Issue 1365

Top ten animated features part one: western animation

see if your favourite has made our top ten p12

REDBRICK

THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM'S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1936

12th FEBRUARY 2010 ISSUE 1365 VOL 74

www.redbrickonline.co.uk

News 3

Exclusive:

Vice-Chancellor interview Redbrick speaks to Professor David Eastwood about cuts and the future of the University

NUS election results

Vice-Chancellor Professor David Eastwood Ned Murray THE University's Vice-Chancellor has said that Birmingham is well placed to continue investing despite recent announcements by the Government that there will be drastic cuts to higher education funding.

The Vice-Chancellor Professor David Eastwood has announced investment in areas of existing strength as well as seven new areas of investment.

In an exclusive interview with Redbrick, the ViceChancellor spelled out the current state of the University's finances and set out his plans to invest in a climate where most universities are disinvesting. He also explained how the University would cope if further cuts are announced on top of the £915 million the government will take out of higher education by 2012.

He said: 'At Birmingham we are in a better financial position than most of our competitors so we will seek to do things which mitigate the impact on

Photo: University Press Office

students, and which mitigate the impact on our research base.'

The Vice-Chancellor also recently explained the University's spending plans in his monthly article in the staff magazine Buzz. In the article he announced the seven new areas which the University will be investing in. These include a new Birmingham Heritage and Cultural Learning Hub, a Centre of Excellence in Nuclear Engineering, Systems Science for Health, Resilience and Urban Living, Stem Cells and Ageing Research (SCAR), Global Infection, and BRIDGE: The Birmingham Policy Commissions. The investments total £6.4 million, £1.5 million of which is additional funding in the student educational experience.

In the article he announced what the impact of government cuts would be at Birmingham and what the impact may be if they become 'serious.' Though the figure currently rests at £915 million, The Guardian reported last month that the figure could eventually be as

high as £2.5 billion. The ViceChancellor also described how the University faces a 'known known' and 'known unknown' in the article.

'We are in a period of savage uncertainty. The known known is the cut of £449m which many universities are struggling to deal with. There is the known unknown of a further £600m of cuts, which government will allocate between higher education spending programmes in the next two years.

This will cause real damage in parts of the higher education sector. There is then the unknown unknown of threatened further cuts in coming budgets. Amidst the gloom the only reassurance is Lord Mandelson's insistence that higher education will bear "its fair share but not more than its fair share" of cuts.'

'If the reductions are still greater, and that's what the reductions announced in The Guardian suggest and The Institute for Fiscal Studies is ~Continued on page 2~

LAST week the cross-campus NUS Delegate elections were held.

Over 700 delegates who, along with Guild President Fabian Neuner, will represent the Guild at this year's National Union of Students Annual Conference held in Gateshead over Easter.

The announcement of the results were delayed following irregularities in vote counting and problems with the reallocation of votes after the first preference votes were allocated.

The Guild has apologised to candidates for the 23 hour delay in informing them of the results. As a multi-position election, the calculations are more complicated than in a normal Guild of Students Election.

Vice President Democracy & Resources, and Chair of Elections Committee Tom Guise said: 'As Chair of Elections Committee and on behalf of the Returning Officer, I can confirm that we are now satisfied that the election results are correct. It was important for us to double-check and clarify our results via a paper count in order to ensure accuracy.'

The Guild sends delegates every year to the conference, at which representatives from NUS student unions debate national policy, and can have a say on the issues that affect the 5.2 million students at British universities.

The delegates' role is to represent Birmingham students, on issues ranging from top-up fees to student healthcare.

The following candidates were elected as delegates to NUS Annual Conference; Ed Sparkes, Emma Packham, Mark Ian Harrop, Callum Anderson, Gideon Mendel, Abigail Goodman & Alexander Zatman.

Uncontested by-elections were also held for two nonsabbatical positions, resulting in Claire Lister being elected as Disabled Students Officer and Jahmahl Rowe elected as Home Students' Officer.

Interview with Europe Minister Chris Bryant

Features 9 The big research question: Seb Mann investigates

Music 16 Exclusive interview with Lostprophets' new drummer

Lifestyle 22 Lingerie and love in our Valentine's special

Sport 24-28 Five pages of coverage of the cup clashes

Birmingham’s Premier Private Hire Company

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2 News Calendar International Students Association: Know Your World Quiz Friday 12th, 6-8pm in the Guild Common Room.

Latin American Society Valentine's Day Fiesta Friday 12th, 8pm, Beorma Bar Includes a charity raffle for 'Venios', a charity working to improve the lives of children living on the streets and shanty towns in Venezuela. Tickets: LatAmSoc Members: £2. Non-members: £4 Tango society Absolute Beginners classes Sunday 14th, 4-9pm, DebHall, Guild; for more info, see http://www.tangobirmingham.co.uk Far Eastern ConneXions society Chinese New Year celebration Sunday 14th, 7pm, Chung Ying Garden. Begin your New Year celebrations with a fabulous 9-course meal. Experience traditional Lion Dancing. Test your luck in our free raffle prize draw. Enjoy a night of fun and games.

After-party at Oceana. Tickets: £15 meal only, £22 for meal + party.

Contact: acl736@bham.ac.uk Watch This present Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Sunday 14th, 7.30pm in the Underground, £5 for nonmembers.

Rocksoc 'Zombie Invasion' Tuesday 16th, from 8pm in Beorma Bar. Come covered in blood to feast on some brains or dress as a survivor and out-dance the zombies.

Guild Council Thursday 18th, 6pm, Guild Council Chambers.

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Cultural exchange Esther Johnson LAST week, the Birmingham Ethnic and Minority Association convened a forum to discuss the social and academic welfare of ethnic minority students in the University.

The Cultural Exchange Council, which was chaired by former Guild President, Jennifer Larbie; the University's Equality and Diversity Advisor, Jane Tope; and Careers Consultant, Sophie Miller, endeavoured to afford students a platform to express their views and experiences of university.

In attendance were representatives from an array of culturally diverse student societies and faith groups.

These various organisations included the Hindu Society, AISEC and the African Development Forum.

The participants engaged in an open dialogue that sought to bring issues regarding ethnic minorities to the forefront.

On the Council's agenda were ways in which the University can

mitigate the differences in academic attainment between ethnic minority students and their counterparts.

Ms Tope revealed that data released by the University and National Statistics show that noncompletion rates among students from an ethnic background were significantly higher than those of their white counterparts.

Also on the agenda was a discussion of the various ways in which student activism and representation can be increased among ethnic minorities.

Ms Larbie urged students of ethnic minority backgrounds to be agents of positive change by participating in student organizations.

BEMA Community Support Officer Shahyad Shahir stated that it was encouraging to see the University's commitment to dismantling barriers to equality upheld through the endorsement of the Council's proceedings.

Vice Chancellor interview ~ Continued from page 1~ suggesting, then you do get to a point where undoubtedly cuts in higher education will be at least as serious as the cuts in education in the 1980s.'

The Vice-Chancellor also remains confident that Birmingham is still well placed to achieve its aim of improving its ranking in national and international university league tables.

In an interview with The Times Higher Education at the beginning of February he said that he expects Birmingham to be challenging to be the 'best of the rest' after Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial and University College London.

It is expected that Birmingham's ambitions will be laid out in greater detail in the next Strategic Framework, which is due to be published by the end of this academic year.

'What people will say when they read the new Strategic Plan, which we will finalise over the summer, will be, "I recognise that as a really ambitious programme to move the

University over the next five years from being a very fine university to being a truly great university." We aim to be a top ten university on all key measures nationally, including research and we intend as a University to respond to national priorities.'

'So if we take a new strand of the new investments, investments in nuclear is a direct response to the need to meet the new challenges for new energy and energy generation.'

'We want to be a global top 50 university – that's a very clear statement.

We recruit students from 150 countries and we are committed to having that internationalised student body. What we are going to do is ask ourselves "ok we set that target, what does it mean?" and then we will make sure that we invest in a way that gives us the very best chance of achieving that.'

To see the full transcript go to www.redbrickonline.co.uk.

To see the article in Buzz go to www.newscentre. bham.ac.uk/buzz/.

Picture of the week:

Tom Flathers NFL Cheerleader on campus last week. Send your photos to pow@redbrickonline.co.uk

News

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Would you pay higher fees for financially better degrees?

Edwina Moorhouse A REPORT from the The Institute for Employment Studies (IES) has claimed that some University students would be willing to pay more from their degree course if it guaranteed them work in the highest-earning careers.

The study found that those from the poorest background were most willing to have the tuition fees raised.

However, when asked whether they would be prepared to pay higher fees for a particular kind of university, the majority were against this.

A system like this

exists already in Australia, where degrees in law, accountancy and economics can warrant almost double the cost of a degree in education, nursing or statistics.

NUS President Wes Streeting is against it being adopted in the UK, claiming it would risk 'providing an elite system

for the few that can afford it and a second-class experience for the many who cannot,' and added that 'Any individual financial contribution should be based on genuine earnings after graduation and not hypothetical course prices based on unreliable and misleading estimates of earning power.'

Would you pay more for higher future earnings? Redbrick decided to find out....

Ben Boagey

Natalie Ashton

Stef Grime

Oliver Jeacock

Second year History and Russian Studies

Second year Philosophy

Second year Business

Second year Chemistry

'This would create unnecessary bureaucracy, false promises and elitism. Students must choose their course not on the basis of cost or future income, but on the basis of personal interest.'

'I think it's a bad thing. It will prolong a destructive cycle where people pick cheaper but worse off degrees and end up with poorer jobs. Academic ability over finance.'

'If you're doing a worthwhile degree you'll have a good job, so what's the point in having different fees?'

'You have to consider that "cheaper degrees" would probably get less funding, and you can't predict how it would affect entry requirements. It could make degrees less competitive.'

Local MP in Mayor bid James Williams BIRMINGHAM MP Sion Simon last week announced that he is to retire from Parliament in order to launch a bid to become the city's first elected mayor – a post that does not yet exist.

This week he will leave his post as a Junior Culture Minister, a position which he has held since June 2009, and he will stand down as MP for Erdington at the General Election.

The resignation dealt another blow to the government's bid to push through the digital economy bill, as the Labour MP was appointed to spearhead its passage through parliament.

He plans to become a city councillor and use that platform to lobby for a referendum on creating an elected mayor system, similar to what London currently boasts.

Following this he would have to secure the Labour candidacy for the seat, but the close ally of Gordon Brown believes he has made the right decision for Birmingham;

'It has become clear to me that the answers to Birmingham's problems do not lie in Westminster or Whitehall. We need to take back control of our own city. We cannot leave our future to London.

They have not looked after our past.'

The Conservative party have mooted that they will encourage referenda on elected mayors across the UK if they are elected.

The Minister, recently in the news for joking that Susan Boyle caused swine flu, is currently repaying £21,000 of public money he used to rent a flat from his sister in line with the findings of the recent Legg Report regarding expenses.

Selly Oak MP Lynne Jones was also one of the 390 MPs ordered to pay back funds in the report.

Simon has held his safe Erdington seat since 2001, and its comfortable majority of over 9,500 is already being hotly fought over, with the Leader of the House of Commons, Harriet Harman's husband the odds on favourite to win the selection.

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Body scanners for Birmingham Jack Davis THE controversial new body scanners that have been the topic of much heated debate are to be in use in Birmingham International Airport by the end of February.

The full length scanners are designed to beam an electromagnetic wave on to passengers to create an image on a computer screen which shows that person without any clothes. The idea is the scanners will be doing their job to greater effect.

B i r m i n g h a m International has been ordered to start using this equipment by the government, after the Christmas Day bombing attempt.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said that these scanners would be in use at Heathrow and Manchester Airports immediately, and Birmingham would have them installed over the course of the next month, 'given the current security threat level.'

Eventually they will be installed in every airport in the country.

Addressing the House of Commons, Lord Adonis

said: 'In the immediate future, only a small proportion of airline passengers will be selected for scanning. If a passenger is selected for scanning, and declines, they will not be permitted to fly.'

However, if effective these scanners could become compulsory for every passenger. Airports will not be allowed to select passengers on the basis of race or ethnicity.

Originally the Government planned to exclude under eighteens from receiving these scans, but this decision was overturned.

Philip Bradbourn, Conservative MEP for West Midlands said: 'I am furious that the Government overturned the laws prohibiting minors from taking part in full body scanning at airports.'

'This is clearly an affront to public decency and the protection of children and it is wholly unacceptable that my constituents and their children are going to be subjected to these intrusive and over the top scans.'

Barber Institute acquires valuable new piece Caroline Mortimer A PORTRAIT by 18th century Venetian artist, Rosalba Carriera was unveiled on Wednesday 3rd February by the Barber Institute of Fine Arts.

The pastel drawing, which dates from 1731 or 1732 is worth over £500,000.

It is one of three versions of a portrait of Gustavus Hamilton, and the first major acquisition to be made under the Directorship of Professor Ann Sumner.

Speaking of the picture, Professor Sumner called the piece, 'one of the finest paintings by Rosalba Carriera.'

She added: 'It fills key gaps in the Barber Institute collection; it enables us to show a very important female artist and it is also an extremely fine pastel.'

The money raised for the work came from the Art Fund, one of the UK's leading independent art charities (which is currently leading the fundraising campaign to keep the Staffordshire Hoard in the West Midlands).

It was also funded in part by members of the Henry Barber Trust and

in particular from Elnora Ferguson, who left a generous amount of money

Photo: Courtesy of the Barber Institute.

in her will to the Barber Institute when she died in 2008.

The artwork, according to Sumner: 'fits into the history of female art' as Carriera was 'one of the most important female artists in the history of art, in particular the 18th century'.

Carriera was a prominent artist from the Italian Roccoco, specialising in pastel pieces and portrait miniatures.

The piece is the third major work by a female artist to enter the Barber collection – alongside paintings by French portraitist, Elisabeth VigéeLebrun, and British artist, Gwen John.

After the 'Going Dutch' exhibit ends, which is on display in the Barber Institute until the 28th February, the picture will become part of a proposed new collection of work by women artists painting male sitters, particularly in the 18th century.

The Barber Institute's opening hours are 10am5pm on Monday to Saturday and 12 noon-5pm on Sunday and admission is free.

4 News

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Extreme internet use Lecturers at linked with depression Leeds strike Zara Sekhavati NEW research has shown that there is a causal link between excessive internet use and mental health problems.

British researchers have found that those who browse the internet excessively are more likely to suffer from depression.

A psychological study carried out by researchers at the University of Leeds showed that a small proportion of internet users have been classified as 'internet addicts'.

The study involved participants answering questions about how often they used the internet and for what purposes.

The results showed that people are replacing social situations with online chat interactions which have turned into an obsessive habit.

The lead author Dr Catriona Morrison stated that: 'This study reinforces the public speculation that over-engaging in websites that serve to replace normal social function might be linked to psychological disorders like depression and

addiction.'

The results have shown that 1.4 per cent of the total participants fell into the category of 'internet addicts'.

The mean age of these types of participants was 18 years old and had an average depression score nearly five times higher than those of non-addicted users. The research also showed that males suffered from this type of obsession more than females.

Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace have been suggested as some of the most common causes for excessive internet use, particularly amongst adolescents and teenagers

today.

However the question that researchers have been examining is which factor comes first, internet-usage or depression?

Are teenagers venting to the internet because they are depressed? Or is the World Wide Web a way for teenagers to 'deal' with their mental health issues?

Further research is to be undertaken and will focus on the wider society's relationship between the internet and depression – this will help to establish how excessive internet use affects mental health and will clarify which is the 'chicken and the egg' in this cyber space issue.

Photo: Lucy Percival

Caroline Mortimer LAST week, lecturers at the University of Leeds elected to strike in response to news of 54 job losses and the threat of 700 more.

Two-thirds of members of the University and College Union turned out to vote in the highest turnout for a ballot the Union has ever seen.

The proposed job cuts are part of a scheme to save £35m from the University of Leeds budget by 2011. The university says that all departments have been told to cut their budgets by 10-20 per cent.

Professor Malcolm Povey alleged that the university had insisted on its right to make compulsory redundancies but the university insist that cuts must be made somewhere given the economic climate and the vast cuts to university funding that the government is proposing.

Vice Chancellor Michael Arthur said UK universities are facing 'the bleakest time since the Thatcher cuts of the 1980s.'

However the UCU

emphasises the impact it will have on the staff, students and the overall quality of the university's research and national standing.

General secretary Sally Hunt said: 'the bottom line is that serious job losses will impact massively on the institution's ability to function as a leading university in the region, let alone globally.'

The UCU added that 'the university should be working with us to oppose the government's savage cuts to higher education and must immediately put plans to axe 200 jobs on hold.'

The announcement of job cuts at universities around the country came in the wake of the announcement that the government are planning to cut the university funding budget nationwide by £449m, with teaching budgets being cut by £215m.

Compared to Leeds, Birmingham is in a relatively healthy position, however the UCU reported plans to cut up to 200 jobs under the 'Sustainable Excellence' programme in their latest newsletter.

Students urged to vote against MPs who support higher tuition fees James Williams THE National Union of Students has this week urged every UK student to vote against any candidate, at the May General Election, that does not commit to keeping the cap on tuition fees.

A 'hit list' of 20 university cities across the country, including Birmingham, has been drawn up and will be directly targeted in the 'Vote for Students' campaign which proclaims to candidates: 'Vote for us or pay the price.'

The NUS announced that MPs must ensure they support their campaign against higher degree costs or they will lose the student vote.

It was only last week that the government fees review began in earnest, with University of Birmingham Vice Chancellor David Eastwood featuring on the seven-strong panel, which will not report back to Parliament until after the

General Election.

The campaign has launched alongside a new student vote website – voteforstudents.co.uk – which provides students with detailed information about candidates in their constituency, and most importantly states whether or not they have signed up to the NUS's 'Funding our Future' pledge. Over 200 MPs and candidates are currently committed to 'vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament and to pressure the government to introduce a fairer alternative.'

The Union, which through affiliation with student Unions across the country represents 98 per cent of students in the UK, has warned that students and their families will not be prepared to pay more for less or vote for parliamentary candidates who have not come clean on fees.

NUS President Wes Streeting insisted that 'through this campaign we hope to remind students of the

power they hold and remind candidates of the danger of not taking our votes seriously. Our message to candidates is simple, vote for us or pay the price... elections have been won and lost by the votes of students before and it will happen again.'

20 key student 'battlegrounds' have been targeted as cities where the student vote is likely to be decisive in the election result, as was the case with several seats back in 2005 with high concentrations of student voters.

These 20 cities identified include Birmingham, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leeds and Brighton.

Senior lecturers and NUS representatives will ask the fees panel to assess alternative higher education funding models and appreciate that a price increase will deter potential students from poor backgrounds from applying to university.

The National Union of Students and lecturers' leaders will ask the panel to examine alternatives to

top-up fees, warning that a price increase could deter would-be students from poorer homes from applying to university, particularly in the current economic climate. Fierce debate exists over whether the £3,000-a-year topup fee has improved the quality of university teaching, as both Labour

and opposition MPs have agreed that students should be entitled to better services if they pay more.

University ViceChancellors are likely to present the case for raising the current fee ceiling after a poll in 2009 revealed that they want fees doubled to £6,500.

News briefs Scott Steinberg PIERS MORGAN LABELS BRUMMIES AS 'WEIRD' AS the Britain's Got Talent judges arrived to greet the Birmingham hopefuls, Piers Morgan said he was excited for these auditions as: 'Birmingham has thrown up some weird people in the past – it is a weird place, which is why I like it… I've got lots of Brummie friends and they're a bit weird.'

ASTON VILLA DEFENDER BANNED FOR SELLING CARLING CUP FINAL TICKETS ON FACEBOOK NATHAN Baker, an 18 year old Villa defender, has been banned from the Carling Cup final for selling-on his allocated tickets.

This was after requests for tickets over Facebook led to bargaining up to £1000 for his allocation of five. Baker has since apologised saying: 'I understand that my behaviour off the pitch must speak as loudly as my actions on the pitch.'

Villa wished to remind everyone that: 'It shouldn't be forgotten, however, that Nathan is just 18 years-old and he has a lot to learn.'

SUTTON RUGBY COACH CAST FOR MANDELA FILM ZAK Feaunati, a retired Samoa Rugby player and now Director of Rugby at Bishop Vesey Grammar School, has been cast to play ex-New Zealand Rugby player, Jonah Lomu, in Invictus.

The film portrays Mandela's attempt to unify South Africa with the 1995 Rugby World Cup. When asked about his experience at the premiere he said: '[Matt Damon] asked about school and was particularly interested because he does charity work with children. He said he would like to visit, which would be fantastic for the school and Sutton Coldfield.'

DEGREE FOR SPANKING? A registrar working at the University of Bath has received a nine month suspended jail sentence after conspiring to make fake degrees as a method of payment for women who allowed him to spank them.

Photo: Rebecca King

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

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REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Features

Comment Google vs China:

one month on

Four weeks after China's controversial hacking of Gmail, Edwina Moorhouse gives us an insight into the commercial and political implications IT has been one month exactly since head honcho of Google Inc., David Drummond, blogged about a cyber attack on their servers, perpetrated with the aim of stealing 'intellectual property.' Suddenly a four year partnership was thrown into jeopardy and Google expressed its wish to withdraw all censorship from its Chinese search engine google.cn, anticipating unsuccessful negotiations and permanent withdrawal.

The significance of this event could not be underestimated. Not only did it show that cyber crime had a newfound political edge (the 'intellectual property' was human rights activists' Gmail accounts), but it opened the floodgates on Chinese censorship once again. Before long, others were joining the foray, including Yahoo, which aligned itself immediately with Google, declaring in a statement that 'the violation of user privacy is something that we as Internet pioneers must all oppose.'

In an online public opinion poll by Angus Reid that surveyed 1,006 Americans, released on January 22nd, 50 per cent thought that the U.S should do less business with China from now on whilst 72 per cent expressed their belief that American companies operating in China should protect human rights there. Conflictingly, Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates declared, 'It's easy to go around [censorship in China], so I think keeping the internet thriving there is very important.'

The Western world sat on the edge of its seat in anticipation of how the Government of the United States and the People's Republic of China would respond. The hackers, presumed to be based in China, had made the first move in a cyberwar. This undoubtedly came into conflict with the attitudes of the White House and President Obama over 'internet freedom'; Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, made the first counterat-

tack, announcing: 'The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy', mere days after Google's statement.

Everyone who believed that online censorship in China was wrong, and that cyber-warfare had the potential to be just as harmful as other warfare, put their faith in Mrs Clinton, who continued to speak with conviction over the incident.

Since her arrival in office she has ensured that the Internet and digital tech-

nable to think it could be non-Governmental, but can't prove it. Google Inc. has been careful, despite what is being said behind the scenes, to not accuse the central bureau in Beijing. Another problem arising with these cyberattacks is deducing their motive. Commercial advantage? Spyware? Or just searching for incriminating evidence?

Suddenly the strong message we expected to be sent seems to be lagging as America treads carefully, yet they have always been firm in their

Tense relations: the implications of the Chinese hacking scandal are still unclear Photo: Claire Veale nology play a greater part in American diplomacy.

On January 20th she declared that 'countries or individuals that engage in cyber-attacks should face consequences and international condemnation.'

If that wasn't an open call for investigation, then what is?

Despite the advanced tracing equipment at the hands of the American analysts, it has been reported that they are struggling to find the source of the attacks. It took them weeks to locate it in mainland China, and they presume that because of the nature of the attack it is unimagi-

stance that cyberhacking is unacceptable. The US defence department has gone to great lengths to reduce the thousands of attempted attacks on the Pentagon every day, and NATO adopted a cyber defence policy after attacks on Estonia in 2007. The Obama administration is supposed to be forwardthinking and in favour of peaceful negotiation, so perhaps we should admire their refusal so far to forcefully antagonize China – which is expected to eclipse Japan and become the world's second largest national economy.

Mr Obama has already

provoked outrage by reconvening his previously cancelled Washington meeting with the Dalai Lama, who the Chinese deem to be a 'Tibetan separatist,' and arms sales to Taiwan. Perhaps he feels he has pushed China's buttons enough for one year, but if a crime (cyber or otherwise) has been committed regardless of national boundaries then shouldn't there be some kind of justice?

Whilst Hilary Clinton leads the fight, she appears to be a one-woman army without the full backing of the administration. Her calls for an investigation and a crackdown on cybercrime provoked a response from a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, who outlined that the insinuations 'that China restricts internet freedom' runs 'contrary to the facts and is harmful to China-US relations.' No doubt the administration has realised this as well.

The question of the rights or wrongs of censorship has been put on the backbench as all attention turns to the hacking of the Google servers at the start of January.

Even with the spotlight on the situation, progress is slow, as the American Government is torn between further destabilising tenuous relations with the Chinese, or sweeping it under the carpet. The media has opened up a Cold War of rhetoric between administration officials, spokespeople, political commentators and even Bill Gates. Is this America's new strategy as 'leader of the free world'? Barack Obama has already had a challenging year and some critics have been quick to stick in the knife over many of his policies, but the issue of China poses a further challenge for the President both economically and politically. For now we can only sit back and watch events unfold, and see how America will handle China in 2010.

Clocking Off Features Editorial

Higher education needs a serious rethink. Laura Hewitt suggests the obvious LET me get this straight: in the same week that UCAS announce a 23 per cent increase in the number of university applications (Times Higher Education), HEFCE reduce the university budget by £449m (Guardian). Hmm. Now, figures aren't my strong point, but that, to me, looks a little odd.

It's comprehensible, of course. New Labour's drive to get every boy and girl in the country through the university doors has filtered through to the school psyche, creating an hysteria that drives 18-year olds to automatically apply.

Except that keeping them there costs money, which the Government has suddenly realised they don't have. It's pathetic. I'm tempted not to vote Labour simply for their mishandling of education finances.

Ultimately, there are simple and logical ways to tackle this deadlock.

Why do we need so many universities? It may be easy for me to ask this, as a comfortable Russell Group student. But people are being conned into thinking that a degree from a poor quality institution is what they need after A-Levels, when instead they could be training for relevant jobs or vocations. There would be more money for a smaller selection of universities, which could specialise in the research the Government clearly values them for (see our research investigation on page 9).

More importantly, they could offer substantial bursaries and scholarships to those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Not for one moment am I suggesting that university should be the preserve

of the privileged; Labour's intentions are honourable, but executed in the wrong way.

Social and domestic guidance and assistance should aim for the grassroots level, making the disadvantaged less disadvantaged. Giving the disadvantaged an advantage at university is too little too late.

If necessary, higher fees make sense – but only if the degree they pay for can guarantee a job to eradicate the incurred debt, which is currently not the case. I am wary, however, of the knee-jerk blaming of the recession that most unemployed graduates seem to adhere to. Yes, there are fewer jobs on offer, but those that are available are being chased by increasing numbers of ex-students waving their degrees in the air. Disregarding the quality of their degree, and the fact that everyone else has one too, means a higher proportion of graduates are aiming for the middleclass, creative roles such as PR, marketing, fashion and media. I'm not saying these jobs aren't worthy; I'm saying these are the jobs people are complaining they can't find – because lots of graduates are looking for them.

Personally, I'm undecided. The evolving higher education conundrum seems a fascinating challenge.

Maybe I'll apply to be adviser to Peter Mandelson… although I can see it now: 'Ooh, really? Are you sure about that, Mandy? I don't think that's a very good idea…' On second thoughts, maybe I'll wait and see who's in charge in six months' time.

Comment & Features

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Social change?

Are social workers scapegoats or inefficient?

Neil Chanchlani looks at whether the recent child abuse cases have affected graduates' perspectives of the job SOCIAL workers – it's been a job marred by controversy this past year. The Doncaster brothers, Baby P and the Maria Jones foster care incident are just a few examples of cases in which social workers 'failed to perform adequately.' Their shortcomings made the headlines, but do they deserve one hundred per cent of the blame?

Previously these posts would have been oversubscribed, so who or what is causing application anxiety now?

Perhaps we should be blaming the bureaucracy; social workers have long since complained that filling out forms to satisfy government initiatives, as well as ticking boxes have been at the forefront of their duties. Obviously,

Should the blame for child abuse fall solely on the shoulders of social workers?

Often, people who work in social care perform challenging, dangerous duties. And while it is certainly not an excuse for under-performing one's job, shouldn't we stop playing the blame game and be a bit more sympathetic?

Headlines such as 'Edlington shames Doncaster's inadequate social workers…' and 'The catalogue of errors by social workers…' have flooded newspapers, not providing a solution to the ongoing and well publicised problems, but rather highlighting the industry, with all of its positive elements, in a totally negative light.

The damage caused by such negative publicity may be irreversible.

Research shows that more than 16 per cent of posts are unfulfilled throughout the country. Additionally, there are 12 local authorities that have filled less than 70 per cent of posts.

this reduces time available to go meet families and perform the more practical aspects of their role.

Hilton Dawson, chief executive of the British Association of Social Workers stressed this problem when he claimed, '…What social workers are having

not support really effective work with children and families.'

However, a 'don't blame the man, blame the system' mentality is not going to do us any good either. It's true that social workers 'missed 31 opportunities' to prevent the Doncaster brothers from performing as they did by sexually assaulting and beating two young boys.

Similarly, it was suggested that the social workers acting in Baby P's case had been notified of familiar problems over 20 times, and that it was their lack of presence at the household that is seen as causal of the young death.

But in reality, culpability isn't transferable, and the failure of a parent does not equate to the failure of a social worker.

While it's easy to point fingers at individual workers and local authorities, we need to stop complaining about the inadequacies of the others, and adjust the system accordingly.

Training more people in a more effective manner is probably a start. But with a average salary of a meagre £29,000, the job is certainly less attractive than others. Birmingham University Social Policy graduate Hetta Brookes points attention to the importance of public education, 'There are too few bodies to help out everyone out there. And although there are support groups and schemes to help out families and children, there needs to be more widespread knowledge of the availability of these services.'

Although difficult to implement, it's this kind of transition that the industry needs to make.

And hopefully, newly trained social workers, a position usually achieved

'The damage caused by such negative publicity may be irreversible. Research shows that more than 16 per cent of posts are unfulfilled throughout the country' to do with 80 per cent of their time is serve a bureaucratic machine, which actually has nothing to do with good social work and has everything to do with keeping a really ineffective inspection regime operating in a way that does

by undertaking a two year postgraduate masters, will have more exposure to these kinds of policies. It will be a long time before we see any real changes, but it's time we do something about it, and stop pointing our fingers.

In Brief

7

Whistleblowing needs funding Ed Paton-Williams WHEN an ex-SAS officer John Wick came across the details of MPs' expenses claims, he contacted the Daily Telegraph for publicity. But what happens when jobs, liberty or lives are threatened if censored information cannot be leaked anonymously?

Since 2007, Wikileaks has offered an online repository for anonymous whistleblowers to upload documents showing unethical practices by governments and companies.

These documents detail misdemeanours ranging from oil-traders Trafigura's dumping of toxic waste off the West African coast to human rights abuses in China to the

names of British National Party members including several police officers, doctors and solicitors.

Local media laws of-

$600,000

The amount Wikileaks needs to continue ten restrict conventional media's reporting of these issues of public interest.

Wikileaks' supranational structure means it can avoid such restrictions.

Unfortunately, it cannot avoid the problem of funding, or lack thereof.

The site has had to suspend its activities while it looks for the rest of its US $600,000 annual budget. Meanwhile, documents on corrupt banks, the US detainee system,

the Iraq war, China and the UN go unpublished.

To avoid conflicts of interest, Wikileaks rejects funding from corporations and governments and is instead financed by human rights campaigners, journalists and the general public.

In the case of Wikileaks, speech may mean free as in freedom, but it is certainly not free as in at no cost. Wikileaks empowers us by offering unadulterated, uncensored information but it needs financial support.

If you value exposing the dishonourable and immoral practices of governments and businesses at home and abroad, please consider making a donation at wikileaks.org.

Can our city afford sporting success?

Martin Theaker AS a university consistently ranked in the top three in the country for sport, it is odd to see Birmingham University sat in a city that has such a mixed record in terms of sporting facilities. The last year has seen many positives, such as the expansion of Edgbaston Cricket Ground and the news that Birmingham will host teams competing at London in 2012.

However, there has also been repeated frustration at the inability of Birmingham City football club to expand or rebuild their stadium and the situation is similar in other sports. There has been no effort to rebuild the

Pershore Street ice rink which burned down in 2003, meaning that anyone in this city wanting to skate has to travel to Solihull or Tamworth to do so. In the water, repeated delays over the plan to build Birmingham's first 50 metre swimming pool in Ladywood have meant that the project will not benefit from the expected increase in participation after 2012.

Even when new projects are discussed, they seem to come at the expense of existing facilities. For example, plans to construct a new velodrome and cycling centre look to come at the expense of an existing popular golf course in Handsworth. All in all, the ideas to make improvements seem to be there, but the

financial commitment is decidedly lacking, and this will not change in the current economic climate. Perhaps all this proves is how vital it is that this university maintains its strong sporting tradition and continues to develop new facilities.

£300 million

The amount that Birmingham City would have spent on their new stadium

£2 billion

The amount of debt that the Birmingham City council is currently saddled with

Compassionate death not murder Oliver MacArthur FOLLOWING the conviction of Frances Inglis, 57, for murdering her own son with a heroin overdose, the question of euthanasia has cropped up once more and shot to the forefront of public conjecture. Her son Thomas was severely brain damaged as a result of falling out of an ambulance in 2007. It is alleged by Inglis that Thomas was denied pain relief by doctors in order to assess his underlying brain activity and that she was also misled about her son's chances of recovery.

Inglis told the jury 'I did it with love in my heart, for Tom, so I don't see it as murder.' At pres-

ent, there are no legal frameworks for mercy killings regardless of how sinister the intention.

However, one cannot help but empathise with the sense of suffering felt

by Inglis to facilitate such drastic measures.

'I believed it would have been Tom's choice to have been allowed to die rather than have the intervention to keep him alive'

Frances Inglis The magic of modern medicine has enriched our lives beyond imagination yet has sparked new moral dilemmas and scope for intense debate.

The definition of 'life' it-

self is up for debate, enhanced now with pioneering research in the New England Journal of Medicine in which innovative methods, delving into the core of the brain, have allowed communication with 'vegetative' patients.

Previously, the gravely injured would have died.

Now however, thanks to technical advancement doctors can keep people alive almost indefinitely with machines mirroring the function of most major organs. There is a widening discrepancy between the sophistication of modern medicine and the outdated and outmoded morals that govern them.

Sophisticated technology demands a sophisticated moral framework.

8 Comment & Features

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Lane's Domain

Democracy hypocrisy

Tom Lane looks into the various pranks inflicted on housemates

The strategies being used in Afghanistan will never work, says Yasmin Patel

IT is a well-known fact in every student house that there is one person who all the others hate.

And if you don't know who this person is, it is you.

So you can appreciate, I hope, the acute discomfort I feel that we are now in February and I have not witnessed in my house any vitriolic campaign of character assassination directed against a fellow resident. I am expecting any day now to have my pariah status affirmed in the most intrusive and unambiguous means.

For this is one thing you learn about the housemate process: you do not discover that they all hate you from sly comments or furious outbursts, you find it out when one day you arrive home and there is livestock in your room.

Admittedly, it does not have to be livestock.

When I lived in halls, I understood perfectly who the flat whipping boy was and did little to halt his plight. Whenever Housing Services notified us of an upcoming inspection, significant amounts of local vegetation would be uprooted and relocated to various parts of his room; there was also a notorious incident when he woke to find three hundred plastic cups filled with water piled up outside his door, which he couldn't get past without removing one at a time.

Either way, you can certainly be sure that inconveniencing those you live closest to will result in some degree of involuntary redecoration.

Feeling that any calamity is best faced with preparation, I have dedicated myself to collecting stories of the worst examples of housemate enmity. And I will tell you this; they are ten a penny. It does not appear that any consideration for empathy, any sense of proportion, will stand in the way of a group of students intent on making life difficult for their nearest and not-so-dearest.

'Last year, we replaced our housemate's cooking oil with urine,'

said one student. He bashfully admitted: 'We're not sure if he ever noticed, but he kept using it all year. There were things he couldn't ignore – like hiding alarm clocks under his bed, set to go off at half hour intervals throughout the night.'

Urine appears to have played a key role in the torment inflicted on this individual; his housemates would pee on his pillow, or once he was wise enough to lock them out, on plates that they then froze and slid under the door.

However, things did not come to a head until the biological functions employed in their pranks were stepped up to a more obscene level.

'One of us began using his loaves of bread as toilet paper,' my confidant told me. 'After that, he moved out. He only returned once, to do some laundry, and then my friend poured chilli powder into the washing machine.'

But animals appear to be the centrepiece of any house conflict.

I have learned tales of sheep tethered to unsuspecting victims' desks, dead octopuses under their duvets, geese tied to their muesli coated legs. I myself have discovered a severed pig's head under my bed, though in that case it was merely the crowning glory of a good-humoured prank war with a neighbouring flat.

The question that really needs answering is, 'why?' Why are students so tragically incapable of peacefully co-habiting? Extracting a simple explanation as to why people cannot stand their housemates is rarely possible. The best usually offered is: 'You just have to live with them to understand.'

It is an interesting mystery, but I will have to leave you to discuss it amongst yourselves.

I've just heard strange equine noises emanating from upstairs, so I'd better go and check what appalling fate has befallen my bedroom.

Comment and Features would like to welcome Rosa McMahon and Sebastian Mann as the new members of our editorial team

IN the eight years since the invasion of Afghanistan there has been little evidence of the promised economic and social development. Little has been done to rebuild Afghanistan after its brutal occupation and the thousands of civilian fatalities that have occured. As people around the world lose hope for the region, it is important to scrutinise the rhetoric of any new strategies. Plans that concentrate on an exit strategy for example are only present to pacify the tax payers' concerns and less about a viable solution for Afghanistan.

The Taliban emanate from the Pashtun community and have seen off invaders for centuries. If NATO increases troops, so will the Taliban. Commenting on Taliban deaths, David Kilcullen, a former senior counterinsurgency advisor wrote, 'every one of these dead non-combatants represents an alienated family, a new revenge feud, and more recruits for a mili-

Taliban once provided salaries and the occupation has meant that economic opportunities are now lacking.

It is stated – and was reiterated by Ivan Lewis during his visit to the University – that fighting the war in Afghanistan makes the streets of Western capitals safer. According to such a view, war is a necessity. Many experts however have argued that only a small number of Al-Qaeda operatives now remain in Afghanistan.

Moreover, if we look to past conflicts, we see that the security argument, specifically the increase in troops as a solution, is deeply flawed. For example, Israeli occupation of Palestine has not made Israeli citizens any safer from attack. The presence of 27, 000 British troops in Northern Ireland for 38 years did not prevent the IRA from attacking the UK. Thus, the continued presence of troops in Afghanistan, will not make Britain safer, and likewise the increase in the num-

'The future of Afghanistan does not lie in liberal democracy. The sooner the West realise this, the better' tant movement.' Western leaders must realise that their presence in Afghanistan is the cause for ordinary Afghanis channelling their frustration through joining the Taliban. The

ber of troops will not end the current cycle of violence, but only cause it to worsen.

If we assess the exit strategy of building the Afghan military forces,

we'll see that it is more a statement to pacify growing opposition to Western capitals than a solution.

According to NATO, the

'the need to create a rule of law or civil order based on host country standards rather than US or Western values.' Yet, time

8 years since the invasion of Afghanistan 20% of the Afghan police force absent daily 94,000 make up Afghan National Army numbers in the Afghan National Army at the end of 2009 were 94,000, and 190,000 including the police force. This is definitely larger than the Taliban.

According to US capability measures, 78 per cent of Afghan police are incapable of carrying out their duties. The International Crisis Groups reported that about 20 per cent of the police force are absent from duty every day and according to Military Review virtually all officers are illiterate and there is a growing problem of drug usage amongst them. This paints a pretty bleak picture. Even if the ANA took control in Afghanistan would the US then leave the country to manage its own affairs?

This brings an emphasis to the management of affairs of the Afghan people which the West wishes to direct via an existing superiority complex of imposing democracy.

Anthony Cordesman in 2009, whilst highlighting the failings of US policy in Afghanistan, mentioned,

and again we are given statistics to show how the Afghan people support the introduction of democracy and oppose the presence of the Taliban.

Why would one answer otherwise when asked in front of a Western television camera with military forces nearby?

One thing is clear from the history of Afghanistan: Americans seem to have learnt little from the Soviet occupation of 1986.

During that occupation, Marshal Akhromeyev said: 'We control Kabul and the provincial centres, but... we have lost the battle for the Afghan people.' There is a lack of success in winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.

The future of Afghanistan, like many other Muslim countries, does not lie in liberal democracy. The sooner Western policymakers realise this, the better. Otherwise, as has been seen with the examples of Iraq and Somalia, the West will continue to fight similar wars for decades to come.

A secret healer Rosa McMahon reveals her romantic side with Postsecret.com ONE girl says to another on a cold, dreary day in Selly Oak 'all you need is love.'

She is a romantic, soft and probably too optimistic about the world. The other is a friend who you go to if you need a dose of reality, and possess an honesty so pure it makes you high. She replies bluntly 'yeah you need love; but you also need mates, for when it goes wrong.' She is right,and the naivety of quoting The Beatles is quite clear. Having friends around you when the going gets tough (thanks Boyzone) is certainly integral to staying afloat.

But what if these mates don't want to listen, or you don't want to tell them of your woes in fear of ridicule, no matter how trivial; where then?

Bottling up our problems, secrets, lusts and hates is certainly an unhealthy habit. Sharing a problem

will, however, half it.

An American shares the same view. His name is Frank Warren and through his simple idea of finding answers in the secrets of strangers, an online secret sharing community called Postsecret was born. And the most magical part is the project takes many forms – it's postcards represent art, a sociological record, a blog, an unidentifiable therapist, a book, and weaving within all of these, it is the beauty of truth.

It is odd that many people express their deepest, darkest secrets to people they do not even know. However, by talking to strangers on buses, for example, we can reveal something about ourselves and know that there won't be any repercussions. In this sense Postsecret is a healer. But not just for the secret revealer. There

is something very special about reading the secrets of others, perhaps knowing others feel the same way we do. It normalises our own feelings.

When looking at some of the secrets online it's clear that everything is relative. Being in love with an unsuspecting other is one person's secret, peeing in snowballs before throwing them at friends is another's, feeling you don't know who you are, never being able to forgive, wanting rain on a wedding day, wanting something to last forever, wanting a happy ending, wanting to fall out of love, wanting to fall in love, wanting to take a leap of faith. So many wants and needs of people pouring out. Despite the postcards' beauty I find myself crying out 'just tell them how you feel! Be honest and you will feel so much bet-

ter.' Again perhaps it's not as simple as that. But with Valentine's Day looming, and card shops regurgitating every kind of tacky way to say 'I love you', the simplicity of Postsecret perhaps does seem the best option.

Don't misunderstand me. Postsecret isn't a community full of depression and misery.

After reading you won't be screaming FML. It is really a community full of hope. Frank says that 'every single person has a story that would break your heart' – but every single person also has a story that will make you laugh, cry, angry and joyful.

It is finding out these stories, preferably before they reach Frank at Postsecret, which is the most delightful part of having relationships with others.

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Comment & Features

Research:

9

the big question Do universities prioritise research over teaching? Seb Mann set out to investigate whether Birmingham, as a research-led Russell Group University, compromises on its students' satisfaction UNIVERSITIES pride themselves on it; the country spends millions funding it; and society as a whole can benefit from it. But does academic research really have the wholly positive impact on students that we're led to believe?

Last semester students and academics alike reacted virulently to the faced closure of the University's Sociology department; a closure which was prompted by a poor Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) score. Despite being placed 4th in the Guardian University guide, which doesn't take into account quality of research, the department's poor RAE score provided significant enough concern to put its continuation in jeopardy. So, though clearly valued by universities, is research – omitted by one of the most prominent guides to university – actually that valuable to students?

The most obvious benefit of a department's research is that it will probably rub off on the degrees they teach. Who better to teach a module on Modernist literature, for example, than a leading critic in that field? But it's not quite that simple.

The University of Birmingham's Physics department is world-leading in some aspects of its research; however, due to its advanced nature there's very little scope for this to feed into undergraduate degrees. Moreover, in many Arts degrees, with minimal contact time and much onus on the student to carry out independent study, it's difficult to see how directly departmental research can really influence the learning of its students.

This doesn't quite cover it though, because there are a number of indirect benefits too. The high esteem and prestige that a research-led university attracts can impact significantly on the value of their degrees, aggrandising what might sometimes be quite an average degree course. The most noticeable effect of this is how so many employers prize Oxbridge degrees over degrees from less prestigious institutions, ignorant of the fact that many degree courses from non-Oxbridge institutions often score higher in subject-specific league tables. On top of this,

having good researchers in a department, especially those at the top of their field, can attract aspiring PhD students who regularly become the next wave of quality lecturers and researchers.

But are these indirect benefits really enough?

Surely there's no guaran-

So, as well as being close to inert in its positive effect on students, does academic research in fact pose an active threat to our learning?

A lecturer from the College of Social Sciences, who did not wish to be named, expressed the concern that, 'coupled with

dom function perfectly – look at the state of the world economy if you want some proof. Does academic research have a wholly positive impact on students? No, almost certainly not. And moreover, is it to the detriment of education that academic research is so important

Professor Colin Thain Head of the Department of Political Science and International Studies What do Russell Group universities get out of their 'research-led' profiles?

'Something like 40 per cent of Birmingham's and more than half of Oxford or LSE's income comes from external funding. So increasingly the income to do research has to be generated outside the money we get for undergraduate or Masters students. Being in the Russell Group therefore adds credibility to a bid for research money and enables those universities to attract good researchers.

Although not all high quality research and scholarship takes place in the twenty 'Russell Group' universities, they tend to be the universities with the best record of producing high quality research. The top universities tend to continue to attract good researchers and then produce good research, which then gets recognised and increases further the ability to get research funds.'

tee that, just because you have a more prestigious degree, you have vastly superior skills and intelligence to those from less esteemed institutions.

And there is no assurance that the next wave of lecturers is going to be any good at teaching because the skills required to be a good teacher are hugely different to those required of a good researcher. It can't even be taken for granted that the best current lecturers are the best teachers.

Vice President for Education and Access, Brigid Jones, believes that: 'there is a funding paradox in higher education, which is that a lot of money comes in from research to fund the best researchers and the incentive is to keep them for this reason, but the best researchers are not necessarily the best teachers.' As in the case of the recent Sociology furore, research predominates over teaching; the financial impact of research or lack thereof, outweighs the requirement for quality teaching.

the incentive of promotion, the financial incentive both to the individual and to the University to prioritise research over teaching can negatively affect teaching quality.'

However, the Head of the Political Science and International Studies Department, Professor Colin Thain, disagrees. He asserts that 'our students would not have access to such up-to-date teaching if Birmingham wasn't research led, but there are huge pressures to maintain teaching quality when resources have not increased proportionally.'

Thus it seems that this tension between research and teaching are due to an insufficient level of funding and unfortunately it is research which is more readily and more lucratively rewarded.

Is this a huge issue though?

Anyone who cares enough will appreciate (and probably resent) the fact that universities are businesses and, as pessimistic as it sounds, businesses, and the markets they operate in, sel-

to many institutions? I guess that's debatable.

But, to employ the use of a complex aphorism I learnt here at university, the proof is in the pudding. We're back where we started; the Guardian University guide, which omits research quality from its overall evaluation, this year placed the University of Birmingham 24th in the country, whereas in the Times Good University guide, which includes research quality in its evaluation, we're placed 22nd. Both league tables, notwithstanding this important difference, paint a similar picture of the comparative standard of British higher education and 15 of the 20 Russell group universities are placed in the top 30 by both measures. It thus seems that the quality of academic research has very little impact on the overall 'quality' of a university, at least when it comes to the more prominent institutions. And ultimately that's what's important, right?

What do students get out of the research-led status?

'There are direct benefits: if you are being taught by a member of staff who is at the leading edge of their field, you are likely to hear of the newest ideas and the hottest debates. Indirect benefits

are that new lecturers will come because there are good researchers in the university and this will feed through to the quality of what students are taught.'

What are the pressures and trade-offs?

'Universities would argue that they are under pressure to deliver more and more research and teach more and more students without a proportionate increase in resources.

Undergraduates rightly complain of higher class sizes, more pressure on books in the library, poorer labs and lecture theatres and higher fees.

Here at Birmingham we are therefore trying to square the circle – devote more time to research whilst also giving more attention to the quality of teaching. Often this is an incredibly difficult balancing act. As a Head of Department I want my colleagues to have time to do their research and write it up, get grants and go off on leave to do field work, but I also want them to teach higher numbers of students and give those students a good experience. In my experience the best researchers are also the best teachers.'

Brigid Jones Vice President for Education and Access 'There are approximately 2700 postgraduate students here doing research degrees, so 10 per cent of our student population are themselves helping to conduct the research that contributes to Birmingham's reputation.

Research is about pushing the boundaries of knowledge and discovering new things, but whether this filters into undergraduate teaching seems to be variable.

'With regards to undergraduate teaching, there are some subjects where the cutting-edge

research simply cannot be taught.

But the best researchers are not necessarily the best teachers, and you'll often find non-research intensive universities are higher in the teaching league tables for this reason. Money comes from students, from the government and from research funding councils, but the incentive in the current system is to keep the best researchers and hope they can teach too.'

10

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Film

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Film of the Week

11

Opening Credits

Robert Watts tries to convince us that The Wolfman isn't just a howling impression of the Hulk

Alex Jacques Rosie Willmot

Director: Joe Johnston Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving Rating: 15 When his brother Ben is horrifically murdered, actor Lawrence Talbot (Del Toro) returns to the stately home inhabited by his father and his brother's grieving widow in an attempt to discover who or what did the killing.

While on the trail of what the locals believe must be the Devil himself, Lawrence is bitten and from thereon in, things get more than a little hairy.

This deliciously gothic tale blanketed in darkness and fog tries nothing more than to be an entertaining B-movie romp, albeit with lavish sets and

a much higher budget.

Lawrence's descent into the secret of his family's past is played out under the full moon of Victorian Britain, which allows for beautiful production design, and Del Toro's subdued portrayal of the titular 'Wolfman' establishes the tone of the nonaction element wonderfully. This, however, is in contrast with the enjoyable and incredibly gory action sequences that, while scary and good fun, jar somewhat with the want to portray a family being torn apart (quite literally).

As the subtly fiendish eccentric Lord Talbot, Anthony Hopkins slips comfortably into a role that is more than reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter in the way he slowly but

surely allows truths to be revealed, and if you can endure the first plodding 20 minutes this is an excellent reward. Other characters have less to do and are almost reduced to nothing, which may be a result of the many reshoots. Emily Blunt's widow, Gwen, brings some real emotion to the under-developed relationship with Lawrence, but the whole of their story appears to have been lost among the cuts and, as the inspector in charge of the murder investigation, Hugo Weaving is left with little more to do than advance the narrative and roll out the occasional quip.

It will come as no surprise to learn that The Wolfman is a remake, but director Joe Johnston han-

Justified Existence

dles the material well and strives to please all factions of his audience.

However, while it is a coherent film on the whole, there is a feeling that plenty of emotion has been replaced with rather unimpressive CGI werewolf transformations for the sake of box-office receipts.

VERDICT

Seen as a gothic-looking adventure/terror story of a werewolf's struggle to survive, The Wolfman works well and is effectively creepy and frightening. But more development of Lawrence's psychological torment and further establishment of the family history would have made this a more interesting and intelligent gothic horror.

Urbandictionary.com is the new go-to site for status updates, so I've heard. A modern-day 'from-the-people' definition of Rosie brings up some interesting (and pretty flattering) definitions: She is the beautiful one, the one who makes you laugh, and (my favourite) a mini, unexpected orgasm.

Well there's an incentive to come to a Film meeting if ever there was one. If you weren't swayed by that, Alex is defined as 'someone of extreme greatness, often considered a god in some nations. Also means cool.' Brushing aside the niggling sense that Alex himself might have posted that definition, as far as Urbandictionary.com is concerned, as a couple we're like frikkin' Brangelina (in the good exhibitionist days I mean, not the haggard, lonely, too-many-kids phase they're going through right now.)

Moving away from some extreme editorial narcissism, this week we have a spiffing section for your viewing pleasure. Rob Watts reviews Wolfman, yet another CGI recreation of 19th century Lahhndan Town, and Genevieve Taylor goes all cutesy on us with Benny and Joon. Feeling we've neglected the Bollywood genre over recent years, we've left it up to Husnara Bibi to make amends, while just below that, Simon Fairbanks gives us a spectacular rundown of the Top Ten Western animations, in the first instalment of a two-part Top Ten that's attempting to cover everything.

In the meantime, go online for Elmley De La Cour's comment on the 2010 Oscar nominations (you didn't think we'd just ignore them did you?), and Holly Edwards' film news.

Silverscreen

Before the release of Prince of Persia, Jake Gyllenhaal needs redeeming with some serious brownie points...

Genevieve Taylor remembers a time when Johnny Depp didn't just do Tim Burton films

Jake Gyllenhaal: disturbed teenager; gay cowboy; US marine. With Prince of Persia coming soon, many people will pre-judge this film because it is based on a video-game (admittedly past game-film transfers have been somewhat unremarkable). But might he be able to breathe new life – or rather first life – into the genre?

He has certainly proven himself as an actor.

His performance as character Donnie Darko made the film his own – retrospectively, who else can we imagine as the angstridden teen taking orders from giant rabbit Frank?

Gyllenhaal is memorable here though because he is

Johnny Depp. Buster Keaton. The Proclaimers.

Love. That's really all you need to know when it comes to kooky 90s romance Benny and Joon.

It's classic girl meets boy.

Well, mentally ill pyromaniac painter girl meets illiterate sweet cheesyprom-slasher-film-obsessed physical comedy boy. Oh, and she meets him by winning him in a game of poker. This is all however an elaborate, romantic and funny showcase for what is probably Johnny Depp's most hilarious and endearing performance to date, which deservedly earned him a second Golden Globe nomination.

From the moment we

at once the everyday youth – to whom a young audience can relate – and a dark, alarming boy, smiling as he stabs at visions of Frank in his mirror.

The brilliance lies in his skill with psychologically complex characters and he is thus able to play convincingly the role of US marine Swoff in Jarhead, which follows a battalion of snipers, focusing primarily on Swoff.

Importantly he doesn't steal the show – it is essential in Jarhead that surrounding characters are also explored – but nonetheless gives us a sharply defined insight into the marine's mental-

ity, from his initial training to his increasingly fragile psychological state, having been thrown into active service in the Gulf: his threatening of a fellow soldier at gunpoint is particularly harrowing.

He is likeable without being an action-hero or mouthpiece for the film's underlying criticisms of war.

Gyllenhaal's portrayal of a gay man in Brokeback Mountain in a climate of intense homophobia is spot on, particularly his subtle flirtation with his counterpart, the late Heath Ledger. Moving stuff from an adept actor.

meet Depp's character Sam, his face popping out from under a Buster Keaton biography through a train window, he steals the show. With side-splittingly funny snatches of physical comedy including swinging on a window cleaning platform, Depp wows with his comedic timing and kitschy-cute looks. But even if this is Depp's show, his supports are fantastic and heartfelt.

Mary Stuart Masterson, a lost gem of 90s cinema, nuances the role of troubled but romantic Joon beautifully while her brother, the eponymous Benny, is played with both gravity and tenderness by Aidan Quinn (Practical Magic).

There are some great smaller roles too for Julianne Moore as Benny's love interest, as well as William H. Macy and Oliver Platt as his poker buddies.

They truly don't make them like this anymore.

Benny and Joon is both a sentimental drama and a touching romance. You'll laugh and cry in excess. It highlights the best abilities of its cast as well as having a brilliant soundtrack, and it'll leave you really, really wanting one of those cheese toasties!

Put quite simply, this is a must-see film, unbelievably a little-known masterpiece of one of cinema's brightest stars. You'll love it.

12 Film Is Bollywood losing soul?

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Husnara Bibi comments on the 'Westernisation' of an extensive and incredible genre In recent times Bollywood's international audience has increased manifold and generally the films continue to enjoy success at the boxoffice. However, we have not received an incessant stream of unforgettable hits reminiscent of previous decades. Maine Pyar kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Koun? Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai? The common complaint from many fans is that the industry is show-

ing signs of deterioration in terms of the quality and integrity of movies, which can be traced back to the accusation that Bollywood is losing its soul by attempting to become too 'Western.'

After decades of criticism for producing overly lengthy, melodramatic and traditionally-themed productions, Bollywood seems to be desperate to display the capability of being modern, releasing slick, sultry and actionpacked special-effects

inebriated films.

Criticism of Westernisation appears to be ironic, after all 'Western' should imply thoughtful, intellectual and multifaceted dramas. Therefore, the negative concept of 'Western' appears to be due to the fact that during the latter half of the 2000s, Bollywood began to display a greater amount of Western modes in terms of dress, speech, dance, music, subjectmatter and body obsession. Not all of these influences are thought to be unfavourable, since current choreography is applauded and fast-paced Hollywood style thrillers are a welcome variation.

However, dialogues full of strained Americanised English replicating American teen dramas, the trend of releasing meaningless overly sexualised 'item' songs, the increased display of flesh and the neglect of plot has led to indigestible onscreen concoctions. Where music used to enhance the film, complimenting the story, it is now the only memorable aspect; the storyline is merely a

backdrop to songs, leaving movies as empty, never-ending music videos.

The unnecessary display of flesh has visibly increased, with the presence of protagonists and backing-dancers performing in such minuscule outfits that it makes one wonder if there was a clothing shortage. The socalled modesty of Bollywood has come into doubt, as the costumes leave nothing to the imagination. More concerning is the fact that actors can no longer enter the industry without bulky muscular visages, while the essential criteria for actresses is an ultra-feminine hourglass figure.

Youthful innocence has no place in Bollywood any longer, with established actors falling prey to the body demand and bulking up rather than focusing on their acting skills.

Movies continue to be churned out weekly but fail to make a lasting impression on the audience. Comedies, the reigning genre of the moment, are often shoddy and the humour is juvenile if not pathetic. There is defi-

nitely something missing from Bollywood at present, but what fans call 'Westernisation' and the selling of the industry's soul in order to please Western audiences cannot be held completely responsible, since, in spite of Khambakht Ishq being accused of being 'too Western', it was a film that worked. Dancing around trees and the histrionics of the past will certainly not be missed, but the passionate, poign-

ant, tear-jerking dramas that only Bollywood was capable of creating are in short supply. So we must patiently enjoy rare delights like Rab Ne Banadi Jodi while filmmakers realise that the Western audience is more intelligent than they believe, and would prefer more films like Jodhaa Akbar rather than momentary crowd pleasers such as Wanted.

Top Ten: Animations Part 1 At Simon Fairbanks' insistence, we bring you the first of a two-part Top Ten on animated classics of the Western world.

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Animation is an incredibly diverse medium.

These films can be childfriendly or adults-only; they can be hand-drawn, computer-animated or made out of clay. Either way, animation provides unlimited scope for a director's imagination and achieves a level of escapism that live-action can never truly capture.

10. Snow White

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The first Disney film released back in 1937, this introduced the world to feature-length, full-colour animation.

Pure cinematic history.

9. Shrek 2 A contemporary inversion of the fairy tale formula, Shrek 2 is a superior sequel with an addictive soundtrack and the scenestealing Puss in Boots.

8

7

8.Belleville

5. Toy Story

other-worldly

2. The Lion King

A French gem that tells of a Grandma's search for her tour-de-Francecycling grandson after he is kidnapped by the mafia.

Truly original.

Forget Avatar, this is the real game-changer. Toy Story was the first entirely CG-animated film and John Lasseter received a special recognition Oscar for his achievement. The Pixar legacy was born.

7.Persepolis

4. South Park: The Movie

Based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel, Persepolis narrates her adolescence amidst the Iranian Revolution in stylised monochrome.

A contender for the best musical of all-time, Trey Parker and Matt Stone turn their highly-popular TV series into a big-screen, Baldwin-bombing, war epic. Outrageous, hilarious and endlessly quotable.

Rendez-

vous

6. Chicken Run The first and best feature film from Aardman Animation Studios, creators of Wallace and Gromit.

This is The Great Escape with feathers, showcasing British humour and talent via flawless stop motion animation.

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3. The Nightmare Before Christmas Directed by Henry Selick and produced by Tim Burton, this is a gothic twist on Christmas magic. Showcasing German Expressionist design and a grotesque sense of humour, this is highly-stylised,

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viewing.

Alongside Aladdin, this is the Disney film of our childhood. Roughly following the plot of Hamlet, The Lion King is quintessential Disney: Oscarwinning soundtrack, unrivalled voice-casting, memorable characters and gorgeous animation of the African Savannah.

3

1.WALL.E Space-opera WALL.E is Pixar's recently-set benchmark. Never ever dumbing down for their young audience, WALL.E tells the love story of two robots against a futuristic, apocalyptic backdrop.

With inexhaustible attention to detail, a profound environmental message and ingenious closing credits, this is worldclass animation. Perfect.

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Arts & Culture

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Photography:

Art:

Hubble Photographs: Turning Space into Art

Bridget Riley @ BMAG

Sophie Rycroft

Neil Chanchlani

With the Hubble telescope recently undergoing what is likely to be its final revitalisation, I turned my attention to how these beautiful images from space could filter into the art world.

I have always found something intriguing and mystifying about the Hubble's images; there is so much happening in space that we have no idea about but these images provide us an insight. The beautiful na-

ture of these photographs made me question whether they can be constituted as a form of art.

We have accepted photography itself as an art form, and despite these images being produced by scientists rather than artists, their methods are not as different as you might think. The processing of the Hubble's images requires a similar attention to composition and form with the editing intended to please the viewer. According to Elizabeth Kessler, an art

expert, Hubble telescope images are a modern proxy for romantic nineteenth century landscape paintings, carefully balancing art and reality.

The images are edited in order to resemble recognisable elements of the Earth's landscape, allowing the viewer to identify with them. This seems less farfetched when we consider the first analyses of space were purely observational, attempting to identify similarities between the Moon and Earth and relying on sketching to trace constellations.

And let's not forget, Leonardo da Vinci himself was an avid scientist as well as artist – working in a time when all great intellectual activity went hand in hand, something we appear to have lost in the present day.

With Hubble's images finding their way to gallery walls, it would seem the art-science gap is narrowing. As the Hubble approaches its last few years I will be sad to see its end; however its replacement, The James Webb Space Telescope is set to bring even more astonishing images when launched in 2014, which I await in anticipation.

Since the dawn of time, man has dreamt of touching the stars.

Rarely do the people of Birmingham get to set their eyes on the works of one of the most captivating artists of our time.

Flashback can be summed up in one word: sensational. And that's not talking about the word in the throwaway sense. 'Yes, yes, very good – sensational, some would say.' No, Bridget is far too evolved for that. Eyes bulging, head vibrating, and vision blurring, Flashback is like being at a rave at 5 am, without the hassle of getting a taxi home.

Piloted in the early 1960s, Bridget Riley started off her collection with black and white paintings.

One of her most famous works being Movement in Squares, it's reminding of M. C. Escher meets Magic Eye. Displayed along with 8 study pictures, as well as a select few paintings from her later days, Riley's exhibition totals 30 truly artistic prints.

One of the most impressive aspects of her pieces is that they're not entirely perfect. Having drawn and painted most of them freehand, subtle irregularities can be seen, which begs the question, how does she do it so well?

James Reevell The thing about Britain's Got Talent is that most of the people aren't really all that talented. If it should be called anything, it should be 'Britain's Got a Knack'. The majority of the acts are performing in established forms and rarely does anyone have anything truly original because the format doesn't suit it. If they did, we would be too occupied during the advertising, so the acts that come on hold our attention but are quickly forgotten.

Unfortunately whilst discussing Britain's Got Talent you have to address the giant white troll in the room, Susan Boyle. Undoubtedly she has a fantastic singing voice but is it any better than other professional classical singers? Personally I doubt it and cannot help but wonder, is the main reason we like Susan Boyle the fact that she loosely resembles the Loch Ness monster, and in our looks-orientated society, beauty and talent are rarely separated? So is Susan Boyle talented?

Yes, but it is tragically ironic that it is to the show that she owes her success.

Unusual abilities on the go...

Jessica Bull It is important to acknowledge that Britain's Got Talent does IF the programme Britain's give a platform to acts Got Talent is anything to that are normally street go by, some may argue performers and can give that Britain does not have them some modicum of talent. I disagree. The Oxfleeting success. George ford English dictionary Sampson is an excellent describes someone that example of a young garis talented as 'naturally nering acclaim, yet as a inclined or disposed to Mancunian, I saw George something'. So in theory, perform on the main high everyone is talented. street every Saturday unHowever it is the der the gaze of his mum. ranking of these talents Now, I know it can be said and the level of excellence that he was doing what that is judged. In the case he loves but isn't perof Britain's Got Talent, forming for money from having raw talent is usustrangers, really just exally not enough, as with ploitation? And at what all reality TV the idea of cost, when you could be enterspending a Saturday tainwith your friends?

So in many ways, Britain's Got Talent does celebrate talent, but far more importantly it also degrades and cheapens it. If Britain's Got Talent is all we aspire to, soon all we will be is a nation of grotesque unicycling singers, whoring ourselves out to Piers Morgan and his squishy face.

Subo: A product of Britain's Got Talent

centre, everything out of your visual field pulsates.

On until the 23rd of May, anyone appreciative of any kind of art should check out Riley's Flashback. With free entry and central proximity to town, it's a perfect way to spend a Saturday morning. Who knows, you might even tap into your senses.

Bridget Riley's exhibition can be seen at The Waterhall Gallery from 6th February 2010 to 23rd May 2010.

Movement in Squares, 1961. Courtesy: BMAG

Previews

Does Britain have talent?

Degrading and cheapening...

As you browse through her study samples, one gains an idea of how truly calculated and mathematical an artist's work actually is; a feature often forgotten about in today's world of contemporary, modern, and abstract pieces. And although grids and scribbles span the sheet, the power the piece withholds is never lost. Late Morning, an acrylic piece done in 1967 is perhaps the most impressive of the bunch.

Once you focus in on the

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ment is a priority, so in order to be successful on this show, one must entertain, not just the celebrity judges, but also a ruthless live audience.

I'll take the time now to admit to you all that I have watched every series of Britain's Got Talent since it started back in 2007.

The Birmingham auditions are renowned for being especially weird, yet however bizarre someone's talent may be it is still theirs if they are inclined to a certain form of entertainment.

That could be playing the viola dressed as a zombie, carving melons into household objects or simply taking off your clothes to reveal startlingly large genitalia!

It's shows like Britain's Got Talent that allow unusual talents to be shown and given a chance.

As singing is the focus of most reality talent shows, the X-factor is specific in the people and voices it requires. Britain's Got Talent has brought dance groups like Diversity into the spotlight and pushes unusual people and acts into mainstream popular culture, while quite frankly being highly entertaining.

A selection of events that you will just love....

CBSO: Film Music for Lovers @ The Town Hall, Friday 12th February, 7.30pm – Friday night classics exploring the best of film music, ideal for film lovers, or just lovers. Tickets £9.50-39.50.

Lee Mack: Going Out @ The Alexandra, Friday 12th February, 8.00pm – Described as a 'masterclass of pure comedy', Lee Mack is a Bafta-winning comedian with an unmissable show. Tickets £18.50.

The Clink @ The Crescent, Saturday 13th February, 5.00pm – Elizabethan verse bangs into modern slang to conjure up an age of change. £7.

Valentines Special: Tarrus Riley @ The Drum, Saturday 13th February, 9.00pm – The son of Jamaican singer Jimmy Riley, Tarrus Riley reaffirms his abilities as a brilliant singer/songwriter. Tickets £20.50.

Valentines Day at the Musical @ Symphony Hall, Sunday 14th February 7.30pm – The most romantic moments from musicals including the passion of West Side Story and the wistful yearning of Breakfast at Tiffanys. Tickets £11.50-35.

Traces @ The Hippodrome, Monday 15th February, 7.30pm – In this high energy performance there emerges a dazzling display of urban acrobatics combined with circus skills basketball, skateboarding and amazing audio-visual effects.

Tickets £10-28.

Lucky Tiger 8 @ Floodgate Street, Monday 15th February, 6.00pm – Birmingham based artist, Chu, is being sponsored by Tiger beer to create a piece of fantastic art in order to celebrate Chinese New Year. Admission FREE. King of Instruments @ The Town Hall, Wednesday 17th February, 2.30 pm – Thomas Trotter plays Albinoni and Poulenc. Tickets £6.50-£19.50

14 Arts & Culture

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

HipHop:

Ballet:

Swan Lake @ The Hippodrome Sam Langtree Ballet is, let's face it, a snob's game. I say this not as a critique of the dance form which I myself am a great fan of, but as simple acceptance that it's appeal has always been towards the high brow of culture.

It is for this reason that Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake is an iconic, original and genre-pushing masterpiece that has successfully managed to take the purity and delicacy of the form and give it a contemporary and distinctly sexual edge which has captured the minds and hearts of many over the last fifteen years.

In Bourne's take on

Swan Lake whole depth and meaning is created and explored, a perfect example of this being the entirely male ensemble of Swans. Traditionally delicate and passive, they become creatures of power, at times cruel and most noticeably, homoerotic.

This is down to the male dancers carrying off the entire performance with such eclecticism that the notion of thirty men pretending to be birds never seems anything less than rational, a true credit to Bourne's dynamic attitude.

The real magic of the play comes from the way that the dancers are able to express emotion in a manner rarely touched

Photo Courtesy: The Hippodrome

Got Skillz @ The Underground

upon in more traditional ballet pieces. The rawness of the male swans was exhibited in the climax of both acts, nearly all the dancers dripping with sweat, something that seemed purposeful as it conjured up images of athleticism and energy over grace and poise.

With this comes a setting that has a distinct feel of the 80s. Scenes taking place in nightclubs and parks promote this faintly retro vibe yet the use of stage allowed the play to have a grounded and approachable feel. Bourne's take on Tchaikovsky's symphony really added to this, with the music being typical of ballet but with softer moments, helped by the effective and lush use of the harp.

Male leads Sam Archer and Ashley Bain really threw their weight as The Prince and The Lead Swan respectively, though a special mention to Charlotte Broom must be made for guaranteeing her presence as The Queen stood out amongst the mostly male cast.

The ever-growing aura of Matthew Bourne continues with this now classic being everything dance should be, exciting, innovative and engaging.

Jonathan Hunsdon Shamefully, I have to admit that my original attraction to the Hip-Hop Society's latest event at The Underground was the prospect of free drinks and snacks and yes, the Monster Munch were delicious. However, I found myself genuinely surprised by not just the extraordinary talent but the diversity of acts that were on offer, ranging from MCing and dance groups to performance poetry and stand-up.

There was a slight hiccup with the event starting almost an hour and a half late but the charismatic Chazz Redhead, the evening's host, soon had the crowd entertained with his humour and hip-hop moves that most closely resembled John Cleeses's 'Silly Walks'. The night opened with the society's dance group who immediately pulled the crowd behind them and were soon followed by LC Jstarz who effectively mixed vocal harmonies, instrumentals and rapping together to create an exceptional performance. The society also presented acts overlapping with the R&B and Popular genres with cov-

ers of 'If I Were a Boy' and 'With You' showcasing the full spectrum of their tastes and talents.

Although many of the acts showed indisputable ability, there remained a few that fell below standard. The MCing in particular seemed jerky and unimpressive and the performance poetry was a little lack-lustre juxtaposed against more invigorating acts.

Technical issues and delays were a little too frequent to overlook and ultimately affected the experience.

Despite a mixed bag,

the evening was one I thoroughly enjoyed; the highlight being BreakSoc launching themselves into the crowd in a creative and, dare I say, aweinspiring performance.

Got Skillz successfully captured the broadness of Hip Hop culture and underlined the accessibility of the music genre.

Hip-Hop Society's next event is something I will have no hesitation recommending, whether you are a fan or not, it is an evening you will definitely appreciate.

Photo Courtesy: UoB HipHop Society

Theatre: From Russia to the East End...

Anna Karenina @ The Crescent

Porridge @ The Alexandra

If We Go On @ The REP

Teodora Barzakova

Rhiannon Atkins

James Reevell

THE magnificence of the theatre was once again relived at the scene of the Crescent. Anna Karenina is a dramatic play adapted from the novel by the Russian Tolstoy, directed

by Max Webster and performed by the incredibly talented final year students from Birmingham School of Acting. It is a magical experience which awakens your love for the theatre and the beauty of live art.

In the 19th century aristocratic Russia a woman lives to find a good husband, look after her children and lead a life of dignity in the norms of a conservative society.

For Anna Karenina everything falls apart when she meets a young and attractive soldier at a train station in Moscow. Their passionate love affair cannot be hidden from the curious eyes and ears of the aristocratic circle and her family is destroyed. Alexei Karenina's pride is hurt but he will do anything to protect his family's decency. However, for Anna and her lover Vronsky a life apart equals misery and they continue their relationship wishing for Anna's husband agree-

ment for divorce. A second story-line focuses on Kostya Levin who condemns public life for being cynical and prefers to live in the country amongst the peasants.

The most interesting interpretation of the original story is the constant communication between Kostya and Anna, who talk and share everything at some kind of subconscious level, and whether or not they ever meet is left to the spectator to decide. Furthermore, some of the actors have more than one character and switch between two perfect impersonations very smoothly.

Despite the heavy plot, the play does not bore because every aspect of it is impressive. Everything is on the stage, every move seems to happen in front of the audience's eyes. The most emotional scenes are presented in explicit dances, including the act of betrayal. The lights contribute to the atmosphere greatly creating amazing illusions like a dress that turns from gray to black and winter that becomes spring.

Anna Karenina is a brilliant work bursting with the heart and soul of the theatre art.

I know what you're thinking; Barry from EastEnders meets the hit prison comedy Porridge, surely a rare gift sent from some celestial being for our pleasure? But alas, no, it was just a man in a vest, poorly imitating one of Britain's best-loved comedians, Ronnie Barker.

Whilst I understand how daunting this task must have been I can't help but think the actors, set and yep, pretty much everything was poorly done.

I'm normally up for a has-been actor's triumphant return to the back pages of the tabloids with some dodgy stage-work and a couple of seasons doing Panto but this, even I couldn't hack.

Williamson (aka Barry) tries hard to replicate the performance of the late, great Barker, with his idiosyncratic sniffs and distinctive, facial expressions but in my opinion it failed. Apart from the odd titter from the crowd the reception was generally moderate and impervious with an air of disappointment.

Ryan Winston, who played Mclaren, tried desperately to maintain an indecipherable accent, which I know from watching the TV series was supposed to be Scottish, and the other actors were mediocre at best.

Honestly, I think the barrel they were scraping when they put this together must have been pretty deep; Barry babe, you fucked it.

Photo Courtesy: The Alexandra

Well, since If We Go On made no sense, I thought I would write a letter to it's artistic director helpfully and constructively outlining its numerous failings.

Dear Director, I recently saw your production of If We Go On, a few thoughts; starting a play yelling about rejecting the old, whilst soundtracking it with a song from eleven years ago is not as innovative as you think. Similarly, midspeech, breaking into screaming Communist slogans in Russian is not original, it's irritating.

No men in jeggings please, it's creepy. If you are going to force both us and him to endure the jeggings, at least give him some artistic purpose, rather than making him perform what appeared an epileptic fit live on stage for no reason.

Having a soothing American voice reading platitudes over a soundtrack is neither new, exciting or cool.

'My pen is dipped in narcotics, my typewriter in acid' is a line that should never see the light of day.

When putting on a

dance performance, make sure all your dancers can in fact dance.

In Patrycja Kujawska you have a superb talent, who can genuinely command the stage with her performance.

Stop using Stomp as an influence, it was boring in the nineties.

Whilst trying to make a complex point about post-modernism and the power of pauses, attempting to make it funny with cheap jokes destroys your point and just leaves the bad jokes.

When people (many with press passes) leave mid way through the performance sharing the haunted look of extras in Dawn of the Dead, this is a sign that not everything is well.

'My pen is dipped in narcotics.' Really, just really? Congratulations on your psychic abilities, with your line 'we say no to success' I can't help but feel you are being oddly prescient.

I know it seems like I am being overly critical, but honestly in this case it's not me, it's you.

I hope that these points were of some use to you, Yours sincerely James

Music

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

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What's On...

Spotlight On...

Music Diary Friday 12th

Bizarre (w/ Chipmunk) O2 Academy

The Music of 2010 Does the idea of hearing Poker Face ever again make you want to cry? Think Florence sounds more like a wailing cat than a lyrical genius? Fear not! Ellen Tout has scanned 2010s horizon, so you don't have to Marina & the Diamonds (Listen to: I Am Not a Robot.)

From the first instant I heard Marina & the Diamonds' music I was captivated by the rich vocals and playful piano accompaniments. Fans of Florence & The Machine or Bat For Lashes would probably share my admiration. Her music is catchy, but unlike some of her pop competitors, Marina is truly talented and her vocals are stunning. However, in her own words, her fans are the diamonds that complete her music.

This is a sweet sentiment which makes her all the more likeable. Her first

studio album, The Family Jewels, is set for release in late February. I cannot wait.

Flamboyant Bella: (Listen to: Touch) Flamboyant Bella are a band who have flourished from MySpace to recently getting signed and touring small venues across the UK. The name says it all really: their electro-pop sound is addictive and their live performances are full of energy. What's really unique about this band is their layering of both male and female vocals. Their music varies from acoustic tracks like My Skies Are Blue to the

Saturday 13th

Kelly Clarkson O2 Academy Imogen Heap O2 Academy 2 Sunshine Underground (w/ Cosmo Jarvis) O2 Academy 2

Sunday 14th lively synth melody Nothing. If you're looking for music to dance to in 2010, look no further.

Theophilus London: (Listen to: Humdrum Town) Recently named as NME's top next big thing, Theophilus London has an innovative musical style.

Speaking as an avoider of R&B and hip hop, London nevertheless seems to have achieved the ultimate coming together of hip hop and electronic rock. The opening notes to Humdrum Town could easily belong to an average indie song, but as the rhythmic beats and rap vocals commence it becomes clear that his music isn't so easy to pigeonhole.

Run Toto Run: (Listen to: Hater)

This trio from Manchester first gained attention for their electro-folk cover of Passion Pit's Sleepy Head. I am not normally a Passion Put fan, but Run Toto Run transformed the song into a mystical lullaby. Their music has a futuristic quality, which is achieved by a bizarre yet captivating blend of the violin, flute, synths, Casio and guitar. The outcome is not dissimilar to the music of Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Ladyhawke. The soon-to-be released single Catch My Breath shows the band's simplistic style, and is full of relaxing percussion twinklings.

Rox (Listen to: My Baby Left Me) Rox, full name Roxanne Tataei, is half-Iranian and half-Jamaican. This shines through in her soulful,

gospel-like music. Her voice is powerful and enticing, whilst the melodies consist of a catchy fusion of reggae and pop - perhaps why she received attention in the BBC Sound of 2010 predictions. Her debut single, My Baby Left Me, reminds me of an upbeat Amy Winehouse song, whereas more solemn tracks like Sad Eyes show the extent of her vocal range.

There simply isn't enough time or paper to mention every artist likely to emerge this year. 2010 looks like a year for electropop, while our love for female singers continues to blossom. If you're still curious, then I also recommend a listen to Two Door Cinema Club; Goldhawks, or Owl City. Enjoy.

Tinchy Stryder O2 Academy Band of Skulls Hare & Hounds

Monday 15th

Booty Luv Coventry Kasbah This City The Flapper

Tuesday 16th

Yeasayer O2 Academy 2 Straight Lines O2 Academy 3 Mastodon Wolverhampton Wulfrun

Wednesday 17th Lostprophets O2 Academy Boys Like Girls O2 Academy 3 Animal Kingdom Hare & Hounds

Thursday 18th

The Rumble Strips O2 Academy 2

16 Music

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010 don't ever give it up. I can tell you now if I wasn't in Lostprophets or in a band that was signed, I'd still be doing it. I'd still work the 9-to-5 and play gigs at the weekend.

Redbrick Meets....

Lostprophets We had to make her sign a 'no-touching' contract, but Louisa Robinson managed to meet Lostprophet's new Brummie drummer, Luke Johnson, without getting a restraining order.

How were you approached to join the band?

I approached them, actually. I was in a band called Beat Union, we'd played a festival in Japan called Summersonic with Lostprophets, and when Beat Union's record label folded, Lostprophets were looking for a drummer.

I jumped on the opportunity straight away and I got in contact with Stu [Richardson, bassist] via producer Josh Feldman and we were in contact for a few months. This led to me trying out, and the first time I tried, I played shit, and I said, is there any chance we can do this again and the next time

I was fine. So they asked me to play the pre-shows and Leeds and Reading, and after that, they said, yep, this is our man.

So, how did you get into drumming, and what made you choose that over other instruments?

I was five years old, and the band my dad used to manage, The Wonder Stuff, gave me a pair of drumsticks. I used to bang the crap out of pots and pans to the point where my parents were like, maybe we should get him a set of drums. I had lessons for a couple of years, then I went on to listen to my favourite bands and trying to learn the drums

Album Reviews Alphabeat The Beat Is

4

Toni-May Skidmore THIS album is apparently an attempt to create a version of 'Danish Motown', a claim that is contradicted by any attempt to listen to it. The Beat Is is indisputably pop, and very cheesy pop at that.

Rage Strings to a Web

5

John Asquith RAGE'S legacy shows that they have undeniable talent and unrelenting passion for the music they craft. I want to like this album. Yet, I can't help but feel a little disappointed.

Despite intermittently showing signs of brilliance, overall, Strings to a Web resigns itself to

The eleven songs that make up Alphabeat's new album are composed of the same fundamental things as the songs they are famous for, Fascination and Boyfriend. The male vocals contribute nothing except making the female vocals sound miles better in comparison. The Spell is catchy and the best song on the album, which shortly follows a spiral of decline – The Spell being track 2.

These are the songs that our children will dance to in the disco and cheese rooms of clubs in twenty years' time, with no idea of what or who it is. If you like cheese, The Beat Is is fine; otherwise it's nothing memorable.

mediocrity. It feels like an album that, at best, has been released too early and, at worst, didn't need to be made at all. It has no clear message or real direction. The strings of the title are plain to see, but the greater web got lost along the way.

The musicianship is as intricate as the songs are complex, but the album leaves you with very little memorable impression. At times, it is selfindulgent, even tedious.

There is a sheer power behind the majority of the material, which makes it reassuringly familiar sustenance for the average metal fan. But it is this familiarity that holds the album back. It will be soon forgotten by all but the strongest members of the Rage faithful.

from their albums. It went on from there, there have been lots of highs and lows, but basically drumming has taken me on the most amazing journey.

What advice would you give to young musicians who are looking to get into the business and do what you do?

Well this is a bit of an Ian Watkins quote to be fair, which I truly believe in, that usually fame and fortune is about talent, so those bands like AC/DC and Metallica, these huge bands are rich and famous because they're talented.

And so I think my advice to people, if you have the intentions to make music, Vampire Weekend Contra

8

Gio Esposito VAMPIRE Weekend's detractors often focus on their Ivy-League image.

But even if you have a problem with the Ralph Lauren polo necks and self-consciously literate lyrics, it can't be denied that Contra represents a musical progression.

Without abandoning Alan Pownall Alan Pownall

5

Will Hunter THE last thing the music scene needs right now is another male solo artist who doesn't really seem to know his place in terms of genre. Especially when he seems to be imitating artists such as Newton Faulkner, Jason Miraz and Jack Johnson.

This EP lacks a dis-

What was it like growing up in Birmingham? Any hidden hangouts you recommend?

My early years were spent in Redditch going up to this little rock club called The Limelight and The Golden Cross by Redditch train station, which used to be the rock/alternative pub that I used to sneak into underage. In Birmingham I used to work in a night club called Excels, it was my favourite rock club in Birmingham, it was a dirty rock club. I prefer the one -off rock clubs: Nottingham Rock City; Sheffield Corporation; those dingy clubs that have disgusting stinky toilets. You know what, it's a dirty rock club, but that's what I love.

So what other musicians have influenced you?

Well my favourite band of all time are The Smashing Pumpkins. I found a CD in my Dad's collection when I was about 12, the first album, and the opening drum beats blew my

mind. And then that was it, I was hooked. I learnt the drums to every single album, then got into bands like Jane's Addiction, The Cure, Joy Division, The Clash, The Police, just really, it was like a new input. I think that's how a lot of kids learn these days: get taken aback by a band and they're like, what a tune, let's play that, and they learn the beat.

Anyone on the UK underground that we can look out for?

Well, the bands that we're taking out on tour: Kids In Glass Houses, Sharks, Hexes. There are a lot of good strong bands around, but my two hot picks for 2010 are the Dear and Departed, an American band, who are good friends of mine. Their EP is coming out and they're going on tour with AFI. And the other is one we're taking on tour, Sharks, because they're just about as real as it gets. Straight-up lads making music because they believe in it and their album when it drops is going to be phenomenal.

So the new album got to #3. How does it make you feel being part of it?

See this is the thing. Now-

the breezy, cheerful tone of their debut, Contra leans less on Afro-pop rhythms and the instrumentation sounds a little less stolen from a Wes Anderson film. Producer Rostam Batmanglij has learnt from his experience with side-project Discovery, integrating the electronics while actually giving some weight to the band's sound.

Contra may be more advanced than their debut, but Vampire Weekend are still making catchy songs.

You may have trouble getting the first single Cousins out of your head after a few listens. It's great to be able to listen to a new indie band playing clever music that you can simply enjoy without having to spend time figuring it out first.

Hot Chip One Life Stand

tinctive sound: this is the type of music you would expect to hear in an elevator, or a cheap car dealership. It's as if Alan is still going through the experimental stage of his musical career. Perhaps it is this that could make him slightly appealing in the future?

The EP's one saving grace is Colourful Day. Pownall's voice fits the accompanying music perfectly, similar to the likes of Bon Iver, with lo-fi fuzz on top of his vocals. Part of me wishes that he had just stuck to this sound.

At a stretch, I would say Too Many Holes (please refrain from tasteless jokes) is worthwhile too. There is perhaps an audience for this music, but I'm quite certain it won't find it here.

Gil Scot-Heron I'm New Here

9

Chris Hughes LISTENERS accustomed to anecdotes of rappers' latest sexual conquests will be pleasantly surprised with the latest release from Hot Chip. Keeping honest, family man Alexis Taylor, is writing about what he knows, resulting in an astonishingly unique and sincere album.

8

David Inkpen WHEN I write an album review, my normal routine is: sit down, press play, start listening. Usually, by the second song, I start writing, as I've got the feeling of the album already. How the songs are going to play out, what the singing and instrumentation are like...

adays when you look at the charts, the top slots are R & B, pop – manufactured. I mean you have your X Factor crap, and it's tough, because the TV exposure that the X Factor winner gets, you can't pay for that. But I don't think #3 is a failure by any means. We are one of the only rock bands that is up that high in the chart; you look at it and think who else is doing this. I think for a band like Lostprophets to still be relevant after 10 years, is one of the most important things ever. I think you can hear and feel it in the album.

Do you think internet downloads are going to bring about the death of the CD? I think we've got to the point where it's accepted – Ian will openly encourage kids to illegally download and copy our record and pass it round. And I think a lot of our fan base, even if they downloaded it before the release date, they still went out to buy it to show support for a band they like. So I encourage them to spread the word.

If someone couldn't afford our album, I'd rather they illegally downloaded it than not had it at all.

If you're looking for upbeat club anthems à la Over and Over may be disappointed. Instead, you get songs with heart firmly on sleeve, making up an album that gets better with every listen. The album is incredibly consistent, making it difficult to pick out single moments.

However, opening gambit Thieves of the Night, though doing nothing to help avoid comparisons with 80s pop superstars, is without a doubt one of the best songs you'll hear for a while.

With a release date timed impeccably for Valentine's Day, there is a smoothness here usually reserved for the likes of Marvin Gaye. Surprising from a group of guys looking like they've come to fix your computer.

On I'm New Here, there is just far too much variation to get this kind of grasp on it. So I just listen, patient and content, to Heron's deep, rhythmic, incredibly enchanting voice.

Starting as he means to go on, Scott-Heron talks about his grandmother in the incredibly moving first track, a spoken word epic over a backing refrain reminiscent of Rob (Clubbed to Death) Dougan. It weaves through genres, from tunes you'd expect to hear on late night radio to the bluesclub blend New York Is Killing Me, with short atmospheric interview clippings spliced between.

You must listen this album – for full effect, on a big sound system in a dark room.

Music

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Editor Erica Anne Vernon offers new grub for your plate STRANGE name, strange grouping, strange sound.

One reason why I have a penchant for this band is that they had an advantage over any potential competitors: the element of surprise. Perhaps despite, or perhaps because I've seen so many CD's come through the Redbrick office, I rarely warm to a band quickly. The debut album We Are Here was released just last week, and ever since I've been treating it like a teenage crush – listening to them, thinking about them, being slowly seduced by them.

But you're still wondering who they are, so let's shed some light.

Apparatjik (pronounced Apa-rat-chik) consist of four members.

They're not newborn music industry darlings, but in fact Magne Furuholmen of A-ha, Jonas Bjerre of Mew, music producer Martin Terefe and Guy Berryman of Coldplay.

One could say they fit the Wikipedia definition of a 'supergroup'. When individuals from already well established bands start making new music, it always provokes questions in people's minds. For example, 'they're from such different bands, how will this work?', 'what sound will they come up with?'

Spotlight On...

Apparatjik

Photo: www.apparatjik.com or simply 'why?'. There the sound could be lais no easy answer to how, belled 'experimental', what, why – but my initial rock, pop or even the reaction was that this was vague 'alternative'. The an alternative outlet for greater part of We Are Here

'When individuals from already well established bands start making new music, it always provokes questions...' each, as A-ha is over, Mew is under-appreciated and I can understand anyone wanting to escape Coldplay.

What is solid however, is the music. There is heavy use of synthetic sounds throughout, and

Live Reviews Decapitated 01/02 @ The O2 Academy 3 Charlie Bailey BACK in the UK for the first time in two years, the prospect of Decapitated returning after the death of their drummer Vitek should have been an unmissable date for any self respecting metalhead and so it proved.

Support Kataklysm could easily have headlined a tour, bringing a much needed old-school sliminess to proceedings.

With the intimate venue rammed by the time Decapitated took to the stage, it only took the opening barrage of riffing for a pit to break out and bodies to start fly-

ing about. It was a relief that their blend of traditional groove with hyperfast technicality kept its power live. Credit to the venue for great sound.

Encompassing material from their entire recorded output, the gig was a brutal reminder of why Decapitated are still relevant in today's scene.

If there was one misstep it was the chanting of their former drummer's name.

Decapitated are too good to be remembered for that tragedy alone. Highlight of the night? Spheres of Madness. Good to have them back.

has an instantly addictive quality, most notably Snow Crystals and Arrow and Bow. An interesting array of darker and lighter tones are offered, often within one track itself due to constant changing of direction. It keeps the

listener on their toes; this is remarkable considering there's a fair amount of repetition in some parts of the music and the lyrics. All the more credit to the band, who are undoubtedly uniting their skills gained from previous musical endeavours.

Unsurprisingly, the vocals are mainly handled

by Jonas Bjerre. Anybody with a knowledge of Mew's music will be aware of his capability to command his beautiful voice through an astonishing range, it's compatibil-

Lang Land 04/01 @ Symphony Hall Rachael Hogg HE'S the Jimi Hendrix of the piano. Last year he was voted in Time magazine's 'Top 100 most influential people in the world' poll, and his performance at the opening of the Beijing Olympics was watched by nearly five billion people – no small feat for a pianist aged just 27. He alone has inspired 40 million children in China to start playing the piano. From those statistics, you're probably expecting something amazing. Lang Lang definitely delivered.

No aspect of the perfomance was less than utter perfection. His animated, eccentric style of playing just added to the atmosphere. Raising his hands high in the air, jumping clear off his stool, and

ity with relatively heavier rock through to floaty pop, and his disposition for eccentric lyrics. However, others vocals also appear, providing a contrast with Bjerre's trademark falsetto. The use of multiple voices separately and layered together works particularly well on the dynamic yet haunting Supersonic Sound. Another personal favourite is Josie; the high-pitched vocals are buoyant over a robust beat. The song's beauty lies in its simplicity.

There isn't a single

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bad track, but it's not perfect in any sense. I believe the key aspect of We Are Here is that it generates excitement, and surely that is what one is always seeking for in music? Others refer to Apparatjik as a 'side project', and previously I would have done also, but this release has altered my opinion. I've realised that this is a serious venture, and there's a clearer sense of direction than I'd previously anticipated. Apparatjik is not the product of self indulgence, but an innovative and surprisingly accessible band.

So far, they've only had one public outing.

The performance was contained in a semitransparent fabric cube of small proportions. Visuals were projected onto the surfaces and therefore, only silhouettes were visible of the inside. As pretentious as this may sound, photographs and first-hand accounts tell me this was a beautiful sight, and in truth it made me ever the more keen to witness them live. There's no indication as of yet, when Apparatjik will hit our shores. My task is to be patient, your task is to discover them before they do.

Can you write something like this? Except ten times better? Get involved you prodigy!

Contact: music@redbrickonline.co.uk

Rammstein 03/02 @ LG Arena Joseph Ward quickly snapping his arms away from the piano created an electric tension which was enthralling and mesmerising to watch.

The first half consisted of two Beethoven Sonatas, and the second two twentieth century works

by Albéniz and Prokofiev.

Amazing virtuosity was displayed throughout, especially in the highly dramatic third movement of Prokofiev, which concluded the concert perfectly.

Given Lang Lang's status, there was no hint of arrogance – he continually thanked the audience, and reappeared to play a short but beautiful encore. Overall it was a truly amazing concert by a true rockstar of the classical world.

POLITICAL correctness has never been particularly high on Rammstein's agenda. Fire, on the other hand, they are much keener on. With a collection of exploding baby dolls and pyrotechnics, this wasn't just another gig at the NEC, it was an exhibition.

New album Liebe ist Fur Alle Da took the centre ground, with other hits nicely slotted around the edges. Guitarists Kruspe and Landers smash through backdrop number one to begin Rammlied, and frontman Till Lindemann appears in a beautiful red dress.

His almost prophetic and commanding vocals soar over the audience; unanimous chanting of 'Ramm' 'Stein' ensues.

Several songs pass by in a headbanging frenzy, with no let up from the growls of Lindemann, and riff after scintillating riff. An unexpected break came in the form of the almost-ballad Fruhling in Paris. The definite highlight was in the middle of Du Hast: Lindemann fires a flare gun at the back of the arena, triggering a sequence of fireworks that fly back and forth.

No other band today can pull off a show like this, at least not that I've experienced. The encore is reserved for a pummeling of hits, with Lindemann sporting a pair of exploding wings, which by this time seem completely appropriate and almost tame by comparison.

18 Editorial

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

REDBRICK EDITORIAL

Please send all letters to letters@redbrickonline.co.uk. Letters/emails for publication must be marked 'for publication' and include your name and course title. Letters without these details will not be published. We reserve the right to edit letters.

Student stereotypes Nadine Baldwick Sitting in the Gisbert Kapp Building a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't help but overhear the stereotypical ramblings of one mature student. The general gist of his remarks were that all British students care about is getting drunk and having a good time, rather than showing a dedicated work ethic. Unfortunately, this stereotype is echoed by many others in society and has been fuelled by the media.

It would be easy for me to digress onto the subject of oversubscribed university places and the fact that young people go to university in order to delay entering the professional world resulting higher tuition fees, but I fear I could write forever on this subject without reaching any conclusion. So, I shall leave that debate to another time. Instead, I wish to consider the impact of the stereotypes on students.

The most important issue when discussing stereotypes is whether or not people use them sarcastically or actually believe them to be truly representative.

Do the public acknowledge the importance of higher education or just regard students as prolonging their entry into the workplace? If the latter is the case, it is easy to see where the stereotypes arise from.

As a conscientious and hardworking stu-

dent, I take offence at the stereotype of being regarded by many as a 'typical student' because I am not the person that it represents. Like many students, I work extremely hard towards my degree and have loans and a part-time job to fund it.

I have a strong work ethic, but often feel the need to justify my student status with the words: 'I have a job too'.

I am not denying the fact that sometimes I do like to go out and have a good time, which more often than not involves having a drink or two, but why should I be labelled as a 'typical student' for doing so? Of course there are students particularly in their first year who enjoy frequent nights out, but why should this element of their lives be used in the stereotype and not the hard-work that they put in to their degrees?

For some, the stereotype is seemingly of no concern. The Facebook group 'university... it's like being on the dole only your parents are proud of you' appears to advocate the 'typical student' lifestyle.

However, one derogatory comment towards students which has subsequently been deleted, provoked outrage among many members, showing that although there is an attempt to 'laugh' the stereotype off, they actually take offence by it.

Ultimately, it appears that although as a collective student body we see no harm in mocking ourselves, as soon as the rest of society starts to criticise, we take offence.

Section contact information and meeting times News / news@redbrickonline.co.uk / Thursday 5pm Comment and Features / features@redbrickonline.co.uk / Tuesday 5pm Arts and Culture / arts@redbrickonline.co.uk / Wednesday 3pm Film / film@redbrickonline.co.uk / Friday 2pm Music / music@redbrickonline.co.uk / Wednesday 4pm Lifestyle / lifestyle@redbrickonline.co.uk / Wednesday 2pm TV / tv@redbrickonline.co.uk / Wednesday 3pm Sport / sport@redbrickonline.co.uk / Friday 1pm Travel / travel@redbrickonline.co.uk / Thursday 3pm Technology / technology@redbrickonline.co.uk / Wednesday 4pm Photographs l.percival@redbrickonline.co.uk / Friday 12pm All meetings take place in the student development area of the Guild. Please come along with plenty of ideas and enthusiasm.

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Letters Dear Redbrick.

I would like to correct an article on Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg by Anna Brown in last week's Redbrick. Nick Clegg has not 'revoked' the Liberal Democrat's principled opposition to Labour's university fees or their commitment to scrapping them. Neither this promise, nor any of their other promises to make Britain a fairer place have been 'scaled back'. Nick Clegg did recently announce, however, that under a Liberal Democrat government tuition fees would take six years to eradicate; a timeline which is seen by most to be both realistic and ambitious. Sadly it has been a common mistake by the media to report the announcement of a new timeline as a major policy shift, which it clearly was not.

Apart from that point, Anna's article was excellent and demonstrated exactly why the Lib Dem's are considered the natural party of young people and students. Whether it is down to their unique ability to engage with young people via the channels they are comfortable with, or their determination to find them employment and cut their debt levels, there is clearly something different about the Liberal Democrats.

Yours Faithfully, Rob Hunter Chair University of Birmingham Liberal Democrats

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Travel

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

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With the opening of the first Harry Potter theme park in Florida, Alex Cloney profiles some other, equally interesting, theme parks worldwide.

This spring marks the opening of one of the most eagerly awaited – albeit mostly by twelve year-olds – alternative theme parks ever: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. So, as part of the festivities for this global literary event we thought we'd take a look at some of the best alternative theme parks the world has to offer. Some of them are, worryingly, to be found in the UK.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Florida: This park promises to be 'merlin's beard' to all Muggles out there. It will be an entirely immersive environment and will include full-size replicas of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. You will be able to try butterbeer or purchase an extendable ear.

It's just a shame that these experiences will all be in the sweltering heat of Orlando rather than the dismal weather of Scotland which would have been far more appropriate.

Then again, I can't imagine anyone other than the Yanks spending almost $300 million dollars on indulging children's -and some adults' – fantasies.

Seagaia Ocean Dome, Japan: This is the largest indoor water park and it boasts waves, artificial sand, a roof which mimics blue sky and even a volcano which erupts every hour. It is beautiful but one can't help but think

the creators utterly clueless as this replica beach was built a mere 1,000 feet from the actual coastline. This, coupled with an exorbitant entrance fee of almost £30, means that unsurprisingly, people have largely rejected it in favour of the real deal, and the Ocean Dome has suffered huge financial woes.

Grutas Park, Lituania: The words 'Stalin' and 'amusement' are not usually found in the same sentence. Unfortunately, this is not the case in Lithuania where you can visit Grutas Park, a two mile trek to educate and by the looks of things, petrify people about communist occupation. This park is crammed with authentic features of concentration camps, guard towers and over 80 statues of prominent communist figures, not to mention more barbed wire and electric fencing than you can shake a stick at.

Perfect, if strolling around a model gulag – similar to one which 360,000 Lithuanians were sent to – sounds like your idea of fun.

Dickens World, England: A must-see for all literary enthusiasts, this is an immersive environment where you can observe all the life-experiences of Dickens' characters such as everybody's second favourite fictional orphan, Oliver Twist. It is a realistically grubby

19

Other weird and wonderful places to visit include: Foamhenge, Virginia – An exact replica of Stonehenge made out of foam by some Southern eccentric/ nutter called Mark Cline.

Diggerland, UK – Worrying images of over-zealous 5-year-olds operating heavy machinery or men trying to prove their masculinity in bulldozers make this sound like a health and safety nightmare.

Love land, South Korea – Pornographic statues and attractions called things like 'most big penis' make this a popular park for newlyweds and intrigued tourists alike.

Photo: Bluemoose on Flickr

Coming Soon:

Travel News Bites –

American Summer Camps – as much fun as they sound?

From Russia with love?

Alex Cloney's Travel Essentials

Moscow's hotels have been labelled the world's most expensive for the fifth year running. The average hotel room costs around £267 in the Russian capital, according to a survey by the Hogg Robinson Group. London came in 29th on the list, with an average room rate of £151.45.

A look at the Carnival season around the world

Redbrick Travel requires new editor!

Must love travel, have experience of other countries & cultures and an ongoing willingness to impress others with their stories of ascending Mount Everest annually, sailing all seven seas and cycling across every continent.

If interested email: Travel@redbrickonline.co.uk

James Cull

Hotel rooms starting at 99p, no reserve The American online auction site eBay has teamed up with Octopus travel to offer over 50,000 hotel rooms starting at 99p with no reserve. eBay hopes it will generate great interest and provide competition against the major travel agents.

Sex-mad parrot lands conservation role An endangered kakapo parrot who tried to “mate” with the head of Mark Carwardine, a zoologist and TV presenter, has been appointed the world's first “spokesbird for conservation” by John Key, the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Key claimed that the parrot, Sirocco, would be the ideal ambassador for conservation.

Cold snap leaves a £10 billion bill behind The recent bout of cold weather has caused over £10 billion worth of damage to the UK's 246,000 miles of secondary roads. The winter of 2009/2010, one of the coldest and snowiest on record, lead to a dramatic increase in the number of potholes in the nation's roads and a repair bill of over £1 million a day, according to The Daily Telegraph.

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Travel/Television

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Valentine's Breaks: Lousie Spratt says you'll never walk alone in Liverpool this weekend.

The Liver building lit up Photo: pmorgan on Flickr Where better to spend a romantic Valentines weekend than in the European Capital of Culture?

Enriched by a vibrant music scene, steeped in maritime tradition, and brightened by an often overlooked countryside and coastline, Liverpool has something for every couple.

Find your bearings in this historic city with a sightseeing tour on an open top double-decker bus or, better still, go quackers (sorry, couldn't resist!) on the unique Yellow Duckmarine – an amphibious truck that begins its one hour cruise

around the city on road before taking the plunge in the Salthouse Dock. If sightseeing doesn't float your boat, head to Liverpool's nature conservation sites or take a stroll along the beach and coastline – there are 30 miles of it to choose from.

Wirral peninsula, situated between the Rivers Dee and Mersey and with the Irish Sea to the north, is blessed with stunning natural splendour and a wild, unspoilt coastline.

A must for Beatles fans, and unavoidably flocks of snap-happy foreign tourists, is The Beatles Story attraction;

an interactive exhibition situated on the Docks that reflects upon the Liverpudlian lads' musical journey. Pick up some over-priced souvenirs and

'Go quackers on the unique Yellow Duckmarine' collectors' items from the adjacent shop.

In the evening, head into the city centre where you'll find Ego on Hope

Street; a Mediterranean restaurant that prides itself on locally sourced organic ingredients. They offer a three course Valentine's Dinner menu, including a glass of Kir Royale for £24.95. The more adventurous of foodies love the experience of Quynny's Quisine; serving authentic African food against a backdrop of Caribbean style with a bring your own booze policy. Here you can discover the delights of green plantain porridge, Moi moi or Bango soup! Find them on Bold Street.

Nip over to the parallel Wood Street for one, or several, shots of Tequila at the quirky Bar Ça Va – despite its French inspired name, the small but vibrant venue boasts 50 flavours of Jose Cuervo Especial, and at £1 a shot it would be rude not to sample a good selection!

Uplifting music and relaxing atmosphere makes Bar Ça Va a friendly place – though it could be attributed to the crowdedness.

A ten minute stroll away is Bumper; Liverpool's best free club that offers live music and DJs every night to suit most music tastes and is a favourite student haunt. For a little alternative entertainment check out Le Bateau; a moody, two-storey pubcome-club that blasts retro and indie music and serves cheap drinks.

How to get there: The National Express runs to Liverpool from Digbeth coach station or you can jump on a train at Birmingham New Street. Prices vary.

Where to stay: Roscoe House by Urban Chic is perfectly located. Once home to historian William Roscoe and restored to it's original Georgian splendour.£64.95 per night for a double room.

What to do: Superfunk Roller Disco on Saturday 13th February at the Guild of Students, £4 for NUS cardholders.

World Museum Liverpool; new galleries include World Cultures, the Bug House, a new Aquarium, the Weston Discovery Centre and Clore Natural History Centre.

Where to go: For a trip down memory lane, check out the infamous Cavern Club where the spirit of legendary musicians is still very much alive.

Birmingham's Got Talent

TV Gold: State of Play

Rachael Hogg talks us through a day in the life of the fourth judge at the Britain's Got Talent auditions at the Birmingham Hippodrome.

Annie Hodson looks back on the BBC's classic political masterpiece.

SO we arrived early and joined the throngs of people who had clearly been in line for four hours already.

After a tedious two hour wait, mysterious cheering from the front of the line, and far too many chain smokers, the queue finally started to move.

Prayers for the return of Simon Cowell, who had missed the Birmingham auditions due to the flu – swine or otherwise – were clearly unanswered as a small and shockingly skinny Louis Walsh turned up to muted applause, and disappeared inside.

We got directed to our seats and another half an hour later the judges entered and auditions began.

Two acts down and there's a slightly longer pause, before the man himself, Simon Cowell, walks on stage, promptly introduces himself, and duly kicks off Louis Walsh to rapturous applause from an extremely happy and enlivened audience.

Remember 'DarthJackson' from last year?

He made his triumphant return as 'Bat-Jackson'.

We had the pleasant job

IF you're a fan of gripping political thrillers, why not invest in State of Play, a 2003 six part BBC mini-series from Shameless creator Paul Abbot.

State of Play may have had a glossy Hollywood reboot but the original series remains the superior version – a master class in understated British drama.

The plot starts out simple: world weary journalist Cal McCaffrey (John Simm) begins delving into the suspicious death of a secretary working for MP Stephen Collins (David Morrissey) – an investigation complicated by Cal and Stephen's long standing friendship.

The secretary's death coincides with the apparently unconnected shooting of a teenage boy, but as any crime aficionado knows, these things are always linked.

As Cal digs deeper, he finds himself embroiled in deep rooted political intrigue, with shifting ethical horizons concerning his feelings for Stephen's brittle wife Anne (Polly Walker).

The plot pitches the

of watching a dancing horse defecate on stage; dancing old-men; child singers; dance troupes, including a messy Michael Jackson/Lady Gaga/Grim Reaper combination; and stripping paramedics – which definitely wasn't as attractive as it sounds!

Unfortunately there weren't any Diversity or SuBo moments, but all in all the talent in Birmingham was diverse, to say the least.

It was a surreal day, so unbelievably similar to watching it on television.

However, the buzzers were MUCH louder: deafeningly so; the judges appear so much less witty; and Ant and Dec (sorry boys) look so much older!

I've never had a jawdropping moment before and ashamedly, Ant and Dec stole my first one.

They were filming a metre away from where we were sat, noticed my friend's and my rather shocked face, and imitated it.

That's basically meeting them, right?

We filmed a couple of standing ovations and aside from this, the only direction the audience had was to be as loud as possible – positively or negatively.

I've always been one to get rather irate at the audience when they chant 'off, off, off', or cheer before someone's finished the first line of a song... but when you're there it's pretty impossible not to.

You just get involved.

And soon, ashamedly, you're the one heckling the poor cross-dressing, singing mermaid holding a packet of 'Ariel' (hilarious), the loudest.

twists and turns perfectly to keep you guessing.

And if the idea of a political thriller puts you off, rest assured that State of Play combines a complex character study, a bittersweet romance, and an exploration of moral corruption; along with servings of sex, shocks, and shooting.

The acting is unimpeachable – Simm and Morrissey light up the screen with their brooding chemistry, dancing around one another in the kind of ambivalent and strained relationship that is rarely satisfactorily rendered on television.

The supporting players are pitch perfect too; Bill Nighy's wry editor, Kelly McDonald's scrappy rookie reporter, and James McAvoy's slippery freelancer all deserve a spin-off of their own.

The entire cast is a who's who of British acting talent; from Philip Glenister's gruff cop (not much of a stretch) to exHustle star Marc Warren's deliciously seedy playboy, working a flamboyant fur coat for a role so sleazy you'll want to

hose yourself down after watching.

But the real star here is the writing: Paul Abbot has an incredible gift for realistic dialogue and a refreshing ability to sidestep cliché. The same naturalistic style that made early Shameless such a sharp and witty treat is at work here, as is the blend of comedy and tragedy, and likeable but complex characters.

It's the perfect confluence of tight plots, sharp scripts, and bravura performances that make State of Play feel as fresh today as it did seven years ago.

And if State of Play has whetted your appetite for political conspiracies, check out Edge of Darkness or The State Within.

Television

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Top Ten British dramas Charlotte Lytton takes us through the programmes that define British drama 10. The Bill – Narrowly escaping the soap category, The Bill is TV's longest running cop drama.

Twenty six years and almost 2500 episodes down the line, there's always something exciting going on at Sun Hill Police Station. .

9. Jonathan Creek – Curly haired funny man Alan Davies can these days be caught having a battle of wits on QI, but we haven't forgotten the glory – and occasionally gory – days of Jonathan Creek. Following the popularity of last year's one off special, the BBC has lined up an Easter treat for viewers – another brand new, extended episode of our favourite anorak-wearing detective at work.

8. Auf Wiedersehen, Pet – Possibly the best thing ever to come out of Newcastle (sorry Cheryl), Auf Wiedersehen, Pet was comedy drama at its best.

Revived in 2002 after almost twenty years off air, this group of construction workers travelled the globe, and never failed to get themselves into trouble whilst doing so.

7. Ashes to Ashes – All good things must come to an end, and sadly that means saying goodbye to Ashes to Ashes, the sequel to the hugely popular Life on Mars. Unlikely sex symbol Gene Hunt is always on hand to add a touch of politically incorrect humour to proceedings, and this retro police mob will be sorely missed when the third and final series is aired later in the year.

6. The Street – British drama doesn't get much more British than hard hitting series The Street.

With the final series' characters consisting of a xenophobe, a prostitute and an injured soldier, this brilliantly gritty show examined the trials and tribulations that go on behind closed doors. A star studded cast including performances from Jim Broadbent, Timothy Spall and Bob Hoskins undoubtedly made the programme the critically acclaimed phenomenon it was.

5. Cutting It – With adultery, arson and adoption scandals, Cutting It

was the highlight of our weeks back in the early noughties. We longed to be sitting in the chairs of the Henshall Ferraday salon watching the drama never-endingly unfold, but the show's finale in 2005 meant that we never got the chance. Allie's surprising and tragic death in the last series brought the whole show to a very bitter end.

4. Spooks – With its principal cast kicking the bucket in a variety of brutal fashions at an increasingly alarming rate, the few remaining members of this MI-5 team have certainly got their work cut out for them. After an explosion at the end of the last series, Ros' status is currently unknown, and will be revealed when Spooks returns for its ninth series in autumn this year.

3. Cold Feet – Exploring the ups and downs of marriage, Cold Feet undoubtedly had a huge influence on British television. The show was not only gripping but hugely entertaining, and has left a huge void in our hearts and on our screens that still remains to be filled.

The scattering of Rachel's ashes in the final episode of the series brought the programme to a close in 2003.

2. Doctor Who – The silver medal must be a foreign concept for Doctor Who, particularly as national treasure David Tennant has only just hung up his sonic screwdriver.

Running on and off for almost 50 years, this show is perhaps the most original and iconic in its genre, bringing science fiction into the mainstream.

1. Shameless – Endlessly underrated but eternally wonderful, Shameless has returned to the small screen for its seventh series, and we couldn't be happier. Mandy, Debbie and Monica may be out of the picture, but the Gallagher and Maguire clans are always on hand to stir up some trouble on the Chatsworth estate. Unsung TV hero Frank never fails to steal the show in this compelling, charming and quintessentially British drama.

Hotter than my daughter?

21

Joe McGrath looks into the latest telly travesty to hit our screens...

TELEVISION is a fascinating medium of communication, art and expression. Astonishing feats of creativity and cultural revitalisation have been achieved by it.

Programmes like Doctor Who, The Sopranos and Mad Men offer credence to this notion.

And yet the general view towards television, of most, is that of marked cynicism. Why? Well, to put it simply, it is because of programmes like, Hotter Than My Daughter, or the four horsemen of television apocalypse.

Yes, as one can probably tell from the tastelessly blunt title, this show horrifyingly pits mothers of dubious mental health against their psychologically scarred offspring, in what must be the most morally disgusting beauty contest devised by television producers, to date.

Writing this review, now, seems somewhat pointless, as this is one of those few occasions where a simple synopsis tells you everything you need to know. It is similar to someone offering you a mouldy biscuit.

You know it is going to taste bad, possibly even make you physically sick. So, why bother even taking a bite?

However, bite it I did. And not only were expectations met but they were exceeded.

The mere concept alone is so entirely repugnant that it forces you to turn your nose away in disgust. However, there is also a startlingly tragic element to the whole affair. This is not poignant, Shakespearean tragedy. No, this is tragedy that leaves the viewer depressed at humanity's ever increasing shamelessness.

Watching women, whose best years have clearly been and gone, desperately grasping at the youth of their past

THE much-anticipated live EastEnders episode is due to be broadcast on Friday 19th February, where we will finally learn who killed Archie.

Although most of us will just be watching to see if any of the actors fluff their lines.

Speaking of EastEnders, a second death might be on the way. Jack Branning is due to be shot in the Square during the upcoming months launching the show into its second whodunit of the year.

Stephen King's 1998 novel Bag of Bones is being adapted into a miniseries by previous Kingadapters Mick Garris and Matt Venne. It tells the story of a novelist suffering with writer's block after the death of his wife.

Needless to say, his wife makes a comeback from beyond the grave.

Lost returned with aplomb last week. Flashbacks and flashforwards have now been replaced with sideflashes, as the creators explore an alternative universe where Flight 815 didn't crash.

Viewers have never been

sions have moulded these once, probably, good-looking women into what look like drag queens in a cheaply thrown together pantomime. This, therefore, makes what host, Liz McClarnon (of Atomic Kitten fame), cringingly refers to as a 'heaven of hotness', more like a hell of gender ambiguity.

The whole stomach-turning experience leaves one to contemplate over why the BBC, who claims to uphold quality in all their programming, decided to stray so far from the path. They clearly knew how bad the concept is, as they sent it out to the barren pastures of BBC Three.

So, why did they commission it? Between these women 'seductively' bending over, whilst trying not to rip their hot pants and attempting to crack a smile across their Botox hardened faces, the answer is completely lost, just like any remaining dignity.

Truly, the best part of Hotter Than My Daughter is when the credits roll, serving as a coup de grâce for the previous half hour of hateful suffering.

Lost in Lost

Box Bites Simon Fairbanks

with not even a whisper of dignity, is a particularly bitter thing to digest.

40 year old Sharon, is mother to pregnant daughter of 18 years, Kobie, and an avid wearer of glittery hot pants and sparkly, sequin boob tubes. Sharon claims that when her grandchild is born, she will not be a grandma but a 'glam-ma', which is perhaps the most brutal mutilation of the English language outside of the Jeremy Kyle Show.

It is particularly saddening to see how badly several rather obvious cosmetic surgery ses-

more lost.

HBO are adapting the Gervais-Merchant-Pilkington podcasts into thirteen half-hour animated episodes. The first episode is released on Friday 19th February.

In reality TV news, the So You Think You Can Dance final is hitting our screens on Saturday 13th February. Tommy and Robbie are competing for best male dancer and Lizzie and Charlie are going head-to-head for the female equivalent.

Meanwhile, Dannii Minogue is in talks with ITV2 regarding a six-part fly-on-the-wall documentary series, chronicling her pregnancy and plans to launch her own fashion line.

Amber Alexander AFTER an excruciating wait, Lost has returned to our screens, kick-starting what is set to be an awesome final season.

The episode begins where season five ended, with a half-dead Juliet detonating the hydrogen bomb. The blast causes the creation of two universes: in one world Farraday's theory is correct and the characters find themselves back on Flight 815.

However, this time the plane isn't going to crash and everything is going to be fine. Except that it isn't: Locke is back in the wheelchair, Charlie's off his face and Kate is on the run... again.

Things aren't much better in the other world.

The explosion doesn't kill everyone: instead it sends them back into 2007, where Juliet is still underneath the rubble and fake Locke is on the warpath.

Confused yet?

This double timeline is a work of genius, with the plane story allowing for those meaningful moments of irony which characterised the first few seasons of Lost.

For example, there is a touching scene towards the end of the episode when Jack and Locke bond and Jack tells a crippled Locke that 'nothing is irreversible'. It was also great to see some chemistry between Sawyer and Kate, which seems to have been forgotten and is much-missed on the island.

The island story provides the action as Hurley (professing to be 'the luckiest guy alive' on the plane) leads his friends to the mysterious temple, where they meet a host of new, slightly dodgy, characters, and a multitude of other problems.

The return of the smoke monster provides one of the biggest shocks, who has a score to settle.

Of course there are still lots of questions, old and new needing answers: Why was Desmond on the plane? Where is Christian's body? Who are the people in the temple?

Or more appropriately as Sayid states at the end of the episode 'What happened?'

Well it looks like we are about to find out...

22 Lifestyle Hello from Lifestyle lovelies Jess and Alex

So... Valentine's day.

Why do we continue to put ourselves through this miserable day every year? Single or attached it's just a whole load of pressure that we can definitely do without. It was all innocent and cute when you were in primary school; Alex got love hearts, Jess got... well nothing actually but the sentiment applies.

Nowadays it's all sexy underwear and a tonne of money to 'prove' your love. And where did it all begin? According to the reliable source Wikipedia, we can blame Chaucer for this abomination (don't say that we don't do our research!) Despite our little rant, maybe we do secretly love a bit of romance as this entire issue is dedicated to the day itself! So, love or hate it we have something for you.

For those wanting to sex up Sunday, Sarah guides us through an assortment of lingerie; Joe sets the standard for Valentine's gifts; Bloke de Brum is being naughty again; Briony explores the dark side to romance with an expose on Sexual Health issues; Danielle feels the pressure of the Valentine's countdown and Dan advises us on getting over a 'Bromance'.

Byeeeee (off to be Valentine's scrooges).

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Fashion:The best of Valentine's Underwear Sarah Musgrove Here it comes – the big V. Day is around the corner, and a whole new can of fashion worms is opened as we're suddenly panicking about what's going on underneath our florals, playsuits and denims. As it's every girl's basic human right to be able to transform into the ultimate femme fatale come the 14th, I have thoughtfully compiled a list of all-situation underwear solutions that we can guarantee you'll be falling head over heels for.

Curvy Struggling to find underwear in your size that doesn't look, for want of a better phrase, entirely fugly? Luckily you're not alone, and your new secret is online lingerie shopping. Websites such as www.bravissimo.com offer bras, swimwear and even specially cut clothing in sizes from 28D – 40KK, in a vast range of pretty styles. If some of these sets are a little out of your budget, head over to www.brastop.com, which, with its continuous sales, is the bra equivalent of DFS. Sign up to their email newsletter and you'll be inundated with offers and discounts to save your pennies – free shipping? Yes please! Alternatively, Marks & Spencers' sell minimizer bras from about £14 – whilst they're not the most thrilling thing you'll wear under

your clothes, they can help flatter you in tops or dresses that you wouldn't normally shake a stick at.

Petite If you're blessed with less, firstly be glad that you'll probably never have to suffer hideous underwear. www.aalingerie. com was set up by Retha Queenan, who struggled to find a single 32AA bra to suit her clingy wedding dress – this website offers AA and A cup wearers dozens of styles and colours that will make you fall in love with your underwear drawer all over again. If you're on the high street, multi award-winning La Senza will always be a favourite for smaller ladies, especially with their deals on knickers and student discount available with an NUS card. Make sure you arrange an appointment to get correctly sized – all lingerie brands vary in their sizing guides, and La Senza have trained fitting consultants in every store to help you in your hour of need. The prize for most versatile lingerie distributer, however, goes to www.figleaves.com, who sells all sizes for all prices, with free returns – a must if ordering online.

ter to head than renowned high-end underwear creators, Agent Provocateur?

With their single aim of giving you 'the confidence to give in to your deepest desires', we can pretend to be blissfully ignorant of the scorching hot price tags. Online option www. myla.com are Vogue favourites for underwear that favours fashion and design over tight purse strings (and after browsing their matching sets, who can blame them?) Finally, if you're not afraid of something a little more risqué, Coco de Mer (www. coco-de-mer.com) is worth investigating – though it's not for the faint hearted lingerie shopper. Think of it as a high-end Ann Summers and we're about there – but hey, if you can't indulge in vintage sequined nipple covers on Valentine's day, then when on earth can you?

Taylor Momsen as the face of New Look – The current 'It Girl' is doing her bit for British Fashion. Edgy, wearable and best of all affordable.

Six Nations Rugby – The centenary of Twickenham, banter amongst your housemates as to who to support. Oh, and admiring the fly-halves.

A Single Man – Tom Ford's debut film is released in cinemas today. The man who redefined Gucci turns his hand to the silver screen; no surprise Colin Firth is receiving Oscar buzz and if you need any more reasons to see it – Nicholas Hoult.

Pancake Day – Omm nomm nomm! Need we say any more…?

Valentine's Day (the film) – Love Actually meets He's Just Not That Into You. Just about everyone who's anyone is in this film. Romantic enough for couples, funny enough for a night out with the girls.

Finished

Somethin' Special...

And finally, as it's the loved-up special, a few suggestions that will not only blow your budget, but will blow his mind too.

Whether taken or single, we all deserve to splash out on luxe-lingerie this Valentines, and where bet-

ly Vodbull-ed up Becca.

Even so, I pursued with it and filled out my details, but was finding the process rather pointless. I couldn't see how anybody would be able to find their match by merely listing their favourite films and bands.

It seemed to me to defeat the object of love and relationships; this was after all the single most unromantic way to find a potential partner, and took all the excitment and chemistry out of meeting new people. One could liken this to the system-

Overheard at Birmingham University – The new distraction from essays, though we are slightly terrified our ramblings will make us famous for the wrong reasons.

Secret admirer cards – There's something undeniably cute in the cliché, whether it's from your significant other, your housemates or… your Dad!

Spring Lines – Gorgeous, yes. Summery, yes. Unfortunately completely impractical until the temperature reaches double figures.

Rebecca Bray investigates what to write that would both make me stand out from all the other nutters but would also not reveal too much personal information. I struggled. I hated the exposing feeling of having to put myself out there, telling the whole world wide web about myself. I was also told that 'profiles with photos get 100 per cent more action then those without. Upload one now.' Charming.

So I did as I was told and felt extremely uncomfortable that hordes of people would be able to see an embarrassing-

America's Next Top Model – Petite cycle! Yes, finally the fashion world is embracing girls who don't have impossibly long legs. Thank you Tyra.

Summer planning – Whether you're hoping to worship the sun, backpack across Europe or hit the festivals this year, dreams of relaxation and warmer weather are getting us through this dreary February.

Is internet dating the new era of romance?

When I casually asked my work colleague how she met her new boyfriend of four months (who, by the way, has her family's seal of approval – no mean feat) it never once occurred to me she would give the answer she did. 'Match.com' she sheepishly confessed.

I have to admit that to say I was shocked would be an understatement. The two main thoughts that occupied my brain were: a) there are real people who are desperate enough to do that? People, indeed, that I know? And b) it actually works?

In this exciting and innovative age where the internet has become our main portal of communication, is internet dating still seen as desperate and sad, or has it become more socially acceptable, to the degree that to reject it would be a waste of a valuable means to meet people? I joined a free dating site to see what it was all about...

After joining I was told I could write up to five hundred words as an introduction. I puzzled over

Fierce

atic chore of filling out UCAS forms!

However, I narrowed down my search of potential males and was surprised to see how many 20 – 24 year olds there were to choose from, some of them were decent looking too (alright, maybe not 'decent', but they weren't ugly). It showed me that whatever I may think about internet dating, it is clearly very popular and not merely aimed at people of a certain age, the divorced, or widowed as I previously assumed. My friend clearly thought the same as me as she said that she only joined the internet dating realm because her sister had dared her to. While she may thank her sister as the dare was clearly a success, internet dating is not for me. I would definitely miss the butterflies and chemistry of getting to know someone face to face.

Although it seems to be a mania that is on the rise, internet dating is not for the traditionally romantic.

Inspirational girls under twenty – Taylor Swift: the youngest person to win Album of the Year at the Grammys. Emma Watson: the highest earning actress in Hollywood. We love you but we also hate you; our biggest achievements are making nine o'clock lectures.

Lent – We hope Jesus appreciates us giving up chocolate/shopping/alcohol (delete as appropriate).

Birmingham City Council – No, I don't want to spend a hundred million hours on hold whilst you try to talk your way out of losing our student tax exemption forms. Believe me, I get up at midday, eat beans on toast four times a week and live in the library – I am definitely a student.

Term actually starting – After five weeks of nap times and evenings in the pub, here come the deadlines… Damn.

Jordan – Shot gun wedding, rumours of a pregnancy and somehow no-one cares.

Falling over – Drunk = embarrassing. Sober = mortifying. What excuse do we have now there's no ice?!

Feeling sorry for yourself on Valentine's Day – It's nice if you have someone but for all the singletons out there, rally the troops and make the most of being footloose and fancy free.

Charlotte Crowley and Ellen Fitzpatrick

Get Involved!

If you're currently reading this section and thinking 'golly this is good' then why not come and write for us?

We are always looking for new and enthusiastic writers so don't hesitate to join us!

Meetings are every Wednesday at 2pm in the Guild student development.

Lifestyle

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Bloke de Brum Jack's playing the field again

Issue:

Contraceptive Awareness Week — student sexcapades Briony Singh

I am a thrill-of-the-chase kind of person. I love never quite knowing where I stand with a girl until she's back at my place, bra off and condom wrapper on the floor. Immediately after this generally follows the awkward post-sex talk, which is usually me putting my clothes on and explaining I've got a lecture in the morning. I've found that no matter how hard the groundwork was, however painstakingly difficult it was to convince her that sex would be a good idea, or however attractive she may be, the thrill usually dies down after a few times. There is something amazing and thrilling about never

she wants: a decent shag.

So the venue was Gatecrasher and the girl was just waiting to be found. First, an average blonde who asked me if I knew a friend of hers at the bar; I replied uninterestingly 'no' and asked her if she wanted to come back to mine for some fun, she looked horrified and stormed off. This process repeated itself twice more before I hit the dance floor. The night was going from bad to worse, I was in no mood to exchange formalities with any girl, was exceedingly drunk and my conquest to find an easy pull was just a quick, and frankly useless, solution to getting over the girl

By the time we reach university it seems as though masses of information about sex and sexual health has been shoved down our throats unwillingly; from that first horrific Sex Ed class in primary school to intermittent lectures from your local GP. We get it! We know where that goes, we know we shouldn't do that, and should always remember that. However NHS statistics regrettably show that STI's such as chlamydia, gonorrhoea and herpes are still raging in a very high percentage of student pants – so where is it all going wrong?

As students it is inevitable that a whole world of sexual experiences – especially for single freshers – are opened up when we arrive at university. And of course, there's nothing wrong with the odd passionate encounter, but it is noted that the number of sexual partners we have at uni is decidedly higher than at any other time.

Mix that with a particularly messy night at Snobs or Oceana and what do we get? A whole lot of stu-

that got away. My confidence with attempting to pick girls up was merely alcohol-fuelled, I'd lost all my mates and I knew deep down this night was a waste of time. However, in my state I decided the dance floor might be a good place to continue my search. Once dancing I was making repeated eye contact with a girl across the room. Thinking I might as well give it a shot I moved over and started to dance with her.

I wasn't in the mood for messing about, the drink was taking its toll on my head and I really just wanted to go back with this girl. I leaned in for the pull, lost my balance and completely toppled over.

The next morning I woke up alone and in my own bed. As I went downstairs, my housemates all filled me in on the details of a night worth forgetting. Still it wasn't all bad, Fit Best Girl Mate had text me informing me that her boyfriend had dumped her and she wanted someone to talk to. 9pm in The Pear it was.

dents having drunken one night stands. It's not that we don't know the risks.

We know that if you don't wear a condom there's the risk of pregnancy, STI's and all the baggage that comes with it. So how is it that so many students have had unprotected sex

for STI's. Not to mention it being violently embarrassing sat in your GP filling in a form about all the ins and outs (excuse the pun) of your sexual history, or imagine bumping into that hot guy/girl from your tutorial? Simply horrifying. However, the pro-

at some point in their student life? It seems that most of the time, it comes down to alcohol. If you're wasted and particularly horny, condoms are the last thing you're thinking about. And it may even turn out you don't remember the next day whether you did or didn't use one.

There is also the whole stigma attached to getting yourself tested

cess of getting yourself checked out is massively outweighed by the possible repercussions of not going. The most common STI's such as chlamydia do not show any significant symptoms; you may have it and never even know.

Not only can they cause considerable discomfort if they go untreated, many can lead to infertility in both men and women and

Countdown to Valentine's Day... tick tock tick tock!

'Frankly all I'm doing is giving one Danielle Fox lucky girl exactly what she wants; a 14th February – The date decent shag. ' quite knowing if a girl is playing ball (excuse the pun). Us guys like a challenge, which is why we will never go home with that girl who immediately approaches us at a club just after we've arrived and when we haven't even been to the bar yet. There are rules when trying to score and those who don't play don't win. Have you ever text a girl straight back after every text she sends you? Thought not.

How about asking a girl you've just met if she wants to come back to yours for sex? I hadn't until last week.

After my last encounter with the whole 'play it cool' thing failed miserably and I let the one girl who I really liked slip away, I was not in a particularly patient mood on entering Gatecrasher last Monday. I wanted sex with the first girl I deemed easy enough to take home. Some may call me shallow, but I couldn't care less. As far as I'm concerned girls flaunt all their qualities and attributes to men, so why not cut the crap. Frankly all I'm doing is giving one lucky girl exactly what

23

that sends ripples of fear through the mind of every single girl. With just weeks until the big day arrives, girls everywhere are pressurized into finding Mr Perfect, Mr Right, Prince Charming himself.

And why do we bother?

Have we not been searching for him all our lives?

So what makes us suppose we can stumble across him in a week?

The countdown begins; we start to dress better, to scan the clubs with a vital mission in hand.

Where do the good men hide? Is he waiting in the Bristol Pear, or behind the counter of Sainsbury's?

Suddenly everyone is date potential. The man that smiles in the street and the one who holds your gaze at the bar – they all stand a chance.

The card shops start putting up banners in the window, advertising their special offers and suggestions for finding 'The perfect gift this Valentine's Day.' Roses are on sale everywhere, the streets are lined with red balloons, scented candles are back in stock and lingerie is at its most deluxe. Restaurant prices are sky high with an essential lover's

set menu, the staff are already poised to pounce on the herd of starry-eyed couples with the all important rhetoric – 'table for two?'

I start to wonder what happened to the spontaneity of love; what is so special about affection on the one night when love is prompted, commercial and competitive? Do we need an excuse, a slot in the calendar to be romantic? Who are we kidding, we'd all rather save the cash, omit the squeezing into the extra small dress, and snuggle up on the sofa with an episode of Friends and a takeaway pizza.

cause serious damage if it spreads to other parts of your body. Besides the physical effects of STI's, I'm afraid if you do have one, the usual protocol is calling all your previous sexual partners to let them know that they may also have it. And that's a conversation that's going to be ten times more humiliating than the one you have with your GP or sexual health adviser.

Remember, sex (believe it or not) is meant to be fun, and uni life is all about having new and let's say, interesting experiences. But when you are willing to sacrifice your own health, humility and future for a moment of drunken pleasure, there's something wrong. Don't let your Valentine's Day be ruined by a night of fitful passion – if you're single, wear a condom, if you're loved up, make sure you've taken all the precautions necessary before binning the rubber.

And if you think you may be at risk to an STI do not ignore it. It could be the worst mistake you ever make. Book an appointment at your local GUM clinic (http://www.whittallstreet.nhs.uk/) and get in the know.

Caught in a Bad Bromance?

Dan Kelsey Admitting it would jeopardise your masculinity, but you probably love your mates more than anything in the world.

Now I doubt, unlike me, you tell them this every time you're a little worse for wear on a Thursday night, but let's face it, you wouldn't get through life without them. So the arrival of a new lady/fella can alter the dynamics of a friendship – but does it have to mean the end of a friendship as you know it?

Firstly, have a think about how much time you have spent together pre – and post-arrival of his sweetheart before you accuse him of deserting his mates. Although it may seem like the missus is taking over his life this probably isn't the case, you just hear him talking about her so much and you intensify the situation.

Secondly, I know coming from me it's like Michelle McManus telling you to lose a few pounds but you need to man up; it's not the end of the world just because you're no longer the closest person in his life. Even with a girlfriend, friends are still important to us and the likelihood is that he's

scared of losing touch with you as well.

At the end of the day, you might miss the nights out together on the pull but there comes the point when we all have to move on. Maybe it's time for you to be on the lookout for your dream date too.

Trust me when I say that you can end up looking immature and selfish for obsessing over how he's abandoned the golden rule of bros before hoes; you'll only alienate the one he loves and cause a rift between the two of you. Remember, he undoubtedly values your friendship but, putting it politely, you can't satisfy all of his needs.

You'll learn in time to be happy for him and enjoy many more years of being friends.

24 Sport

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Griffiths the great reigns supreme Men's Badminton 1st: Birmingham v London Imperial 7–1 Tom Fuller BIRMINGHAM cruised through to the second round of the BUCS Championship on Wednesday at the Munrow Sports Centre. Ivor Griffiths, Birmingham's number one, proved far too adept for Charles Hoy of London Imperial as he dismantled the visitors number two

21-5, 21-7 in a quick fire match. Griffiths took the lead early in both games, making few errors and snapping smashes from up high and giving Birmingham a clinical first rubber win.

Mark Cappleman, the home teams second seed, was involved in a terrifically close encounter against Jon Cooper.

Cappleman consistently matched Imperial's number one player with pace from smashes and looked, after the first game, as if he was about to compile a famous victory. Cappleman took the first game 21-19. However, Cooper recovered mentally after losing a tight opening game and dominated the second game winning by the clear margin of 21-16 making it one game apiece

and calling for a decider.

Errors mounted throughout the third game as neither player could amass a clear lead.

Though there were flashes of brilliance from the Birmingham player, Cooper proved his ranking for Imperial and won the second rubber. Birmingham coach Dave Eddy said afterwards: 'I knew it was going to be a close match and it proved to be a really good performance from Mark.'

The number one doubles team provided a stunning display in the first doubles encounter of the afternoon with Darren Chesworth and Richard Collier dominating Imperial's second team, Lip Ho and Desmond Lee. The Birmingham duo won 2113, 21-14 and secured a

2-1 advantage as the tie neared the halfway stage.

A rigorous warm-up prompted the start of the second doubles rubber as James Lauderi and Tom Gibbs took to the court against Imperial's Jing Ming and Mingren. Audacious play was the order of the day as the Brum boys hit shots through the legs and performed acrobatic leaps into the air snapping off the high ball from their opponents.

Lauderi and Gibbs lost the first game 18-21 to Ming and Mingren, but regained their composure and bounced back to take the second game 2117. The hosts dominated the final game extending an initial lead to win the fourth rubber and put Birmingham 3-1 ahead on aggregate.

Griffiths towered over Cooper dominating with fantastic smashes, hitting three in a row in the middle of the first game, and proved lighter on his feet around the net as his opponent seemed tired from his previous win.

Birmingham's number one attacked throughout and never allowed Cooper to settle, even if it meant a few unforced errors creeping into the second game.

Griffiths cruised through to allow Birmingham to take the tie giving Birmingham an unassailable lead. The final score was 21-7, 21-8 and thus 4-1 overall. Cappleman then emulated Griffith's dominance in the final singles rubber of the day, defeating Hoy 21-14, 21-9 in a comfortable display of consistency and power.

The aggregate score began to look a little one sided at 5-1. Chesworth and Collier provided a strong display in the penultimate match, showing great flair at the net and backing each other to make winners. Jingming and Migren failed to really make any impression, over hitting defensive shots and were quickly defeated 21-12, 21-13. A close encounter in the final rubber of the tie came between the number two doubles teams. Lauderi and Gibbs battled Ho and Lee in order to make the victory a comprehensive one.

They succeeded and came through another close encounter to complete the victory winning 21-16, 12-21, 21-17 to give Birmingham a 7-1 winning margin.

Youngs makes victory the dish of the day Sam Youngs on the charge for Birmingham

Photo: Tom Flathers

Men's Football 1st: Birmingham v Nottingham 3–1 Dave Wheaton CONDITIONS in Birmingham were close to comical on Wednesday as the men's football 1st XI welcomed Nottingham for the first round of the BUCS Championship. With the pitch not up to its usual high standard and temperatures close to polar, spectators could not have

expected the thrilling game of football that ensued. Birmingham put on a fine show as they sought to ensure that this was not their last official fixture of what has been a mixed season so far.

Birmingham began the game somewhat timidly, giving Nottingham striker Lee Raji enough space for an early first encounter with Simon Lynn, Birmingham's goalkeeper. This set the tone for the first ten minutes as the away side proved their ambitions lay beyond this game. Sean Lawson was later set up beautifully just outside the penalty area, taking a powerful shot towards the left-hand corner, offering Lynn a chance to shine again with a brilliant dive.

Raji was proving to be a growing problem for the

home team's defence, putting pressure on the home side's back line.

James Secker courageously pointed his team in the right direction with a beautiful run, his long distance shot curving just over the bar. Birmingham were starting to be more adventurous and the reward duly came when the dangerous Secker delicately offered Sam Youngs a perfect cross for the striker to smack a pure shot right in the top corner, making the score 1-0 against the run of play.

At this point, the arctic conditions reached their zenith as a nasty blizzard came the pitch's way, tampering severely with visibility and the quality of both teams play. Half-time could not have come sonner as Nottingham were

getting dangerously close to scoring and the snow was starting to settle.

The pitch resembled a large white carpet as the second half kicked off similarly to the first.

Nottingham were however more anxious to break into their opponent's penalty area, passing forward quickly and accurately.

It was therefore not a surprise that, in the 55th minute, an opportunistic Tom Alnutt guided a shot that had struck the left post past Lynn from a yard away from the goal.

'At half-time, I told my two centre halves to mark their men more closely in midfield to relieve the pressure of our defense and allow our wingers to push forward' explained the away side's coach, no doubt pleased that his

half-time talk had proved to be effective.

The euphoria was however short lived as, almost straight from the kick-off, Birmingham pushed forward. A skillfully executed chip over the defence left Powell with the perfect break to make the score 2-1. He caught the ball off the bounce, knocking his half-volley between the Nottingham keeper's legs.

The home team seemed to have found their feet again as some brilliant passing led to them hitting Nottingham's right post very quickly after the second goal.

Birmingham's third goal wasn't long coming though as the brilliant Sam Youngs performed a wonderful turn outside the area before weaving past two defenders along

the right side of the box and sliding the ball underneath the keeper and into the back of the net from a very difficult angle. That important contribution made the score 3-1 with only 10 minutes to go.

Birmingham were on top form now, getting dangerously close to goal in the 82nd minute as Nottingham were forced to be content with counterattacks. The away team gave Birmingham a very tough battle but could not snatch with the score as the final whistle blew.

Birmingham coach Chris Wright was elated at the end of the game.

'The score is irrelevant, we knew what to expect as we had played them twice already, but judging from some moments today, we deserved to win this one'.

Sport

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Meet the rivals

With the knockout stages of the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) competition getting underway this week, James Phillips profiles five universities likely to provide tough opposition in the coming weeks

Leeds Met Carnegie

25

Current BUCS Position: 5th IN the past half decade since Leeds Met Carnegie's Athletic Union moved away from the Student Union, the institution has gone from strength to strength, moving up from 16th place in the BUCS rankings in 2006 to 3rd place last year. With a host of league champions including badminton for both men and women, basketball (men and women), women's football and women's netball, it is clear this is a university on the up, especially with so many women's sports teams who are a real force to be reckoned with.

Both basketball teams recorded huge wins against Brum (including a crushing 31-82 victory at the Munrow Sports Centre in December for the women) although the Midander's excellent women's hockey

team have dethroned their Carnegie rivals and topped the league, recording a 3-1 win away in Leeds and a 4-0 win at home along the way.

However, heavy defeats in men's rugby league super 8s (6-86), women's football (0-5) and women's badminton (0-8 twice) ensures that Leeds Met Carnegie are certainly not Birmingham's favourite opponents.

In other sports, the Yorkshire university is not as impressive, with women's lacrosse, men's hockey, men's football, table tennis and fencing teams all plying their trade in lower divisions of the BUCS pyramid. Birmingham aside, Bath and of course Loughborough are considered by the university to be their biggest rivals in most sports.

Leeds Met's women's badminton squad are particularly strong Loughborough's Charlie Mpi scores in last years BUCS football final

Photo: Simon Roe

University of Loughborough Current BUCS Position: 1st WITH a list of alumni including Paula Radcliffe, Monty Panesar, Sir Clive Woodward and Sir Steve Redgrave, Loughborough are the giants of the university sport world for more than one reason.

The market-town-based university has incredibly finished top of BUCS for the past 29 years and are miles ahead in terms of points in this year's overall rankings.

Their women's tennis team were recently crowned European champions, and the men's

rugby union and rugby league teams are both top of their respective leagues, the latter crushing Birmingham's Super 8 team 88-0 and 112-0. The women's rugby union, netball and football sides are all also occupying the upper regions of their individual leagues.

Their men's hockey team are also league leaders, achieving a 6-3 away victory at the Bournbrook pitches earlier this season, whilst Birmingham's men's lacrosse, and both male and female badmin-

Brum have performed well against Notts

ton and basketball teams, have all suffered at the hands of Loughborough.

However, Birmingham have managed to get the better of their rivals in several sports, including men's squash, where Brum were victorious 4-1; golf, where Birmingham triumphed 4-2; and football, where the men's team recently recorded an impressive 4-2 away victory. In women's squash, Loughborough's 1st team have lost to both Birmingham's 2nd and 3rd teams this season and in wom-

en's hockey, in a 5-0 win, women's lacrosse and men's volleyball, Birmingham's teams have won home and away against the Leicestershire giants.

Brum's Athletic Union president Rich Smith cited Bath and Leeds Met as clear rivals, as well as University of Wales Institute, particularly for rugby union. He also praised vice president of sport Katie Ford for her work with Birmingham's sports teams and wished them the best of luck for the knockout rounds.

University of Nottingham Current BUCS Position: 7th NOTTINGHAM'S high position in the BUCS rankings is even more of an achievement when it is taken into account that they have no sports-specific courses on offer and, therefore, rely solely on academic students who are also fine sportsmen. Interestingly, the university has two overseas campuses in Malaysia and China, and, each year, 60 athletes from each campus compete in the tri-campus

games, the world's only 'global intra mural' sports tournament.

The men's lacrosse team are particularly formidable, sitting top of their league having recorded two victories over Birmingham. The men's rugby league team finished second in the Premier South Division and there are a total of six men's rugby union teams, although the first team are third from bottom in their

league. Men's table tennis are top of their league and men's squash are second in the upper group, despite a 3-2 defeat to their Brum counterparts.

In several league tables, namely men's badminton, women's basketball, men's volleyball and women's volleyball, there is only one place separating Birmingham from Nottingham. The two institutions are very close in many sports, and while

Nottingham have had the upper hand at times, Birmingham have beaten them comprehensively in women's tennis, men's volleyball and women's rugby union.

The annual Varsity tournament against Nottingham Trent is the university's biggest grudge match but regular encounters with both Birmingham and Loughborough maintain a healthy Midlands rivalry.

profiles of more of Birmingham's sporting rivals, including the University ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: For of Manchester and the University of Leeds, go to www.redbrickonline.co.uk

26 Sport

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Fabulous fencers book passage to quarter finals

Photos: Lucy Percival

THE quarter finals beckon for Birmingham's women's fencing team after they beat St Andrews in the last sixteen of the BUCS Championship. Brum earnt the right to play against the Scottish team after three wins and five losses in the league phase of the competition. St Andrews, by contrast, sealed their place in the last sixteen

after winning all four of their games in the Women's Division Scottish Conference. Despite the contrasting form of the two teams, Birmingham sealed a dramatic 134-130 points win in the Munrow New Gym on Wednesday and will face Imperial College London or Exeter University at home on the 24th February.

Toothless UWE fail to handle Brum's bite Men's Hockey 1st: Birmingham v UWE 5–1 Stuart Young ON a cold afternoon at the Bournbrook pitches, Birmingham would have felt confident of a good performance prior to their first match of the knockout phases in the BUCS Men's Championship. With only one win and seven defeats in the BUCS South Premier League this year, the University of West England appeared to be relatively weak opponents.

Birmingham started the game well, controlling possession in the UWE half. Nick Rees, in particular, made a number of driving runs in the opening exchanges. After UWE failed to capitalise on the first penalty corner of the game, Peter Jackson sent home a drag-flick in the tenth minute showing his opponents how it should be done.

After this, UWE battled hard to make it a disjointed opening half. In their eagerness to regain

possession of the ball, the Birmingham players began to dive into tackles in and around the shooting circle. This culminated in a green card for the captain, Nils Lloyd Penny, and the concession of three penalty corners in the opening twenty minutes. On the third occasion, UWE leveled the scores with a reverse stick shot after the initial attempt had been blocked.

It took until the final few minutes of the half for Birmingham to restore their lead. After good pressure by the forward line on the UWE defence, Tom Merchant's shot from the top of the shooting circle was parried into the corner of the goal by the UWE goalkeeper, giving Birmingham a 2-1 lead at the break.

The most notable performance of the first half came from the UWE right back wearing the number eleven shirt. Having been subject to banter from the Birmingham support on the side-lines, this diminutive defender turned round to the fans, while in possession of the ball, to give them a cheeky 'thumbs up'. Unfortunately his arrogance did not match his ability, as he was the weakest of a poor side.

Birmingham started the second half in the same vein as the first, forcing UWE back into

a half court press. Nick Rees went close with a deflection and Richard Marshall had a shot that was cleared off the line, before the captain, Lloyd Penny, knocked in a scrappy goal after Birmingham had got in behind the UWE de-

fence.

Although Birmingham did not look all that impressive in the first part of the half, their superiority became more obvious towards the end. This led to two more goals for Peter Jackson, finishing off

his hat-trick with a calmly slot penalty flick after a poor challenge by a UWE defender.

Birmingham's battling but at times frustrating performance was epitomised by David Harding losing some teeth in

Captain Nils Lloyd Penney helped Birmingham to victory

Photo: Tom Flathers

the final minutes, having been struck in the face by a UWE shot.

Although the team may not be happy with the performance, they ran out 5-1 winners and progress safely into the quarter finals.

Sport

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

Lacrosse dominate to progress in cup clash Women's Lacrosse 1st: Birmingham v Warwick 10 – 3 Jessica Blackburn HAVING gone through the league season undefeated, the women's lacrosse team began the knockout stages of the BUCS Championships with another victory. Their opponents were the Warwick 1st team who are in the league below the Birmingham girls.

Despite a shaky start, the hosts sealed a convincing win 10-3.

Warwick won the toss and immediately had an attempt at goal saved by Birmingham's Ellie Sayers.

Molly Pike caught the ball and stormed down to the Warwick goal, passing to Alice Bruynseels and Roisin Baker but it was Lizzie Mawston who scored the first goal for Birmingham.

Tokunbo Ogunsanya responded with Warwick's first goal making the count equal.

Lawrence managed to bring the ball back into the Warwick defence and although Kirsten Lafferty missed her first chance, Lawrence followed this up with Birmingham's second goal of the game, 2-1. Pike made the lead secure with a quick third goal, assisted by the ever creative Lafferty.

As is typical in lacrosse, the game continued at a frantic pace and Warwick's Pippa CanlanShaw closed the gap to

W

just a single goal with the visitors second score of the match. Both Lafferty and Bruynseels followed this up with attempts at goal, Lafferty finally managing to score, knocking the ball past Wawick's Bensaid to make it 4-2.

Luckily for Warwick, Danny Ford managed to put enough pressure on Birmingham's defence to break through and assisted Canlan-Shaw in an attempt at goal which was saved by Sayers. Soon after Lawrence was given a yellow card and sent to the side to wait out for two minutes. Sayers managed to save another two attempts at the Birmingham goal and, just before half time, a third attempt from Ogunsanya.

Lafferty won the toss after half time, passing to Lawrence who scored almost immediately with one of the strongest goals of the match, making Birmingham's lead 5-2. Lawrence scored her third goal of the match before Amy Martin responded with Warwick's third, and final, goal of the game.

In true Birmingham fashion though, the lacrosse team extended their lead even further with Lexa Palfrey's first goal of the match and then her second in quick succession, which brought the score to 8-3. Birmingham ended the match by dominating the last couple of minutes, two more goals from Bruynseels and Lafferty sealing victory and passage into the next round. Both teams seemed well-matched during the first half but Birmingham showed the fine form they have been in this season in the second half and got a step closer to a place in Sheffield in March.

Photo: Tom Flathers

Brum were always in control against a lacklustre Cardiff

Seventh heaven for girls as Cardiff are cast aside Women's Badminton 1st: Birmingham v Cardiff 7–1 Dave Rudge THE badminton women's first team sailed into the quarter-finals of the BUCS Championship with a 7-1 win over Cardiff University 1sts at the Munrow Centre on Wednesday afternoon. Birmingham went into the game as favourites but must have been surprised at the ease by which they overcame the Southern Premier play-off

finalists.

Cat Grant and Sam Reynolds opened the host's account with a 2-0 doubles win over Katie Walters and Jess Shotton.

The home duo's aggressive play enabled them to take a quick 6-3 initiative.

A Grant net kill and some solid forehands from Reynolds boosted their advantage to 12-4, aided by several unforced errors by the away side.

Birmingham increased the tempo and began to assert their physical and technical dominance.

Reynolds executed two perfect drop-shots for 14-6 and 15-7, before Walters replied with two of her own to make it 16-9.

However, this mini-revival was short-lived, and Birmingham's unstoppable drives propelled the hosts to 21-10 win.

The following contest mirrored the first.

Despite Cardiff taking an early 3-2 lead, Reynolds restored parity with a net kill before hitting the bird straight at Shotton for 4-3.

Then, a combination of Reynold's forecourt guile and Grant's powerful rearcourt hitting ended any hopes of a Cardiff comeback and the hosts raced to an easy 21-10 victory.

With Birmingham already 5-1 ahead, Kim Clague went into her singles match versus Rachel Nurse under relatively little pressure. She started promisingly, executing a brilliant deception after feigning to smash for 5-3.

But at 8-4 she conceded four successive points, allowing Nurse to draw level. Refocused, Clague hit back, running her opponent ragged with drop shots and smashes to win 21-14. Nurse started the next game brightly, wrong footing Clague to go 3-1

=the===redbrick==crossword= Sephron Mansell

Sponsored by Waterstone's at the University of Birmingham The prize this week is a copy of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones

Redbrick 1365

1_2____3__4== _=_====_==_== _=_==5__=6___ 7____==_==_=_ _=_==8=_==_=_ _====_=_=9___ _=0=a____=_=_ b___=_=_====_ _=_==_=_==c=_ _=_==_==d____ e___=f__==_=_ ==_==_====_=_ ==g__________

Across

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1. Confined, inhibited (11) 5. The___, English rock band with hits such as My Generation (3) 6. ____ Kournikova, retired tennis player (4) 7. Johnathan _____, Gulliver's Travels novelist (5) 9. Vicinity, territory (4) 11. Royal _____, famous horseriding event (5) 12. ____ Valley, Welsh dam (4) 14. Mad _____, Tears for Fears' hit single (5) 15. Equivalent, balanced (4) 16. Indian state (3) 17. The ___________ Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams comedy series (11)

1. Effect, outcome (11) 2. Girl's name meaning hope (5) 3. A _________ Orange, 1962 Anthony Burgess novel (9) 4. Scandanavian country (7) 8. Sentimental (9) 10. _______, Shakespeare tragedy featuring 'The Three Witches' (7) 13. Dignity, egoism (5)

27

ahead. But she couldn't sustain the momentum and Clague overturned the deficit with a lovely forehand to make it 5-4.

Clague accelerated to an 11-6 lead but couldn't cut mistakes out her game.

Nurse showed skill and resilience in narrowing the scores to 14-12. But Clague's quality shone through and a series of classy drives and precise drop shots destroyed her opponent's resistance and she took the game 21-14.

Victories on the other courts for Lim and Hunter, Grant and Reynolds and Jo White secured Birmingham's routine passage to the quarter-final.

The only defeat of the day was Clague's 16-21, 18-21 loss to Alyssia Brownfield.

But coach Dave Eddy explained: 'Kim's had a lot of work on recently. She had a bit of a problem with her serve in the first match.

But apart from that we came out with a 7-1 win which is very pleasing.'

Eddy was quick to play down any suggestion of his side winning the competition: 'We've got to be realistic. Leeds Met are in our half and they have three international Malaysian players. Apart from that, Alyssa Lim's got an international tournament and probably won't be able to play so that is a loss for us. If we got through to the final,' Eddy laughed 'I'd probably have a heart attack! To get through to the semi-final would be a creditable performance.'

Birmingham will definitely be buoyed by the victory but they will be dreading the prospect of drawing Leeds Met in the next round. The loss of Alyssa Lim for the Championships in March is a big blow.

But as long as they're in the competition and playing as they did against Cardiff, they have a chance of winning it.

Last issue's solutions:

civilization= h=a=a=o==v=== i=n=v=e=mort= madrid===r==i p=r=s=mary==n a=ochre===l=d n=s===r===i=i z=s===yearn=g e==howl=v=e=e e==o===samson =turn=m=t=m=o ===n==e=a=a=u =alexandrines Think you've cracked it? Pop your completed crosswords (and bribes, naturally) in to the Redbrick office with your NAME, COURSE, YEAR and EMAIL ADDRESS for a chance to win Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones from the University's Waterstone's branch.

The deadline for the crossword is Tuesday 16th February 2010.

Last issue's winner was Lisa Taylor, 4th Year, American Studies. We will email you to arrange a time to collect your prize.

28 Sport

REDBRICK 1365 / 12th FEBRUARY 2010

SPORT

25 Meet the rivals Full page feature on Birmingham's closest BUCS rivals

Squash stroll to easy win over Exeter Woman's Squash 1st: Birmingham v Exeter 4–0 Jonathan Gilbert WEDNESDAY'S climatically confused afternoon saw Edgbaston's secluded Priory Club play host to a last 16 BUCS Championship tie which was won with consummate ease by the University of Birmingham women's squash 1st team. A simple and effortless victory, the home side dropped just 17 points in the four matches contested.

The first two games on court set Birmingham's dominant tone.

Masey Coltman, replacing the unavailable Jenny Tamblyn, overcame Alice Walden-Jones 11-1, 11-1, 11-1, and sports scholar Lotte Eriksen, the Norwegian number one, nonchalantly brushed aside Sophie Williams 11-2, 11-2, 11-0.

of their certain semi-final tie are, however, unlikely to worry the Midlanders, who are simply awaiting a final against the only team that can challenge their supremacy.

Fierce rivals Leeds Metropolitan Carnegie beat Birmingham's women in last year's final, preventing a fourth consecutive title from falling into the latter's hands. This season, the form books suggest the two sides are again set to meet at the tournament's climax. Birmingham want their trophy back.

'We have a great team this year and a far better chance of beating Leeds Met,' said Carey, 20. The Yorkshire side is depleted, having lost the jewel in their crown Rebecca Botwright, who once ranked number 26 in the world.

Despite their united desire for revenge, certain team members have aspirations that go beyond BUCS titles. Oxfordborn Quarterman stated her ambition to be part of a potential British women's Olympic team: 'If squash's inclusion is confirmed for the 2020 Olympics, I would certainly have aspirations to challenge for a place.

Lafferty leaves Warwick in her wake on way to Birmingham win Full report: page 27

UNBEATABLE 16 victories from 19 home matches as Birmingham run riot

Brum's attacking talent give Nottingham snow chance Full report: page 24

'We have a great team this year and a far better chance of beating Leeds Met' Hannah Carey The final two clashes were equally straightforward. Katie Quaterman, who is top-ten ranked in England's under-19 category, quite literally strolled to victory against Lucy Hinton 11-0, 11-1, 11-1, sealing Exeter's early tournament exit. Hannah Carey wrapped up a short afternoon's work, defeating opponent Rebecca Fagg 11-2, 11-3, 11-3. The away side's quartet were defeated, outclassed and, understandably, despondent.

The victory sends Birmingham, the competition's top seed, into a quarter-final against either the University of Bath or the University of Wales Institute. The opponents of that match and

The strength of the game in the UK would make us certain medal contenders too.' Eriksen, meanwhile, who captains the side, is the current world number 65 and is hoping to climb the rankings in the coming years.

Quarterman and Eriksen are quality acts whose range of shots, deft touch and supreme agility led Birmingham to a rampaging victory.

Carey and Coltman also won with style, helping to maintain Birmingham's ominous unbeaten run this season, in which they topped both their round one and two groups. Such class and form will likely see the four reclaim their title of BUCS champions.

26 Hockey Men's firsts hit five past a poor UWE side

Photos: Tom Flathers