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The
Beaver Tuesday January 28 2014 | www.thebeaveronline.com | No. 804
FREE Newspaper of the LSE Students’ Union
UKIP’s ‘Return to LSE’ sparks debate James Evans, Deputy News Editor and Alex Fyfe
ARGUABLY ONE of the most controversial figures in British politics at the moment, Nigel Farage, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) arrived at the London School of Economics (LSE) under high security on the evening of January 23rd. Following threats of disruption and an organised protest from LSE students and Action 2014, a grassroots movement against UKIP, neither Mr Farage nor LSE were taking any chances when he arrived to the packed out Old Building. The talk on the 23rd of January was titled “Why These European Elections Matter”; however, many visitors were more interested to see how Mr Farage would cope under the intense questioning which frequently occurs at these LSE events. Arriving through the back door to avoid protesters, Mr Farage looked very nervous, with one journalist telling The Beaver “Farage looks more nervous than he did on Newsnight.” To add to the UKIP leader’s nerves, Professor Simon Hix, head of LSE’s government department and an avid supporter of the European
project, chaired the talk on Thursday. However, it did not take long for Mr Farage to get into his stride, announcing how pleased he was that UKIP was back at LSE, making reference to the fact that an LSE professor, Alan Sked, started the party in 1993. Farage pontificated on the future of the four main parties in British politics after the EU elections this year. He argued passionately that whatever the outcome for UKIP, it would result in an epochal shift in British politics. He reaffirmed his belief that David Cameron’s days at Number 10 are numbered, and added that he has some respect for Nick Clegg as he is the only other leader thus far to declare outright a stance on Europe. Inevitably, Farage’s speech contained his usual wit; making disparaging remarks about “Dave” at every opportunity and stating that UKIP is not a party of alternative weather forecasters, all of which was met with vociferous laughter from the young UKIP contingent in the front row, denoted by their party ties. Farage came across far more moderate than many were expecting, to which audience members appeared
to have responded. Second year Economic History student David Schofield said “I came into this talk wanting a fight; I am leaving wanting his phone number.” The leader of UKIP has come under criticism in recent months for the anti-immigration stance his party often takes. Farage addressed this issue stating that the real reason why the people have woken up to the problem of Europe is “ that open door immigration has let the scales fall from people’s eyes” a comment which received an audible groan from the audience. He argued that the UK should have relationship with the EU like the one Turkey currently has, with trade access but retaining national powers. Notably, he stated in his speech that he believes the British people feel they are being treated by David Cameron as ignorant on the EU. But when asked if he was exploiting public ignorance for political gain he failed to answer, instead cracking a joke and moving on. The usual topics of bigotry within the party, Scotland’s independence referendum and UKIP’s lack of a manifesto all cropped up.
Continued on Page 6...
Feature Interview: Nigel Farage Liam Hill talks to the controversial leader. P. 23 Opinion Reactions to the lecture from Konstantin Sietzy, Joel Rosen and Alex Skirvin P. 7-8
‘Saucygate 2’ as RAG Battle of the Halls cancelled Dennis Mooney, Executive Editor
THE SAGA OF SAUCY rumbled on last Friday as the LSESU management were forced to cancel the RAG-organised event entirely. This came a week after the inaugural Saucy suffered extensive delays thanks to issues with the Saw Swee Hock (SSH) centre’s fire alarm system. However, The Beaver has learned that the issues this time were related to the CCTV coverage of The Venue. It appears officers from
the Metropolitan Police arrived at SSH early on Friday evening and made it clear to the management that there was no possibility of the event going ahead. The specific problems are not yet clear, but camera coverage is apparently adversely affected by the lighting in The Venue. This seemed to be confirmed by Chief Financial Officer Andy Farrell, who told The Beaver via Twitter that police “withdrew [the] late license… not enough CCTV apparently.”
This comes in the wake of a question at the Union General Meeting over the amount of CCTV cameras in the Three Tuns, which some students feel to be excessive. Unlike the previous week, the cancellation was swiftly communicated to ticket-holders via RAG and SU social media. The statement promised that the event would be rescheduled but also offered guests a refund via the Fatsoma events website or halls committees. Expressing their frustration at the School
“letting us down,” they also promised that the event would be rescheduled: “there WILL be a rematch and there WILL be a winner!” RAG President Nona Buckley-Irvine told The Beaver “We were really disappointed at being forced to cancel the event last Friday considering the levels of work and time that had been put into organising the event, not just by RAG but by halls committees and freshers themselves.” She added “our whole RAG Week was built around
this night. But, it’s all gone to waste now, and it’s unclear how we are going to be compensated for this.” The financial implications of the cancellation for RAG could be serious, given that profits from the event were to contribute to their fundraising efforts. The amount of tickets sold via hall committees was not confirmed, but according to BuckleyIrvine, if all guests claim refunds, they stand to lose as much as £1000.