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Men’s football 2s into ULU Cup final

THE DEBATE: Jan Moir and the freedom of speech Page 6

Page 15

QMessenger looks at affordable Mothers’ Day gifts Page 9

Universities hiring ‘three managers per academic’ Amy Bowles Since 2003, the number of managers at UK universities has risen more than three times as fast as the number of academics, official figures disclose. Following these statistics, unions accuse universities that funding is being spent on ‘non-jobs’.

Recent figures show a 33 percent increase in university managerial positions since 2003. This compares with a steadier rise of just less than 10 percent in the hiring of university academics. The increase in full-time management posts, from 10,740 to 14,250 is

the steepest rise in any job category in the UK’s higher education sector. The true number of management workers is likely to be higher, as those who qualify as academics, including vice-chancellors, are not listed as managers.

The number of academics has risen 9.9 percent to 117,465, compared with a 12 percent rise in other staff to 135,055. Several other categories of non-academic university professions have also grown more rapidly than the increase in academic positions. The figure for “artistic, media, public relations, marketing and sports occupations” has risen by 27 percent since 2003, according to

9th March ‘10 • Issue 22 • FREE

statistics gathered by the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

By contrast, the number of technicians, laboratory assistants and academic support staff hired has fallen by 1 percent.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, which represents academics, said: “Universities are seats of learning and research and that is driven by academics. We are already seeing class sizes rising and students receiving less time with their tutors, yet still there are calls to make students pay even more for the service and axe academic staff.”

Continued page 2...

Editors Editor: Sam Cunningham editor@qmessenger.co.uk News: Sam Creighton news@qmessenger.co.uk Comment: Bradley Downing comment@qmessenger.co.uk Science & Environment: Richard Dodwell science@qmessenger.co.uk Craig Ferriman environment@qmessenger.co.uk Reviews: Helen Knight & Rebecca Wynter reviews@qmessenger.co.uk Film: Alex MacDonald film@qmessenger.co.uk

Play Sudoku and Crossword Page 13

QM dance troupe win national university dance competition, p13

QMessenger reviews all three nights of QMTC’s New Writing Festival, p8

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News

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09/03/2010

News in Brief

Massive 23% increase in uni applications cause for concern

“Dumbing down” degrees professor forced to resign

The 23% increase in the number of university applications this year have led to rather extreme suggestions in what can be done to provide more university places.

On February 24th, Professor Paul Buckland won his case against Bournemouth University at the Court of Appeal. The ruling overturned a judgement from the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Professor Buckland was forced to resign from Bournemouth University after alleging that they were “dumbing down” degrees. The controversy erupted after Buckland failed all but two students taking retakes in his course. As a result the university forced him into resignation but have now been ordered to pay him undisclosed compensation.

Bhattacharyya donates £1 million to Warwick Uni Lord Bhattacharyya, an academic at Warwick University, has pledged £1 million to the institution and has called on others to follow his example. The university has announced that this is one of the largest personal donations ever made to a British institution by a serving member of staff. The money will be used to support science grants and awards. Bhattacharyya said: “In America it is quite common if you have spent such a lot of time in the place where you work. Universities are basically charities. I would like to encourage others to give. It doesn’t have to be such a big amount.”

30 per cent cuts predicted in H.E Professor Rick Trainor, the former head of Universities UK and current principal of King’s College London has warned cuts in the funding of HE could reach heights of 30 per cent over three years. He fears that they will be more damaging than those imposed by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. Professor Trainor said these cuts, which would be likely in an emergency budget in July, could be the “equivalent of about 700 lectureships” at King’s. “Just to put that in perspective, the ‘Thatcher cuts’ of the early 1980s, which some of us lived through ... averaged 15 per cent. So we’re already certainly going to get as much as we got in the early 1980s, and it may be twice as bad.”

Got a News in Brief story?

Email it to Sam Creighton at news@qmessenger.co.uk

Janani Rathakrishnan

Among these is the controversial option of forcing students to pay expensive international-level fees, in order to help fund the extra places in universities. Such a move, however, is more likely to discourage students to carry on into a university level education, in particular, those who are already dependent upon student loans in order to fund their further education.

Professor David Green, vicechancellor of the University of Worchester, suggested that more students be accepted on an unfunded basis. While this would mean a serious increase in the number of students being funded with tuition fees and therefore a reduction in teaching funding

per student, he claims this would be “the least worse evil”. Green points to the example of California, where higher education funding was slashed by 20% and universities responded by siding with outraged students. On the other hand, what green does in factor in is the additional student support and teaching costs needed for the increased number of students taking up university places. As Les Ebon chairman of the Million+ group of new universities warns, taking on large numbers of unfunded students “would lead to a significant diminution in quality”.

Another proposal to bridge the gap between the supply and demand of university places comes from Ruth Farwell, chairman of the Guild HE group of colleges and specialist institutions and vice-chancellor of Bucks University. She argues that students that can afford to pay more are taking up valuable university places intended for poorer students. It is unlikely though, that her suggestion that students be given the option of paying for places, will

“Green points to the example of California, where higher education funding was slashed by 20% and universities responded by siding with outraged students.” find favour within the government.

The proposals made by Lord Mandelson last month are more focused upon the expansion of alternative education routes after university, such as foundation degrees, part-time study and honours courses.

The suggestion of Professor David Green, according to Mandelson, “as tempting as it would

seem” would simply be unrealistic.

It would not make sense in terms of cost and more importantly in terms of the quality of teaching the students would be receiving as a result. He suggests that in the financial climate at present, the focus needs to be upon learning strategic skills, as well upon alternatives to full-time study.

QM emeritus advocates government spending plans James McMillan

Renowned Economist and Queen Mary Emeritus Professor Lord Peston recently signed papers expressing his advocation of Labour’s current spending plans. Gordon Brown’s current policies will see the government spend around £170billion more than will be generated from this years tax revenues. A policy that rival David Cameron and his peers have been quick to scorn.

“Gordon Brown’s current policies will see the government spend around £170billion more than will be generated from this years tax revenues. A policy that rival David Cameron and his peers have been quick to scorn.”

Brown defends the move, claiming that this years spending will help rejuvenate investor confidence and see the economy improve from the 0.1% growth reported in January this year. Despite confident

support from Economists and academics Browns spending regime is still controversial. Lord Peston was among those backing Labour in 1981, a time that saw Margaret Thatcher and then Chancellor Geoffrey Howe initiate extreme tax raises despite an ongoing depression. Much to the embarrassment of the 1981 academic body Thatcher and Howe were proven to have made the right move with the economy segueing rapidly back into a new phase of growth.

Brown’s ideals has been met with mixed opinion from this decades academics who face job losses, reductions in research funding and poor quality teaching facilities due to Labour’s current mismanagement of higher education spending.

David Cameron and his peers have been quick to attack governments’s spending

News

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3

09/03/2010

The President

Queen Mary bucks trend in building breakdown James McMillan Queen Mary has come a long way over the last decade with a huge effort to improve almost every aspect of our institution that springs to mind.

I watched the film The Matrix recently and I thought the concept in the film applied so well to life in London today. Getting on the tube with our headphones and papers, avoiding eye contact at all costs in order to not communicate with anyone around us is just unnatural isn’t it?

We have become a society where everyone is constantly rushing through there busy lives not caring about each other or the communities we live in this leads to such a cold unemotional environment which again I do not believe is natural for the human species.

It might work for robots but this behaviour which has become such common practice is apparently “normal”, and if anyone goes against this “normality” they are classified as weird, drunk or high.

In the film which I’m sure most of you have seen the humans are all cocooned in these little pods powering this system and I think that is exactly what is happening today, we all seem like little batteries powering this urban London with very little if no interaction between us.

We are all so plugged in to this system that we rarely find the time to relax and take a step back and contemplate what we have become. I say this to myself first and foremost because I am as guilty of being a battery as anyone else. How often do we unplug from this false reality that life in a city has become?

As students I believe we have a duty to question how society and communities are rolled out before us, I know this is so cliché but we ARE the future, and lets think about what future we want to live in, because at this rate we will have a very bleak life to look forward to.

I used to think in the future we’ll see loads of robots walking the streets, I now realise that it has already happened, and instead of them being made out of shiny silver metal there made out of ipod wearing humans in suits.

Nasir Tarmann

Queen Mary’s academic staff really stepped up their game for 2008’s RAE which saw us rise to the top of the research board for Geography, Linguistics and Drama and second for Dentistry and English.

Equal attention has been paid the student experience with 2009 seeing the reopening of our recently refurbished QMotion gym not to mention the plethora of eating and drinking establishments that have sprung up across the Mile End campus. Its seem that for all of us working and studying at QM/BSLA that we couldn’t have picked a better time to be here.

However, after several years of hounding from the national media; universities across the country are being forced to reveal the true standard of their teaching and research facilities revealing that not everyone is managing to keep pace with our success. In a surprising report the Guardian revealed that many of the countries most prestigious universities are blighted by lecture theatres and both “unfit for purpose” and “at serious risk of failure or major breakdown”.

LSE and Imperial college were among the worst hit with 41% of LSE’s lecture theatres not up to the job and 12% of Imperial’s build-

Queen Mary continues to invest in its fantastic campus with a £150m spend planned over the next four years ings rated completely “inoperable”. Some universities have hit back claiming that millions have been spent on refurbishments across ageing structures, however, change is incremental and economic conditions coupled with Labour’s policy of trashing higher education funding have slowed their progress.

The unwillingness of universities to give up information on the quality of their buildings may seem pragmatic from some angles. However, the Higher Education Funding

Commitee is reported to have taken extreme measures to cover up the state of university campuses spending £50,000 in legal fees to “cover up” the state of neglect that some campuses experience.

The Queen Mary/Barts partnership is still showing no signs of abating its rise to the top with a comprehensive four year plan in place to spend £150million on a continual scheme of refurbishments and new constructions.

Even after extensive investment into QMotion and Geogra-

phy building lecture theatres the Queen Mary campus will still be host to a £15million new humanities building to be completed by 2015. The Whitechapel campus will be seeing £3.5million invested into its Innovation Centre building and £6.9million towards the Institute of Health Sciences and Education.

For more information on Queen Mary’s future spending policies see: http://www.qmul.ac.uk/about/ collegeinfo/docs/ES.pdf

Radio society finish Quest to move into new home Sam Cunningham Queen Mary’s radio society, Quest, have finally moved into their newly refurbished recording studio.

The new studio, located on the fifth floor above the College’s post room, has had an £18,500 investment from the college to install new equipment and build a soundproofed area for recording.

Yeleche Woluchor, the Station Manager and one of the key figures behind securing the space and funding for the refurbishment, was relieved that the work was finally complete.

He said: “We were looking for a room about three years ago when Catherine Byaruhanga – who turned a group of students interested in setting up a radio station into an official Students’ Union society – sent the then Acting Principal Philip Og-

den an email asking for help and he directed us to Anne Parry who was tasked to help us and has been there for us since.

“In the last few months it’s been meetings with the Projects Office and with Philip. We’ve literally been the contractors. There have been a lot of hurdles to overcome but we’ve finally finished a project we can be really proud of.”

Hannah Olivennes,, Assistant Station Manager, has also been heavily involved in the process since she started university. Although “gutted” she and Woluchor will not be around to really reap the benefits of the new recording facilities, she was delighted that they were leaving something behind for other students.

She said: “When I got to Queen Mary as a first year there was no radio station on campus and no plans for one. I feel like I’ve helped with a project which is really important to

me and managed to give something back to the university. I’m looking forward to hearing Quest in a few years wherever I am.”

Woluchor added: “In the next three years I’d like the students taking over to win some Student Radio Association (SRA) awards. Hopefully the website will become a lot more

interactive and we will be seeing at least 12 hours per day of live shows, seven days a week.”

If you’d like to get involved with Quest, email qmradio@gmail. com or become a fan of Quest on Facebook and contact Hannah or Yeleche through the group.

4

News

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09/03/2010

What’s going Former QM Principal leading review of Post Grad education on in America?

QM’s Nick Thomson reports from across the Atlantic

Just days before a statewide student walkout against tuition hikes, there has been an all round increase in racial tensions in the University of California following several public displays of racial hatred.

The spark, in something reminiscent of American race relations of the 1920s, occurred last week when a noose was hung over a street light in the San Diego Campus. Similar racially charged messages have appeared across the state including a swastika carved into bedroom door of a Jewish student and a ʻghettothemedʼ party where fried chicken and watermelon, a derogatory racist stereotype of African Americans, was reported to have been served. Graffiti has also been found found on Santa Cruz campus, vanguard of the sandal clad student counter culture, clearly supporting the architects of the noose incident. Itʼs certainly no Banksy.

Students and staff throughout the state-spanning University have demonstrated their disgust at these actions; the chancellors of every campus have issued a joint statement condemning such actions, students have established an antii-racism Facebook group and, youʼve guessed it, a ʻdance partyʼ was held by our colleagues in Berkeley in protest against racism. In the last few days, the student responsible for the noose incident has been suspended from the university.

Admirably, the students behind the Facebook page have denounced racial hatred and promoted diversity in a rather realistic and down to earth manner: it compels its members to “hate people for their personality, not nationality, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation.” Freedom of speech has often been used by those in defence of racially charged incidents and these students behind the Facebook group have acknowledged that incidents such as these and the existence of Glen Beck is the price we pay for it. They are not expecting harmony in the world, but, quite rightly, some forms of hate are better than others.

Sam Creighton Former QM Principal Professor Adrian Smith has been commissioned to lead a review into postgraduate education. The study has come under pressure from new universities who says that any restrictions to postgraduate funding would lead to a “two-tier” system.

The report is considering whether or not all institutions should provide all kinds of higher education. Some universities are calling for PhD funding to be reserved for research intensive institutions.

The postgraduate sector has been steadily expanding in recent years, growing by 12% between 2002 and 2008. Much of this boom how-

Three managers per academic employed at unis ...Continued from back page Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, added: “At a time when vicechancellors are demanding even more money for their institutions, students will rightly be concerned that the money already invested in the sector has not been well spent.”

“Figures have been published amid claims from university leaders that Britain’s higher education system is facing ‘meltdown’ due to up to £2.5 billion Government funding cuts.”

However, Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, commented on the broader role which institutions hold now, which includes “forging much closer links with business, maximising external sources of income from a wide variety of sources, engaging more closely with the public, local communities and schools, and carrying out widening participation activities. Many of these involve people in managerial roles working alongside academics.”

These figures have been published amid claims from university leaders that Britain’s higher education system is facing ‘meltdown’ due to up to £2.5 billion Government funding cuts.

ever has been fueled by overseas students with only a small increase in homegrown applicants.

The Million+ group, a body representing new universities, argues that postgraduate study is vital for all higher education institutions. It’s chief executive Pam Tatlow has said: “A concentration of postgraduate funding will mean that business, the economy and participation will suffer. The creation of a seemingly twotierd system will inevitably weaken the reputation of UK universities both at home and in the global market place.”

The group claims that new universities must be allowed to retain the ability to take in postgraduates. They already provide for 37% of postgraduate students and take in 30% of international students. They

feel that they provide a greater level of social mobility than we be available if funding was concentrated in elite institutions.

The 1994 Group, which represents research-intensive universities, has called for a “new quality threshold on PhD provision”. Arguing that focusing funding on research based institutions would be a more efficient use of public money.

The 1994 Group wants factors such as the completion rate for doctorates, to be taken into account when allocating funding. Pointing out that under this criteria researchintensive universities of the 1994 Group and Russell Group are “far more productive”.

They says that the new universities would still be allowed to provide postgraduate study but that “pro-

vision below the quality threshold would be reliant on fee income rather than government funds.”

Professor Smith’s finding are due to be published in the next few weeks.

Ex-QM Principal Adrian Smith

First Year Academic Study Workshops For students who want to be ahead of the game The Language and Learning Unit is running a number of workshops which aim to improve the quality of the work you are producing Making sense of marks and feedback Wednesday 20 January 1-3 Thursday 21 January 4-6 Getting started with a written assignment Wednesday 27 January 1-3 Thursday 28 January 4-6 Selection is the key! From highlighters to notes you can use Wednesday 3 February 1-3 Thursday 4 February 4-6 Revision planning and technique Wednesday 10 February 1-3 Thursday 11 February 4-6 Dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s – handing in a good assignment Wednesday 17 February 1-3 Thursday 18 February 4-6 All Wednesday workshops will be in Francis Bancroft Room 3.16 All Thursday workshops will be in Francis Bancroft 3.15 These workshops are open to any first year undergraduate student If you would like to book your place at one of these workshops, please email Stacie Withers on s.s.f.withers@qmul.ac.uk*

*Please note that spaces will fill up very fast especially at the beginning of term so you are advised to book early.

For more information, please go www.languageandlearning.qmul.ac.uk/elss/study

Further information Language and Learning Unit Queen Mary, University of London Mile End Rd London E1 4NS Tel: + 44 (0)20 7882 2826/2827

www.languageandlearning.qmul.ac.uk/elss/study

News

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5

09/03/2010

Meet your newly-elected Sabbatical Officer team for 2010/11

During the Students’ Union elections QMessenger interviewed EVERY candidate running so you could pick the best of the bunch, here’s who you elected to lead your Union next year...

PRESIDENT: Vratislav “Vraj” Domalip

VICE PRESIDENT COMMUNICATIONS (Editor - QMessenger and Cub): Sam Creighton

do in the position?

Move two metres from my VPSA desk into my very own office and watch the amazing fight that will erupt as all the new VPs fight over Sam Cunnighams desk.

before. There was still, by and large, a great atmosphere and everyone seemed to make friends. A lot of drama though, especially in the presidential campaign, complaints were flying in every direction by the end.

With the new team, how well do you think the SU will do next year?

What is the first thing you are going to do in the position?

The SU is in very safe hands with all the new Sabb team and it will be a pleasure to lead our Students’ Union into our greatest year yet.

Very first thing is to keep the corner desk in the VP Communications line of succession. After that I’m going to crack on with my pledges and have everything either done or in place to start when everyone comes back next September.

After a week of hard campaigning how ill are you now?

What did you think of all the different campaigns this year? Was there any drama?

Campaigning was extremely stressful; there was so much added pressure this time round as a Sabb has never lost a reelection and I didn’t want to make the history books! Drama was one thing this election wasn’t short of. Complaints were flying in left, right and centre.

What is the first thing you are going to

I went through three packs of Lemsip, two packs of Nurofen in four days, i was very ill! But that all seemed to be wiped away when I was announced as the winner.

What are the most memorable moments of the campaign?

will include everything from booking events at the union to accessing finances. But I think the first thing i’m going to do in July is clean out the President’s office! Which currently looks a lot like a 1st year boy’s bedroom...

With the new team, how well do you think the SU will do next year?

This one’s easy...it’ll do amazingly.

After a week of hard campaigning how ill are you now?

Everyone put up a real fight this year, especially for the presidential positions...as for drama, there wasn’t much involving me! In fact I’ve become better friends with Laurence (one of my competitors) in the process.

What is the first thing you are going to do in the position?

I’m already working on a new “Guide to Clubs and Socs” handbook which

The campaigns were great this year, more aggressive and pro-active than I’ve ever seen any sabb campaigns

Not too ill but about as tired as someone who’s spent an entire week campaigning in the snow should be!

I had a celebratory meal out last night and nearly fell asleep during the starter! It was SO worth it though!

What are the most memorable moments of the campaign?

Staying up till 4am signing and stapling hundreds of letters, the banter and comraderie between everyone in library square and the celebrations in Drapers afterwards!...Though I have to admit my memory of the latter might be a little impaired...

With the new team, how well do you think the SU will do next year?

After a week of hard campaigning how ill are you now?

Pretty horrific to be honest, the 3 am starts and 14 hours shifts standing in the snow will not be missed.

What are the most memorable moments of the campaign?

I’ve made some brilliant friends, memories that stand out though the VP Comms debate, flyering halls down at Barbican and just general chaos of library square.

the are the the

VICE PRESIDENT EDUCATION, WELFARE & REPRESENTATION: Sophie Richardson What is the first thing you are going to do in the position?

When I asked a girl if she has voted and instead of saying anything, she pulled out her phone, took out the battery and inside her phone was a small I heart Vraj that she ripped from my flyer. Very surreal.

Barts and the London Student Association PRESIDENT: Laura Brenner

What did you think of all the different campaigns this year? Was there any drama?

What did you think of all the different campaigns this year? Was there any drama?

The new team looks great, everyone deserved to win I think and together we can take the SU forward to a better and brighter future.

What did you think of all the different campaigns this year? Was there any drama?

Everyone made a real effort this year with their campaigns. I had so much fun with the Grease theme for mine!

There was plenty of drama during campaigning but isn’t there always?! I just tried to keep out of it all and focus on my own campaigning.

First thing I’m going to do in the position... oust Vraj out of the President’s office! No I guess the first thing I’ll do will be get trained up, in order to give you the best service I’ve gotta know my stuff and know exactly what I’m doing. I want to do the best possible job so I’m going to try and start finding out what you will want from me as your VP next year.

With the new team, how well do you think the SU will do next year?

Providing everyone works hard, pulls their weight and does everything they should be doing I think we’ll do a

VICE PRESIDENT STUDENT ACTIVITIES: Dominic Bell

and I wasn’t even there at the results. One vote! Thanks to everyone who voted for me.

What is the first thing you are going to do in the position?

What did you think of all the different campaigns this year?

Was there any drama?

Intense. Mine in comparison was pretty lousy but then I went for a modest approach, not liking the fact that you have to throw yourself in peoples’ faces to win.

I don’t like the idea of my face on a flyer being peed on in a urinal. Was there drama? Wow, yes,

The first thing I want to do is get that desk by the window. On a more serious note...budgets... everyone likes them nice and early.

With the new team, how well do you think the SU will do next year?

I cannot wait to stroll into that office. I’m really glad to be working this set of people. We should do well and better than

great job as a team for the SU. After a week of hard campaigning how ill are you now?

Pretty knackered and full of a cold but I’m hard so it’s all OK and I won so it was worth it!

What’s are the most memorable moments of the campaign?

Haha so many memorable moments... running round Library Square with my campaign team singing Grease songs, the campaign car, Danielle’s incessant shouting, results night, Vraj’s constant ups and downs, wearing seven layers and still being cold...

any has done before. I have little doubt about that.

After a week of hard campaigning how ill are you now?

Yes. I caught a nasty one midway through. It meant I didn’t get out as much as I’d hoped for my campaign but what the hell it was worth it and it didn’t matter. Haha!

What are the most memorable moments of the campaign?

Vraj, his hyperchondria, and his wild jumping on a table in library square. I predicted his doom and ran off to Ground.

6

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09/03/2010

Student Comment

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THE DEBATE:

Freedom of speech - Jan Moir’s Stephen Gatley rant

Press bravery, control, Jan Moir is definitely drivel and freedom no ordinary case Elias Stoakes

Let me start my defence of freedom of speech in the press with negativity: I hate most newspapers.

I think most of them are just producing the equivalent of village gossip, occasionally redeemed by outstanding investigative work.

They are hugely manipulative, lacking objectivity and contain a disturbing mixture of adulterated fact and glib chatter.

Newspapers, as Noam Chomsky states in his essay ‘Manufacturing Consent,’ are consciously driven by a desire not to offend their financiers, namely: advertisers, the public, political friends and, very often, the huge multinational

corporations that run them on a leash.

Yet for every Jan Moir of the Daily Mail, there is one Christopher Hitchens reporting on Clinton’s bombing of Sudanese pharmaceutical factories, while the rest of the press salivates over whether or not he was fellated by a sycophant. I applaud the creativity of those who struggle against the tide and produce quality reporting, despite their near invisibility, as well as the one ingredient that allows them to exist: freedom.

Monopolisation of the press by the big corporations is sadly a fact of life, as is the prejudice of most media groups. Yet what is produced by this plurality is a strangely dialogical conversation, conducted by voices with different narratives, in separate rooms, that is easily accessible by the public.

We have the freedom to listen to what we like, hopefully trying out different publications to find out what we trust.

Let us consider the states where the press were stifled, not allowed to pro-

duce their dappled mixture of effluence and light: Stalinist Russia, McCarthyite fifties America, Hitler’s Germany. Of course, many will see this point I am making as extreme, because today’s press limitations are more connected to political correctness and nowhere near as excessive as those above. Think though, what a PC world of pretension we would live in if that was the case. I am one who was glad that the odious Nick Griffin was allowed to expose himself (in a manner of speaking) on the BBC, because he was simply outgunned and slain by better minds for all to see.

Finally, let us look at the gifts produced by the freedom of the press in recent years: the exposure to us of expenses scandal; the horrendous crimes in Abu Ghraib, the torturing of Moazzam Begg, Binyam Mohamed and probably others In all these cases British servants of the state – paid for by us – have committed great abuses of trust, and seeing as they already wield too much influence over the media, they would have been quite happy if not actively attempting to see these matters be invisible to the world.

A free press is better than a mute press and the work of the brave investigative reporters, even when they break the law, piss people off or obsess about John Terry’s sex life (who cares?) remain worth it for every story that helps us hold our leaders, our society and our addictions to the light and our own points of view.

Harvey Bhogal

In our country, I would like to think that the concept of freedom of speech is a highly valued and respected ideal.

However, Jan Moir’s article(s) about the death of Stephen Gately was no ordinary case. As a journalist, who was going to have her article published in a national daily, she would have to (theoretically) follow the Code of Practice set out by the Press Complaints Commission.

It blatantly contravened the PCC code because it was inaccurate, homophobic, and showed a lack of sympathy for Gately’s

“Moir’s article was inaccurate, homophobic, and showed a lack of sympathy for Gately’s grieving family.” grieving family.

Moir was insinuating that as a result of being gay, he followed a debauched lifestyle, which led to his early death.

This is not only highly offensive to homosexuals, but the argument has no factual basis, and so contravened the code by being inaccurate. It was discriminatory towards Gately’s sexual orientation

and towards gay people in our society, and thus contravened the code by being discriminatory. In addition, cases involving personal grief or shock, such as this one, in which the Gately family must have been absolutely distraught, stories should be written sensitively and be sympathetic to those who lost their loved one. Moir did not seem to take this into consideration.

The PCC code aside, whether or not Moir should have been allowed to have her article published according to the tenets of freedom of speech, it was incredibly distasteful. It would be fine in our society for Jan Moir, as an individual person, to air her views about Stephen Gately and our fellow gay citizens however she wishes, but probably not in an article being published in a national daily – even if it is the Daily Mail.

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7

09/03/2010

Is Gordon Brown a bully?

Monty McShane

ley’s new book, The End of the Party, have attracted unwanted criticism to No. 10 Downing Street.

“This allegation may not surprise a lot of you, since those in a position of power often find a way to abuse it.”

Is Gordon Brown a bully? The allegation that he is may not surprise a lot of you, since those in a position of power often find a way to abuse it. It has been a difficult week for Gordon Brown, who leads a party with its work cut out for the next general election.

The revelations in Andrew Rawns-

Rawnsley claims that Brown is known for bullying and intimidating his staff; it is asserted that he even pushed an aide out of his way on the staircase. The National Bullying Helpline stepped forward and said they had received calls from No. 10 staff, which has backed up Rawnsley’s claims. Brown’s unacceptable behaviour is believed to have earned him a warning from the Cabinet Secretary, Gus O’Donnell.

This however, has been fervently, yet unsurprisingly denied by O’Donnell.

Lord Mandelson has been quick to jump to Brown’s defence, who

suggested that he is merely “passionate”, “emotional” and “demanding of himself and others”, as opposed to a bully. These tokens of support from Mandelson are far too dismissive and ignore the scale of the problem. Bullying your staff in the workplace is extremely serious. It constitutes unacceptable abuse, whether it is emotional, mental or physical. The Prime Minister and other ministers should not be allowed to bully their staff, especially since the government has made anti-bullying in schools a priority. Interestingly, the National Bullying Helpline has been pilloried in the press for releasing confidential information, which just goes to show how quickly a story can be spun around.

The story seems unlikely to harm the Labour Party’s approval ratings, nor sway voters, since Brown has never claimed to attract votes because he is likeable; in the most case it will probably have little effect on Labour’s result in the general election.

Winterton out of touch Harvey Bhogal

The most vocal critic of the plans to ban first-class travel for MPs has been veteran the Conservative MP for Macclesfield, Sir Nicholas Winterton. Most of his arguments, and the nature and tone which he used to express them, showed that he was largely out of touch with the general public, particularly after the public anger over the expenses scandal.

However, whilst it was hilarious to read his apocalyptic denouncement of standard travel, (“There’s activity(!)”), I believe that he did have a point. Often MPs travelling to London are going to be working, which may involve reading reports or using their laptops. It might be difficult to secure a spot in a stan-

dard carriage with sufficient space and tranquillity to do this efficiently. Furthermore, local councillors, local government officials, and top-level army personnel travel first-class. Either MPs should be on a par with them, and be allowed to travel first class, or the aforementioned should forfeit their first-class travel to put them on a level pegging with MPs. However, with everybody accusing the MPs of being so out of touch with normal people, perhaps sitting with the plebs that they represent in standard-class should be the required solution. Their allowances are funded by the tax-payer, thus they have a duty to the citizens of this country to spend our money fairly, and try to get the best value for money out of the resources at their disposal. This should be even more of a priority during a recession, when many in the political class urge the electorate, particularly public sector workers and those on benefits, that they should ‘tighten their belts.’

After the expenses scandal, these sorts of proclamations sound incredibly hypocritical.

My personal solution would be to allow MPs to claim for the price of a standard ticket, and they could bump it up to a first-class ticket with their money. But perhaps in our modern, egalitarian, democratic society, our leaders should sit with the rest of us.

Stop Tory plans to bring back fox hunting Alex Green-Wilkes

The Tory Party this week declared that, if elected, they will hold a free vote in Parliament to bring back fox hunting. We must oppose this pledge! If the Conservatives win

with a majority, we could see the return of this barbaric ‘sport.’

David Cameron may be in for a surprise if he allows fox hunting to become an election issue, as 75 per cent of the British public do not want it brought back again. It just shows that the Tory party are out of touch with the general public. Whilst they are trying to win over working-class and middle-class voters by recreating themselves as the party of the NHS, this policy clearly shows that they are the party for the few, not the many.

This pledge is not simply Cameron’s bid to reverse the hunting ban; it is a spineless manoeuvre to raise funds by pandering to Tory donors and the right-wing aristocratic base of the party. As long as Camer-

on backs this free vote, compassionate Conservatives will continue to be seen as the same old Tory toffs.

The hunting ban came into force five years ago in England and Wales.

It was a historic victory for wildlife.

We must do everything we can to safeguard it from this free vote. We cannot go back to a time where innocent foxes were hunted down and savaged by dogs... all in the name of fun! Paul McCartney has declared

that he will “fight any moves by the Tories to bring back fox hunting!”

You can join him too!

Contact your MP now! Urge them to support the Hunting Act!

8

Reviews

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09/03/2010

REVIEWS

write a review and send it to reviews@qmessenger.co.uk

QM Theatre Company’s New Writing Festival QMessenger went along to all three nights of QMTC’s New Writer’s Festival to check out the work of one of the most active societies on campus this year, here’s what happened...

The opening night...

Pawel Blanda Glamour, talent and wine in plastic cups accompanied the audience during the interval of the opening night of the Queen Mary Theatre Company’s “New Writer’s Festival.”

Everyone present exuded an energy of excitement as the night was half done.

Already the audience had seen the opening show: “Knocking Over The Chair” by Maddy Levy, a naturalistic play dealing with extremely challenging subject matter. The intensity of emotions present as the characters traversed the distress of a wedding falling apart before their very eyes must have posed a huge challenge to both the cast and writer alike. Lauryn Murdoch handled an intense opening monologue flawlessly as she played Miranda, a bride-tobe stricken with a crippling internal conflict. Murdoch was accompanied by outstanding performances from

Alec Bennie playing Lance and Beau Sapsford as Jack: the very embodiments of Miranda’s dilemma. Karen White provided a supporting performance worthy of the demands of the script. Comic relief was provided by both Sophie Turner (in the role of Julia – Miranda’s dysfunctional mother) as well as Dean Poulter (Jack’s sarcastically witty gay best friend). Both characters were necessary inclusions by the writer to balance out the highly passionate emotions on show.

As the audience contemplated the play they had seen before the interval anticipation was already building about how Rebecca Hammond’s “Material’s Possession” would compare. One abrupt and loud whistle from the company director, and the audience was ushered in, only to meet a pile of students lying on the floor clad entirely in black with only white masks to determine where one actor ended and the other began.

Hammond’s exquisite direction ascertained the audience was gripped from the first with an impressive

dance to begin the play. The deliciously surreal subject matter lent it’s self perfectly to the physicality of this performance. The play went from strength to strength with humour being put in stark contrast with brutal themes of rape and exploitation. The entire cast shone through as individually brilliant: Ed (the protagonist) played by Ryan Sherwin, Katie (his literaly objectified girlfriend) by Rosa Postlethwaite, a tap played by William Heslop, a table by Erin Johnson a cupboard by Alex Kearley-Shiers and a telephone by Alice “ring, ring... fucking ring” Roots.

The second festival that the company has held this year, the weekend doubtless proved the quality, creativity and talent of students at Queen Mary. Displaying a consistently high standard, everyone involved in this fantastic three days of entertainment should be proud of themselves for the hard work they put in.

RATING 8/10

The Saturday night...

The Sunday night...

Joe McLoughlin

Sam Creighton

The second night of QMTC’s New Writers Festival was a sombre affair. Fittingly, as the audience filtered into the packed Pinter Studio they were greeted by the cadaverlike figures of Liam Mortell and Grace Herbert, in place for the first play of the night, Remember Me, written and directed by Henry Bishop.

It must be noted that the make-up for Remember Me was phenomenal. Aging two young people so extremely is a difficult task, especially in a small venue, where the actors are under close scrutiny.

Equally impressive was the acting, with Herbert, playing the part of an old woman retreating from her grief into halfforgotten memories, with skill and subtlety. Mortell was the star of the evening, which considering he only had one line

is even more impressive. For the majority of the play he remained completely motionless, which is an impressive feat in itself, and when he did finally awake it was physically painful hearing him gasping for his last breath but never quite catching it.

There was a reprieve from the dour mood as the night was ushered along by the verbose stylings of QMTC’s ever comic compere and co-President Rob Taylor. The second play, The Visit, is the new piece from Rosalyn Smith, who achieved success at the last Edinburugh Fringe. It depicted the meeting of two characters, political activists when they were young but now changed, trying to avoid the wrath of the Orwellian New Republic. The writing was good and the acting admirable, but the aging of the characters less convincing and the ideas of the play oversimplified.

The audience was allowed an interval of crisps, cigarettes and wine in plastic cups before being ushered back in for the finale, Read All About It, written and directed by Neil McAnaney. The piece centered on an ex-soldier, left unstable by an unknown but brutal war.

Again, the acting and writing were good and the ideas interesting if not original. However, it seemed that the play was striving for more ambiguity than necessary. Jack Lenoard and Emily Beeton Everritt grounded the piece well with their performances and Joe McLoughlin and Jim O’Hagan were particularly effective.

Overall it was a successful showcase of the great and promising talent we have at QM. So while the theme of the night may have been characters struggling to get to their feet, QMTC was standing tall.

RATING 7.5/10

The Queen Mary Theatre Company’s New Writing Festival closed strongly on Sunday 28th February with Indigenous, written by Lawrence Parmenter and directed by La Sykes with assistance from Victoria Kelly.

The play, written in response to Nick Griffin’s appearance on Question Time last November, presents a fictional Britain in which a far-right political leader is set to appear on a national television talk show. From this simple and easily recognisable premise the play brilliantly explored the various issues that surround the relationships between the public, the media and politics without once falling into the patronising and obvious diatribe of “racism is bad” Central to the plays success was the script, written by Lawrence Parmenter. Consider-

ing the quick three month turnaround from the moment of inspiration to the moment of production the script should be applauded for its intelligence, its wit and its clinically precise use of language. For me, this precision was most noticeable in the fantastic opening scene in which the three characters (Past, Present and Future) gave voice to the tensions and hypocrisies that surround racism, the British public and the British political system.

La Sykes’ direction was equally accomplished and she should be congratulated for the aplomb with which she was able to take troubling material and make it appealing, without diluting its potency. Aesthetically, her decisions were fantastic. From the outset the play was never staged completely in line with realist conventions, only two tables and a few chairs appear in the entirety of the show. The risk, then was that the play could have

become alienating, hard to grasp and typical art student fodder. However, the assured use of lighting compensated for the lack of realistic staging wonderfully as it was able to set the tone of each scene perfectly. The final monologue of the right wing politician pinned and sweating under four spotlight, was a great example of this.

Finally, all the performances in the play were terrific. Broadly speaking, Harriet Evans, Thomas Machell and Caitlin Ingham were pitch perfect in their presentation of the serious political viewpoints and their deft change over into moments of physical theatre and light comedy was astounding. Special attention, though, should be paid to Thomas Campion whose charismatic performance as the central “Politician” confidently merged sections of Shakespeare, Churchill, Powell and verbatim sound bites into an appealing but terrifying whole.

RATING 9/10

Reviews

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9

09/03/2010

Mothers’ Day gifts

A Class in Curry Culture

LET YOUR MUM SEE YOU EVERY DAY

Tom Cridford

Somehow since coming to university you’ve not seen your dear mother as much as you would have liked? Try sifting through a couple of the family photo albums to find the perfect picture of you and your mum. Pop it in this cute frame, which she’s bound to think cost you more, and hey presto mum’s got a way to see you every day.

RATING: 8/10 >>> £5 from www.johnlewis.com HOT STONE THERAPY So you’ve left home, but mum is still stressing over you.

Visits home with dirty laundry and expecting food parcels?

You know who you are... If you are looking for a present to help your mum relax, then this Hot Stone Therapy pack may be ideal. With naturally tumbled river pebbles, massage oil, head band and relaxing candle the feel of a spa can be recreated at home.

That is, of course, after she has done your washing and ironing.

RATING: 7/10 >>> £10.95 from www.prezzybox.com DVD AND A CUPPA Watching a DVD is the perfect excuse to sit down and pretend you’re a kid again. On Mothering Sunday tell her to put her feet up, whack the DVD in and go make her a cuppa. Then come sit down and when it gets weepy enjoy mummy cuddles.

RATING 7/10 >>> £5.00 from www.play.com AFFORDABLE THORNTONS

If you are a student living in the East End of London there are a few extra-curricular lessons that you need to learn and pretty quickly. Lesson no.1- Food in London is expensive. Lesson no.2- Alcohol in London is expensive. Lesson no.3- Students in London are very poor.

I know this all sounds very daunting but don’t start panicking, opening up second student bank accounts, and delving into all your childhood savings just yet; there is an answer.

The southern end of Brick Lane, about a 30 second walk from Aldgate East Tube station, is a veritable neon jungle of Indian restaurants, and the best part?

They are all very cheap. In most cases you’ll be able to indulge in a three course meal with a good measure of drink thrown in for less than £15; not exactly breaking the bank.

Brick Lane began as a small road running through the fields outside of London in the fifteenth century. Since these humble beginnings the capital has swal-

lowed Brick Lane in its sprawling metropolis and the street has been the settler’s choice for Huguenot refugees, Irish and Jewish immigrants and now a Bangladeshi community that have introduced their culture and many a fine restaurant.

Now, you may think I’m giving you an unnecessary lecture on history (and believe me I know you get enough of these at university) but as students we should be whole heartedly thankful for one of these traditions in particular; on Brick Lane you are allowed to barter over the price of your food. Lined with street side salesmen vying for your custom Brick Lane feels like something more akin to a Middle Eastern market place than part of a major European city.

“The bartering is the best bit about Brick Lane.” Says 21 year old student Toby Westgarth, “It’s a laugh and it means you don’t have to pay through the nose to have a nice meal.”

So cheap booze plus cheap meals equals the perfect student orientated area. Extra-curricular lecture over.

RATING: 10/10

Here are QMessenger’s picks of the bunch: Masala

This is my personal favourite. You will always receive 25% discount and a free bottle of wine if you barter. As 2008 winner of London Evening Standard ‘chef of the year’ award good food and service is guaranteed.

Monsoon Although slightly more pricey than some of its competitors Monsoon consistently delivers on its standard of food.

The Chef’s specials are what really set it apart; I particularly recommend the Lemon Grass Chicken.

Saffron This restaurant is perfect for a large group. With a second floor and balcony access that overlooks the entirety of Brick Lane ... offers privacy and boasts a better atmosphere than many of the other restaurants on the street.

Chocolate lover? Thorntons? Too expensive? Nope. These Continental Viennese Truffles are made from a blend of white and milk chocolate wrapped around a light fluffy mousse. The box contains 22 decadent truffles lightly dusted in sugar and only cost a light £2.99. Snap them up quick for a perfect treat for mama.

RATING: 8/10 >>> £2.99 from www.thorntons.co.uk NOTHING BEATS MUM’S COOKING No one will ever beat your mum’s cooking; people will try and ultimately fail. Let her talent flourish with this pretty cupcake cookbook.

From the super bakers at The Hummingbird bakery this is the bible for those with a serious tooth. It includes 60 non-fuss recipes for spectacular cakes. A little complimenting and coaxing you could have your mum cooking up homemade comforts. Win/win.

RATING: 7/10 >>> £8.49 from www.amazon.co.uk

DO SOMETHING NICE FOR SOMEONE ELSE If you mum is literally a super woman then she may prefer you didn’t spend money on little luxuries for her. Instead try one of the Oxfam unwrapped gifts. Ranging from as little as £6 the gifts will go towards helping those in need in underdeveloped countries. Being a mother she may like the gift Feed a Family which will give emergency rations to crisis hit families.

RATING: 10/10 >>> £7.00 from www.oxfam.org.uk

Ke$ha almost lives up to hype Amy Rogers Newest pop tartlet on the block Ke$ha (yes, that is a dollar sign instead of an ‘s’) has teamed up with super producer Dr Luke to create Animal, an album that almost lives up to expectations.

Aside from the disgustingly successful ‘TiK ToK’, opening track ‘Your Love is My Drug’ is easily the best song on the album, shortly followed by ‘VIP’, both guaranteed summer hits with differing yet irresistibly catchy choruses.

Furthermore, despite possibly being one of the worst song titles in the

history of music, ‘Party at a Rich Dudes House’ has definite smash hit potential.

If only ‘Blah Blah Blah’, the next single featuring 3OH!3 didn’t feature 3OH!3, the result may not be as annoying as both the dollar sign in Ke$has name and the Spotify advert that has been force feeding the album down our necks for the past week.

‘Stephen’ is another annoyance of Animal for two reasons; it is an obvious rip off of Imogen Heap’s ‘Hide and Seek’ and Ke$ha attempts to sing on it. Nevertheless, the epic success of ‘TiK ToK’ and inevitable failure of ‘Stephen’ and ‘Hungover’ will hopefully be enough to persuade Ke$ha that in the future she

does not need to sing to have a hit record.

RATING 2/10

10

Film

Like films? film@qmessenger.co.uk

09/03/2010

An alterative approach to Avatar Alex MacDonald I must note, at the time of writing this the Oscar results have not been released and so my opinion is not influenced by that in any way .

Avatar is the pet project of James Cameron that has taken around 10 years to complete and come in with a cost of half a billion dollars.

Hyped beyond hell for its stateof-the-art-technology and themes.

The verdict? BIGGEST...PILE...OF...

SHITE! Avatar is, in fact, the third worst film I have ever seen, behind Fish Tank and a little known Chinese film called East Palace, West Palace. And while Avatar is not quite as bad as those travesties, it is still godawful beyond belief.

The plot involves military hardman Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) who has been sent to a distant planet called Harmony to help a mining company who wants him to take over his dead brother’s position as an “avatar”, which means his mind is transferred into the body of one of the native population of the planet, the Navi, and sent as an

emissary among them to convince them to leaves the spiritual tree home so that the area around it can be mined for a rare resource called – seriously – unobtainium (why not just call it hardtofindium?).

Avatar is such an utterly, utterly moronic film it beggars belief – the plot is so clichéd that its hard to believe it took more than 30 seconds to think of. Guy is sent to defeat natives, guy goes native, guy turns against own guys, guy is hero.

Plotwise, the film is basically a rip-off of Dances With Wolves, Dune, Star Wars, Aliens,Halo, Myst, numerous Star Trek episodes and, in particular, Ferngully, which is so identical that I believe its makers could probably sue for plagiarism.

The Navi are one of the most nauseating and even downright racist creations I have seen in a long time – they are basically just native Americans, but an utter stereotype of native Americans as the “noble savage” who are all so in touch with nature and all so simple and yet so right in their primitive ways! I half expected one of them to say “come, we smoke um peace pipe!” at some point.

They all talk in South African accents, and there’s constantly Arabic sounding music playing whenever they are around. It’s a horrible racial stereotype and the only reason that Cameron gets away with it is that he has get out clause of claiming that they’re aliens. What they are is the kind of obnoxious, patronising cliché that has been made of the primitive morons who are yet so idyllic and morally right in their simple, childish ways.

The humans are of course the “bad guys” who are all evil and filled with the urge to destroy for seemingly no reason other than that they’re not “treehuggers”.

The hero is, of course, a soldier...whoops, no, sorry, a WARRIOR, who may not be intelligent or scientific or a good actor, but he knows how to blow shit up and is therefore a real hero and leader to people!

Every character in the film is a generic copy from another film and personifies the kind of anti-intellectual, anti-science, pro-violence, pro-superstition mindset that is so popular in much of American culture.

Still, none of this really mat-

ters, because this is a visual film – you go for the visuals, not the story. And this is the absolute worst aspect of the film – the visuals are CRAP. For all its half a billion dollars worth of technology, there is a not a single creative, imaginative, arresting image in the entire film.

Everything is stolen. Everything.

All the various “alien creatures” in the film are basically just animals with one or two eyes added somewhere. The terrain is all either just big forests, or stolen from Halo or The Lord of the Rings.

Every single scene in the film has either a vague look of familiarity or a down right moment of “hey, that’s from...” Cameron even plagiarises himself – the film ends with

a big fight between an alien and a person in a huge robotic fighting machine. Sound familiar? Direct steal from Aliens.

Basically, unless you’ve never seen another film or played a video game in your entire life, the film will seem completely bland to you.

So the combination of unimaginative, brainless visuals with an unimaginative, brainless script and an unimaginative, brainless, racist plot leads me to deem this the worst film ever nominated for a best picture Oscar.

Kathryn Bigelow should ramp up the alimony payments for this.

Aint gonna study the war no more

William Shatner and sex demons

Alex MacDonald

Edward Braddock

The Hurt Locker is a film by Avatar director James Cameron’s exwife, Kathryn Bigelow, who is most famous for cult flicks, Strange Days and Near Dark.

William Shatner. Sex demons. Esperanto. What else could one want from a film?!

Both Avatar and The Hurt Locker are nominated for best picture – which ought to make things interesting, don’t you think? Anyway, as I have written above, Avatar is a smoking pile of pig manure.

The Hurt Locker, on the other hand, is actually surprisingly good.

It relates the story of a bomb disposal unit deployed in Iraq near the end of their year-long tour of duty and the day to day dangers and crises they face.

Although the film stars such big names as Guy Pearce, David Morse and Ralph Fiennes, their screen time is short and the main star of the film is relative unknown Jeremy Renner, whose performance, while not tremendously expressive, is nonetheless gripping and holds the film together well.

As for the film itself...well, it’s a film that aims for “realism” and that’s always risky – it’s always far too easy to equate it with “miserable” and “pessimistic” and thus produce crap. The Hurt Locker just about manages to avoid this – I mean, it’s not exactly a cheery film, being about the Iraq war and all, but on the other hand it doesn’t wallow in its own self-congratulatory misery.

It also is smart enough, for the most part, to avoid any lengthy introspective monologues or faux-moralistic preaching, mainly focusing on the very effectively tense bomb-disarmament scenes.

Still, there’s something a bit discomforting about the whole perspective of the film – its focus is almost exclusively on the American soldiers and their hardships, with scant reference to the Iraqis. And any time Iraqi suffering is elaborated upon, it’s always from a distant and detached perspective.

There are certainly films which

have done this to a far worse extent, but really any American film about the Iraq war is going leave me feeling this way. It’s the Deer Hunter issue of “war as an American tragedy”.

However, despite this, it’s still a pretty good film – not earth shattering or anything, but worth a look in. And about 500 times better than bloody Avatar...

Directed by the spiritual daddy of the Outer Limits, Leslie Stevens, the Shat is Marc, a real good boy living in the back woods of some unnamed Esperantospeaking country with his wet blanket sister, who finds himself the target of some soul-sucking succubus who wants to turn his royal goodness into royal badness.

Esperanto is an artificial language made up by wise-ass cats in the late 19th century and this film’s got nothing but. The Shat handles the dialogue pretty fine, to say the truth and the film itself is a fine flaky freaked-up bit of Hammer horror hokum that builds up a satchel of suspense and then releases it like a bat out of hell.

Bergman’s got his fingers on this to

be saying the truth and you got morals, metaphors and musings on display.

The sight of shooting, old California, is brought to life through the B&W photography and shows how sun, surf and sand can take on Goths, ghouls and God and come out unscathed.

The film has a turn-of-the-century, Night on Bald Mountain kind-ofan ambience that takes the woodcutter’s myths and makes them flesh – the woods are not to be travailed unarmed ‘cos the owls are not what they seem.

William Shatner. Sex demons. Esperanto. One never knows, does one?

Film Soc Screening When the Wind Blows This week’s film society screening is the animated film When The Wind Blows, adapted by Raymond Briggs from his highly controversial graphic novel. Briggs is most famous, of course, for the Christmas cult classic, The Snowman, but When The Wind Blows is a very different beast. Originally written in 1982 as a reaction to the government’s laughably inadequate safety advice in the event of a nuclear war, the film, made in 1986, concerns an elderly couple and how they cope when Britain is hit by a Soviet nuclear strike. It is a film at once bleak, cynical and darkly comic.

Science & Environment

Got a story? science@qmessenger.co.uk

11

09/03/2010

QM and BL team up with Cancer Research UK A new cancer research centre, formed through a partnership between Cancer Research UK and Queen Mary and Barts & The London NHS Trust, places London at the forefront of cancer research.

The Barts Cancer Research UK Centre is the latest link in a unique chain of centres being launched around the country. The centre will receive more than £2 million worth of funding from the Cancer Research UK charity.

The focus of the centre will be pri-

marily on some of the most common types of cancer: pancreatic, breast, ovarian and prostate, leukaemia and lymphoma. The laboratory research will investigate the genes that drive cancer.

It aims to identify markers for early diagnosis and targets for new therapies.

Professor Nick Lemoine, Director of the Institute of Cancer and the Cancer Research UK Centre, at Queen Mary’s Barts & The London School of Medicine & Dentistry, said” “This Centre brings together top ranked scientists in the medical school with expert clini-

Craig Ferriman Enivronment Editor cal teams in the brand new cancer hospital to push forward laboratory discoveries into benefits for patients.”

“The development of the latest gene therapies, and ways to detect cancer as early as possible, continues a long tradition of discovery at Barts, where researchers pioneered the use of many surgical procedures and the use of radiotherapy to treat cancer.”

UK could lose most experienced researchers A research collaboration between Queen Mary, University of London and Warwick Business School warns that delays and variability in the approvals process for clinical research could be causing pharmaceutical companies to look outside of the UK and risks the country losing some of its most experienced researchers.

The two year study, funded by the EPSRC, focused on identifying the key

social, organisational and managerial factors that influence clinical research projects in the UK. Maxine Robertson, Professor of Innovation and Organisation at Queen Mary’s School of Business and Management said: “Far more policy attention is needed to address these problems especially around the skills shortages that are emerging and aspects of the NHS culture which are making it very difficult to conduct the

New environmental search engine

A new internet site is making a big difference in helping to conserve and preserve the Amazonian rainforest. It is called Ecosia.

Built with Yahoo and Bing functionalities, this search engine is funded by ethical and environmental companies. The company has pledged to donate at least 80% of the income it generates from sponsored links to WWF rainforest protection projects in Brazil’s Amazonas region.

Christian Kroll, the founder of Ecosia says, “Thanks to sponsored links, search engines earn billions every year…Ecosia believes that

there is a more eco-friendly way of using these huge profits and that the money should better be used to fight global warming.”

Ecosia predict that the average internet user can protect about 2000 square meters of rainforest every year which is comparable to the size of an ice hockey field.

A spokesman for WWF said that: “Each search with Ecosia will protect a piece of rainforest, so by making Ecosia your search engine you can actually help the environment one search at a time.” He went on to say: “If only 1% of global internet users accessed Ecosia for their web searches, we could save a rainforest area as big as Switzerland each year.”

innovative, world-leading clinical research that the UK has always been known for.”

Ice deposits discovered at Moon’s pole A radar experiment aboard India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar spacecraft has identified thick deposits of water-ice near the Moon’s north pole.

The US space agency’s (Nasa) Minisar experiment found more than 40 small craters containing water-ice.

But other compounds - such as hydrocarbons - are mixed up in lunar ice, according to new results from another Moon mission called LCROSS.

Nobody listens to today’s youf

The craters with ice range from 2km to 15km (one to nine miles) in diameter; how much there is depends on its thickness in each crater.

But Nasa says the ice must be at least a couple of metres thick to give the signature seen by Chandrayaan-1. Dr Paul Spudis, from the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, estimated there was at least 600 million metric tonnes of water-ice held with these impact craters.

Craig Ferriman Enivronment Editor You’ve heard it before; nobody listens to the ‘youf’ of today. Well actually after a year of lobbying, the government has now decided to listen to young people on climate change.

Triassic Park discoverd by scientists Scientists have discovered the fossilised remains of a dinosaur-like creature that is estimated to be 10 million years older than the earliest known dinosaurs.

Asilisaurus kongwe, is a newly discovered herbivore that lived during the middle Triassic period - about 245 million years ago. The scientists say that its

age suggests that dinosaurs were also on the Earth earlier than previously thought. They described their findings in the journal Nature.

The study was led by Dr Sterling Nesbitt from the University of Texas in the US. He said: “This new evidence suggests that dinosaurs were really only one of the several large and distinct groups of animals that exploded in di-

Did you know...

m Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic plans to begin powered test flights of its rocket spaceship by 2011, marking a key milestone before launching regular service.

Lady Gaga is tipped to be designing the intergalactic cabin crew uniform.

m As many of us rush to the cinema to watch Tim Burton’s latest offering Alice in Wonderland, do we ever think that the Hatter of the Mad Tea Party was truly mad?

Literary scholars suggest that the character is a nodding reference to the fact that many hatters did indeed go mad in the 19th century.

versity in the Triassic period, including silesaurs [like this one], pterosaurs, and several groups of crocodilian relatives.”

m Deep sea fish like to eat their greens, gobbling up plants that have sunk thousands of metres to the ocean floor.

Scientists have for the first time captured footage of one of the most abundant species of deep sea fish feeding on plant material.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have decided to create the role of a youth champion to represent young people’s views in Britain on climate change.

DECC have set up a youth advisory panel in order to ascertain how best to recruit and work with such a person. Many youth bodies have felt that for too long it has been the preserve of men in grey suits dictating climate policy. Many of those ‘men in grey suits’ will be very old if indeed still alive in 2050 when many of the devastating impacts of a two degree global temperature increase will be felt, if key multilateral international action is not taken now.

The UK Youth Climate Coalition lobbied throughout 2009 for Ed Miliband’s government department to allow UK youth to have a greater say in the debate. Today they are, as 14 young people have now formed a pilot advisory board which met for the first time in mid-February.

DECC were really keen to see what young people thought were the best ways to reduce carbon emissions from transport and housing. There was also lively discussion on the need for behavioural change and improved technologies.

Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, also joined the discussions. According to People & Planet: ‘He agreed that it was incredibly important that today’s government listened to the generation who will be left to deal with the consequences of climate change, and assured the panel that their input was more than just an empty gesture and would actually inform future policies.’

Sport

Interested in sport? sports@qmessenger.co.uk

13

09/03/2010

QM dance group win national competition Sam Cunningham A Queen Mary dance group has managed to beat off competition from universities across the entire country to win the prestigious Faceoff dance competition.

Faceoff was founded in 2006 by Kings College’s Sri Lankan society and has gone from being held at The Clapham Grand to the Indigo2. Auditions were held via YouTube video entries and these were whittled down to eight universities who competed in two competitions, one for music and one for dance. The universities included: Brunel, Hertfordshire, St Georges, UCL, Kings, Nottingham, Leeds and, of course, Queen Mary.

Queen Mary’s music group narrowly missed out on first place to a phenomenal performance from Nottingham, coming in second place, but the Queen Mary dancers stole the show and finished ahead of top performances from Leeds and Kings to retain the title and win the competition for a third year.

The group was a culmination of dancers from the Tamil Society and Queen Mary Contemporary Dance society (QMCD) and they performed to a medley of songs for their eightminute act.

Jeya Pratha Balachandra, Trea-

surer of the Tamil Society, co-ordinated the entirety of Queen Mary’s entry into the show and was obviously ecstatic at the result.

She said: “I am so pleased because dance won and music came second. My job was basically to coordinate our entry; I helped get costumes, made sure everyone was rehearsing and made sure everything happened. It’s been an absolutely amazing experience but it was the performers who went on the show who won it. It’s been difficult, I didn’t sleep at all last night – my friend and I were sticking peacock feathers into costumes until the early hours – but it’s been totally worth it.

“I thought dance were going to win it as they were amazing in rehearsal and I’m gutted music didn’t win but delighted they got second – I thought they had great diversity.

She added: “Usually Faceoff is just a Tamil Society event but Supernova Entertainments took it over and wanted to include universities as a whole. As we knew the show more than others, we took the lead and brought in other people.”

QMCD – a new society this year – were brought in to work with the Tamil Society on the performance and made up a large part of the act as the two groups merged together for a fantastically diverse routine.

Rachel Harris, acting President

of QMCD, was thrilled with the result and was full of praise for the Tamil Society’s work on the show She said: “We’re absolutely ecstatic at winning it for the third year running. The Tamil Society were really great to work with and incredibly dedicated to putting together a great performance.”

It was clearly a long day for all the performers involved and there was a high standard of competition, as Natasha Neeson – a QMCD dancer in the group – commented: “The whole day has been stressful, tiring and long. We got here at 9am and it was freezing. After we saw all the other acts rehearsing, added to the fact we hadn’t had too long to rehearse, we were very worried. Kings’ choreography was amazing and none of us thought we were going to win it.”

Sophie Richardson, another QMCD dancer, added: “The Tamil Society organised our entry and they asked QMCD to join. We all rehearsed together, the Tamil Soc had their dancers and we had ours so we merged together to make our performance. Big-up to the Tamil Society because they were amazing for organising this. Also, big-up to the Queen Mary music group who came second. Especially as they managed to get Thong Song into their performance!”

QMCD dancers celebrate (above) with the whole dance group (below)

Crossword No. 10 Sudoku No. 19 & 20 Across 2. Arid areas (7) 7. Practical joke (4) 8. Soon (4) 9. Plant flower (5) 10. The ratio between circumference and diameter (2) 11. Miniature (6) 12. Eight singers (5) 13. Effects (5) 15. Wading bird (5) 20. Vast (6) 22. Affectionate (6) 23. Social gathering (5) 24. Decline (4) 25. Wife of Jacob (4) Medium

Hard

26. Pentland Hills village (7)

Last issue’s solution (Crossword no. 9)

Down 1. Member of the Mafia (7) 2. Recorded item of debt (5) 3. Condescending (6) 4. Battered (6) 5. Fine wood particles (7) 6. Standard for comparison (5) 14. Determined (7) 16. Locomotive track (7) 17. Sty (3-3) 18. Disease caused by lack of vitamin C (6) 19. Book of the Bible (5) 21. Genre (5)

Last issue’s solutions (Sudokus no. 17 & 18)

Medium

Hard

14

Sport

Interested in sport? sports@qmessenger.co.uk

09/03/2010

VP Activities Speaks...

Netball 1s bounce back in nail-biter Women’s netball QM 1s 42-41 Hertfordshire 2s AFTER A few matches which produced good play but disappointing results, including playing the semifinal of the ULU Cup in the snow, the QM Netball 1st Team was fully geared up to play Hertfordshire 2s, determined to produce a win after this run of losses.

March. Not a month many people enjoy I’m sure. It’s been winter for so long I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be warm and I’m so bored of my usual coat and scarf I’ve taken to wearing a pretty unattractive Arsenal one just to bring some colour and variation into the grey monotony which is this month.

Although after saying this I have noticed a bit of sun outside, not enough to be warm but maybe enough to get me out of bed.

“I have to remind you of the sad fact that Barts won last year, so this year the pressure is on to win back the cup we held for three years.”

After all, I’ve had a very busy few weeks what with Elections, Synergy and now there are even more big events on the student activities calendar; first we have the Merger Cup on the 24th, and then to celebrate with the Colours and Honours Awards on the 26th. After the award ceremony we will be having an awesome Boat Party on the Thames.

You can now buy your tickets online or at the Blomeley Centre.

Well you know what they say, there’s no rest for the wicked.

So, the Merger Cup. As most of you know, this is the time when QM and Barts sports teams spend the day playing (or racing) each other in a competition for sporting glory.

Now I have to remind you of the sad fact that Barts won last year, so this year the pressure is on to win back the cup we held for three years (before last year obviously).

So, whilst remembering it’s all in the spirit of healthy, friendly competition, COME ON QM!

Vratislav Domalip III VP Activities

Despite knowing that Hertfordshire were a very good team, with very close matches in the past, there was a good mood from the start on and off court and we, as a whole team, felt relaxed and ready for the challenge.

The first quarter did not start well, with silly mistakes from both teams, and by the end of it the Leopardettes were down 11-3. We knew that we could play just as well as Hertfordshire and we went into the second quarter determined to take them on. We began to challenge for the ball more regularly, with excellent work in defence, making many interceptions, and the shooting was flowing much better, with virtually every shot going in from the end of the 1st quarter and throughout the second quarter. WA Emma Swan and C Kirsty Roy worked very well with the shooters, working the ball into Laura Kendrick at GA and myself at GS, and we were able to get into good space to work

the ball in. By the end of the second quarter we had pulled back the game substantially, only trailing 15-14. The third quarter continued in much the same way, with GK Leanne Oulton and GD Sophie Walker continuing to get interceptions, and WD Bex Chaplin working the ball down the court to the attackers. The shooting was getting better and better and we began pulling ahead, closing down the Hertfordshire play and cancelling out any silly mistakes we had been making, tightening up our play.

The fourth quarter was excruciatingly close, as we pulled ahead by a few goals, and then Hertfordshire began levelling again. Our defenders kept catching the Herts shooters out and WD Becca Francis consistently managed to get into good space to combine with the centre court players to get the ball back down to the shooting end. Under a lot of pressure, we managed to stay fairly calm, working the ball well throughout the court.

Every single one of our players was willing the ball to go into the net and for no mistakes to be made! Thankfully, I managed to slot in the last goal of the game, which turned out to be the winning goal, and the game ended 42-41 to the hosts. We were absolutely ecstatic and really hope this is the start of a good run of matches and that we can get back to our winning ways!

The netballs played their ULU semi final in a snow blizzard

The netball 1s celebrate a last-gasp victory together

Badminton win ULU mixed finals ...Continuedfrom back page getting this close to knocking out the big guns, making a trip to Yorkshire for the Championship Weekend would have been a powerful message to send out.

The Women’s team came agonisingly close to an upset as well, losing out to the side immediately above them in the league on points. After going toe-to-toe with

the Essex 1s they eventually drew 4-apiece, but because Essex had lost fewer sets over the course of the afternoon it was the Leopardettes who got no further.

Both sides will now look to consolidate their positions in the league and to regroup in time for the Merger Cup, before setting their sights on another run at glory next year.

Sport

Interested in sport? sports@qmessenger.co.uk

15

09/03/2010

McGuinness’ Moment Making up for lost time HAVING JUST embarked on the start of my new job within the Students’ Union, I was surprised to have seen so many fixtures either yet to be filled or rearranged, but hopefully the scores are just yet to be uploaded onto fixtureslive.com.

Surprisingly, some of the matches recorded were from back in November, when I can only think that Reading Week was the reason we were unable to produce teams to compete. In all fairness, we should look to have those games forfeited to ensure relevant results are recorded. Fixture congestion notoriously affects both Barts and QM teams at this stage in the year because we take part in so many competitions (Cup fixtures and friendlies on top of BUCS and ULU Leagues), and people will be hoping to avoid such problems come the Merger Cup in less than three weeks.

However, some seasons have finished and so we can start to look at the final standings. The QM Badminton Club have all but secured their places, but were unlucky to experience two semi-final exits during Reading Week.

We all have the Mixed team to thank for bringing some silverware home for the Leopards this year already.

QM’s second Football team are through to the final of the ULU Reserves Cup, which takes place at Motspur Park in a couple of Sundays (March 21st), so we could potentially pick up another trophy there before the Merger Cup the following Wednesday (24th).

The QM Hockey boys are a couple of wins away from securing a league victory and promotion, and, with three games against sides below them coming up, it’s more than a possibility that they’ll return to the position I remember them starting at three years ago.

The QM Men’s Basketball team are sat atop their BUCS League with a game in hand, the QM Men’s Tennis 1st team are similarly poised, and the QM Men’s Football 1s are game in hand of their BUCS leaders.

The Barts’ Netball 1st team are sitting pretty in their BUCS League and should move up one for next term, as are the Barts’ Rugby 1s, who are succeeding in an incredibly competitive division.

All in all it’s been another decent season for the Clubs here at Queen Mary and Barts. The London Merger Cup has the potential to be one of the most competitive yet, with equivalent teams out-competing one another across the board. Let’s hope the weather stays clear for the next few weeks as the preparations are finalised and the key fixtures come, are won (fingers crossed), and the big day moves closer.

Darren McGuinness Sport Editor

QM Hockey club march on to promotion Darren McGuinness Men’s hockey QM 7-2 CCC 2s THE QM Hockey Club marched forward towards promotion with a comprehensive victory over a lacklustre Canterbury Christchurch 2s outfit that truly deserves to be holding up the league.

Though it took ten minutes to start the scoring, there was never going to be any question over the result as the ball was swept confidently from side-to-side and from defence to attack in a wonderful flowing formation that has put the Leopards on course for a step up next season.

Fresher Alex Reeves, the defence’s strongest asset, was called upon to convert a well-worked short corner routine to open the scoring, and from there the hosts ran riot. Soon after, Chris Eveleigh popped up at the back post to finish another fine move, before Matt Stott stole the ball from the restart and almost single-handedly ran through the visitors’ defence, charged at the keeper and bundled the ball over the line.

Despite one good save, Christchurch opened their account as a short corner at the other end wasn’t cleared properly, but good work by the forwards again allowed Mike Hazlewood to nick in and pinch one more for the season as Stott’s goal-bound shot took a deflection.

4-1 at half time and cruising, a brief talk from captain Sam Ecott had hoped to keep the Leopards on track for double figures, and when Markus Gütschow found himself with enough time to lob the onrushing keeper (a feat rare-

The men’s hockey team cruise to a resounding 7-2 victory over Canterbury Christchurch 2s ly achieved in this Sport), it looked promising for at least 10.

However, as cockiness crept in, so did laziness and many QM players found themselves out of position charging up the field without thinking about defensive duties. While Gütschow was singled-out, there were plenty of culpable parties as the second half dragged on.

The poor positioning meant a break in the Leopards’ flow, and despite Charlie Hodd squeezing home a well-earned goal, anoth-

er defensive lapse allowed Canterbury to convert a short-corner through a deflected strike. At 6-2 QM were still dominating, but time stood between them and double figures.

The hosts continued to create chances in front of goal, but lacked the ruthlessness required perhaps to go further. Hodd poked home a second, and QM’s seventh, late on, but double-figures was well gone by this stage and goal difference will again be crucial in the coming weeks.

The win, though, is a resounding message to the rest of the league that the Queen Mary boys want this promotion badly. Imperial ‘stole’ a win from them earlier in the season through some controversial scheduling clashes, thus giving themselves 3 points and docking the QM boys 3 from a walkover. With IC at the top, but QM on the same points with a game in hand, it is likely to be a bruising battle to the finish.

And then there’s Merger.

QM 2s see off LSE to reach ULU Cup final Nick Wright Men’s football QM 2s 2-0 LSE 3s QUEEN MARY 2s will meet Royal Holloway 3s in the final of the ULU Reserves Cup, after triumphing over LSE 3s in their semi-final clash at Chislehurst.

Finishes from centre-back Ahsan Sultan and striker Robbie Hepburn gave the 2s victory in a game in which their goal was rarely threatened.

The pitch’s wet surface cut up badly in the first half but the 2s

were able to control possession as they looked for an opener. Adam Hewitt excelled in shielding his defence, quickly pouncing on loose balls and releasing his partner in central midfield, Ali Salama, who was free to pick passes further up the field.

Despite having the lion’s share of possession, the 2s were wasteful in front of the goal and were almost punished shortly before halftime when a long-range shot from LSE clipped the outside of the post.

The first-half ended 0-0, but it did not take long after the break for the Leopards to open the scoring.

Hassan Shurmahi launched a freekick into the box and Sultan rose

above his marker to flick the ball in at the near post. It was an excellent header from the defender and yet another assist for Shurmahi to add to his growing tally.

Queen Mary continued to press as they looked to bury their opponents, but some excellent lastditch defending prevented Hepburn and his strike-partner, Numan Ali, from adding to Sultan’s goal. The LSE goalkeeper also did well to keep out a fierce volley from Salama.

James Barker was untroubled in the QM goal throughout the second-half, and, with just a few minutes to go, Hepburn capped a workman-like performance with a strike that sealed the 2s’ place in the fi-

nal. LSE’s protestations at an alleged shirt-tugging in the build-up fell on deaf ears as Hepburn windmilled away in celebration with his elated teammates.

The final will be played at Fulham FC’s training ground, Motspur Park, on Sunday 21st March. Royal Holloway 3s will join QM 2s on the day, after defeating UCL 3s 1-0 in the other semi-final. Having been defeated 3-2 in a league game at Holloway earlier in the season, the 2s will be looking to take their revenge and bring the trophy home. It promises to be a tightly-contested game and a great day out for travelling Queen Mary supporters.

QSPORT

Bringing you all the latest fixtures and results from the QM Sports teams Sports Editor: Darren McGuinness sports@qmessenger.co.uk Sub Editor: Rebecca Ngakane proofing@qmessenger.co.uk 9th March ‘10 • Issue 22 • FREE

Badminton clean up at ULU Cup Sports desk THE BADMINTON Club has had a great season so far, performing very well in their various leagues across the board, and almost making a clean sweep in the February Cup finals.

The Mixed Team cleaned up the ULU Cup after having dominated the competition from start to finish, eventually beating the perennial favourites, UCL, to claim their first silverware in a while on Saturday 27th February. The 6-3 win

was well deserved by the entire team, for they have proven themselves time and again as a force to be reckoned with.

The Men’s and Women’s teams both pushed their opponents to the wire as well in close semi-final match-ups in their respective BUCS Cups. After a superb string of results, the Men’s team fell 5-3 to London Met, who are currently crushing the league with 8 wins out of 8 so far. The Leopards play in an equal league but have had a tougher time of it thus far, so, after Continued page 15...

QM 2s coast into cup final, p15