Issue 1368

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REDBRICK

5th MARCH 2010 ISSUE 1368 VOL 74

THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM'S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1936

www.redbrickonline.co.uk

Year abroad students left adrift in Havana

News

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Birmingham students get naked: pictures inside

Arts

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Debate: Ink on the skin or not? Read on to find out

Travel

14

Pete Blakemore talks us through Thai new year

Sport

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Jonathan Gilbert interviews Brum runner Ed Aston Universidad de Havana, Cuba. Photo: Dan Joplin Helen Crane STUDENTS on a year abroad in Cuba have not been receiving funding from Birmingham for their tuition, it has been discovered.

The six students, at the Universidad de Havana as part of their studies in Modern Languages and Politics, began term on Monday 1st March, and were subsequently given the deadline of Friday 5th March to come up with the money.

If it is not received by this date, they have been told they will 'not be able to continue with this semester.'

Should they be unable to continue, the student's degrees

could be affected as they are required to achieve a passing grade for the year in order to continue their studies at Birmingham in the autumn.

There may also be issues surrounding their ability to remain in Cuba, as they are currently residing there on a student visa.

The students have now written a letter to the University of Birmingham outlining their concerns and asking for the funding to be paid.

The reason for the lack of funding is thought to be an administrative one, and it has been reported that the University do not translate their correspondence with the Universidad de Havana into Spanish.

Additionally, students on a year abroad are usually given a Year Abroad Officer to oversee matters such as these, however the students in Havana have said that this is not the case.

Vice President for Education and Access, Brigid Jones, said that the University have been in dialogue with Havana and that the matter should be rectified by the end of the week, and that students 'shouldn't be affected.'

However, she expressed concern over the way in which matters had been handled, adding that: 'The fact that this has happened at all is deeply worrying. Students on their year abroad are already feeling vulnerable, and should not have to

face issues like this.'

She also said that she would be looking in to the causes of these problems to ensure that they do not occur in the future.

The University have issued a statement, saying that: 'We are aware of an issue relating to the late payment of fees to students studying as part of their year abroad at the University of Havana. We are extremely sympathetic to those students involved and have been dealing directly with the University of Havana to ensure that this issue is resolved quickly. The students' continued study in Cuba will not be adversely affected by this issue.'

2 News

Campus Calendar Three BUGS Fringe Theatre present Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus Monday 8th, Tuesday 9th and Thurs 11th at 7.30pm in the Amos Room. Tickets are £5, for details see http:// bit.ly/coOyi4 Comedy society present: No, but seriously though…

Wednesday 10th: Sketch show in the Underground, 8-11pm Dance society show: A night at the Oscars 10th-13th March: Deb Hall, 7.30pm each night, and also a matinee at 2.30pm on Saturday (13th). Tickets available from Joe's, £4.

Arabsoc Charity Ball Friday 12th: 7pm; Bia Lounge, 45 Golden Hillock Road, Small Heath. £24 for non members. See http://bit.ly/ a5336z Carnival present Chronos Friday 12th: – A dubstep/drum & bass/electro/techno night in the Underground. Advance tickets £3.50, http://bit.ly/ccrnNn Redress Fashion show Friday 12th, Great Hall, from 6.45pm, tickets £5 from 19 Gales Farmhouse Foods shop in Uni Centre, see http://bit.ly/9as03l for details.

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Yarl's Wood protest

US ambassador addresses uni

Anna Robin

Edwina Moorhouse

A GROUP of Birmingham students and lecturers protested outside the BCU (Birmingham City University) gym last Friday.

They were there to stand in solidarity with the Yarl's Wood hunger strikers and to raise awareness about the actions of Serco (the company the runs the gym) regarding their management of the Yarl's Wood detention centre.

For over three weeks a group of women in Yarl's Wood detention centre have been on hunger strike in protest against the length of their detention.

They say that in response to their hunger strike they were locked in an airless corridor for over six hours, causing some women to faint.

They also allege that some of the women were physically assaulted with riot shields and claim racial abuse from the guards.

David Bailey a POLSIS lecturer for the University of Birmingham said: 'We are here to highlight the

mistreatment of asylum seekers by the private company Serco.'

'We need to oppose private companies making profit out of the detention and mistreatment of asylum seekers who are themselves the victims of desperate situations,' he added.

The Home Office have denied any wrong-doings in the matter. David Wood, Strategic Advisor to the UK Border Agency stated: 'All detainees are treated with dignity and respect, with access to legal advice and health care facilities.'

However, the allegations are to be examined

by MP's and if proved correct could lead to a police investigation.

405 The number of women and children housed at Yarl's Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire

LAST week Louis B. Susman, the US ambassador to the UK, gave a presentation in the Muirhead Tower.

Entitled 'Achievements and Challenges: Obama's Foreign Policy and the Road Ahead', Mr Susman spoke for half an hour and then took questions from the floor.

Vice Chancellor David Eastwood spoke of the background to Susman's 'distinguished professional career' emphasising transatlantic relations.

He also talked about the relationship between Birmingham and its sister city Chicago, where Susman is from, and how Birmingham is 'actively raising its profile in the US.' Susman opened his talk by declaring that Obama's call for change had been the 'right idea at the right time.' His achievements were listed to include his prohibition of the use of torture, Copenhagen, and talks with Iran that held no preconditions.

However, it was the questions from the audi-

ence that really opened up the challenges in current American foreign policy, particularly over China and the war in Afghanistan.

Susman emphasised America's respect for China's power, and explained that 'as with all relationships they take building and effort.' As for Afghanistan, when questioned about the length of the conflict Susman reiterated that simply 'the war on extremism will not end tomorrow.' He added that there would be 'no daylight on our policy' now that a new strategy with additional resources had been agreed.

He told the audience 'hope begins and continues with the people in this room … be the change.'

Second year Rhona Brownlie said she liked his informal and patriotic style, even if he didn't go into specifics on foreign policy. She added that: 'The question and answers were okay but he emphasised "at present" and that only some information was public – it just made me think what is the "private" with China.'

Picture of the week: Lucy Percival

The Church of St Martin in the Bullring.

Send your photos to pow@redbrickonline.co.uk

News

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Students get naked in protest against sweatshop labour Anna Hughes ON Wednesday Birmingham students stripped off in an international campaign against sweatshopproduced clothing.

At 1pm on Wednesday afternoon, a sight of around 40 people with very little on drew quite a crowd around the University Library.

After moving from its original location of the Staff House due to this not being 'public' enough, students stripped off to varying degrees, holding signs to protect their modesty.

The event was organised by the Guild of Students and People and Planet, an organisation run by students campaigning on human rights and poverty, which have highlighted the slaved conditions that workers in sweatshops are working under.

Guild President, Fabian Neuner explains: 'This is a fun action with a serious message. We're saying that we don't want to wear clothes than have been made in sweatshops.

We're calling for our uni-

versities to take responsibility for the people that make our sports kits, hoodies and uniforms.'

The protest was part of the international 'Buy Right' campaign, which last year fought for the rights of workers at the Honduras subsidiary of

clothing manufacturing company Fruits of the Loom.

After the company suddenly closed, putting 1,200 workers out of a job, there was a huge student outcry from hundreds of universities throughout Britain and America.

Nine universities in the UK, including the University of Birmingham, boycotted clothing from Fruit of the Loom.

Jim Cranshaw, coordinator of the campaign from People and Planet states: 'Student action changed Honduras, and

it can change the other places our universities buy from as well. This campaign aims to use the purchasing power of universities to tell clothing companies that they can't use sweatshops any more.'

Anna Robin, a 3rd year History and Social Science student, said: 'Over 100 American universities have taken a stand against sweatshop produced clothing, but not one in Britain. Hopefully this will bring the problem to their attention.'

Helen Morton, a second year Drama student adds: 'I think it was successful as it made a huge statement, and will have made people think'.

With the amount of onlookers taking photos and talking about it with their friends, hopefully it will have done just that, as well as raising awareness to those who can make a difference, in terms of how readily sweatshop produced clothing is supplied at the University.

As 1st year English student Abigail Guojah put it: 'Nakedness draws quite a crowd!'

Students get naked to protest against sweatshop labour. Photo: Lucy Percival

Student interest in British politics declining Catherine Burgess Grace Chapple WITH the impending General Election prompting many surveys on the subject of student's voting habits, many believe that students are becoming increasingly apathetic when it comes to voting.

As reported in Redbrick last week, a review from Unite, a student accommodation organisation, reported that a shocking 1 in 3 students could not recognise Gordon Brown and only 47 per cent would vote.

Campaigns around the Birmingham campus in recent months have highlighted the threat of higher tuition fees for prospective students.

Though this issue will not affect current students, decisions about who to vote for could change the situation for students in the future.

Will Birmingham students be turning out to vote in the General Election? Redbrick decided to find out...

Steph Pirazzo

Hannah Cochrane

Tom Joy

Hannah Parker

First Year Sports Science

Second Year American Studies

Second-year Economics

Second Year English Lit and Drama

'I don't ever think about politics because it doesn't really affect me so no, I probably won't vote'.

'I understand the importance of voting, but personally I don't think that I will remember to cast my vote when it comes to it.'

'If you don't vote you have no right to kick off when policy doesn't go your way.

Of course I am going to vote – everyone should.'

'It is a privilege to vote. Women haven't had the vote for a hundred years yet so I feel that it is my duty.'

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Campus Briefs Helen Clough Anna Brown

UNIVERSITY SCIENTISTS PIONEER 'HEALTHY' CHOCOLATE RESEARCHERS at the University of Birmingham have developed a healthier form of chocolate by replacing the fat with water.

It is claimed that the chocolate, which is almost two thirds water has the same taste, smell and texture as regular chocolate.

It was produced by connecting water particles with cocoa butter crystals.

This is a revelation that could help towards slowing down obesity rates, as Philip Cox, the research leader, claims the concept 'could be used to produce a new generation of low fat foods.'

They are also in the process of developing a low fat mayonnaise and a porridge that keeps you feeling full for longer.

This porridge contains a revolutionary liquid that changes into a gel once it comes into contact with stomach acid, which allows the porridge to stay in the stomach for up to six hours keeping you satisfied for longer.

Our very own chocolatiers are now in the process of negotiations with manufacturers to develop their product.

NEW INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME TO HELP GRADUATES STAND OUT The University of Birmingham has partnered with the University of Warwick in order to help graduates stand out in the difficult job market.

Named 'In-Place – The Graduate Internship Programme', the new scheme aims to target all graduates from the West Midlands and help them to secure a suitable internship placement for their future career.

The universities have been given £96,000 by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to enable them to offer 60 graduates fourweek work-experience placements in small businesses across the West Midlands.

The money given to the universities by the HEFCE will be used to fund the cost of providing a graduate internship in the businesses.

4 News

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Birmingham closer to City of Culture title Lucy Graham BIRMINGHAM has been shortlisted to become the UK's first city of culture in 2013.

The competition, which aims to build on

the success of Liverpool's European Capital of Culture 2008 title, which Birmingham also applied for, is judged by an independent panel and the result will be announced in the summer of this year.

Despite the recent negative attention on Birmingham City Council due to job cuts, immense work has been done to ensure that the second city was shortlisted, which includes the creation of the Birmingham Cultural Partnership (BCP).

Councillor Martin Mullaney, chairman of the BCP, said: 'As well as the cultural exchanges that will result from this programme there will also be huge economic benefits for Birmingham promoting the city as a great place to live, work and visit' It has been mooted that Birmingham may welcome a relocation of the Brits, BAFTAs and MTV awards from where they are currently held in London.

The inaugural competition has taken its shortlist of four from an original 14 bidding cities; also shortlisted are Sheffield, with its proud industrial heritage and young, thriving music scene; Derry, whose bid is being spearheaded by Nobel Prize winning poet Seamus Heaney, and Norwich, which proudly boasts Alan Partridge as its greatest export.

Examples of Brum culture. Photo: Mike Roberts

Animal cruelty raids lead to three arrests Jemima Forrester A team of police and RSPCA officers have arrested three people in connection with animal cruelty.

The police led a dawn raid on a terraced residence in central Birmingham, to find three dogs chained up and living in squalid conditions at the bottom of the garden.

All three of the dogs were pit bull terriers, and two of them were of a particular species that has been banned in this country since 1991 due to their extremely violent nature.

Also found in the house was a treadmill used to train up the dogs.

RSPCA Special Investigation Unit chief inspector Ian Briggs was on the scene to examine the evidence.

'This is a normal treadmill, but they often adapt them for the exercise of dogs, building up their stamina prior to putting them into an

organised dog fight', said Briggs.

'Organised dog fighting is a sophisticated act.

It's very much like the regime of a boxer – the dog has to reach a weight by a specific date.'

Other raids were also led throughout Birmingham last Wednesday, leading to the three arrests and the seizure of four dogs.

The dogs all bore scars around the muzzle, head, shoulders and neck from previous fights.

Organised dog fighting is still a massive problem in Britain, as a match between two top quality fighting dogs can attract bets of thousands of pounds.

Despite pit bulls being banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991, people continue to cross breed them with other species to get around the law. These dogs can fetch up to £500 each when sold as a puppy.

American Pit Bull Terrier Photo: Scott Kinmartin on Flickr

Parents of local toddler admit manslaughter Funmi Olutoye THE mother and stepfather of Khyra Ishaq have been found guilty of her manslaughter.

Seven-year-old Khyra was found emaciated at her mother's home in Handsworth, Birmingham on 17th May 2008 and was pronounced dead on arrival at Birmingham Children's Hospital due to starvation. The post-mortem examination found that she weighed 2st 9lb (16.5kg) at the time of her death.

Earlier on, in the fourth week of the trial at Birmingham Crown Court, Khyra's mother Angela Gordon and stepfather,

Junaid Abuhamza, denied her murder but admitted her manslaughter.

Abuhamza's plea of manslaughter was accepted by the prosecution in light of the evidence that he suffered from periodic attacks of schizophrenia.

Gordon was also cleared of murder and her plea of manslaughter accepted on the basis of diminished responsibility.

It is reported that during the course of the trial ,doctors and officials giving testimony of the state Khyra before she died, were reduced to tears.

Mrs Justice King accused Birmingham City Council of not carrying out certain procedures

which may have prevented the death of Khyra.

In her closing statement she stated: 'It is beyond belief that, in 2008, in a bustling, energetic and modern city like Birmingham, a child of seven was withdrawn from school and thereafter kept in squalid conditions for a period of five months before finally dying of starvation'.

In defence, Birmingham City Council says they have previously made significant adjustments in protecting children who are at risk.

Gordon and Abuhamza will be sentenced on Friday.

Birmingham: a teenage pregnancy blackspot Catherine Burgess Grace Chapple DESPITE efforts over the past decade to reduce teenage pregnancy rates within Birmingham, the city is still listed as a blackspot in Europe.

It well known that Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Western Europe, and the West Midlands is one of the worst areas in the country.

In 2007, conception rates amongst those under the age of eighteen were 41.7 per thousand in England; alarmingly the

rates in Birmingham were over ten-per-thousand higher.

As a result, there were 1,119 teenage pregnancies in Birmingham alone, which has raised alarm as to what has caused this failure to reduce rates.

Last year, during an event in Birmingham's Council House, a survey executed by young people highlighted that new measures were needed in Birmingham's schools in order to combat the growing pregnancy rates.

These major shake-ups targeted sex and relationship education.

Despite sixteen recommendations, involving

the provision of more information for parents and the expansion of the health education service, Birmingham is still named a blackspot in Europe.

Across ten years (from 1998 to 2008) efforts to reduce the teenage baby trend have succeeded, but by a mere 137 conceptions.

The chief executive of Birmingham's Brook sex ual health clinic, Penny Barber, highlights that: 'the region has spectacularly failed'.

Although Barber's outlook appears bleak, the Government holds faith that numbers can still be halved nationally.

Birmingham MP wins gagging order Catrin Shi A BIRMINGHAM MP has won his battle against lawyers who tried to gag his criticisms of a property developer, following a dispute over a shopping centre in his constituency.

It was found that law firm Withers LLP should not have tried to stop Yardley MP John Hemming from speaking out in Parliament. The inquiry was spurred by a row between Hemming and the law firm's client Jeremy Knight-Adams over the future of the Swan Shopping Centre in Yardley, where Tesco hopes to build a new store.

Withers LLP was in breach of the Bill of

Rights, which guarantees that MPs are allowed to speak freely in the House of Commons. However, no action will be taken against the firm, as it has already issued an apology to Mr Hemming and to the House of Commons.

In theory, anyone found guilty of trying to gag Parliament – which would mean they are 'in contempt of Parliament' – can be hauled into cells built into the Big Ben clock tower.

The row began when Hemming told Withers he planned to make a Commons speech attacking Mr Knight-Adams, who owns land at the Swan shopping centre.

After refusing to sell the site to Tesco, the developer argued that his proposals, which includ-

ed shops, bars and offices, would create more jobs than Tesco's. In response, Withers threatened to sue Hemming over a leaflet he had issued in his constituency, which they said had attacked Mr KnightAdams, unless he promised not to repeat the criticisms in the House of Commons.

A report published by the inquiry said: 'The evidence in this case is very clear and in our view the conclusion is no less clear. We conclude that Withers LLP were in contempt of the House.'

The committee decided to take no further action after Withers sent a letter saying the firm 'would like unreservedly to apologise to the House and to Mr Hemming.'

News

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Cambridge scientists seek investigation into performance-enhancing drugs Catrin Shi A CAMBRIDGE scientist has called for investigation into measures to tackle the increasing use of cognitive enhancement drugs by students for exams.

Barbara Sahakian, a professor of clinical neurophysiology at Cambridge University's psychiatry department, said that the student use of 'smart drugs' had ''enormous implications for universities'', and procedures such as random dope testing should be introduced in order to combat cheating.

'Smart drugs', such as Ritalin and Modafinil, are usually prescribed for neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and ADHD. The drugs boost alertness and attention and are easily available over the internet, triggering concerns that their use could give students an unfair advantage.

Surveys in the United States have shown that 16 per cent of university students are using smart drugs.

There are global websites and chatrooms

devoted to how to best use drugs to aid study.

Sahakian, whose work is at the forefront of research on the effects of such drugs on healthy people, said urgent debate was now needed on the ethics of how society dealt with smart drugs.

Though data on longterm effects on healthy users was not yet available, some scientists believe that pharmaceutical advancement and cultural acceptance could make 'cosmetic neurology' as popular as beauty 'enhancements'.

'If a safe and effective drug is developed which enhances cognition, then I think it would be difficult not to allow access to it,' Sahakian said.

Sahakian further highlighted that if such drugs were then legal, many ethical issues had to be addressed.

'The big question is, are we all going to be taking drugs in the next 10 years and boosting our cognition in that way?' said Sahakian.

The professor also questioned the convenience of such drugs outside the student sphere, implying that perhaps a

legal performance drug would be of worth in dealing with an aging population: 'People may have to work for longer, and their pensions may not be performing. It may be, as you get older, that people may

GORDON Brown has apologised for the forced deportation of 150,000 vulnerable children to Commonwealth countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand in the 1920s through to the late 1960s.

Brown announced he was going to apologise back in November when Kevin Rudd, the Australian premier, apologised for his country's part in the policy. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said this is an issue he feels very strongly about.

In a speech to the House of Commons, he issued a 'full and unconditional' apology to those who had suffered because of the UK's role in the scheme.

He also announced the introduction of the 'Family Restoration Fund' which will provide £6m for families to trace and reunite with their lost relatives.

As part of the policy, thousands of children aged 3 to 14, were often

given new names, birth dates and identities and even in some cases told their parents were dead before being sent to the colonies.

Upon arrival, many of the children were separated from their brothers and sisters and taken to foster homes, state-run orphanages and religious institutions where they were often abused sexually and physically by those who were supposed to care for them.

'We are sorry they were allowed to be sent away at the time when they were most vulnerable.

We are sorry that instead of caring for them, this country turned its back.'

– Gordon Brown Brown added that these children were 'robbed of their childhood' and 'the pain of a lost childhood can last a lifetime'.

Among the children sent abroad were 5,000 Birmingham children from

'Students who don't use them feel this is cheating. This is something that universities should at least discuss. Should there be urine testing? These questions have to be looked at.'

Samuel Lear BBC CUTS SERVICES THE Director General of the British Broadcasting Corporation has announced that the BBC is closing-down two radio stations.

BBC 6 Music and Asian Network are to be discontinued, along with over half of the websites on BBC Online.

Mark Thompson, the Director General, explained that the cuts to these services would be a case of: 'making fewer things better.'

He further announced that 90p in the pound would be invested into improving the quality of programming with less being invested into its online services.

CHILEAN EARTHQUAKE

Education enhancement drugs use on the rise. Photo: Beth Woolf

PM apologies over Bham deportations Caroline Mortimer

want to take a cognitive enhancement drug.'

'If these drugs become, essentially, legal, it will be difficult to say you can't use them for a competitive exam,' Sahakian said.

News Briefs

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Middlemore Children's Emigration Homes.

An estimated 40 to 60 victims of this policy were flown from Australia, Canada and New Zealand to hear Gordon Brown give the speech in person.

Margaret Humphreys, director of the Child Migrant Trust said: 'Every child migrant will thank him for his statement today... but the crucial message for today is that child migrants and their families will now able to embrace this defining statement and the measures announced with it and move forward after a lifetime of waiting'.

In addition, Britain's High Commissioner to Australia, Baroness Amos, said in a statement last week that the apology would be an 'important milestone'.

Harold Haig, Secretary for the International Association of Former Child Immigrants and their Families added: 'For many former child migrants and their families the apology will help to heal a painful past'.

15% of school leavers: 'neets' James Green THE number of school leavers not in education, employment or training reached a record year-onyear level at the end of 2009.

Almost 900,000 young people aged from 16 to 24 – nearly 15 per cent of all people in that age bracket – were classed as 'neets' for the period between October and December last year. This is up from 850,000 for the same quarter of 2008.

The figures released by the Department for Children, Schools and Families also show that the Government is set to miss its target for reducing the number of neets aged between 16-18 to 7.6 per cent by the end of this year.

This is despite Labour's introduction of the 'September guarantee', which ensures that every 16 and 17 year old has the chance to continue in education or training.

The University and

College Union's general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'The overall figure remains too high and history has taught us that the percentage of neets is likely to rise as the academic year progresses, making the Government unlikely to meet its target.'

Seven thousand jobs are at risk in adult learning, which will obviously damage provision for adults but will also seriously hit colleges' capacity to respond to the needs of 16 to 18-yearolds.'

Helping young people through the economic crisis has become a key issue for the opposition parties in the months prior to the election, particularly since Lord Mandelson's announcement that nearly £1 billion will be cut from the higher education budget over the next three years.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have both promised to increase the number of university places and apprenticeships should they come to power.

OVER 700 people have lost their lives after a severe earthquake struck Chile last Saturday.

Barely two months after the Haitian earthquake of 12 January, the 8.8-magnitude of the Chilean catastrophe has caused widespread destruction.

The quake was deemed 800 times more powerful than Haiti, but has claimed nearly 370 times fewer lives.

Many have pinned the limited damage down to the preparations imposed by the Chilean government, who established a national emergency rescue office in response.

The government has urged the population to remain calm, which included implementing a curfew for the city of Concepción, after widespread looting had arisen – a curfew that has since been lifted.

LORD ASHCROFT THE House of Lords have rejected calls by Peter Mandelson for an investigation into the tax status of Conservative Deputy Chairman Lord Ashcroft.

Ashcroft had admitted that he was a 'nondom', thus admitting that he did not pay UK tax on his earnings overseas.

Labour claim that they granted a peerage to Ashcroft in 2000, on the basis that 'he would return to live in the UK', after initially rejecting him a year earlier.

However, the House of Lords appointment commission has stated that this preceded their formation, and they had no 'retrospective powers.'

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

&

Features

Comment Feature:

Students survey the future

The student survey is upon us again. Ben Whitelaw tells us why it is one of the most important things you could do this year THE National Student Survey (NSS) has descended once again upon campuses across the country and Birmingham is no exception. A banner outside the library, constant e-mails and prompting from the colourful desktop of University computers make it hard to get away from the idea that 'Your Opinion Matters'. But that's because it does.

The NSS represents the easiest way for students to voice their opinion of their university education.

The survey, which must be filled in by the end of April 2010, comprises 22 questions and is intended to allow students to give feedback on their academic courses. It has a direct impact on future students through the publication of results online at unistats. com, where prospective students can learn from those who have been there, done it and got the hoodie to prove it.

Why, then, despite its admirable aim, is there such a negative feeling towards the National Survey?

Why did only 62 per cent of students, according to Ipsos MORI, the independent research agency that administers the survey, take 5-10 minutes out of their busy schedules to fill in the survey last year?

Why did 2,223 actively opt out of the 2009 survey?

What do we, as a body of students, really hope to achieve when only two thirds of us participate in such a worthwhile experience? Students at Sussex University have even gone to the extreme of boycotting the NSS in a protest against academic spending cuts.

Thankfully, at Birmingham, there is less hatred of the National Student Survey. From 4,713 eligible undergraduates last year, 3,223 filled in the NSS, making the response rate across campus a respectable 68 per

cent. Interestingly, 15 per cent of students opted out of the survey, a marked increase on the overall average of students that withdrew.

Claire McCauley, Assistant Director of Academic Policy & Quality at the University, pointed out that a high level of student participation is key to NSS results. 'Although the overall response rate at Birmingham last year was relatively high, some Departmental scores were as low as 45 per cent. Data is only made publicly available when certain bench-

grees there. By not taking up the right to have an opinion, prospective students and parents will only glean that graduates are not happy with the education afforded to them, thus eroding the reputation of the university in question. The vicious cycle doesn't stop there either; a decline in applicants, both in number and quality, means that universities find it hard to attract top academics. As a result, the standard of research, another important barometer of academic gravitas, declines.

A look to the future? Photo: Lucy Percival marks have been met (i.e.

50 per cent of the student cohort and at least 23 students have responded), so the more participation and greater representation of the student voice, the better.'

With these comments in mind, students must start realising that not completing the survey, as a result of lethargy or spite is not going to achieve anything. More than that, abstaining from the NSS can only impact negatively on the University's reputation, and thus on students who hold de-

When asked if there was a case to be made for more students filling in the NSS, McCauley insisted that however many students filled the survey in, it was always going to provide some helpful feedback for the University. In the past, a Joint Honours review group to look at good practice in student support and a working group, including the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Learning, Teaching & Quality) and the Guild of Students, to consider the best practice in assessment feedback, have been

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implemented on the basis of the NSS. 'Obviously the more students respond to the survey, the more reliable the results are' McCauley noted. 'But in spite of that, the University has a process in place for addressing issues that arise from the survey'.

Is there a case for the NSS to be compulsory, so that you cannot pass your degree without completing it? Possibly. McCauley thought this idea had potential but deemed it something only students could decide. 'The NSS is a student feedback mechanism, where responses are publicly available. It is for the student body to determine whether they think such a measure is necessary for greater participation.'

If any more reason is needed to log on and complete the survey, it should be noted that the National Student Survey is commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the same board that decides university spending cuts and has recently opened up discussions about whether to increase tuition fees to ÂŁ7,000 a year. Only by completing the National Student Survey and providing relevant feedback and ways to improve our courses can we, as students, make the HEFCE think twice about increasing current tuition fees.

As ambassadors for the university, students must realise they have a moral obligation to complete the National Student Survey. By ignoring it, they are preventing their institution from improving teaching standards, academic support and resources. There is simply no excuse for the current collective antagonism towards the NSS at Birmingham or any other university. It is merely a duty we must all fulfil.

Clocking Off

Comment & Features Editorial

Jude Hill is curious about the new internet phenomenon of Chatroulette

MY general rule for writing these editorials is that I comment on what I have been doing during the previous week.

However as much as I wish that my life is exciting enough to do this week in week out, unfortunately it is not.

Therefore, rather than writing about how I have spent the majority of my week sat at my desk working on/crying about my dissertation, I will instead write about something that I am doing right this second.

It is almost like a live blog, but with a satellite delay of three days.

What I will be writing about is nothing short of revolutionary; it is both disgusting and beautiful, perverse and sensitive, prying and private. I will of course be talking you through my journey into chatroulette.com.

For those of you who haven't yet experienced this, the concept is that you have a webcam showing you to a stranger, and the stranger has a webcam showing them. From there you can either choose to chat to them or you can click 'next' to find somebody else.

However, in the same way they could dislike your look and 'next' you too. It is like Russian roulette for your self confidence.

My first five minutes have so far consisted of a series of people 'nexting' me.

This I don't mind so much. However the eight men that I have seen vigorously masturbating in front of my eyes have been slightly more disturbing. Why would you do that?

The second stint brought much the same result as the first, with

many men feeling the need to show how skilled they are at the ancient art of tug-ofwar using their penises, as rope is obviously hard to come by when you spend the majority of your day on the internet.

To add to this show of male one-track-mindedness, I have also been told to 'flash my tits' on several occasions. My stubble and lack of breasts are obviously not enough for some people to accept that I am not female.

I could go on, however I feel that my social commentary will in fact go round in circles. Why is it that something that is such a good idea, an idea that could be used as a platform for originality and interest, is so sordid?

The fact is that Chatroulette shows the worst of human nature, but can you really blame the people using it?

This is a website based purely on looks; I would not have been 'nexted' half as much as I was if I was A) a woman or B) looked like Brad Pitt. It is shallow, and shows how depraved people can be as soon as their identity is masked.

It is upsetting when you think about it in this way, that our society loses its long-held concepts of morality and standards, as soon as the person you are looking at cannot identify you.

Luckily I have just clicked 'next' and there is a guy who has drawn a moustache on himself. I could never be angry at that, until I come across the next guy pulling furiously.

8 Comment & Features

Climate change: True or false?

Tobi Demuren questions the validity of scientific climate change claims NEW light is currently being shed on the reality of the global warming situation. At the last annual meeting the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) claimed the warming of the earth was 'unequivocal' and that 'greenhouse gases had heated the world by 0.7°C and that there could be 5-6°C more warming by 2100'. However a number of experts in the field seem to disagree with the rate of projected change, even inferring that the basis behind the apparent fear mongering is politically, instead of scientifically, based.

Street Journal entitled 'A Major Deception on Global Warming' by Professor Frederick Seitz, it reveals that at least 15 key sections of the science chapters proposed by the IPCC had been deleted. A quote from this letter states 'This report is not what it appears to be – it is not the version that was approved by the contributing scientists listed on the title page'.

The report continues to illuminate the reality of the science behind climate change; 'none of the studies cited above has shown clear evidence that we can attribute the ob-

Really? Photo: Mike Roberts Former lead author of the IPCC Professor John Christy, states with regard to human activity being the cause of climate change, 'I am one scientist and there are many that simply think that it is not true'. The professor of atmospheric science at the University of Alabama also insists 'the temperature records cannot be relied on as indicators of global change'.

These statements shine an alternative light on climate change reluctantly spoken of in media or political circles. Expert in the field Professor Ian Clark, from the department of Earth Sciences at the University of Ottawa, remarks 'we cannot say that CO2 will drive climate, it certainly never did in the past'.

To add further ambiguity to the argument around climate change, aspersions are now being cast on the credibility of the IPCC; appointed in order to analyse data on the global situation. Allegations of censorship concerning the IPCC have continued to tarnish their reputation.

In a letter to the Wall

served [climate] changes to the specific causes of increases in greenhouse gases.' Professor Frederick Seitz also writes in his inflammatory letter 'I have never witnessed a more disturbing corruption of the peer-review process than the events that led to this IPCC report.' UN officials have recently commissioned an independent review of the IPCC after a particularly detrimental 'mistake' concerning the melting of Himalayan glaciers was brought to light.

The question of

'If the CO2 increases in the atmosphere, as a greenhouse gas then the temperature will go up, but the ice core records show exactly the opposite, so the fundamental assumption ... of the whole theory of climate change due to humans is shown to be wrong'.

The development of third world countries has been hindered due to the claims. 'The policies being pushed to prevent global warming are having a disastrous effect on the world's poorest people' says the author of the controversial book Green Power, Black Death, by Paul Driessen.

Over two billion people worldwide lack access to electricity; the consequences of this are devastating for the developing world. Restrictions have been forced on countries stating that wind and solar power should be encouraged as a means of generating energy. Paul Driessen has argued that 'The environmental movement has evolved into the strongest force there is for preventing development in the developing countries.'

The truth concerning climate change may not be as black and white as once thought. Dr Vicky Pope, head of climate change at the Met Office, said in relation to new data: 'This set of data confirms the trend towards rising global temperatures and suggests that, if anything, the world is warming even more quickly than we had thought'. However, a paper published on the 29th of January 2010 entitled Surface temperature records: policy driven deception? by Joseph D'Aleo and Anthony Watts, questions the authenticity of temperature records and the way in which they are determined, inferring there are serious extenuating

'The whole theory of climate change due to humans is shown to be wrong' Professor Tim Ball whether the rate of projected change in climate is true has serious repercussions. The global population is continually told that levels of CO2 are rising because of human activity and that this is causing climate change.

However, Professor Tim Ball from the department of Climatology at the University of Winnipeg states,

factors not accounted for when measuring global temperatures. Only time will tell whether climate change is truly a growing phenomenon of which we should all be wary, or one of the biggest hoaxes of the 20th and 21st century.

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

In Brief

Virtually an escape from reality Emily Dyer THERE are some who never leave the fantasy world they quietly played in as children. Instead, they continue to develop their imaginary friends into complex characters and drift off into their fantasy worlds as often as they can as a way of escaping having to talk to real people and deal with reality.

Despite how it sounds, the reality of the condition is far from romantic, as it prevents those who have it from being able to make any real progress in life through communicating with others.

After hearing about this sad condition, it made me wonder about the

rest of us – at what point did we leave our imaginary friends and secret worlds behind, and why?

Have we lost our ability to escape from reality, or has it just evolved?

Whether we like to admit it or not, social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Wii allows us to continue to escape to a world based around, but ultimately outside of, reality where we can spy on, play games with, receive attention from and fantasise about whoever we want.

We too have reached the point where we spend more time thinking and talking about how we live our lives than we do actually living them. This is because people care more about how their life appears to be rather than

how it really is. Is living in a fantasy land a good thing, or does it make the prospect of finding real love and achieving real things just a dream?

24% of those with access to internet use Facebook

4.9 million Wii consoles sold in the UK

50 million Tweets each day

Sexual indoctrination Edward PatonWilliams LEARNING about sex, contraception, abortion, sexuality and stable relationships is an undoubtedly necessary part of children's school education. What is less certain is the position religious values should take in this.

Some argue that children should learn about these important issues without being influenced by 'outdated' religious values. Others maintain that schools with a religious ethos should be able to at least tell students what their religious faith teaches on these matters.

The Government re-

cently intervened on the issue. Parliament is currently debating a bill that would oblige schools to teach about contraception and stable relationships and ban homophobia in the classroom.

But it would also allow faith schools to teach sex education 'in a way that reflects the school's religious character.' Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, said 'there is no optout for any faith school from teaching the full, broad, balanced curriculum on sex and relationship education.' He added, 'Catholic schools can say to their pupils that, as a religion, we believe contraception is wrong, but what they can't do is

therefore say they are not going to teach about contraception.'

I am pro-choice on abortion, loathe homophobia and see contraception as a crucial component of safe sex, but the deeply-held beliefs of some with a religious faith cause them to disagree with me on these points. It is problematic to simultaneously call for tolerance regarding abortion, sexuality and contraception and intolerance regarding faithbased values and beliefs.

The Government's bill strikes the pragmatic balance of accepting these religious beliefs and promoting accurate and balanced sex education.

Youth incarceration: a life sentence?

Jen Waghorn NICOLLE Earley, an eighteen year-old from Crosshill, Scotland, murdered a sixty-three year old woman when she was just sixteen. The argument being over '£5 and a borrowed cigarette'. Last week she was sentenced to fourteen years in prison – a sentence which has outraged the victim's family.

It goes without saying that murder is a horrible crime, but is fourteen years in prison really such a measly sentence?

By the time Earley's release is considered, she will be 32 years old, and the most formative years of her life will have been spent in a detention centre. I had the opportunity to discuss the effect of

this with an Inspector of Young Offenders' Institutes. She pointed out that 'there's a big danger that they become institutionalised, and hardened to the system', emphasising that years of constant suspicion, locked doors and enforced routines had a great psychological effect upon offenders.

However, at the same time she highlighted that 'a sense of order can sometimes be really constructive for young people with no structure in their lives back home – they can actively participate in new projects, from improving their literacy to joining a basketball team'. Recent governmental decisions to cut funding for the custody of young offenders means that greater emphasis will be placed on community projects such

as these. As a result it will become more feasible to rehabilitate offenders when they have served their sentence, preventing them from committing further crimes.

So, while young offenders' institutions could have a positive or negative effect upon the individuals held in custody, endeavours are being focused on the former.

Ultimately, however, the magnitude of a fourteenyear prison sentence will still have a huge psychological impact upon the offender. When you look at the situation in this light, regardless of whether someone like Nicolle Earley deserves a longer sentence or not, fourteen years in prison surely can't be seen as nothing.

Comment & Features

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Investigation: Freedom of speech

9

Rosa McMahon & Micaela Winter investigate what can and cannot be discussed on university grounds 'I do not agree with what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it'.

Increasingly university campuses are faced with decisions regarding questionably controversial speakers. We are no longer simply concerned with what is said, but also who says it, and the forums in which voices are heard. Such issues

Facebook group 'Keep Birmingham University Hate Free', and opposers to Dr Tamimi speaking on campus, believe 'fundamentally in the principle of free speech', but say there is 'a limit, and a line you should not cross'. However, it is a difficult task locating where that line is and this is where complications arise concerning university policy.

visitors and events every year' and that they themselves are 'a community of 150 nations'. On campus do we remain part of the wider law of the land or, within the student body, are we able to make and define our own set of democratic policies?

Some university members we spoke to felt that the law was applicable to all institutions and there-

racy. David Dunphy, a Maths and Music student who signed the 'Keep Birmingham University Hate Free' petition added, 'in any form of a democracy you need to be allowed to state your opinion on any matter'. Following hearing Tamimi speak, he expressed his regret at joining the group and found he had underestimated his own value on freedom

to the peace process'.

This leads to the question of whether the University has the right to prohibit certain viewpoints on campus. In turn, one must then question whether eliminating the platform means that arguments are strengthened, rather than silenced. If an opinion is not given a voice, then how can it ever be defeated? If a speaker can be questioned on their beliefs, then many of the fears about them might be allayed. Perhaps the issue can be summed up by Neuner, who stated that: 'if you hold a debate under the banner of a university and education, you can't have polemics'.

Code of Conduct

Which voices can be heard on campus? Photo: Lucy Percival have certainly encouraged us to define freedom of speech, and question if it is unconditional within our academic space.

Do I have the right to speak?

The University of Cambridge has recently been criticised over a society's decision to cancel a speaker, following protests and a fear that Varsity Newspaper reported that it 'led to incitements of racial tension'. Similarly, on our campus, disapproval has come from decisions to allow, most recently, Palestinian academic Dr Azzam Tamimi to speak, despite approximately 1,200 signatories against his proposed talk. The University should be the very place for debating issues of importance to students.

Indeed, for students to make informed decisions, a range of voices need to be heard. However this leads us to question where the limit of freedom of speech is deciphered, and if such definitions lead to campuses becoming a platform for articulating intolerance, and extreme political views. We now must redefine what we deem to be tolerant, and question individual liberties in a pluralistic, liberal society.

Ben Curtis and Alex Green, founders of the

Some believe debate and censorship are not a healthy partnership in the realms of academia.

A member of the Islamic Society, who wished to remain anonymous, stated: 'I really feel that, especially in an educational setting such as a university, we need to leave people the freedom to debate and discuss and organise, even if we fundamentally don't agree with what they think. The only way which we can come to different views is by hearing those of others'.

fore, freedom of speech should exist on campus, just as it does elsewhere.

When speaking to Fabian Neuner, President of the Guild, he stressed that there is a fundamental difference between the University as an institution and the Guild. Drawing from this distinction he stated: 'The Guild is a membership organisation and so technically a private members' club. Who we invite to speak in our Guild is up to us, therefore I think freedom of speech is never absolute.

To clarify, as far as I can

'We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still.'

John Stuart Mill, 1859 Whose Law? University life can be like living in a bubble, a parallel world to wider society, a micro society if you will. Whereas in the wider world we have various interest groups, on campus we have societies. These expressions of differing interests make our University diverse and stimulating. The University added that they 'host many

recall the Guild has never prevented a speaker from talking on campus'.

The aftermath of Dr Tamimi's speech brought about the question of who can, and should, come to speak on campus. A pluralistic society theoretically means a diversity of interests are represented, allowing individuals to articulate varying opinions. This is in essence a core principle of democ-

of speech for all on campus.

A Debate?

At the centre of university education is the ability to express, develop and question opinions.

The presence of a platform for speakers leads to open debate, which is undoubtedly a core tenet of an educational setting. However, the situation concerning speakers at the University is not a simple one. Some students interviewed associated a platform with an accumulation of tension, and deemed certain speakers as a threat to the University, and the equilibrium within it. The term 'preach hatred' has increasingly been linked with those speaking at universities, and some see the platform as a means by which friction is accumulating. Green and Curtis voiced a fear concerning the University's decision to allow certain speakers on campus. When questioned directly on his petition against Tamimi speaking, Green stated: 'it wasn't what he said in the talk that worried us, it was that he was given a platform.' The Islamic Society felt their decision for Tamimi to speak was the right one as 'it was an important element of the vital dialogue that needs to take place, in relation

When assessing the issues regarding speakers on campus, the University's Code of Conduct comes into question. The current policy has been criticised for being too vague in its wording, yet too complicated in its practice. It states that 'the challenge for universities is to identify when the pursuit of freedom of ideas and expression crosses a threshold and becomes extremism or intolerance', yet is not clear in how to implement this.

Furthermore, procedure for securing a speaker at the Guild has been faulted for being too lengthy and complex. A member of the Islamic Society commented that current procedure 'gives student groups very little time and space to organise an event'. The President of the Guild seemed to agree with criticism of the policy not being clear, and spoke of a review that has now been initiated.

He raised the opinion that speakers need to be

considered on a 'case by case' basis and that clearer guidelines need to be enforced for students to raise any possible issues.

A spokesperson for the University commented that ' the code of practice is reviewed regularly, and representatives on the current review reflect the broader University community, including the President of the Guild of Students'.

In turn, the need for more advertising both to attract wider audiences and raise awareness of speakers was highlighted.

This gives the hope that both opposers and supporters may have the appropriate resources to prepare sound arguments and make informed decisions.

Universities are places where a variety of opinions should and do exist, but precautions are necessary to ensure they do not simply become a forum in which one-sided arguments prevail. A final point from a University's spokesperson states that 'we respect the right of all individuals to exercise freedom of speech within the law'. They add that 'under the 1986 Education Act we have a legal duty to promote freedom of speech', and as an institution 'will continue to actively challenge discrimination of any kind and strive to strike a balance that protects these freedoms and ensures vigilance against any forms of potential extremism.'

'University', from its Latin derivation 'universitas', means the whole.

Therefore, we must strive to ensure that the 'whole' of our voice can be heard.

After all, 'the test of democracy is the freedom of criticism'.

University Code of Conduct: The University is an academic community of staff and students.

Central to this concept is the ability of all its members freely to challenge prevailing orthodoxies, query the positions and views of others and to put forward ideas that may sometimes be radical in their formulation.

1.4

1.7

It is a core right of the University's staff and students to work and study unhindered by hostility, offensive conduct or intimidation. UK legislation protects staff and students from discrimination on the grounds of their religious faith, or where they have a comparable belief system, such as atheism and humanism, and also those who do not subscribe to a faith or belief.

10 Comment & Features

Lane's Domain

Tom Lane argues for radical library reform IF I had to name one thing I miss about my school, I would surprise myself and say the library.

It was everything that such a place should be – cold, uninviting, lacking comfort and under the austere rule of three delightfully menopausal and petty women. Rumour held that they had been unleashed straight from the fires of hell. The library can only have held a few hundred books, none of which had ever been touched except for the very small section containing diagrams of the reproductive system, but the trio jealously guarded all with their lives. It was frequently conjectured that they had no concept of human speech, only of noise, for under their noses they would happily permit obscene conversations (and in all honesty there were few other types in my school) so long as they didn't exceed a certain decibel level, at which point they would begin screaming in unison like banshees. We dubbed them Grandma Death, Skeletor and Conan the Librarian.

By Upper Sixth I was virtually spending my whole life in the library – or at least I was until one day a friend and I took an extended lunch break down the pub.

We'd drank what seemed to us to be the very serious matter of three pints, and when I returned to the Satanic lair, private study was not on my mind. You can imagine what happened next. Following two hours of good-natured mayhem, Grandma Death decreed I could never set foot on her hallowed territory again.

Although I passed the rest of my schooldays waging war against her – stealing textbooks and setting up rival libraries on the stairs, playing techno music at full blast outside the real one – I would never be readmitted.

All of which has been a rather roundabout way of introducing today's point: namely that this University's library is an utter disappointment to me. Almost everything about it is wholly unsatisfactory.

For one thing, the staff are friendly and willing to offer help. The decor is uplifting. The central heating is always turned on. There is a complete absence of mutilated heads on spikes to greet

visitors upon entry. This is no library: this is a place for the living.

And my goodness, it shows. I have acquaintances who labour under the abominable impression that the library is some kind of youths' common room. If I had a penny for every time I've had my peace disturbed by the latest updates on Ben and Louise's turbulent relationship, I would be several bottles of Frosty Jack's richer. People seem to think that if you ever go to the library, you must be automatically interested in overhearing the daily tribulations of half-brained strangers; I get enough of that in lectures.

It's not as if it would be all that difficult to improve the library's atmosphere. How about instead of the 'green room', the 'orange room', and the 'iLounge', why not have the 'torture room', the 'hard labour room', and the 'solitary confinement Lounge'?

Perhaps things are improving. Last week I went to pour myself some water from the vending machine area and was spotted by a member of staff illicitly pinching an empty cup from the coffee machine.

She rounded on me, trembling. 'How DARE you take one of them?

Those are for coffee only, and YOU KNOW IT' Now that's more like it! But, sadly, the irate woman was apparently impressed by my protestations that there were no other cups available, that the one I'd stolen was worth at most a penny, and that in any case, said coffee company made quite enough money from exorbitantly priced beverages, and so she shuffled off.

So I fear our library may be doomed, and only one durable solution remains. I therefore propose demolishing the library and building in its place an enormous tower block, large enough for every undergraduate to have their own personal office. I do not care how the University funds it – raise tuition fees, scrap the Psychology department, do anything. I need my peace of mind, and I will not rest until they do whatever it takes to permanently rid my life of Ben and Louise's turbulent yet dull relationship.

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Myths and money

Jamie Farquhar looks at the impact of Greece on the Euro PLUTUS, the Greek god of wealth, spread money throughout the land to those of high morality.

He was later blinded by Zeus, resulting in him giving indiscriminately. At the end of Aristophanes' eponymous play, he has his sight restored and starts to take back wealth from the unvirtuous. In the current economic crisis it seems lenders have suddenly had their sight restored and want their 'wealth' back, while the previous government had filled the role of Zeus.

When Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, and his party came to office they quickly revealed the Government deficit (the amount the Government owes) was not the accepted 3.7 per cent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), but a staggering 12.5 per cent.

So, is this hugely important for Greece? The short answer is a big yes!

Governments borrow on the sovereign debt market and in so doing they sell 'I owe you' notes called bonds. These agree to pay a set amount once they mature, but more importantly pay an interest rate, called a yield, at set periods.

This increased deficit,

alongside Greece's poor tax collection as well as other factors, has spooked investors. Greece now has to pay a far higher yield, and therefore has to borrow more. This is partly because investors perceive a greater risk of government default, in which case Greece will be unable, or unwilling, to keep

panic could spread to other economies. Other problem areas such as Spain and Portugal could see similar runs from their debt, which would exacerbate their problems leading to further defaults.

The UK with its record deficit of £178 billion is far from safe.

While on the face of it

Will Greece's actions topple the Euro? Photo: Shaziya Butt up with payments. Governments are also able to borrow from the European Central Bank (ECB), but with new changes to policy, Greece may be locked out of this market too.

Greece is a relatively small country, with a GDP share of only 2.5 per cent of the whole currency block. So what's the problem? If a default occurred,

the Euro zone agreement forbids countries from bailing out struggling neighbours, exceptions can be made in exceptional circumstances. This is where the problem lies. If a country or the ECB start bailing out struggling members, a moral hazard is created. The same argument is used for the Government's recent bank

bailout. If parties expect a bailout will be forthcoming, they may, and often do, act in a less sustainable fashion, knowing the worst case scenario is no longer complete meltdown. Another option could be an IMF (International Monetary Fund) bailout, but this comes with even more strings attached and further problems, as well as admitting that the monetary union can't look after itself.

The current 'best option' seems to be for Germany to bail out Greece, but the big provider is complacent. At the Euro's founding 55 per cent of Germans were against joining the Euro, according to The Economist. If Germany is forced to foot Greece's bill, it may decide that the costs outweigh the benefits and that would leave the Euro without its strongest economy. Greece on the other hand may decide to drop out of the bottom. This would allow it to devalue its currency, which would in effect cut its deficit. If Germany drop the Euro, it seems unlikely the monetary union can survive.

It seems the future is uncertain. Plutus is the leading actor. His moves will decide Europe's fate.

Student Politics: Part 1, The Conservatives Samina Patel interviews the president of Birmingham University Conservative Future I MET Birmingham University Conservative Future (BUCF) President Sahar Rezazadeh to discuss what the BUCF is all about, its involvement in the local community and whether David Cameron is really all spin and no substance.

Sahar's interest in the Conservative party began in 2008 when the Conservative Party conference was held in Birmingham, an event that will be repeated this year. Her concerns are primarily to engage voters at grass-roots level as she firmly believes that such activity will be the driving force behind successful change.

What does being Conservative mean?

For me, being a Conservative, is about giving power back to the people without punishing them for how successful they are. The Conservative party used to be made up of middleclass and upper-class white males who have been in the past the most successful people. However as society is changing the party is changing and this image is no longer accurate. Anyone who

wants to be or is successful is welcome to join our party.

What are the key Conservative values?

Conservative values have never changed and we have never made false promises. We have never faltered from our core values: power in the people's hands; opportunities for all and social and community responsibility. We believe that a government should be the reflection of its society, with a smaller government befitting our society at the moment.

David Cameron recently said that the Government should run the way in which a small business does, improving its services to keep its customers.

Do you think that David Cameron is the right man for the job as leader and as PM candidate?

The biggest criticism that Cameron receives is the fact that he went to Eton, something which I don't think really matters. Labour use this in their negative campaigning, which may be effective but is pa-

thetic. He is a good leader, there is no other like him and he will always answer questions as honestly as he can; trust is fundamental in politics. The decisive action that he has taken over the MP expenses scandal is proof that he is a no-nonsense man. For example, Cameron Direct events, where the general public put questions to him ad-lib and he visits cities to speak to voters.

He recently came to Bartley Green in Birmingham, a place renowned for not voting Conservative and answered all questions eloquently and truthfully.

What would a Conservative government mean for students?

A Conservative government would be important in the way in which students' futures will be shaped. It won't be a matter of x amount of young people have to go to university and not caring when the majority are unemployed. I would say vote Conservative to ensure there are more opportunities of financial freedom and more opportunities for your children.

3 Part Series The elections are coming so feast your eyes upon our party profiles.

This is the first of a three part series looking at the main political parties of the UK, so pick up a copy of Redbrick in each of the coming weeks to get your fill.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats are being profiled as well and the elections will be taking place in May, so after these three pieces you are on your own.

Yet, we know that as engaged and upstanding students you will not be shirking your voting responsibility...

You should also see: www.voteforstudents.co.uk If you have anything you would like to say please comment on the articles at www. redbrickonline.co.uk or send us a letter at letters@redbrickonline.co.uk

Film

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Opening Credits

Film of the Week

11

Krupa Savjani watches Renée Zellweger deal with Case 39 incredibly badly.

Director: Christian Alvart.

Cast: Renée Zellweger, Bradley Cooper Cert: 15

Alex Jacques Rosie Willmot A trip to the Electric Cinema reminds you why you fell in love with cinema in the first place.

Before you assume they've given us a box of Creme Eggs to illicit this praise I should tell you this gushing is voluntary and for good reason.

There's a lack of giggling muppets shouting at each other, no shrill ringtones at tense moments, it's full, the velour seats flap back into position, it's a normal temperature and you don't have to suffer Barclays' latest flume advert. Why? Because the emphasis is placed on film more than the extraction of your money; however it's not just the multiplex's fault, it's a spectrum-wide flaw.

In recent weeks Japan and India have provided

the originality so painfully lacking in this week's selection. Not that Krupa, Matt and Rob don't deliver superb reviews of average films, but it falls yet again to a film outside the Hollywood bubble to provide the ingenuity.

France-made Micmacs is given five stars by Ben Hewitt in a glowing review. Luckily Simon Fairbanks tells us the future's packed with film goodness, Genevieve Taylor informs you about the little known Big Trouble in Little China, and Amber Alexander's damning indictment of Leap Year shows us the upside of awful cinema, her review exclusively online and well worth a read. Finally the Oscars are on Sunday and good luck to the far superior Hurt Locker, there I've typed it – send your complaints in now folks.

BEST known for her role as Bridget Jones, Renée Zellweger plays Emily Jenkings; a bold, headstrong social worker touched by the story of young Lillith Sullivan (Jodelle Ferland) in Christian Alvert's Case 39. I have to confess, before volunteering for this preview the extent of my knowledge of the film went so far as 'starring Renée Zellweger' and the predominant narrative strand uncovering the horrific abuse of a young girl. You can imagine my astonishment when I was faced with killer dogs and crazed children.

Lily is Emily's 39th case; on meeting the Sullivans, Emily senses sinister goings on; the menacing looks on the parents in regards to Lily seem to further accentuate her original suspicions of child abuse or neglect.

On learning of their intention to send the austere

Lily quite literally to Hell, Emily fights for custodial care in a truly American fashion. After winning the appeal, Emily and Lily go on to start their 'new beginning' together. A fairytale ending for both protagonists it'd seem, except that's all within the first twenty minutes of the film. A series of horrific murders and unsettling 'suicides' begin to take place and who other than the ballsy Emily to investigate.

In terms of originality Case 39 fails miserably; a combination of key scenes

from The Candyman, The Ring and The Orphan pretty much sums up the entirety of the film! On the other hand the direction was commendable.

Countless horrors have amused me in terms of over-exaggerated camera techniques and out-ofsync sound effects; Alvart truly had me sinking deep into my seat one minute and pouncing onto my housemate the next!

Yes the plot lacked substance and now having seen the trailer the majority of the best scenes are spoiled. Call

me a cynic but when judging a 'psychological horror' the last thing I expect is a mind-blowing truly authentic narrative. I have two expectations: one, a few involuntary screams; and two, to be shaken up once the film has ended.

Based on this I'd say Case 39 was a success; it's definitely not in the running for the best film of 2010 and it's safe to say I won't be rushing to buy this one on DVD but if it's a nailbiting (albeit short-lived) thrill you're after, Case 39 is certainly worth a lookin.

Reviews MICMACS

The CRAZIES

FROM PARIS...

Ben Hewitt

Rob Watts

Matt Davis

Director: Jim Sheridan Cast: Tobey Maguire Jake Gyllenhaal Certificate:15

Director: Breck Eisner Cast: Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell Certificate: 15

Director: Pierre Morel John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers Certificate: 15

Think Oceans Eleven, but lo-tech.

This French import sees a troubled man named Bazil, with a bullet lodged in his head, go on a mission to ruin the arms dealers who made the ammunition that shot him, and the landmine that killed his father. Playing two firms off against one another, comedic chaos ensues.

Micmacs makes for extremely original laughs, with a perfect blend of light-hearted, surreal comedy and witty exaggeration that does not step too far into slapstick. Only by experiencing the full hundred minutes can anyone capture how warm and cheerful this film makes you feel, the romance convincing, Bazil and his partners-incrime endlessly likeable.

Living in the depths of a tyre yard, they employ intricate tricks to try and deceive the weapons manufacturers, helped by a host of wild and wonderful inventions made out of scrap metal that drive the plot. The ploys are full of twists and

turns that will leave any heist-movie fan smirking all the way through, blissfully reminiscent of the oh-my-god-no-way revelations that make American examples such classics. The main difference is that this film is all action, with no hedging or endless planning, and makes no attempt to be as smooth – the gritty, humble team are looking out for each other, not money.

Backed by beautiful cinematography and a playful soundtrack, the fact that this is a Frenchlanguage film drifts over your head and becomes unnoticeable as it progresses. The carefully fused 'thriller-comedy' genre balances any issues at hand well, satirical and empathetic when appropriate, creating what is an incredibly engaging and, more importantly, unforgettable film that will leave you smiling in infinitely different ways long afterwards.

REMAKING classic George A. Romero films can be tricky, as can be seen from the 2008 version of Day of the Dead. However, when done well they can be interesting and often better than Romero's latest output (see Zack Snyder's excellent Dawn of the Dead).

This most recent update, The Crazies, deals not with zombies but with humans infected by a contaminated water supply. It stars a wide-eyed Timothy Olyphant as David Dutton, the sheriff of Ogden Marsh, a small Iowa town that gets overrun by the infected. When the military turn up and attempt to deal with the problem, his wife gets taken as she is running a high temperature and thus proceeds a generic storyline concerning one man's mission to rescue his love and escape with her.

It's no 28 Days Later, but this works as a very decent horror with plenty of jumps and fresh set pieces. One scene in particular involving possibly

the scariest car wash ever committed to film will have audiences on the edge of their seat, and as with every new horror film the ways in which the good guys kill the evil ones are ingenious and fun (witness Dutton slay a 'crazy' with a knife to the throat courtesy of his own knife wound).

Radha Mitchell plays Dutton's wife and is fine if nothing more than the plot device allowing more 'crazies' action. She does however provide one or two laugh out loud moments when grappling with the bare script, but this is an old-school style horror and imperfections can be overlooked.

With some tense and chilling moments and interesting death scenes, The Crazies is one of the better of the recent horror remakes and while it won't be a long lasting memory, will certainly please those looking for a frightening couple of hours.

From Paris With Love stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as James Reece, special adviser to the US ambassador in France. The political pawn has it all: lucrative job and a beautiful French girlfriend.

However, Reece craves the mystery and excitement of becoming an illusive CIA operative. Wined, dined and recently engaged, Reece receives a call to partner up with Charlie Wax (John Travolta.) The duo whisk around vicinities of Parisian criminal underworlds, commissioned to exterminate a terrorist holding political threat.

When the pair expose an assignment to obliterate Reece himself, the feature immerses itself within the theories of espionage and betrayal.

Travolta commandeers a salacious persona, sporting a shaved head, goatee and an attraction for splurging profanities in superabundance. The picture demonstrates Wax's methodology to secret intelligence, a tactic of shooting first and ques-

tioning later. Guns blazing, bad-boy Travolta ushers mainstream Hollywood activity into the quiet streets of Paris.

Lacking the gist of a good plot, the script is even worse as Morel awkwardly resorts to using infamous scriptural lines from Pulp Fiction; an embarrassing attempt to gain audience for this vile, movie house puke.

As the camera alters between action scene and short dialogue, the driving forces behind the film have implemented a production ignominious and unpleasant upon cinematic screens.

Travolta perhaps got his rocks off when scanning the script, the opportunity to play a CIA badass, melee around Paris and use a modicum of bad language. However, baffling events and presentation fail on the majority of their premises and the movie is an amateur version of spy movie archetype.

12 Film

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Silverscreen

Film News You wanted more of it and Simon Fairbanks has obliged. Here's this week's round up

Genevieve Taylor The term B-movie can often be derogatory, used to describe films that are laughably terrible, but some exceptions, bravely laughing at themselves too, transcend this boundary. Big Trouble in Little China is deservedly counted among this number, as one of the brilliant B-movies. A magnificently ridiculous blend of magic, monsters, romance, kung-fu and comedy, the film is directed by horror-king John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing) and may just be his masterpiece. Since a poor reception on its release in 1986 Big Trouble has gone on to rightfully earn the status of a cult marvel.

Its adoration is in no

small part due to the cast.

Leading is Hollywood star Kurt Russell who steals the show with his dry wit, hunky look and slapstick stunts. Filling the feisty damsel's shoes is none other than Sex and the City's Kim Cattrall who adds a touch of glamour to the proceedings as well as providing some incredibly funny exchanges with Russell.

The story is set in San Francisco and follows Jack Burton (Russell), truck driver of 'The PorkChop Express', as he follows his friend, Wang Chi, into the secret and mystical depths of Chinatown.

There they encounter demons and magical warriors in their quest to rescue Wang Chi's captured girlfriend from the lusty desires of ancient sorcerer Lo Pan.

The effects are impressive but also, probably intentionally, hilarious. At one point Lo Pan descends from what looks like a mystical shoppingcentre elevator surrounded by tacky, fluorescent lights while a mid-air fight lasts about a minute.

The fights themselves are both silly and cool, featuring stunts from real martial arts greats.

Big Trouble in Little China is completely ridiculous, but it'll make you laugh no matter how many times you watch it and you will be laughing with it, not at it. The spirit and palpable camaraderie of the film is perhaps its greatest and most enduring quality while its stars are magnetic and witty. In summary, as 'ol' Jack always says... 'what the hell?'

The 82nd Academy Awards are taking place this weekend. All eyes are on the clash of the titans: Avatar vs The Hurt Locker.

James Cameron is going head-to-head with his exwife Katherine Bigelow for Best Film and Best Director. Will Cameron be left feeling blue? Watch on Sunday to found out.

Upcoming psychological thriller Retreat bags a triumvirate of British talent. Thandie Newton and Jason Isaacs find a halfdead David Tennant during their island getaway holiday who warns them of a military virus killing millions on the mainland.

Filming begins in May. More British dreamteam casting has happened on the John Landisdirected horror-comedy Burke and Hare. Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis will star as the body-snatchers in 1828 Edinburgh who discover that a dead body can fetch a hefty price in the medical industry. Tim Curry and Christopher Lee co-star.

In sequel news, Bruce Willis is on board for Die

Hard 5, plus, Justin Theroux, writer of Tropic Thunder and Iron Man 2, is in talks to co-write a second Zoolander with Ben Stiller. Jonah Hill will be replacing Will Ferrell as a new villain.

Comeback king Mickey Rourke isn't going anywhere, bagging himself the role of Conan's father in the upcoming franchise reboot. Meanwhile, exLovejoy actor Ian McShane continues to storm Hollywood after being cast as Blackbeard in Pirates of the Caribbean 4.

Our timbers are well and truly shivered.

Stars of The (US) Office are establishing themselves on the big-screen.

Ed Helms is starring in Central Intelligence as an accountant thrust into the world of international espionage after an unfortunate Facebook reunion.

Meanwhile, John Krasinski is a contender for Captain America.

Finally, The Karate Kid reboot trailer has hit YouTube. Welcome back Mr Miyagi.

Top Ten: Entrances Izzy Sanders counts down the top ten movie entrances of all time

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One of the most striking elements in any film is the extraordinary entrance of a significant character.

Such an entrance can lift any character from merely entertaining to unforgettable. Unfortunate characters are remembered solely because of their performance, however, here are ten very memorable characters, with even more memorable entrances.

10. Honey Ryder – Dr. No

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aboard that ship, it is clear who is the big bad, and who is the boss.

to slot into her synthetic body. A grand entrance with impact.

8. Quint – Jaws

5. Dr Frank-N-Furter – The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Disembodied nails claw across a chalk drawing of a man-eating shark. Quint is instantly set up as the perfect nemesis for the infamous shark.

7. Venus – The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

The wet-dream of men world-wide.

When Ms Ryder rises up from the sea, the trope of the highly sexual bond girl is set in time forever.

A different sort of beautiful woman, re-enacting the Botticelli painting, rising naked from a shell to utter a sultry 'Hello'. She entrances every man in the room.

9. Darth Vader – Star Wars

6. The Borg Queen – Star Trek: First Contact

That famous music, that iconic costume. From the moment Lord Vader steps

Seeing her organic head, shoulders and spinal cord lowering from the ceiling

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chopath, Clarice sees him standing perfectly still in the middle of his cell… waiting for her.

2. John Doe – Se7en

Frank descends in an elevator. Smiling through his cape and red lipstick, he sings Sweet Transvestite and all hell breaks loose.

'DETECTIVE… you're looking for me.' Covered in blood, the perpetrator of the previous sickening crimes of the film. John is calm, assured, terrifying.

4. The Wizard – The Wizard of Oz

1. Alexander de Large – A Clockwork Orange

'Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!'

After fearing the massive head, the revelation that he is simply a man with technical wizardry comes as shocking and a little sad.

That Kubrick stare, the electric Purcell, Alex's eyelashes and our antihero's lazy smile as he delivers his composed monologue. His strange idiolect is perfectly adapted from Anthony Burgess' stunning novel. And as he sits with his stylishly dressed gang, quaffing moloko plus, it is hard to not be instantly drawn to this attractive psychopath.

3. Hannibal Lecter – The Silence of the Lambs After the build-up he receives as a deranged psy-

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Travel

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Travel news bites

Literature on the road

Under the Sea

Ed Gordon

Rachel Damms

An underwater art museum off the coast of Mexico has announced that they are soon to sink more than 400 concrete sculptures down onto the seabed. The project started over a year ago, and is due to be finished in 2011, making it the world's largest underwater sculpture garden.

Part time monk

A monastery in Austria is opening up its doors to men looking for a weekend free from sin. They are offering the chance to become a monk for a weekend, in the hope that the men will be converted to the lifestyle and stay. The scheme started last October and is completely free of charge. So far three men are considering the permanent change.

Mickey Mouse degrees?

A University in Bologna, Italy really takes the biscuit or wafer if you will, when it comes to ridiculous degrees.

The Gelato University attracts 6,000 students a year and is the world's only university teaching the art of ice-cream producing.

Eurostar endorse employees' use of mobile phones

Unfortunately the Eurostar's bad luck continues, with breakdowns occurring frequently. A recent power fault called for staff to use the light from their mobile phones to evacuate a train containing more than 740 passengers, as no torches were available.

The Pope's stance on 'virtual' nudity

Pope Benedict XVI has entirely unexpectedly entered the row on airport body scanners, claiming that the integrity of passengers is being breached. The high-tech scanners have the ability to strip passenger virtually naked, and have previously been protested about by civil liberties campaigners.

Rugby World Cup 2011 tickets on sale Tickets for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand have been released for sale online. Packages start at around £1,849 per person including flights, accommodation and entrance tickets.

Holidays seem to be becoming the last bastion of the book. The listless perusal of a poolside Picoult, the conquest of the Everest that is War & Peace, travelling is now a vehicle of antiquity in the iPod age. Our apparent yearning for culture could be read cynically as a deep-seated xenophobic fear of foreign TV; an easy alternative to trying to puzzle out a wrongsounding Homer strangling a wrong-sounding Bart.

This idea of literature may be true for the Benidormed masses; for the vast expanse of UnionJack Speedos and Primark bikinis, no doubt trying to pass the time in the sun, hoping that they don't miss too much action from the Street, or down the EastEnd. But what of the adventurers? The awfully middle-class Gap-Yearers struggling to follow Kerouac On The Road?

It seems that these brave few embrace their ignorance and yearn for a little culture. From reading about the devastating effects of the Spanish Civil War in 'Shadow of the Wind' to the devastating effect of booze and Benzedrine in Big Sur, literature can not only pass those endless hours waiting for

a train, but can also inform about something larger than itself; a portrait of a turn of the century Venice in Thomas Mann, or of Dublin in Joyce. It lets the reader not only feel for the character or the story, but also, more importantly for the place.

One of the common themes of 'travel literature' seems to come from deeper than its 'travel-y' nature; books like The Beach or The Heart of Darkness thoroughly deserve their place in the travel literary cannon, though these aren't necessarily the complete list. Edmund White's The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris, is travel literature, without the travel. It details the idea of a 'flaneur' – 'that aimless stroller who loses himself in the crowd, who has no destination and goes wherever caprice or curiosity directs his or her steps' – around Paris, slowly absorbing the atmosphere of the city, exploring beyond the standard cultural 'icons' heavily laden with tourists, into the beating heart of the city.

Sometimes, however, the rush and tumultuous tumble of travelling does not lend itself to the longhaul of a linear narrative.

With twenty minutes here or an hour there before the

bus arrives, it is possible to lose the depth of that literary masterpiece that you promised yourself you could get through.

Enter 'dip-able' literature.

Collections of letters and journal entries that can be seen in works such as Unsuitable for Ladies: An Anthology of Women Travellers by Jane Robinson, really lend themselves to the fast pace of a true travelling adventure while detailing not only the places, but also highlighting the intrepid females determination to travel and overcome the obstacles in their path.

In the end, the book matters little; they all ultimately serve the same purpose – to avoid the

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awkwardly silent aftermath of a fight about who had the last Milka bar. The choice of book can be important though. Literature has the potential to offer deeper and more accurate insights into the cultural, social and economic heritage of a place than Dan Brown could ever imagine. So avoid Steele. Avoid rereading Rowling if you can. The heart of literature lies in exploration.

Win Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts by entering this week's crossword competition.

Highly recommended for a break from those oh-so-gripping university textbooks. See page 27 for a chance to win.

Passing away the time Photo: BrotherGrimm on flickr

14 Travel

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Splashing into the New Year Pete Blakemore celebrates washing his sins away South-East Asian style I could see my assailants fast approaching from 200 feet away. A mix of Thais and foreigners lining both sides of the road armed to the teeth with whatever they could find; I knew it was too late.

Dripping with sweat in the midday sun, fingers tense on the triggers of their weapons, and with their childish smiles fixing my grimace, I was driven down the most armed street in South-east Asia.

150 feet away I had realised their vague pattern of attack; They preyed on the foreign, the defenceless, or just on those trying to go about their daily lives; It didn't matter to them; And I ticked all the boxes. The young and the elderly were standing side-byside and there seemed to be no leader choosing the victims. As my open-top tuk-tuk slowed on the approach to a red traffic light I hoped the driver was following normal Thai protocol and ignored it...

He didn't. 50 feet away I prepared myself for my fate; an atheist up to this point in my life, I closed my eyes and began praying to every omnipotent deity I could think of, knowing in my heart that all of them combined would be unable to change my fate.

As I opened my eyes, I recognised a Western girl from my guest house several nights earlier standing 10 feet away amongst the crowd. 'Help me' I mouthed, hoping for some sympathy from another backpacker caught up in the midst of mob mentality in a foreign land, she just smiled at me. I was,

pistol from her belt, take aim at me, tighten her fingers around the trigger and fire.

Lying in a puddle in the back of a tuk-tuk bleeding out is a bad way to go but the ambush hadn't been a vicious one, rather another unwilling participant of the manic water festival Songkran.

Although the celebration of the Songkran takes place across all of Southeast Asia in countries such as Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, Chiang Mai is said to have the biggest celebrations. More than just a chance to cover Westerners and Thais alike with a bucket of water that is closest to them, it is the celebration of the start of the new year signified by washing away the sins of the last year. Although it differs from the Western approach of drinking champagne and singing Auld Lang Syne, there is something captivating about being soaked to the bone at least every 30 seconds during day time then partying through the night.

'You OK back there, boy?', the driver so affectionately asked in his thick Thai accent; At least he had been prepared for the onslaught that had occurred. Retrospectively I should have realised the ruthlessness of the crowd when he had been waiting outside my guesthouse in a poncho fit for a monsoon on one of the sunniest days seen for several weeks in Chiang Mai. The campaigns this year to prevent drinkdriving on Thai roads are being pushed far harder than ever before. However,

When a period of rest – be it from work or study – is on the horizon I jump at the chance to go away somewhere. Often, I lose myself in the conjuring up of thrilling plans well ahead of schedule in order to maintain sanity until that opportunity comes along.

On a recent road trip, I pondered why it is exactly that I have this impulse reaction to get away – and why others may not. While gazing out the window at the blur of country landscapes, I realised that this inclination often stems from the need to escape; the desire to leave trivial stresses of the habitual, structured life behind and to distance myself from some unnecessarily tangled web of social complication. So it wasn't a world stopping revelation; most of us love to get away from it all and it's common knowledge that a change of scenery does the world of good.

A travel writer once termed this longing to escape the Urge . Almost all of us possess it but what differentiates, say, a tourist from a traveller is just how far the Urge carries you. Many people fully appreciate and are satisfyingly chilled with the help of a short getaway, a package holiday or a spa weekend. However, call me greedy – or plain pompous – but nothing hits the spot like a prolonged and testing travel experience that I can really sink my teeth into; my Urge would not be satisfied by a two-week, five star hotel holiday in Cancún.

Being the insatiable notion it is, the more I feed my Urge the more it craves; once I could quench it with a two-month visit to Costa Rica but now dream travel plans are filling up more and more pages of my calendar (funds permitting, obviously). As much as I still enjoy a short break, like many travellers, I thrive upon not just seeing the world, but living it in a different way.

What I love about my now ingrained Urge is that by living away from the norm, I can almost begin new chapters of my life; outside of a world of preconceptions, I can be whoever I want to be and on return to reality, each time I seem to come back a slightly changed -for the better, I'd like to think – person.

Water fights on the move. Photo: Pete Blakemore that I hadn't spent on a Samsong whiskey. Not only does the water constantly flow from people's buckets, keeping the streets flooded for three days, but so too does the booze.

Songkran is a celebration for people with religious backgrounds rather than a political propaganda or spin. The politically testing times that Thailand has witnessed both

Everyone joins in, willing or other wise. Photo by Pete Blakemore at first, thinking everything was going to be OK, but as her smile faded and twisted itself into an evil grin fit for the Green Goblin, I saw her take a

I was at the hands of a drunk tuk-tuk driver, even if only to the point of him passing out between trips to my room in order to grab the last 50 Thai baht

Comment: The urge to travel Louise Spratt

domestically and internationally during last year's celebrations have certainly dampened some spirits. The November protests the previous year

saw the closure of Bangkok Airport, resulting in millions of baht being lost in tourism from cancelled flights, families stranded without supplies, and foreign offices worldwide advising against travel to Thailand. All this was incredibly damaging both to tourism in the short & long term. When the Redshirt Protest supporting the former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra disrupted the East Asia Summit causing many delegates to escape Pataya from hotel rooftops by helicopters, Thailand's celebration was centre stage for the wrong reasons and Thailand's image as a tourist destination took another hit. 150,000 protestors took to the streets in a protest that was deemed by the Redshirts as the Battle for Bangkok and saw a state of emergency being declared. Bangkok airport's security was once again questioned and two Thais were killed in this political conflict played out by the people.

Both a large proportion of Southeast Asia as well as the party-seeking backpackers are celebrating the good times. Join them but be careful.

Thailand is still being questioned on its political stability; the threat of this year's celebration risks being twisted into Thailand making the world news for heavy

handed policing of political protestors. No one wants a repeat of Thailand being humiliated in front of the international community during this celebration of goodwill. With Thaksin recently stripped of 46.37 billion baht (£1 billion) of his fortune the

Thailand, but Songkran is a good enough excuse for me to accept but politely ignore them.

Many were frustrated by last year's festival being tainted by internal political turmoil and foreign diplomatic disagreements however Thais and

'Preying on the foreign, the defenceless, or just those trying to go about their daily lives; it didn't matter to them' Redshirts are likely to cause disruption again, but no-one is quite sure how. The UK Foreign Office is once again issuing warnings about all but essential travel to

foreigners alike are hoping the political differences can be left to rest and that all can enjoy a chance to join family and friends in a sun-splashed and water-soaked good time.

Essential Songkran Dates: 11th – 14th April

Best places to celebrate: Chiang Mai & Pattaya, Thailand; Phnom Pehn , Cambodia; Vang Vieng, Laos.

Things to remember: Waterproof sunscreen; always be expecting to get wet; have a happy attitude and be ready to laugh it all off.

Check out our website for the Songkran Photo Essay

16 Editorial

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 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.

Ben Whitelaw AN interesting debate raged on BBC Radio Five Live on Wednesday morning.

Nicky Campbell, the show's presenter, posed the question whether it was unpatriotic to boo John Terry in England's friendly against Egypt, in what would be the former captain's first international appearance since 'Bridgegate'. It was suggested that those who decided to boo Terry were a disgrace to the nation for not supporting someone playing for their national team and that it would show a greater love of one's country to keep quiet. To be honest, I almost booed Campbell myself in disgust at the asking of such a ridiculous question.

To even raise such a question sets up a straight fight between patriotism and our personal moral values. It suggests that a love of God's fair country and our intrinsic ethical make-up must compete for our rationality and that the former has the potential to usurp the latter, that it can win the war and defeat our inherent ability to know what is right and wrong. It suggests we all realise what John Terry has done is wrong and yet, like limited and old-fashioned machines, we are easily overridden by the urge to ignore his immoral behaviour for the sheer fact that the he has Three Lions stitched onto his shirt. Simply by asking the question, Campbell inadvertently suggests that patriotism can be used as a technique to justify the actions of the immoral.

My question, therefore, is this: since when did a love of a land mass ever have the potential to overrule an appreciation of the ethics that make up humanity's core? Why, apparently, is it not possible to react logically and with common sense to a scenario without battling back the tears, standing to salute and bursting into a rendition of 'God save the Queen'?

Why are we not able to realise when patriotism just isn't applicable or relevant?

And what does it teach younger generations that we would rather Terry score against Egypt than anyone, anywhere, think we were at all at odds with the fact that the Chelsea captain did the dirty with his best mate's partner?

We have got to a point where England (whatever ideas it conjures nowadays) has taken on a bloated importance that is impacting on our ability to think

for ourselves. We shouldn't care that Wayne Rooney has pleaded for people not to boo because 'it's not nice – it doesn't send the right message'. Neither does a great deal of John Terry's actions but he still has to take responsibility for his misdemeanours and take the booing like a man.

Patriotism is a term that can easily be banded about in an attempt to gain the advantage and to incite guilt. And it's not just in sport where instances of it seem to be popping up faster than Ashley Cole's jilted lovers. This week, Government minister Alan Johnson said that Lord Ashcroft was unpatriotic for not paying taxes in the UK. David Cameron, the Conservative party leader, went one better by suggesting it was his 'patriotic duty' to replace Gordon Brown as Prime Minister. It's stating the obvious to say that Brown and Ashcroft don't love England any less than Johnson or Cameron.

But, to be a 'patriot', and to claim that you are one, has become a kind of trump card upon which everything else shrivels in comparative importance: 'Oh, I'm not a good patriot. My sincerest apologies for sticking to my own beliefs rather than those which put the country I reside in first. Do forgive me'.

For some strange reason, the mere whiff of patriotism causes us to lose our moral compass and to generate an alternative conception of what is decent and honest. National loyalty should never be dragged onto the football field or any other mess unless it contributes positively to the discussion. It's not a crime to feel a strong sense of pride or loyalty towards your nation (it has done a great deal of good in the past) but it is vitally important we keep it separate from unrelated issues. By overvaluing patriotism a against our idea of morals, as in the case of the Terry, you inadvertently support a decline in ethics of the country you so claim to love. And if it is impossible to criticise one's own country and those that stand for it, how is it possible to regulate our actions?

In my humble opinion, at that point, you might as well pin your colours to the imaginary mast of 'HMS England' on the choppy seas of over-zealous national pride. After that, it's a dangerous journey that could well result in a disasterous nationalistic shipwreck. Rule Britannia has never been so ominous.

GUILD ELECTION COVERAGE Help contribute to our live coverage On twitter: follow us at @redbrickpaper and use the Hashtag '#Guildvote10' in your tweets.

On Flickr: please send in any photos of candidates on the campaign trail – you can add them to our Flickr group or send them to elections@redbrickonline.co.uk

Corrections and Clarifications In issue 1367 (25th of February) Edwina Moorhouse was incorrectly credited to the music review Behind the Sorrow by Six Magics, it should have been John Asquith.

Redbrick would like to apologise for this mistake.

In the same issue the article Investigation: Student Politics on page 9 was credited to Edward Paton-Williams when it should have been credited to Will Hinds, our sincere apologies.

Acting Editor Jessica Tarrant Deputy Editor Nadine Baldwick Online Editor Pete Blakemore Pictures Editor Thomas Walters Chief Photographer Lucy Percival chiefphotographer@redbrickonline.co.uk

Multimedia Editor Dan Southall

News Editors Ned Murray Helen Crane Samuel Lear news@redbrickonline.co.uk Features Editors Seb Mann Rosa McMahon Jude Hill features@redbrickonline.co.uk Lifestyle Editors Jessica Geary Alex Beard lifestyle@redbrickonline.co.uk Film Editors Alex Jacques Rosie Willmot film@redbrickonline.co.uk

Music Editors Erica Vernon Alex Spencer music@redbrickonline.co.uk Arts & Culture Editors Sian Gray Sam Langtree arts@redbrickonline.co.uk Travel Editors James Bunting James Cull travel@redbrickonline.co.uk Television Editors Natalie Timmins Matthew Williamson tv@redbrickonline.co.uk

Sport Editors Tom Clarke Ben Whitelaw Simon Hall James Phillips sport@redbrickonline.co.uk Crossword Editor John Rizkallah Editorial Assistants Natasha Williams Jonathan Gilbert Anna Reynolds Victoria Shires Copy Editors Felix Rehren (head) Kate Ashley Rachael Hewison

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Arts & Culture

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Theatre & Music :

Hot Flush @ The Alexandra

Rachael Hogg Hot Flush, the tale of a menopausal, HRT sampling, libido-losing group of four friends, following their trials and tribulations, discoveries of Anne Summers and Speed Dating, and their various issues with the opposite sex. Like an episode of Sex and the City in twenty years time, the girls are, well, 'getting on a bit', and things have headed southwards and outwards, emotions are running riot and family life is very complicated. The musical features songs about all of the above, in a frank, woman-to-woman manner, which were all extremely witty and ridiculously funny.

There were some extremely cringe-y moments in the form of the 'cum rabbit, cum rabbit, cum, cum, cum' song (complete with Rampant Rabbit and graphic re-enactment), far too much talk of incontinence and an attempted heart-felt song which genuinely seemed out of place.

The audience was 99 per cent middle-aged women, and 1 per cent men. This was understandable considering

the nature of the musical, and it was clear that the men had been forcefully dragged there by their other halves. In all fairness, there was a song about male superiority which offered a small consolation to those few men, who wished they were anywhere but the Alexandra. Naturally, this got booed and jeered...

The cast only consisted of five, the four women roles, and a man who played a plethora of characters. These roles included a hospital patient, cue partial male nudity (which went down rather well), a masturbating Vic-

Natasha Pitt Mairi Davies Set from 1955 onwards, Find Me by Olwen Wymark tells the story of Verity Taylor, a mental patient at various institutions, and the struggles faced by her and her family. Her condition, first described simply as 'severe antisocial behaviour' goes on to tear apart her parents' relationship and alienate her brother, Mark.

A play, whose script is, at times, reminiscent of the 'typical troubled teenager' is brought to life by the eight actresses who interchanged between the various roles of family members and social workers, and the creative direction of Rachel Van Oss. Verity was played by six cast members, which enabled the audience to perceive the many different aspects of her volatile personality and how her erratic behaviour escalated with age. A particularly harrowing performance came from Niamh Watson who succeeded into drawing the audience into the story.

This was coupled with several moments of light comic relief, which contributed to creating

Big Top Carnage @ The Underground ar (which didn't go down so well!), a toy-boy and a gimp. Each actor played their part extremely well, with a sense of realism and empathy that the audience could definitely relate to. This made for an easy and relaxed atmosphere that prevailed throughout the night.

Overall, Hot Flush is a hilarious and slightly terrifying portrayal of the menopause, portraying a deep insight into the four friend's lives as they attempt to cope. A must see in thirty years time when you can perhaps relate better with this feisty foursome!

Photo Courtesy: The Alexandra

Find Me @ The Rosa Parks Room Infinity's latest showcasing... a performance that was not only entertaining but thought-provoking and emotionally stimulating.

Another poignant moment came from Verity's mother, portrayed at this point in the play by Lauren Barnes. It is here that she begins to admit what her daughter's illness is doing to her and subsequently why it forces her to leave home.

The storyline and its portrayal by Infinity is incredibly moving and more importantly it enables eight talented actresses to depict a complex character in an abstract environment.

The play was thoroughly enjoyed by many, including second year student Becky Shewell, who concluded Find Me was performed fantastically.

'It was fast paced and convincing, it kept my interest until the very end, and left me with a profound sense of sadness for the difficulties of mental illness.' This sums up the performance perfectly, for despite its entertaining qualities it continued to haunt me afterwards.

All proceeds from the play went to Cerebral Palsy Midlands.

17

Emily Dodd What's the first thing that springs to mind when you see a clown? Kids' parties, colourful costumes, crazy make-up, psychopathic killers? These stereotypes make up the essence of Big Top Carnage.

The play centres around a group of clowns with a troublesome problem, which is later revealed as the release of a horror film in which all clowns are condemned as killers (one clown sings 'all clowns do this all the time', whilst forcing a small child into a food

On Wednesday 24th February, The Academy of Ancient Music wowed the Barber Evening Concert goers with their rendition of Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 10, Concerto in D minor for violin and Symphony No. 9 along with Schubert's Rondo in A for violin, performed completely on period instruments. This in itself was interesting since it is rare to hear music performed on the instruments that it was written for. It gave listeners a closer idea of what a performance of the same music may have sounded like at the time of composition and made for an original yet entirely abstract performance by the Academy.

Directed by violinist Giuliano Carmignola the whole concert was inspirational. His energetic conducting and even more powerful direction while playing the violin was exciting for the whole audience and even provided a slight comic element when he knocked over a stand of music when accepting the adoring applause! His passionate attitude really helped in adding to the enthusiasm of the night

audience and similarly during the clown council meeting, all clowns face and address the audience as if addressing the clown society.

Slapstick humour runs throughout the play, with custard pies being banned because of health regulations, but the climax arrives with the introduction of the assassin 'Killer Sudoku'.

The kung-fu, killer clown was side-splittingly funny, especially in her attempt to kill Dick. The light effects and music ('stuck in the middle with you') made this, without doubt, the funniest scene, topped off by Sudoku being killed by a custard pie.

The enthusiasm in which the actors dived into their comedic roles was what made this such a success.

Big Top Carnage benefitted from a group of very talented actors, some rather convincing costumes and the extremely fitting, stripey Underground, which made for a trippy and at times surreal, yet fitting, setting. It was a great way to spend a Sunday night!

A memorable still from the duo's short films.

Mendelssohn & Schubert @ The Barber Institute of Fine Arts Rebekah Cork

blender.

Roll on the comic plot to kill the director.

The film director, 'Dick', played brilliantly by Matt Jessup, encapsulated the all American, foulmouthed, control-freak who is terrified by clowns after a child hood incident.

Jessup's brash accent was pitch perfect and boomed out to the crowd, adding volumes to the play.

The play was directed in a way that made the audience feel part of the action. The Jonathon 'Woss' interview with the director instantly changed the status of the audience from theatre go-er to in-studio

and his connection to the crowd as an exciting thing to watch.

The Barber Evening Concert series is renowned for providing something different in the range of chamber groups and soloists it invites to the stage, and this was nothing short of that.

Having the ensemble standing for the performance was refreshingly different and made them seem like they were soloists, rather than an accompaniment to Giuliano Carmignola's masterful playing.

Guiliano's novel way of thanking each player by hugging and kissing them made each individual appreciated, rather than in a Symphony Orchestra where such recognition is impossible!

The concert was unique and well performed and this group are definitely worth seeing again. I look forward to the next Barber Concert!

The Barber is running lunchtime concerts for free, Fridays at 1pm, during March and April and will be showcasing final year recitals.

Kennedy's Children @ OJS A Hangover from the 60s...

Nicole Zandi Set in a 1974 tavern, Kennedy's Children is suffering the hangover from the 60s. The intimate pub layout of the room gave immediacy to the action and allowed the audience to feel involved. Robert Patrick ironically presents the confusion, despair and self-destruction in Kennedy's wake.

The characters indulge in narcotics and retreat to the solace of their own memories. Yet common events become the underlying thread, which binds the fractured accounts together. Robert Patrick successfully tightens the knot, weaving inter-related motifs through their isolated accounts.

The re-hashing of events, however, becomes a little worn. Wanda's preoccupation with Kennedy's death becomes stagnant and oddly irrelevant.

Adrian Richards, however, makes the story compelling and his telling winks to the audience gives his character a real presence.

The play is grounded in war. Neil Gardener played a traumatized veteran who has been scarred by the shrapnel of Vietnam. Yet his inability to

sustain his American accent was distracting and the script compensated its own lack of emotion with an uncharacteristic emphasis in analysis. This gave the performance an air of insecurity.

The Hippy Rona, who pines for the destruction of the Hippy mantra of 'Love and Peace,' and would-be sex goddess Carla, present the two most compelling stories.

Carla's account reinforces Marilyn Monroe's death with the decade. The two actresses, Alexandra Simonet and Beck Danks, are emotive and successfully convey moments of real tension, anxiety and humor. The women successfully carry the weight of the play.

In the void of interaction, monologue-led plays magnify the script and the acting. Although the former was mostly delicate and sometimes even poetical, unfortunately the acting was left wanting under scrutiny. Yet as W.A.T.B's first production it was fairly promising.

I look forward to seeing what they have to offer in the future.

18 Arts & Culture

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

A miscellaneous event...

Art:

James Reevell

Rosie Price

Hairy Bikers @ Town Hall Strange thing these cooking demonstrations, where essentially you sit for two hours and are forced to smell delicious food 15 metres away. It creates a sensation that is very close to torture, and also has the effect of making you slightly lose your mind.

Strange and new emotions fill you, such as when a giant, fat, hairy Geordie rushes down the aisle, stops in front of you and points, leaving you with elation rather than trepidation. Then, suddenly, despair! For he has pointed not at you but your companion; your companion who has

already had one delicious meal and has complained throughout the evening of being too full. Your empty, malnourished stomach, that can faintly remember the taste of a chocolate bar ten hours ago, growls viciously at him, ready to burst out, tear his head off and claim your rightful place on stage. However, before you have time to leap forth and maim him, he is away bounding after the Geordie and towards the meal of a lifetime.

That is essentially the premise of the Hairy Bikers' stage show, feeding four people, and taunting a thousand. Not that the other thousand seem to mind, judging from the

Photo Courtesy: Town Hall

sweeping laughter and singing that accompanies much of the evening. It is important that very little cooking actually takes place at the show, with at the most only three dishes being created.

However, food doesn't seem to be the real appeal for the audience, instead it is the terrifyingly over-rehearsed conversation that accompanies the show, feeding the audience a diet of weak jokes and anecdotes, served with clips from the TV series. Although, it would be easy to describe the show as egotistical, it seems to be exactly what the audience has ordered.

If I was an obese, old, biker, then I would love this show. Unfortunately, I am scrawny, young and not even remotely able to grow the facial hair required of a biker, so it was actually torturous. If you are someone who likes the show, you will love this; if you aren't, then it is best moving onto a different menu. However, I can report that according to my companion the food was delicious, and seeing the afore mentioned Geordie moon him, from a distance of a foot, was a rather delicious moment amongst a otherwise flavourless evening.

Fried Eggs and Cosmic Events @ The Ikon Considering the title of this exhibition, the viewer genuinely doesn't know what to expect – food and space come to mind but that's about all you have to go on. And so, as I walked up the stairs to the gallery, unsurprisingly this was my train of thought. On entering, I was told that it may take a while for my eyes to adjust to the darkness and when this had happened, I was confronted with an egg. Literally, what I saw was Portuguese artists, João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva's first solo exhibition in the UK, consisting of a number of silent, colour films on the nature of movement. But it was far more than just a set of films on a wall.

The first screen, amongst other things, contained footage of an egg frying, a representation of different suns and footage which was sped up and then drastically slowed down. The second dealt with the movement of bricks, the balance of a sea-saw (tipped by a fly), a set of walking fingers and the structure of a boot.

Another screen was devoted to water movement and the final two devoted to tribal drinking, painted

A stain on the skin...

A lasting, transforming imprint...

Nicole Zandi

Sam Langtree

'Every girl has a story.'

The worst tattoo I have ever seen, etched down the arm of a distanced school friend, punctuated by a climactic symbol, which looked more like the result of a busted ink cartridge.

This made me think, should all art tell a story?

Unfortunately the only story that my friends tattoo made apparent was one of desperate rebellion and pathetic conformity.

Defining art has been a contentious issue and has plagued literary essays for centuries. For the purpose of this argument I will define Art as a static aesthetically pleasing object, which should mean something to somebody.

Most tattoos are empty gestures of selfassertion. The Chinese symbols, baron trees, speckled stars, hearts, birds of liberty amount to nothing more than a mark of youth, much like a birthmark. Worse still are those who argue the intrinsic sentimentality of their chosen tattoos (usually family related issues) to justify the indelible mark they have stamped upon themselves.

landscapes, the poetry of Fernando Pessoa, past philosophical debate and even Christopher Columbus. This made a lot of the exhibition make sense and things I had noticed but dismissed as just – strange – became clearer when I understood where they had come from. This project definitely forces a viewer to take notice of the little things and succeeds in keeping you transfixed by objects you might take for granted. However, it does appear to be one of those situations where to fully appreciate and understand the content, you have to equally appreciate and understand the context.

A memorable still from the duo's short films

Previews

On Tattoos and Art...

Yet even the tattoos, which may use colour in an interesting way, show some structure or design, would probably be left wanting on paper. I challenge any tattoo to hold it's own in exhibition, next to Francis Bacon or Whistler. The only reason they evoke any interest is because they are stained into human flesh. Yet humans are inappropriate canvases. Under scrutiny the human frame falls apart and so does the tattoo. The art is stretched and creased beneath time, quite literally. Art must be removed from the human condition otherwise it is destroyed, as Dorian's portrait proves.

faces and a rather clever trick to make an egg tower.

I have to admit that at the time, although fascinated, I found the exhibition confusing. Without any perceived order, there were times when elements seemed random.

It was only when I left the gallery and readjusted to daylight that I realised that this was probably part of the point. Nearly every object, however random, has its own unique form and way of moving and capturing this is a very difficult process. In the light of day, reading the guide book, I learnt that the exhibition took inspiration from bizarre

As someone who has a tattoo based on a piece of art itself, my view is immensely biased but also multi-layered. This is something on my skin which is not only an impersonation of a painting, a copy which no matter how good it is (15 hours of solid needle-work went into this) it'll never live up to the original copy.

At the same time, something which is unanimous of all ink, is the knowledge that this is something that will age, decay, loose colour, wrinkle. In short it will become something less beautiful then what it originally is.

www.myspace.com/woodfordtattoo

So tattoos as art are worthless right? Wrong.

Regardless of whether you're a fan or not, the fact that you can literally transform your body, paint the canvas of your skin is a feat that is incredible.

The amount of time and craftmanship that goes into tattoos nowadays is exemplary, with many tattooists being artists and painters within their own right.

There will always be trends and fads such as tribal squiggles and stars but to say these do not do the craft justice is to undermine the romanticism of tattoos. To have something on your skin for life, whether it is significant, with or without meaning is a reminder of times past, how you once were and the journey you've made since. This could be dismissed as sentimental bullshit but it is the human condition to feel this way and a few momentos of a life well lived is nothing to be ashamed of. For this reason a tattoo that has decayed is nothing to feel bad about.

I would argue that as epic as the craft of tattooing is nowadays, it is the conceptual side that counts.

A selection of truly excellent events....

Julian Clarey @ Town Hall, Friday 5th March, 8.00pm –Yes, the UK's most loved camp comedian is coming to Birmingham and he's on a mission...

Tickets £20.

Fairport Convention @ Town Hall, Saturday 6th March 7.30pm– The band that your Dad made you listen to growing up, now comes to the Town Hall and they're bringing with them an odd charm to accompany their fabulous folk music. Tickets £21.

Indian Boy @ The Crescent, Saturday 6th March, 7.45pm – Written for the RSC the play inspired by A Midsummer's Night Dream is full of drama and danger. Tickets £10.50.

An Audience With: Ngugi wa Thiong'O @ The Drum, Saturday 6th March, 6.00pm – The Kenyan author and giant of African literature talks about his imprisonment, his travels and discusses with the audience, his autobiography. Tickets £4.

CBSO: Rattle's Bach @ Town Hall, Sunday 7th March, 5.45pm – Apparently there's nothing quite like this in the whole of music. With an international cast of acclaimed musicians it is advised to book early. Tickets £10.-48.

Spike Milligan's Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall @ The Rep , Monday 8th March 7.00pm – Spike Milligan's war memoirs are brought to the stage, combining absurd humour with tragedy. Tickets £12.-23.

Comedy Society: No, But Seriously Though @ The Underground, Wednesday 10th March, 7.30pm – Our very own Comedy Society brings to the Underground yet another night of brilliant sketches and clever wit.

Music

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Redbrick meets...

Twin Atlantic Scotophile Rachel Hogg pinned down and interrogated two of the hairy, hairy boys Could you introduce yourself and describe your sound in five words?

Ross: Hi, I'm Ross [McNae], I play bass and piano in Twin Atlantic, and this is Sam [McTrusty], he sings with his guitar. And 5 words: Loud, Quiet...

Sam: ...Ambiguous, Scottish Rock.

How did it all start off for you guys?

S: By being distracted at school. Me and Ross went to school together and became friends through liking the same sorts of music, the whole pop-punk American bands that were big at the time. Because of that I thought it'd be cool to play guitar, Ross had already picked it up from his Dad. What kind of bands were in you into back then?

S: New Found Glory, Blink 182, RX Bandits. Well, we still are into them...

R: We've come in a bit of a cycle. Sam, because of his

family, liked people like Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra. I listened to David Bowie, Status Quo, Roxy Music, T Rex. This is the music I think we'd listen to now.

How was it playing with Biffy and Smashing Pumpkins?

S: It was a bit of a whirlwind actually! We got added to the Biffy tour at the last minute and it was the first big tour we'd ever done. We'd toured before, but in places the size of this [O2 Academy 3]. Playing with Smashing Pumpkins was insane.

We'd only been a band for a year ... and playing the biggest venue we'll probably get to play.

Would you say that the comparison to Biffy Clyro is a fair one?

S: I mean, we're Scottish, and play rock music, and I sing in a Scottish accent, so I can understand why people make the comparisons. But if you listen to

19

our record after one of their records, it's completely different.

Are there any particular artists that have influenced your music?

S: We've all got different influences. My two would be Bruce Springsteen and Nirvana.

R: I honestly don't know.

I listen to such a mishmash of music. Queen, big influence. It's different to the way that you play, and the bands you aspire to be, and the bands that made you want to be in a band. It's all different.

S: Do we even listen to many bands that we sound like?

R: I don't think so.

S: The reason we play the music that we play is that we've got that feeling inside us ... And because we get it out of our system, we don't really listen to them.

Tell us about the Twin Atlantic live experience.

S: We all play completely naked, and at the end there's fire... we based our whole band on just being normal people. An honest approach to playing songs. We don't like over-dressing them. We don't want to show off, just play our songs.

R: Sometimes we get embarrassingly into it

Photo: stuartmoffat.com though.

S: A lot of people, you can tell they're forcing it. You know, they're trying to rock out and flicking their guitar and their hair about and stuff. I mean, we do that, but it just, kinda happens when the four of us get together.

Do you guys have a favourite track on [debut album] Vivarium?

S: I don't know. I always say a song, but don't mean it. I'm not happy with any of them. I think we can be a lot better. We're a forward thinking band and when

you've played a song and it's done and recorded, I'm always thinking of the next things, rather than the ones that have happened. I don't think any of them are good enough yet.

Full article at: www.redbrickonline.co.uk/music

Just do it Searching for someone to fill these shoes...

A TIME of change is now upon us. This is the final reminder for you people to think whether or not you would like to be the one putting these glorious pages together.

We're looking for someone who has a passion for the newspaper.

Being a section editor involves having to work as a team, be led by the senior editor and lead your writers. There is much fun to be had, and one gains a lot of experience in return.

Max Wheeler Arctic Monkeys My Propeller THE opening track to the casual-fan exterminating Humbug is next up for release, but this one's not about penny sweets, winding up ice cream men or sniffing seatbelts. It's got a murky Josh Homme inflected tone, and hauntingly stalks towards a nice hypnotic refrain, complete with teasing, icy, crooning vocals and possessed surf guitar peddle effects. It's all long hair and denim

from here on out, and it's all very good indeed.

Erica Anne Vernon Efterklang Modern Drift ANOTHER of those cool bands hailing from Copenhagen, but make no mistake, this is a good thing.

The track combines a healthy array of instruments. It is a subtle pop song, in contrast to those over-produced and bassheavy tunes blasting out the radio. The distinctive vocals caress the ears, as

the track builds up from the start with the piano, the drums and onwards.

During the verses the drum beats provide punctuation to the song. Modern Drift is a beautiful offering with a playful and jittery feel.

Alex Spencer Gorillaz Stylo WHO'D have thought, in the '90s, that cheeky cockney chappie Damon Albarn would reinvent himself as a well-respected opera writer, and uniter

Image: Jonathan Craven of hip-hop and indie?

And yet, here we are.

Stylo is, first and foremost, slick. It manages to tie together the impassioned crooning of Bobby Womack, a melancholy Albarn bit and Mos Def awesomeness with a single looping electro sample.

Beneath Stylo's chest beats a mechanical heart – the electronic beat is kept tightly controlled.

Without the influence of Womack, it could be cold.

But, here in the 21st Century, Albarn's too smart for that.

There's no need to be Birmingham's wittiest writer, just so long as you possess a passion for a variety of music. Everything else can be learnt as you go along.

Email music@redbrickonline.co.uk, if you're interested or have any queries. Help us by putting 'Editor enquiry' in the subject heading.

Interviews will be held in the week spanning 8th to 14th March 2010.

20 Music

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Album Reviews The Butterfly Explosion Lost Trails

5

Ross Wittenham I LOVE post-rock. Postrock is good, sometimes brilliant. However, it often doesn't stand alone well. Sure, it works well on soundtracks (see Friday Night Lights or Lost in Translation) but it is often simply too featureless to just listen to. Butterfly Explosion are a prime example of this problem.

Marina & The Diamonds The Family Jewels

8

William Franklin POP music should be like pop drinks. Fizzy, sweet, and ultimately bad for you. The debut album from Welsh/Greek stunner Marina Diamondis pretty much ticks all those boxes while staying a generous cut above the competition.

Why's that, you ask? For a start, there's some consistently cracking word-play scattered throughout The Family Jewels (there's something

The majority of the tracks are instrumental, and whilst this doesn't have to be a problem, it means that the quality of the songs rests solely on the instrumentation. Postrock is all about slowly evolving melodies and cyclical riffs, and a whole album of this is actually pretty boring.

The Butterfly Explosion have certainly mastered the sweeping landscapes and peaks and valleys that make up the post-rock world, and when the lyrics do kick in they are the classic muted vocals that we love.

Having said this, I've heard better versions of some of the tracks, which suggests a lack of enthusiasm on the band's part.

In clichĂŠd terms, this album is simply all filler, no killer. I'm not impressed. very Lady-Sovereign-like about the tomboyish rough-and-tumble of Girls) and surprisingly varied instrumentalism beyond the charming piano-pop she's known for. Opener Are You Satisfied even has a little thrashy guitar guiding it, balanced with an airy violin chorus.

And that's just the kind of thing that separates Marina from the derivative reactionaries she's forced to share the charts with. Speaking of which, Hollywood, Marina's only charting single is probably the weakest point of the album, if only lyrically.

At this point in music (and stand-up comedy), there is no more facile a subject than anti-Americanism. But, disregarding this, Hollywood is still a polished, immediately listenable track with a welldelivered, if predictable message. So, you know, I forgive you Marina.

Spotlight On...

Encores

High on Fire Snakes for the Divine

4

John Asquith HIGH on Fire are generally described as stoner metal, but based on their most recent release, this does not fully do them fully justice. With five of the eight tracks clocking in at over six minutes long, these are not the simplistic, trudging songs that typify that generic label.

That being said, this album is not particularly different to the band's The Courteneers Falcon

5

Anluan Hennigan LIAM Fray and friends' debut album had many flaws but produced a number of infectious anthems.

To his credit, Fray has attempted to prove with Falcon that more ambition lies beneath the lad-rock surface.

Unfortunately, though, he has failed to learn from past mistakes.

Influences are again treated with heavy-handedness; good ideas fail to be built upon, and Fray's agricultural delivery still

previous works. They have retained their typical style, which is clearly influenced by bands from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, particularly MotĂśrhead. This might be expected but it has been so thoroughly done that this album fails to distinguish itself.

There is very little that feels particularly fresh bar the title track.

It shifts expectations to a more melodic sound, but that is not delivered for the majority of the album. Although improving with multiple listenings, it will not be memorable for long.

Surprisingly, this is even true for the first single from the album, Frost Hammer. Highlights are the title track, Snakes for the Divine and Ghost Neck, but on the whole, this will only be of interest to the established fan base.

Yeasayer Odd Blood

lacks the charm to carry the album's slower moments.

Opening track The Opener, is a hearty homecoming call but wastes a memorable acoustic riff and falls into empty bombast, unsubtly aping Elbow's Station Approach.

When Fray slows the tempo down, the songs are neither earnest nor meaningful. The bare pianos of Take Over The World and Last Of The Ladies only serve to isolate Fray's Sixth-Form-poetry lyrics.

Tantalisingly, Fray realises his ambition occasionally. The rolling bass and dramatic strings of Cross My Heart and the muscular synths of Will It Be This Way Forever? are truly thrilling. Once again, The Courteeners have shown flashing glimpses of why they are capable of rising above the indie landfill, but this is not the progression many might have hoped for.

What's On...

Man with an agenda Ross Wittenham asks the question: when does enough become too much?

IN the film School of Rock, there is a moment where the heroic class of school children find they have not won the Battle of the Bands. Dejected, they become aware of the audience chanting for them.

One child pipes up 'What is that?' to which the jubilant Jack Black responds 'It's an ENCORE!'. The gang head back onstage, play their hit, and the real winners are apparent. All is good.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the encore as correctly performed; it is a privilege granted by the audience. However, many performers in this day and age have mistakenly reached the conclusion that the encore is a right to be indulged at the whim of the headline

8

William Franklin 2009 was a busy year for Brooklyn hipsters Yeasayer. As well as churning out this brilliant follow-up to their 2007 debut, they've written a track for AIDSsupport compilation Dark Was The Night; part-produced Bat For Lashes' Two Suns; toured with MGMT and provided vocals for Simian Mobile Disco. Getting the picture yet?

So they've got a great

work ethic. But that could easily mean that they lack focus, that Odd Blood has turned out to be a lacklustre 'going-pop' second outing. As it happens, though, this is a shimmering electronic-infused dazzler of an album, with all the flashy globetrotting of its predecessor. The pop aspect does nothing to diminish that.

Look at Love Me Girl: it could have been written by Timbaland (only, it couldn't, because it's good), with tingly pianoled verses leading into twangy funk guitar and Keating breathily imploring you to 'Stay up in bed with me/Stay up and play with me.' This is Yeasayer at their best, constructing massive sonic soundscapes that intrude on your consciousness long after you've stopped listening.

Music Diary Friday 5th

Wolverhampton

The XX O2 Academy 2 Ronan Keating NIA Lady Gaga The NEC

Sunday 7th

Saturday 6th

Monday 8th

Hadouken!

O2 Academy 2 Ramona O2 Academy 3 Nick Harper Hare & Hounds Power of Dreams The Flapper Mumford & Sons Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton The Hollies Civic Hall, Wolverhampton Pappy's Fun Club The Slade Rooms,

Errors The Flapper

act, fully entitled to flaunt their inflated egos to the crowd one more time.

Scratch that; some performers are so arrogant that they believe they deserve to return several times. This tendency is at its worst in classical circles. Conductors and orchestra leaders are presented with bouquets no matter how the concert was, and they make so many bows and returns to the stage that when the rest of the orchestra are finally allowed to shuffle offstage, they seem almost embarrassed.

What is more, many bands will keep their best tracks in reserve, in full expectation of an encore. Consider the banking crisis; city bankers demanded huge bonuses even when they failed to do their jobs properly.

How dare they demand benefits that they haven't even earned?

Fair enough, if your show makes the crowd

clap 'til their hands hurt, come back on. If they are shouting so loud you can hear it in your dressing room, you are allowed one more song. But make sure it is good enough to justify your return, and don't hold onto your best song expecting to be called back.

As a quick note: one-hit-wonders.

You shouldn't be gigging anyway, but if you do, play The Song before you leave the stage; don't force people to wait around. There is a reason you only had one hit, don't be a dick about it.

Baiting an encore is one drag queen away from 'it's behind you' pantomime behaviour. Remember ones you were taken to, but we are children no longer. We are consummate connoisseurs of the music world, we are paying customers, and we expect to be treated with professional courtesy.

You have been warned.

Obituary O2 Academy 2 Club Smith Hare & Hounds

Tuesday 9th The Kissaway Trail O2 Academy 3 You Me At Six O2 Academy

Thursday 11th Academy Live O2 Academy 2

Lifestyle

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010 Hello from Lifestyle lovelies Jess and Alex HELLO again! We at Lifestyle feel it is our duty to deliver a stimulating section week on week. So this week we have a juggernaut of a section for you to take in – you won't find soft journalism here; we're all about the hardhitting, politically engaging, investigative news genre (on subjects such as fake tan mostly).

If that wasn't enough, cue drumroll, we have chosen our new editors!

We are both very, very excited with our replacements and if you stay tuned for next week's Lifestyle issue you can find out just who these wonderful specimens of Lifestyle fabulousness are. We like to keep the air of mystery – for instance, it's always a mystery if Jess has knickers on or not. Joking, she never does.

This week ladies and gents we are bringing you bang up t'date with the latest Fairtrade fashions; we raise the question of inevitable infidelity; what Lent means to us; how to look after those luscious blonde locks and a 'How To' article on treating your body like the temple it apparently is. What a smashing issue this is!

P.S Don't forget to download our brand spanking new podcast from iTunes this week.

Byeeee (off to buy some knickers for Jess).

Catwalk: Who is the Fairest of them all?

Julia Whiting FaiRTRADE clothing, once a niche market, seems to have the potential to become a mass market fashion statement. As shown by the new fashion darling, Emma Watson, fairtrade clothing can be as chic and fashionable as normal clothing, but with an extra ethical added value.

As if Emma hasn't achieved enough at the tender age of 19, with becoming a world-famous actress and modelling for Burberry London, she is about to launch a fairtrade range of clothing.

In collaboration with the well established fairtrade brand People Tree, Emma has designed very casual yet edgy garments, allowing us to sport her very girly, countryside feel without spending our entire student loan. Emma's inspiration for this collaboration was the fact that she was 'frustrated at the lack of clothing aimed

at people her age' and so she is using her new found fashion influence to broaden the horizons of young fashion. It is also stated on the People Tree website that Emma was driven by the idea that clothes can be used to both transform the way people feel about themselves, and to improve the lives of those in developing countries through fairtrade production.

People Tree claims that 80 per cent of its garments are hand made using methods such as knitting and embroidery.

This creates a livelihood for some of the most disadvantaged people in poor countries. This often explains why fairtrade products are slightly more expensive than mass produced products. However, Emma's range isn't hugely over priced with dresses between £28 and £45 and tops/t-shirts ranging from £18 to £25. The jumpers taken from the range are quite pricey, but this is due to the fact that they are hand knitted and use organic materials.

Some high street stores, such as Topshop, have also introduced fairtrade products. They have recently started to sell a small selection of fair trade tunics/dresses, which I personally feel are a spring staple, for as little as £16. They also sell fairtrade leggings and denim shorts at very affordable prices. This could mark a change in our perception of fairtrade clothing being

Vancouver 2010 – Winter Olympics seem to be unfairly underappreciated. But those wonderful Canadians have proved that you don't need thousands of performers and half the world's gunpowder for a classy yet spectacular opening ceremony. Plus the mascots are absolutely adorable. Vancouver, I salute you!

Alan Carr Chatty Man– Not many people could just sit on a sofa chatting to random celebrities and drinking Babycham for an hour and make me laugh so much I get chest pains. Northampton is proud of you, Mr Carr.

Photo: Lucy Percival

over-priced and unaffordable.

Moving away from fairtrade slightly, Urban Outfitters stock the 'renewal' range which specialises in using recycled fabrics to create very fashionable, vintage looking garments. This, together with the expansion in fairtrade clothing, suggests that the high street is catching on to global issues such as waste and recycling as well as poverty and economic development issues.

If Emma's campaign for fairtrade awareness is successful, young people are likely to be more aware of the reasons behind fairtrade, rather than just seeing it as an over priced clothes range labelled as 'ethical'. This suggests fairtrade garments have the potential to be next season's must have. So hurry up and get yours while you still can, as some of the Emma Watson range has already sold out!

Debate: Manogamy – is it just too hard for the rich and famous?

Briony Singh and Dan Styles find out Testosterone: First and foremost on behalf of almost every man out there, I'd like to say what an arse Ashley Cole is. I think, no matter how much fame, money, social status etc. you have, you never have the right to cheat on your partner.

Men in the spotlight (Tiger Woods, Vernon Kay, Ashley Cole, John Terry) have no more right to cheat than the ordinary man.

However, it's not always about rights. There is one thing that these guys have that a lot of ordinary men do not possess: the ability and the easiness to cheat.

In his apologetic speech in February this year, Woods highlighted

this point saying, 'I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. Thanks to money and fame, I didn't have to go far to find them.'

The money and fame that these men possess leave them more open and susceptible to the pleasures around them.

But is this a two way problem? Are the men the only ones to blame, or do the women involved (cheater and the cheated) play an active role too?

Women with power, fame and money are just as likely to cheat as men in my opinion.

However, it is more likely to be the case that when a woman is caught she will blame the man for not treating her well as a wife or partner. I am not condoning affairs at all, but I don't think it is fair to always look to one party to blame. I argue that instead of jumping to conclusions and believing the media, we need to look deeper at the problems in the relationship first.

Drag queens – Question: Why is it that as soon as a man gets in a frock he's allowed to be as politically incorrect, cheeky, rude and demanding as he wants?

Answer: Who cares? That's exactly why I love them .

Hot water bottles – In the absence of Prince Charming, my cuddly dog hot water bottle has gone some way to warming me up after a day walking around campus.

Shame he can't take me out for dinner as well.

Snobs – Gatecrasher is too busy, Oceana's full of hyperactive freshers and half the bars on Hurst Street are closing down. But at least there's still one club left where I can dance like a complete moron into the early hours and not even care.

Cheesy chips – Chips are one of the few food items that the more you add to them the better they get. Try chips with Donner meat, cheese, ketchup, mayonnaise, garlic mayo, salt, vinegar and curry sauce for an experience you'll never forget.

Pete Waterman – So he'll be writing this year's UK Eurovision Song Contest entry. With a bit of luck he'll round up all of the cheesy yet entirely lovable one hit wonders that he produced and make one big super-group.

I for one can't wait.

Finished Skins season 4 – I wonder whether there was an advert somewhere that read: 'Talentless yet cocky, sexually-driven teenagers wanted for poorly-written, uninspiring and overrated Channel 4 drama. No previous experience required'.

Being Broody – At the end of the day it's not normal for a 19 year-old guy to get broody every time he sees a baby in a pushchair. Shopping for dresses for my asof-yet non-existent daughter is counter-productive to my studies.

Being ignored on Facebook Chat – Mate, you just commented on someone's status and you haven't got a little moon next to your name yet. You are clearly sitting at your computer so stop being so rude and talk to me.

Oestrogen: First things first; I don't quite know what's in the expensive Norwegian water these celebs are drinking, but it seems to be causing a great deal of adultery involving certain hubbies in the spotlight.

In some ways, perhaps it wasn't rocket science with the likes of Ashley Cole; a decent-looking footballer with piles of cash and an easy trouser zip. But the likes of squeaky clean family man, Tiger Woods, and even worse, national cheeky chappy Vernon Kay have been found committing adultery.

Is the lifestyle of the rich and famous too much for married gents to handle? Recent events indicate that when an indispensable income is mixed with a hoard of hot young things vying for your attention, these celebrity males cannot keep it in their pants.

Now I completely understand that celebrity marriages, along with all the everyday struggles us commoners face, are

Fierce

21

Complaining about the weather – Get a grip guys, most of you have lived here your whole life and should be well used to British weather. It rains. It snows. And we barely see the sun. Deal with it.

Photo: Kimberley Faria

put under immense strain from media scrutiny, and the heavy workload can often estrange couples.

However, every one of these men made a conscious choice to engage with these women, instead of having the strength to discuss their problems with their partner.

It seems each situation is different; Woods and Cole had numerous affairs, Kay and Terry are first time offenders, but it all adds up to the same thing. They weren't man enough to confront their issues and were deluded in thinking that they could get away with it because of their celebrity status. Stupid, yes. Inevitable, no.

People talking in the library – Do the words 'Quiet Zone' mean nothing to some people? Only I always thought a library was an oasis of calm where you can at least hear yourself think. If you want to have a gossip and a bitch, go to Joe's and let me get on with my work.

Being charged to have your Subway toasted in the Guild– I don't care if it's just 30p, that's not the point.

Nowhere else in the country charges so why do you?

Dan Kelsey

Website of the week: junkjewels.co.uk This kitsch little website is jam-packed full of cute little trinkets sweet enough to make you part with your cash. London based designer Zoe Jones will be to blame for your dwindling student loan.

22 Lifestyle

An apple a day: Holiday vaccinations

Danielle Fox Exams are approaching, revision notes are eminently poking out of lever-arch files, and all we have to look forward to, are the approaching summer breaks we've been planning since September. Flights are booked, accommodation is sorted and visions of sunbathing on sandy beaches are drawing closer with each day. Just one thing left on the checklist – vaccinations. Which ones do we need? What are the risks?

How much will they cost?

Are they entirely necessary? When there are so many lovely types of infections and diseases to be caught from all sections of the globe, where do we start?

Yellow fever, typhoid, hepatitis A, diphtheria,

survival of the hypochondriac. Firstly: don't try and live like the natives; their bodies are used to the sun whilst yours may have the annoying tendency to attract that lobster-like appearance.

Secondly: be fussy – To avoid the probability of food poisoning, hepatitis A, cholera or typhoid, don't drink any local water that has not previously been boiled, filtered, or chlorinated (including ice cubes.) Stay clear of any item of food which could have been washed under the tap, such as fruit salad. Cooked food is always a safer option; avoid undercooked or raw meat and fish. Thirdly: watch out for the creepy crawlies – yes they bite. They also transit a whole range of deadly fevers such as dengue virus, Japanese

'Survival of the fittest is out of the window, on this occasion it is survival of the hypochondriac' tuberculosis, hepatitis B, rabies and tick-borne encephalitis are just a few of the vaccinations on offer at most clinics. Many of these are free on the NHS, whilst others such as malaria medication comes at a cost of up to £100 for just two weeks' worth of tablets. Doctors are beginning to suggest that these expensive drugs with nauseating side effects aren't always a necessity. A specialist in the field Dr. Sarah Myhill articulates her opinion on the matter: 'I have concerns about immunisations in general because I suspect they result in an overall gradual erosion of the immune system.'

She goes on to claim that most of the vaccinations recommended for travellers can increase the risk of chronic fatigue syndrome as well as triggering potential allergies and sometimes causing sickness.

So if vaccinations aren't strictly necessary how can we avoid the possibility of picking up an infection whilst on our travels? Survival of the fittest is out the window, on this occasion it is

encephalitis, west Nile virus, malaria and yellow fever. The insects tend to strike in the early morning and late evening so mostly they'll catch you as you're sleeping. Fantastic. Use a mosquito net if necessary and try insect repellents such as Neem oil. Fourthly: sexual contact – Use a condom unless hepatitis and HIV are high on your list of desirable souvenirs. Fifthly: don't stroke the animals, they may look cute, but rabies is not quite so cute.

Sixthly: take supplements to boost the immune system, especially vitamin C. Buy multivitamin tablets available in most supermarkets, and drink plenty of water. Lastly: schistosomiasis and leptospirosis can be caught when swimming in infected water, so be careful where you tread, and avoid being bare foot.

Obviously the chances of risk vary with each location, so make sure you speak to your GP before travelling, but remember the best and most natural inbuilt vaccine is a little bit of common sense and a huge amount of sun cream.

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Culture: Sophie Everett Bread and pasta, the student dietary equivalent of oxygen: where would we be without those fluffy white squares and curly spirals that help us to create meals in mere milliseconds. The bacon butty and macaroni cheese: the Holy Grail of student culinary experience. No crystalminded being would give up these carbilicious creations, save diet extraordinaires and sufferers of wheat intolerance. So why have I, a dedicated follower of pasta fashion, joined ranks with hundreds of others in relinquishing my food vices. Between my friends alone we've given up biscuits, take-aways, cider and sex, all in the name of a centuries-old Christian tradition. None of us are regular church-

Forty days and forty nights goers and so it seems bizarre that out of a plethora of Christian traditions we chose to partake in one of the most trying.

Lent has become for many of us less about religious pursuit and more about self will. A second bash at the New Year's resolution if you like. I'm not one for New Year's lists, I don't trust myself to complete them, I'll just spend the rest of the year mourning my lagging self will. But Lent is different.

It's 40 days and it culminates in a massive Sunday roast at Grandad's where I can eat French toast to my little hearts content.

There is something desirably achievable about a 40 day lock down. So much so that only three days into the big event I added pasta to my ditch list. Stu-

pid idea, but I can't back out now. My early intentions of this being a forty day belly buster were shattered when my boozy alter ego discovered that chips were neither bread nor pasta, one week and three yellow polystyrene boxes later, the only thing I'm losing is will power.

Failed health-kick aside, my venture into the spaghetti-free can only be put down to a burning desire to prove something to myself and my mother who told me I wouldn't make it. She's known me and my intense relationship with the baguette for nearly twentyone years. We all like the smell of a challenge and the warm embrace of achievement. Lent is, for the atheists and agnostics among us, a sadistic Top Trumps; all of us battling

to outdo the other and living off that warm glowy feeling you get inside when one of you cracks.

It is just as much about the competition with other people as it is about the one with yourself. I only gave up bread because a very dear friend, who needless to say is slowly inching herself away from forgiveness, suggested over a grease-tastic morning-after fry up that those lush loaves would be better left unloved in the cupboard if we were to achieve the beach body that Megan Fox dreams about.

Perhaps we've lost sight of the religious sentiments but a little self discipline and friendly competition can't be all bad and even if I don't make the FHM top 100 at least I'll be in my own good books.

Beauty: Blonde hair myths investigated

How to: Treat your body like

Stacey Barnes

Rebecca Bray

Have you ever sat in the sun for hours, smelling like a lemon, hoping to add natural highlights to your locks to turn you from plain Jane to blonde bombshell? Well, I have, and I was not miraculously transformed into Marilyn Monroe.

Photo: Katrina Hartley

But there are many other student-friendly tips on keeping your hair looking luscious though; from baby shampoo (good – gentle on damaged hair) to mayonnaise or vinegar (bad – your hair is not chips).

Natural or chemically treated blonde hair is porous and so can become dehydrated, dull and damaged by every-day factors including heat, sun, diet and of course ten-too-many dyes. When teamed with the fact that blonde hair reflects less light than dark it can be

difficult to get the strong, shiny L'oreal locks we covet.

Using specialist shampoos and conditioners formulated to delay the fading of coloured hair can help, for example John Frieda's 'Sheer Blonde' range (also available for brunettes and red-heads).

Leave-in conditioners and treatments can help reconstruct damaged hair, but prevention is better than cure so remember to use protection too (good multi-purpose motto there).

To add shine try a beer rinse (I don't mean douse yourself in Carling; you need flat traditional ale made from hops and yeast for top shine-potential).

For a less alcoholic and more herbal experience, chamomile tea is said to gently lighten coloured hair, soothe the scalp and aide conditioning. Red tomato ketchup can be used to neutralise the greentinge left on golden locks by the reaction between the copper and chlorine in swimming-pools.

Coloured hair is highmaintenance but this doesn't have to mean bigbudget; be resourceful and try out some cheap home remedies of your own, maybe you'll find a use for that old peanut butter after all.

a temple We all know how rigorous the student life can be, but with the deathly combination of late nights, early mornings, copious amounts of alcohol and the stress one mention of the 'd' word evokes, one is forced to wonder, what damage are we really doing to our bodies?

Here are some tips on how to make small lifestyle changes that have a positive impact on your body.

Eat your greens By making a conscious effort to reach the magic target of five portions of fruit and veg a day, not only will that chocolate pick-me-up no longer be needed, but you will feel more energetic and the effects will be noticeable in the aesthetics of your body as well – promoting clearer skin and brighter eyes. Perhaps all the strawberries and pineapples will encourage the sun to announce spring's arrival too!

Switch to wholemealbread and pasta The science geeks tell us it is better for our tickers. While you're at it, you should probably eat jacket and boiled spuds instead of the typical English favourite – roastie.

Embrace nature Don't panic, I'm not asking you to go all Wordsworth, but this time of year, with spring fast approaching, is the perfect opportunity to go for a relaxing stroll and admire the bright lights of our wonderful Brumtown. Take a break from the stuffiness of the library, grab some obliging housemates, a Frisbee and get outdoors.

Laugh!

Familiar with that feeling where you laugh so hard, you're in danger of wetting yourself? Well, it's good for you. Make sure you take time out of the stress of deadlines to watch rubbish 'comedies' with your mates, have a reminiscent giggle with the girls, or tickle your little sis so hard she cries. Make time to simply laugh.

Television

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Ten things you never knew about... Lost With the return of the epic drama Lost to our screens, Simon Fairbanks lets us in on the secrets behind the set 1. RIP Jack The character of Jack Sheppard was originally destined to die at the end of the two-hour pilot. As such, big-name actors were considered and the part very nearly went to Michael Keaton. However, studio executives thought that the audience would feel cheated by having the hero killed off so early. Therefore the part was rewritten as a reoccurring role.

6. They are NOT making it up as they go along JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof planned the entire story arc from the beginning.

Admittedly, there was some stalling in the earlier seasons however ABC committed to a multi-season deal back in 2007. This set the 2010 end-date for Lost and assured the writers would have a firm deadline for intricately unfolding the rest of the story.

2. Million Dollar Pilot

7. Nikki and Paulo

Lost remains the most expensive pilot in television history, costing $14 million. This is mainly due to purchasing, shipping and dressing a decommissioned L-1011 aircraft to represent the wreck.

Nikki and Paulo were introduced in season three and were originally going to have multi-season story arcs. Unfortunately, they were despised by fans and so the creators killed them off mid-season.

Ironically, this turned out to be one of the show's most popular episodes.

3. Casting the Castaways Dominic Monaghan (Charlie) and Jorge Garcia (Hurley) originally auditioned for the role of Sawyer before Josh Holloway was cast. The creators were so impressed with Monaghan that they re-wrote the role of Charlie to be much younger, as opposed to the old burnt-out rock star he was originally.

8. Missing Pieces A series of thirteen twominute webisodes titled Missing Pieces were filmed as part of the Lost canonical universe. These feature the main cast and range from funny to insightful. Check them out on YouTube.

4. It's A Small World

9. Lost Sounds

Lost is almost exclusively shot in Hawaii. The island of Oahu and mainland Honolulu have doubled as stand-ins for locations such as Korea, Iraq, Paris, Nigeria, Oxford and Australia.

Oscar-nominated composer Michael Giacchino created parts of the distinctive soundtrack by striking suspended pieces of the plane's fuselage.

5. What's in a name?

Several of the characters are named after famous philosophers and scientists including Danielle Rousseau, John Locke, Anthony Cooper, Daniel Faraday, Desmond David Hume and Mikhail Bakunin. Meanwhile Miles Straume was given his name because the creators thought it was cool to have a character that sounded like 'maelstrom.'

10. Every Dog Has Its Day The future of Lost remains a mystery until the final episode is aired on 23rd May. However, the creators have confirmed one thing: Vincent the dog will remain alive and well through to the show's conclusion. As for the rest of the cast... who knows? We're as lost as the rest of the blogosphere. Tune in this May for the long-awaited answers. Namaste.

CSI: The experience

23

Natalie Timmins examines the latest in killer attractions to arrive in Birmingham...

FED up of cracking Cluedo and sitting on the sofa when the crimes are solved on TV? CSI: The Experience has hit the Bullring, bringing the murder and mystery from Vegas straight to your doorstep, allowing you to step behind the yellow tape and straight into the action.

So let's start at the beginning: choosing your crime scene. The options include a car crashing into a house and killing the driver, investigating waitress Penny's murder in an alleyway, and the discovery of human bones in the desert. An agonising choice I'm sure you'll agree: catastrophe never looked this appealing.

After the painful decision over which devastation to opt for, the team give you the report form that you'll give to the original CSI supervisor Gil Grissom at the end of the exhibit to earn your very own CSI Diploma. Who needs a degree after that?!

You've got your crime scene: next, you're taken through to a briefing room, where the creator of the CSI franchise, Anthony Zuiker, rather excitedly and loudly explains how he shadowed the real Vegas CSIs, which inspired him to portray the intricate complexities behind the criminal truth.

Following Zuiker's speech is Ronald Singer, CSI and blood spatter expert (with an excep-

tional moustache), who takes us through life in the lab.

Step by step, you trace the route each piece of evidence takes in order to go from crime scene to solution.

Firstly, you're shown the relevant homicide scene to your report, with each one holding vital clues to who killed our victim. Whose feet do those prints belong to? And just where did that blood transfer come from?

Well, that's where the next station comes in. Moving into Lab One, the corresponding computer to the chosen crime scene helps you examine the evidence, looking through the latent prints, impression and trace evidence to piece together what the perp (see, one CSI diploma later and you know the lingo…) left behind.

For the real geeks out there, you'll be relieved to know that IAFIS is no longer an unknown acronym (I can practically hear the sighs of relief), as you get to search the FBIs Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identifica-

tion System for the fingerprints that place the criminal at the scene.

The next station goes through the types of blood spatter that show us the victim and suspect's movements after the accident: with blood spatter types ranging from the stationary gravitational spatter to the artery severing projective spatter, you've got plenty to tell you who went where after the homicide.

After looking through the toxicology report and searching CODIS for DNA samples, you're ready to hit the medical examiner's office.

The ME talks you through the findings of the autopsy, allowing the cause of death to be determined and any notable findings to be presented. It's not quite the same as having Sid Hammerback coming out with information that makes your eyebrows raise three notches higher than normal, but the projection used to show you the literal insand-outs of the victim is incredibly fascinat-

ing, even for the most squeamish of investigators.

That, ladies and gentleman, is the end of your report: you then submit your findings to the computers and choose your suspect, hopefully uncovering the mystery behind the murder or being told to return to one of the labs to review your findings, and see the reconstruction of what happened at your crime scene.

With an incredibly captivating set-up, CSI: The Experience is most definitely worth investigating.

The exhibit is based around opening our eyes to the world of forensic science, from the interesting random facts pinned up on the walls, like autopsy deriving from the Greek 'autopsia' meaning 'seeing for oneself', to the astounding videos about the world of forensics taken for granted when crammed into an hourlong drama set to a racy soundtrack.

Following in the footsteps of Gil Grissom, Horatio Caine and Mac Taylor, the Forensic Code of Ethics sets out your mission: a forensic scientist should never be dissuaded from a full and fair investigation of the facts. Think you're up to the challenge?

To find out more about the CSI: Birmingham experience, visit www.csitheexperience. org.

struggling to cope with the grim reality of everyday life. One man's frustration boils over whenever something goes wrong, such as the fish slice jamming the drawer, or his pet mouse getting lost in the sofa… unfortunately his Thai bride is not much help.

These random sketches allow for a few cameo performances from the likes of Mark Lamarr, Martin Trenaman, David Schall and Bill Bailey as an incompetent guitar teacher.

Once you get over the initial sense of gloom, 15 Storeys High gets funnier with every episode.

Sean Lock's comic timing and deadpan delivery is absolutely sublime, and Benedict Wong is brilliantly naïve.

The polar opposite dynamic between the two makes for some hilarious scenes. 15 Storeys High is refreshingly original,

slightly bizarre, beautifully understated and incredibly funny.

It is well worth a look if you love surreal comedy with a black streak.

It is such a shame that it was axed after two series', because it really is a hidden gem. Watch and spread the word!

Height of comedy Charlie Ward gives us the story behind the storeys 15 Storeys High is something of an enigma: critically acclaimed, yet criminally underexposed and underrated.

In fact, chances are you've never even heard of it. I only stumbled across it on YouTube myself and since then I haven't been able to stop watching!

Written by and starring 8 Out of 10 Cats' Sean Lock, this unsung classic of British comedy ran for two series' and twelve episodes, starting in 2002.

It was broadcast very late at night on BBC2 and BBC3; little wonder then that it slipped under the radar and never got the recognition it deserved.

Set in a tower block in a council estate, 15 Storeys High is bleak and monochromatic, which might put viewers off initially. But the actual comedy is charming, quirky and very sharp.

Lock plays Vince, a bored, misanthropic swimming pool lifeguard who wiles away the hours by drunkenly 'borrowing' a plough from the pub, repeatedly berating a man who dials the wrong number, or shouting at cyclists to see if they fall off.

Vince shares a rather run-down apartment with the relentlessly optimistic Errol, a fish-factory worker of Chinese descent with a Mancunian accent, played by Benedict Wong.

The aimless lives led

by Vince and Errol form the main storylines, which often border on the absurd – in one episode, Vince is accused of killing a swan, and is put in the stocks for the whole village to throw tomatoes at him.

But we also get several unrelated glimpses into the lives of other people in the tower block

24 Television

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Box Bites

Push the button

Charlotte Lytton brings us the top telly news this week

Cheyenne Bunsie tells us about Ant and Dec's latest Saturday night success on ITV1

Stephen Fry may be set to step back into his former role as BAFTA host after Jonathan Ross' abysmal job at last week's event.

His contract with the BBC will have ended by 2011 and producers hope Fry will inject a little bit of class back into proceedings.

Things aren't all bad for Wossy, though, as newly separated Cheryl Cole will be doing a tellall interview on his Friday night show later in the series. The slot had been booked before the breakup, but producers say that she will appear on the show as planned.

There's a double helping of Glee gossip this week, starting with the news that Grease icon Olivia Newton-John will be guest starring in an upcoming episode of the hit oddball show. The star will be partaking in what

can only be described as an unmissable duet of Let's get physical with resident baddie Sue Sylvester. If that wasn't enough, the entire cast have been invited to perform at the Whitehouse for the Obamas' Easter event. Who knew that such a bunch of misfits would be brownnosing with the President after just one series?

In reality news, Kerry Katona has reportedly signed a lucrative deal with Channel 4 for a documentary about her endless drug/divorce/alcoholic shenanigans. Can they really fill an hour long slot with things we don't know about this woman?

Well, there will be advert breaks I suppose.

Frank celebrity talk

show Piers Morgan's Life Stories will air an interview with media mogul Simon Cowell in the first week of March. Tipped to discuss his recent engagement, we'll be tuned in to hear what the original Mr Nasty has to say for himself.

And finally, broadcasting figures for the premiere of ITV's latest programme Married Single Other were impressively high. The show easily led the prime time ratings battle, with a quarter of telly fans tuning in to see homegrown favourites Ralf Little and Lucy Davis in their new roles. It's certainly nice to have some fresh British drama on our screens for a change.

EVER wondered what it would be like to answer the door bleary eyed on a Monday morning and find Ant and Dec on your doorstep?

Well that was the reality for the Greenwood and the Foster families this week as part of new ITV1 game show, Push the Button.

Last Saturday our favourite pair of Geordies were back on the box playing host to a game in which two families were pitted against each other with ÂŁ100,000 each to begin with.

Through a series of four head to head games, and the chance to knock money off their rivals, the family with the most money left would go on to the final round to play for the amount they had managed to keep.

So with the rules of the game explained, cue just under an hour of thoroughly enjoyable family fun. Games included were 'Get it Sorted', a yodelling competition; the hilarious 'Simon Cowell's Teeth' (whoever came up with that idea deserves a pat on the back); and wed-

ding cake building that'll 'all end in tiers', which taught us a valuable lesson: sometimes copying from the person next to you isn't all bad and having morals can cost you the chance to win fortysix grand.

Push The Button hit the nail on the head and has got viewers back into the Saturday night TV that was missing from the tail end of the noughties: ordinary families playing silly games for money.

Ant and Dec provided their winning formula of cheesy gags with grins and raised a laugh from even the most cynical of viewers (a.k.a. me!).

Straight away viewers could choose a team to root for and like myself get wholly into the game, yelling at the screen and shaking my head with the belief that I'd have done much better.

The key strength of Push The Button is that it allows you to imagine how your own family would play and perhaps the silence in the car if you lost, despite the complimentary loser prize of salt shakers.

Sterling telly

TV Gold: Queer as Folk

Joe McGrath spies out Archer as the newest comedy sensation

Annie Hodson tells us why queer should be here to stay

A gun with additional silencer, a fake passport, cash in a variety of currency, perhaps a watch that sprays corrosive acid and a pen that picks locks, just for good measure: this is the classic travelling pack of an international spy. However, Sterling Archer is not your traditional spy.

In addition to all the above, he would probably also bring a jumbo pack of condoms, a guide to all the local casinos and business cards to a series of highly expensive female escorts. We're in Archer's world now.

The show is a new, animated, comedy series to hit Fiver. It depicts the adventures of Sterling Archer, a spy at fictional intelligence agency, ISIS. Archer's motives are directed not by any sort of moral compass or sense of duty, but by social luxuries like gambling, alcohol and beautiful women (usually prostitutes).

The first episode sees Archer breaking into the comically under-protected ISIS mainframe, in order to cancel the expenses he has racked up in the name of 'genuine' intelligence work.

The premise of this first instalment is enough to sum up the ludicrous nature of the entire programme.

However, the anima-

tion itself steers away from the visually absurd presentation of Family Guy, or The Simpsons, opting for a more realistic look that channels the designs of 1960s comic books. This retro-realism allows for the dry delivery of the jokes to be more resonant, making them zing with sharp acidity.

The voice casting is brilliant. The dialogue bounces along with a feel of semi-improvisation and the resulting chemistry between the actors makes for hilarious back and forth exchanges.

Perhaps the funniest relationship is between Archer and his aging butler, Woodhouse, who is continuously verbally abused. Woodhouse has been desensitised and emotionally hollowed out by Archer's bullying, which makes for a tragically comic on-screen rapport.

The show also boasts some of the most politically incorrect humour on

television. Archer's racial, sexual and generally allinclusive insensitivities are met with expressions of disgust and repulsion by the other characters, revealing the cartoon's ever-present irony.

The repulsion is usually communicated by Archer's ex-girlfriend and fellow agent, Lana, voiced superbly by Aisha Tyler, recogniseable from her role as Charlie Wheeler, in Friends.

However, for all his flaws Archer seems to get surprisingly good results, straddling the line between incompetence and luck, in an almost Inspector Clouseau-esque fashion.

The show is a fantastically original piece of animation and comedy.

It will certainly appeal to anyone who enjoys the darker shades of South Park or Family Guy. However, if you are easily offended, I would strongly advise sticking with Rugrats.

WHEN Queer as Folk premiered on Channel 4 in 1999, viewers searching for a serious deconstruction of urban homosexuality quickly found... that they should probably look elsewhere, actually.

Queer as Folk singlehandedly debunked the myth that gay-focused television had to be pofaced and didactic. It was a slap in the face to all the shows that brought in gay characters for a 'very special episode', taught us all a valuable lesson about tolerance and then quickly shipped them off before they had to be developed into someone resembling a human being with, God forbid, a sex drive.

Queer as Folk blew every meek and mild gay martyr out of the water with an unapologetic celebration of gay life; fast, furious and very, very funny.

The central figures of the show are handsome, successful and slightly slutty Stuart (Aidan Gillen), his long-suffering friend Vince (Craig Kelly), a reliable, smart and selfconfessed Doctor Who obsessive, and wide-eyed schoolboy Nathan (Charlie Hunnam), new to the Manchester gay scene and quick to fall under the spell of Stuart's easy sexuality.

The show begins with the seduction of Nathan

by Stuart, as the series progresses the fifteen year old becomes the one night stand that wouldn't go away – much to Vince's chagrin who happens to be harbouring affections for Stuart too. The question is, can modern day Casanova Stuart commit to anyone but himself?

Show creator Russell T. Davies, later to helm the reboot of Doctor Who,

Push the Button has something for all ages to enjoy and makes it trendy once again to watch something wholesome and family orientated. If you enjoyed shows like Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway and The Generation Game then tune in next week to watch another jewel in the Ant and Dec crown of entertainment.

crafted a stylish yet intensely human world, shifting seamlessly from scenes of flashy hedonism in local nightclub Babylon to the warm domesticity of Vince's messy flat.

Whilst Queer as Folk may be most memorable for its more outrageous moments, it was the instances of unexpected sweetness that set it apart as a great drama: Vince and Stuart acting out Titanic on a hospital roof, or a heartfelt funeral eulogy containing the lyrics from D.I.S.C.O. The one liners alone are a delight; Vince's horrified foray into a 'straight' pub, where 'there are people talking in sentences that have no punch line and they don't even care!' is a profound example of the simply hilarious setups.

For me, the moment that captures the exuberant appeal of Queer as Folk comes in the very first episode, when Vince and Stuart drive Nathan to school in a Land Rover with 'Queers' daubed on the side by hooligans. As a sniggering schoolboy sneers 'Come on, boys, give us a kiss,' Stuart replies, sugar sweet: 'I'll give you a good f**k, you tight little virgin, you won't be laughing then.'

They're here, they're queer, get it on DVD.

Sport

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

25

Speed demon Aston racing to Qatar Jonathan Gilbert meets the University of Birmingham student set to join the Great Britain team at the World Indoor Championships next week IN all walks of life, especially in the sporting arena, confidence breeds success. One need look no further than University of Birmingham sports scholar Ed Aston to see that proof of this lies in the proverbial pudding.

February saw middle distance runner Aston record an indoor personal best of 1:48.24 in the 800m final of the Aviva Grand Prix, held at Birmingham's NIA, and, as a result, qualify for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team which will travel to Doha, Qatar, in just a week's time for the IAAF World Indoor Championships.

The 21-year-old will fly out with the 38-strong team on Tuesday, and is at ease when describing the performance with which he booked his seat on the plane: 'It was a pretty loaded field and the guys up front were running some incredible splits.

Had they maintained it, they'd have been running close to world record pace. I decided to sit off at the back, where I was more comfortable, and broke with about 150m to go, managing to pick off two or three guys before

crossing the line.'

Aston eventually finished in fifth position and joins close friend and fierce rival the new national indoor champion Andrew Osagie as UK Athletics' selections for the 800m at the most important indoor event on the international athletics calendar.

It will be the first time that Lewisham-born Aston has represented Great Britain at senior level.

However, when asked if being part of a team which boasts such illustrious names as current triple jump Olympic silver medallist Phillips Idowu, reign-

that I'm part of a strong GB team out there. This is the highest level you can compete at. These are the types of championships that I want to race in. I'm there and I want to keep being there.'

At such an early stage in his career, the Birmingham student is, nevertheless, realistic about what he can expect to achieve in Doha: 'I'm in great condition and I really want to make the semi-final; it's a definite possibility. Depending on the tactics of the race and how strong the field is, I'd like to run a PB too. I'll run the semi like it's my final.'

Aston in action at last year's BUCS Track and Field Championships

'I'm in great condition and I really want to make the semi-final. I'll run it like it's my final.' ing world champion heptathlete Jessica Ennis and sprinter Dwain Chambers will daunt him, Aston answers mirroring the confidence he displays in his running: 'It's not daunting. It's just great to know

Photo: http://4.bp.blogspot.com

Like the majority of sports scholars, Aston leads a double-pronged offensive at the University: on the track and in the classroom. It takes great determination and talent, both sporting and academic, to successfully balance these two demands. Luckily for Aston, the School of Mathematics has allowed him to split his final year between this and the next. 'The department has been really flexible which has given me a lot more time and made everything more manageable. I'm doing just three modules this year, so if I miss the odd lecture for races I've got the opportunity to catch up.'

Returning to athletics, Aston, who also represents his home club Cambridge and Coleridge, explains that he has developed significantly since arriving at Birmingham: 'I'm so much more consistent now. The times that I was running just once a season before coming to university, I'm now actually beating eight or nine times a year. Although outdoors I'm yet to run that really fast race that I'm capable of, my indoor PB has come down a couple of seconds since I started here.'

The Perse School educated athlete attributes this improvement to his intensified training regime: 'There is an element of natural development, but I'm also training a lot harder than I was; at least ten times a week.

I do track work, but also strength and conditioning

Photo: Chris Smith in the gym as well as long runs. One of the reasons I came to Birmingham was because of the on-campus facilities which mean that I don't need to spend a lot of time travelling to and from training.'

towards them but just missed out by two tenths of a second. I was gutted.'

Looking to the future, after competing in Doha, there are other prominent meetings which Aston, who has been coached by

'If my training continues to go well, I've got the chance to run times that could win the Olympics.'

En route to his recent achievements, Aston has had to bounce back from some difficult setbacks.

Most agonizingly, last summer, he failed to qualify for the European U23 Championships in Lithuania. 'The Championships had been my main target for a couple of years.

I'd worked really hard

Michael Smith since he was 10 years old, hopes he will gain entry to: 'This year could be pretty big.

There's the European Championships in Barcelona and then, in October, the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. I'll have to improve on my outdoor performances from last year but I have a great

chance of attaining the qualifying times required for selection.'

Prompted to declare his ultimate goal in athletics, the 2008 BUCS champion leans back, legs outstretched and responds with the assertiveness of a sportsman whose confidence in his own ability is chillingly unwavering: 'Olympic gold. It's obviously difficult to say but I think it's a possibility. I'll be pushing for the 2012 team and I'll be at my peak in 2016. If my training continues to go well and I don't pick up any injuries, I've got the chance to run 800m times that could win the Olympics.'

That is confidence indeed from an athlete whose talent, steady development and supreme ambition suggest that he will have a lengthy career of unprecedented success.

26 Sport

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th MARCH 2010

Netball girls edge into BUCS final Women's Netball 1st:

Photo: Lucy Percival

Birmingham's girls share an amicable moment with their Chichester opposition

Birmingham v Chichester 40 – 35 Dave Wheaton SMILING faces and a laidback atmosphere were initially misleading as badminton hindered the start of the netball, leading the Chichester side to jokingly begin their warm-up in the corridor leading to the Munrow Centre Sports Hall.

However this game was no joke, the fourth quarter of the unbelievably exciting women's semi-final eventually ended with one team crying and the other weeping with joy. Two extra incentives made progress to the BUCS final all the more important for the home team: Loughborough awaited having just won their semi-final, and the Birmingham 2nd team had also reached the final of their competition.

In the pre-game talk, captain Livvy Barber reminded the girls not to panic if they went behind in the third quarter because they knew they always came back on top.

She could not have been more right.

Birmingham were looking very concentrated at the beginning of the first quarter, feeding the ball quickly down to Hayley Taylor, their prolific goal attack. Chichester however went up by two goals within 30 seconds.

Good pressure on the opposing attack from both Sarah Bishton and Heather Ikwuemesi, goal defence and goalkeeper respectively, made way for Tay-

lor to score her first goals.

Birmingham, finding their feet thanks to Kate Roberts, were blocking any opposing build up and driving the ball forward in the first quarter, putting them marginally ahead at 9-7.

'Power' Ikwuemesi had lived up to her nickname, keeping a close eye on Chichester's goal attack, who could have made the score much tighter without her pressure. However, the away side drew

first blood instantly in the second quarter, taking the lead and making the score 9-10 after three minutes.

Barber was not ready to accept this, running left, right and centre around the goal circle, dizzying the defence and feeding the ball to Lucy Fisher, who wasn't in the mood for missing shots.

Great interceptions in the centre third by both Roberts and Rebecca Celver pushed the team further forward, leading

to great drives down the right side of the court, giving Birmingham an indisputable 24-15 lead at the end of the second quarter.

The Chichester girls left the court frustrated and red in the face, seemingly from exhaustion.

Everything seemed so perfectly harmonious in the previous quarter that it was no surprise when captain Barber advised the team to: 'Kill them off in this third quarter.' With that attitude and play, the

girls seemed destined for the final.

Whether it was overconfidence, tension or dubious umpiring decisions which led Chichester to unexpectedly and rapidly tie the game in the third quarter at 27-27 was unclear. The worried hosts were not being as accurate in their passing and let the high stakes affect their game. Chichester actually mirrored Birmingham's performance of the second quarter, leading 28-29 at the third interval.

Spectators were in for a truly exhilarating fourth quarter as both teams walked back onto the court. Undeniably, Barber acted as a true captain in this quarter, driving the ball aggressively forward, swerving into space and feeding the ball to both the girls under the hoop.

Importantly though, the reason the balls got to her was that Bishton and Ikwuesemi were catching every single stray ball in their goal circle, keeping the pressure off. The level of play was closer to that of the second quarter again and unsurprisingly, the final buzzer went off with Birmingham winning 40-35.

After an exhilarating match, it was with a sigh of relief that the game ended, seeing Birmingham off to the final next week in Sheffield.

Loughborough prove too strong in semi-final Men's Lacrosse

Photo: Tom Flathers

1st: Birmingham v Loughborough 3 – 12 Tom Fuller

The Loughborough players were never far behind Birmingham

THE much-anticipated BUCS semi-final got underway in chilly March sunshine on Wednesday afternoon, as Birmingham took on title-holders Loughborough.

A strong Birmingham crowd had gathered and immediately made themselves heard with chants as the first whistle was blown. The visitors asserted an attacking plan as they dominated Birmingham early on; keeping the ball in their opponents' half for much of the first period. Initial fouls were greeted by boos from the home supporters as players vented their irritation after going down 1-0 early

on to a goal from Dave Gill. The first few faceoffs were won by Loughborough and they were unchallenged in the wing area; passing freely.

Shouts for 'more rotation' from coach Thomas did little to improve the situation as the hosts struggled with Loughborough's sprinting attacks.

White jerseys darted all over the pitch and did not allow Birmingham any breathing space; the reds were rooted in their defensive area fending off the visiting attackers.

Will Sugden scored another goal for the away team and it looked as if Birmingham would succumb. A quick time-out signalled by the referee gave the hosts the opportunity to regroup and it worked as minutes before the half-time whistle a home forward took on the entire Loughborough defence and sprinted for goal; his solo effort drew the home side back into contention at 2-1.

At the half-time break the Brum coach admitted that his side were not executing their game plan and, 'were not creating

any space with which to launch an attack.' However Birmingham's spirits were high going into the second half.

The 2-1 score line was short-lived as Loughborough attacked down the wing and scored the first goal of the second half just minutes into it. Dan Charles, the Brum goalkeeper, had done superbly to deny Loughborough's powerful shots at goal in the first half but it seemed inevitable that the visitors would take the lead.

However, Brum restored hope minutes later as they drew back to within a point with a superb goal from ten metres. Shrieks of delight from the home fans illustrated that the team still believed they had a chance to draw level. Unfortunately, this belief was soon snuffed out by Loughborough who tackled well and gained control with efficient and constructive passing.

The away team began to go on a run of points as goals began to stream through and the morale of the Birmingham camp dropped. 3-2 became 4-2 and then 7-2 as Loughbor-

ough began to see the finish line late into the third quarter.

Substitutions from the hosts did little to improve their prospects and though the support of the crowd kept firing, it seemed as if they had become a little desperate. After a brief period of settled passing from Birmingham, their Midlands rivals took control once again and scored more.

As the last quarter was called, Birmingham faced a 9-2 deficit. They fought hard to bring the ball into the visitors' half; however attempts at goal were not on target and Loughborough looked controlled in the exchanges. Brum dragged back some pride in the final ten minutes as they scored once again to bring the score to 9-3.

They could not, however, build on this late goal and conceded three more in quick succession to seal the match. Throughout the match Loughborough had looked at their fluid best and, unfortunately for Birmingham, they simply could not produce enough to trouble the defending champions.

Sport

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th March 2010

Smiles in the end as Sykes steals victory Men's Hockey 2nd: Birmingham v Durham 2 – 1 AET Patrick Surlis ON Wednesday evening at the Bournbrook pitches a raucous crowd witnessed a thrilling finale to an absorbing semi-final between two evenly matched teams. Birmingham and Durham had slogged it out for 70 minutes, only for extra time to be required to separate the two sides. The hosts eventually emerged victorious following an excellent performance full of grit and determination.

Backed by a vocal crowd, the Birmingham team needed no motivation for this game, a win and they would book their place in the Men's Trophy BUCS Finals next week in Sheffield, a loss and their season would end in disappointing fashion. The game was being played at a frantic pace in the early stages, Durham regrouping well after a spell of Birmingham dominance and looking to keep the ball in Brum's half whilst showing little in the way of incisive attacks.

Nevertheless, with 20 minutes gone, the visitors forced a succession of short corners, five in total, the result of panicky Birmingham defending and intensive Durham pressure. Eventually the pressure told, the fifth

W

consecutive short corner being bundled in by an away forward, giving them a 1-0 lead. For the rest of the half, the game settled down considerably, each side happy to retain possession for periods without ever really posing an attacking threat, resulting in Durham holding a slender advantage at half time.

The second half started in much the same vein as the first, the home support urging their players on, and for much of the second half the game was played with Birmingham on the front foot. Ben Gallagher and Ben Sykes both had chances as the home side searched for that equalising goal but Durham defended impressively, offering little going forward but, as a consequence, looking impenetrable at the back.

It always seemed likely that Birmingham's best chance of an equaliser would come in the form of a set piece and a short corner 25 minutes into the second half offered them a rare opportunity to really test the visiting keeper. The ball was laid back to Richard Thom to hit, which he did with venom, and the Durham keeper failed to keep it out. Cue mass hysteria along the sidelines and a 1-1 score line.

As time began to expire, Birmingham looked the most likely to snatch a winner, Mike Hawkins rampaging down the right-hand side and Gallagher causing a nuisance up front, however neither side created that much in attacking situations, forcing the tie into a nail-biting extra time period.

Operating under the golden goal rule of first

Roaring to the final: Brum celebrate their dramatic extra time goal

Photo: Tom Flathers goal winning the tie, both sides came out wary of committing too many bodies forward for fear of getting caught on the counter attack. However, six minutes into the extra time period, with Birmingham maintaining pressure without creating chances,

the ball was forced into the Durham area, causing a scramble in which it seemed the ball bounced off everyone. Fortunately for the home team the ball fell neatly for Sykes to prod home the winner and send his side into the final.

Mike Hawkins, Birmingham's captain, who throughout the latter stages of the game was a colossus on the right flank, paid tribute to the 'superb support and the excellent performance of the players, all of which contributed massively to

=the===redbrick==crossword= Mordo Nahum

Redbrick 1368

1_2_3_4_5_6=7 ==_=_=_=_=_=_ 8______=9____ ==_=_=_=_=_=_ 0___=a_______ _=_=b=_=_===_ c_____=d__e__ _===_=f=_=_=_ g_h_____=i___ _=_=_=_=j=_== k____=l______ _=_=_=_=_=_== _=m__________

27

Sponsored by Waterstone's at the University of Birmingham The prize this week is a copy of Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Across

Down

1. 1994 Best Picture Oscar-winner (7, 4) 8. _______ Del Toro, Puerto Rican actor who starred in Che and The Wolfman (7) 9. Bread from heaven (5) 10. Vote, ballot (4) 11. Armando ________, writer of TV comedy The Thick Of It (8) 13. Vague idea (6) 14. Capital of Lebanon (6) 17. American gangster who smuggled liquor during the Prohibition (2, 6) 19. Finished (4) 21. Cast out (5) 22. Native American tribe; model of helicopter (7) 23. 1994 Best Picture Oscarnominee (4, 7)

2. Small curl of hair (7) 3. Engrave (4) 4. Middle segment of an insect's body (6) 5. Lacking a crew (8) 6. Fear, fright (5) 7. 2000 Best Picture Oscar-winner (9) 10. Member of Animal Collective; ban parade (anag) (5, 4) 12. Soil path (anag) (8) 15. Stuffed pasta (7) 16. Agency aiming to improve the lives of children in developing countries (6) 18. Radiohead's first ever single (5) 20. Metallic element, atomic number 30 (4)

a well-deserved win.'

The last-gasp victory means the side has booked its place in next week's season-closing BUCS Championships final, and deservedly so after a tremendous performance against stern Northeastern opposition.

Last issue's solutions:

copperfield== a=u=====r=a== n=fort=ruins= t=f==e==p=t=e e=y=wrestle=u r==d=r=e=u==r b=fuji=cute=y u==n=e=l=e==t r=fearful=c=h y=r=s==d==r=m =fable=envy=i ==n=a=====p=c ==confiscates 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 a copy of Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts from the University's Waterstone's branch.

The deadline for entries is Tuesday 9th March 2010.

Last issue's winner was Jinesh Lal, 3rd Year, Physiotherapy. We will email you to arrange a time to collect your prize.

28 Sport

REDBRICK 1368 / 5th March 2010

SPORT

27 Hockey Extra time winner sends Brum into final

26 Netball Girls surge through scintillating semi-final

Battling Brum seal title in tense win The Birmingham women rose above their opponents to to secure their most important win of the season

Women's Football 2nd: Birmingham v Lincoln 2–1 Toby Maxwell AN exceptional display of goalkeeping from home keeper Rhiannon McGlade made sure that Birmingham came away from this title decider as narrow winners, sparking scenes of emotional delirium on the touchline of the Metchley pitches.

Both teams came into the game knowing that three points would secure the league title. This could have been a factor in the tentative start to the game, which saw play full of endeavour and positive ideas, but lacking any real incision and decisiveness from either

team. It was the visitors who in fact created the better chances in the first half, with the lively Sophie Barker particularly catching the eye, forcing McGlade into a good parry and then, shortly after, turning deftly and shooting into the impressive home goalkeeper's arms.

The hosts had to settle for attacks on the break, and a good surge from striker Caroline Patt created a presentable chance but the shot was dragged disappointingly wide.

McGlade was then called upon to make the save of the match, getting across her goal brilliantly to tip a Jen Purnell free-kick around the post.

More clear-cut chances were to follow for Lincoln, as they attempted to press home their early dominance, and Leah Thompson headed into the feet of McGlade, before Purnell almost capitalised on uncertainty in the Birmingham defence, but poked her effort narrowly over. It was a real let off for the home team, and it seemed to galva-

nize the players, as they started to fashion some chances of their own, with a speculative ball from Katie Boom almost evading the keeper and flying into the top corner. Then in the last bit of action before the break, a brilliantly delivered corner from Birmingham midfielder Rachel Charles fell

for Michelle Cook to head home via a deflection. On the balance of play, perhaps Birmingham were fortunate to go into the break ahead, and they had McGlade to thank.

The second half began in a similar vein to the first, namely with McGlade keeping the visitors at bay, denying

Photos: Lucy Percival

Men's Rugby destroy Aston and Women's Lacrosse take on Nottingham at www.redbrickonline.co.uk

Gina Humphreys on two occasions and impressively with her feet from Barker. However, as the game went on, Birmingham started to find some rhythm and consistent pressure to their play; a cross from Belinda Martin wrought havoc in the Lincoln box; the ball pinballed around be-

fore dropping to Charles whose shot was well blocked. Goalscorer Cook then produced a wonderful chipped through-ball for Boon who saw her shot saved.

With ten minutes left, substitute Annabel Fitzgerald looked to have won the game for the hosts, after tapping in a scuffed Donna McGuigan shot. However the celebrations seemed premature as Barker, from kickoff, found Humphreys in space who finally got the better of McGlade.

This set up a wonderfully tense finale with Birmingham having to weather a bombardment of aerial balls into the box and McGlade continuing to excel. The final whistle then sounded, fuelling wild home celebrations in the centre circle.

Tearful coach Paul Jones labelled McGlade 'outstanding', and said that this league win meant 'everything.' Birmingham travel to Lincoln in two weeks for a cup semi-final which Jones is confident of winning.

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