema), mish mash furniture and friendly staff – I was made to feel right at home and very comfortable. Open from 9.30am until 6.30pm you can sit back whilst listening to a wide variety of music from reggae to indie (and all that comes in-between) and order from a menu offering a range of breakfasts, lunches, a tempting list of “Sweet Things” and a variety of hot and cold beverages. For those of you who prefer to snack, don’t worry; they have a few of those on offer to. With mushroom omelettes from £3.30, cheese on toast for £1.90, homemade pizzas from £4.50, tomato and fresh basil salads for £2, tortilla wraps (with a choice of fillings) for £3.90 and homemade lemonade (which I must say I thoroughly enjoy) for £1.80, just to name a minute selection of what’s on offer, you can’t help but feel spoilt for choice. Café Crema certainly has a lot to offer for a small eatery!* The staff are always happy to serve you and even offer you a helping hand

Vist a now established part of the New Cross indie elite. Illustration: Joyce Yang

when you are stuck deciding what to have. From my previous visits I can already see that a number of students frequent this gem of a café but for those of you that haven’t been whether your having a catch-up coffee and cake with friends, toasties with your study group

of brunch before an afternoon lecture, Café Crema is definitely a place to give to give a whirl! *Café Crema advertises that they ‘don’t use any Israeli ‘West Bank’ (from illegal settlements) products.’

MARCH 2011 THE LEOPARD

LIFESTYLE & CULTURE

Put a Spring In Your Step Natalie Trendler Money management for 2011 and beyond! Students and debt are two words which seem glued together. But bad debt can easily be avoided if you know how. This is for those of you who are trying to be self sufficient and not rely on your parents to always bail you out. Trying to be sensible with money while living the student life can be tricky and involves cautious planning and preparation. However once you have calculated the total costs of your higher education, inclusive of your tuition fees, accommodation and living costs, a budget for your life as a student could easily be planned and stuck to as much as possible. This could allow you some money left over to indulge in the ‘good things’ in life!

How to make the most of your money throughout the year. Pay less for things - Save on everyday spending and take advantage of your ‘student’ status. Reap the benefits, use your ‘NUS Extra’ card to demand exclusive discounts and offers from loads of popular retailers. Check out: www.nus.org.uk/en/NUS-Extra/ Cheaper transport - Don’t even consider using London taxis which are a total rip off. Considering you have numerous public transport options on your doorstep, save money and use these instead! Make sure you have an ‘oyster card’ when using London transport as this saves you money on both single fares and travel cards on all London transport. An 18+ Student

oyster card is also available which can save you an additional 30 % on adult Travel cards and Bus & Tram Passes valid for seven days, one month or up to a year. Available from: www.tfl.gov.uk. A 16-25 student railcard is also handy as it’ll save you 1/3 on all British rail fares (you can also transfer the railcard onto your Oyster at any Underground station to use around London). Available from: www.16-25railcard.co.uk Pick your supermarkets wisely WHY PAY MORE? Waitrose and Marks & Spencer are great for the odd treat but NOT for the weekly student food shop. It is a fact that a lot of the cheaper supermarkets share the same suppliers as those pricier ones so swallow your pride and SAVE MONEY! Also look out for the supermarkets own take on popular branded products such as Kellogg’s Corn Flakes’ and Heinz’s Baked Beans, they generally are just as good – if not better and cost half the price...try it out! Weekly food ‘bulk’ shop - If you have housemates why not form a ‘kitty’ which you each contribute to on a weekly or monthly basis and take advantage of special offers and 2 for 1’s. Take notes of what seems to be thrown away each week, it’s usually fresh produce such as milk and veg which has gone off, so buy less of it the following week. Get hold of frozen alternatives and/or long life products. Always check your receipts to be sure you haven’t been overcharged and those special offers were accounted for.

Simple tips for saving! Limit the takeaways - As tempting as they are, they can burn a hole in your pocket! Why not have less frequent takeaways and when you do indulge, organise nights with friends or try out the takeaways supermarkets have on offer such as ‘curry night for 4’. Takeaways not only include evening meals - you also need to take into account all the spending you do during the day such as expensive coffees, snacks and lunch out! All these treats add up, it’s likely that if you took a packed lunch, snacks and a flask from home you could have a weeks worth of lunch for a fiver! Don’t buy new books - Where possible get second hand ones from your Union or other students, Amazon, ebay, or charity shops. Prepare for bills - Put money aside, or set up direct debits, so you are not overwhelmed if lots of bills turn up at once. Also keep an eye out for additional charges such as the ones that can crop up with your phone bills, if you are an overseas student get hold of a phone card which could save you loads!

Living on campus - This is often cheaper than renting private accommodation - of course this is not always possible. Free furnishings - not a lot of people know about this little gem: www.uk.freecycle.org. It’s where really lovely generous people advertise their unwanted possessions and all you have to do is get in touch and arrange a ‘pick up’. Be aware of your limit - work out if you’re about to exceed your overdraft limit. Speak to a student financial adviser at your bank, this could ensure you avoid additional fees and charges. They are also great for general financial advice. Avoid credit cards at all costs! Although this may seem like a ‘handy option’, your spending could seriously spiral out of control. However if you really need a credit card, get hold of a student one which will allow you to put a ‘limit’ on spending at a certain amount. Employed? - If not try working parttime. This could provide you with a bit

of extra cash that could make your life easier, but don’t overdo it! Working for up to 15 hours a week has been found to be beneficial, and wouldn’t affect your studies. Find out if you need to fill in a P38(S) so you’re not taxed on what you earn. You should also fill in form R85 so interest is paid gross on your savings. It saves tax being deducted at source if you are a non taxpayer. A little extra cash www.opinionpanel.co.uk/students is a market research company that values students opinions and they pay you for your time in the form of Amazon vouchers – HANDY! A Site to bookmark www.moneysupermarket.com As dull as it may sound, try this and see how much you could save on your mobile or utility bills through running price checks. Finally, if you really want to give this budgeting malarkey a go visit: www.studentcalculator.org.uk - this site will help you to stay on track by creating a custom-made budget especially for YOU!

The Leopard’s Eye on London The Natural History Museum

By Abbie Cohen

Are you in the mood for an outing that is educational, whilst also being stressfree and fun? It may seem difficult to believe, but an outing of this kind is actually possible. Put down your school books and trade your thinking caps for tourist hats, because the Natural History Museum is just an Oyster card away from New Cross. My visit to this South Kensingtonbased museum was punctuated with pleasant surprises. Although it is most often crowded, I was not deprived from discovering things I never knew about the world’s natural history. Its wide array of galleries offers a lot of fun facts and impressive displays, and definitely raises one’s awareness of nature’s spectacular diversity. Provided you have an interest in natural history and a thirst to discover new things about our planet, the NHM can appeal to many and will surely not disappoint you. Taking a tour of the Darwin Centre, for example, would be interesting for budding scientists just as much as for those who are merely curious about creepy crawlies. If browsing galleries is not enough to please you, you could alternatively check out some of the museum’s other events, from the unusual Sexual Nature exhibition to the fascinating and free 15-minute interactive film Who do you think you really are?

The museum is immense, and covers broad topics divided into various colour-coded zones, so be prepared to spend a fair amount of time within its many walls. Although I admittedly tend to shy away from museums for a weekend outing, I have to say the NHM was a lovely breath of fresh air, and certainly a good change from the usual routine of essay writing. Perhaps you hate museums and typical tourist attractions with a passion, in which case I would advise you not to be too quick to judge the NHM: it most certainly beats Wikipedia or an old book, and you will leave it feeling that much more knowledgeable. Being a typical student, I have to mention that one of the highlights of this place, is that it is free! So if you’re dying to get out of the house but are reluctant to spend your money, ask some of your mates along to this museum and dedicate a few hours to feeding your mind. My only suggestions would be to take your time to explore, and to arrive equipped with a bottle of water (as well as a sketchpad, perhaps, for the inspiration-seeking artist). If by chance you have already visited this place and are on the lookout for other museums, you may also want to check out the London Science Museum or the Victoria and Albert Museum, both conveniently within walking

distance from the NHM. How do you get there? To reach Cromwell Road, South Kensington, the fastest option would be via the Jubilee and District lines. What’s the budget? Unless you wish to buy some souvenirs or a snack, you will ideally only spend on transport fares For further information, visit; http://www.nhm.ac.uk/ Photo: PeterJot

THE LEOPARD MARCH 2011

REVIEWS Live: CocknBullKid @ Barfly, Camden Tuesday 8th March By Guthrie Mitton-McKellar

Live: Les Savy Fav @ Heaven Tuesday February 22nd By Guthrie Mitton-McKellar

Les Savy Fav are post-hardcore, art rock, according to online write ups. These descriptions don’t account for their Americana kookiness however. Shunning the pursuit of major label success, they claim (in a youtube interview) that being in a band is at their humble ‘leisure’, and that when going on tour they’re ‘more like five guys going on a fishing trip, hanging out drinking beers’. Don’t be fooled though. There was nothing remotely leisurely about this performance, or any other if you’re privy to the reputation of portly frontman Tim Harrington, famed for his outlandish costumes and stage antics, and mega beard. Whilst the musicians (guitar/guitar/bass/drums) lined the stage, geek-chic, orderly and well behaved, Harrington in contrast seemed like some drunken village idiot, or out of work Santa Claus impersonator, dragged from the gutter to howl his coyly contemplative verse over the neat indie, alternately sparse and heavy, “before I was a day I was a dawn, before I was a Prince I was a swan.” At frequent intervals Harrington hopped into the crowd. With his eternally long mic lead (held aloft by participating fans) he roamed around, kissing people, taking people’s clothes off and standing on a wheely cart so as to be paraded diagonally across the

auditorium, all whilst keeping the songs and the lyrics going. He really is a thrill to behold, and people take to him like some sort of cathartic messiah, groping and hugging and jumping on him. A definite highlight was the climax of the whole show. The lights went to black out at which point Harrington threw masses and masses of handsize neon lava tubes into the audience. Everyone was throwing them about or breaking them in half and pouring luminous liquid over each other, or throwing them back at Harrington playfully as he batted them away with his microphone. Finally the band members made an exit one by one, each replacing themselves with a random member of the audience to continue playing their instrument, until one found oneself cheering and wooping at a band of complete strangers playing utterly shambolic drivel. Les Savy Fav have been at it since 1995, and despite a hiatus in the noughties, show no inclination of stopping soon. Appropriate then, that I still can’t shake the infectious mantra Harrington was bargaining the whole audience to sing, “we’ve come to come, the night is young”. lessavyfav.com myspace.com/lessavyfav

You could easily mistake the name CocknBullKid to be denoting the funky pseudonym of some hip mashup DJ. Not so however, but poignant that you might so associate, seeing as Anita Blay has been known to resent being arbitrarily categorised in grime/ R&B/M.I.A. territory just because of her ethnicity and urban origins. With proclaimed influences as mainstream and varied as Bowie, Grace Jones, Madonna, Little Richard and Björk, it’s clear that her holy grail is in fact P-O-P. Blay has at points confessed to a background of comfort eating, antidepressants and Morrissey appreciation, which maybe leads something of a line towards her new single being launched tonight, ‘Hold On To Your Misery’. She comes onstage wearing a black dress, with small amateur-made fairy wings fixed to the back, and a halo of flowers

on her head. She thanks the audience for coming with a self-deprecating quip about never expecting people to actually turn up, and does a shout out to Sparkadia, the support act. Her garb and steady demeanour is humbling in light of the high-budget flamboyance of say Gaga, or for that matter any of the prima donna influences mentioned above, or even Janelle Monáe, with whom Blay has been on tour with in the last month. Maybe it’s only because they haven’t hit the big time yet, but her backing-bloke-band of keybs/drums/ guitar&bass are also not the usual immaculately well groomed men-inblacks. I’m touched that the sticky out bits of hair and untucked at the back shirts haven’t been ironed over to draw more attention to the sartorial quirk of the singing PERSONALITY.

Despite some pre-band technical onstage faffing, a bass guitar that is initially way too loud and vocals that are initially way too quiet, partly due to Blay’s distinctive low vocal register with intermittent high reaches (think opposite of La Roux: In For The Kill), the crowd digs. There’s some space at the front, and people aren’t going berserk, but you get the feeling Blay would be perturbed if anyone did anyway. She’s not that animated herself, just singing songs pure and simp, except for some inevitable arm gestures and hands-on-hips, which are refreshingly low key. Why do they seem low key? Perhaps because I feel so accustomed to the gaudy burlesque of X Factor finals. There’s a lot of Fleetwood Mac in her musical stylings. Steadfast drums and bass back up fanciful warble. ‘Hold on to you misery, I need it and it needs me.’ The only thing is sometimes the ecstatic stadium-style choruses seem to spring out of nowhere, off kilter from the flow of her verse plus sometimes she reaches for high-pitch soulful whines and moans which don’t completely come off, but you could argue it adds to the humanity of the songs’ delicate sentiments, ‘Talked to you for hours, but didn’t really say what I had to say.’ That’s from my favourite, ‘One Eye Closed’, which has a great surf-rock intro. CocknBullKid signed to prolific London indie label, Moshi Moshi, in 2009. Her debut album, Adulthood, is due to be released this April. cocknbullkid.com myspace.com/cocknbullkid #Meateasy’s Cheeseburger

Root for Ruin: Frenchkiss Records

Food: Meateasy Restaurant

The Burger bar that’s inconspicuously squatting the top of the closed Goldsmiths Tavern. Continued from Front page Hardcore herbivores will no doubt call me a heretic and wish death by abattoir upon my head, but I can live with that so long as the food is good. Plus I’m a sucker for a good burger. I’ll admit that the prospect of my first meat in a long while made me a little nervous, but once settled at the bar with a bottle of Greenwich brewery lager and wrapped up in the low-lit, warm, buzzing atmosphere of #MEATEASY, I was good and raring to go. There have been mixed reports about how long the food actually takes to arrive. Some say their burgers took as little as 10 minutes, others two hours. I was kept in suspense for just over an hour but spurred on by the constant stream of delicacies making their way out to other diners. When my order finally arrived, I was

famished. Much of the crowd that surrounded my table when I entered had either had their fill or given up. But I wasn’t budging until I’d tasted what all the fuss was about. My Dead Hippy Burger (consisting of two plump patties) came cradled in soft white bread, oozing mayonnaise and melted cheese, packing just the right amount of that all important tangy gherkin kick and iceberg lettuce crunch. My friend’s Cheese Burger arrived in the same way, but with meat cooked more rare and dripping pink juice everywhere. The patties were wonderful; made of tender, bouncy mince with a deliciously light, almost creamy aftertaste. The flavours contained within the burgers sat in precise, perfect equilibrium as if crafted with scientific care, which, judging by the wait, they most probably were. I take onion rings very seriously and

consider them a finer accompaniment to a burger than fries. So I was disappointed when the big, fat, golden round slabs presented to me turned out to be dull, overly oily and lacking in any flavour. The onion was too raw and the batter too bland. Their kingly looks were deceiving. I was similarly gutted to find that the fries weren’t any better; a meagre portion of limp chips came to the table looking rather overwhelmed and sorry for themselves. In the face of such great meat, the sides paled in comparison.

Perhaps the biggest surprise were the chilly-cheese fries, which were, quite honestly, divine. A bowl of fries came heaped with earthy, warming chilly that was spiced perfectly and topped with an avalanche of cheddar cheese. It was incredibly addictive and possibly the best plate of junk-food I’ve ever had. Its memory is making me salivate. The hype surrounding the #MEATEASY burgers is mostly justified. They are very good, and a visit would be worth it for the chilly cheese fries alone. However, the price

of a burger (£6-7) and the overly long time that it takes to reach your stomach makes #MEATEASY more an event than anything else. It’s one of those things you have to try, if only once. And the real verdict? The answer is no. The chef didn’t seduce me into eating meat full-time again, but I’ll salute his burgers all the same.

Photos: bellaphon

MARCH 2011 THE LEOPARD

COMICS & ACTIVITIES Across:

NewCross-word no.002 Conscise crossword for a quick break 1

1 Definitely, Completely (10) 8 Bar [metal] (5) 9 Product Identity (5) 10 Small tear/rip (4) 13 ... Coulter,American political commentator (3) 14 Point in cricket (3) 18 C++, Binary (4) 20 Democratic Republic of ... (5) 21 Strongly encouraged 22 Layer of loaf (5,5)

Down:

7 8

10 12

16 17

18 19

SOMETHING TO SHOUT ABOUT?

2 The start (9) 3 Sandinista President of Nicaragua; Daniel ... (6) 4 Inner city (5) 5 To pass by [time] (6) 6 Pattern (8) 7 Element; Sn (3) 11 From battery hens (5,4) 12 Incendiary device (4,4) 15 Citrus fruit (6) 16 Happen (6) 17 Strata, Nimbus, Cumulus (5) 19 Not even (3) answers in next issue of the leopard.

Guest webcomic: Flexible Heads - A WEBCOMIC ABOUT HEADS WITH ARMS AND LEGS -

Published three times a week online the comic follows the arc of the main character who is balancing a social life with medication taking. Things which in comic strip land do not go hand in hand. The first two comics are here below, enjoy!

Read the rest of this comic and future episodes at;

flexibleheads.tumblr.com/

CONTRIBUTORS WANTED. leopard@su.gold.ac.uk

Fresh from the South coast of England comes this comic about a group of friends who exist purely with arms and legs attached to heads.

THE LEOPARD MARCH 2011

LISTINGS: MARCH - APRIL Welcome to March and April’s listings. We hope this comprehensive list of Goldsmiths events can help you to plan your hectic social lives. If you think we aren’t comprehensive enough and want to feature an event or two on our pages then please email: leopard@su.gold.ac.uk Monday 14th March 16.30 – 22.00: Food Not Bombs Monday Cook Off Info: Cooking delicious vegan meals for the homeless from good food that would otherwise be thrown away. Muck in! Location: St Mungo’s, Pagnell Street Hostel, Exeter Way, London, SE14 6LL (near New Cross station) 19.00- 21.00: See How We Cheer Info: A chance to see us perform our cheerleading routine ahead of our competition the following weekend. Bring all your friends, and cheer us on - yep, cheering on cheerleaders :) Location: Upper Gym 19.00-01.00: Pub Quiz and Musical Bingo Location: The Stretch Cost: FREE entry, £5 entry per team for Quiz (winner takes all). Tuesday 15th March 12.00 – 15.00: Love Your Mum Info: Mother’s Day sailor temporary tattoo fundraiser for the White Ribbon Alliance Location: Common Room, Tiananmen Building (Students’ Union) 13.00- 13.45: Lunchtime Concert: 1st Year Ensemble Performance ‘Ensemble C’ Info: Hosted by the Department of Music at Goldsmiths, this series of concerts gives students an opportunity to perform their work in the grand surroundings of Deptford Town Hall. Location: Council Chamber, Deptford Town Hall Building Cost: FREE 19.00-23.00: ACS presents Bare Jokes Info: Stand Up Comedy Featuring Will E Robo, Funmbi Jamie Howard, also consists of Game Shows and Giveaways and music from MC Dark E (Ayo from The Family). Location: The Stretch Cost: £6

Wednesday 16th March 17.00-19.00: Orange Prizewinner Linda Grant Info: Orange Prizewinner Linda Grant reads from and discusses her new novel ‘We Had It So Good’ Linda Grant won the Orange Prize for her novel ‘When I Lived in Modern Times’ and has twice been shortlisted for the Booker. She has also written a moving family memoir, ‘Remind Me Who I Am Again’, and two other works of non-fiction. Her latest novel, published last month, is ‘We Had It So Good’ Location: SCR, Richard Hoggart Building Cost: FREE

Student Awards 2011 Vote Now!

Student Awards Night on 23rd March in the Common Room!

19.00 – 01.00: AU Dinner Info: The event is black tie and this year is open to more people, including staff, alumni and friends of team members.The event will consist of a 3 course meal and the annual awarding of colours and awards, to include the Team of the Year and Sports in the Community. The ticket price is £30 for sports team members and £35 for anybody not currently in a sports team / club. The tickets are on sale in the SU shop, where they have a list of current members. Location: Millwall FC and The Stretch Cost: £30/£35 19.00 – 20.30: In Search of Dynamic Food Not Bombs Leaders Info: Interested in helping to run Food Not Bombs, the all-new Goldsmiths society? Here is a quick workshop/tour of the hostel kitchen so you can find out how! Location: Downstairs at Amersham Arms, New Cross (look out for FNB logo), then on to St Mungo’s to have a tour of the kitchen Thursday 17th March Info: St Patricks Day Celebrations Karaoke and Guiness so come and celebrate with us. Cost: Free Entry; £2 for Guinness 17.30 - 19.00: Future of Documen-

tary - What is the future of documentary in the UK? Info: Chair: Elizabeth Wood, Director of DocHouse Panel: Simon Chinn, Producer Man on Wire, Project Nim Alex Cooke, Director of Renegade Pictures Charlotte Moore, Commissioning Editor for Documentaries, BBC Paul Watson, Director Rain In My Heart and The Fishing Party Location: NAB LG02 Cost: FREE but you do need to register your name to z.arabadji@gold. ac.uk

LEPRA. Featuring Stalls and food from the different cultural and religious societys at goldsmiths. From 5pm join us for our cultural fashion show and dance! Free entry though a £1 donation recommended to go towards RAG week and the charity LEPRA! Location: The Stretch

Friday 18th March

Wednesday 23rd March

14.00 and 18.00: Third Year Drama Devised Performance Shows Info: Come along and watch the final year pieces created by students taking the devised performance option on the Drama and Theatre Arts degree Cost: £1. Email dramagold2011@ hotmail.com for ticket reservations.

21.00: Male Waxing Info: Its a male waxing event for the male cancer charity Orchid, as part of RAG week. It will be happening at Club Sandwich to add to the nights entertainment. Location: The Stretch, The Student’s Union

Saturday 19th March 16.30 – 21.00: Food Not Bombs Saturday Cook Off Info: Cooking delicious vegan meals for the homeless from good food that would otherwise be thrown away. Muck in! Location: Broadway Manor Place, 140 Manor Place, London, SE17 3BH (near Kennington tube station) Monday 21st March RAG Society Charity Week 21st24th March 19.00 – 23.00: Beer Pong Tournament Info: A tournament in the SU where the money raised goes to LEPRA Location: The Stretch, The Student’s Union 16.30 – 22.00: Food Not Bombs Monday Cook Off Info: Cooking delicious vegan meals for the homeless from good food that would otherwise be thrown away. Muck in! Location: St Mungo’s, Pagnell Street Hostel, Exeter Way, London, SE14 6LL (near New Cross station) 17.00- 20.30: Fortnightly Debate: Has Multiculturalism Failed Us Info: The political societies at Goldsmiths and The Students’ Union are merging together to start a debates and discussion club. This will be held fortnightly and a panel will discuss certain topics. The first discussion will be centred around Multiculturalism and has it failed? 14:00 -18:00: Multicultural Day and Cultural Fashion show Fundraiser for

Tuesday 22nd March 19.00 – 01.00: Film Club: Disney Info: 7pm: The Little Mermaid 8.30pm: Beauty and the Beast 10pm: Aladdin Location: The Stretch Cost: FREE

Goldsmiths Cricket Sunday 8th May vs.

City University 12:00 Start Loring Hall Sports Ground GOLDSMITHS CRICKET CLUB Friday 25th March 14.00 and 18.00: Goldsmiths New Plays Info: Goldsmiths Staging New Plays presents new short works written and performed by current third year Drama and Theatre Arts students. On the 25th March they will be staged for the first time, one performance in the afternoon (2pm - 5pm) and another in the evening (6pm - 9pm). Come and see these exciting new works by homegrown Goldsmiths talent. Cost: £1. TO BOOK TICKETS send an email to dramagold2011@ hotmail.com Sunday 27th March 11.00-16.00: Between Spaces Part 2 Info: Goldsmiths graduating liveartists present a one-off Sunday afternoon of site-specific installations and performances at the derelict Asylum Chapel in Peckham. Produced in association with Jo Dennis and Dido Hallett of Asylum Arts.

Please join us! ANYTIME! Location: Caroline Gardens Chapel, Asylum Road, Peckham, SE15 2SQ. Cost: FREE Monday 28th March 17:00 - 19:00: Alumni Careers Talks Info: Graham Thomas talks about the world of advertising and brand consultancy. We are really excited that an alumni Graham Thomas, ex CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi Worldwide, now chairman of a brand consultancy company is coming to talk about his career and to give advice to students. This is a must if you are interested in advertising, marketing or brands. Location: LG01, New Academic Building Cost: FREE but please register careers@gold.ac.uk Tuesday 29th March 08:30 - 18:30: Book Sale Info: Art books ranging from £3 upwards. Location: Library Foyer Wednesday 30th March 20:30 - 12:00: Spring Swing Info: £10, end of term ‘fun’draiser. Location: Rivoli Ballroom, Brockley Friday 1st April Last Day of Spring Term! Monday 4th April 14.00 – 16.00: Coping with Exam Stress Info: Workshop on coping with exam stress and deadlines Location: Stephen Lawrence Committee Room, Tiananmen Building (Students’ Union) Tuesday 5th April 12.00 – 03.00: Tea & Talk Info: Get nattering for mental health! Location: Stephen Lawrence Committee Room, Tiananmen Building (Students’ Union) Wednesday 6th April 15.00 – 17.00: Coping with Exam Stress Info: Workshop on coping with exam stress and deadlines Location: Stephen Lawrence Committee Room, Tiananmen Building (Students’ Union) Friday 29th April Royal Wedding Date. Good excuse for a party?

MARCH 2011 THE LEOPARD

VARSITY 2011 SPORT

Varsity hung in the balance after blistering night of basketball Steve Howe reports on an eventful evening of basketball as both the Men’s and Women’s teams clashed with The Arts. Goldsmiths and University of the Arts London shared the spoils in Men and Women’s Basketball on Tuesday night, leaving the fifth annual Arts Varsity Challenge cup in the balance.

angrily shouting at her teammates “if she comes in here one more time…” Afterwards, she hailed the victory: “It’s good to get the ball rolling, hopefully the boys will get a win as well.

In the first of two days of sporting competition, the Goldsmiths Women’s basketball team tipped off at 6:40pm at Haberdashers’ College to defend the hotly-contested trophy. Goldsmiths opened the scoring immediately before UAL replied in a fast-paced start to the game. The Arts soon pulled away, though, and by half time they had opened up a 20-point lead. At the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth Goldsmiths threatened a comeback, bringing the score to 19-55, but the damage had already been inflicted and UAL went on to win the match 25-68, helped largely by their number 8 Rebecca Yu Chi Chen who exposed the Goldsmiths defence with clinical layups.

By the time the men had tipped off the silvery pop-poms of the UAL cheerleaders were well and truly shaking. Goldsmiths were not without their supporters, and some innovative chanting included gems such as: “No ifs, no buts, no opposition slam-dunks”.

Finding the positives After the game, the Goldsmiths captain, Patti El Hammami, talked of the challenges of organising a Varsity team after discontinuing the Women’s team’s involvement in the league: “It was a new experience for me as it’s my second year at Goldsmiths. It’s hard to organise and a big responsibility and we’ve not had enough training.” On asked whether she would take any positives from the game, Patti added: “Some people had never heard of the team, now girls are turning up to play at Varsity, so I’m looking at it in a positive way.” UAL’s captain, Kate Spencer, had a vocal game, on more than one occasion

Rebecca Yu Chi Chen effortlessly works it past the Goldsmiths defense.

Reversing the deficit In a tight first half Goldsmiths and UAL matched each other, the home side going into the break with a slender lead of 20-17. In the third quarter some missed opportunities by Goldsmiths were punished by UAL’s counter-possessions, to make it 32-37. Then, in the fourth quarter, in a flurry of precisely-timed possession steals by Goldsmiths forward Frederico de Melo, Goldsmiths created some excellent plays to reverse the deficit and win the game 53-43. Men’s captain, Paddy Donovan after the game said: “The coach preaches defence and that’s what we did as soon as we started. There were some big plays from Freddie [de Melo] in the fourth quarter and from then we were on a good run.” He added ruefully: “It’s a bright spot in a dark season”. The opposition captain was stunned by Goldsmiths’ bouncebackability: “I though we were gonna win it, but for four minutes we couldn’t get it past the half-court.” The night ended then, one a piece in the Varsity Challenge, with Wednesday all to play for.

But it wasn’t all bad as our No.1 shows better defensive form.

Interview: Grace Godfrey and Paddy Donovan

Steve Howe speaks to the newly elected Sports officers about what the new role means to them. Grace Godfrey and Paddy Donavon both know about sports at Goldsmiths. As we stand in the middle of a handful of Varsity games being played in Chiswick, Grace, frustrated about not being able to play, grips two crutchesa result of an injury in the women’s 2nd netball team, of which she is captain. Paddy watches the remainder of the games with interest, safe in the knowledge that his men’s basketball team have already done the part the night before. Both have been elected as Sports Officer for the Student Union Assembly 2011-2012, meaning they’ll be bringing their vision for Goldsmiths Sport to the campus next year. “Sport here needs changing,” Grace tells me. “Today’s results will show that we’re capable enough - the Arts (University of the Arts London) have three times the amount of students to us.” I wonder then, what exactly needs changing. Funding is certainly the issue on everyone’s mind; players already

find themselves stretched, paying for travel costs (partly subsidised by the Student Union at present), referee fees, equipment, clothing, as well as the standard joining fee. “It’s not about how much funding,” Grace continues, “it’s the amount of people who don’t, or can’t, play. And there are plenty out there who want to.” Paddy agrees: “we would like our priority to be the whole idea of making sports easier to play.” This has been an ongoing battle. As reported in previously in the Leopard, many students who want to play for a team are unable to because departments schedule compulsory lectures, seminars, workshops and recitals for Wednesday afternoons - a time at which most matches are played. And it is not just Wednesday afternoons that are an issue, Grace and Paddy tell me. Some of the Art Department’s classes go on until 6pm, at which point it is too late to travel to teams’ training sessions. The way forward, they say, is to push the Union’s campaign to

Paddy Donovan playing in his team’s 53-43 deafeat of the Arts. Photos: Emily Hathern

have Wednesday afternoons freed of department timetabling, and speak on a department-by-department basis. But surely this is not the only issue holding sports at Goldsmiths back. “In my experience, basketball doesn’t socialise as much as it could outside of its group,” Paddy says. Indeed, a query was raised at this year’s Hustings - a ‘question time’ format for candidates running in the Student

Union elections. The Sports Officer hopefuls were challenged by a representative of the LBGTQ society on whether sports clubs excluded those who identified themselves as lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender or queer. Grace and Paddy admit that they did not realise it could have been an issue, but stress that it’s important to tackle exclusion if a group feels it exists. “It’s not a deliberate thing,” Paddy tells me.

“The only box you need to tick is that you want to play,” Grace adds. “That’s it.” Indeed, it is difficult to see the two Officers ignoring this sentiment when, as they point at to me, they themselves met as a result of the netball team opening out more socially. “It was fed up of netball being an insular unit,” Grace says. “You can make friends in every team and society. It’s easy to do.”

THE LEOPARD MARCH 2011

SPORT VARSITY 2011 Netball team complete successful season Goldsmiths too strong for the By James Howell Arts with 6-4 win Continued from back page.

from a Goldsmiths corner caused a UAL defender to score an own goal. In the second half there were periods of sporadic play before eventually a Goldsmiths attack saw centre-back Aiden Collins poke home a scrappy goal- a goal that would prove to be the winner. Joint-Captain Owain Tomlin said after the victory: “the team showed great spirit and strength to come from behind and to grind out a victory in what was a physical and bruising encounter. Everybody should be proud of the sporting achievement of Goldsmiths as

After a triumphant win at Varsity, James Howell caught up with Netball Vicecaptain Chloe Todd to discuss how the season has gone for them. From the good run in the ULU, top of the league, promotion and unbeaten all season the victory at Varsity was a perfect way to round off a successful season. When asked about the team’s preseason aims Chloe Todd was surprised and proud of her team’s consistent hard work and commitment. ‘At the start of the season we were planning on staying in our ULU league but we’re all surprised to have done so well. All the girls have worked really hard and shown great team spirit on getting this far.’ Although surprised Chloe had to admit that this season the new training regime had a big part to play. Further contributions to the success this season was a consistency within the team followed on from last year. ‘We were lucky to have so many players still playing for us from last year. The continuity from the previous year, with a few new players joining the team, has made the team blend effective in games. The new players coming through are a fantastic addition and showing great commitment to the team. They look very

promising for the future.’ Chloe’s enthusiasm will be shared with the rest of the team, so when asked to discuss the teams future after Georgie Sidwick and Chloe hands over the reins to the next captains. Maddy I’Anson and Biddy Pickwick have been chosen to lead the netball team for next year’s challenge in ULU Division 1. Chloe reflected on this and looks forward to them hopefully achieving the same success. ‘I have all the confidence in the world in Maddy and Biddy, I think they’ll be great captains and hopefully can replicate the same success we had this year. It will be tough in a higher league with better teams but I think the pair will rise to the challenge and be successful.’ When asked about the recent Varsity victory, Chloe remarked ‘It was a great day out. We haven’t won the netball in the past three years but this year both our first and second teams won. An amazing finale to what has been an incredible season. It really shows that all the hard work we’ve put in this season has paid off.’ It seems Georgie and Chloe are proud of their achievements as captains and hope that it is the start of a long period of success for the Goldsmiths Netball Team.

a whole.” The win meant Goldsmiths were crowned Varsity champions for 2011 with a 6-4 overall scoreline. The sport may have been over but the banter wagon was to roll on late into the night. It wasn’t long before “We are Gold (smiths)” was ringing out through the pavilion as players refuelled with hot food and drinks. Just before the cup was awarded, the UAL rugby boys threatened to drown the Goldsmiths celebrations with their own chants, before they were promptly beaten down with a deafening “sit down shut up, sit down shut up”. As the results

were read out, a Goldsmiths win was met with resounding cheers, and by the time the cup was awarded the pavilion was bouncing. Student Union President Bindz Patel laid acclaim to the Goldsmiths sports teams and their achievements, and talked their importance at Goldsmiths: “It keeps the communal spirit of Goldsmiths alive, and represents the University to a wider audience. This was an amazing end to a successful year. I’m very proud,” she said. She also remained optimistic about the future, despite not having huge amounts of supporters at the games: “We’ve managed to get more people involved every year. Hopefully next year it will be bigger and better.”

Above: The Rugby team lost 12-40 despite showing great resolve. Left: Afsayi’s 2nd team beat the Arts 3-1, in the second of the three matches the football teams won. All Photos: Emily Harthern

Goldsmiths The Arts 6–4 Men’s Basketball Women’s Basketball Netball 1st Women’s Football Netball 2nd Hockey Football 1st Rugby Football 2nd Football 3rd Below left: ‘Great strength’ The 1st team pull out a 2-1 victory Below: The Men’s 3rd team won their rough match 2-0

Hockey wasn’t our strong point, not scoring and losing 9-0.

MARCH 2011 THE LEOPARD

SPORT Fixtures list:

League Tables: As of 11/03/11

From 16/03/11

Football

Netball

Basketball

Men’s BUCS SE Conference 5D

PTS

Women’s BUCS SE Conference 5B

PTS

Men’s BUCS SE Conference 4B

Diff

PTS

1 Greenwich 2nd

1 Canterbury Christ Church 2nd

155

1 University of East London 1st

152

2 St Barts & The Royal 1st

2 SOAS 1st

140

3 Goldsmiths 1st

2 Royal Free & University College Medical School 2nd

3 Univeristy of Medway 1st

4 St George’s Hospital Medical 1st

-5

3 University of the Arts 1st

-23

4 University of Essex 3rd

5 Queen Mary 2nd

-6

4 University of Hertfordshire 3rd

-75

5 University Campus Suffolk 1st

-95

5 University of Kent 3rd

-91

6 Goldsmiths 1st

-207

6 Goldsmiths 1s

-5

7 University of East London 2nd

Women’s BUCS SE Conference 9B

PTS

1 City University 1st

104

2 University Campus Suffolk 1st

3 St Barts & The Royal 3rd

4 King’s College 4ths

5 Canterbury Christ Church 4th

-90

6 University of Greenwich 2nd

-97

7 Goldsmiths 2nd

8 University of Greenwich 3rd

-9

9 University of the Arts 3rds

-57

Women’s ULU Netball Division Two

PTS

1 Goldsmiths 1s

137

2 UCL 4s

152

6 City University 1st

-7

Men’s ULU Weekend League Two

PTS

1 Queen Mary 2s

2 Imperial College 3s

3 King’s College 2s

4 Goldsmiths 1s

5 King’s College Medical 2s

6 Imperial Medicals 1s

7 UCL 4s

8 Royal Holloway 2s

-5

9 Royal Holloway 3s

10 Imperial College 2s

11 Imperial Medicals 2s

-17

12 LSE 3s

-16

13 London South Bank 1s

-54

Men’s ULU Division Two

PTS

3 Royal Holloway 2s

1 SOAS 2s

4 UCL 3s

135

2 St George’s Hospital Medical 2s

5 Imperial Medicals 3s

-3

3 Royal Vetinary College 1s

6 St Barts & The Royal 2nd

4 Queen Mary 4s

7 King’s College 3s

-6

Men’s ULU Premier Division

Diff

PTS

1 UCL 1st

141

2 Queen Mary 1sts

3 SOAS 1s

4 King’s College 1st

5 Imperial College 1s

6 Royal Holloway 1s

-73

7 Goldsmiths 1s

-236

Hockey Women’s BUCS SE Conference 4B

PTS

1 Queen Mary 1s

2 UCL 2s

3 Middlesex 1st

4 University of Kent 2nd

-35

5 King’s College Medical 3rd

-24

6 Goldsmiths 1s

-31

Women’s ULU Division Two

PTS

1 Queen Mary 1s

2 UCL 2s

3 Royal Vetinary College 2s

4 King’s College 2s

5 Imperial College 2s

-13

6 Goldsmiths 1s

-18

5 Royal Holloway 4s

8 Imperial College 2s

6 Royal Free & University College Medical 3s

-9

9 LSE 3s

-70

10 St Georges Hospital Medical 3s

-115

7 Royal Holloway 5s

11 Royal Vetinary College 3s

-132

8 Goldsmiths 2s

12 Royal Holloway 3s

-226

9 UCL 6s

-7

10 LSE 6s

-25

PTS

11 King’s College 4s

-46

Women’s ULU Netball Division Three 1 Royal Vetinary College 2s

149

Men’s ULU Division Three

PTS

2 Queen Mary 2nd

134

Men’s BUCS SE Conference 3B

Diff

PTS

1 King’s College 5s

3 Royal Free & University College Medical School 3rds

1 Queen Mary 1st

201

228

4 Imperial College 3s

2 Royal Free & University College Medical School 2nd

5 Imperial Medicals 4s

3 Royal Vetinary College 1st

134

3 UCL 7s

4 Royal Holloway 6s

5 King’s College Medicals 5s

6 King’s College Medicals 4s

7 Goldsmiths 3s

-3

8 St George’s Hospital Medical 3s

-2

9 Imperial College 6s

-7

10 Queen Mary 5s

-17

11 LSE 7s

-28

12 Central School of Speech and Drama 1s

-43

Women’s ULU Division One

PTS

Mixed ULU Premier Division

Diff

PTS

1 Royal Holloway 2s

1 King’s College 1s

2 Imperial College 1s

6 Goldsmiths 2s

-12

4 University of Greenwich 1st

7 King’s College 4s

-14

5 UCL 2nd

8 St Barts & The Royal 3rd

-18

6 Goldsmiths 1s

-89

-101

-435

-3

9 LSE 4s

-85

7 University of Kent 2nd

10 Royal Holloway 4s

-33

8 University of Essex 2nd

11 St Georges Hospital Medical 4s

-159

12 Royal Free & University College Medical School 4s

-168

Cricket Men’s 1st 27/04/11 Vs University of Greenwich 1st HOME 04/05/11 Vs Kingston University 1st AWAY 08/05/11 Vs City University 1st HOME 11/05/11 Vs London Metropolitan University 1st HOME 18/05/11 Vs Middlesex University 1st AWAY Football Men’s 1st 16/03/11 St. Barts & The Royal 1st AWAY 23/03/11 St. Barts & The Royal 1st HOME Hockey Women’s 1st 16/03/11 Vs Queen Mary 1st AWAY Netball Mixed 1st 23/03/11 Vs University of Kent 3rd AWAY

Rugby Union

2 Imperial Medicals 3s

Here is the list of the remaining fixtures up on the BUCS website. Only one or two remaining for most teams, as their seasons are almost over. Cricket is the one exception as their season doesn’t start until late April.

Rugby Union Men’s 1st 16/03/11 Vs Queen Mary 1st AWAY 23/03/11 Vs Queen Mary 1st HOME

Goldsmiths Club plan ‘Festival of Cricket’ at May home clash

Volleyball

Sunday home fixture on 8th May with City University

3 King’s College 1st

3 Queen Mary 1s

4 St George’s Hospital Medical 1s

4 LSE 1s

5 Goldsmiths 1s

-3

5 UCL 1s

6 SOAS 1s

6 Goldsmiths 1s

-6

7 City University 1st

7 Royal Holloway 1s

-4

8 King’s College Medicals 2s

-32

8 UCL 2s

-17

9 Royal Free & University College Medical 2s

-70

League tables. fixures and results on this page are from http://www.bucs.org.uk/ using all information avaiable, some teams/leagues information may not have been present at time of publication.

Amid growing attendances at the Annual Varsity event and increasing interest in the game of cricket from both sexes the Goldsmiths Cricket Club are turning their only Sunday home fixture into a ‘Festival of Cricket’ for all students, supporters and people interested in a sunny day relaxing on the grass. The game, on the 8th May will is expected to be a tought one and is against City University who were relegated from the league above last year. This will be a key match against a no doubt strong side as Goldsmiths are harbouring promotion and cup ambitions this year, a point which captian Matt West has repeatedly stressed to his team. The match is being held at the Loring Hall

sports ground in Sidcup. Batsman and part-time wicket keeper Jamie Curme is trying to organise mini-bus trips for students to the ground in time for the start of the match at midday, with other transport options available by taking London Buses. The day will feature entertainment from the cricket game as well as an all-day barbeque, music outside and drinks, which should be available from the club house. More details of the event should be released near to the time and promoted on the Goldsmiths Cricket facebook page. Though Matt West can be contacted for any cricket playing or watching queries on hs801mw@ gold.ac.uk and Jamie Curme on dt802jc@ gold.ac.uk for event info.

Sport Goldsmiths win Varsity for record 3rd year Steve Howe Sports Editor

THE LEOPARD MARCH 2011

Cricket festival planned for May Sports Officers Interview P.13

Goldsmiths Win Varsity 2011

Goldsmiths’ sports teams have successfully defended the Arts Varsity Challenge Cup after an intriguing second day of competition in Chiswick. The annual event between Goldsmiths and University of the Arts London (UAL) went down to the wire, Goldsmiths eventually pulling away to win six games to four. It is the third year running that Goldsmiths have brought the bragging rights back to Club Sandwich, and the first time in its five-year history that Goldsmiths have taken an overall lead in the competition, 3-2. At a sun-bathed Quinton Hogg Memorial Ground, Chiswick, the turf lay ready for tearing and the Red Bull was flowing. The Women’s Netball teams began proceedings at 12:30pm, playing in the knowledge that the night before the two Universities had shared points in the Women and Men’s Basketball. Goldsmiths needed a strong start to the day, and found it after both the 1st and 2nd teams won their games, 25-16 and 31-20 respectively. Captain of the 1st team, Georgie Sidwick, said after the game: “We’ve played UAL twice in the league before, so we were used to their game. We went out fighting and were pretty confident.” The teams had enjoyed a pasta and pancake feast the night before as they mentally prepared themselves for the coming day. “We dicked on them,” Sidwick added. Winning despite injury

Last issue we commented that the Men’s Basketball team had failed to win a game all month, well that remained true until Varsity this March. The Men clutched a nailbiting victory in the second game of this year’s Varsity. All the coverage of the 2011 edition of Varsity is contained in the next few pages, we’ve got interviews, pictures, reports and more!

It meant Goldsmiths were 3-1 up as the Women’s Football 1st and Men’s Football 2nd and 3rd teams all kicked off at 1pm. The Men’s 3rd team were winning 1-0, when, in a freak secondhalf accident, captain Bobby Dean’s knee found itself wrapped around the other side of his leg. His side went on to win the tie 2-0. High on gas in an ambulance, Dean was unable to comment, but vicecaptain Jamie Oxtoby said after the game: “We won it on team spirit. We had a great first-half with Bob [Dean] and his injury spurred us on to win it for him.” The team did not win their Varsity match last year, and this, said Oxtoby, made them all the more hungry this time around: “we were determined to win it this time.” The Men’s 2nd team extended Goldsmiths’ overall lead by turning around a one-goal deficit to win 3-1. Their captain, Shoresh Afsayi said after the victory: “We were battling the whole game- everybody fighting for everything. We battled our arses out.” He praised players Charles and Alex for their impact on the game. Afsayi was to be found later dancing on the pavilion

Activities and Services Officer, Manoj Kerai lifts the cup after Goldsmiths won varsity.

tables, somewhat controversially shouting “who cares about basketball?” as the Varsity results were read out. With Goldsmiths leading UAL 5-1 overall, one more win would have made it certain the Varsity cup was heading back to New Cross. Arts fight back The Women’s Football was to be decided on penalties after a 1-1 stalemate in normal and extra time. Goldsmiths took the initiative after they scored, and UAL missed, the first spot kick, but UAL’s finishing was markedly better in the subsequent penalties and they went on to win two goals to one. “The nerves got to us,” said Jennifer Garton, player and club Events Organiser. The UAL captain, in an understandably jubilant mood after keeping their Varsity hopes alive, said: “I was crapping myself. We have a whole team of freshers and we haven’t won a game all season.” She praised the rabble of UAL fans that had turned up to watch the tense climax of the game: “the support was amazing, I’m

so proud to play for UAL.” UAL, sensing a comeback, pulled another point back after winning the Women’s Hockey game 0-9. Captain Alexandra Culshaw took some positives from the game: “Our match was really tough but our players kept their heads up the whole time. Some of them have really improved over the year and I think we can come away feeling pretty happy.” She admitted the UAL were simply of a better standard, and went on to hail her woman of the match Charlotte Downs for some great

Photos: Emily Harthern

tackles and “amusing tennis skills”. The UAL Men’s Rugby team added to the revival, beating Goldsmiths men’s team 12-40. “The score wasn’t reflective of the game itself,” a Goldsmiths player said after the game, “we just had a bit of a collapse in the last period”. Matt Tomlin, the Rugby President, was understandably disappointed, but praised his team’s resolve later that night at the Student Union bar. Bringing us back With Goldsmiths’ earlier 5-1 romp having been clawed back to 5-4- a comeback that UAL’s Activities and Volunteering Officer, Richard Wilsher, would later bizarrely call a “reunitetion”- it appeared that the cup would be claimed on whether the Men’s Football 1st team could seal a win in their game. Within the first ten minutes they were 1-0 down after a UAL free kick smashed the back of the net. They were to prove their own undoing, however, after pressure Continued on Page 14

League tables and spring/summer fixtures inside - Page 15