The Beaver: Week of November 6th, 2012

INACCURATE AND SENSATIONALIST JOURNALISM | WHAT DOES EUROPE NEED NOW? | A MOUNTAIN CINDERELLA STORY

TheBeaver Beaver

06.11.2012

Newspaper of the LSE Students’ Union FREE

Record turnout in elections Hayley Fenton

Thursday evening saw the announcement of the results of the London School of Economics’ Michaelmas Term Student Union Elections, where Sophie Count, a Masters student in Social and Cultural Psychology was announced as the new PostThe hotly contested position of Postgraduate Students’ Officer was announced at the tory hush descended over the Quad as Rachel Quah, Returning Officer walked up on stage an exhaustive eleven round process fought by fourteen candidates, Sophie Count emerged the most successful with 347 votes over the runnerCount expressed her happiness on Facebook after the elctions, saying “Got the position :) Continued on page 3, col 1.

The jury remains out on LSE100 Nona Buckley-Irvine and Hayley Fenton

LSE100 has been at the centre of recent debate concerning both its usefulness as a course Over the past two weeks, second and third year students responded to a survey set up by the Beaver, where they were asked to rank LSE100 based on factors such as enjoyment, improvement in career prospects, quality of lectures and whether or not they thought survey question asked for com-

survey results, the Beaver interviewed Dr Jonathan Leape, Director of the LSE100 course,

cent saying they felt there had

In terms of satisfaction, ed that LSE100 ranged from being extremely to occasioncent stating they would not recommend LSE100 to other

only 19 per cent of students voted for “scrapping LSE100,” said they would keep the modcent who felt it would be best

One of LSE100’s marketed

In the comments section, most students acknowledged the potential for LSE100 to be

that will improve job pros-

year BSc Government and Eco-

they felt LSE100 has made no

can wrote; “one of the most valuable aspects of LSE100 is having access to some of the

It was also felt among certain students that LSE100 was important in raising a general awareness that extended beyond the constraints of the One student, who wished to remain anonymous, commented “I absolutely think it (LSE100) should carry on and be compulsory to avoid LSE students

BSc Government and History student Sally Bonsall commented, “(LSE100) sounds great in principle, but the reality is that we have chosen our degree subject because that is Certain students went on to state that if they were interested in having an interdisciplinary degree, then they could quite easily take an ‘outside’ One of the key issues raised in the survey was the content

of LSE100, which many students felt had room to be vast-

LSE100 is when we have to analyse graph data (not exactly

Firstly, large numbers of students commented that rather than focusing on the methodologies of subjects, it would

The notion of LSE100 being a subject that doesn’t offer enough intellectual stimulation was a further concern

broad insight into the social sciences such as economics, law and international relations

Of the students responding, of lectures were average or ment student, Chloe Wether-

cerning the content of LSE100 was that it was aimed at students doing heavily quantitative degrees more so than mentation and essay writing, which are heavily emphasised in LSE100, were skills that many students taking qualitative subjects felt to be “too dent commented, “I would argue that just as many people need a decent understanding of quantitative areas but it seems the only time any numerical questions are raised in

from slides has never made me think about things less in my Second year BSc International History student, Jamie Pelling, commented; “if it was more academically strenuous then the subjects up for discussion would become much In the interview, Leape dispelled some of what he considered myths surrounding the LSE100 course and inContinued on page 6, col 1.

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Editorial

Editorial Board Executive Editor Liam Brown

editor@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Managing Editor Matthew Worby

06.11.2012

TheBeaver Established in 1949 Issue No. 776

managing@thebeaveronline.co.uk

News Editors John Armstrong Shu Hang news@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Comment Editor Alice Dawson

Telephone: 0207 955 6705 Email: editor@thebeaveronline.co.uk Website: www.thebeaveronline.co.uk

comment@thebeaveronline.co.uk

| The Beaver

Collective A E Dawson, A Doherty, A Fyfe, A Krechetova, A L Cunningham, A L Gunn, A Moneke, A X Patel, A Peters-Day, A Qazilbash, A Riese, A Sulemanji, A Young, B Arslan, B Butterworth, B Clarke, B Nardi, C S Russell, C V Pearson, D McKenna, D Yu, E Beaumont, E Delahaye, E E Fraser, E Firth, E S Dwek, F Bennett, G K Chhina, G Manners-Armstrong, H Brentnall, H Burdon, H Dar, H J Sheppard, I M Silver, J Allsop, J Attueyi, J Austin, J Curtis, J M Palmer, J M Still, J R Peart, J Stoll, J Tindale, J V Armstrong, J Wacket, J Yarde, K C Hughes, K Pezeshki, K Rogers, K Singh, L A Yang, L Atchison, L Aumeer, L Brown, L Kang, L Slothuus, L Vardaxoglou, M C M Veale, M Worby, N Antoniou, N J Buckley-Irvine, N Jaroszek, N Mashru, N Mateer, N Russell, P Gederi, R A Coleman, R Al-Dabagh, R Cucchiaro, R Gudka, R Hamer, R Holmes, R Illingworth, R J Charnock, S Chaudhuri, S Desai, S Gale, S H Low, S Lindner, S Newman, S Nissila, S Poojara, S R Williams, S W Leung, S Hang Low, T Poole, V A Wong, V Chan, X T Wang, Z Sammour

Features Editor Chris Rogers Nona Buckley-Irvine features@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Social Editor Cleo Pearson social@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Sport Editor Vacant

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Election Information: Yup, time for another Beaver election.

Three excellent positions are up for grabs. All readers are entitled to stand for these positions, but - as always - only Collective members are entitled to vote.

The election hustings will take place on Thursday, November 8th in NAB 2.08 between 6:00pm and 7:00pm.

The following positions will be contested: -General Manager (1) -Photo Editor (1) -Sports Editor (1) To run in this election please send an email to this address (collective@thebeaveronline.co.uk) containing a 150 word manifesto outlining why you should be elected editor by no later than Wednesday, October 7th at 6pm.

Each candidate will be given a time to speak at hustings.

Information for online voting will be sent to Collective members. Only Collective members may vote in Beaver elections.

Too much to ask?

After a glorious election period turn to its usual state of controlled anarchy, without chalk scrawls everywhere and four hundred posters imploring you to give whichever respective candidate a chance to do something earth shattering.

The odds are that whatever has been promised by whichever candidate won’t get done.

Realistically these recently elected candidates will simply vanish into the mists of the LSE bureaucracy like gorillas into the jungles of Rwanda, never to be seen or heard of again until the Lent term elections roll back around.

Suddenly, your representative for this, or your counselor for that, will produce a full list of grade-A bullshit that somehow means they deserve a turn at a more important office.

They probably don’t.

Call us cynics, but realistically there has been very little accomplished in the past few

years that wasn’t part of the process of the university anyway. Even when the Students’ Union did attempt to go tête-àtête with the University on issues such as the fees they were roundly spanked.

This is not to say that the Union doesn’t get good work done. The advice and support pillars of the organisation are essential for the well-being of many students. But the promises of the elected official, well, tale.

So, we here at the Beaver implore you to adjust your expectations. No more moving the LSE100 exam, or improving the GTA situation, one elected official isn’t going to be able to fundamentally alter the standard system of graduate teaching pay used up and down the country in a single year.

Now, the work currently being done by the Sabbs is essen-

rent guarantor scheme - Jack Tindale is putting in the hard yards now for future gain. Matt De Jesus is doing backbreaking work on the diversity scheme, in the years to come it will be some other elected nobody that is happily elected right at the tipping point of the matter.

But once again, both these upstanding fellas are building on the work of numerous officers before them.

So those people that immediately tout huge advancements are likely standing on the shoulders of giants. Don’t trust those who say they’ll alter the world. Instead look for the person who tries to tackle the problem realistically and incrementally - in other words, not like a self obsessed egotistical maniac.

How about for this year expectations are realistic, and we look for genuine developments to be made.

us! editor@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Essay Week Essays come and keep coming.

2:2? Well that sucks.

News

The Beaver | 06.11.2012 Continued from page 1, col 5

The night began with an introductory open microphone performance by the African and Caribbean Society, as candidates and supporters alike gathered in the Quad to await the results. nounced was the Mature and Part-Time Officer. As the only candidate running

for the position, Alexander Hall gained 661 votes out of the 779 ballots received, enabling him to comfortably secure the position.

Research and Students’ Officer was won

by Garrick Hileman, who secured 50 votes of the 100 ballots received.

Trustee of the Student Union was the next to be announced. A position as Trustee requires that students’ voices are heard at the highest level of the Students’ Union. The Board of Trustees is responsible for

tegic future of the Union.

Of the 854 ballots received, Bhavik Vora stood out against the other four

cant 421 votes, securing his position as Trustee of Student Union. Speaking of the result, Vora stated, “I’m looking forward to making to

everyone who voted!”

After a brief musical interlude, the electorate for Democracy Committee was announced. Jade Symonds won the position in the fourth round of voting with 317 votes.

Student Members elected to the Academic Board were Sam Barnett and Nona Buckley-Irvine. With 983 ballots received, the positions were secured by the two with only a seven vote disparity; 299 and 292 votes respectively.

Speaking of the result Buckley-Irvine said, “I’m thrilled to have won the position on Academic Board and look forward to getting involved and implementing some change. The election was very amicable and I can’t wait to get working with Sam and listening to everyone’s views on their education at the LSE.” The speaker moved swiftly on to announce the winner of General Course President.

Rian Watt gained 58 of the 101 ballots received and comfortably secured the position.

The two positions for NUS Conference Delegate were next to be announced. As the Students’ Union is a member of the National Union of Students (NUS), delegates are responsible for putting together a package of issues and motions to raise at the NUS conference every April on behalf of LSE. First to be

elected was Jay Stoll with 337.34 votes of the 1012 ballots received. Ross Speer secured the second position on the board with 282.40 votes.

Following from this were the results of Court of Governors. Members of the Court of Governors meet and discuss key strategic matters and policy areas, with one member of sitting on the Council, the highest decision making body within the school. As one of the most important committees in the School, Court of Governors induced some controversial campaigns from its contenders.

With sixteen candidates tions available, this was a heavily sought after role.

After an intensive campaignCourt of Governors were secured by Richard Serunjogi,

Jason Wong, Thomas Meaden, Eden Dwek and Dan Martin, in their respective order of number of votes obtained.

Jason Wong, long known as an adversary of the LSESU and its leadership, led a successful RON campaign last term for the position of Trustee of the Student Union afposting a controversial picture on his Facebook page.

After the results, Wong thanked all those who had supported him, stating “(this) is a victory of the student body over the student union establishment.

You have given me the privilege to serve on the Court of Governors and for that I am grateful... As Governor, I will do all I can to keep LSE the exceptional university that it is.”

UNION JACK Evidently it was not just Jack who was overwhelmed by last week’s Beauty Contest; there was - horror of horrors! - no UGM this week as everyone was trying to convince Muchkins that they or their friends were the most beautiful. Indeed, only the Tin Woodsman was even seen on the Yellow Brick Road, as Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow had apparently taken a left turn and ended up in Manchester for a meeting of the National Union of Munchkins. Jack expects full reports next week.

Jack was, quite frankly, a little disappointed that there wasn’t even a pro forma UGM, but he recovered himself by joining the entrants in the various Beauty Pageants on the Yellow Brick Road.

Jack is as scornful as ever

3

of those candidates who run for election but cannot even manage to submit a manifesto.

They should either withdraw if they’ve changed their minds or not insult us with their candidacy if they have nothing to say.

That’s not to say the others were much better. Jack is confused as to why dressing up as a vampire or carrying a placard on a stick should encourage a vote. Jack still doesn’t think that a triptych of monosyllabic phrases constitutes a platform. At least those and a few other candidates were making themselves available to discuss the issues for their respective Pageants.

Jack understands that the leader of the People’s Front for the Liberation of Oz has, once again, been sent for Re-

Education. Seventh time’s the charm, eh? Nevertheless, Mombi escaped long enough to be elected onto the Court of Governors. Jack Pumpkinhead will be most displeased at that turn of events, but this Jack rather doubts that Mombi will be able to resist the opportunity to grand stand. Is that a the offing?

Congratulations also to our new Aged Munchkins’ Officer, Betsy Bobbin. Jack hopes that Betsy will do better than all her predecessors since the dawn of Oz in getting Aged Munchkins to take part in the politics of Oz, but suspects that she will run into the same old problems: they’re too busy panicking about their impending expulsion from Oz with the except of the People’s Front

for the Liberation of Quadling Country, who will reliably screw things up for everyone in the name of the Revolution.

Eureka the Cat is now Eureka the Research Students’ Officer, while the Part-Time Officer is none other than John in Oz, Button-Bright, is looking after the Oz Gastarbeiter.

Several new people were also conscripted – ahem, recruited – into the battalions of the Army of Oogaboo, where they will fearlessly do battle with paperwork and will doubtlessly make sure that Oz keeps trundling along without feeling the need to actually involve Ozites in its running.

“JACK”

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News

06.11.2012

| The Beaver

Strengthening growth in Europe the introduction of the Euro, which increased unsustainable borrowing.

According to Rösler, the solution to this should be consolidating budgets and strengthening competitiveness – like in sports, Europe doesn’t need more “doping, but training.”

This policy worked well for Germany, which the Economist called “the sick man of Europe” in 1999 and is now the leading economic power in Europe. For battling the crisis

Last Tuesday, the LSE Students’ Union German Society, the European Institute at the LSE and APCO, an independent communications consultancy invited German Vice Chancellor and Economics Minister Dr Philip Rösler to give his lecture on “Strengthening Competitiveness and Growth in Europe.”

In his lecture, Rösler stated that Germany will help and bailout struggling countries as He also stressed that Europe, in order to revive their economies, should adopt the classical German liberalism: focusing on structural reform and opposing quantitative easing.

Considering the delicate subject of the lecture – especially in these times and especially in England, where Europe has never been popular, Rösler decided to get help from a translator, stating that, with the wrong choice of words, he’d “be killed in Germany.”

Rösler began by outlining his diagnosis (reminding some of his medical education) on the current problems of the EU: Instead of focusing on he thought the main problem along with breaches of EU law (also by Germany, as he admitted) and a lack of structural reform, especially in the labour market and in public administration. He attributed the problems to low interest rates on government bonds since

“elite economists of the future,” a phrase that would be unthinkable in a public lecture in Germany.

However, his performance was less stellar during the Question and Answer session. cialist David Marsh whether Greece leaving the euro zone would also mean it leaving the EU, quoting Rösler that

man command? In response, Rösler made it clear that he

terror,” Rösler avoided a response, hinting that the Ger-

Italy two years ago when the Berlusconi government quick-

ers would have liked Rösler to support his arguments with facts and numbers in what was a very political speech.

An attendee of the lecture felt that “Rösler stated his view on Europe quite clearly, yet with some inconsistencies.”

The attendee said: “He is at the same time an advocate of long-term integration, political union, and even an economic constitution, but also of narrowing down the EU to the sin-

man government had not use the word “without alternative” for the past two years.

Predictably, LSESU Hellenic society didn’t pass on the chance to raise their concerns: What about the social implications of current policy in Greece? Is the German-Greek relationship dominated by Ger-

ly fell into a reform fatigue as soon as bailout conditions were loosened.

Most students who attended the lecture thought the speech to be good, but hinted

gle market.”

According to the LSESU German Society, the society was “happy to have Dr Rösler at LSE and would be glad to welcome him again at LSE for

much from Rösler who, in Germany, isn’t famous for big revelations or great rhetoric. Oth-

year.”

with Greece for not “doing its homework.” Agreements weren’t followed and every time Rösler went to Greece, the reform had changed, making it unreliable. Above that he said social implications would be worse in an alternative sce-

LSESU GERMAN SOCIETY // FACEBOOK

Max Volmar

sports analogy, saying that if a gym membership doesn’t pay Rösler gained approval from the audience with his classical approach to liberalism – also with his remark about being glad to talk to the

Black ascent debate at LSE Holly Brentnall

Last Monday, the African and Caribbean Society marked Black History Month by hosting a very well-attended denority people today.

Topics raised included positive discrimination, the brain drain from African countries, ethnic groups, media stereotyping and black relations with the police force. The board of participants included post graduate students and members of the African and Caribbean Society, Nick, Franklin and Kavid as well as the president of City University, Kazin.

Firstly, with regards positive discrimination, it was the widely professed opinion that government initiatives to support black minorities are necessary in the short term to get people on the ladder, but in the long-term can be dropped. One issue pointed to was the bias of education systems in which

young black males lack role models to look up to.

It was also argued that a change in mentality is required as too many black people don’t they feel they do not have the opportunities. This prompted the audience to voice concern that black people are at risk of being self-deprecating.

Responses to whether emigration was a problem were varied. Some perceived it to be one’s duty to return and do good in one’s country of origin, whilst others were more supportive of remaining where the standards of living are higher whilst doing good from afar, pointing out that the system of corruption in countries like Nigeria would be insurmountable unless educated people team together to work towards reform. One audience member also construed the difficulties of returning to countries which many migrants no longer think of as home anyway, and where locals will often feel resent-

placing them from their jobs upon return.

The association of drugs with ethnic minorities was rebuked. Drugs, it was argued, are a problem for everyone in society. But the problems associated with drug trade, such as thieving and gun crime are what is at issue rather than the drugs themselves. Numerous board and audience members thus called for the legalisation of drugs like marijuana as the solution to problems, whilst responses should be made from within communities rather than simply from top-down Government initiatives.

As the debate team moved on to the topic of media stereotyping, a picture of Rick Ross on the laser-board above their heads prompted much anguish from the crowd. Especially prominent was the idea “black music.”

It was surmised that as this type of music is what a ences black people as well as

people’s ideas of what a black person is like. Going by people’s behaviour at university, one participant claimed that “People take me as the whitest black person ever.” Another do you not act black?” This [type of music] has created a

Meanwhile, others argued that you have to trust that people can think for themselves.

“You have Rick Ross but you also have Obama.” The consensus was that white peoples’ prejudices should not hone in on black people in general.

When the subject turned to policing many people had personal accounts to contribute as well as heart-felt opinions.

People raised the idea that the boundary is often crossed Even in some parts of Canada, where ten per cent of the police force have to be black it is still largely black people who

are

stopped-and-searched.

and perceived crime and although statistics show that it is often black people committing crimes, the issue most emphasised was institutionalised racism. One audience member described the fear she feels when she sees a police patrol coming down the street, whilst others called for a major discussion about what the police stands for and who is running their organisation.

The audience were largely impressed by how the debate went. “I thought it was really informing, I enjoyed it and it was an opportunity to hear mented Jaqueline Alimeka.

Jessy Steve, treasurer for the ACS felt similarly, saying “I thought that the points that were raised were mostly constructive, and although personal points had less relation to the wider community, the audience were well involved and overall I had a good time.”

News

The Beaver | 06.11.2012

5

Voter participation key to Romney’s victory Unlike the 2008 race, this year’s US presidential election will be driven less by social movement but instead by public attitudes and anxieties, said Craig Calhoun, Director of the LSE in a public discussion last Monday at the Old Building.

According to Calhoun, what day is that Americans will vote based on what they do not like, instead of what they like.

“It’s crucial to see it as an election of competing disappointments and fears,” he said.

The discussion — entitled “America Votes” — brought together Calhoun, International Relations professor Michael Cox, media commentator Sir Robert Worcester and politics and economic policy expert Pippa Malmgren to speculate on the various factors and im-

time in recent memory will focus more on the economy than national security as a primary issue in the election.

“Because of the constant changing state of the U.S. economy, if Obama loses this race indeed it will be because of national unemployment and the American debt,” Cox said.

While the issue of the economy has taken center stage in the campaign, Cox said that foreign policy will remain a

impact this year’s U.S. election.

According to Worcester,

cited and reviewed Obama and Romney’s competing approaches to policy in the Middle East, China and Russia as well as the candidates’ competing perspectives on American allies and partners.

“Foreign policy should not be ignored because this election is not just about who will run America, but who will run the only clear superpower in the world today,” Cox said.

“It’s not just an American election, but it’s our election too.”

Unlike Worcester and Cox, Director Calhoun focused his assessment of the race on the

reasons as to why President Barack Obama will be re-elected. Among the most critical include the improving national economy and the lack of unity in the Republican Party.

The American public has been able to tangibly notice an improvement in the econeconomic index by Gallup and the decrease in unemployment to less than eight percent, Worcester said. Additionally, the G.O.P. remains a divided party that has spent the last

issue of voter participation.

“The election is not about changing people’s attitudes, but will rest on who gets out in the morning and takes the trouble to go vote come Election Day,” he said.

According to Calhoun, the campaigns are largely focused on the issue of mobilising the American public and generating a sense of commitment because there exist noticeable

her experience talking directly to both Obama and Romney dence levels on both sides of the campaign remain unclear.

“I think both sides agree in spite of all the money being spent on advertisements, the campaigns would probably not change the opinion of a single American.”

While New England and California are areas where candidates raise the most money, the real area of focus needs to be on Middle America, she said.

“Here in Europe we like to spent time on American coastlines but this is not the real American where the decision is going to be made,” Malmgren said. “It is not a swing vote that will determine the outcome of this election, but instead who will show up to vote on Election Day.” On a philosophical level, there exists a fundamental difference between Obama and

Calhoun said he predicts that Romney may have more trouble turning out votes because one of the most integral forces of Republican voter participation, the American tive for Romney given his Mormon religion.

On the Obama side, Calhoun said that there exists a general sense of disappointment that the President will “Obama is a motivator, but that cuts both ways,” Calhoun said. “While that can support him, it’s also a big negative.

For example there seems to be more overt racism in this campaign that there has been in a long time.”

Like Calhoun, Malmgren said that the most important feature of this year’s election will be voter participation.

“Wherever there has been a swing vote, it’s already been swung,” Malmgren, former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush for Economic Policy on the National Economic Council, said.

According to Malmgren,

Romney, Malmgren said.

“One stands for a country where the government will lead the way out of the economic mess we’re in and that the government has the tools to achieve the right outcome,” she said. “The other believes that it is not government, but the private sector that has the solution. This is the dividing line and the place where the decision and fate of this race will be made.”

Si Chen, a postgraduate student in social psychology, said she learned much about the nuances of American public opinion from the discussion.

“They gave an extremely wide array of opinions,” Chen said. “For example I never considered how much more important Middle America really is so that was really insightful.”

However Chen said she did not feel too swayed by any one particular speaker. “I still believe that Obama is the better choice and my opinion prob-

BEAVER ARCHIVES

four months of the campaign “beating each other up.”

Worcester noted that different voting groups such as women, African-Americans and Hispanics preferred Obama to Republican candidate Mitt Romney with varying degrees.

According to Worcester, observing statistical data seems to be the most comprehensive way to assess each candidate’s chances of winning.

In his segment, Cox argued

Diana Ming

Tower 1 & 2 reception opens to student ing was also carried out to enhance the quality of the internal space and maximise the level of natural light within the reception.

After six months of ongoing construction, the new Tower 1 & 2 joint reception and entrance will be opening for Monday.

The new reception, which costed in the order of £1.5m, provides a modern entrance with a new café, meeting rooms and advertising and display facilities for both students and the research departments who occupy a large part of

the main circulation areas of the Towers, improve security to both buildings, provide accessible facilities to users with special needs and to create a pleasant external environment

ours, textures and materials to the reception.

The construction work has caused minor inconvenient to students as it had rendered the original entrance inaccessible.

ured to become one spacious reception with a single entrance directing users to both Tower 1 & 2.

Furthermore, new turnstile security barriers have been installed in the reception to further increase the security and students will gain access through the turnstile barriers by placing their LSE ID cards against the proximity readers on the turnstiles in a similar fashion to the New Academic Building.

According to Matt Gale, Project Manager of LSE’s Estates Division, the scheduling was inevitable as Tower 1 & 2 are used by students and year. Thus, to minimise disruption, “the construction work had been scheduled between the exam periods and the LSE Summer School activities at the beginning of the summer vacation, which forced the latter less disruptive works into the beginning of term.”

Julian Robinson, Director of LSE Estates felt that the new entrance and reception facilities was “far superior” to those before the refurbishment. “The architects have done a great job in turning a dull, utilitarian space into a bright and welcoming recep-

LSE ESTATES

Shu Hang

shop, comfortable seating and meeting rooms.”

She added, “On behalf of the Estates Division I would The LSE Estates Division commenced the refurbishment works at the end of March 2012. The main aim of the project is to modernise

around Clements Inn Passage.

Moreover, it aims to “make the entrance to the buildings an interesting place to visit” by introducing a bold array of col-

As a result, students wishing to enter the buildings were redirected to a temporary entrance for the past few weeks.

for their patience in putting up with the disruption to circulation routes in and around Towers whilst the works were taking place.”

6

News

06.11.2012

| The Beaver

19.6 per cent fail ST103 Hakki Mustafa and Richard Serunjogi

Figures from the 2012 Summer Examinations reveal that throughout all the departments at the London School of Economics, an average of 21.8 per cent of all exam papers was awarded age of 5.2 per cent of examinations received a Fail clas-

per cent achieved third-class honours.

Statistical Methods for mains a difficult module, ters failing the exam and an-

very fair to students who have done their revision!” summer who achieved 51 per cent in his paper remarked “I spent three times as much time on Economics B as I did my other modules and I am happy to have passed.”

This constrated sharply with modules from the Government department, where 10 out of the 15 modules under the department saw every entry scoring a 2:2 or above. The disparity in

ing “easy” modules to boost their overall results.

One module that is notorious for this purpose is El-

impacted my performance in other modules.”

Language classes are of-

Language courses are also known for their lenient tonishing 85 per cent of papers were awarded a First

students’ needs. However, some students have been known to abuse the system.

Rosie Hamer, a Politics and Philosophy student who studied Spanish said, “I do know of people who did language courses just to get

get a third-class honours or fail. Though one third year

a third.

of students either failed or were handed a third, while Low Shu Hang, a second dent felt that while the course was “well-structured,” the

modules was brought into effect this year.

was “random” and did not test on what was taught in the lectures nor course materials.

Continued from page 1, col 1.

formed the Beaver of his own research that had been conducted.

Employers have shown a favourable attitude towards LSE100 after Leape asked graduate recruiters in 2011 if the course makes LSE graduates more attractive. cent either agreed or strongly agreed that it did improve the prospects of graduates from the School.

Leape told the Beaver how the course was to bridge a gap between the specialised nature of undergraduate programmes and actual working life, as recruiters had previously complained that “LSE graduates had more difficulty thinking out of the box.”

He was taken aback by the low student satisfaction rates of the course, citing research that shows that students are pleased with course content to counter this.

The Beaver brought to his attention the two-hour lectures, which many in the survey described as “boring”.

Leape responded: “It’s

language, enabling them to enroll in a class far beneath their ability. I don’t know how they weren’t sussed out but I’m sure it helped their grade!”

The strategy of selecting perceived to be “easier”, to boost results overall has been clamped down on by some departments, one in particular being the Social Policy department whose policy to disallow its students not in

a compulsory module for students in the Economics, Statistics and Mathematics

required a lot of math,” he claimed, “the exam seemed to be testing more on how smart you are rather than how much economics you know. I don’t think that is

they have been untruthful

students’ decision in choosing their outside option, with many tactically select-

are naturally good in the Peacock Theatre. It’s a hostile environment – we know that.”

But the Personal Response Units that are employed in lectures were cited by Leape as being an engaging part of lectures which did make them interesting, describing it as a “two way element that stimulates active learning.”

He also emphasised that the classes received much better feedback and generally students are happy with the content of the course, acknowledging that the delivery of this may need to be improved.

2011/2012 Lent Term Class Survey, where students were end of each term, satisfaction with the course content of LSE100 was rated below the school wide average, though LSE100 class teachers received consistently higher ratings than other teachers The multi-disciplinary nature of the course was also highlighted by the course director, saying that it was important to have diversity.

commented “I decided not to do a language because my friend did it and he had loads of work, which might have

“We try and mix disciplines in cases, we want exposure to diversity.”

The majority of respondents to the Beaver’s survey voted for LSE100 to be made optional, rather than keeping it or scrapping it in its entirety.

In response, Leape said “It will never be optional”, arguing that it “was endorsed as a change to the undergraduate There is strong motivation for it and we know that will improve prospects.”

In order to have high LSE100 lectures, Leape argued that LSE100 had to be a school-wide initiative.

Making it optional would also make it impossible for degree programmes to build on LSE100, something that heads of departments are keen to do.

Quantitative students benthan qualitative students was vehemently rejected by Leape.

He described the course as a “vehicle for allowing more students to get more out of their time at the LSE…

go, students in the Management Science department are gaining the best results as 42.2 per cent of students ours.

One second year BSc Management student commented, “Management courses qualitative and quantitative subjects, that is why I chose it, because I didn’t feel an af-

it attempts to strike a balance.” was initially the idea for a mini-syllabus for quantitative skills which was shelved.

There was not enough consensus among academics for what should be considered a minimum level of quantitative knowledge.

Online resources for quantitative skills are going to be accessible online for all students, however.

Responding to the notion that the content is not academically challenging enough, Leape argued that the material students study is material that you would see in second and third year courses.

He said: “It’s hard to know what’s the right level…we’re always trying to balance.”

External academics believed the course to be worthwhile, with Christina Hughes, chief external examiner saying: ward looking course that is now being taken as the template for similar initiatives in other universities.”

Imperial College London

finity to a particular core subject really. But all in all it’s a really good course and like other courses at LSE, some aspects are a little tricky.” a high good honours rate is the Department of Mathematpapers taken we’re awarded highest fail rate out of all departments, with a fail rate of BSc Mathematics with Economics student describe the mathematical aspect as “you can either do it or you can’t” might somewhat explain the for quantitative subjects.

Other departments with high fail rates are Economics pology and Geography failed the least proportion of their students, with fail rates of One overriding theme is that although it is easy to fail a quantitative paper, it is also much easier to get a top grade in them compared to essay-based papers.

One 2nd year Economics student said, “I have friends cent in his mathematics and statistics paper but yet struggled to get a good grade in his economic history module.

It is just so hard to do well in a essay paper.”

has introduced their “imperial Horizons” programme which incorporates a course similar to LSE100.

Leape informed the Beaver that he has held discussions with Imperial and other universities about the course, which may form part of an academic movement to better equip social science students with skills necessary in the wider world.

Overall, Leape felt that a lot of the issues perceived by students were not problematic and noted that communication of these issues could be improved.

He disagreed that the content was not intellectually stimulating but agreed that there is still room for improvement.

Describing it as “a harder course to make sense of”, he invited the Beaver and students to submit ideas for how to improve it.

The long term goal is for the course to become institutionalised as a part of the LSE degree programme, which means that despite some student dissatisfaction, it is here to stay.

News

The Beaver | 06.11.2012

7

Islamic society raises £2500 for charity Danai Pagoni

This week has been an eventful one for the LSE Students’ Union Islamic Society, which Week last Monday. To introduce the “Lion King” theme this year, Simba and the oth-

wide initiative, with universities from all over the UK joining to raise money for charity.

Last year, Islamic Societies from the UK, collectively raised more than £350,000, with the LSESU Islamic Society raising almost £5,000.

gees in the Arab world, particularly Syria and Yemen.

Money will also be donated to East and West Africa to alleviate the pressures of the food crises.

As described on its webis to inspire Muslim students

Society carried out bucket collections around campus whilst donning costumes of characters from the pride there collecting contributions, enthusiastic despite the rain and gloom.

There were a number of

ly rushed to open the canopy of doughnut sales.

The highlight was the sale of delicious cupcakes, which could be iced with your name in Arabic. Just like last year, these “were highly sought after”, according to Anisa Ahmed, one of the Heads of day and Thursday there were also two charity sales, where donated second-hand items such as books, electronics and toys were sold.

“The week went amazboxes of doughnuts, pizza and cupcakes often sold out had tons of fun and hoped everyone else did too.” The society has managed to raise £2,448.18 so far in the short space of a week.

Anisa also thanked everyone for their kind donations on behalf of the whole Islamic Society, reminding that “so many orphans will be able to In a few weeks, members of the Islamic Society

er pride land animals opened the event by dancing around cle of Life” in front of a huge painted rising sun. The energetic number ended with a collective, enthusiastic shout

ity Week will go to Islamic Relief, one of the largest Muslim charities in the UK, logistically and morally. This year the target is to aid refu-

to take an active role in their community and “unite upon Islam” while simultaneously raising money to help hundreds orphans and children in need around the world.

Throughout the week, volunteers from the Islamic

sales in the week, namely of an array of tasty food items such as Krispy Kreme doughnuts, mixed sweets and Dominos pizza. Although a sudden shower of heavy rain nearly sabotaged the doughnut sale on Monday, volunteers quick-

UK universities will meet at a formal dinner to discuss how much they all raised and award the society which has managed to raise the most. The aim is to stimulate friendly competition among UK universities and encour-

LSE takes a tough stance on social media Diana Ming

In an email sent to all undergraduates, LSE Dean of Undergraduates Studies Peter Howlett and LSE Dean of Postgraduate Studies Sunil Kumar urged students to be mindful of their use of social such activity, when abused, can have on the well-being of LSE’s community in light of recent discriminatory actions made by a group of students over online platforms.

The message, which was students “to show responsistudents of the School” when conducting online activity such as using social media sites or writing emails.

“While the majority of you use social media in a responsible manner, the School is currently considering taking action against a number of students who are alleged to have displayed discriminatory behaviour on Facebook, Twitter and/or in a group email account,” the email said.

According to a spokesperson for the School, the case will be discussed with only the students concerned and will not be made public in line with School procedures.

Because social media has the ability to reach large audiences quickly, the nature of the medium “can blur the lines between the author’s personal voice and that of the institution,” the spokesperson said.

“This is why, in line with many other institutions, the School has developed guidon the use of social media,” the spokesperson said.

The School is also working with the Students’ Union to develop better methods to communicate to students about the risks of inappropriate use of social media, said the spokesperson “We hope that the publication of the guidance will help prevent a repeat of inappropriate actions,” the spokesperson said.

“However should any issues arise, they will be investigated and dealt with through the School’s

disciplinary procedures if appropriate.”

Dean Howlett and Kuous School policies including LSE’s new Social Media Policy. According to the spokesperson, the Social Media policy was developed in the External Relations Division with input from “across the School.”

The policy asks students their online activity before posting any kind of material on social media sites.

“The short guide is intended to help you avoid any pitfalls, while still making best use of social media for study and research as well as social purposes,” the policy states.

Such recommendations outlined in the policy request students to “think about [one’s] personal safety,” “get the tone right,” “make it accurate,” and “be respectful.” Furthermore, the guide reminds students that it “is most unlikely that any use of the LSE logo on social media will be authorized.”

In addition to the new social media policy, the email School’s harassment and IT use policies.

The School states that harassment should be clearly understood as an unacceptable practice. According to the handbook, disciplinary action will be taken by the School if any action or bepolicy or if allegations of harassment are found to be malicious. policy outlines the requirement against discrimination and harassment, stating that it is prohibited to create, distribute or access material that is “unlawfully discriminatory” including on the grounds of age, sex, sexual orientation, race, disability or religion that is likely to incite any form of violence or hatred or cause harassment, alarm or distress. The policy also prohibits students and sages.

Hassan Arif, chair of the

that “it was a shame that students of the LSE are representing the school in such a bad way.”

“Essentially we act as ambassadors for the LSE,” he said, “I understand that people may have personal opinions or frustrations but posting them on facebook or twitter isn’t doing any favours to yourself or the school.”

The email comes amidst several recent social mediarelated controversies involving the LSE community.

Last week, the LSE Stuwas found to have posted a series of sexists tweets on its official Twitter page, The Beaver previously reported.

Some posts including referring to some female students as “sluts” with no “self-respect.”

Meanwhile, a Michaelmas Term elections candidate is currently under investigation for harassment through social media.

8

Comment

06.11.2012

| The Beaver

Comment

Inaccurate and sensationalist journalism Two attendees at the recent protest object to the Beaver’s coverage of the event

Ross Speer and Rosalind Glennie

You could be forgiven for mistaking last week’s issue of the Beaver for The Sun or The Daily Mail. The front page carried the headline “Vandals wreak havoc on Oxford Street” and the article brought our attention to a small group of protesters who “marched up and down Oxford Street vandalising shops and disrupting traffic.” However, we argue that last week’s piece was factually barren, misleading and lacking the intellectual integrity which the student body of the LSE deserves to have paper.

To begin with, the article contains very little information concerning the march itself and why it was taking place. We were at the demonstration which saw around 150,000 people, from the very old to the very young, march in opposition to the government’s harsh austerity measures. Only twenty per cent of the cuts have been implemented, yet these have already had erage standard of living has dropped by thirteen per cent; unemployment has skyrocketed, especially among young people; the number of homeless people is showing a rapid increase; and government atare, in our opinion, quite liter-

ally killing people.

The cuts are exacerbating the situation economically as well as socially – we have just emerged from double dip recession and there are indications that a third dip may occur once the Jubilympics boost recedes. Even the IMF, in a recent report, said that the cuts will suck £76 billion more than expected from the economy by 2015. While the working class are being vilitions such as Starbucks, Boots and Vodafone have, allegedly, been avoiding billions of pounds in tax, scott free. To add insult to injury, the government and huge companies such as McDonalds now tell us we must work for free or lose nian Workfare Scheme. With such a bleak backdrop, it is surprising there wasn’t more anger. But the march went on its merry way, peacefully weaving through the key sites of London in jovial spirits, with students, and public and private sector workers of all trades from North and South alike taking part. There were face-painted children dressed as doctors, nurses and lollypop ladies, union samba bands and even a choir.

Now, to the “vandals.” It is indeed true that a small number of protesters implemented ful demonstrators. They decid-

ed to take direct action. All of the newspapers reported that there were minor incidences of “antisocial behaviour” visà-vis some businesses and the police. However, only our very own paper, the Beaver, made it the clear focal point of its coverage of the protest.

Also exclusive to the Beaver’s coverage - bar the FT which reported that, according to police, some windows were damaged - was the mention of vandalism. Incidentally, responding police statement and not one of the people we have surveyed witnessed any such damage taking place.

Perhaps last week’s reports of vandalism convey the excellence of the Beaver’s investigative journalism. Or not. As one participant, Millie, comments on the Beaver’s online “I am a teacher who went on the demo with my union.

Afterwards I went to this protest, actually a protest against workfare, which isn’t mentioned at all in your article.

The protest was lively but peaceful, there wasn’t any window smashing and I am puzzled as to why you wrote the report like this really.”

It seems obvious that the answer lies in ideology, ignorance or an unfortunate hybrid of the two. The occupation of shops involved in workfare and/or tax avoidance was non-

violent and a clear attack on policy rather than individual Was it antisocial? Well, there were certainly no handshakes involved, but then just how social is the slave labour advocated under the workfare scheme, or the avoidance of taxes which could go towards funding education and muchployed and disabled?

Finally, in characterising demonstrators as vandals, and in the absence of any contextualization, the acts have been depoliticized and criminalized. The Beaver is helping to promote the idea that there are good protesters and bad protesters. The good protesters are those who partake in occasional pre-approved marches on pre-approved routes; the bad ones “wreak havoc” and “vandalize” things.

The recent history of peaceful demonstrations in Britain is an inglorious one. We may recall the largest march in British history in 2003 against the Iraq War, which failed to change the government’s course. Many of us were involved in the student demonstrations in 2010, which were also completely ignored. It is clear that governments treat demonstrations as simply an expression of grievances, rather than as a democratic change. In this situation, is it

any wonder people feel they need to go further in an attempt to protect their own livelihoods? As was once said

by John F. Kennedy, “those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable.” If peaceful protest fails to achieve its aims then it is no wonder people seek to pursue other tactics. Within the context of the very real human misery, and the societal vandalism which has occurred on a mass scale by the Coalitions austerity measures, it is difficult to see direct action as outside the boundaries of legitimacy.

The Beaver’s concern for shop windows may appear admirable to some, but our sympathy should be with the millions of lives damaged by the cuts. As gette fame once said, “there is something that governments care for far more than human life, and that is the security of property, and so it is through property that we shall strike the enemy.”

Inaccurate and sensationalist journalism aside, the Beaver has displayed arrogance and a lack of intellectual interrogation where the nature and strategy of democratic expression is concerned. Some may contend that direct action is egy, but that is a debate to be had within the movement, not a lever used to divide it.

Comment

The Beaver | 06.11.2012

9

The wrong side of the debate The President of LSESU Forum thinks Ed was wrong to side with Tory rebels on the EU Budget Jon Allsop

In the minds of the British electorate, Europe is an increasingly controversial issue. Membership of the EU, it seems, has never been so unpopular, with many voters deeply concerned at what they see as the appropriation of our resources by unaccountable bureaucrats in return for little tangible rerising to unprecedented levels of popularity in the polls and increasing pressure for a European referendum, leadwith such an idea at his party conference last month, the stability of our relationship with the EU seems increasingly vulnerable to popular disavowal.

It was undoubtedly this awareness of growing Euroscepticism that prompted Ed Miliband to lead his Labour party into an ad hoc coalition with a splinter cell of over the EU budget, demanding that Cameron insist on a real-terms cut for the 2014-

agreed by the coalition. At face value, this measure

ion while issuing an entirely

sure that even the most ar-

dent of Europhiles would accept that reform of the bloc is urgently needed. Particularly in light of an unprecedented crisis in the Eurozone certain to either further integrate all members or else create a twotier union, with non-Eurozone countries such as Britain increasingly marginalised at a new periphery. In the longrun, it is absolutely the case that Europe needs to spend more efficiently, streamlining its monolithic bureaucracy, shifting the balance of funds away from areas such as agriculture to promote sustained growth and employment, and ensuring that debt-ridden member states are helped to help themselves without collapsing into costly reliance on central subsidy. Put sensibly and eloquently by David Mili-

credible long-term plan for reorganisation or rebalancing at an unbelievably criti-

seemed rational and realistic: hard-headed and yet clear on

Ultimately, however, I have to agree with Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who was caught dubbing the vote with the

added cut.

Secondly, I simply cannot support the odious symbolism of a Labour leader siding with Tory Eurosceptics on the EU. Miliband would undoubtedly point to my own introduction to this article as evidence that

For me, there are two main

public opinion on this issue and he has a point; even if we

defeat the government was short-sighted. Firstly and not unimportantly, a short-term budget cut may not be the best road-path to sustainable reform, forcing EU leaders to retrench spending without a

deeply concerning to consider that ill-considered spending cuts at European level swathes of bureaucratic functions, accidentally ripping out important structural foundations in a frenzied attempt to cut waste. It is undoubtedly true that without some spending constraints, leaders will never be incentivised to root and branch re-evaluation of spending commitments.

These same leaders, however, need to see a safety blanfrom any budgetary squeeze, advocated by Cameron and Clegg a stringent enough pol-

as an anti-establishment protest opportunity and claim hint was merely a bone to his increasingly disgruntled party base, we cannot possibly deny that sentiment in Britain

Letter to the Editor Dear Professor Craig Calhoun, We are writing to you because we were surprised and angered to see LSE using the messages box on our pay slips to promote private healthcare. As the trade and student union representatives of a pubin the value of publicly funded healthcare free to all at the point of use. The NHS is the largest and the oldest state-funded healthcare system in the world, providing healthcare that is accessible to all, last few years: destabilising reorganisations; billions of pounds being cut from budgets; and the growth of private medifundamental threat to public healthcare.

Communication via our payslips is a privileged form of communication that should

only be used to convey urgent messages relating to our pay and employment. It is health provider, BUPA. As the NHS is further cut, private healthcare providers are the NHS at every opportunity, rather than contributing to the sustained series of at-

ately; to stop advertising private healthand to review the use of payslips for advertising of services.

Yours sincerely, Ian Marston, Unite Alex Peters-Day, LSESU Alexandra Smith, Unison

Want to comment on something in the Beaver?

Send your letter to comment@thebeaveronline.co.uk

is less European-friendly than before. However, attempting Europe is, to my mind, staggeringly dangerous, throwing meat to a ravenous Tory rump desperate to sever our current ties to the EU. The way Labour have gone about this ultimately strategic manoeuvre has been profoundly untheir opposition through parliament in a manner only ever blatant partisanship.

Fairly or not, this vote ties European movement in this country. By expressing their position so forcefully and asmost fervent right-wingers, the party have forfeited their opportunity to be an unashamedly potent pro-EU voice in future discourse. Whether he clumsy swoop inadvertently legitimated much of Camric, including his ludicrous calls to prioritise repatriation

ing to play an integral part in supporting the embattled Eurozone rather than sitting lowing in piteous self-interest.

As rabidly undemocratic as it sounds, Labour must also be able to credibly resist calls for a referendum no matter how much popular opinion against British membership continues to grow, recognising both that membership has to be a prerequisite of our foreign and trade policy and that the British public cannot possibly be expected to pass considered mentally complicated issue.

Ultimately, Europe needs an enthusiastic British cheerleader because of its unpopularity and not in spite of it, with Labour naturally suited to re-asserting the case for its necessity. By siding with the Tory rebels on the EU budget, I fear that Labour has aligned itself on the wrong side of this debate, with any future measures to reclaim strongly Europhile ground, whether undermined by cries of hy-

tences - which are a) stupid and b) rightly way down the predisposition towards a referendum on membership. As I have already made abundantly clear, the EU is in need of substantial reform. Even so, it is my total belief that a strong EU is more important now than at any time since its creation, with Britain need-

WE NEED A DEMO ON FEES

of the Commons. As I wrote in this newspaper last year, I continue to support Ed Miliand principled leadership of the Labour party despite his not, however, support him on a measure which seems to be crass, short-sighted and opportunistic.

THE DEMO CAN’T MAKE A DIFFERENCE

UGM LIAM BURNS PRESIDENT NUS 1PM THE OLD THEATRE

10

Comment

06.11.2012

| The Beaver

The price being paid for self-promotion Examining the relationship between sponsored Facebook posts and Super-PACs Sebastien Ash

“If people can’t trust the information they are fed then how can we expect to have a functioning political system? A frank exchange of ideas is essential and yet not possible in a world which favours the opinions of a wealthy few.”

USA

PRESIDENTIAL

ELECTION 2012

LIVE RESULTS | NOVEMBER 6 LIVE RESULTS 10PM UNTIL THE END | THREE TUNS & THE UNDERGROUND 5AM LICENCE | US SNACKS JOIN THE DEBATE @LSESU | #LSESUDEBATE

Comment

The Beaver | 06.11.2012

11

The judicial scandal of “Hannibal Lecter” Why the case of Thomas Quick shows the justice system has let us down again Martha Petrocheilou

Just as we were thinking there is a Swedish version of “Silence of the Lambs,” we are proven wrong. Sture Bergwall (commonly known as Thomas Quick) has been residing in a psychiatric hospital since 1991. He confessed to more than thirty unsolved murders in a row during the 1990s. He was convicted of eight of them and described by the media as “Hannibal” and by one of his victim’s parents as “a ghost running and killing through Scandinavia.”

In other words, he has successfully created a portrait of a brutal serial killer.

The face of the sadistic “murderer” was everywhere: on the front page of newspapers, broadcast headlines and television screens time and again.

However, in 1991, he changed his name back to Sture Bergwall and revealed that his confessions were fake. Presently, Bergwall is with the remaining three convictions currently under review but expected to be

quashed.

So what would make an innocent man confess to such ominous crimes he never committed? “It was about belonging to something,” Sture Bergwall explained to a British journalist. He was a lonely person and saw that the more horrendous the crime was, the more mentally sick the criminal, then the more attention he would get. Bergwall indisputably needed this, since it corresponded with his desire to He struggled with realising he was gay at the age of fourteen, fell into drugs use and was accused of sexually assaulting adolescent boys. Combined with robbing a bank while wearing a Santa Claus costume, he was incarcerated in Säter psychiatric hospital. It all stemmed from a simple question one sunny morning of 1992 to his therapist: “what would you say,” he asked “if I had done something really bad?” The interest this created could not possibly go unnoticed and Bergwall knew exactly what he needed to do next.

In his biography “Thomas Quick: The Making of a Serial Killer,” Råstam meticulously unravels the way in which the disturbed Quick, facilitated by prescription drugs, was able to extract key information from psychiatrists, police officers and lawyers, before turning his initial rambling in his testimonies, concerning his ruthless crimes, into a clear narrative able to stand up in court.

The story of Thomas Quick proves yet again that the justice system has let us down. The absence of “modus operandi” was barely noticed while the lack of consistency in Quick’s murders was fully ignored.

Quick did not target a particular age or gender group.

Nor did he use particular weapons or kill in speto murdering children and adults, raping women and ons each time and killing in various parts of Norway and Sweden. This inconsistency could be proof of either the justice system’s belief that Quick was a vicious criminal with no consistency whatso-

ever in his wrongdoings or its comfortable agreement to give up and go along with all of Quick’s confessions, patting him on the head for being a good boy coming clean for his crimes.

Despite the lack of forensic evidence, the courts went on convicting Bergwall of murders he didn’t commit, just because it was easier that way. An example illustrating this is that after having “confessed” to the murder of Therese Johannessen, Quick revealed he had thrown her body parts in a nearby lake, although nothing was ever found even after days and days of searching. When a 0.5mm “bone fragment” was discovered, all it turned out to be was a charred piece of wood. Despite the lack of technical evidence, DNA traces and eyewitnesses, Quick was still convicted. As Jenny Küttim, one of the basic researchers of Thomas Quick’s biography, states, “the worst part is that because of people not doing their job, there are a lot of killers out there who never got caught or faced justice.”

Is Sture Bergwall the

victim of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice? It is arguable that, although his case was not properly examined, he manipulated people, he lied and he played mind games with the victims’ families.

This raises the question of whether the state is entitled to lock someone in a psychiatric hospital and convict him of crimes just because it has been fed information which can be proven wrong by a more detailed check.

More importantly, how are we supposed to trust a state that can be tricked into believing whatever someone owns up to? It may seem like this in my eyes only, but I feel that this is a judicial humiliation. Thomas Quick had his game, got the attention he strove for and, like compensate for his lies and still get dessert the next day, he confessed the truth when it was not so much fun anymore. Yes, sure, Thomas Quick may not exactly be the most stable of individuals but he is not a serial killer either, unfortunately for the press and the judicial system.

Debunking the cult of Ron Paul Jack Tindale

One of the greatest myths in the dorm rooms and internet forums of the United States, alongside the fact that Neil Armstrong never left Terra Firma and that JFK was assassinated by the British Secret Service, is that a septuagenarian Republican Congressman from coastal Texas represents the saviour of the Republic.

Until being projected to national stardom in the 1988 Presidential Election, Dr Paul was a obstetrician and, for period, the only member of the House who still served as a medical professional co-currently with his duties in Washington.

Yet one race that Dr Paul has never come close to is the Presidency. As many state, this is nothing to do with the fact that the Republican members who decide their nominee have rejected him on two occasions, but a sign that the entire establishment have set out to systematically deny their messiah from bringing down Washington as Scipio broke mighty

Carthage.

Whilst one would be foolish to ignore the dubious way in which delegates pledged to Dr Paul were shut out of the Republican National Convention, the fact remains that their hero was deemed by ordinary Party Members to be less able than a former Senator who has become an internet meme and a Speaker who who thinks that Palestine is an invented concept. Whilst this may reflect more badly upon the average primary voter than Dr Paul himself, the latter still chooses to caucus with them.

“Ballot Stuffing!” his supporters cry, forgetting to mention the fact that they have been bused in by the bucketload to vote in the Ames Straw Poll. “Slander!” they cry, unaware of Dr Paul ignoring scientific fact over the small matter of global warming. “Conspiracy!” yell the internet obsessives, negating Dr Paul’s comments in a 1993 letter regarding a “FEMA plan to suspend the Constitution in a ‘’national emergency” and “the federal-homosexual cover-up on AIDS.”

Perhaps it is unfair to drag up comments Dr Paul made nearly twenty years ago, but then again, this is a gentleman who considers any deviation from a document more than ten-times that age to be sacrilegious.

In the name of Constitutional Originalism, Dr Paul opposes foreign interventionism and the absurdly named PATRIOT Act, but then again, other things that are against the original wording of the constitution include equal marriage, the Civil Rights Act, the direct election of Senators, women voting and the idea that black people are worth more than threefifths of a white person. His son Rand, Kentucky’s Junior Senator, certainly feels that at least one of those things is a sign of big government over-reach. When Barry Goldwater said the same thing, he slumped to a landslide defeat, even in the more racially fraught climate of the 1960s.

An amicable and consistent opposition to inflationary monetary policy and foreign adventurism must be praised, yet it seems odd

that, according to Dr Paul, a gay couple cannot be afforded the same protection in Mississippi as they can in Massachusetts. Saying that the Federal Government has no role to play in marriage is all well and good, but, as the Jim Crow Laws demonstrated, states quite often don’t act in the same enlightened way that nominal libertarians would like them to.

It seems curious that Dr Paul’s support for free movement of labour is so resolutely libertarian that he supports the establishment of a cordon sanitaire across the border with Mexico, a border that would require a good hundredthousand troops to police effectively.

Odd indeed that Dr Paul opposes the War on Terrorism, but feels that legalised privateers would somehow be more respectful than the United Nations when it comes to respecting human rights.

It is sad that the Republican Party feels so ill-atease with itself that they feel the need to force out any foe of Neo-Conserva-

tism, but Ron Paul represents a hangover from the Dixiecrat Era, not a vision for the future, which is more sensibly demonstrated by the likes of Marco Rubio or Susana Martinez. When the aforementioned Senator Goldwater paraphrased Cicero, “I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.

And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” he was denounced. People often forget that Goldwater admitted his error in opposing Federal Desegregation, Dr Paul never has.

If you want to bring American kicking and screaming into the 18th Century, have a write-in vote for Dr Paul. holding your nose and voting for a proper Libertarian.

Gary Johnson, former Governor of New Mexico may not be perfect, but he at least accepts that state bans on gay marriage are purely discriminatory, that Takeshi’s Castle isn’t a sensible immigration policy and that abolishing a Central Bank won’t magically get rid of a trillion dollar debt.

12

Comment

06.11.2012

| The Beaver

China and America: the new crusaders the numerous state owned enterprises receive preferential treatment through high government investment, subsidies, tax breaks, and preferential loan terms.

The state is able to enter and exist industries as re-

Shirven Rezvany

China is rapidly becoming the poster child for the success of a bureaucratic, stateled model of development. the void left by the apparent death of the Washington

production networks. These conditions are coupled with a huge working-age population that is becoming increasingly skilled. Through heavy-handed intervention in the economy, China has managed to develop rapidly, raise individual incomes and living standards, and create a large urban middle class.

Until recently, the dominant global development

in the emerging world.

The US still holds a strong lead. The question is how long will this last? As it stands, the US GDP is $15.1 trillion compared to China’s $7.3 trillion. China, however, is outperforming the US in terms of projected GDP growth rates for 2012: analysts are expecting growth of around four times faster than its competitor. Then again, the US contributed a massive 22 per cent of world GDP in 2011, while China contributed only 10 per cent. In 1991, however, China’s contribution was only 1.8 per cent -- growth has been explosive. Public perceptions are also moving towards the view that China is dominant. A recent Pew survey suggests that, since 2008, the international perception that China is the world’s most powerful economy has doubled.

This growth can be attributed to China’s unique political and economic arrangement; what some have called the “Chinese Model,” or the “Beijing Consensus.”

This model is characterized by the conjunction of authoritarian rule and exportled state capitalism. China’s highly bureaucratic and centralized government is not accountable to its citizens, allowing the government the freedom to make decisions without negotiating with the public or citizens’ interest groups. This allows projects, such as China’s massive new infrastructure plan, to proceed unimpeded by the dissenting voices that would slow down similar decisions in democratic states (e.g. India’s inability to escape democratic deadlock).

The other key component of the Chinese model is a focus on industrial exports and the facilitation of the market through state capitalism. Famously, the Chinese government keeps the Yuan undervalued, while

Washington Consensus was all” approach that liberalized too quickly, the PostWashington consensus tries recognized the need to sequence reforms and to allow recipient governments to lightly regulate the market in order to liberalize more gradually. The Washington

in developing economies, as these states featured strong non-democratic government and export-led economies with heavy government regulation and trade barriers. China, in a sense, is a massive Asian Tiger, perhaps with a more exportable model for development, as it is larger than the small Asian Tiger states. These East Asian states rejected the neo-liberal development program of the Washington Consensus and found an aldevelopment and prosperity.

With its newfound riches, is continues to grow in regions in need of investment

MISSY_SCHMIDT

does its alternative path to prosperity. As more states turn to China for no strings attached loans and trade, its

Needless to say, most recipient states felt this arrangement to be neo-imperialist and a breach of state sovereignty by the Western world. The “post-Washington Consensus” followed shortly afterwards, and can tion on the failures of the

the global swing of power South America is another growing concern for the US and the West, as China is increasing involvement in trade and investment there.

However, Latin American is no stranger is development schemes, having experimented with import substitution industrialization and structural adjustment programs, and is more skeptical of dealing with China.

In any case, China is set to ence in the emerging world cally neutral loans.

Generally speaking, Chinese condition-free loans are attractive to states that West’s failed development plans, and especially attractive to those states with poor human rights records and authoritarian governance. As developing states are increasingly in need of cash, and are unwilling to submit to imposed political and economic reforms of the World Bank and the IMF, China appears to be a viable source of funding and an economics role model to emulate. With China taking the role of the world’s moneylender, it will begin to in-

model was the Washington Consensus view adopted

Consensus and its successor were unable to inspire the growth it had expected, and its austerity cuts caused social crises in many recipient states.

The developing world has become skeptical of this neo-

and loans. Just recently, Chinese President Hu Jintao

institutions. This view was 20 billion dollars in loans that development could be to African countries over brought about by opening a the next 3 years. What sets country’s domestic market these loans apart is the fact to international trade and foreign investno strings ment through attached, “Public perceptions are also moving towards without any economic liberalization, the view that China is dominant. A recent Pew i m p o s i t i o n s while balancregarding the ing budgets survey suggests that, since 2008, the interna- best way to through ausdevelop. Chitional perception that China is the world’s most na has overterity measures.

This taken the U.S. powerful economy has doubled.” plan was imas Africa’s plemented largest tradin the form of conditional liberal path to development, ing partner, and Chinese loans called Structural Ad- including its conditional companies are increasingly justment Programs which loans, especially when con- doing business in African were doled out by the US sidering the development states, building infrastrucdominated Bretton Woods paths of the Asian Tigers. ture and extracting natural institutions. Cash-strapped The growth of the Asian Ti- resources. states had no choice but to gers—Singapore, Taiwan, Additionally, some comaccept neo-liberal economic Hong Kong, and South Ko- mentators have viewed and institutional reforms in rea—was a testament to the order to acquire these loans. role government could play in Africa as a microcosm of

in the same manner the US does today.

As China grows, so will the attractiveness of East Asian models and the Beijing Consensus. The world is moving towards superpower multipolarity, and the Washington Consensus has lost its special place as the default approach for developing states. However, the China model has its obvious problems, as it involved a strong authoritarian state lacking liberal freedoms and respect for human rights.

Chinese loans can serve to either cement authoritarianisms, or actually lead states on a trajectory where democracy and individual rights are introduced after sufficient development. It is too early to tell how a China dominated world will look, but it is clear that a USChina rivalry is in its early stages, each with its own view towards development in the emerging world.

Shirven Rezvany is Secretary of the America and the Emerging World Working Group at LSEUSU Forum.

The Beaver 06.11.2012

13

PartB

MUSIC LEONA LEWIS

JACK TINDALE’S ISLAY WHISKY GUIDE

14

06.11.2012 PartB

MEET OUR

EDITORS PartB

VENESSA CHAN JOSH JINRUANG partb@thebeaveronline.co.uk

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Film

VENESSA CHAN

Food

LAURA RANDLE

food@thebeaveronline.co.uk

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TOM BARNES EMIR NADER

GINGER WHOREBY

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ISABELLA SILVER

tv@thebeaveronline.co.uk

Video Games

PHILIP GALLAGHER

omewhere between the acclaimed debut studio release of Section.80 last year and the follow-up Good Kid, M.A.A.D City this October, Kendrick Lamar has deservedly established himself globally as one of the most important hiphop artists in the business.

Hence, this latest offering was hungrily awaited by a surging number of devotees in the press and public, keen to see whether Kendrick had it in him to meet the standard he had set himself. In a word, he did.

Good Kid, M.A.A.D City leads the listener through streets of Kendrick’s past, growing-up in hometown Compton, a landscape of gunshots, drug-deals and crime.

Unlike, Section.80 which had a wider scope and tackled issues such as racism and US civil rights, this is a claustrophobic exploration of the consuming poverty, violence and urbanity of Compton.

In recounting these stories the distinction between the real and hypothetical becomes blurred; we are not sure whether Kendrick killed a man and whether he perhaps knows who killed his uncle. It is introspective and frank as Kendrick confides he is “a sinner / who’s probably gonna sin again”.

Kendrick’s talent as a raconteur makes for a record that plays like the ‘short film’ the cover describes itself as, guided by a narrative rather than a loose collection of tracks like a standard LP. This

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whilst this may be the case, it is a distortion of Kendrick’s message. In fact, the final verse has a more optimistic prognosis as it hopes that the “next generation maybe can sleep / with dreams of being a lawyer or doctor”.

ethereal refrain that a lack of education and the pervasive ‘hallucination[s]’ of money and violence are the plagues that grip Compton. ‘M.A.A.D City’ follows with a high-register dissonant melody that could only suggest bad news.

Indeed, a Youtube comment to the track thought that ‘this will be the soundtrack to SO many murders’ and,

'Backstreet Freestyle' will please those looking for something more straightforward than the pensive majority of the record. Like ‘A Milli’ amongst others, its sheer power comes from that stripped down instrumentation of sub-bass and occasional snare that US hip-hop seems to have the monopoly on. It features an outra-

cuse for my lateness, I could not help but think about the ticket prices. By the end of IR203 I was mutinous.

No-one, not even the greatest rock and roll band in history, can be excused for charging up to £1,140 for

a ticket. It begs the question, “What do they need all this money for?” The band stand to make a total of around £15.6 million from these four gigs. Assuming a two-hour set, that works out at an hourly rate

geously unmistakeable line that has Yours truly thanking the Lord that hip-hop ever came to existence for its total audacity: "I pray my d*ck get big as the Eiffel tower so I can fuck the world for 72 hours"—note, Kendrick is actually ridiculing such mentalities in his mad city.

This side of the pond the tales of Compton may seem too distant for a listener to kindle an affinity with.

However, perhaps during the teaming with Dr.Dre on the track ‘Compton’ Kendrick responds to this best; he questions why Compton’s music went international (referring to the successes of NWA) and reasons that the ‘harsh realities we [lived] in made our music translate’.

Plus, the music and production alone is arresting in itself, for instance ‘B*tch Don’t Kill My Vibe’ is an exemplary instance of those hip-hop tracks that are able to balance the strength of its bass and active hi-hat rhythm with the delicacy of strings for that added melancholy.

It is a shame that the leaked ‘Cartoon and Cereal’ did not make the cut for Good Kid, M.A.A.D City but overall there are few complaints to be had and it is such spotless critical acclamations that have in a mere year cemented Kendrick Lamar as a seminal hip-hop artist who only promises to burn brighter.

Emir Nader

GRRR! INDEED

n 1974, Mick Jagger penned the lyrics, “I'm working so hard to keep you in the luxury” for a song on the album It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll. Thirty-eight years have passed, it is still only rock ‘n roll, but it is a lot more expensive. Seemingly we are now the ones working hard to keep Jagger in luxury.

Tickets for two Stones concerts at London’s O2 Arena officially went on sale Friday 19th October, with a number being made available for O2 Priority customers two days earlier. These concerts, along with another two in New Jersey, are to commemorate the band’s 50th anniversary and promote their latest album, Grrr!. I was primed in front of my laptop at 9am, ready to seize what could very likely be the last chance I ever get to see my musical idols. No such luck. Tickets apparently sold out within seven minutes, with the cheapest seats (£106) going after three. Devastated, I grabbed my bag and set off for Clement House. On the way, after deciding upon a suitable ex-

THE ROLLING STONES

PartB

I

is not a criticism of the musical production in the slightest rather the music augments, not rivals, the narrative.

‘Good Kid’ and ‘M.A.A.D City’ together form a centrepiece to the album. In the former, Pharrell posits in an

KENDRICK LAMAR

Private B

S

KENDRICK LAMAR gkmc

of around £487,500 each for a band with an average age of just over 68. Jagger obviously learned a lot in his stint at the LSE. To add insult to injury, hundreds of tickets are being sold on secondary ticketing websites for prices even more extortionate than their face value. When I got home, I came across a floor ticket that had been listed for £11, 000 in a matter of hours.

This caused even more uproar than the original prices—real fans never stood a chance.

The Stones seemed to realise their mistake, and tickets for two warm-up gigs in Paris this week sold for just £12, but this is too little too late for fans closer to home. A band that once prided itself on shocking the establishment will more than likely be playing to a crowd of people with the high-paying corporate jobs who uphold it. I only hope those people will enjoy it as much as I would have.

Cathal Loughran

15

The Beaver 06.11.2012

LEONA LEWIS glassheart osyncrasy to the album, from the soaring, powerful vocals coupled with a driven drumand-bass beat, resulting in same sense of distinction is also present within the tempestuous ‘I To You’—depicting the psychology of desperation in a relationship: ‘“You are love, you are sin … just keep me, and I won’t make a sound”.

The title track also really stands out. ‘Glassheart’ is quite surprisingly—an upbeat leaves Leona with artistic and lyrical dignity however, due to its well-crafted imagery and the fact that the dubstep beats actually compliment Lewis’ haunting tone in this song.

Another noteworthy track is the upcoming second single—

LEONA LEWIS/RAPLH MECKE

L

eona Lewis’ recent absence from the music scene had left many worrying or forgetting about her existence. However, last week Leona released her latest album Glassheart. Leona has collaborated with some of the biggest producers and writers in the industry on this record, including Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins (Michael Jackson) and Ryan Tedder (Adele, Beyoncé).. With the executive producer being Fraser T Minogue), the album promises all the ingredients of bril-

liance. So is the outcomesuccessful?

After a famous talent-show win, her rapid rise to fame and two number one albums, Lewis has had a substantive pressure preceding her new album. She also is subjected to scrutiny and lack of exposure due to her resistance of conforming to the ‘celebrity’ role that society and the industry might expect. Leona has a lot to prove with Glassheart.

The overall ambience of the album is both mysterious and enchanting, and that is -

ments of the second track, ‘Un Love Me’, begin. After a somewhat slow start, the chorus and the last minute of the track allures the listener with Leona's trademark smooth vocals. Other tracks such as the beautiful ‘Lovebird’ and power-ballad ‘Fingerprint’ give could be perceived as ‘predictable’.

But with ‘Glassheart’ Leona’s lack of conformity to the conventional mainstream has been utilised to her advantage. The song ‘Come Alive’ provides a heroic burst of idi-

THE PULSE LIST Each week we catch up with a PuLSE DJ and see what they have to say for themselves.

IAN FLOYD The Breakfast Show WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?

Only raw music—dances digital or analogue, couth and un-couth. Mostly vinyl, slinky disco groovers through to slammin' techno jams. Sixty minutes in which to erupt and disappear.

CECE PENISTON / COCOACURE

The enchanting Ce Ce Peniston.

3 TRACKS WE WILL HEAR?

CeCe Peniston - Somebody Garage) Joey Anderson - Earth Calls Odyssey - Going Back To My Roots

some undeniable soaring high notes together, that Leona is renowned for, with a cinematic yet tribal power-ballad.

‘Favourite Scar’ is particularly catchy, but its confused jungle of melodies and lyrics come together bizarrely.

Its peculiarity may not translate to the audience, and it seems to be weakest track of the album. Fortunately, it is followed by easily one of the strongest: ‘When It Hurts’. In my honest opinion, this is one of the most touching songs ever made; it truly deserves praise. Her vocals bleed pain; the track oozes with emotion by the sense of vulnerability Leona Lewis projects.

The album is unconventional, and may not appeal to all audiences; but it is certainly intoxicating and intelligent. Leona ends this piece on a high note (literally) with the captivating and meaningful ‘Fingeprint’.

GIGS

FANTASY RAINBOW, LA FEMME, CUBS 8 NOVEMBER CAMDEN BARFLY

MELODY GARDOT 10 NOVEMBER BARBICAN CENTRE

EMELI SANDÉ

11 NOVEMBER ROYAL ALBERT HALL

EVANESCENCE 9 NOVEMBER WEMBLEY ARENA

BRIAN MAY & KERRY ELLIS 11 NOVEMBER UNION CHAPEL

ATTENTION THIEVES, VERSES & LEAGUES 9 NOVEMBER FIGHTING COCKS (KINGSTON)

VERNERI POHJOLA QUARTET 9 NOVEMBER

QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL SOUTHBANK CENTRE

BUTTERZ (LABEL NIGHT) feat.

P-MONEY, TERROR DANJAH AND D-DOUBLE-E 10 NOVEMBER CABLE

Amraj Lally

ONE REASON WHY WE SHOULD TUNE IN?

There ain't a reason not to tune in.

IF YOUR SHOW WAS A TUBE STATION WHICH ONE AND WHY?

Good question, [thanks] Gallions Reach. Out there the and on the horizon spaceships hover and spin out into the night—one time I missed the last DLR and spent the most freaky 7 hours of my life there.

WHEN?

Thursdays 7-8pm every week!

So there you have it, tune in to Ian's show every Thursday at www.pulselse.co.uk for what promises to at least be better than 7 hours in Gallions Reach.

Emir Nader

TRACKS FOUR TET

LION (JAMIE XX REMIX)

MALA

CUBA ELECTRONICA

KENDRICK LAMAR SWIMMING POOLS (DRANK)

THE BUCKETHEADS THE BOMB! BEN SUN

LOVE HOTEL (FEAT. SLOW HANDS)

FEIST

INSIDE & OUT (FISCHER EDIT)

18

I

06.11.2012 PartB

BURGER & LOBSTER haven’t made my mind up on Soho, there are just so many gems hidden down

that it is hard to decide whether the inevitable brou-haha Greek Street is worth it. Burger & Lobster is worth it.

There are three options on the menu. Burger. Lobster.

Lobster Roll. Each is £20, so

the walls with little else to cover up the bare cement. As ist design a tad bit dreary, it is nice to enjoy a restaurant lining the wall. a controversial decision was made this week—to review

an evening is almost as simple as the menu choices. Any potential complaints about

at Burger & Lobster—so strap yourselves in.

The burger, though nice, is a bit on the expensive side. It

is more than made up by the

sat on a plate with shoestring

our visit.

The service was excellent and speedy. Even with larger parties, the server’s pace was undiminished. While there you’d be sitting down, enjoyment could perhaps best be described as spartan; metal piping and coat hooks adorn

T

ty quid, you would expect a an ingredient best described

but in no way overwhelming.

The lobsters were reminiswere their size. The popular

recommended by our server

vour to be brought out. While cracking the various bits and bobs open would ordinarily be a chore, in this case—and with the provided plastic bib—it was a delight.

Finally we have the lobster roll, where the delicious lobin a sumptuous brioche roll. the menu, the meat was deliwith its buttery velvety texture enrobed the succulent the best lobster roll we have three menu items, the lobster roll stands out, in our minds, as the piece-de-resistance at Burger & Lobster.

With a simple, yet scrumpbeers and spirits behind the Burger & Lobster is worth the

Matthew Worby

GUIDE TO ISLAY WHISKIES

he

remote

Hebridean

malty than smokey makes the

good reason. Home to eight dedicated whisky distilleries, Islay is best reached by means

ral tones towards the end. Underrated.

Although just over 3000 people live there, Islay produces

CAOL ILA

kowel-EEL-ah T H E S O U N D O F I S L AY

single-malt whisky every year and is recognised as a distinct region, with a status enshrined in law. ter, coastal location and use malting process give the spirits here a unique characBroadly speaking, one can divide the island producers into two groups; with the distillers on the south coast producing a spirit almost saturated by peat smoke (the island is practically source, with at least a thousand tradition that is much milder.

Bowmore, the nominal capital, occupies a happy medium between the two and makes a the surrounding area.

ARDBEG ard - B E G

and the neighbouring island

The taste is sweeter than many on Islay, with a strong peaty bodied with slight medicinal tones.

BOWMORE boh-MORE SEA ROCK

The basic 12 year old is a mild 40%, distilled on the island’s most splits the island in two.

A grassy nose dominates, although seaweed is also hintWell-balanced on the tongue,

SMALL HEADLAND

honey and is noticeably less

with a 46% volume. A nose -

companions. A great entry-

distilleries,

BRUICHLADDICH brook-LADDIE

BANK ON THE SHORE

The helvetica label and opaque pastel-shaded bottles belays a traditional approach to whiskymaking that was resurrected “Laddie Classic” is a mid-level 46% volume with a very honeyed nose that holds a decent

traditionally

be-

43% single-malt though is well worth trying, with a very thick antiseptic hint to it. The medium-sweet taste has a distinct tobacco edge which carries

KILCHOMAN k ill-H O -man

THE CHURCH OF S T CO M M A N

tle on site, the taste also has a

The newest distillery on Islay, -

-

to exclusively have every part

BUNNAHABHAIN BONNA-hav- en

to bottling, done domestically.

The 46% 3 year has a typical Islay smoke but with a very in-

The label on the apothecarylike bottle shows a sea captain ment to Bunnahabhain’s isolat-

seaweed. The taste is semi-

MOUTH OF THE RIVER

and grain in the long and rath-

LAGAVULIN lagga-VOO -lin

T H E H O L LO W W H E R E THE MILL IS

tive Islay malt’ Lagavulin is a complex whisky distilled on looked by the ruined Castle which governed the Hebrides between the 9th and 13th Centuries. The 43% volume 16 try-level drinks available, with a very peaty nose rich with iodine and sea salt. With a dry roasted nuts, Lagavulin is certainly an acquired taste that gion.

LAPHROAIG la-FR OY- g

F I N E H O L LO W B Y T H E B R O A D B AY

The only Islay whisky to carry Wales clearly has good taste.

to corroborate. Laphroaig still with the hand-cut peat giving salty and medicinal taste hits per, the latter becoming much cious.

The Beaver 06.11.2012

REVISITED: FIREFLY HOME H

FOX / SYFY

I

t inspired a vast and insanely dedicated cult fan following, a spin-off movie and even a whole day held in its honour—and only 11 episodes in all ever aired on American television. If this seems a little unbelievable, then you have obviously never seen Firefly.

Part-western and part-scifi, the series follows Captain Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and his renegade, mismatched crew as they roam the edges of space, looking for—often illegal—work. If this sounds geeky, then I have described it accurately. Created by Joss Whedon (of Buffy, Angel and The Avengers fame) Firefly is one of those series that inspires the obsession, mania and undying passion that only mega-geeks can pull off.

However, to write the show off as another piece of sci-fi

trash would be rash and, indeed, foolish. It is more than just space-ships and gunfights and hot babes wearing futuristic outfits, although there is plenty of that too.

Firefly has an extraordinary amount of depth for a show that only lasted one series.

Whedon has created a family of nine characters who are intricate, compelling and recognisable, even in such an unfamiliar setting as the edge of space. There is tangible chemistry in every relationship, and after episode one you feel as though you are one of them, part of the family, loving and hating them as much as your own relatives. This is due mainly to the sparkling script, full of wit and in-jokes that make you feel as though you are fully immersed in the Firefly universe.

This is essentially what

makes Firefly so great. Whedon has mapped out a whole new world, rich in detail and idiosyncrasies. In his imagined ‘Verse,’ the cultures of the two dominant powers—China and the US—have merged, and this is apparent in everything from the characters’ clothes to their language (they curse in Chinese). This adds a level of fantasy to the series, but the characters and situations are so believable that this fantastical escapism remains consistently relatable. It is impossible not to fall in love with this world and its characters, and after watching the single season you will find yourself greedy for more, more, more.

So, watch Firefly, the show that makes geeks of us all.

Isabella Silver

ON TELLY THIS WEEK to be an exciting watch to this delightfully unpredictable series.

ALAN CARR: CHATTY MAN FRIDAY 10PM CHANNEL 4

Alan Carr is joined by guests herty, who will be talking about their new show, as well as The Wanted and Taylor Swift. The Killers will be performing.

MISFITS

STRIKE BACK: VENGEANCE TUESDAY 9PM SKY1

DAVE

apologetically outlandish show comes to its action-packed end. ulant War Cruiser, in a lessthan-ideal defensive condition.

Adding insult to injury, Rimmer (Chris Barrie) is the only man who can save them. With the fate of the whole cast hanging

The new series is back with a bang, with some brand-new

tion of your eyes opening to an eerie dark room. Finding a en control of your protagonist, a ginger-haired factory worker with blue jeans and a greaser’s haircut. You are soon established to have a wife called Rachel, and more information on her is soon gained as you uncover more shocking evidence of murders most foul.

The pacing is done very well, and given the knowledge of how short the game would be I found myself more than willing to uncover as much as I could.

I was quickly introduced to an unnerving, claustrophobic atmosphere. The sounds of distant thunder and my own drew me successfully in, to the extent that passé scare tactics such as a black cat in the hallway or glowing eyes in the background left me with the creeping sense that danger was never far. The need for exploration, and occasional re-exploration, gives sudden noises or movement a distinct scare factor. Lacking a weapon or indeed anything other than interaction controls also leaves the player feeling extremely vulnerable and scared. And all for under £1.

(Nathan McMullen) and Jess (Karla Crome). The series is as funny, bleak and dark as ever, with Joseph Gilgun continuing to steal the show.

BENJAMIN RIVERS

the show returns in this new third series. Scott (Sullivan Stapleton) is sent to rescue the kidnapped diplomats in Mogadishu, while Stonebridge (Philip Winchester) adjusts to his role as a recruit trainer.

RED DWARF WEDNESDAY 8:20PM

SUNDAY 10PM E4

aving never really been a huge fan of horror games, I had mixed feelings when I was advised to play Home, an atmospheric horror game that was available in the Steam Halloween sale. Made by independent developer Benjamin Rivers, Home is a unique two-dimensional horror experience, during which an amnesiac man awakens in a decrepit mansion. Your protagonist soon stumbles onto a long trail of murder and deceit, journeying through a number of environments which progressively draw the player in. I feared, therefore, that it may be nothing more than a watered down version of more popular games such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Still, given how cheap it was, and given the limited gaming capabilities of my laptop, I set about playing Home, albeit with mixed expectations. What followed was a surprisingly well-made and involving journey through a gripping story, and a style of gameplay which gave me a good degree of determination to complete it with the best possible ending.

The game begins with a

19

The game is, at heart however, a mystery adventure.

Finishing a stage with the protagonist informing you of puzzles yet unanswered will make you scold yourself for missing evidence, made worse for the lack of a save function.

Continuing regardless of failures and achieving a unique ending in each play through is very involving. One can play through a horror story where they are as ignorant at times as their character, which is where scares can really come from.

The downside is, however, that from a purely objective point of view the game repeats itself a lot. Without getting into the full experience, which would require a dark room and headphones, all you really have is a game where you rush through a map, clicking on everything you can, and then rushing zles in your path are not hard to grasp at all, and although the player feels uneasy, by the end of the game you will realise that the level of immediate danger never really changes.

The mystery itself is the enemy, and although I found it to be a satisfying enemy indeed, other gamers may well prefer something they can shoot.

For this reason alone the ending was somewhat unsatisfying. Not wanting to give anything away, I will simply say that it gives the impression of being incomplete, or rather nying proper closure for the player is always a risky thing to do, and given the size of the game one gets the impression that the developer could of an ending to go on. There is also a lot of choice open to the player regarding how the game ends, and this can take away the excitement of plot twists, and worse yet the likelihood of a sequel. And yet I quickly found myself playing through the game a second time.

Home is an astoundingly good horror experience. It draws the player in and successfully makes them empathise with the drives of the character. For those unable to play more mainstream titles, or for those who want to look at the genre through a cheap example, Home nitely a recommended purchase.

Philip Gallagher

20

06.11.2012 | The Beaver

LSESU CHANGES THE WORLD

HDT

HORIZONS DIVERSITY TRAINING

TOPICS INCLUDE: In a stunning shift, as the result of an LSESU endorsement, the United States Presidential election race took a sharp turn to the right.

Speaking from her ivory tower, Putin-Day equivocated the LSESU’s unwavering support for Governator Rmoney. “He’s such a huney, and I’ve tooken his binders full of women really serious, and he’ll do a great job repairing the global money crash-thingy.”

As the news of this shocking endorsement percolated through the American political system the shear size of the reaction shocked even the most grizzled of American political commentators.

Putin-Day’s endorsement has its head, Florida, Ohio and ly sat in Rmoney’s pocket.

While it may be too early to tell, there were even whisperings of California being open.

Although this could possibly be a confused Tindick giving out erroneous information, believing that we wanted to chat with him about California’s high speed rail network for half an eon. When TinRmoney he was overjoyed (pictured) when Rmoney said he too, occasionally enjoyed using trains.

This announcement was not without its detractors, however. Drunken McKenna had to be forcibly removed Hilton (where the Sabbatical

- SHIT-ZU: THE NEW THAI FORM OF BATHROOM RELATED SELF-DEFENCE

officers had been staying).

After expressing his disgust with Rmoney’s stance on Marijuana by urinating in the vague direction of Putin-Day. He later insisted this was just “par for the course” since, “Ket does well bad things to my liver, you get me?” Whilst the B tried to point out that it was in fact the kidneys that Druncan threatened to urinate on the B, were we not to vacate the bathroom he was attempting to sleep in.

There are rumblings from dissidents that this endorsement was merely a back scratching episode, after it was revealed that PutinDay’s expensive lifestyle choices, the plethora of new shoes just strewn around her desk for example, had been funded in part by Rmoney, and in part by Netenyahoo.

However, Private B is unwilling to have an extended period of holiday in PutinDay’s gulag, and so will not be investigating the matter further.

Even more advantageously, the LSE100 course next year will be running an exclusive series of compulsory seminars over the Easter and Summer breaks delving into the intricacies of this LSESU on the US election. “Looking to understand the causes of Putin-Days endorsement” Currently Putin-Day plans to deliver the entire 30 hour series herself.

NEW AGE SPIRITUAL HEALER

JASON WONG!

ANOTHER SPACE FILLING LOOKA-

21

Features

The Beaver | 06.11.2012

A brave new think tank for uncertain times Liam Hill reviews the parliamentary launch of ‘Class’ Last week saw the launch of the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (Class), a new think tank. Proudly left of centre, and funded by major trade unions, the purpose of Class is to inject fresh ideas and inspiration into the labour movement and to contribute to a shift in political debate.

The launch was opened

by Labour’s Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry and Steve Hart, a Regional Secretary of Unite, who both praised Class and

ing wage to cut the amount spent on tax credits, which he said are both a lifeline to many working families but also a subsidy to employers who don’t pay their workers ing down on the thirty-two billion pounds a year worth of illegal tax avoidance. He demonstrated that economic equality of this kind could save the taxpayer billions.

He also welcomed the electoral viability of higher taxes on the rich, citing a YouGov poll showing the

The launch was opened by Labour’s Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry and Steve Hart, a Regional Secretary of Unite, who both praised Class and its purpose. its purpose. Thornberry promoted the work of Labour councils such as Islington, in introducing the living wage for all those employed by the council and the posimunity she represents.

Owen Jones, Independent columnist and author of Chavs, spoke with passion about progressive methbuilding houses and re-establishing rent controls to bring down the housing ben-

majority of voters support the Francois Hollandeinspired policy of a 75 per cent tax rate on earnings of a million pounds or more, including more than 40 per cent of Conservative voters among the respondents. To win electorally, he claimed that the left must not only have the facts on its side but must tell a convincing story of the Britain it wishes to build.

Winning ‘the battle of ideas’ was highlighted by Jon Trickett, Shadow Cabi-

net Office Minister, explainmillion votes between 1997 and 2010, how to win them back, and how to create a large enough coalition to earn back power. In terms of policy, he addressed mainly the issue of outsourcing and private sector procurement, focusing on how the failures of G4S and ATOS to successfully and fairly render the task expected of it by the state should give us a renewed faith in the ability of the state to deliver services efficiently and progressively.

A more economically equal society was argued for by Richard Wilkinson, co-author of The Spirit Level and former professor of social epidemiology.

Drawing on his research, which draws a strong and causal link between economic inequality and socioeconomic outcomes from mental health and violence to educational success and community trust, he spoke about how making Britain more economically equal would result in better overall outcomes in a range of socio-economic areas.

To justify his assertion of a causal link, Wilkinson mentioned ‘status differentials’ and associated

feelings of inferiority and helplessness to a higher various socio-economic problems, citing the many peer-reviewed academic papers supporting his theories after the publication of his book. He called for a ‘countervailing force’ to those which uphold the inequality which holds our society back and said he hopes that Class can contribute to a ‘vision of an inspiring alternative’ to our current economic settlement.

the decline in membership of trade unions had stymied for progressive change. with a plea for what she termed ‘Economic Democracy’, the principle that workers have more control over the companies they work for and can take their destinies into their own hands.

The launch was not unlike many other meetings of like-minded, left-of-centre

Trade unions could play a considerable role in bringing about greater equality and better conditions and pay for workers, Trade Unions Congress also made an appearance at the launch. Frances O’Grady, the General Secretary designate of the Trades Union Congress, called on the labour movement to ‘reverse the tide’ of the last three decade trend toward economic liberalism.

She spoke about how trade unions could play a considerable role in bringing about greater equality and better conditions and pay for workers, and how

politicians, thinkers and activists – the atmosphere of bright idealism and optimism coupled with an embittered cynicism and nostalgia for pre-Thatcher Britain present and indisputable. There was a mood of forward-looking hopefulness.

The paradigm shifts and visions of inspiring alternatives conjured up by the speakers sounded like real possibilities, like the beginning of a genuine outline for Britain’s future.

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Features

06.11.2012

| The Beaver

What does Europe need now?

MR. USH

Georgios Barzoukas

Having just read an article about “Why the EU cannot forget about Turkey”, I feel compelled to make a few contributions myself to the topic, being a proponent of European Federalism, a Greek citizen but most importantly, an ardent supporter of liberal democratic values.

A quarter of a century before the Shoah, the Armenians experienced a genocide in the hands of the Ottoman Turks which had no precedent in Human History and claimed the lives of several hundred thousands. While dark moments haunt most nations, the Nazi horrors being the most infamous, nearly all the relevant modern States have come to terms with their past and have sought to redeem themselves in one way or another.

97 years after the 1915 Armenian Genocide, the Republic of Turkey still denies any accusations of genocide, while at the same time severs or degrades its trade and diplomatic relations with the states that officially accept it as a case of genocide.

The 2006 Literature Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Orhan Pamuk was put to trial in 2005, because ‘he had insulted Turkishness’ by referring in his book to the Armenian genocide and the killing of Kurds.

Current EU members have seen their systems move towards liberal democracy gradually, since adhering rather than being mature democracies prior to entry, such as post junta Greece and post-Franco Spain.

Moreover it would be more than just to claim that some Western European countries have a somewhat tarnished human rights record.

Founding EU member Belgium was partaking in questionable practices and State interference in its former Congo colony even after decolonization during the days of Lumumba.

No country however in the Union has seen four military coup d’etats since the 1960s.

Turkey is still battling with the Ergenekon ‘deep state’ which has been responsible for most of the coup attempts; the latest being the aborted ‘Operation Sledgehammer’ in 2007.

While on the one hand the army appears to be the only institution which still holds at heart the Kemalist notions of secularism and liberalism, in sharp contrast to the ever more religiously vocal Erdogan, it also appears to be less convinced by the democratic processes of change and State-rulling.

Beyond its human rights and historical record, from

a geopolitical perspective, Turkey is behaving as a de facto adversary rather than an eager future Union partner. While it tramples on Greek territorial sovereignty through its daily military drills in the Aegean, it has been occupying 37 per cent of EU-member Cyprus’ territory since the 1974 invasion and has threatened to cease all diplomatic relations during the later’s EU Council rotating presidency. Its foreign policy agenda is the intellectual product of its Foreign Minister and one of the closest advisors to PM Tayip Erdogan, Ahmet Davutoglu.

For those of you interested in IR and Geopolitics his book ‘Strategic Depth‘, is a 21st century re-phrasing of a Neo-Ottomanist ambition. Greece, Cyprus, Syria and Iraq are all claimed under Turkey’s direct sphere of influence to avoid them being geopolitical ‘choke points’ to its rising regional hegemony.

An ambitious and understandable delusion on behalf of Ahmet Davutoglu for his fast growing country, but a rather perilous development for those States surrounding it.

So what does the EU need? So far this article has argued that the EU does not need a State which has yet to come to terms with the responsibilities that carrying the term

‘Republic’ entails.

Indeed Turkey is developing rapidly and its economy is performing uniquely, but a united Europe ceased to be just about a single market in 1993, when the Treaty of the European Union signed in Maastricht came into effect. The EU has the potential to become a powerful geopolitical entity, unlike its role so far, but one of the main requisites for this, besides being legitimate in the eyes of every European citizen, is to be a politically coherent organism.

Having argued against the author which spurred me to write this article, I owe readers an answer to the statement of the title: The EU needs Britain.

While us Continentals can forgive the British for driving on the wrong side of the road, pouring vinegar on their chips and not using the Napoleonic system, we cannot forgive them for not leading but rather slowing down the Union.

Queen Victoria and Winston Churchill will not rise from the dead and resuscitate the Imperium Britannicum. British citizens are deluded if they believe that their State can still punch above its weight; a belief based more by James Bond movies and Nigel Farage’s speeches than common sense. The United Kingdom needs to satiate its ambitions as a nation from with-

in the geopolitical unit that it chose to enter in 1973. If France and Germany have been able to do so, being two nations whose jingoist and chauvinist levels have run high historically, there is no reason why the United Kingdom shouldn’t be able to follow likewise.

Being Greek, I know first hand that a glorious past can be hard to let go in terms of not dwelling on its achievements to cover a more sober reality.

One needs to capitalize on the cultural and historical know-how of a given Nation in order to create the necessary impetus to progress in a contemporary context.

The EU needs Britain, and Britain needs the EU. Rather than squabbling with the rebels of his party and the opportunistic Labour opposition, David Cameron should draft a strategy to bring Britain back on the ‘driver’s seat’ rather than the sidelines of the Old Continent.

Meanwhile Turkey, has a long way to go before its applicant status can be seriously considered.

Having met several young Turkish students here at the LSE and London in general, I have no doubt that the country has the human capital and will to excel in accordance with the highest standards of Republicanism. But its time has yet to come.

The Beaver | 06.11.2012

Features

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An Exploding Tomato - story of an LSE student Talitha Chin

UK libel laws protect the wrong people Liam Brown

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Features

Chloe Kim,

Back in 2007, Senator Barbara Boxer stated: “one of the very important national security threats we face is climate change.” Later, her opponent Carly Fiorina retaliated: “Terrorism kills and Barbara Boxer is worried about the weather.”

Climate change and the other big statements like “global warming,” “rising sea levels”, and “unpredictable weather patterns” appear to be brushed away by, not only world leaders, but our own friends, family and peers.

Aside from environmental activists, no one really cares about how many holes are in the ozone layer. But after Hurricane Sandy in New York last week, with the fact that the “end of the world” is approaching on December 21st, it seems like more people are starting to care.

Even if it is only until people have started to rebuild their lives post- Sandy, this momentary awareness may not be such a bad thing.

“Since September 11th, 2001, there have been roughly 30 Americans killed by terrorism (depending on how you do the numbers). Meanwhile, extreme weather deaths in the same time period have totaled 6,408 as of 2011, according to the National Weather Service.”

Throughout the Presidential Debates and campaigns, while the word “terror” was repeatedly discussed, the phrase “climate change” was not mentioned once. While Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney spoke

Withdrawing from the American East Coast and dissolving itself into the air, back from the unpredictability of its origins, Hurricane Sandy has left a trail of destruction and devastation, which will scarcely be forgotten. Now, the storm settles and the clouds disappear.

However, it will be long until the sun can shine again as the United States are left to face the consequences of the tropical explosion. With 88 lost lives, power lines knocked over, crumbling infrastructure and 15,000 and LaGuardia airports, paralysis continues. The cataclysmic winds that in the night of the 29th-30th October stretched across almost 1,800 kilometers blew away the last hopes of the American economy, forcing Michael Bloomberg to cancel New York’s marathon for

06.11.2012

about how he would “preserve a military that is so strong, no nation would ever dare to test it” he failed to impress when it came to keeping one of America’s biggest and most heavily populated cities above water in a storm.

Parts of Manhattan are still dark, crews searching for missing family members on toll has not been tallied and the victims not yet buried.

Shortsightedness seems to have marginalised those who had warned the world, treating environmentalism as a craze worth ignoring.

Romney still ignores the importance of these other isDuring his acceptance speech

thus forcing into slumber the world capital city that “never sleeps”. Meanwhile, the dynamic Las Vegas of the East Coast, Atlantic City mirrors the image of what used city of Atlantis.

The full economic cost of Sandy will not be know for years, and perhaps early estimates of the total economic losses by HIS of $30-$50 billion, accounting for 1-1.7% of the gross regional product prove too low.

New York City has already shown evidence of economic slowdown, with working hours and economic activity lost, wasted pumping water from basements, searching tricity, just a few of the steps in the cleanup, adaption and reconstruction of what is now a crippled city.

Even the New York Stock Exchange remained shut for two days, the longest weath-

at the Republican National Committee, Romney mocked President Obama by stating, “President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the plant.”

However, Romney’s own solution to this crisis has been “to hold campaign events with campaign- purchased canned goods (something the Red Cross has said to please NOT donate to them).”

Taking food, clothes and goods require inspecting, cleansing, sterilizing and repackaging, all of which costs extra money and time. Consequently, it does not allow groups like the Red Cross to purchase the truly necessary goods from areas proximal to the disaster and thus

support local economics.

The consequences of Hurricane Sandy will super-

er-caused closure since 1988 proving and serving as a reminder that no amount of money, human brainpower, or technology can escape nature’s overwhelming power.

The global headquarters for American Express, also in Lower Manhattan, remained closed Wednesday for the third straight day.

Spokeswoman Marina Norville said the company was taking its cues from the New York City government, which considers the area an unsafe

tails about the storm’s costs became widespread, and Verizon Communications, whose downtown Manhattan facilities are still without power, said the storm would

Meanwhile, the losses caused to transport companies such as FedEx by the closure of airports, and the inability to access and use as well as for the Wall Street office of CitiGroup, are hindering further a return to business as usual.

Moreover, US stocks fell sharply Friday, waterlogged from Superstorm Sandy. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 139 points as de-

the city, and surge into the political arena, impacting the Presidential elections.

As disasters go, politicians feel little shame in exploiting their consequences. And the question is, “who is going to win this hurricane?”

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been campaigning for Romney for months and blasting Obama throughout the RNC keynote speeches. However as of Hurricane Sandy, Christie praised the president’s leadership in responding to the crisis. When directed to walk back on this praise, he shut

its fourth-quarter earning as its stock fell 62 cents to $44.52.

“The information coming out from the economic impact of Sandy is a negative,” said Rob Lutts, president of Cabot Money Management in Salem, Mass. “I think the markets are trying to digest that and understand that, so there is a little bit of uncertainty.”

From convenience stores to major banks, all were storm. Retail stores too now display empty storefronts excessive sell-outs in preparation to the storm’s arrival.

especially with the persistence of power outages for

| The Beaver

them down by essentially saying that he “didn’t give a damn about presidential politics right now.” And for Obama, Christie’s praise reinforced his presidential status.

As President, he gets to visit disaster areas and lay out recovery plans, and that is exactly what he is doing.

Currently circulating the internet is a picture depicting Obama comforting a woman in New Jersey.

Yang put it, “if enough people see it, this is the photo that single-handedly reelects Barack Obama.” Hurricane Sandy has no doubt helped Obama’s cause.

millions of consumers.

Economically, Steven Ricchiuto, New York-based chief economist at Mizuho Securities USA, estimates that Sandy could drag down growth by one half percentage point in an economy that expanded at an annualized rate of 2 per cent in the ies were idled and nuclear plants powered down, the prices of gasoline are likely to increase over the next few weeks according to the HIS report.

Thus, Sandy might have left America, but it’s destructive winds still blow underneath the soil, threatening a collapse of the fragile and precarious economic structure. As Election Day looms around the corner and Mr. Obama and Mitt Romney race towards majorities, the United States is left in turmoil and uncertainty, and yet with the hope and strong determination to rebuild and recover.

Features

The Beaver | 06.11.2012

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A New Yorker’s Take on Hurricane Sandy My home in Queens, New York, was struck by the deadly Hurricane Sandy that razed the American East Coast last week. My family was lucky— of our roof and experienced a temporary power outage.

The homes of others, however, were thrashed by 30-foot waves and reduced to rubble.

While the raging winds and heavy rains may have passed, the long and costly recovery is just beginning.

Normally bustling New York City subway stations now resemble concrete aquariums, cups and other miscellanetracks. One hundred miles south, the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, that once gently brushed against the sand with a rhythmic leisure, now knock on Jersey Shore doors blocks away from the beach.

Sandy, dubbed “Frankenstorm” by many due to its overlap with Halloween, ry one hurricane, the least dangerous rank. Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 storm that killed approximately 1200 people in the American Southwest, by contrast, What made the hurricane so powerful, however, was its collision with a cold front, coupled with the American northeast’s inexperience in dealing with a natural dis-

aster of this magnitude.

My aunt, Kathleen Jappe, a resident of Sea Girt, New Jersey, considers herself lucky to have escaped relatively unscathed compared to her neighbors just one block closer to the beach. While their water

damage

with

day that total losses would total a whopping $50 billion, or about £30 billion. According to its analysis, 60 per cent of the losses sustained were due to property damage to houses, cars, etc. The rest accounted

levels

billion alone coming from economic inactivity in the New York Metropolitan area.

Fortunately, a U.S. News and World Report analysis titled, “The Economic Impact of Hurricane Sandy,” concluded

Jappe has merely been powerless and waterless since the beginning of the storm.

The formerly sprawling boardwalks of the Jersey Shore were ripped up plank-byplank and cast out to sea. “Local towns are all boarded up like ghost towns,” she added.

In New York, the entire lower half of Manhattan was eral days, with some areas regaining power late Friday night. Wall Street, which lies at the very tip of the island, was forced to close September 11th attacks. On Wednesday, the New York Stock Exchange resumed trading, but continues to operate on backup generators.

Just east of Manhattan, the Breezy Point area of Queens experienced a devastating

macro economy would be negligible. “The repairing and rebuilding of housing, buildings, and infrastructure generates jobs and greater demand for building materials and other

goods and services,” it said.

The report also noted that the GDP would likely rebound completely, despite initial losses due to inactivity and damage.

With the presidential elections as a backdrop to Sandy, the hurricane has exences between candidates President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney.

Until recently, Romney unequivocally argued that natural disaster relief should be devolved to the states, and taken out of the hands of the Federal government. Under this plan, states like New York and New Jersey would be left to pay the hefty billion-dollar bill.

In light of this, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomb-

erg, an Independent and former Republican, endorsed Barack Obama, citing his climate change policy as a major factor. “We need determined leadership at the national level to move the nation and the world forward,” he added in regard to climate change.

“When I step into the voting booth, I think about the world I want to leave my two daughters, and the values that are required to guide us there,” Bloomberg said. “The two parties’ nominees for president they want to lead America.”

As Americans head to the polls today, Hurricane Sandy will indeed be on the minds of many as they decide the fate of the country.

THAT HARTFORD GUY

Kelly Quinn

homes as a result of the hurricane. Those that did not like the pictures of London or even Dresden after World War Two,” said New York Senator Chuck Schumer.

Moody’s Analytics, a fore-

Kelly Quinn

‘After reading some of the thousands of letters, cards and messages sent to me by Amnesty supports, I began to hope that I would soon be free’. Patrick Okoroafor, to whom this quotation is attributed, spent 17 years in custody in Nigeria after being arrested for robbery when he was 14. He was tried by military tribunal and initially sentenced to death before appealing that decision and having his sentence reduced to was no lawyer present during his interrogation and it was nearly two years after his artenced. Allegations of torture are added to these irregularities. The Amnesty International ‘Write for Rights’ campaign hopes to raise awareness of those like Okoroafor who have been denied the right to a fair trial (the African Commission does not consider Military Tribunal to be a fair method of administering justice), and those who are prisoners of conscience in the less

tolerant societies of the world.

The focus of this article is the 2012 ‘Write for Rights’ campaign which was launched this week and will continue for the next two months. The campaign returns to the roots and fundamental objectives of Amnesty International, now in its 50th year and it continues to prove that there instilling hope as a humble, handwritten letter with the aim of letting victims of human rights abuse know that there are people who care.

The cases are varied, ranging from death row inmates in the USA and Japan, which has recently renewed its use of capital punishment, to Afghan women standing up for their rights. They also encompass the displaced population of Tawargah who were subjected to brutal treatment by the Misratah militia in Libya and, even today, are still forbidden from returning to their homes which were mostly destroyed by the civil war. The on-going saga that is the detention of Pussy Riot also features in the campaign, alongside further

cases in Honduras, Azerbaijan, South Africa, Zimbabwe, China, Kenya, Syria, and Egypt.

There will always be those campaign can make and who will ignore the few success stories, focusing instead on the huge task that still faces the global Human Rights community. However, the thrust of this campaign is not to improve the situation of every case: it is to provide a moment of solace, a feeling of hope. It is for this reason that ‘Write for Rights’ is a staple event in the Amnesty International calendar. It is a step away from the digital age of online petitions and a step towards the personal campaigning that was the cornerstone of Amnesty International when it was founded. ‘It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness’ said Peter Benenson in 1961 – rarely has this quotation had such relevance.

The LSESU Amnesty International Society will be holding its own ‘Write for Rights’ event in the last week of Michaelmas Term and I urge you to get involved. Light a candle.

AMNESTY STUDENT

Human Rights, Amnesty International

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Features

06.11.2012

| The Beaver

Six decades of peace in Europe “For six decades it has contributed to the development of peace and reconciliation, the expansion democracy and the protection of human rights in Europe.” With these words and before the awe and shock of the entire world, the Norwegian Committee for Nobel Prizes offered the world’s most sought after award, the Nobel Peace Prize, to the European Union. Behind it emerged the belief that through the international organization’s efforts, “a war between Germany and France unthinkable”, and power that can be cast through negotiations and peacekeeping operations.

However, behind the foliage of polite applauses, the

Alex Haigh

The US is often used as a poster boy for the extremes of social conservatism in the developed world. However, there are signs that some states could be softening their stances on legal issues.

Firstly, the legal stance of many US states on the ‘War on Drugs’ is changing. This so-called ‘War on Drugs’ stems from the United Nation’s Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, signed in 1961, which consolidated international treaties on drugs drugs - except alcohol and tobacco - for recreational use.

In 1961, the global supply and demand of drugs was low enough to be controllable but with increasing incomes and leisure time, the global drug economy has increased exponentially - despite recent trends suggesting lower rates of drug consumption in the UK - and it increasingly looks unmanageable under the current framework.

Washington, Oregon and Colorado have put the legalisation of marijuana on the ballot in Tuesday’s presidential election. Marijuana, more commonly known as cannabis in the UK, is the most widely used recreational drug covered under the Convention. Its medical use is sanctioned by seventeen US states, although illegal under federal law, but no state so far has sanctioned the use, possession and distribution of small amounts of the drug for recreational

honoured stride of Josè Manuel Barroso, President of the European Union’s Commission and the moved words of the European Parliament’s President Martin Schulz, rests the opinion that the assignment of the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union embodies the culmination of absurdity.

Over the past few months, public debates have been centered on the European inability to generate and foster the beginnings of an economic recovery as sovereign debt crises do not show signs of loosening their grip, developments that have highlighted the inexistence of a common structure and the bureaucracy and captiousness of a continent that lets its citizens die of hunger.

These months have proven the disastrous inefficiency of

Brussels as peace has been eroded and threatened by the mass protests that have engulfed capital cities from Athens to Madrid, characterized by desperate souls, violence and riots.

So who is going to tell the Greeks that the European Union won the Nobel Peace Prize? Who is going to tell

purposes - which is what is being proposed this Tuesday.

If the votes are passed and, particularly in Washington and Colorado, this looks likely - anyone over the age of 21 will be able to possess small amounts of marijuana for consumption in those states. However, the sale of marijuana will still be illegal under the US’s Controlled Substances Act of 1970.

This illegality on a federal level creates an interesting political quandary that has implications for the upcom-

battleground state of Colorado may control the outcome of the election. Obama may be the only US politician in history for which their smoking of marijuana may be a distinct political advantage.

The second way US states appear to be softening their stance on some forms of crime is California’s re-evaluation of its three-strikes policy - a policy which was used as a framework for

success of any change in the states’ law depends almost entirely on the national government turning a blind eye.

Supporters of the change in the law therefore would support the president who will President Obama has a well documented history with marijuana. While at high school he was a member of the ‘choom gang’ choom being a slang term for marijuana - and supposedly smoked most days. His support for drug law reform is well known.

Few politicians in a presidential or prime ministerial intelligent to focus on drug reform - despite a majority of Americans actually supporting the legalisation of marijuana. However, Obama’s administration has been lenient on federal drug law and has chosen to leave the issue to the states, by and large.

As a result, support for the legalisation of marijuana in Washington, Oregon and the

themselves

in

a

constant

opportunities? Who will tell the Spanish entrepreneurs whose businesses have been declaring bankruptcy in a chain sequence? The reality illustrates the absence of a common Union in Europe, with the overarching power of the Germans and the subordination of weak and deteriorating countries whose center-appointed technocrats have proven nothing

NEON TOMMY

Carolina Nizza,

but disastrous in tackling the economic crisis.

Whilst sixteen percent of the European Union’s own bureaucrats, as highlighted by the British Prime Minister David Cameron, are paid more than 100,000 euros, these very “fat cats” who, as the European families cut their balance sheets and faced deep recessions, protested to defend their golden salaries, cannot be considered world peace advancers.

So how can the European Union deserve a Nobel peace Prize? It can be stated that perhaps the Prize given to the international organization is not more absurd than that assigned four years ago to President Barack Obama, who had stood in the White House for approximately “two minutes”, transforming the prize into mere encour-

agement. However, this only undermines the Nobel organization further and does not answer the question. Despite the European Union’s successes, the question that arises is how can these mediocre and debated accomplishments be compared to the achievements of the past recipients of the Prize, whose goodwill and human calibre allowed for unprecedented changes in the world, spanning across boundaries and time with cultural reaches that include the miracles of Nelson Mandela and Mother Theresa.

How will we explain to our future generations that the European Union was awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize, whilst Gandhi did not, and was left in the shadows?

many other states’ criminal law. Three-strikes laws mandate states who have enacted the law to impose life sentences for criminals who have committed three felonies - serious crimes which warrant a prison sentence of over a year in the US. Persis-

the power of discretion away from individual judges.

California was one of the

taken into consideration by judges when sentencing but three-strikes laws make life sentences mandatory, taking

a three-strikes law which made life imprisonment mandatory, enacting the law in 1994. However, Californians will be voting to change the law in Tuesday’s election.

Voters will be choosing whether petty crime will be covered under the law. Most voters believe serious criminals like murderers, rapists and paedophiles deserve to be covered by the law but the question that many are asking is whether, given the overcrowded prison population in the cash-strapped state, non-violent criminals should be sent to prison for life.

The decision in 1994 to enact the three-strikes law set in motion a sea change in the states’ criminal law. If this vote is passed on Tuesday, we could see a softening of a national stance on criminality that is considered one of the most hardline in the world in a country that imprisons more people per head of the population than any other country in the world.

These changes are happening in West Coast states with a history of a liberal electorate, so these legal changes are not necessarily a bellwether for social liberalism in the whole of the US, but they may set precedents implications for criminal law in the most powerful country on Earth.

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MR MARX IS WAITING FOR YOU

Kate Lonie pays homage to her heroes this Halloween

V

isiting a cemetery is not on the top of most tourists’ “must-see” lists.

Indeed, I would be surprised if it even could be found on any “lists” at all. acquired taste – as I have found from the range of reactions that I have encountered over the years, ranging from bemused to slightly appalled.

Prior to arriving in London, I travelled for one month around Europe, spending most of that time in Paris. I hoped to catch up with my friends there, to sample the city’s best croissants (Pierre Herme, for future reference) and to take advantage of the remaining summer through muwandering the city. Despite engaging in contemporary Paris, I wanted to discover some of the history that has made it what it is today. Before long I found myself following the footsteps of the famous French philosopher,

Simone de Beauvoir.

Inspired by my (admittedly slow) reading of her seminal text, The Second Sex I wanted to experience what remains of de Beauvoir’s Paris. I sampled aperitifs at Les Deux Magots, even sitting in what was her seat. Wistfully hoping for the transfer of some feminist genius. It would be ideal what with my upcoming Masters! I also decided to pay my respects at Montparnasse Cemetery, where she rests with her partner, Jean-Paul Sartre.

The graves lying next to one another are strewn ers and letters from admirGainsbourg, another gravecome-shrine of tokens from visitors, over-laden with (again) cigarettes. The cigarette theme continues at the other, and arguably the most famous, Parisian cemetery, Pere Lachaise. This is particularly evident upon

visiting Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde. Despite barriers now being constructed around both graves this has not prevented outpourings of affection from visitors. It is covered by the lipstick marks of fans and scrawls of graffiti utilizing some of his most famous lines.

Some years ago, I had been advised that the presence of black cats loitering around tombstones and a dreary, cloudy day, were the ideal conditions for such visits. This week, whether it was these factors, the falling autumn leaves or being around Halloween time, it made for was an amazingly atmospheric visit to Highgate Cemetery.

Growing up in Australia, Halloween is still an emerging movement.

Several attempts at trickor-treating as kids often resulted in my sister and I returning with five-dollar notes, biscuits or even, to our enormous disappoint-

ment, fruit. This Halloween, my first in London, I vowed to finally celebrate properly for all those missed Halloween opportunities. Not only did this involve the inevitable candy and costume purchases, but it also prompted my friend and I to incorporate the theme into a day-long event.

Described by my trusty Lonely Planet London Guide as a “Victorian Valhalla,” there was definitely something indescribable (you may be sceptic!) that could be “felt” by being at Highgate. Judging by the numbers of visitors who were there with us, we weren’t the only ones who had decided that visiting on such a day was particularly auspicious.

Karl Marx is the cemetery’s most famous resident, and after wandering amongst the haphazardly arranged graves and overgrown vines we found him. Indeed, it is pretty hard to miss – the largest

and most striking tomb, erected in the mid-1950s.

An enormous likeness of Marx’s head stares out at visitors imposingly, as do the haunting words “the philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.”

So why make such visits? Is it the ability to pay tribute to those whom you admire, the atmosphere, the history or the opportunity to peacefully wander amongst overgrown gardens in an environment that seems miles away from central London yet is only a few tube stops from St.Pancras? Regardless of the motivation, all those students who have encountered the mention of “Marx” constantly throughout their studies should go and say hello. a lone red rose, or a note.

As we overheard the guide telling some newly-arrived tourists upon our departure, “he’s waiting.”

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A Mountain Cinderella Story Holly Brentnall

T

wo buses, teetering precariously, wind their way along a narrow mountain track, on one side rugged scrub and rhododendron forests lean from above and on the other a sheer drop hundreds of metres down to a meandering river with rushing waters below. Inside the buses ride sixty young Nepalese children aged from seven to thirteen years old. The wheels hit pot holes and mounds of rocky uneven road and the children in turn are knocked is littered with little plastic bags of vomit so that the air they breathe is putrid with the stench of it and the children moan, leaning against one another in an attempt This journey is one of ments of their lives so far. dren’s home in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital in the South where they were rescued from human traffickers; they are returning to their villages of origin to be reunited with their blood relatives. Departing from the capital, their ‘Didis’ (cooks) and house parents have tears running down their faces, waving helpless goodbyes to the children who had become like their own over the past few years. Face and hands pressed against the window, one older girl, Kaanchi traught to leave her friends.

She cried until suddenly, completely of her own accord she turned to me and said matter-of-factly, “Life is hard, sister, isn’t it.” This was just one example of the remarkable exhibitions of stoicism I witnessed from children experiencing total of their lives.

Upon arrival the children sit bleary eyed as we waited for their parents to arrive. Tired and weary, it was a relief for them to again. Mothers came on foot, dressed in thick woollen clothes striped with rich fruity colours. One father came on a horse to collect his daughter and another came leading a heard of soft-nosed brown cows.

With surprisingly quiet smiles of greeting they met each other and slowly in

ones and twos the children departed, leaving myself and the other volunteers alone to check in to one of the roadside trekkers hotels.

The children come from villages around Shufra Bensi, a town in the Rosuwa district on the Langtang trekking trail. The following morning I took a walk up the mountain with a volunteer named Julia, an art teacher from Germany. As we climbed up the winding path from Shufra Bensi I heard a shout from up above us. “Holly sister, Holly sister!” There stood Sangita, one of the girls I had looked after for the last month.

Easily distinguishable from her family, she was taller, fairer skinned, with shining black hair and a vibrant green Tamang wrap-around dress. She stood out against the matted sun-bleached hair, darker skin and dusty clothes of her siblings, who blended in against the worn wicker of their shack and the mountain behind. Sangita stood blank faced with acceptance, confusion, uncertainty, helplessness or adaption? I can only guess at which. When I asked for a photo they eagerly lined up, her two roley poley younger brothers peeped their round faces through a great hole in the wickerwork wall whilst their mother stared from below the house as she fetched water from the nearby tap.

Further along the road we met another of the children who had come on the bus, Chipsangmo. She was with her step mother, helping a younger half-sibling into his shoes. In her bright blue jeans and striped polo shirt donated to the children’s home, Chipsangmo looked even more misplaced than Sangita.

Many of the girls, had been sold to human traffickers after their fathers had remarried. Often, like real-life Cinderellas they were neglected and made to do all the chores. But this was nothing compared to the treatment they faced after being taken South to ‘orphanages’ where their corrupt owners pocketed donations from travellers whilst allowing the children to come close to starvation.

In Connor Grennan’s book ‘Little Princes’ he describes how the Umbrella Foundation found and rescued chil-

dren who had to be drip-fed back to health in hospital before being taken into care in the home in Kathmandu. Originally founded by a Northern Irish born writer and teacher, Viva Bell, Umbrella Foundation now houses over 135 children. Where possible, children are reunited with their families whilst Umbrella works with the local cial support for those most in need as they are reinte-

and international Nepal.

Whilst higher up the mountain in Ghutlang village, lies another school cumstances. The inhabitants are most “politicised” explained Cherwong, the manager of the new children’s home in Shufra Bensi where some of the children live whose families for various reasons cannot have them back under their roofs. It was his job to trek from village to village visit-

grated into the community.

In Shufra Bensi, two Canadian volunteers and I

ing parents, some of whom would hide as they saw him coming, convinced that their children were better

evening at the children’s new school. It was held in a playground surrounded by walls painted with nationalist symbols such as the rainbow coloured danfe bird, the Rhododendron Filling all the school’s verandas and crouched along the balconies were the parents, members of the indigenous Tamang and Sherpa caste, men chewing on dried meat, faces like the weather-worn surface of a walnut, and women with long braided hair, sat working meticulously on small hand-held spinning wheels threaded with coloured yaks’ wool. Also amongst them was a small collective of Chinese officials come to review the progress of a road being build as a trade route through Tibet to Chithe ideal image of national

them in the destitution of their own condition.

Ghutlang is just one example of a whole swathe of Nepal’s rural majority whose traditional egalitarian style of living has been desecrated in the pitiless advent of capitalism that has prompted inequality and alcoholism. These vulnerable people were later lured by a Maoist antiGovernmental ideology articulating their frustration through violence without proposing any alternatives to the current corrupt system.

It is from this footing that these villagers were coerced into selling their children into human trafthe origin of the problem might seem counterproductive and Steven, the current

leader of Umbrella Foundation knows he’s going to be seen as “the big baddy” for some time. Many of the children are shaken by the transition, trying to come to terms with their environment and the loss of those who were like brothers and sisters in the capital. Some fall sick, not used to such exposure to the elements.

Meanwhile the elder boys insist that Kathmandu is still their home. Their roots are brutally severed from both places of origin. To add to their sorrow, the local children have some kind of misconception of or prejudice against the Umbrella children. “They say we are bad,” explains one of the girls to me.

However, “[the move home] is for the greater good” Steven reasons, since the children will not be returned to their families unless it is certain that they have the means of providing for them. The children who cannot be returned will live in a home especially built for them near the school in Rosuwa, whilst the local school will also receive funding from Umbrella.

Whether the children will be happier here or not is a difficult question to answer. Across their young memories, sear the lacerations of humanity’s severest capacity for cruelty. A home, amongst kin of their own, with the support of Umbrella Foundation provides merely the foundations on which to construct a new framework to the beginning of a happy ending.

The Beaver | 06.11.2012

Social

29

“I’m walking here”

Ruby Weaver recalls verbal abuse girls can experience on nights out

N

owadays we live in a fairly equal society. Both men and women have the vote, we all have equal opportunities to study and work and that is a lot more than many countries can boast. Yet it seems that there is still an underlying attitude prevalent in this country that women are sexual objects. This attitude tends to reveal itself at night under the pretext high presence of low neck lines and high heels.

It is typical on a night out for men to grab my bum or for groups of boys to yell out vulgar comments as I walk past them on the street. It seems to me that men wouldn’t dare act this way in the light of day so what changes when the sun goes down?

On too many occasions I have come home from a night out with friends feeland abused because of comments or actions of the men in bars or on the street. And too often I have fallen into the trap of thinking, is it my fault? What am I doing

to attract this attention?

Perhaps I am asking to be treated in this way. And what’s more, how do I react to this without sounding like a crazy, ranting feminist who hates all men?

One often hears words like “provocative” being used to describe the way women dress in this country and it is true that many women like to wear revealing clothes. However this is never an excuse for a man to take advantage. No amount of cleavage is an invitation to be felt up or even for something worse.

Women should never blame themselves for an unwanted attack because, to be honest, nothing shorter than wearing a nun’s habit to go out clubbing would prevent unwelcome attention. My friends and I often go out in jeans and T-shirts, yet still only be described as abuse.

In the end, the way women are treated by some men in this country does not come down to the amount of make up or the clothes they wear but to respect and recognition that women are human beings and

not toys for boys to pick up when they choose.

I am not under the assumption that all men are sexist as that would be unfair and untrue but it must be taken into account that these incidents are not rare.

So what is it that makes a guy in the UK feel it is ok to saunter up behind a woman who’s waiting at the bus stop, grab her bum and run guys to yell out “hey sexy” as a girl walks past on her own? Do they ever stop to

of behaviour isn’t going to get a guy laid there must be some other reason. Now I’ve spent many an hour trying to uncurl the mysteries out the reason. Is it because mates? Will blatantly grabbing a women’s body prove that they have big balls? Or is it that there are no consequences to their actions?

I know when a man tries to feel me up in a club I don’t turn around and punch him in the face (as much as I’d

Surely men don’t think that by grabbing a woman’s bum ... she’s going to turn around and say “That was such a turn on, please take me now!“ think of the way this will be construed? Because it sure as hell makes me feel uncomfortable.

Surely men don’t think that by grabbing a woman’s bum in the middle of the street she’s going to turn around and say “That was such a turn on, please take me now!” So if we all recognise the fact that this sort

like to) I try and get out of there as soon as possible.

When I’m walking home in the dark and some guy yells a comment at me I don’t turn around and chase him down the street, I quicken my pace, put my head down and will myself to get home faster. Nobody turns around and confronts these men about what they’re do-

ing so when do they stop to consider how it makes a girl feel?

I could sit here all day and come up with an endless list to explain this behaviour. But when it comes down to it I am not a man and I will never understand what these guy are thinking and I don’t really plan on hanging around long enough to ask them about it.

What I do know is how it makes women feel. Recently fear of this behaviour has prevented me from wanting to leave my warm and cosy house! But no one should have to live like that and I will not let a man who grabs my ass as I walk past, for whatever reason, get the better of me. So in true crazy, feminist style I will continue to dress how I want to dress, dance how I want to dance and maybe next time a creepy guy approaches me with his ulterior motive I will turn around and give him a piece of my mind. Because trust me that’s enough to put any for life!

Food for the higher being Jiayi Fan on ditching the steak knife and picking up the salad bowl

I

f you were not a bornand-bred vegetarian, it is extremely hard to adapt to strict recipes without meat or even eggs and milk products in.

This happened to me when I had a minor surgery on my my teeth. My dentist gave me strict instructions that I could only eat porridge, vegetables, and squeezed juice. I thought I was going to die of hunger, having lived my whole life as a person reliant on protein from day was not that difficult. I put apples, bananas and oranges into a juice extractor, poured out a bottle of milk, and brewed a cappuccino.

The vegetables and fruits helped me get enough energy and vitamins while me protein and carbohydrates. Yes, I survived. I even found that these foods without greasy and oily ingredients also coordinated my intestines and stomach.

My once-a-month stomach-

tal surgery.

Besides, squeezed juice is not the only choice for new vegetarians. Have you ever noticed the long queue in front of Waterstone’s bookstore during lunch time on I saw the crowds, I was taken aback by a new level of LSE geekery, a queue for a bookshop? As a matter of fact, the queue is for free vegetarian meals supplied by a religious group coming from north London. This religious group enshrines the Indian divinity Hare Krishna. Devotees must worship their goddess by putting vegetables, fruits, grains, and milk products in front of Hare Krishna. Accordare forbidden. Garlic and onion are also regarded as blasphemy because of their pungent odors. So you can see Hare Krishna has a close relationship with vegetarianism. No wonder there are some cities in In-

dian are called “Vegetarian Food Cities”, such as Rishikesh where it is illegal to eat meat, and you may even

ite blend I would combine beans, carrots, broccoli, potatoes, and tomatoes.

ism. In this world, faith and life style vary widely. If you understand them, you can show your support; if you

sabzi soup is to boil some Every week day lunch time, two faculties from this religious group come to school with food ready on their handbarrow. You can see a colorful poster even from a distance of a cute boy intimately hugging an animal. Also, Thoreau’s famous quote is beside: “I have no doubt that it is a part of destiny of the human race, in its gradual eating animals.”

The recipe of free vegetarian meals is very simple: cooking rice and sabzi soup.

Sabzi soup is an easy-made Indian dish, which is like cream of vegetable soup.

It is nutritious, enjoyable, and most importantly, it is a creative way of having vegetables. You can make up any vegetables you love as ingredients of the soup.

As for me, in my favour-

until they are tender. Then heat butter, fried onions, milk, then stir. Later you can add vegetables and water, then mix them well.

Finally season with salt and pepper. The whole cooking process only takes you thirteen minutes, and then you can have your own homemade delicious sabzi soup and enjoy your new vegetarian eating habit.

By counting the amount of plates given to students, this vegetarian group is sure that everyday there are about 300 to 400 people coming for free meals.

I am not sure whether distributing free lunch can reand help them change their eating habits, but at least it is a good way to conduct propaganda of vegetarian-

minimum respect them.

I guess one reason that the vegetarian group coming to our campus is because Bernard Shaw, one of LSE founders and Nobel Prize winners, was a famous vegetarian who had said no to meat since he was 25.

Bernard Shaw treated animals as his friends, so he could not eat his friends.

This great writer also expressed his standpoint humorously: “My will contains direction for my funerals, which will be followed not by mourning coaches, but poultry, and a small traveall wearing white scarf in honor of the man who perished rather than eat his fellow creatures.” Vegetarianism is not only an eating habit, but also an attitude of life.

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Sport

06.11.2012

| The Beaver

Eighters gon’ Eight: 6s run rampant against RUMS Brett Lewis

LSEFC’s 6th team put in an absolutely phenomenal performance away to RUMS 4s to grab an 8-1 victory against the UCL medics team.

Their win was largely aided by a dazzling cameo (due to an unprecedented injury crisis for the 6s) from controverwho will be making the headlines for all right reasons this week after his two goals and three assist salvo.

ing a low shot beneath the despairing RUMS keeper.

LSE were playing freeened to score every time they went forward. They should have had a third after Charles squared the ball across the box for Brett Lewis but the winger’s shot was well-smothered by the goalie.

Martins scored for Newcastle against Spurs many years ago.

The 6s found time to grab another goal before the halfa bit of a gift from RUMS. A long ball over the top saw the panicked defender prod the ball back to the keeper who then picked it up in total depass law. A well-worked free

the box with a lung-busting 40 yard run to slam home a rightseason.

Delight soon turned to frustration however as LSE gave away a sloppy and unnecessary goal after RUMS took advantage of some pinball in served consolation.

Although there

was

no

of uncertainty which RUMS could not deal with. Elsom was at the back post to capitalise and he sweetly controlled and chipped the keeper for his second and LSE’s sixth goal of the day. and after good play down the won a corner which Charles played short to Max who then into the top corner.

Mad Max then added to his tally after Charles jinked past the helpless Borat (yes the opposition actually had a defender called Borat) and clipped in a sumptuous ball which Max

has been appearing in both the front and back pages of his staunchest detractors would have been left purring after his assured performance in the trequartista role.

the day.

Some hilarious goalmouth scrambles ensued from cor-

mediately looked a cut above

all sensed hat-tricks in the air and the rest of the team realising this would be a rare op-

goal of the match came after left-back Shray Patel released Charles on the halfway line and as he ambled towards the

score stayed at 8-1 and LSE 6s embarked on the long bus ride back to London with 3 points and a world-class performance under their belt.

ed to close him down. Sensing

This was not to matter as

into the area before planting a

took his tally to an impres-

tom corner.

The early strike left the straight from the next kickthe ball to Maxim Owen who didn’t hesitate to slip in the postgrad poacher RvD. The Flying Dutchman showed good strength to hold

played into his feet and as he dribbled wide the opportunity to shoot looked to have had other ideas as he spanked improbably acute angle. The goal was reminiscent of the

under the keeper and into the back of the net.

Captain Adam Mizrahi’s half-time team talk saw him demand the same level of intensity in the second half as and he would have been delighted to see his team swiftly grab a 5th goal. RvD held the ball up in the box and laid it

response to conceding was needed and LSE obliged by scoring the goal of game. A trolled by Brett Lewis and the FC treasurer slalomed across the pitch beating two men before dissecting the defence with a through ball to his captain Adam.

The swashbuckling right back had made a rampaging

the Saturday league and the 6s are yet to lose a competiThe award shared Adam.

Man of the Match this week has to be between Charles and The former for his

latter for dominating the left for buccaneering play.

full-back

a lethal ball into the corridor

From the Eyes of a Ginger Matthew Worby timore went about his usual back for the South Carolina

disposition I’d strongly recommend you don’t search for the video. Depending on who you talked to Lattimore was going to be picked anywhere ter this particular knee injury his future is unclear.

Lattimore would have still been a very well paid man.

At this point I’d like to acknowledge the career of Wil-

student athlete Marcus Lattimore made the University of South Carolina a not inconsiderable portion of money.

rated running back who simiknee injury. It is plausible that Mr Lattimore could take

been the same accusations leveled at him as there have been against Cam Newton’s decision to play for Auburn. I

in a scenario that echos the

time being it is safe to start from the basis that Lattimore was the typical student ath-

choice running back. But after two severe knee injuries I’d be sceptical that he would

ting paid for his representing the university.

rated running draft by NFLDraftscout it would be fair to Whether or not Marcus before the knee injury in the order of tens of millions. Despite the recent collective bargaining agreement reducing the ludicrous levels

cant decrease in his likely earnings.

This leads me onto the real nub of the issue. As a

letes be paid?

I’ve always been on the fence over this particular isstudent such as Lattimore has a case for payment for his services. Every time play-

and Matt Barkley suit up for their respective universities they allow the institution to sell copious jerseys and tickets.

marketised then realistically there would be few winners.

Moreover such a move would be disastrous to smaller sports generally and in

would be fundamentally unsustainable for many institutions. There is already a gap in the quality of funding for

might be a tough pill to swalbut for the interests of the letes should remain students

the Wall Street Journal notes that Alabama and Louisiana State earn eleven per cent and fourteen per cent of their entire universities gross income from football related activities.

This is in sharp contrast to the six per cent average for the rest of the country.

There are problems with this football makes these univerchange. Were football to be

My personal solution would be into taking a careful and considered look into the idea of a feeder system If we’re truly concerned about being fair to student athletes in physical sports option should be rationally explored.

Sport

The Beaver | 06.11.2012

Kimi wins, Vettel stays alive In a belter of a Grand Prix Kimi Raikkonen was triumphant after Hamilton’s retirement. Vettel fought from starting in the pit-lane all the way to third, maintaining his lead in the overall championship

Ominous start to England’s tour of India After having the top of the batting order being ripped apart, England’s bowlers were subjected to a grueling day in their warm up match against a tenacious Mumbai A side. With Finn out for though England will struggle against India’s

Andy Murray was handed a tough draw this week in London, having to play Berdych, Tsonga and Djokovic. Nadal will not be making an appearance in the event with a chronic knee injurt still keeping him on the sidelines

Continued from page 32, top.

biggest threat to English defensive capabilities. This issue can be mitigated at the left back position because players like Ashley Cole and

Ameya Badwe

The recent games between Manchester United and Chelsea stand to show how the English Premier League is now exporting a fast paced attacking form of football which will inevitably please its millions, or billions, of fans.

However, this excitement comes at a cost. I believe this style of attacking football has harmed the English national team in their defensive play.

Remember those days when if a team like Chelsea went up 1-0 they would defend boldly and the game, boringly, would end 1-0?

Long gone are those days.

Nowadays, Managers like Sir Alex Ferguson keep telling their teams to continue attacking knowing that, as long as they can outscore their op-

much more easily exploited.

After ten games under Roy Hodgson, England have scored sixteen goals but also, rather worryingly, conceded

he spends most of the game in the opponents half, then on the international stage, where his presence is required defensively, it is hard for players like him to track back and help out the defence. He lacks the club level experience of playing in such a fashion.

One might notice, that in games where players like Frank Lampard have played, the defence has seemed more solid. As these “old school” tack and defend as well. This is because they have been nurtured in an age when the emphasis was more on defensive play. That is why players like Michael Carrick have grown to be so important for England as they are a rarity in their defensive abilities for The entirety of blame cannot be laid at the players feet, managers at a club level also have to share a portion of the blame. Brendan Rodgers is a classic example at Liverpool where he encourages stylish football like Barcelona.

It may be exciting, and earn him plaudits from the fans, but this emphasis has left his defenders weaker in their ability to deal with attacking play from the opposing team.

Yet, there may be hope for England. Especially with players such as Gary Cahill. Cahill is a rarity as he has been able to master the perfect balance between attacking mentality and strong defensive football, England need to locate and nurture the talents of players such

Having to change between Club and National team regularly is a mental challenge.

It is difficult for defenders changing their mindset and spending less time in the other half. Players like Phil Jones are a classic example of a player that has mastered his attacking skills, but will inevitably leave a massive gap in his team’s defence when they attack.

For the national team, when you play teams like Spain such gaps will be the downfall. The passing and fast paced game of Spain will easily penetrate any such gap at the back.

English teams attempting to imitate clubs like Barcelona, with dynamic attacking wing-backs, are possibly the

was probably only rivalled by the New York Yankees verin 2004. But the question remains, will major league tained surge in interest from the general public?

Although the league has control over its format and potential changes to make the game more exciting, it does not have control over the quality and popularity of the teams and players who make it into the postseason.

Changing the public’s deeprooted perception of baseball as a boring sport will be a long-term process, and the outcome does not look brilliant. Television ratings for the 2012 World Series were at an all-time low, despite the on-going lockout in the National Hockey League, which should have boosted baseball viewership…

Leighton Baines are ideal for their approach to play.

They’re able to attack, but don’t leave massive gaps behind them as they move up are able to return to cover them easily.

However, at right back are players such as Glen Johnson focus so much on attacking play that they forget their defensive duties, and any space left behind them is Continued from page 32, bottom.

by taking teams apart, whilst English clubs continue to appear oblivious to their abilities. This pattern follows across Europe ensuring that almost all of the clubs within

six. A record that is hardly appropriate for a team that aims to win International tournaments.

Yet, defenders are not the only party to blame for this trend. Wingers in the English game are unable to complete tively either. For a classic example of such a player you need look no further than Ashley Young.

At Manchester United

long term success in the international arena.

the second tier of European football. The last UEFA cup triumph came in 2001 and since then few clubs have on what is now the Europa League. The likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle DRABNIKPANY

Another ingredient which was thrown into the mix of the 2012 postseason is what the best reality shows are made of: plenty of drama.

After being named the Most Valuable Player at the AllStars game, Melky Cabrera was suspended in August of 2012 for use of performanceenhancing drugs. At that point, he lead major league baseball with 159 hits and was second in the National League with a .346 batting average. He could have technically joined the Giants during the postseason as his suspension expired, but the team decided to leave him on the restricted list and released him as a free agent at the end of the 2012 season.

All of these elements combined generated unprecedented enthusiasm with true baseball fanatics, which

Getting Defensive About It CFCHARLES

YOUR SPORT, IN BRIEF

31

the premier competition are able to challenge in any game they play. It wouldn’t be farfetched to put forwards clubs such as Borussia Dortmund and Valencia as outside bets to lift the gong themselves.

The inadequacies of the English way extend into

and Liverpool seem to place such little value on it that weaker teams in the early stages. However, this simply isn’t enough to get past hungrier and at times more talented opposition. Lest we not forget that teams as high

Sporting Lisbon and Lazio consistently grace this competition. So called lesser English teams who take the competition seriously have historically done better in the competition, with Fulham and Middlesborough making runs in recent years.

This is a clear sign that drive and hunger are key features that many of our clubs seem devoid of in this competition.

English clubs need to stop taking European participation and success for granted.

It is time to realise that regardless of the strength of domestic leagues, the pinnacle of club football will always be found on the European stage. It doesn’t matter whether it is a Final or a 1st cence of the Europeans stage should never be taken for granted.

Sport

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Sport

06.11.2012

| The Beaver

Inside

Is Baseball Past Its Time?

Amélie Perron

the short timeframe of four games against the Detroit Tigers, in what marked the culminating point of a thrilling postseas, well, for a baseball postseason that is.

Baseball has always had the reputation of being a less than exhilarating sport to watch, lacking action and excitement, and whose athletes are not in an enviable physical shape. Unlike basketball, there is no music playing continuously during the game to keep the crowd on their toes.

Unlike football, there are no breaks between plays every cheerleading entertainment.

Bursts of action are rare during a game, with few bases stolen and home runs still a rarity, although they have become more frequent over the past decade.

The reputation of base-

First of all, the league made several changes to its format, including adding two additional “wildcard” teams.

The wildcard round is the

tance of statistics in baseball, I invite you to look up the word sabermetrics: “the specialized analysis of baseball through objective evidence, especially baseball statistics that measure in-game activity.” Not exactly a recipe for

sion but show the best winning percentage. Because each wildcard team can win it all or lose it all in one game, this new format made for more aggressive plays and best pitchers being used

and under the new format it is comprised of two games, each opposing two teams which did not win their divi-

games, which opens up the possibility of jumping out to a 2-0 series lead over the favorites.

In this current era of commoditization of professional sports and athletes, and headlines dominated by labour disputes and constant

KEITH ALLISON

Last week saw the conclusion of the 2012 Major League Baseball World Series, which crowned the San Francisco Giants as champions for the second time in the last three years.

The best of seven play-

that it is heavy on statistics – I refer you to the book and movie Moneyball, which tells the true story of how the general manager of the Oakland A’s built a winning team by recruiting players based on a computer-generated statistical framework. If you still have doubts about the impor-

So what made the 2012 postseason particularly exciting for baseball fans?

because of a change in the calendar of games, the lower seeds in the second round of

confrontations between owners and players, it is very refreshing that the MLB would revisit its format to ensure a better experience for its fans. Although these changes were made partly for logistical reasons, such as reducing travel days during the play-

will be an incentive for the League to keep innovating and move away from its traditional format if need be.

Another factor that contributed to the success of the 2012 postseason is that the roster of players competing was one of the best ever seen. Derek Jeter, a shortstop with the New York Yankees, and Gio Gonzalez, a pitcher for the Washington Nationals, both dominated the League in their respective categories. But what was really impressive was the lineup for the two teams which made it to the World Series.

The Detroit Tigers could count on Miguel Cabrera, by far the best hitter of the American League, and Justin Verlander, the best pitcher of the American League in terms of strikeouts.

The Giants, on their end, could count on the two batters with the highest averages in the National League, Melky Cabrera and Buster Series to include the batting champions from each league since 1954 (I warned you before, they keep statistics on everything).

the enthusiasm generated by Article cont. on page 31, Col 1

Putting an end to English arrogance Ollie Bishop

The worst week for English clubs in the Champions League for a decade was an alarming wake up call to many. Yet for those who pay close attention the travails of our clubs will see it simply as the culmination of a long-term degradation in the standard of our continental game. For too long our perceived superiority and arrogant underestimation of our neighbours has put us on a slippery slope towards serial underachievement and an inevitable downfall.

A snapshot of the previous decade will to the majority seem like one of great success in Europe. English clubs taken home the trophy on 3 occasions. Yet this masks the the continent have begun to wane. Chelsea’s success of

last year highlights the way in which raw English power; strength and ultimately organisation could bring down the slick more cultured Europeans. Arguably a dying style of football in the modern continental game and such was the animosity towards Chelsea’s triumph it is doubtful whether we will see it on the highest stage again. The age old win at all costs mantra is fast being replaced by one where winning counts just as much.

This begs the question as to why the bastion of world football has fallen into such a state of disrepair? The premier league is the greatest league in the world because players and managers the world over. As a direct consequence the style of play on show has grabbed the attentions and interests of football

fans the world over. English arrogance is perhaps central to the issue here, with an unfounded belief that nothing could ever compare to our beloved league.

The reality is quite different. The last 5 years has seen the makeup of our top clubs ravaged in the main by our Spanish adversaries. Liverpool fans will remember fondly the Istanbul miracle staged by Benitez’s side, which propelled them to global acclaim. Yet the ensuing losses of Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano have that the once proud club have now been subjected to largely mid table mediocrity.

This isn’t an isolated case ing a similar fate. Arsenal are struggling to recover from the “invincibles” generation, a situation not helped by the fact the leading lights of such

resurgence in Fabregas and Song have been lost in similar circumstances to the Iberians. If you add this to the at Manchester United and the demise of the Mourinho era at Chelsea you can truly comprehend the extent to which the forefront of the English league is in ruin. In a league dependent on foreign imports, the residual domestic talents have been unable departure of the aforementioned star names.

Our problems have become exacerbated by the maintenance of our inner arrogance at all levels. Managers still believe that they can play second-string sides on the highest stage of all and get results. Ferguson famously failed to lead his side out of a group containGalati then subsequently col-

lapsed in the Europa League knockout stages. The failure can largely be attributed to his insistence on rotation to prioritise Premier League exploits. Not only have sides mistakenly believed their fringe players are good enough for this level but they have compounded this problem by underestimating the standard of the clubs they face.

Many of the traditional powers across the continent have undergone resurgence in recent years. With a focus on developing home grown talents who are schooled at high tempo football. Nothing is more emblematic of this shift than the rise of German football. Players such as Ozil, making a name for themselves Article cont. on page 31, col 3