Issue 1363

Birmingham's golden boy Thomas Clarke talks to former Olympic cyclist Paul Manning Page 25

REDBRICK

29th JANUARY 2010 ISSUE 1363 VOL 74

THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM'S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1936

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Student hurt News 3 at Mason Hall Controversial Samuel Lear

The latest on the Cadbury's takeover page 5 Photo: Syeda Shah

Emergency Services were called to the Vale Village in the early hours of Wednesday morning in response to an internal incident involving a resident of Mason Hall.

The disturbance occurred between a student and her visitor which led to both receiving injuries that necessitated hospital treatment. One of them now in custody.

A spokesperson from the University said: 'An incident occurred in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Mason Hall. Police and paramedics were in attendance and two people subsequently received medical attention.

'One person is now in custody and the matter is subject to a police investigation.' The police have informed us that they are not looking for anyone else in connection with this event.

Student representatives have urged fellow residents not to panic over the incident. ~Continued on page 5~

BUCU reports 200 job cuts Anna Brown Ned Murray THE Birmingham University and College Union (BUCU) has reported that University management plans to cut up to 200 jobs under its Sustainable Excellence initiative, according to the Union's latest newsletter.

The document, which is the UCU's response to the approval of the initiative on 26th November at University Council, has branded the plans 'Sustainable Arrogance.'

The document has angered

staff because of proposals to make 'efficiency savings' from several degree programmes and performance management.

After the document was made available on the staff intranet, the three campus unions, UCU, UNITE and UNISON, prepared a response to the Sustainable Excellence document, and submitted it in order to be forwarded to councillors.

The newsletter says University management denied the unions' request to have the response tabled at Council, stating that the meeting was 'very busy.'

The newsletter also condemns the way in which the

proposal has been handled by Council and management, stating that the latter has taken 'the lack of transparency in the University's decision-making processes to new heights.'

The BUCU's newsletter also stated that 'in recent discussions with management it was suggested that the 200 posts could be saved though 'natural wastage' and voluntary severances', but that there was scepticism about how voluntary the job severances may be. The newsletter also stated that the document presented a 'distorted view of responsibilities for the achievement of academic excel-

lence on campus.'

The response goes on to claim that the document contains a 'confusion of assertion and fact' and is an offensive and thoughtless method of informing staff of the impending job cuts as well as showing a 'poor imagination' concerning teaching activity.

One University lecturer, who wished to remain anonymous, said, 'the student experience will suffer in the long term.' ~Continued on page 2~

Palestinian academic speaks on campus.

Arts

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Comedy special Does comedy count as culture?

TV

23

The top 10 comedy panel shows

Sport

27

Last gasp heartache for mens rugby league

2 News

Calendar

Bham Action for Haiti band night Friday 29th January, 8pm, Bristol Pear. Music from Pegasus Bridge, The Sort Out and The July Days. £3 entry, all proceeds going to the Haiti Appeal.

Chamber Music Society Informal Concert Tuesday 2nd February, 7.30pm in the Common Room, Staff House. A relaxed environment in which to perform, snacks provided.

Rainbox music event Tuesday 2nd February, 7.30pm, The Rainbow pub, Digbeth. Local bands; all proceeds to Oxfam Haiti appeal.

Work Experience Fair 2010 3rd February 11am – 3.30pm Great Hall, Aston Webb An opportunity for you to meet employers from a range of industries and find opportunities for industrial placements, summer internships, volunteering, work abroad and part-time work. Find out more: http://bit. ly/bLpMFS University hosts EuroMAL' 10 5-7th February: EuroMAL attempts to recreate the conditions of the League of Arab States through diplomatic debate, with each participant representing a country.

Guest speaker is HE Ghayth Armanazi, the Minister Counsellor of Arab Affairs at the Syrian Embassy and former Arab League Ambassador. Find out more or book a place at: http://bit.ly/cEk2Td Doug Richard's School for Startups 8th February. Original TV Dragon Doug Richard's 'School for Startups' comes to the university.

Find out more and book at: http://bit.ly/c3smtK

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

Debate over public schools Caroline Mortimer THE first of the spring term's public debates kicked off on 21st January with the proposition 'The House would ban fee paying schools', joined by journalist and historian Francis Beckett.

Beckett, who has written extensively on the problems of education in Britain, opened the debate with his speech on the existing class system.

He argued that the current system, where wealthy parents are able to opt out of state education, was perpetuating the class system.

He also claimed that banning private education would force the integration of all social classes, allowing students from poorer backgrounds to make the necessary contacts they need to succeed.

Speaking for the opposition, Dr Eccleston, countered by saying that

we cannot possibly ban private schools when state schools are so poor.

She believed that New Labour's focus on the development of social skills and 'the self' rather than the encouragement of traditional learning has severely diminished the quality and output of education in this country.

The debate was subsequently opened up to the floor, where a variety of students and members of the public from state and private education offered a range of reasons for, against and in abstention of the motion.

This debate was sponsored by Teach First, an initiative designed to tackle the educationally disadvantage in struggling schools across the UK. The outcome of the debate is decided by the swing of votes from the beginning to the end of the debate.

As such, the proposition was passed with a margin of plus four.

Picture of the week Ingrid Matts

Minister speaks on campus Anna Robin LAST Thursday Ivan Lewis the Minister of State for foreign and Commonwealth affairs came to the University of Birmingham to give a talk entitled 'Why are we in Afghanistan?'

In the talk he outlined the need for us to support our troops.

He also reiterated time and again that the threat of terrorism is real and that it is the biggest threat we face today.

He went on to say that if Britain were to leave Afghanistan it is highly probable that the Taliban and Al-Qaeda would return and plot further outrages.

He talked of the Afghan people who he described as increasingly positive about the future.

Mr Lewis informed us that last year 30 per cent of the population believed that Afghanistan is heading in the right direction whereas this year

the number has risen to seventy-percent.

This seems optimistic for people who are being bombed and where increasing numbers of international troops are being deployed.

In the post-talk Q and A session an exchange student who had come to England from Afghanistan two weeks previous brushed aside Mr Lewis's statistics as ridiculous.

He said that the international community are not listening and that they trust the wrong people.

According to him the British are committing the: 'same mistakes that the Russians have done in the past.'

A meeting was also organised before his official talk to allow members from the Islamic society and the Jewish society to speak with him for half an hour.

This was the first time that these two groups had gathered together to talk of Israel and Palestine.

UCU criticises uni plans ~Continued from page 1~

I like books; Swedish library

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The union demands that, in accordance with the University's own principles, there should be no further reviews until a Code of Practice has been negotiated with the relevant staff unions, and that the University make its decision making process more transparent and open to union consultation.

However compared to other universities, it appears that Birmingham is in a realtively healthy position, with plans for significant levels of investment despite recent government cuts.

UCU recently reported that The University of Leeds is facing up to 700 job cuts to add to the 50 redundancies that have already been made.

The union have also claimed the University of Manchester is facing 300 job cuts.

However the University management has outlined the proposals for Sustainable Excellence which appear to have several beneficial objectives.

These include the aim to raise the University's academic performance, substantially and measurably, to secure and maintain the University's finan-

cial sustainability through a period when university funding is being reduced and enhance the University's academic performance in ways which extend its global profile.

The University has also looked to address a predicted shortfall of £20 million which will arise as a result of funding reductions and increasing costs by 2012.

Management aims to achieve this by rebalancing finances through a combination of both increasing earned income and by making savings.

Despite the difficult economic climate the University has also secured £60 million through the 'Circles of Influence' campaign and has recently announced seven new sustainable areas of investment.

They also plan to release a new Strategic Framework for the next five years over the course of the academic year.

There is an exclusive interview with the ViceChancellor Professor David Eastwood in next week's Redbrick.

News

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

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University of Birmingham scientists find flaws in e-passport chips Catrin Shi COMPUTER scientists at the University of Birmingham have detected a flaw in the new e-passports which could open up a new scope for terrorism.

A fault in the design of the radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag, carried in all e-passports, has made it possible to distinguish individual e-passports and to identify the owner from distances ranging between just 50cm and a few metres.

Worryingly, in order to track a passport, the tracker does not need to know anything about their victim, and it is impossible for the victim to know if they are being tracked themselves.

E-passports – the most recent generation of passport – all have embedded RFID chips, which carry personal information such as date of birth, passport number and a photograph, and respond to any radio signal sent to them.

RFID tag readers are cheap and easily available, and whilst the scien-

tists could not read the personal data on a passport without having physical access to it, they found that by replaying a particular message using the reader, the attacker can easily distinguish one passport from another.

This data could, for example, be utilised to build a device which could be left by a door to detect when a target left or entered a building.

Dr Tom Chothia, a researcher at the University of Birmingham's School of Computer Science, stated: 'It is claimed that RFID tags will make passports more secure and that personal data will be protected from any unauthorised attempts to read it.

However our discovery has shown that there is a flaw that makes it possible to identify the movements of a particular passport without having to break the passport's cryptographic key.'

Chothia then went on to say that in the worst case scenario, the flaw in the system would potentially make it possible to build a bomb that would explode on detection of a particular passport, kill-

ing the bearer.

E-passports have been issued to over 30 million people, all of whom may be at risk. The research team at Birmingham have confirmed that they have tested British, French, German, Greek, Irish and

Russian passports, and found the same error in all of them.

The UK Government has been informed about the discovery.

According to the researchers, such an attack would not be pos-

sible if passports were issued with a contactbased smart chip instead of an RFID tag, which would make it impossible to read the data on the card without the knowledge and consent of the bearer.

The work conducted by the team is to be presented at the conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security at the end of January.

Threat to passport security Photo: Laura Rainsford

Controversial Palastinian academic speaks to University students Edwina Moorhouse LAST Wednesday the Avon Room became a platform for discussion on issues surrounding Gaza and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as high-profile speakers aired their respective views whilst students protested outside.

The provocative 'In

Pursuit of Justice: Remember Gaza' was met with both anticipation and indignation, as Mike Cushman, from the British Committee for Universities for Palestine, was listed as a speaker along with Dr Azzam Tamimi, the Palestinian born academic labelled a 'Muslim radical' by the Daily Mail.

Ex-labour MP Tony

Benn had also been due to appear, but pulled out at the last minute due to ill health.

The night began with an uneasy atmosphere, as attendees were greeted by placards and protesters campaigning against Dr Tamimi's views.

The protestors explained that they were not against Dr Tamini

Dr Tamini was confronted by protesters Photo: Laura Rainsford

speaking, as they believed it would serve to support the accusations of radicalism made against him.

Participant Adam Jenner said: 'I hope that everyone will respect my right to protest as I respect his right to free speech.'

As implied, Gaza was the main topic of the talk.

In December 2008, Israeli military forces began the siege of Palestinian Gaza in attempt to destroy Hamas, both its resources and capabilities. The news immediately hit the headlines, as the death toll for innocent civilians caught in the crossfire increased day by day. After 22 days, around 1,400 Palestinians had been killed in Operation Cast Lead according to Amnesty International.

The following January, Birmingham students responded through the Friends of Palestine Society. They organised a protest against the siege, to 'show solidarity with the struggles of the students in Palestine' (Redbrick 1342).

An Islamic Society representative, who chaired the event, passionately recounted the Gaza siege, describing it as a 'scar on the human race' and, after pleading for it not to become a 'cold statistic', he requested the audience participate in a one minute silence.

Cushman, who had visited Gaza in 2008, before the initiation of Operation Cast Lead, projected a presentation of pre-invasion photos. The audience was visibly affected as he showed shots of everyday places such as a university and harbour, all stamped in red with the word 'BOMBED'.

He talked about what he perceived to be the Israeli's 'de-humanization' methods, something he claimed Israel had learnt from history, since 'you cannot oppress people who your population respects.'

Before reinforcing Mr Cushman's thoughts on the matter, Dr Tamimi

justified his presence at the event and challenged his critics (much in the same way George Galloway did a few months previously) declaring himself a 'Zionist hater'. It was statements like this that provoked raucous applause from the audience. He spoke with a mixture of despair and anger, revealing the conflict to be a cause close to his heart.

On the sensitive subject of Hamas, Dr Tamimi emphasised that they 'won the confidence of the Palestinian people' in the monitored 2005 election, but this does not mean they have his unwavering support – he will be: 'a critic of Hamas when it needs to be criticised.'

Second year politics student, Chris Benjamin, said that: 'freedom of speech was the victor' of the debate. However others argue that the university has compromised student welfare by allowing such a provocative speaker.

4 News

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

Birmingham in need of Unemployment finally decreasing a health kick Jennifer Anderson HEALTHCARE provision in Birmingham is going from bad to worse, an upcoming report is likely to reveal.

The city has long been one of the unhealthiest in the country, and the Audit Commission is considering giving the city yet more 'red flags' in the coming 2010 Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA).

Infant mortality rates are soaring in comparison

to all other English cities and life expectancy is considerably lower too.

The Audit Commission has drawn attention to the fact that babies are twice as likely to die within their first year than in the whole of the rest of the country, especially in ethnic communities.

Obesity is also a problem, as a quarter of children between the age of 5 and 15 are overweight, with 12.5 per cent classed as clinically obese.

Criticism was also directed at the growing

Health services criticised. Photo: Lucy Percival

problem of bed-blocking in hospitals.

This is where patients are well enough to be discharged but end up staying for weeks, or even months, due to health trusts and social services disagreeing as to who should pay for aftercare.

The 2009 CAA report stated: 'In an average week, around 150 Birmingham people are still in hospital when they could have been discharged…They could be at home with their families or in a more appropriate setting getting on with their lives.'

The Audit Commission's lead inspector for Birmingham, Dianne Thomas, states that the upcoming report is unlikely to see any improvements. She said: 'We will watch with interest to see what happens this year.'

Mrs Thomas argues that, if other cities have managed to solve such problems successfully, then there is no reason why Birmingham cannot do the same.

Rail link cuts London journey times James Williams A PLANNED £250 million scheme to cut Birmingham to London train journey times was announced last week by Chiltern Railways.

The project, which includes major improvements to the line out of London Marylebone, as well as creating a brand new line of track between London and Oxford, is scheduled for completion in 2013.

However, the works which directly affect the line from Birmingham's Moor Street Station will be finished by May 2011.

The project should see journey times reduced by over 20 percent, and is welcome news for regular commuters with the travel time lowered to only one hour and forty minutes.

Importantly, Chiltern's Chairman Adrian Shooter has announced that there will be no fare increases; instead, the costs will be recouped 'through extra customers' as consumers may abandon the popular but expensive New Street to Euston service operated

by Virgin.

The investment is

the first new rail link to be created between a major city and London for over a century, and confirms that Chiltern Railways have secured the extra seven years of their twenty year franchise for the route.

Lord Adonis, Secretary of State for Transport said that: 'The Government is looking at a number of options for how High Speed Rail can access Birmingham. The new investment will give Birmingham two high quality services at major stations.'

It is widely acknowledged that New Street does not boast the capacity to cope with new high speed rail services, even once its £600 million overhaul is completed.

This means another

city centre station is likely to be used, and Moor Street could be the obvious choice.

The plans are supported by a £13.5 million pound project to renovate Moor Street Station itself including the addition of new ticketing technology and platforms as well as doubling overall capacity.

There will also be new Chiltern trains to compete with the Virgin Pendolino trains that frequent the West Coast Main Line.

Lord Adonis refused to give comment on whether or not Moor Street would be used for high speed rail services in the future, but stressed that the planned improvements will create substantial economic growth.

Moor Street to be improved. Photo: Tom Flathers

Helen Clough DATA published on 20th January has shown that unemployment levels in the region have fallen by almost 10 per cent.

The figure has gone from 20,000 to 259,000, however the number of unemployed people remains over 500,000 higher than this time last year.

Information on employment levels is published monthly by the office for national statistics and this new data has been welcomed.

Yvette Cooper, Work and Pension Secretary said: 'The jobs market is still tough for a lot of people, but the drop in unemployment and youth

unemployment welcome.'

is

very

10% The amount by which unemployment has dropped Birmingham, however, still has amongst the highest proportion of people claiming job seekers allowance in the region. 7.9 per cent of Birmingham residents are on this benefit compared to only 2.2 per cent in Stratford-on-Avon and the amount is only surpassed in Wolverhampton with 8.2 per cent.

The West Midland's

figures are only exceeded by the North East in the number of job seekers and considering the national average is 4.1% this remains very high. Whilst the youth, 18-24, claimant rate is even more worrying; it is the highest in the country with 54,000 young people claiming, which is just over one in ten.

There is also the worry that long-term unemployment, classified as unemployment for over one year, has increased by 29,000 to 631,000, the highest level since 1997.

The message appears to be that improvements are being made but it will be a long process before employment figures get completely back on track.

Local couple steal from university subsidiary Jack Davis TWO former employees of the University of Birmingham have been jailed after being found guilty of theft and fraud to the tune of millions of pounds.

Paul Sadler (50), from Worcester, and Christine Eggleton (51), from Birmingham, were employees of the University's subsidiary firm, Birmingham Research and Development Ltd. The pair admitted conspiracy to defraud and a single count of theft at an earlier hearing. Both have been sentenced to a jail term of six and two years respectively.

Sadler admitted to stealing £4,999,516 whilst Eggleton admitted to stealing £2,085, 539 from the university over a ten year period, during which Eggleton worked as the company's book keeper, and Sadler as managing director.

Suspicions were raised when it was heard that Sadler took a holiday in Bermuda with a mistress.

He is said to have also spent over two million pounds in various casinos over the ten year period, and claims that he has a serious gambling probem.

The Judge presiding over the case, Judge Pat-

rick Thomas QC described the pair's doings as a serious breech of trust.

He said of the case: 'It was a simple and straightforward fraud. It simply involved you fabricating invoices and everybody who knew you trusted you to be accurate.'

He then added that the criminal justice system would be 'a laughing stock' if the crime of stealing millions were to go unpunished.

Civil action is in process to recover some of the money that was taken.

So far, around £1,400,000 has been recovered from Eggleton, and £800,000 from Sadler.

Tweet about potholes James Williams MOTORISTS are encouraged to use Twitter to inform the council of potholes across the region.

Birmingham City Council has turned to the popular micro-blogging website following an exponential increase in the amount damage to the 1,555 mile road network following five weeks of snow and frost.

Members of the public are being urged to 'tweet' any problems they discover straight to city road repair teams, as they aim to fix road surfaces that have suffered over the festive period as ice expands and causes severe

cracks.

Over the same period last year, the council spent £4 million on winter road repairs, but with the dramatic decline in weather this winter, the bill is guaranteed to be significantly higher.

£4m Spent on winter road repairs last year City roads Chief Councillor Len Gregory said: 'Damage to the city's roads is, sadly, inevitable following such severe weather.'

'We recognise the

need for urgent repairs and the deployment of extra crews underlines our pro-active approach to these exceptional conditions.'

The council stresses that the immediate reporting of problems allows teams to carry out repairs as quickly as possible.

Drivers can 'tweet' the council's press office with the location of the issue, and this information is then forwarded on to their Highways team.

Council spokesman Geoff Coleman said: 'It just makes sense to use twitter ... we have so many roads in the city that we like to have the help of anyone who uses them.'

News

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

Cadbury moves closer to Kraft takeover Catrin Shi ITALIAN confectionery company Ferrero have dropped their bid for Birmingham-born confectioner Cadbury, leaving US giant Kraft as the only bidder.

In a statement released on Monday, Ferrero said: 'Further to its announcement of 18th November, 2009, Ferrero International SA confirms that it does not intend to make an offer for Cadbury.'

Kraft now has until

2nd February to convince Cadbury to go through with the deal, which will make them the largest confectionery company in the world.

The deal has led to disputes within the company. Billionaire investor Warren Buffet, Kraft Food's largest shareholder, voiced his doubts on US television station CNBC the day after the bid was announced.

He said: 'I've got a lot of doubts. If I were to vote on the decision, I would say no.'

The bid is reported to

leave Kraft with around £22bn of debt. 'I feel poorer', said Mr Buffett.

Whilst Kraft does not need the backing of its shareholders to go through with the decision, a Kraft spokeswoman said the company respected Buffet's opinion, however had no doubts about the deal: 'This is a good deal for us. It transforms our portfolio for better longterm growth.'

Birmingham City Council has asked the chocolate maker's shareholders to reject the takeover bid, believing it will have a negative effect on the Bournville community which was established around the factory.

Sir Cadbury, former chairman of the firm, said: 'You will have taken on a great business which has been built on the quality of the people who have been working for it. You have a duty to look after these people.'

However, Cadbury chairman Roger Carr has claimed job losses are 'inevitable.'

Cadbury's Bournville factory. Photo: Syeda Shah

Further cap on News uni places brief Edwina Moorhouse AFTER the recession-related increase in University applicants, the Government has announced it will once again be capping course place numbers with up to 200,000 students losing out.

Figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) showed a 7 per cent increase in the applications for 2008/2009, around about 1.4 million students.

A l t h o u gh t he Government allowed for an increase this year by permitting an extra 10,000 students, there are concerns that growing numbers will disrupt the dispensation of loans and grants.

The surge in numbers can be explained in terms of unemployment amongst young people.

Young people aged 16-25 have been particularly hard hit in the economic downturn, and are now seeking an alternative to endless job seeking through higher educa-

tion.

Evidence for this can be found in the 26 per cent rise in foundation degrees from the previous year. According to HESA around 19,000 applicants opted for this 'work-based vocational qualification' with which the student receives an undergraduate degree.

David Lammy, the higher education minister, is 'especially encouraged' by the increase in this particular field because 'these [degrees] help learners develop their skills and careers while helping businesses ensure they get, develop and retain the talent needed to remain strong in these challenging times.'

Universities are being warned that if they exceed the 10,000 student increase they will be fined. This has caused much frustration, considering a record 150,000 students were turned away last year and University insiders believe that this year will be worse for new applicants because of re-applying of last year's rejects.

Grant delays caused stress for up to 30,000 new students Helen Crane OVER 30,000 students who are entitled to maintenance grants may have started university this year without them, Government figures have revealed.

Provisional statistics from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills show that 50,000 more students went without the funds than this time last year.

17,000 of these can be attributed to a change in the means-tested system, which resulted in students with a family income of more than £50,020 missing out on the funds.

Around 33,000 others (7 per cent of all students starting this year) were left without the money, which is intended to make university more financially viable for those from lower-income backgrounds, because of errors on the part of the Student Loans company (SLC).

These errors led to many thousands of students being left waiting for funding weeks into their first term, with some even being forced to consider forfeiting their place.

The figures also show a £37.7 million cut in

spending on grants compared with last year, despite there being an increase of over 22,000 in student numbers.

7% Of new students thought to have been affected The proportion of students receiving the maximum amount of £2,906 per year has also been reduced from 41 per cent in 2008 to 35 per cent for this academic year.

An independent inquiry conducted by Universities minister David Lammy last month revealed that the SLC had shown 'conspicuous failure' to deliver grants on time.

This led to widespread criticism of the company and its procedure, including the bonuses which company bosses had been receiving as a reward for poor performance.

Two of the SLC's directors have since resigned, and the company has announced that it will be cutting 150 jobs.

Ralph Seymour Jackson, SLC Chief Executive, said: 'Applications for stu-

dent finance do not necessarily correspond to the number of students who then go on to take up university places.

'It is in students' best interests for the student finance process to remain open for application and reassessment throughout the academic year, and the Student Loans Company continues to receive new applications every day.

'This means that conclusions about numbers awarded full and partial grants cannot be drawn until the end of the academic year, as all figures remain provisional until that point.'

Wes Streeting, President of the National Union of Students, added: 'After a term of chaos and uncertainty for students at the hands of the SLC, I am alarmed by the possibility

that tens of thousands of students have gone without maintenance grants this year.

'Following the applications debacle this year, the SLC leadership once again has serious questions to answer. We need to know urgently who and where these students are, and why they are missing from these figures.'

Delayed grants have caused problems for many students. Photo: Lucy Percival

UK EMERGES RECESSION

5

FROM

AFTER six consecutive quarters of contraction, the UK economy has seen recorded figures of growth for the last three months of 2009.

The UK was the last of the major economies to have announced growth, which has ended the worst run since figures began in 1955.

However, expert economists have argued that the rate of growth is smaller than had been forecasted which prompted opposition parties to criticise the government's ability in avoiding a relapse.

IRAQ WAR HIGHLIGHTS

INQUIRY

MONDAY – Former defence secretaries Des Browne and John Hutton appeared. Browne admitted his despair over the lives lost, and also questioned the ability of the army to fight in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Hutton felt that the war was justified as Iraq had become a democracy.

Wednesday – Ex-Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, told the inquiry of his controversial shift in advice to ministers over the legality of the war but denies being pressured into doing so.

Friday – Former Prime Minister Tony Blair is due to give his much-anticipated evidence.

Samuel Lear Contd. from page 1 Stephanie Beresford, President of Mason Hall, stated that: 'This was a personal incident, and it is obviously a very difficult and deeply upsetting time for her.

'It is very important to state that Mason Hall is still a very safe place to live', she added.

Vice-President of Welfare, Johnny Davis, echoed those sentiments: 'Myself and the Guild are deeply concerned by what happened at Mason Hall last night, and our best wishes go to them.

However, we would like to reiterate that students should not worry about what has happened'.

The University has further stated that: 'Any student who has been affected by this incident can contact the Student Counselling and Guidance Service at 3 Elms Road. Telephone number 0121 414 5130.'

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REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

Features

Comment Feature:

The High Five

Martin Theaker tells us who the five high fliers of the next decade will be A NEW decade is upon us, and this New Year has brought with it not only the annual problem of writing the wrong date on your notes for the first six weeks of term. The twenty-hundreds (two-thousands, noughties? We had ten whole years and never really solved the problem) provided a whole slew of issues which need looking at rather urgently. These issues require big personalities to fix them, so who will be the top characters of the next ten years? We took a look and have put our ideas to you.

Barack Obama Starting with the rather obvious, the presidency of Barack Obama is going to be key as his administration is going to define a lot of how Americans see themselves with regards to social services and the role of government. Bailing out car companies and getting involved in public health are not usually seen too kindly across the pond but the recession has placed a new emphasis on how the world's superpower will react. Add to this the threat of terrorism and the ongoing problems in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it becomes clear that the world's most powerful man will have more to do than picking new curtains for the Oval Office. As a side note, in Britain the next five years will belong to whoever can swim through their moat fastest and restore faith in Parliament after the expenses scandal.

Al Gore Another conflict is likely to arise between the West and the developing states of the world over how to phase out environmentally unfriendly industry.

The green issue is definitely the most pressing that will need to be ad-

dressed over the next ten years, and requires strong direction from individuals committed to bringing about real change.

Among these could be Nobel Prize winner, Al Gore.

After narrowly failing to stop George Bush becoming USA President in 2000, Gore has shifted his attention to preventing other global catastrophes and could be a leader in the struggle against climate change. Even so, placing faith in one individual to single-handedly make a difference is hopeful, with one social sciences student claiming that any political figure will inevitably end up compromising when strong action is needed. The important thing in the next ten years will be to prevent the 'watering down' of ideas and to present climate change as a serious issue requiring serious action.

tween fans.

the

players

and

Simon Cowell Simon Cowell. Like him or loathe him, the music industry has been irreversibly changed by the high-trousered one. Music is showing no signs of relenting in churning out endless synthetic pop tunes designed to sell quickly and be instantly replaced, which is great if you like that kind of thing.

However, not everyone is so convinced. Some thirdyear students believe that Cowell's brand has peaked and will suffer as people turn against him as a character. However, the real deal-breaker is going to be how well the existing music companies can adapt to the new challenges posed by the internet and any backlash against their mass-media methods.

David Beckham

The People

The last decade has shown that sport has truly become a multi millionaire's playground with more and more British football clubs owned by rich foreign businessmen such as Roman Abramovich and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. David Beckham, as the world's first international superstar sportsman, symbolises this more than anyone else. He proved quite a controversial choice amongst those who commented. The general feeling was that, although he will most likely retire in the next few years, Beckham still represents the new image of a game that once belonged to the people. Many also thought that sport (especially football) was being corrupted by greed and that the influence of the global game could diminish in the next few years as people grow tired of the distance be-

The last person who probably deserves a mention is not so much a person but any group with enough determination to try and get what it wants. The rise of the internet, and with it social networking sites and other forms of communication, has given a power to the masses which has never been seen before. As important issues become increasingly globalised, positive actions can only be taken by larger numbers of people acting together. For example, climate change can be addressed not only in the big factories but also by small individual efforts. One person recycling a plastic bottle won't achieve anything but a million people recycling a million bottles will go some way to stopping the inevitable polar bear massacre. Whether it's organising protests, exchanging ideas or getting the Christ-

mas number one changed to a delightful melody that really reflects the spirit of the season, the next decade really belongs to the people.

Barack Obama

Al Gore

David Beckham

Simon Cowell

The People

Clocking Off Features Editorial

Is our city still Birmingham, or has it become Little America? asks Laura Hewitt MY course has just finished a group photography project with the title 'Landscapes of Americanisation.' The remit was to demonstrate visually how Birmingham has been affected by American culture.

There are hundreds of examples once you start thinking. Fast food is the obvious one, with chains ranging from the less salubrious outlets of KFC to everyone's favourite doughnut shop in Selfridges, Krispy Kremes. Not to mention the infamous issue of Starbucks.

A sizeable portion of shops in the city are American. Walk around the Bull Ring in your mind and there's Apple, Gap, even a Disney store. Star City in the northeast of Birmingham is an entertainment complex modelled with a consumerist entertainment agenda, with activities for a family audience including cinema, casino and fast food.

Is this a good thing?

Financially it is; the UK economy is buoyed by American business concepts. Most of us have a liking for at least one material object to have come out of the States, whether it is the iPhone, Facebook, or a Grande Latte from Starbucks; hence their success. But what has it done to the 'Britishness' of our city?

Are we losing the individualism and character that ties us to figures such as Beorma, Peter de Bermingham and Joseph Chamberlain?

I don't think so.

There is still plenty that makes Birmingham the great city it is. The American influences are incorporated within our history and landscape.

The Bull Ring wasn't named Something Mall or Mart, but originates from the area within the

Corn Cheaping market that was used for bullbaiting, with the ring tying the bulls in place before slaughter. Shops such as Debenhams, Selfridges and Topshop are located side-by-side with their American counterpart brands.

But why should we see Americanisation negatively? I may be biased, having discovered in my degree a fascinating range of beliefs, politics and literature emanating from across the pond that previously I would not have thought to explore (and explore I intend to do; this summer I am going to California, for instance). Not everything Americana speaks is of high culture and progression, but there is a culture nevertheless that has had the power to influence countries and peoples across the world.

Globalisation may have impacted negatively upon some strata of society, and not for one minute do I condone the abuse of developing countries in the manufacturing of Western goods, but it has facilitated a dialogue and communication between many nations resulting in a largely beneficial cultural exchange.

However, one aspect of Americanisation that should generally be avoided, in my opinion, is that of the English language. There is a difference between British English and American English. It is no bad thing, so long as they remain separate. Hence films remain films and not movies, a shop is definitely a shop and not a store, and a holiday is (hopefully) not a vacation.

California should be fantastic. But how different it will be from Birmingham remains to be seen.

Features

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

How influential are student newspapers?

Seb Mann investigates the impact that student newspapers have on us 'OUR mission, as stated in our constitution, is to “Represent the student body and its concerns”.

We aim without bias or prejudice to ensure that the students, the Guild and the University hear the voice of the student body'. This is the goal of the inanimate pile of folded paper you are currently flicking through.

exploitation of students' trust, many still use their taxis to get from pre-lash to sweaty-club – amongst other things...

What all this seems irritatingly to suggest is that, although 6,000 copies are printed every week and a readership of 18,000 is estimated, not nearly enough students are paying our student

How influential are student newspapers?

Photo: Lucy Percival Recent scandals involving Britannia Property Services and Falcon Cars have thrown light on the sheer impact a student newspaper can have – threatened legal action by Britannia and a noticeable increase in the propensity of students to avoid using Falcon cars making this point vividly clear. And this aside, the opportunities a student newspaper gives students to flex their journalistic muscles and actually make an impact on their university is invaluable. However, are student newspapers treated too much like the inanimate piles of folded paper they physically are rather than the resonating rags of revolution which they can be?

Despite Redbrick's recent investigations into Britannia Property Services (Redbrick 1360), which online has attracted many comments from students also disappointed with the letting agent, I still regularly see University of Birmingham students in Britannia, obviously ignorant of the bad press they've recently received.

And notwithstanding Redbrick's careful reporting of Falcon Car's advertisement of their supposed University affiliation, highlighting their flagrant

newspaper the attention it deserves. And this, interestingly, is not a situation unique to Birmingham; friends of mine at the Universities of York, Leicester and Oxford all felt that while many issues raised by their student newspapers were pertinent to the student body as a whole (issues such as sabbatical

the extent of its student body.

When asked why she reads Redbrick, secondyear Physics student Eva Bellwood said, 'it's a good read, and causes a lot of interesting conversation; its coverage of the faced closure of the Sociology department really seemed to make more people aware of how much of an issue it was'. Wouldn't it thus be a bit unfair to argue that this apathy surrounding student newspapers is (even in part) attributable to their professional failings?

Now, I understand that there is such a multiplicity of commercial newspapers exactly because people have different tastes that one paper alone cannot satisfy. And I understand that many probably prefer to learn their news from one of these more professional mediums. But student journalism is where it all starts.

Look at one of these more professional commercial newspapers, The Guardian. On its website it cites a serious involvement in student journalism as a criterion for any student hoping to apply for work experience and every year holds its Student Media Awards, making its opinion on student journalism unavoidably clear.

Student newspapers, at a grass roots level, are hugely valuable. They have the potential to directly impact on the lives of students at the same time as functioning as a platform for aspiring writers to cultivate their journalistic skills. However

'Recent scandals involving Britannia Property Services and Falcon Cars have thrown light on the sheer impact a student newspaper can have' officer scandals and budget cuts), students generally tended to pay them relatively little attention.

Perhaps a lack of interesting or relevant stories is in part responsible for this apathy. Now, admittedly I'm in quite a biased position here. But consider the York broadsheet student newspaper, Nouse. Having won the Guardian Student Media Award for best website it's difficult to criticise it on the grounds of being poorly written or uninteresting. However, it still struggles to engage with

their value is underwritten by their reception by students and a full realisation of it will probably not be possible until this worryingly pervasive apathy is eradicated.

Would you make a great features writer?

Are you enthusiastic, dedicated and want to put something amazing on your CV? Then email us at Features@redbrickonline.co.uk

Comment: In Brief

7

Consensual or rape, is the line blurred?

Stephanie Harvey Rape charges against a group of men were dropped when details of the raped woman's alleged internet fantasy were revealed. The situation occurred after the woman met a man via the internet with whom she shared a fantasy – to sleep with more than one person at one time, or group sex. They arranged to meet but upon arrival she was raped by him and a number of other men she had not known would be there. After her ordeal she went to the police, but when it was revealed she had told the man in ques-

tion her fantasy on the internet, it was (at least in the courtroom) equivalent to consenting in real life.

There are two stances one could take in this arguement; perhaps as

6.5%

The conviction rates in rape cases in the UK the verdict implies, the woman had participated and later created a rape scenario. Or, she is telling the truth. That she was held responsible regardless seems akin to the philosophy whereby

females wearing clothes that attract male attention are 'asking to be raped'. In terms of male-orientated crimes, the law is still biased in favour of men and their 'natural' desires. The modern vestiges of an age I generally feel I escaped from, apparently remain.

With figures of ever-falling rape convictions, perhaps paradoxically, the situation is getting worse rather than better. It is indubitably wrong that the men here escaped as 'victims' when it is the woman that suffered and is no doubt humiliated by the verdict.

Battle for the Burkha Neil Chanchlani All this month, the people of France have been debating on whether to ban the wearing of traditional female attire, the burkha and niqab, in public. The vote is soon to come, and regardless of the verdict, uproar has ensued. In a country where 5 million Muslims currently reside, it is doubtful that an umbrella rule of 'Ban the Burkha' is likely to be decided.

What does this potential law reveal about us?

Intolerance?

Racism? Perhaps. But what about protectiveness and equality? Although there

are obvious reasons for and against, we must not necessarily focus on the rights we think we owe the Muslim population, but rather on the values of security, welfare, and equality that we owe to the all people that live in this country.

In Western culture, covering one's face suggests sinister motives; not being able to see someone's facial features makes us all a bit uneasy.

But is this reason alone enough to rid 15 centuries of cultural practice from our surroundings?

Are people's faces not free to do what they wish, and who are we to have any imposition?

'What about the psy-

chological isolation that burkha-wearing Muslims would experience if the ban comes into effect?' questions third year medical student Selina Ali. We

5

million Muslims live in France can remove the physical isolation, but undoubtedly, this ban will have a huge social effect on millions of women in the western world, who will no longer be able to seek assistance in a community they feel is rejecting their culture. Is the tradeoff worth it?

Exploited interns Janine Rasiah Has a bad internship left you feeling exploited?

According to a new investigation by Westminster University over seventy per cent of undergraduates have admitted to feeling 'unfulfilled' in their work experience.

Sadly this seems far from surprising considering the assumption by many companies that it is above board to neglect paying expenses, let alone anything vaguely resembling a proper wage. This comes just weeks after news that there has been a steep rise in the number of affluent graduates that are paying up to £8000 for internships in some of the most competitive job fields including those in media, journalism, public

relations and advertising.

The University of Dreams, an all-inclusive online 'internship provider' boasts a worrying number of opportunities in various capital cities for companies such as CNN, Universal Music, Deutsche Bank and Dreamworks. A two month internship in London can fetch up to £5800.

Heather Collier, the director of the National Council for Work Experience, has spoken out against such companies, branding them 'obscene' and a 'worrying new phenomenon.' She also acknowledged that it results in a clear divide between those who can afford to pay their way into their chosen field and those that cannot, resulting in industries missing out on the 'able, eager candidates.'

There are still some regular options available for this summer, but the time to act is now. Accenture, IBM and Shell are all offering much sought after places, but their deadlines for application are at the end of January.

It is well worth looking at ratemyplacement.co.uk to check what other students' experiences have been prior to making any decisions. Although the current system may be a long way away from being fair, it's still important to get your foot in the door, especially considering the fact that the Higher Education Statistics Agency has found that 17 per cent of graduate jobs are snapped up by those that have worked there previously.

8 Comment & Features

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2009

The movie blues

Fans are reporting damaging psychological effects after seeing the film Avatar, reports Tia Zacharias

Too real? Avatar cost up to $500m but the CGI is alarmingly influential IT may become the highest-grossing film of all time and be the shining light of this year's award ceremonies, but the 3D technological masterpiece Avatar may soon find itself in possession of a far more dubious legacy. It seems that, for some fans, the transfixing aesthetics of the film may be just a little too real.

Shocking numbers have emerged from the fantasy world of Avatar unable to reconcile them-

selves with the flawed reality to which they must return, and have turned in their thousands to internet forums for help. In the face of this evidence and the steady advancement of technology, a few vital questions desperately need to be answered. Is 'Avatar Syndrome' real?

And does it have the potential to become more common as technology develops?

I decided to ask a few cinema-goers for their

opinions on the issue.

Sarah, an English student, claimed that the film was not depressing at all, but a welcome relief from the pressures of everyday life: 'I didn't really engage with the story that much – like a lot of people have been saying, I found it too basic. But the CGI is so amazing that it doesn't really matter, you can just get lost in that. It's like art.'

Another student, who prefers not to be named,

admitted that she did find the film a little depressing: 'I felt sad when I was watching it – the parallels between the Navi's story and ours are hard to ignore. And when you look at how beautiful their planet is and think about how Earth would look if we hadn't taken advantage of it, you feel a sort of responsibility for what we've done to the planet.

It didn't make me unhappy after I left the cinema, and it didn't stop me enjoying the film, but I can see how some people could be affected by it.'

Based on responses like this, it is easy to conclude that Avatar is more likely to have a positive influence on a person's state of mind than a negative one. For many it is simply an enjoyable and ground-breaking piece of entertainment, and for others it is an allegory which, although unsettling, deepens their appreciation of our environment. There will always be people who are susceptible to emotional problems, we may reason, and if Avatar provides temporary release from their unhappiness then perhaps it is more constructive than

destructive, as long as they seek help for the underlying issue.

However, we cannot afford to underplay the influence which technology will, almost inevitably, hold over the minds of our generation and that to follow.

reality software will soon grace living rooms across the world.

By November of this year, Microsoft will unveil the result of Project Natal: a peripheral add-on to the humble X-Box which uses cameras and sensors to detect players' move-

'Is 'Avatar Syndrome' real? And will it become more common as technology develops?'

Virtual reality programmes have previously been the preserve of science fiction and (it may surprise you to know) specialised medical treatment. Indeed, the technology from which Avatar derives has previously been used, with success, to treat chronic sufferers of panic attacks and tinnitus, and even bullying victims with confidence issues.

Considering its demonstrable influence over the human mind, perhaps we should be as much concerned as we are excited by the revelation that even more sophisticated and interactive virtual

ments. You will be able to jump, kick, scream, crouch and pummel your adversaries on Call Of Duty as if they were directly in front of you. And with 3D video headsets starting at roughly £350 online (at present supporting World Of Warcraft, as well as other games), the blood spatters will never have looked so real.

But, of course, only 'susceptible' people need to worry.

Have your say by commenting on this article at www.redbrickonline. co.uk

Student survey stereotypes The figures are out, but Jen Waghorn thinks it's just a few more meaningless numbers BEEN to a lecture today?

Well, according to a recent survey carried out by the technology company Olympus, you only listened to ten minutes of it. The latest in a long line of 'conclusive' surveys on students, this study 'reveals' that we can only concentrate in lectures for ten minutes at a time – presumably before we begin jumping on the desks, swinging from the light fittings, and uttering monosyllabic grunts of distress.

Surveys like this do nothing for the (already pretty flawed) stereotype that most members of the public seem to judge students by – more interested in bed and booze than actually getting on with their degrees.

The problem is that such surveys seem to focus on the negative aspects of student life – for example, another statistic in this survey was that '13 per cent of students admitted to missing five or more hours of lectures a

week', while apparently 'one in ten students think their degree is a waste of money.'

'Where exactly are they getting these figures from?' asked Eleanor Houghton, a first-year Maths student: 'How can you be sure they're accurate?' She has a point; these particular results came from a survey of 1,000 people. This sounds a lot, until you realise there are over 15,000 students at University of Birmingham alone. A sur-

Is this really a common sight at Birmingham University?

vey of a thousand people wouldn't necessarily give you an accurate average account of all those students.

At the end of the day, I'm sure surveys like this do reflect upon some aspects of student life – most students will have chosen bed over lectures at some point, momentarily felt as though they're getting nowhere with their degree, or stopped concentrating half way through a seminar. But as a tutor of mine pointed out: 'a ten-minute attention span? It's not just about an individual student losing focus.

Surely it depends on the lecturer, or the lecture?'

It's important to remember that, although students often get bad press, we're all partly a product of the university environment that is provided for us – if the lectures are engaging, we'll listen to them. Ultimately we've all come to university with the intention of learning, and that's something that the people who automatically stereotype students as lazy, apathetic or uninterested should really take into account.

10 minutes the average attention span of students

1000 number of students participated in the survey

13% of students admitted to missing more than 5 hours of lectures per week

17% prioritise part-time work over lectures

1 in 10 said they feared their degree would be a waste of money

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

Comment & Features/Travel

Deathly chemicals

9

We don't have the right to comment on Iraq sentencing 'Chemical Ali' to death, says Stephanie Jenner

Graphic: Tom Walters ON 17th January 2010, Ali Hassan Abd al-Majid al-Tikritieh, also known as 'Chemical Ali', received his fourth death sentence from the Iraqi High Tribunal. He was hanged on Monday 25th January.

This sentence results from Al-Majid ordering the slaughter of more than 5,000 Kurds in the town of Halabja with chemical weapons in 1988. He has also been convicted of the killings of Shia Muslims

in 1991 and 1999 and for his role in a campaign of genocide against Kurds in the 1980s.

While some people support this decision because Al-Majid murdered thousands of innocent people and is unrepentant over his proven crimes, others maintain that murdering a murderer is not justice. Second-year medical student Lucine Nahabedian believes the death sentence is an 'outdated form of punishment based on an obsolete "eyefor-an-eye" policy.'

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty because, they claim, it is a violation of two fundamental human rights: the right to life and the right not to be tortured or subject to any cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.

Amnesty also argues that 'it is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent… it has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishments.'

While debate over the death penalty will remain contentious and probably unresolved, I question what right we in England have to comment on these

particular judgments made by the Iraqi High Tribunal. Although England is now home to many who have fled genocide, we have not experienced it personally. How can we, in our comparatively safe and privileged environment, possibly understand the seriousness and

cine argues that it would be dishonourable to listen to victims of genocide, and then disagree with them. Therefore, as we have acknowledged that these people have the right to rule their country, we should accept the decisions they make.

The Western world

'The Western world has a long history of believing that our way is the 'right' way... It may not be our idea of justice, but it is what the Iraqi people have democratically decided' horror of a 5,000 victim mass-murder? What right do we have to comment on these people's system of justice?

One of the fundamental reasons given for us going to war in Iraq was to give the Iraqi people democracy and the freedom to rule and judge their own country. But now that they are exercising this right, there are complaints because these decisions are not the ones we want them to make. Lu-

has a long history of believing that our way of doing things is inherently the 'right' way, and then forcing that belief upon other countries. Holly Prescott, second-year PhD, English Lit, notices the difficulties in comparing two societies based on very different principles.

While Western justice systems are relatively secular, countries like Iraq still follow religious doctrine, and the two are simply not comparable, thus making

Western judgments and standards arguably irrelevant.

Speaking from an Armenian background, Lucine argues that true democracy should reflect the opinions of all people, which includes those who have been the victims of genocide. These victims are usually ethnic minorities who have been consistently ignored by the international community, to the point where genocide can be committed against them, thus their opinions on how to punish their abusers should be taken into account. So long as a government does not abuse its power and start murdering the innocent, then it is not the world's place to cast judgment on how a country deals with its criminals.

Chemical Ali enforced the death penalty on his people without fair trial, right to appeal or any evidence of crime. He was given all the legal rights that he denied others. It may not be our idea of justice, but it is what the Iraqi people have democratically decided.

For those who need a seat per cheek The low-cost airline Ryanair have recently proposed a controversial new tax for passengers of a certain weight on their flights.

Yasmine Armes looks at the pros and cons of such a risky proposal and wonders what difference it will really make.

Controversial travel providers Ryanair are currently considering making passengers buy another ticket based on their BMI. This decision was heavily backed by customers in an online poll and is intended to make passengers more comfortable and work as an 'incentive' for people to lose weight.

If you have an ideal/ underweight BMI (and to be honest, are a little bit selfish) then it's easy to say 'yes this is a great idea, tax the fatties, I'll have a cheaper ticket'. With this in mind, I will tell you why this idea is just great.

Firstly, who cares if it's discriminatory and slightly demoralising? At the end of the day if it makes my ticket cheaper, I'm happy.

On the practical side, it would increase waiting time at airports. I actually feel we don't spend enough time in airports.

For most of us poor students we only get to endure these wonderful places a few times a year.

Maximum. Why not bring back the airport magic?

We only have to get there around three hours before our flight, why not make it four?

BMI is a pretty poor way of measuring if somebody's obese; how about people who play sport?

But if you think about it, they must be wealthy if they have enough extra time on their hands to build so much muscle it makes them 'clinically obese' in terms of BMI, therefore they can afford to pay a little bit extra.

'This is a great idea, tax the fatties' Think of the BMI calculation as a Weight Watchers weigh-in. It's a great idea to weigh someone before they're off.

Rather than encourage holiday goers to try exotic food and enjoy themselves, it might promote dieting and stop more people becoming obese.

Being told how much you weigh, especially if you're one pound into the 'obese' category won't make you feel disappointed but motivated!

Speaking of motivation, saving a whole 60 pounds or so when you reach the 'ideal' BMI cat-

egory is clearly a massive motivational factor. I'm sure that some obese people are quite happy being obese but could saving that amount of money be the number one reason in their decision to embark on a new diet plan. Implementing a 'fat tax' does not take into account the reason behind people's obesity which could include medical reasons, such as an underactive thyroid, which can't be helped.

After putting forward my case, I hope you can agree that a 'fat tax' is the way forward. Well, if you don't take into account 1) BMI categories can be highly inaccurate, 2) it's demoralizing and discriminatory, 3) even more time waiting at the airport (as if there's not enough already), 4) the cause of obesity including medical reasons, 5) most importantly, most obese people don't actually want to be obese and the thought of saving a bit of money will never be a major motivating factor. Ah well, none of these trivial issues matter… bring on the 'fat tax'!

Will it come to this? Photo: PresidentJackFord on Flickr Coming soon...

•Louise Spratt catches us up with her fundraising friends on their cycle trip around the world.

•Steph Kleynhans comments on the 14 year-old Dutch girl banned from sailing round the world

•We continue on our quest to help you show your loved one the best Valentine's break ever!

10 Travel

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Stuck for travelling ideas? Stephanie Kleynhans gives us the industry's top ten destinations for 2010 Germany The New York Times recommended Leipzig, Yahoo! advocates Munich – it seems Germany is the new place to be in Europe.

Lonely Planet speaks about Germany as having reinvented itself since 1990 and promotes its wide range of historical and cultural centres, such as Dresden and Hamburg, dotted around this vast country.

India With the 2010 Commonwealth Games approaching, it is no surprise that India appears on various lists of places to be seen. It may seem as though India has been a traveller's hot spot for years now, but the sprawling cultures smattered across the country, and in each individual city, keep drawing millions in year after year. The New York Times added Mumbai to their list, and with the success of Slumdog Millionaire still hot off the press, no doubt travellers there will be set to rise.

Sri Lanka India's forgotten counterpart, Sri Lanka is similar but yet so different. The New York Times explains that since the civil wars between the Sinhalese dominated government and a separatist Tamil group ended in May last year, Sri Lanka should not be a place to be feared. Sri

Lanka epitomises a tropical island paradise in a most clichéd, yet more extraordinary, way.

Suriname This little known South American country, smaller than all its compatriots, is, according to Lonely Planet, a peaceful serenity where traditionally clashing cultures live in sync.

Chinese, Javanese, Indian, West African, Indigenous Amerindians, Lebanese, Jewish and Dutch make up the popular ancestors of today's Surinamese population, which makes for fascinating trips to the country.

Suriname Photo: Flickr

Naturelover375

on

El Salvador A normally forgotten country in a normally forgotten part of the world, El Salvador can be found on Lonely Planet's list for 2010. Central America usually instils fear into people due to political and social instabilities, yet El Salvador's civil wars ended 20 years ago and crime usually avoids the tourists, played out as deeply embedded gang

where else in the world.

Marrakesh made it on The New York Times list and Morocco can be found on Lonely Planet's. The traditional markets in the cities, the vast natural deserts along with the rich food and culture means Morocco is attractive to everyone from the humble backpacker to the millionaires on a luxury break, and Moroccans welcome everyone with equal hospitality

Las Vegas Although a little pointless until you are 21 years old, both The New York Times and Yahoo! have put Las Vegas on their travel guides for 2010. Due to the recession, Vegas hotels have recently been drastically slashing pric-

better to go to the one place in the world everyone, apparently, has to go before they die.

counterparts. The cheap flights and excellent exchange rates means Malaysia is now considered the new place to be in the East.

Turkey

Las Vegas Photo: Franco on flickr

Malaysia Kuala Lumpur is now seen as one of the coolest and friendliest places in Malaysia and the country is often viewed as a safer and less gritty version of its Thai and Indonesian

The ancient city of Constantinople, Istanbul is the meeting point of traditional eastern and western cultures.

According to The New York Times, Istanbul's contemporary art scene is now highly thought of in the art world and, after being named a European Capital of Culture for 2010, Istanbul is the new hot-spot of culture for both Europe and Asia.

Outside the 'Eurozone' means the exchange rate

i s competitive and a British pound will stretch further than you think.

Nepal Nepal's government are currently running a scheme to get one million travellers to the country by 2011, so Yahoo! suggests you travel now so you can reap the benefits of this scheme before it becomes too overpriced and busy. After the hardships and disturbances recently, Nepal is returning to a stable, peaceful country offering everything India can and more.

Valentines Breaks: Alex Cloney gives Redbrick the run down on Dublin for couples THERE are restaurants and hotels galore in Dublin especially in the buzzing cultural district of Temple Bar. Temple Bar is the centre for entertainment and nightlife in Dublin.

The many street performers mean even just taking a stroll in this district is enjoyable. Pubs are also great for soaking up Irish songs and there are loads of small music venues.

Just like any major city, Dublin has a lot of retail therapy to offer with the main shopping areas of Grafton street, O'Connell street and Henry street. Make an effort to avoid any shops that we have in the UK though as it will cost you more over there. Dublin also has many markets and, if you're after something a little less mainstream, try the traditional market on Moore street.

If you're looking for something original why not take part in the Dublin Valentine walk where you

can post a romantic message on Dublin's Liffey Boardwalk. The fee for this will go to Brainwave – Ireland's epilepsy association – so you'll also be helping those in need.

If you're strapped for cash, iwalks – podcast led city walks, the National Gallery of Ireland and a stroll round picturesque Dublin Bay are all free.

Obviously, you'll also have to go on the mandatory trip around the Guinness brewery. It's great fun, even if – like me – you're not a fan of the popular Gaelic beverage. It's worth it just for a trip to the top of the building for the 360° panoramic views of the city.

Tickets are £11 for students and you can buy them online to skip the queues.

The great thing about Dublin is that so many of these places are walking distance from each other.

If you stay in the centre you won't have to worry

How to get there: Ryanair fly from Birmingham for around £75 return for two people. Leaving Friday 12th and coming back Monday 15th of February.

Where to stay: Sadly, private doubles for your romantic needs won't be cheap. The very central 'Stay Dublin Apartments' will cost you £254 for the weekend; only a fraction more than a hostel.

Photo: MacGBeing on Flickr

about hefty cab fares.

However, one disadvantage is that Dublin is expensive. Prices are similar to London but made worse by the state of the Euro at the moment. Then again, if you were planning a city break in Europe anyway, this will be unavoidable. For an evening meal with a difference, splash out a bit and go to The Green Room, a swanky restaurant with original décor and plush dark

sofas. They are offering a three course set menu on Valentine's weekend for 30 Euros per person.

Alternatively, Eden, a modern restaurant with contemporary Irish food, is around the same price and in the heart of the fashionable Temple Bar district. If this is too much of a commitment or just too pricey, wonder into any of Dublin's pubs for a traditional hearty Irish meal.

What to do: Guinness... need we say more? From a €3 pint to a factory visit, you cannot miss this delicious Irish tipple.

Where to go: For a true Irish party you need to head to the cultural quarter of Temple Bar for live music, great bars and an even better atmosphere.

12 Film

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

Opening Credits

Film of the Week

Rob Watts takes a gander at the latest teen comedy offering

Alex Jacques Rosie Willmot IF I'm honest, all of Redbrick's film writers have delivered this week; frankly there's nothing more to add and I do not wish to keep you from their brilliance any longer. However, the editorial legally obliges us to humour you for another 180 words. Rosie has been away this week burrowed away in one of those picture postcard Cornish villages under the pretence of work.

Meanwhile in super sunny Birmingham I've been having problems falling asleep before 4/5am (and not in a seedy way). In my attempt to find the land of nod I've started going through my cellophanewrapped unopened pile of films; however, this is

wrought with problems.

By slotting that DVD into your laptop you're signalling you want to be entertained, but not too much, not that loudly, and not for that long. After a week of near insomnia I can report that the medium of film appeared to have failed me. Nothing is that funny at 4am, any action films are simply too bright for that time of the early morning, and I don't own any rom-coms. All appeared lost until I stumbled upon the perfect blend of nonsense: 1993's Dave, in which a look-alike assumes the role of president, is so mind-numbingly awesome that this is being frantically typed a day later than the deadline due to seven wonderful hours of slumber. Now I'll leave you to read the good stuff, enjoy.

Competition We've got some Youth in Revolt shit to give away – if you want it, answer this: Which sitcom did Michael Cera shoot to prominance?

Answers to film@redbrickonline.co.uk

Director: Miguel Arteta Cast: Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday, Steve Buscemi.

Rating: 15 Youth in Revolt, or to give it its alternative title, George Michael Bluth Grows Some Balls, stars Michael Cera as Nick Twisp, a teenager whose life is so depressing that even his dad gets more action from hot, leggy blondes than he does.

With his parents separated, Nick, his mum and her complete loser of a boyfriend take a trip away from their home in Oakland to a religious trailer park in Ukiah. Here, Nick meets the beautiful and semi-available Sheeni Saunders with whom he falls in love.

When time comes for

him to return home Nick realises that the only way to win Sheeni's affection, keep the couple together and live happily ever after (plus to get laid) is if he invents an alter ego to cause mayhem and get Sheeni expelled from school. And so Francois Dillinger is born – a French, moustachioed version of himself without the inhibitions created from his girlfriend's love of Paris and Serge Gainsbourg.

For all intents and purposes, this is an obvious summer romance film where one guy meets one girl, they fall in love, go through some troubles, realise they can't be together but ultimately realise they in fact can be together. Nevertheless, casting Cera is always a

good choice and his inclusion gives the film a hip, quirky feel. Yes, THAT word. If he isn't careful it won't be long before Cera's name and 'quirky' become synonymous.

As with any film where Cera plays a teenager (he is in fact now twenty-one) there are many awkward moments, none more excruciatingly hilarious than when Nick is asked to apply sun cream to Sheeni's exposed areas. Needless to say he doesn't lie down on his front any time after.

There are many subplots starring familiar faces that occasionally serve to advance the narrative such as when Ray Liotta appears as a police officer who falls into bed with Nick's mum, and Fred Willard (Anchorman's

Ed Harken) playing a harbourer of illegal immigrants. However, it is clear that these characters could have had a lot more comic mileage but are underwritten, and Steve Buscemi is underused – much more substance could have been given to the father / son relationship.

But to be too negative is to do the film a disservice. It sets out, from the opening masturbatory scene, to be a more leftfield teen sex comedy and achieves this easily, with Cera on brilliant Superbad form and a talented comic cast.

VERDICT Arteta has set a high benchmark for different teen films.

Silverscreen: Moulin Rouge

Krupa Savjani remembers Moulin Rouge. Why? Because she can can can!

Film News

Sandra Heng This week in the maverick section of Film News, it's time to list the MustSees of 2010, so in no specific order, here they are.

Alice in Wonderland: for all you fantasy junkies and Tim Burton fans, his latest mind-blowing project is sure to please.

On the 5th March, the Red Queen, Cheshire Cat, Twiddle Dum and Twiddle Dee welcome you to Wonderland.

Starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, this is one children's story not meant for kids.

Clash of the Titans: Greeks, Gods and splendid CGI effects. The plot unrolls as Zeus' half-mortal son leads a gang of warriors against monsters and mystical creatures to stop Hades usurping

Zeus' power. Translate; heart-stopping action and gore combined with fantasy. The way Medusa slithers and hisses means there's possibility of this becoming a cult favourite. Out 26th March.

Soloman Kane: from the creators of Conan comes a dark and menacing movie about Kane, a rehabilitated fighting man who must risk redeeming his soul to save the world and his true love from the unleashing of hell on earth.

It's out 5th February.

Iron Man 2: the muchawaited sequel debuts 30th April with the return of the charming Robert Downey Jr for more kickass action. New enemies arise (including Whiplash) as the government, press and public try to force Tony to share his technology.

Director: Baz Luhrmann.

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo.

Certifcate: 12A Moulin Rouge is a musical lover's dream. Baz Luhrmann transports us back to a Bohemian Paris.

A story revolving around the revolutionaries' truly romantic ideas about 'beauty, freedom , truth and love.' With outstanding performances all round, Nicole Kidman never ceases to amaze us with her versatility playing the sought-after prostitute Satine who longs to be an actress. This is also the first film in which I began to appreciate the likes of Ewan McGregor; his casting as Christian, the 'young penniless writer', was perfect; Jim Broadbent plays the bril-

liantly outlandish Harold Zidler, a magnificent character embodying all things theatre.

Comedic, melancholic and eccentric, Luhrmann's exquisite take on the musical genre uses the classics as vices to allow us to embrace his vision.

Evidently a self conscious incorporation of popular music such as Madonna's Like a Virgin is central to the film's appeal. A lighthearted sing-a-long is inevitable with the numerous medleys of songs recognisable to an audience spanning across generations.

Two ambitious dreamer's paths are crossed through a simple misunderstanding that unravels one of the greatest romances to date. We're introduced to the underworld, a place of brothels,

exploitation and desire and watch it transform into a respectable theatre presenting Spectacular Spectacular. A clear power struggle between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat is exposed through the creativity of the penniless writer impeded by the wealthy Duke, both of whom are fighting for the affections of Satine.

The entirely fantastical scenery is breathtaking and just adds to the magic of Satine and Christian's thrilling love affair. It's safe to say I've watched this film over twenty times now and I still find myself intrigued by the detail and sheer peculiarity of the scenes throughout.

A scene not to be underrated is the exceptionally powerful and

incredibly emotive rendition of Roxanne, beautifully choreographed and accompanied by an entrancing composition at one of the pinnacle points of the film.

Moulin Rouge is definitely among my top five favourite films, but I warn you now, it is a tearjerker!

So tissues and chocolate at the ready for Luhrmann's modern classic that is the Moulin Rouge.

Just when you think this issue can't get any better we bring you news that the Redbrick Film Podcast will triumphantly return sometime in the next 7 days. You can check it out on iTunes and www.redbrickonline. co.uk for your fill of film-based banter.

Film

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANURARY 2010

The Lovely Bones

13

In the second part of their series, Matt Davis and Michael Brownlee have a quick chat to Peter Jackson

Peter, you described this film as your biggest challenge yet...

I don't think we thought it would be as difficult as it was when we started. It's an incredibly emotional book when you read it, but the book itself is not structured like a film so it became a challenge to figure out how to reorganise the events in the book so they were more film friendly. Adapting the book was the hardest thing we have ever done in our lives.

What was the toughest element of it, finding the core to keep the soul of this story alive or the special effects?

It was everything; the

story was wonderful that defined a genre. Everyone likes movies to be packaged as a genre but this movie doesn't allow itself to be labelled in quite the same way. Figuring out how you preserve the powerful aspects of the book was tough.

About the crime at the heart of the story, and how you decided what you would show and how you would show it. What differs?

It was always important that the film would be about love, Susie's adventure and the way people relate to the fact she is dead and readjust their lives. We didn't want the film to be defined as a

murder film. We wanted it to be a 12A so we set out with that in mind and we didn't want the film to be disturbing, we wanted it to be about the events that occurred after the murder.

Could you talk about the visual design of the inbetween world?

It was difficult, and one of those things as a film maker that once you were in it, it's tough to show an afterlife as it's partly a personal thing and it has to serve the needs of the story, the character and the plot. We based the concept of it on like a sub-conscious imagery, almost Susie's dreamstate, things that influ-

ence her, the pop culture of the time. I wanted to make it as tangible as possible, which is difficult in a film because obviously everything you put in front of the camera has to be really solid and real when you film it. We tried very hard to make it this shifting landscape that was almost emotionally based. That whatever Susie's emotions of the time would dictate the look of the in-between and how it was changing and shifting. We tried to keep it very fragile and dream-like.

You're in an incredibly strong position as a film maker but do you feel this adds more pressure?

Not really, our movies are based on personal films.

Anything we do consciously is to make a film for ourselves. You're part of an industry and you have to think of the audience. You have to think of demographics, who you are marketing the film to.

It's not as idealistic as that, we try not to let that dominate our decision making. The films we do are always very personal and reflect our taste and what we would like to see.

Really at the end of the day we are making a film that we would enjoy watching and that's the bottom line.

I was wondering how work on The Hobbit is progressing, how much you are involved in it and how difficult it is to let go of the reins for a project?

It's two movies and we have written the first script, we are now halfway through the second.

We are having great fun, in the eight or nine years since we wrote The Lord of Rings screenplays, I thought it would be hard or uncomfortable to go

back there. It was fun and easy, it was like old friends. My favourite part of the whole process of film-making is the screenplay; the one I'm doing is creative, it depends upon freedom and it's fun.

How do you deal with the darkness of the story? Do you find you're smothering your children more?

It makes you appreciate how fortunate we are, and the film does show you how quickly things can turn around to a disaster, which is how life works.

We feel the movie is a positive film for young kids to see. I have a daughter who is twelve and we have shown her the film.

She said 'Dad, if that was me I would have gone down with Mr. Harvey too.' She is already thinking of being in that particular circumstance.

Ultimately we wanted to have the film have a positive aspect.

Read part three, a review of the film itself, next week in Redbrick.

Reviews BROTHERS

armoured

A Prophet

Matt Davis

Ben Hewitt

Elmley De La Cour

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

Director: Christian Alvart.

Cast: Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne Cert: 15

Director: Christian Alvart.

Cast: Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet Cert: 15

This Danish remake begins with Sam Cahill (Maguire) preparing to return for yet another tour of Afghanistan. At the same time, his younger brother Tommy (Gyllenhaal) has just been released from prison.

Sam contently returns to the barren warzone and the trauma commences immediately. Shot down in his helicopter and presumed dead, a family is left to mourn the loss of a hero. Grace (Natalie Portman) is the soldier's wife and she is left with the daunting task of raising two young girls alone.

Tommy develops a sense of dependency and conquering his demons, he matures significantly in order to relieve Grace of her motherly duties whilst she mourns her dead husband. As the family begin to heal the aching wounds of death, Sam re-appears.

The film captures the essence of inhumanity that comes part and parcel with a controversial war, portraying the marine to have suffered

psychological and physical lacerations from his time in Afghanistan.

Surprisingly, neck-tattooed Tommy is the reliable sibling this time around and the camera illustrates a soldier tortured by his horrific memories. The war-like confrontations return with Sam and the disbanded family calamity flares up once again.

Sheridan has directed a powerful and energetic remake, pitching a movie difficult to pinpoint under a specific genre.

Brothers uses a number of ironic symbolisms within the unsophisticated plot, focusing upon the dissimilarity between Sam and Tommy, one the hero and the other villain. Whilst the film's theme is tough to locate, a cast of strong actors provide the necessary quality. The compelling Tobey Maguire augments this preserving and teary-eyed drama in his best appearance yet.

Did someone say they brought out another bogstandard heist movie? It was hard to hear through all the explosions‌ When Ty Hackett (Columbus Short) is drawn in to a plot to steal $42 million by his new co-workers at an armoured truck company, including a convincingly aggressive Laurence Fishburne as 'Baines', his conscience kicks in and he disrupts the whole thing. What follows as each member turns on each other is a film that will leave the obviously male demographic hi-fiving and chuckling with each manly exchange.

Exploding money, shotguns, a born-again biblebasher with a gun resting on his head about to jump, this is all muscle.

Unfortunately even to B-movie lovers, it is obvious that Armoured is tainted by an early twist that leaves the rest of the film up to predictably bloody shirts and foreshadowed decision making. Short's role as a money-troubled single father

is defined by one anxious, sweaty facial expression – he's no cop-killing, money-grabbing, truckcompany dishonouring dirtbag; he's the good guy. However for some reason he also holds some eerie secrets about his time in the Iraq war vaguely slipped into his past by sloppy writing.

The tacky cinematography is redeemed briefly by some innovative shots, especially during the car, or rather truck, chases, where light pours through the wreckage as a brief interval to the almost continuous brawn. These surprisingly silent moments validate some of the emotion in the film, and are a welcome break from the pounding bass lines that make up the entirety of the soundtrack. Armoured is a slow, unsteady rollercoaster ride once your hands are sore from hi-fives, and it just so happens that you've ridden it too many times before.

In A Prophet, Malik (Tahar Rahim), a French-Arab teenager, serves a six year sentence for an unspecified crime. Following his brutal initiation into prison life, the film depicts Malik's rise from lone outsider to powerful gang member.

The key to A Prophet is realism.

Ascendancy through the criminal ranks is nothing new in terms of plot, but the film's grit and authenticity add a new style to the old subject. The film is unflinching in its depiction of brutality. However, despite making several scenes tough to watch, the film's treatment of violence adds to its powerful realism.

A Prophet displays a remarkable directorial vision from Audiard. His attention to detail is impressive, from the clothes of the inmates to the graffiti on the walls.

However, the film's best aspect is Rahim himself.

Despite his status as a newcomer, Rahim underpins the character of Malik with a continuous

youthful naivety, making early scenes extremely tense, and his later criminal achievements even more unnerving.

The problems with A Prophet are issues of pacing. The first forty minutes of the film are riveting, with Malik's first weeks in prison having a palpable unease. The tension in one early scene, where Malik is forced to murder a fellow inmate, is particularly gripping.

However, these moments are too few and far between. With a two and a half hour runtime, there is not enough significant content to maintain the audience's attention for the film's entirety.

The film's length allows for the level of detail and the creation of atmosphere mentioned previously, but ultimately it makes for a less compelling viewing experience. An extremely wellmade film, but it lacks consistency.

14 Film

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANURARY 2010

Justified vs Unjustified

M. Night Shyamalan: master of the supernatural? Or just a bit of an oddball? Holly and Simon discuss..

Simon Fairbanks

Holly Edwards

Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan is a masterful storyteller. Like all director-screenwriters, he has a clear vision from the moment he picks up his pen. As such, both the script and the shots are sophistically assembled.

Joining the ranks of Spielberg and Hitchcock, every single frame is extensively etched-out on the storyboards before the cameras start rolling.

Those unconventional tracking shots are not executed on a whim, they are part of his carefullyconsidered purpose.

The same can be said of his signature twists.

These are not gimmicks, added on for shock value.

They are the essence of the story, intricately foreshadowed throughout the script and ensuring repeat viewings are rewarding experiences.

With Danny Boyle-like swiftness, Shyamalan invigorates different genres with each film: The Sixth Sense (ghosts), Unbreakable (superheroes), Signs (aliens) and Lady in the Water (fairy

Allegedly, there is one great story in everyone, and M's first and last was clearly The Sixth Sense.

Unfortunately, after this his writing went from enthralling with unpredictable twists to strange and disappointing.

The Village sounded promising with a cast including Sigourney Weaver, Joaquin Pheonix and creatures that would periodically attack, but

this was ruined by an unconvincing plot twist and an ending so unsatisfying that it left me wondering if they had simply run out of film. Along with an illogical premise to the film, there were allegations that he had stolen it from the book Running Out of Time, which was also set in an isolated village where a woman leaves for medicine after her partner is stabbed.

Maybe the reason The Village was so bad was

tales), and The Village is primarily a nineteenthcentury romance. He repeatedly gathers generic motifs and adapts them into contemporary, people-focused stories.

Shyamalan has an unrivalled eye for talent.

He made stars out of Abigail Breslin and Bryce Dallas Howard, whilst resurrecting Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson's careers; and his bravery extends to his casting choices.

Few directors would have cast Joaquin Phoenix or Paul Giamatti as romantic leads but Shyamalan's gamble paid off.

Unfortunately, his string of hits ended in

2006 with the easily-criticised Lady in the Water.

The story is weighed down with mythical jargon, plus Shyamalan casts himself in a role he cannot handle. He was made to be puppet master, not puppet, and his comfort zone is clearly behind the camera.

And then The Happening happened, but have faith. Shyamalan continues to evolve. 2010 will see him attempt his first franchise with manga-adaptation The Last Airbender, and relive his mastery. Now that would be a twist worth waiting for.

that M's integral message had changed. In The Sixth Sense and Signs (which isn't an awful film, despite Mel Gibson) he encouraged the viewer to believe in the supernatural. In The Village he hits us over the head with the idea that there is no supernatural; instead the monster is always just a man in a Scooby-Dooesque mask.

When he tries to recreate a supernatural world in Lady in the Water, M forgets the most important thing about fantasy films: we have to believe. If we are thinking that Legolas's ears look fake or that there is no way Tobey Maguire could scale walls, we are not going to enjoy the film.

Similarly if we are distracted by the extreme self-indulgence of casting yourself as a writer whose work saves the world, we are not going to enjoy the film. In conclusion, M has now told us the only good story he seems to have in him; hopefully we will hear no more of him and his insane plot-twists.

Top Ten: Couples

10

9

Rachael Hewison

9.) King Kong and

6.) Forrest and Jenny

3.) Jack and Rose

Everyone loves a romantic story. Watching two people fall in love onscreen gives you a warm feeling inside. However, Hitch, Maid in Manhattan they're not examples of true love. I think with true love you have to overcome challenges and risks and prove you're meant to be together. Therefore this is a list made up of couples who have fought for their love and have proved their worthiness.

Sadly, Rosie and Alex's famous love/hate relationship didn't make the list.

Ann (King Kong)

(Forrest Gump)

(Titanic)

Yes he's a gorilla, she's a human and he's a terrifying monster. But the way they look at each other, you just know it's real love.

Adorable Forrest has a love for Jenny that spans decades. Eventually Jenny ends up marrying him and having his child – cue tragic ending.

Two people from completely different sides of society meet on the doomed Titanic, providing the infamous line, 'I'll never let go Jack.'

8.) Jerry and Holly

5.) Wall-E and Eve

(P.S. I Love You)

(Wall-E)

Knowing he's going to die, Jerry writes Holly a series of letters for her to read after he's gone so that she can move on. A true gentleman.

Who knew that two robots could be one of the most romantic couples of all time?

Just hearing 'Eeeeeeeev-aaa!' restores all faith in romance.

Of course these two had to make an appearance.

Perhaps the most famous couple of the past few years: a human in love with an immortal vampire

7.) Sam and Josie

4.) Henry and Lucy

1.) Noah and Allie

(Never Been Kissed)

(50 First Dates)

(The Notebook)

She's a 25 year old geek who's never been kissed.

As an undercover reporter in a school, she falls for her teacher and he gives her her first kiss.

Lucy suffers from shortterm memory loss, meaning Henry has to win her over every single dayshow me another man with that kind of dedication.

Allie suffers from memory loss and Noah reads the story of their love every day to her. In her youth Allie went against her family to marry the man she loved. Can you get any more romantic?

10.) Jamal and Latika ( S l u m d o g Millionaire) 2008's most famous couple. Growing up in the Indian slums together but cruelly separated, Jamal enters 'Who Wants To Be A millionaire' to find her.

7

8

3

2.) Edward and Bella (Twilight)

2

5 6

4

1

16 Editorial

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 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.

Low stakes Nick Petrie I HOPE that you will indulge me this week, because it is the last time my wandering words will grace the pages of this paper for term two. Last week I wrote briefly about civil liberties and my fears that people aren't bothered by there rapid disappearance from our day to day lives. This week my fodder is going to be local politics I recently attended a debate titled 'Seeking Asylum in Britain – an unfair Process?' All the elements were there for what should have been an engaging and

challenging debate on an interesting issue, we even had party representatives from the mainstays of our political scene.

Yet nothing happened, well plenty happened, but there was no discussion of any worth, the non-party panelists spoke with passion, insight and understanding, the politicians summed up everything wrong with local politics (aside from the Lib Dem representative who acquitted himself well.) Policy points were few and far between and felt like party lines pandering to the already deafened ears of a board and overwhelmed electorate.

To bastardise a Kissinger quote: (remember we are indulging me) 'Local politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small' – this was the impression cast over the room as long drawn out points were used in an attempt to score cheap and meaningless points.

Promises are a fundamental tool of the politician, often delivered in such a way that joe public cannot help but be taken in by the smile and the handshake.

With a general election drawing ever nearer and the concept of televised debates being bandied about there is a serious danger of information overload.

What we need are simple, transparent policies and a clear, concise delivery of these on a local level. Less of Cameron's 'We can't go on like this' and more, well, leadership from both those in power and those who desire it.

If I had to vote tomorrow I couldn't say who I would make my mark next to on the ballot paper, I am yet to be convinced by any argument. It may well come down to whoever has taken the pledge to support higher education funding.

Anyone out there got any persuasive arguments as to why we should have faith in local politics?

Dear Redbrick Editors,

Dear Editor,

I am writing concerning the letter you published in your editorial last week, claiming that Azzam Tamimi – who gave a speech at the University on Wednesday (Jan 20th) – is a dangerous Muslim extremist. It is my opinion that the authors of this letter were deliberately misrepresenting the situation in an attempt to undermine free speech at the university.

I am writing to express my concern regarding a meeting held on campus last week.

Titled 'Why are we in Afghanistan?', the meeting with Ivan Lewis on 21st of January was a chance to pose questions relating to the operation in Afghanistan; and an effort to build a political momentum of course in the run up to the London conference on Afghanistan. The meeting was scheduled to run for 1 hour and 30 minutes, hardly enough to justify a war that has been running for more than eight years. Ivan Lewis arrived twenty minutes late and left twenty minutes early. That's quite a worrying illustration of commitment when he was due to give a talk on how to liberate a nation.

I say this having been to the 'Remember Gaza' event that Tamimi spoke at. In his speech he showed himself to be a committed pacifist, against any form of violent action on either side of the Palestinian conflict – exactly the sort of person, in fact, that the middle east needs right now. The statement that he would commit a suicide attack if he had the opportunity is a blatant lie, which arose when the Daily Mail deliberately quoted him out of context. The word he actually used was 'martyrdom', and he further qualified this as 'the [martyrdom] that is incurred by a person who dares speak the truth in the presence of a tyrant.' The difference between martyrdom and suicide-bombing is not actually particularly subtle – it doesn't take a genius to work out that blowing oneself up in a crowded street is different from being executed for demanding free speech.

Beyond this, however, I believe that anyone should have the right to speak at the university if they have been invited to, regardless of how extreme their views are.

Why? Because if someone with relatively moderate views is banned from speaking, he never gets a chance to defend himself against any allegations (rather conveniently, for those who wish to silence him). For instance, if Tamimi had not been permitted to speak last week I would never have questioned that he is a dangerous extremist.

Besides, free speech is essential to open debate, in which all sides of a discussion are fairly represented. And if a university isn't the right place for such debate, then where is?

With best wishes, David Dunphy

He mentioned the need to liberate the women of Afghanistan. Perhaps he doesn't realise that women all over the world are in need of saving from oppressive regimes and dictators which the British quite happily back. Why is Afghanistan so desperately on their agenda? Perhaps we should start at home first, and help the young girls that die everyday of anorexia in their effort to live up to an ideal image that they are bombarded with daily.

Before Lewis left, he mentioned the need for dialogue and an exchange of views as a way to move forward. That's quite ironic when it is he who made a gesture that read 'not again' when I mentioned the state of Israel as an example of the hypocritical nature of liberal values. I am still to work out how it is possible to engage in a dialogue when there is no differentiation made between a Muslim that is politicised and a Muslim that is radicalised, or prone to violence to be specific. It is quite difficult to engage in a dialogue when a Muslim is branded an extremist, or an anti-Semite preaching hate when he or she voices opposition to liberal values, the 'war on terror' or to the state of Israel.

If students need to be protected, then it is from those who wish to silence debate and fool the masses via throwing labels like extremist, radical and anti-Semite amidst in the air.

Regards, Yasmin Patel 3rd year undergraduate of Political Science and Sociology (Edited to fit – full version available online: www.redbrickonline.co.uk)

Clarifications In last weeks photograph accompanying the article 'Injury and access issues cancel cup clash' (Redbrick 1362) we mistakenly referred to the St John Ambulence volunteers as paramedics.

Editor Nick Petrie Deputy Editors Jessica Tarrant Nadine Baldwick Online Editor Pete Blakemore Treasurer Rosie Aggett Pictures Editor Thomas Walters Chief Photographer Tom Flathers t.flathers@redbrickonline.co.uk Multimedia Editor Dan Southall

News Editors Ned Murray Helen Crane Samuel Lear news@redbrickonline.co.uk

Music Editors Erica Vernon Alex Spencer music@redbrickonline.co.uk

Features Editors Laura Hewitt Jude Hill features@redbrickonline.co.uk

Arts & Culture Editors Jess Kim Sam Langtree Sian Gray arts@redbrickonline.co.uk

Lifestyle Editors Jessica Geary Alex Beard lifestyle@redbrickonline.co.uk

Travel Editor James Bunting travel@redbrickonline.co.uk

Film Editors Alex Jacques Rosie Willmot film@redbrickonline.co.uk

Television Editors Natalie Timmins Matthew Williamson tv@redbrickonline.co.uk

Sport Editors Tom Clarke Ben Whitelaw Simon Hall sport@redbrickonline.co.uk Crossword Editor Sephron Mansell Editorial Assistants Natasha Williams Jonathon Gilbert Anna Reynolds Victoria Shires Copy Editors Felix Rehren (head) Josie Lacey Dani Rosen Hannah Davis Ingrid Matts James Cull

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Arts & Culture

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

Comedy Special The C Word @ The Guild

Sian Gray COMEDY is always a risk; for the comedian and for the audience. No matter how confident you are in the abilities of your chosen entertainer, or how many times you've seen him or her on Mock the Week, the fact remains that at any moment the forthcoming joke could go down like a lead balloon and everyone involved will squirm in their seats with embarrassment. Of course, this feeling of unease is only heightened when the performance you've chosen to see is essentially being put on by amateur comics, and is only made worse when you have absolutely no idea what to expect. This was exactly the scenario on Thursday evening when I journeyed to the Underground at the Guild to watch The C Word; a selection of sketch shows by students-come-comics.

Five satirical students, the frequent injection of political incorrectness and a lot of adult humour

combines perfectly, it would seem, to make a selection of brilliantly funny sketches. The performance was short, an hour perhaps, but it was packed full of intelligent jokes, exaggerated acting and was altogether a truly amusing display of social commentary; a small snippet of new comic brilliance. Perhaps the best sketch was the teacher who, on trying to grab the attention of his otherwise half-asleep students, decided to launch into a crude display of sexual hilarity. The performance was well rehearsed, but never seemed to be forced and surprisingly there was never an awkward moment. I wasn't quite choking on my drink with laughter, but I was close.

All in all, The C Word displayed some of the University's finest hidden talent, talent which should not go unnoticed.

Perhaps this was not for the easily offended but it was, most definitely, for anyone wanting a good laugh.

Jason Cook @ OJS

Rosie McKaig AFTER the somewhat unimpressive Brummie-gayvegetarian, Craig Deeley, I was indeed eager to see what Jason Cook had to offer.

The audience was small and as Cook pointed out, 'sponsored by grey haired men and their wives'; David, a 64 year old ex-maths professor, had a particular attraction for Cook and by the end of the show their relationship was certainly tender.

Audience participation in comedy is often deemed dangerous and cruel; the possibility of public humiliation can send an entire audience into sweaty silence. But Cook approached the audience in such an unthreatening way that we were endeared to tell him our deepest fears. One man at the back claimed to be afraid of cows, another of spiders and Cook: clapping monkeys.

Cook's style was natural and uncalculated; he often veered off topic to

tell us anecdotes about audiences from previous performances, but this only made his show more personal. It was the biographic nature of the performance which made it so special; the audience learnt that Cook is an internationally convicted pirate; he was an alcoholic, who feared he would wet the bed on the first night with his now wife Claire and he once smelt a Ped-egg which led to an irrational fear of them.

The comedian also made examples of those fears we prefer not to discuss, for example, can I be a father? Am I spending my life with the right person? There was no doubt in Cook's mind that Claire was the one for him when she staged a teary drama to ensure they got the car they wanted for a romantic trip.

I left the Old Joint Stock feeling like I had had a really funny and interesting conversation with a lovely Geordie man; I sincerely hope we meet again.

17

James Sherwood @ OJS

Sian Evans AN unknown comedian in a small upstairs theatre.

Honestly, you might well be expecting the worst.

Googling his name resulted in many links to BBC Radio 4 (not exactly the student high point of radio): I was even more apprehensive. There seemed to be no sign of improvement as local warm-up act Craig Deeley barely managed to inspire more than a weak smile.

Don't pre-judge – you might just be pleasantly surprised. James Sherwood's keyboard-orientated performance, in his new one-man show entitled At the Piano, was exactly what comedy is all about. It was effortless.

His performance played with the audience's knowledge of a variety of music, from rap to hip hop to more traditional pieces; mocking their poorly written lyrics, exploring the joys of misheard lyrics and composing his own songs.

His often quirky style of

songwriting was easy to listen to, with topics varying from dating tips to even a song about a 'Late Night Tesco Rendezvous'.

A clearly skilled musician who stretched the barriers of music to ensure we kept thoroughly entertained throughout; regardless of the wide age range, we all were.

The comedy side was outstanding.

Sherwood has perfect comic timing and created a relaxed atmosphere fitting to the Old Joint Stock theatre.

His highly intellectual humour (remember the Radio 4 thing), was accurately placed without over complicating his act.

Imagine David Mitchell meets Jools Holland...

The only real shame was the audience – with around thirty people in the audience, not even filling half the available space. Sherwood, I feel, did not have the audience he deserved. Nevertheless, it was an exceptional night out proving yet again in the world of culture that you can't judge a book by its cover.

Does comedy count as culture?

An endorsement for the beneficial value of comedy...

Rosie Price AFTER a long day when you're kicking back to watch Live at The Apollo, the first thing that goes through your mind is that you want comedy.

Pure laughter. Any ideas linked to cultural benefit will be unlikely to detract from this. When Al Murray the 'pub landlord' staggers onto stage with a pint, it's unlikely that anyone would think 'how culturally enlightening'.

In reality, comedy is very much so. Culture is the very thing ridiculed and comedy is culturally valuable because we are able to laugh at ourselves in this way.

Many stand-up comedians use their accent and cultural background as a tool for 'being funny' and some enable us to understand and even laugh at cultures that are not our own; Omid Djalili, for example. The likes of Peter Kay and Jasper Carrot have become figureheads for 'Brummie' and Bolton culture respectively and Lee Evans pokes fun at the most cultural of traditions: 'the British Holiday'. If you look closely, culture is at the root of any stand-up script, even

And a more militant view of comedy's role in society...

to the point of simple ev- and whether we like it or James Reevell eryday observation, in the not, everyday life is part case of stand-ups like Mi- of our culture. Culture chael Macintyre. Sexuality is valuable to comedy COMRADES and cultural and the lives of women are and comedy is proletariat readalso spoken for with likes valuable to ers of Redof Alan Carr, Jo Brand and culture. brick, for Dawn French. Stand-up definitely reflects culture and does it so accurately that we almost cry laughing.

Stand-up aside though, the best proof of comedy's cultural value is the comedy that has become iconic. In this list you might find, Morcambe and Wise, the two Ronnies and Monty Python. Class boundaries, history and breakfast were among the chosen cultural material and who can say that any of the above are not integral parts of culture? British sitcoms such as Acorn Antiques, Fawlty Towers and Goodness Gracious Me ran for so long for their cultural value that they have now become explicitly associated with British culture itself. This said, the most important thing is that we can laugh, be it at female clerics, darkhumoured Scotsmen or foul-mouthed grannies. Comedy uses everyday life as its basis Comedy classics – but are they cultural?

too long we have been oppressed by bourgeois tyranny of comedy. For too long has its subversive presence seeped through our pages, leeching and living in intellectual affluence that has been hard earned by the forgotten cultural masses. For too long have we lived under the tyranny of any man named Carr, their despotic urges forcing the cultural masses to cower in fear as their antihumour is slowly inflicted upon us.

For too long this comedic Gestapo has ruled over us; it is time to rise up and take what is rightfully ours.

You h a v e heard t h e whispered drums of revolution, seen the signs that change is at hand.

You have s e e n f i r s t

hand the frothing rage of academics; it begins with their silently sent emails, plotting a new production of Waiting For Godot and soon they shall take from their offices, entering sunlight for the first time in the name of the cause.

They will be joined by comrades from opera and ballet, and shall lay siege to the Glee Club until this foul Comedy Machine falls and a glorious Cultural Republic is ushered in. We will tear down the billboards of Skinner and Boyle and share the theatres among the rightful cultural proletariat.

In the glorious Cultural Republic we shall have true artistic parity, where if comedy remains it will be to elevate not degenerate. Comedy will be held to account by Cultural Republic committees made up of thespians and artists, who will reach a verdict on its true worth and hand down sentences for its many crimes.

We all dream of a world where culture is no longer plagued by this bourgeois upstart comedy. So I say: cultural readers of Redbrick, rise up!

18 Arts & Culture

Sam says...

This Saturday while strolling about Digbeth, embarking on some bizarre photography project for my course (how is photography a part of literature?), I stumbled across an awesome open art event at the city's creative jewel, the Custard Factory.

The art group, Craftspace, is an organisation that aims to promote a whole variety of art and craft forms to young people. Having a huge spread of food, a t-shirt stall and a massive range of events, it was definitely an unexpected, yet welcome surprise.

The events on offer were both bizarre and unconventional. One side of the room was filled up with floppy-fringed skaters earnestly attempting to knit, whilst in the other room a French cook continuously mixed up huge amounts of icing, using it to stick sweets onto an open wall, creating 'sweetie graffiti.'

Walking into this room was like witnessing LSD being pumped into the atmosphere, and yet there was something wonderful and innocent about it. Although only there briefly, I made a badge, tagged my signature on the wall with haribo eggs and made a

cardboard guitar that actually managed to make a tuneful noise.

Although seemingly juvenile, the creative efforts of Craftspace were truly inspiring and all interested should hit up their Facebook group for future events as the whole day was well stocked, yet lacking in publicity.

It also got me pondering on the Arts at the university. The Art society (Artsoc) has been an incredible success this year with a large membership and well stocked resources. On top of this, the ever flexible and creative Drama groups continue to produce consistently well-received runs.

Though regarded as Fine Art and a far shout from playing about with sweets in Digbeth, the creative vein in the city feels especially strong at the moment. Though I was originally extremely skeptical of Birmingham Council's claim to become the most cultural city in the UK by 2013, it's nice to think that maybe the wheels are in motion. I don't imagine there will ever be the same volume of events present as in other more 'arty' cities; but, as long as this run continues, things look good.

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

Measure for Measure @ Previews The Custard Factory Matthew Williamson FEW theatrical experiences begin with a prostitute grabbing you by the arm and offering you 'whatever you want for a fiver… and Chlamydia for free', but this version of Measure for Measure was far from ordinary.

Performed to an intimate audience (of no more than fifteen), the play was set in a variety of locations within The Custard Factory, with the disguised Duke acting as our guide.

Some scenes were even more effective given their unique locations, with Claudio's imprisonment seeing him chained to a raft in the middle of the artificial lake and Angelo persuading Isabella to be his lover within a spookily candle-lit chapel. A couple of the rooms chosen were marred slightly by interruptions from office workers trying to find the exit, but the majority worked well and the idea of moving around the complex certainly kept the audience on its feet.

The small audience and the lack of a traditional stage and seating set-up (only the play's final scene is set within the complex's Mixing Bowl Theatre) initially made

for quite an uncomfortable audience experience, especially with the characters of the prostitutes gyrating against glass walls in the background of the main action. There wasn't even the chance to applaud at the end, just a cry of 'Run for your lives!' and the ushering of the audience out through the back door.

Measure for Measure is supposedly one of the finest Shakespearean comedies, but this was an evening of few laughs, with the director choosing to emphasise the tragic outcome of the play.

Nowhere was this more evident than in the final scene, when a distraught Isabella runs out of the building, desperately trying to escape the Duke's insistence upon marriage.

There were excellent performances throughout, most notably from The Duke (Graeme Brookes) and the wronged Isabella (Lorna Meehan). Little touches like throwing the audience out of the back door at the end, or having Pompey and Mistress Overdone sipping on a bottle of Jack Daniels in prison, really showed a desire to provide a fresh, innovative theatrical experience. And that it most certainly was.

Amazing, fabulous, up and coming shows that will blow your mind...

Indian Republic Day @ Deb Hall, Friday 29th January, 6.30-9.00pm – Marking and celebrating the adoption of the Constitution of India, the Bharat Pariva Society are putting on a night at the Guild's Deb Hall. Promises to be an entertaining night with a whole medley of events. Free John Beatty: Wild Vision @ The Town Hall, Monday 1st February 7.30pm – Having travelled over 38 different countries, Beatty is an inspiring storyteller and this audio-visual presentation is a fantastic chance to see some of his work Tickets £12.

CBSO: An Alpine Symphony @ Symphony Hall, Tuesday, 2nd February, 11th October, 7.30pm – Mozart influenced, Alpine inspired symphony. Tickets £9.50 – 39.50.

God's Garden @ The Rep, Wednesday 3rd February, 8.00 pm – New dance theatre production based on the life of Jesus. Includes 82 year old dancer. Tickets £12-20.

Yesterday @ The Rep, Thursday 4th February, 8.00 pm – Created to mark the company's 10th anniversary. A daring, innovative piece of dance theatre.

Tickets £12-20.

.

God's Garden @ The REP Theatre

Fine Art: A look at what's passed and what you can still catch Going Dutch @ The Barber

Jeremy Millar's Projector @ IKON

Jessica Reynolds

Sophie Rycroft

IN the Seventeenth Century, Dutch culture was viewed as the most prestigious in Europe dominating the European artistic scene. Its mercantile links due to its maritime location meant the area and its art was greatly influenced by the rest of Europe.

This exhibition is a collaboration of Dutch artwork from two university art galleries, the Barber Institute and the Holburne Museum of Art in Bath.

Both galleries, founded by wealthy widows, have joined together to display their collections of work from the Dutch Golden Age of Culture.

The collection displays work by the Dutch Italianates, Dutch artists who were greatly influenced by their Italian contemporaries.

These landscape paintings display the Italians' fascination with light and water.

Whilst the colours in these works are monochromatic and somewhat lack the drama and intensity of the later English Romantics' landscapes it is clear to see how this golden age of Dutch art influenced later landscape painters.

HIDDEN away in the dark tower room of the Ikon gallery is Jeremy Millar's Projector. The single piece is part of a collection of works which explore Millar's interest in reflective surfaces, examining their symbolic values in other cultures. The installation consists of three 'dark mirrors' made from obsidian, a natural occurring volcanic glass material which has powerful uses in ancient American cultures.

The obsidian mirrors were thought to provide the ability to see everything – into the hearts of men and even into the future.

This idea is illustrated in Projector through the use of three mirrors, which according to Millar 'suggest the existence not of a single future, but rather of many'.

Millar also takes influence from a continuous interest in The Mirror of Ink, a short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges which explores the magical and symbolic powers of dark mirrors.

Although the peculiar obsidian material is intriguing, it is the display case which really brings

Weenix: Still life with Game in a Garden mid c17th Several portraits display the opulence and wealth of their subjects.

For example, the focal points of Backer's portrait of an unknown German Lady are her pearls and finery. A contrasting theme that is explored in the exhibition is the idea that earthly possessions and wealth can only be enjoyed whilst living.

Franz Hal's famous use of the skull in his portraits as a memento mori highlight this theme, shown in his displayed work A Portrait of a Man Holding a Skull. The placing of this contrastingly plain unadorned portrait near other lavish portraits em-

phasizes the exhibitions pervading theme of the transience of earthly pleasures.

Similarly, the collection of still lifes continue this theme; despite the exotic foods, there is an air of decay that invokes a feeling of repulsion.

This exhibition is an interesting taster of this era of influential Dutch art; the diversity of the work on show highlights the cultural wealth of the time and you can see how various painting styles and subject matters have been explored further by later artists.

On until 28th February.

Photo courtesy of the IKON this piece to life. Mirrors create infinite reflections of the object, which becomes more baffling with every new angle you approach from. The object therefore breaks the boundaries of its glass box achieving a spectacular and mesmerising effect.

How Projector was created remains a mys-

tery to me, which is more than I can say for most post-modern art including the pile of video tapes in the room before. This is a truly beautiful, innovative and uplifting piece.

To see Millar's other work visit www.jeremymillar.org

Music

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

Album Reviews The Strange Boys Be Brave

7 Elio Di Muccio LARRY Hardy, founder of In The Red Records said 'I didn't even know they made them like this anymore'. For once, the press release was right.

At first The Strange Boys seemed like yet another attempt to sell a band to indie lovers, and yet I couldn't help but notice the Rough Trade logo.

Then magic – The Strange Boys remind us that Texas isn't just the land of George Bush and the death penalty, but is also home to an exquisite blend of Rock n' Roll, Country and Blues.

There's something about lead singer Ryan Sambol's lamented lyrics and vocals that recalls the origins of rock which we all spiritually strive towards. Then there's the rusty harmonica and vintage guitar sound that so many modern musicians strive to find but never do, while The Strange Boys master it effortlessly.

When you hit your local Rock n' Roll club and single Be Brave comes on, you won't believe this band is from the 2000s.

They are the closest thing to what it must have been like to be born before the 70s.

Laura Veirs July Flame

8 Matthew Barton PORTLAND-based singersongwriter Laura Veirs has been a critics' darling, since her 2004 debut Carbon Glacier was released to rave reviews. But though she has a loyal following of devotees, Veirs has never made much of a mark commercially.

This, her first release since Saltbreakers almost three years ago, returns to a more stripped, pareddown sound after a couple of more full-blooded ef-

forts. The result is one of her starkest and most surprisingly complex works.

The Veirs hallmarks remain: lyrics drawing from natural imagery (she was once a geology student); her deadpan, unaffected vocal delivery, and her leaning towards acoustic folk stylings. This time, however, there's an added intricacy in the chords and tunings that suggest a subtle new direction.

Tracks like Sun is King reveal a lazy country vibe, while piano-based Little Deschutes is full of mournful melancholy. But the highlight comes in the beautiful title track, a simple but incredibly effective lament with a winningly poignant melody.

This is Veirs' seventh LP, and while it's unlikely to be her triumphant commercial breakthrough, you could do a lot worse than kick off 2010 with this tasty, if quiet, treat.

WATHAWT: Singles

Photo: Erica Anne Vernon Will Hunter MPHO See Me Now Once you get past the original stumbling block of how to pronounce the name, MPOH (pronounce mm poh) is everything you've come to expect from a female solo artist that falls under the umbrella of British pop, funk and new wave. Compared to an English version of Santogold this single only strengthens that stereotype, with soft soulful vocals and a backing track to match the likes of Say Ah-Ha. Hannah Ali Hot Chip One Life Stand With yet another insanely catchy tune, Hot Chip return for their fourth album with a single that isn't going to leave club playlists, or the space between your ears for quite some time.

There's nothing radically different here from their previous hits, except for the steel drum-style Casio tune that repeats for most of the three and a half

minutes and kicking in at the chorus is an 80s snare that'll have you donning a 'Choose Life' tee and clapping your hands like George Michael in a Wham video. Or maybe just me.

Matthew Way The Maccabees (feat. Roots Manuva) Empty Vessels Indie and hip-hop united for a modest take on No Kind Words, Roots using the Maccabees' instrumental canvas to paint over his own lyrics with knack and know-how. Interestingly noted as only the 'featuring' artist, Empty Vessels feels very much like a Roots Manuva project. He does a good job of layering his recognizable style over the moody track, presenting a socially relevant take on arduous living. Released as a download last November, and undoubtedly rejected by many purists, Empty Vessels nevertheless offers something slightly new and interesting and, who knows, might even enlighten a few people as to the other side of the genre fence.

Fyfe Dangerfield Fly Yellow Moon

9 Ellen Tout LISTENING to the first solo project by The Guillemots' Fyfe Dangerfield, I struggled to find words to pinpoint or explain the musical style. The opening track could easily be a Guillemots song – not necessarily a negative trait.

However, as the album progresses, so does the music. The sound is experimental, complimented by powerfully emotional tales of heartache and uncertainty.

19

So Brand New is reminiscent of 1950s Rock 'n' Roll, whilst acoustic track Don't Be Shy is simultaneously melodic and haunting. High On The Tide is equally beautiful, layered with whistling and soft vocals. This album is bursting with different musical styles.

Tracks Livewire and Firebird progress at a leisurely pace and sound strangely like a lullaby.

The vocals are lingering and raw, accompanied by soft guitar strumming and piano keys. Fans of Newton Faulkner would probably fall head over heels for these tracks.

This album really does break free from expectations and, musically and lyrically, boundaries.

Each track is unique and fresh – all the more impressive, given that it was recorded over only five days. Fly Yellow Moon is most definitely worth a listen.

Photo: www.xtramilerecordings.com

Spotlight On...

Nu Folk Ross Wittenham wants to roast and boast about the new age of folk music.

SO, you like Frank Turner do you? You and several thousand others. Well I have news for you; you are now a hippie.

Monday 1st

What's On...

Decapitated O2 Academy 2 Lacuna Coil O2 Academy Nancy Elizabeth Hare & Hounds

Music Diary Friday 29th Marduk The Asylum Zico Chain Bones The Flapper

+

Tuesday 2nd To

Saturday 30th

The

All Time Low, The Blackout, Young Guns O2 Academy Municipal Waste O2 Academy 2 Aurora Plastic Monster The Flapper

Sunday 31st Tiffany Page Sound Bar

Don't act so surprised, you don't wash that often anyway, you smoke weed occasionally, you enjoy wearing 'vintage' clothes...

You might as well admit it to yourself so that you can get on with your life.

There you go. Feel better?

Good.

These New Puritans Hare & Hounds

Wednesday 3rd Liam Lever O2 Academy 3 Rammstein LG Arena Dan Smith Hare & Hounds Elephants The Flapper

Thursday 4th

Etienne De Crecy O2 Academy Bonecrusher Festival O2 Academy 2

However, you are in the right place at the right time to appreciate the revival of Folk. With Dance too much of a consumer's market, with Britpop, nuMetal, emo, and indie now all washed up, bands are about to start picking up accordions again and giving them a gentle squeeze.

Sadly, the scene will soon falter and fail without industry support. Despite the genre's popularity, it simply isn't marketable to the big businesses. Folk just isn't cool.

Who will buy watereddown branded beer when Folk's drink of choice is homemade scrumpy? Who will go to big nightclubs, when all you need for a good hoe-down is a barn that stinks of manure and a bunch of blokes with fiddles and washboards?

In Oxfordshire, we know a bit about English Folk (as delineated from Gaelic Folk). Frank Turner discovered his band in the county. Goldrush – the heroes of the last generation – grew up a few villages away from me. We can even lay claim to Fairport

Convention, who are both the elder statesmen and godfathers of the scene.

One of the things that we have realised from watching this wealth of talent is that none of us are ever going to get rich or famous, but we will have a damn fun time.

Having accidentally been in the pub while X-Factor has been on a few times this month, I know that these two aspects of the musical spectrum are diametrically opposed to each other.

For one thing, in folk the emphasis is on the music. There are no light shows, no spandex leggings, and the only dancers are on the floor – and quite frequently pissed.

Without the financial reward they so desperately need, the industry will quickly move on to golden pastures, leaving Folk gently chugging on as it has for years. Maybe though, just maybe, there will be a few more open eyes. My parents first met at barn dances. All things considered, there are much worse things to owe your life to.

20 Music

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

Redbrick Meets...

Fyfe Dangerfield

Photo: Leah Pritchard

The ever-suave Ross Wittenham charms the Guillemots frontman and relatives.

WE are backstage at the Glee Club; a small room which has been tastefully decked out with spotlights and sofas for the headline act. The low table is piled high with delicacies and there are enough bottles of wine to mellow a meeting of the AA. It's all carefully designed to calm the mood. The headline act in question is sat nervously on the edge of his chair, fingers twitching like an obsessive-compulsive. He is not mellow, he is not calm.

Fyfe Dangerfield has played to crowds of thousands with the Guillemots; together they have headlined the Royal Al-

bert Hall. The Glee Club can hold a thousand at most – maybe two if they packed away the chairs and dining tables. If the Guillemots were here, he would have absolutely no reason to be nervous.

But they are not here.

I asked Fyfe whether he felt he would do better by himself, but he stood by his band-mates. The solo album wasn't necessary in that sense, it was more of a creative outlet – it certainly wasn't an “Iggy and the Stooges situation”. Fyfe appreciates how much he relies on his band-mates, which is one of the reasons he is so nervous right now.

What is more, he has good reason to be nervous. This is one of the first performances of some of these songs to a live audience, the room

is as-good-as packed out, and scattered among the crowd are members of his friends and family; people whose opinions really matter.

His set would go on to suffer from repeated technical failures, following an almost note-perfect opening act. The stage show was poorly rehearsed, and the single stage roadie was badly prepared to deal with the barrage of problems that assaulted him.

The show was scheduled to tour America within the week.

However, Fyfe is a consummate showman, and he exchanges banter well with the audience.

Live Wire features the lyrics 'we've got everything to play for, 1-1, half time', to which Fyfe admits, "I'm not a great football fan. I support Birmingham City

by default". The crowd boos good-naturedly.

He teases them with 10 second extracts from as-yet unreleased Guil-

'This is aural teasing, and I love it.' lemots material. They clap and cheer.

In the dressing room he points out that the band like to throw all kind of strangeness into their songs. A solo album gives him an opportunity to strip this away and play a more exposed set. Unlike the warm-up act, he plays quietly, and breathes his lyrics on the edge of hearing. This is aural teasing, and I love it.

The only other musicians he will allow on the stage are two violinists; a reflection of the suave class of a man who can How did that affect your working partnership?

It's a benefit really. We come together on things; I bring the electronic side, and Pip brings the punk edge and the message.

How do you go about the process of songwriting?

Redbrick Meets... Dan Le Sac Redbrick Music's Agent Provocateur Jo Walters grabs Dan Le Sac by the balls.

MIXING the sounds of hip hop and electronica with the rhymes of spoken word and a retro punk attitude, Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip are the dynamic duo of the alternative scene.

After shooting to cult stardom with the single Thou Shalt Always Kill and critically acclaimed debut album Angles, the Stanford-

Photo: Jake Hicks le-Hope pair are releasing second album The Logic of Chance in March. I caught up with Dan Le Sac to chat about music, touring, and facial hair.

Firstly, the burning question on the lips of our avid readers – If you tried, could you grow a better beard than Pip? Easily! He only grows his beard to detract attention from his eyes being really close together. He looks

like he's been hit in the face with a spade.

What are the origins of your names?

Pip's name comes from an Edward Lear poem, which is about a creature that can't be defined. I had a hernia as a child and my brothers called me sac boy, so it's a variation on that.

You and Pip draw from quite eclectic influences.

We work separately, so I work entirely on the music and Pip on the lyrics. We see what works and what doesn't, then go off and rework until we have eleven or twelve tracks we're really happy with. I'm not looking over his shoulder and going “that doesn't rhyme” and he's not looking over my shoulder and going “make that beat rounder”.

How did you get into DJing and the electronic scene?

I hooked up a guitar to a synthesiser at GCSE music, then learnt by myself after school. My music is 15 years of me toying about on a computer. The DJing thing has been in the last five or six years; I found I could beat match pretty well so it just went from there. With a band you're giving out a lot of emotion, but DJing is about keeping as many people

perform a solo act with a string section. This is a theme that comes up again when the opening act – Villages – finishes his set, and the bottles of water onstage are replaced by a bottle of claret and a glass. A charming young man, that master Dangerfield. I was told as much by two friends of his mother who sat next to me and chatted me up in the intervals.

The last time I saw him perform live, the crowd was so dense I was having trouble holding my camera steady. In the Glee Club, you can order food with your gig. I don't think this should be possible.

Nobody else wants to sing along when he breaks out old Guillemots classics.

The audience is distinctly middle-aged, and I am not entirely comfortable with

them sharing one of my favourite artists.

In all, the gig was not a resounding success.

Sure, there were a lot of highlights, but far too much time was taken up by technical failures and poorly rehearsed songs.

Fyfe tells us that the real aim of all this was just to have an album released.

Everything else, including the American tour, is a bonus. The trouble is, the entire project is riding on the back of the Guillemots' success, and at least for the time being, it doesn't really appear to have earned it. There are hundreds of great solo artists who would love to tour America with their debut album. On the opening night of the tour, in his home city, Fyfe Dangerfield could have put in a bit more effort.

on the dance floor having fun as possible. It's just a good experience.

with the word 'intelligent' in it. Some people refer to us as Rhyme and Bass but that doesn't make sense as we've only done two Drum and Bass songs.

We don't really fit into the scene; Pip writes a lot of narrative, and my sound isn't hip hop. We're a Noise band. We'll go as far away from hip hop sounds as possible whilst still using the model. Of the scene in general, I think we're representative that genre doesn't matter as much to a consumer anymore.

When I was a kid, you liked Grunge or Metal or Garage, whereas accessibility with Myspace and the internet means that kids who would have grown up with one genre now have the opportunity to grow up listening to all these genres. It's not a big jump from hip hop to like metal. We're quite representative of that change.

Angles was released on Sunday Best (a small indie label founded by DJ Rob Da Bank) and reached #31 in the UK charts. Was that kind of commercial success unexpected?

We were hoping it would sell, but we were amazed at how many people went out and brought it. After working in HMV for 7 years I was definitely surprised to get a top 40 single and album. I never really expected to get any success; I think the same goes this time round, I don't expect anyone to buy it.

You guys have quite a mashup of styles on Angles. Have you found a more consistent style for the new album? Where do you see yourselves fitting into the hip hop or general UK music scene?

The new album is more of a complete piece. Although it's really diverse in sound, the style ties itself together better. I consider myself to be an electronica producer. Some people refer to it us as Intelligent Dance Music, but I don't really like anything

What has your biggest challenge as a band been?

Just not killing each other! We have such different views, we're both single minded and stubborn so the challenge is to find a balance and make sure that we don't start bickering about petty things.

Lifestyle

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010 Hello from Lifestyle lovelies Jess and Alex G'day all you fabulous Redbrick readers. Welcome back to another thrilling issue of Lifestyle.

As much as we hate to say it, semester two is thoroughly underway – no more slacking off from those impending deadlines; the excuse that the term has only just started just won't cut it I'm afraid.

January really is the most depressing month: it's freezing cold and wet, it still feels like the dead of night when we have to get up for those 9am lectures and only the dregs of the January sales are left.

Fantastic.

However, here at Lifestyle Towers we like to feel we can offer you some consolation. This week we have Charlotte providing us with her insightful take on men and shoes; our very own editor Jess takes on Dan in our Designer Vagina debate; Ellen warns us about the dangers of sunbeds in An Apple a Day; Yasmin offers you lads advice on getting 'that' girl and James Minogue offers us his own first-hand account of gambling addiction.

For those of you interested in becoming the Lifestyle Editors next year, look out for information coming soon.

Byeeee (off to design our new vaginas).

Catwalk: A woman and her shoes – a story of true love Charlotte Crowley I HAVE two things in common with Carrie Bradshaw.

Unfortunately it is not her amazing figure, her wardrobe packed full of designer clothes or even her ability to pull off fluffy pink mules. No, I have a

just not right for you. Or those gorgeous, audacious shoes that everyone wants because they're just the right fit and just the right colour and will fit into your life so perfectly… until you see another girl wearing the same ones in a club and you realize that you don't want to share.

'The way we think about shoes reflects the way we relate to love.' lack of success with men, and way too many pairs of shoes.

It all began one day while I was fumbling around under my bed amongst the sea of shoes I have hiding under there, desperate to find The One shoe to match the other I had picked out for the day, when I began to wonder if these two issues in my life could be at all related…

It all starts with the realisation that something is missing from your outfit (replace life), and you begin to wonder what this is.

Do you want the comfort and security of the faithful Ugg boot? Which while it may not be a looker, it's always there for you and will never let you down.

Or are you seduced by the bad-boy stiletto, who promises to make your legs look amazing but the relationship never lasts because of that constant heel-pinching which, while you try to ignore it, convinces you that they're

Even the whole notion of shoes and shoe shopping reflects the way we relate to love. Who hasn't found solace in an impromptu shopping trip to heal a broken heart/when he hasn't text you back for five hours/when you're trapped in the 'does he like me/doesn't he like me' paranoia?

Even finding shoes is a little bit like

looking for a boyfriend.

It starts out when you eventually find something that makes your heart flutter, you'll find any excuse to talk about them or look at them and you're desperate for the day you'll make them yours.

You think about them all the time, and the anticipation is high. What if they don't fit? What if someone else already has them? Or worst of all, what if they're just not right for me?

But even after dozens of unsuccessful shopping trips, and unsuccessful dates, you have to keep your hope that one day you'll find something beautiful, that will fit into everything in your life and make you feel amazing.

Until then, the search continues for The Two.

WHY would anyone want to do this to themselves?

I can think of much better ways to spend £2000.

All that money and not to mention how uncomfortable it must be. Ouch!

Plastic surgery has gone a little too far here in my

'If I was the husband I'd prefer a holiday for that amount of money!' opinion. Yet this type of surgery is continuing to grow in popularity despite the very serious risks involved with it. One of the main arguments for having it done is that women want to feel young 'down there' again and, in a way, want to claim back their virginity by having their hymen sewn back. This to me is quite disgusting.

A lot of women do it to give their husbands their virginity (if they haven't already). If I was the husband I'd prefer a holiday

for that amount of money!

Leave it be; as if breast enlargements/reductions, liposuction, nose jobs and lip pumping weren't enough for women now they will feel pressured into having their vagina reconstructed.

What's next, having different designer ones advertised on the television? It's just what I want to see whilst eating my Coco Pops in the morning, This Morning parading the new 'designer vaginas' around their stage – 'Louis Vuitton for £2450, Gucci for £2700, or the high street alternative from Boots, a DIY kit for £14.95'.

THE Jamhouse – great live music, two cocktails for a fiver, and the opportunity to oggle at good looking guys in shirts. This is the perfect alternative Thursday night out if you've overdone Oceana or Mechu.

Lip stain – sticky lipgloss and smudgy lipstick are so 2009: we're loving lip stain at the moment. It's the best way to make sure your lipcolour stays put.

There's only one piece of advice to follow – always apply sober!

Skins – last year's series divided its fans into two camps; personally, we're over Nick Holt and looking forward to seeing what 2010 holds for our favourite delinquents. iTunes single of the week – the weekly free offering from the iTunes store is generally hit or miss; however, recent tracks from Ellie Goulding and Fyfe Dangerfield have definitely refreshed our iPods.

Gunnies and The Bristol Pear – if it's the day after the night before and you're feeling a little fragile, get yourself back to the pub: the beer-and-a-burger deal at the Pear is a great hangover cure every time.

Know Your Guild – there's a lot more to the Guild than Fab and Fresh (gasp), and the various fairs, taster sessions, and careers advice are just a few ways to get yourself involved, if you haven't already. Check out guildofstudents.com for more info.

Scrabble – so it's not the most typical student pastime, but family games over Christmas have made us begrudging fans of the game.

Thermos flasks – a brilliant invention!

Finished DARK mornings – it is bad enough that your alarm goes off and you feel like it is 4am, but then to walk out of the house and see... the moon?! Sorry, but that is just ridiculous.

Celebrity Big Brother – a bunch of has-beens and 'never – weres'. The line up gets more z–list every year and we have better things to watch.

Debate: The 'designer vagina': to design or not to design? Dan Styles and Jess Geary investigate Testosterone:

Fierce

21

Oestrogen:

'Vaginal rejuvenation' – two slightly alarming words when put together eh? The truth is that women are paying huge sums of money to tighten, neaten, repair and reconfigure their vaginas for a more 'attractive appearance'.My opinion? We're women, not robots. Things stretch, things sag, things suffer including our lovely lady gardens and porn being porn and men being men, the sex industry doesn't show us as dealing with a slightly lax labium here and there. Saying this, I've always taken the same stance on any cosmetic surgery: if you don't need it, physically or psychologically, don't do it, especially not for a man. We don't expect men to run out and get penis enlargement surgery just because we've seen David Beckham in that Armani advert. The painful fact is that this is a lucrative and expanding trend amongst women – however for some it isn't just a case of aesthetics, for some it's a matter of life and death.

Hymenorraphy is the reconstruction of the hymen, commonly performed to initiate bleeding after post-nuptial sex.

Middle Eastern women in particular have this invasive surgery to oppose accusations of promiscuity within their families

'Things stretch, things sag, things suffer including

our

lovely

lady gardens.' and to prove their virginity. If the bride is proven to have not bled during intercourse and it brings dishonour upon the family, honour killings (or customary killings) are seen as justified. Suddenly the issue isn't quite as materialistic as the term 'designer' may imply.

Designer vaginas for the 40-something millionaire's wife vs a religious, cultural and potentially vital operation. Not difficult. Is vagina surgery the new botox? Let's blimmin' hope not.

Cancelled 9am lectures – right, so you almost stayed in bed but, being the good student that you are, decided last minute to make that little bit of effort to find the lecturer doesn't even show. Annoyed is a major understatement.

Sambuca – it burns your throat, has way too many calories and leaves you feeling like a walking zombie the next day. Why did we think it was a good idea to line up four shots in a row?

Justin Bieber – the kid may be able to sing annoyingly catchy tunes but he is 15 and looks about 12.

Enough said.

Random Facebook adds – you see '1 friend request' and hope it is that hot guy you saw out last night.

Turns out to be from a 32-year-old Ismalik Bencrangen. Seriously creepy. How do these random people know where to find you?!

Sorting out houses – whether you are trekking round Selly Oak house hunting and arguing over who gets the box room or being woken up at 9am to be greeted with your landlord and a group of people eager to see the delights of student housing, it is a hassle we could do without. Halls again, anyone?

Zoe Blackburn and Sarah Welsby

INTERVIEWING SOON FOR NEW LIFESTYLE EDITORS! Current Lifestyle Editors Alex and Jess are standing down from their posts at the end of this year so they need someone to fill their shoes! Keep an eye out for updates and email Lifestyle at lifestyle@redbrickonline.co.uk for any queries.

22 Lifestyle

An Apple a Day

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

Issue: How to keep her interested

Sunbed: A 'healthy' glow?

Yasmin Armes

Ellen Fitzpatrick We all love the compliments we receive on our 'post-holiday' glow but more often than not that glow comes out of a bottle, or more worryingly, from time spent sizzling on a sunbed. Rumours about the dangers of sunbed usage have circulated in recent years, but that hasn't stopped thousands in the UK from popping down to the local salon to recreate the tanned looks seen on celebrities and in the magazines.

The question over the safety of sunbeds and, more specifically, who can use them, has become a hot issue in the media recently due to the campaigning of Cardiff North MP, Julie Morgan, who is calling for a ban for under-18s. A similar law is already in place in Scotland, so why not here?

Morgan's bill is supported by the charity Cancer Research UK, whose alarming statistics provide ample reasoning to support the ban. Just oncemonthly use can increase the risk of skin cancer by

later in the year.

For every Nicola Roberts there is a Katie Price, who said in a recent interview, 'I used to use spray tan but it stinks so now I use sunbeds'. Whilst we may laugh off her comment as ridiculous, many young people share her 'act now and think later' attitude and are tempted onto the sunbeds by the hassle-free process and the cheap prices. One student stated that she uses sunbeds as a 'quick fix' for special occasions despite knowing the risks involved, suggesting that the media pressure for a tan outweighs the potential risks for many young people. The irony is that in striving for skin perfection they run the risk of permanently damaging it, with studies highlighting the link between sunbed use and the most lethal form of skin cancer – malignant melanoma.

The Sunbed Association has spoken out in response, stipulating that their code of conduct already prohibits under-16s from using the beds but this code is not enforced and children as young as

'The irony is that in striving for skin perfection they run the risk of permanently damaging it.' more than 50 per cent.

Hollyoaks actress Gemma Merna recalls how at 15 she and her friends would use sunbeds on a weekly basis to 'fit in' and only with hindsight can she see the potential damage she may have done to her skin (sunbeds emit ultra-violet rays ten times higher than that of the sun!).

It is for this very reason that the new campaign is aiming to protect the impressionable under-18 age group. Nicola Roberts of Girls Aloud is also backing the plan; she admits to feeling 'influenced by peers, by media, by everybody in society' when younger to have the most sought after accessory – a tan. However, Nicola is now an advocate for embracing your natural skin colour, launching her own make-up range for pale skin Dainty Doll and making a documentary on the dangers of the tanning industry to be screened

ten are turning to sunbeds in order to achieve the celebrity sun-kissed look. Whilst some may argue 17-year-olds are capable of making their own choices, statistics showing skin cancer rising four times faster than any other cancer is likely to instigate government action, with Health Secretary Andy Burnham already pledging his support.

The fact remains that as far as a tan is concerned, fake should definitely be the coveted option for all.

So you've finally managed to pull that girl you've been secretly pining for since the first time you ever clapped eyes on her in Gatecrasher (or Vodbull, respectively) but what happens next? Do you manage to at least kiss those lovely cherry VK flavoured lips again and possibly take them on a date or will you fall at the first hurdle? As funny as it sounds, we creatures of the feminine species are not as complex as we like to make out. There are just a few rules you should follow and here's how…

First and foremost, nobody likes a keeno.

When you're chatting to her, do not kill her with compliments. If they're insincere you'll look like a bit of a sleaze and she'll just feel embarrassed.

If you listen to what she says and seem genuinely interested then she'll be intrigued and want to know more about you.

You both win. Be confident, keep the banter going and don't be too serious – when you're making her laugh you know you're

on the right track. Buying her a drink won't hurt either; it's not essential as she knows you're a poor student but it makes you look generous and like you care that she's happy and well-watered.

Once you have sufficiently chatted her up and managed to get her number, walk away. Being elusive will ensure she's wondering all night (or until she reaches Rooster House at least), where you popped off to. It's bad if you text her that night but it's even worse if you commit the sin of texting her the next morning.

She's probably quite hungover and cringing at the thought of snogging your face off in the middle of the dance floor. Instead, wait a couple of days; she'll be flattered you're still thinking of her but you won't come across like too much of an eager beaver.

Another important issue is texting intervals. As trivial as it sounds, replying straight away will make you look like you have nothing better to do. Waiting a bit longer means that it will probably cross her mind that you won't reply and

she'll be more excited when you do. Variation is key. Along the lines of other sound-trivial-butdefinitely-are-not issues is Facebook. If you're clearly posing in your profile picture, remove it. Now. She's after a guy that's funny and mysterious, not one that spends his days photographing himself posing in front of the mirror (you know 'that' sort of myspace pose I'm referring to).

Finally when you ask her to meet up always propose a certain date.

Lines such as 'I'm pretty free next week' make you sound like you're either desperate to see her or you don't have much going on in your life.

The one thing to remember is the most clichéd but accurate rule out there – 'treat 'em mean keep 'em keen' – but not too mean. The aim is to make her feel special without being too clingy.

Once you've mastered that balance she'll want you even more than you want Cheryl Cole.

Photo: Lucy Percival

Culture: A personal look at gambling addictions by James Minogue Most stories begin with 'once upon' a time or 'a long time ago' but this story is different. This story begins with two young men, two sharp suits and a Mowtown soundtrack.

My friend and I are young, impressionable and have tastes that exceed our means. We love women, alcohol and fashion but above all else we love money. This is where the trouble begins: we innocently set out trying to be the big men and we succeeded. We could walk into a joint and everyone would know our names; friendly smiles and firm handshakes as people would say 'There go the boys!'

After a while the

glamour and the girls grew weary, the faces gave us frowns and the fame became notoriety!

This is when I realised that we were famous for the wrong reasons, that the charm and the wit had faded. It was then that

realised that it was at this age that my sense of self was starting to develop, the way I defined myself as a man and a sense of who I was had begun to form. You hear of people travelling or taking a year out of work and educa-

'We love women, alcohol and fashion but above all else we love money' I realised that my closest friend had developed a deadly habit: he'd become a gambling addict.

Helpguide.org labels gambling addiction (or compulsive gambling) as a type of impulse control disorder, saying that people will run the risk of ruining relationships and family breakdown in order to chase the odds.

Luckily, after a year of support and guidance, my friend is somewhat closer to the happy-go-lucky (excuse the pun) chap that he used to be, but it hasn't been without effort.

When I look back over the last couple of years I think hard about the nature of addiction and question my own lifestyle.

I know that I take or rather used to take everything in excess; I love champagne, cigars, cognac and a roulette machine. I swiftly

tion to find themselves and it's something I can relate to. The lyrics of Airbourne spring to mind: 'too much, too young, too fast'. At what point do you stop and consciously realise that the road you're on is the wrong road, that good intentions do indeed pave the road to hell?

I'm not saying that we should all become some sort of introspective Byronic hero, but we should weigh up the odds of our actions, so to speak.

As students we are forming habits that may last us a lifetime, actions that may begin to define our sense of self. So it's not just a matter of avoiding excessive lifestyles to avoid a gambling addiction, it's a case of exercising some self restraint to avoid becoming addicted to some of the seedier aspects of life. Psycholo-

gists speak of addictive personalities but people have free will, the ability to choose one path or another. Thus we need to learn what might be harmful in the long run, not just a high in the moment.

I'm not going to lie: that time was an exciting point in my life, the way that a song by James Brown made us feel invincible or our hearts hammering against our rib cages when we stood close to a roulette wheel. Alas things change and those were fast and vibrant days, but they are the kind that can kill a man quickly.

Television

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

Top Ten comedy panel shows Charlotte Lytton looks at the comedy quizzes that are sweeping the nation.

10. Would I Lie to You? – When he's not roaming the Welsh Valleys playing Uncle Bryn, Rob Brydon fronts this panel show dedicated to finding out the truth about its celebrity contestants. The game is pretty self explanatory: each celebrity must try and convince their opponents that obscure facts about themselves are true. With David Mitchell and Lee Mack on hand to inject witty comedy into proceedings, this show never fails to amuse.

9. They Think it's All Over – Sports themed panel games have always had a select following, but sadly, this show was axed after a monumental eleven years on air.

With 'the name game', 'excuses' and 'sporting vogue' amongst the comical (and somewhat educational for sports novices) rounds, They Think It's All Over was the funniest spin on football around.

8. Big Fat Quiz of the Year – It seems crazy that a show with so few episodes can be such a huge hit, but Jimmy Carr and his army of funnymen never disappoint. Rounding up the year's news by competing in comedy duos, this show has seen the likes of Jonathan Ross, Russell Brand, Noel Fielding and David Mitchell fighting for victory.

7. Whose Line is it Anyway? – Clive Anderson hosted this cult comedy show for ten years after its successful transfer from radio. After improvisation games, fictional characters being created and songs being made up on the spot, a winner would be chosen each week from the panel of four comedians. A fall in the ratings meant that the show was axed in 1998, but you can still catch up on all the old episodes online.

6. Shooting Stars – Perhaps one of the quirkiest shows around, Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer's weekly half hour display of all things wacky and wonderful was a sure-fire hit in its heyday. Revived again last year and set for another series in 2010, it's clear that the pair haven't lost their magic.

5. 8 out of 10 Cats – A new concept in its field, this programme centres around opinion polls and surveys. Sean Lock and Jason Manford welcome celebrity guests onto their teams to try to get to the bottom of the week's craziest statistics, and with Jimmy Carr presiding over the teams, this show is a barrel of laughs every time.

4. QI – Definitely the most educational comedy show around, national treasure Stephen Fry is joined by a cohort of comics uncovering various facts about all things alphabetical. Now in its seventh series and looking at all things 'G', there's nothing else on TV that teaches us so many obscure facts whilst remaining utterly hilarious.

3.

Never Mind the Buzzcocks – This show has become an absolute staple for music fans in search of some light entertainment, in spite of various line-up changes throughout its eighteen year history. With Simon Amstell as the latest host to abandon ship, the last series saw guest presenters ranging from David Tennant to Frank Skinner taking centre stage to supervise the music-based madness.

2. Mock the Week – Credited with the roaring rise in popularity of topical quiz shows and shooting Frankie Boyle and Russell Howard to fame, Mock the Week has certainly made its mark on British television. The only show of its kind to be made up of allcomedian panels, it's no wonder that it has been such a huge comedy success. Although controversial at times, we wouldn't have it any other way.

1. Have I Got News For You – It seems only fair that the top spot goes to the oldest satirical news quiz on the block. With its first broadcast all the way back in 1990, it's incredible that this show has lost none of its spark since then. Having stuck by it all the way through, team captains Paul Merton and Ian Hislop are undoubtedly a huge factor in making the show the huge success it is today.

In the mood for dancing...

23

After the triumph of Chris and Ola in the 2009 Strictly Come Dancing series, Jemma Saunders gives us a view of the glitz and the glamour as the screen stars move to the stage...

LAST weekend, for the third consecutive year, the LG arena at the NEC was the venue for several dates of Strictly Come Dancing: The Live Tour.

Eight celebrities paired up with the show's professional dancers to entertain thousands by recreating some of their most memorable routines from previous series.

The 2010 tour features two Strictly champions; current holder of the glitter ball Chris Hollins, who danced with Ola Jordan, and series four winner Mark Ramprakash, in a new dance partnership with Kristina Rihanoff.

Unfortunately for Team Cola, a wardrobe malfunction with Ola's top meant they couldn't complete their rumba, although head judge Len suggested that had they revealed all it may have improved their chances with the voting audience!

For Mark and Kristina, on the other hand, there was nothing but praise as they performed two now legendary routines: the passionate Argentine tango to 'Goldeneye', and the 'hot hot hot' salsa. Although it seems a shame

that Mark wasn't dancing with Karen Hardy, with whom he won in 2006, Kristina was more than capable of helping him to recreate the intensity of both performances.

And it wasn't just the winners giving a showstopping performance: actress Zoe Lucker performed a flawless and elegant Waltz, whilst rugby star Austin Healey demonstrated his diversity with a commanding tango and a jive that

Teenage dirtbags Sara Sherwood EVEN though Skins has become a shadow of its former awesome self, that doesn't mean that we're not still thrilled that our favourite hedonistic teen drama is returning to our screens.

If you cast your mind back to last season, Effy and the adorable Pandora were introduced to their new group of friends.

The boys were made up of curly haired trickster JJ, immigrant Thomas, pretty boy Freddy and his best friend and bad boy Cook.

The girls were the fantastically attired Naomi and intriguing twins Emily and Katie.

The whole series revolved around pill-popping, brick-bashing and a cast-wide love-polygon which ended with Emily and Naomi happily in love. However, everyone else was in a state of flux with Effy being torn over Cook, with Freddie and Thomas left heartbroken after Pandora slept with Cook.

The first episode, airing on 28th January, revolves around Thomas and a tragic accident which leaves him feeling responsible and contemplating turning to God.

The episode also sees the return of Cook, who has embarked on a summer of escapist debauchery to join the rest of the group at a club night which Thomas is running.

The second episode looks more exciting as it centres upon the infinitely entertaining Emily, Naomi and Cook. Unfortunately, it looks like it might see the return of Cook and Freddie's annoying and frankly banal rivalry over Effy.

So what else do we know about season four?

Will Young will be making a guest appearance as a school councillor, JJ will get a girlfriend who has a nine month old child and Chris Addison appears as the college's headteacher in the first episode.

Hopefully, this season will include more of arrogant, jealous and all-round killer bitch Katie Finch, rather than concentrating on Effy's pseudophilosophical whining whilst she pouts and looks scruffily tortured.

Apart from that season four looks like it'll include the usual Skins melodrama, witty asides and fantastically pretentious soundtrack.

was

like quicksilver.

Austin narrowly missed out on winning Saturday's show, coming second to 2009 semi-finalist Ali Bastian and her partner (in more ways than one!) Brian Fortuna.

Ali and Brian were deserving winners though, receiving high scores from the judges for both their Viennese waltz and samba.

Thanks to the judges and to presenter Kate Thornton, there was

plenty of banter in between performances that was in many ways just as entertaining as the dances themselves.

Ali and Brian were prime targets, with suggestions of marriage abounding, whilst judge Bruno had the audience in stitches with his floral array of comments, particularly for Ricky Groves' unorthodox paso doble.

Besides the two dances from each couple, we were also treated to a group charleston, largely based on the favourite routine of Chris and Ola from last series and a stunning show dance from professionals Ian Waite and Natalie Lowe.

This truly had the wow factor, with the underskirt of Natalie's dress being lit with fairy lights for a magical effect, before this was cast aside and the whole flavour of the dance altered with a more tempestuous track played by the live band.

Strictly on Tour may not be a cheap day out, but given the wealth of entertainment and the feel-good factor, I would thoroughly recommend it to any fan.

Love, lust and vampires Natalie Timmins WITH the Twilight saga setting the world into a vampire frenzy, ITV2 have grabbed the latest in the supernatural craze with new drama The Vampire Diaries, hitting our screens Tuesday 2nd February.

Created by Kevin Williamson, the writer behind Dawson's Creek, this Gossip Girl-esque drama sees the unsuspecting Elena Gilbert trapped between two vampire brothers in a struggle for her soul – it just sucks to be a teenager sometimes.

Following the death of her parents, Elena (played

by Nina Dobrev) finally finds a light at the end of the tunnel in the form of the new stereotypically handsome-yet-mysterious vampire, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley, Smallville) in the suitably eerie setting of Mystic Falls.

Just to make sure it follows the success of Twilight's romance, Stefan is continually repressing his blood lust, proving a constant danger to the unaware Elena.

The bad guy comes in the form of Ian Somerhalder, last notably seen as Boone on Lost. Playing Stefan's evil brother Damon, he returns to Mystic Falls and makes the entire village his prey in a series

of violent attacks, and Damon makes it his plan to claim Elena for himself after realising his brother's interest isn't based on Elena herself: she's a physical reminder of a key figure from their past.

The first episode sees Elena and her brother, Jeremy, adapting to life as orphans in different ways: while Elena finds comfort in her best friend and newfound interest in Stefan, Jeremy falls in with the bad crowd after being rejected by his crush for his rival (cheesy teen heartbreak drama at its best).

However, the drama kicks into action when Damon attacks Jeremy's crush Vicki, with her memories of the attack slowly seeping back throughout the second episode, threatening the secrecy behind Damon's cruelty.

With a love triangle, warring brothers, turbulent teens and, most importantly, some gorgeous vampires, The Vampire Diaries looks set to fill the small-screen void for vampire drama left in the wake of True Blood.

Let's face it, it's about time ITV gave us something bloody good to sink our teeth into.

24 Television

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

Proud to be a Gleek Matthew Williamson rounds up the best characters and musical highlights from the new American phenomenon HIGH School Musical, regretfully, is dead and gone. But rest assured that something bigger and better has arrived to fill its shoes: Glee.

Redbrick TV previewed this Golden Globe winning show at the end of semester one, but now it's on E4 every Monday night, we take a look at our favourite characters and pick out the musical numbers to look out for as the series progresses…

Sue Sylvester With her razor-sharp wit, incredible one-liners and steely determination to bring down the Glee club, Cheerios coach Sue Sylvester is a truly unique comedy creation. With classic lines such as 'I can't stand the sight of kids getting emotional.

Unless it's from physical exhaustion', Sue's wit never fails her and keeps Glee coach Will Schuester firmly on his toes. Keep watching to see Sue's

softer side emerge (if only for a minute or two) as we learn more about her family life and she shows signs of genuine falling in love! And be sure not to miss Sue's debut slot on her local TV station… 'And that's how Sue 'C's it…' may just become one of our new favourite catchphrases.

Emma Pillsbury One of the greatest things about Glee is the level of detail within its humour and nowhere is this more clear than in School Councillor Emma's collection of welfare leaflets, as she presents Rachel with a 'So you like being sick?' pamphlet after finding her throwing up in the school toilets. Emma's love for Will is as obvious as the fact that Jordan and Peter Andre might not be best friends anymore and her attempts to get him to declare his undying love for her provide some of Glee's most touching, involving moments. The spanner in

the works is her decision to marry football-coach Ken – despite the fact he isn't allowed to touch her. In any way.

Terri Schuester Will's wife and her 'hysterical' pregnancy provide one of the darker, more gripping plots of Glee. If you're ever tired of waiting for the next big song-and-dance number, you can always rely on some dark humour from Terri, her scheming sister and their desperate attempt to keep her secret from Will. She may be able to convince pregnant cheerleader Quinn to give up her baby, but can she really get away with a fake pregnancy for nine months?

Finn Hudson The dilemma facing Finn clearly plagues him during certain episodes: should he abandon his sporting roots and risk the humiliation of joining, and enjoying, the

Glee club? Far more pressing than this is the inevitable moment where Finn discovers that he didn't somehow impregnate

jokes, but he doesn't let his disability hold him back. One episode even sees all the characters consigned to wheelchairs

Chastity-Club President Quinn in the hot-tub, but best friend Puck is the father of her baby. No doubt a musical number conveying anguish and despair will accompany the major revelation.

in order to empathise with Artie's condition, before a powerful rendition of Proud Mary, with everyone still dancing away in their wheelchairs. And look out for a budding romance with another Glee club member...

Quinn Fabray The description of how cheerleader Quinn lies to poor Finn makes her seem like far more a bitchy central character than she is. At first very hard and determined to bring down the Glee club, we see the pressures of a teenage pregnancy really start to get to Quinn, with her moral dilemma and Terri's demands leading to an inevitable breakdown.

Artie Abrams Wheelchair-bound Artie is often the object of Sue's

Principal Figgins Whilst he isn't a major character and he's yet to star in his own musical number, Principal Figgins is the perfect go-between in Sue and Will's fights and has more than his fair share of witty oneliners. Will he be fooled

by Sue's deceit or will the Glee club endear themselves to him and secure enough funding to reach nationals?

Perfectly-crafted characters aside, Glee is largely about the songs

and the elaborate dance routines which inevitably accompany them.

And there are plenty more to look out for as the series continues.

From Avril Lavigne (Keep Holding On), to Celine Dion (Taking Chances) and Destiny's Child (Bootylicious), nobody is safe from the Glee treatment bringing the sparkle back to pop.

Mercedes is set to perform the song of every X Factor and American Idol sing-off, And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going. But one of the best performances will see a showdown between gay character Kurt and queen-bee Rachel, with both taking on Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked. This may even top Kurt's truly unique rendition of Beyonce's Single Ladies – what a way to come out to your father.

And as much as we may be immensely annoyed by both Rachel (how many times in an episode can one girl storm out?!) and Will (it's very hard to have any respect for a man who doesn't realise his wife has a cushion up her top for nine months), their musical highlights continue, with versions of Don't Rain On My Parade, Endless Love and No Air still to come.

Each week, the songs performed will be available to download, so it seems Glee won't just be dominating our television screens, but the UK charts too.

Once upon a time in Peckham Simon Fairbanks asks whether there's potential in the prequel to Only Fools and Horses...

ROCK N Chips, the prequel to Only Fools And Horses, aired last Sunday on BBC1.

I expressed my concerns about this concept from the outset, expect-

able as part of its own franchise.

The entire look of the show is different. Everything is shot on location, certain scenes utilise handheld cameras

ing tired mimicry of a now-dated formula: studio sets, laughter tracks, catchphrases. However, these concerns were unfounded because Rock N Chips is barely recognis-

and the colour palette is washed-out to provide a gritty feeling. At a glance, you would think you were watching an episode of Heartbeat. This is quite an apt compari-

son because Rock N Chips is a comedy-drama with emphasis on the drama.

The comedy is notably absent. Despite series creator, John Sullivan, returning for writing duties, there are very few laughs. Most of the comedy that does appear is based on repetition or crude humour, such as the cinema manager masturbating in his office.

Even the young Trigger one-liners fall flat. If you watch Rock N Chips as a comedy then you will frankly be disappointed.

Unexpectedly, therefore, Rock N Chips is best viewed as a drama. After all, there is an important story to tell. This is the story of Joan Trotter's affair with art thief, Freddie 'The Frog' Robdal, and how this relationship led to Rodney's birth.

The characters need to develop quite a lot in 90-minutes and drama is much more suited to this purpose than sitcom.

Kellie Bright is bril-

liant as Joan Trotter: ditsy, lovable, caring mother, unhappy wife, busting two jobs but always putting on a brave face. Then there is Nicolas Lyndhurst, returning

embody such a vastly different character. The scenes with Joan and Freddie are where Rock N Chips is at its best.

Much has been made of James Buckley (Jay

to play his own father.

Freddie is suave, crafty, cultured and intimidating. It is testament to Lyndhurst's skill as an actor that he can cast off the Rodney baggage and

from The Inbetweeners) playing the young Del Boy. Buckley had big shoes to fill and he does this admirably, aptly nailing all the mannerisms of David Jason. However,

he is hardly in the show: Del Boy is a supporting character in his mother's story and he is appropriately sidelined. For now at least.

It is hard to say where Rock N Chips will go next.

The story ends with Rodney's birth and the move into the Nelson Mandela flat, so if it does get cancelled then it has fulfilled its purpose.

However, if it gets picked up for a full series, then presumably the comedy will return. After all, you cannot have situation comedy without a situation but luckily this has now been established.

Joan and Freddie's relationship deserves more screen time and undoubtedly audiences will want to see more of Del Boy's antics as a youth.

Ultimately, Rock N Chips is full of potential and is worth checking out on iPlayer if you missed it the first time. It is great entertainment, just don't expect to laugh.

Sport

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

25

Medal man Manning happy to look Lacrosse battle beyond the glamour and the glory but end up beaten Thomas Clarke talks to the fastest Birmingham alumnus on two wheels FOR many successful sportsmen and women, the toughest and most challenging moment in their career is deciding when to stop.

Some make futile attempts, battling both mind and body, in pursuit of one more moment of glory. Some simply have an aura and a greatness which suggests that they could go on forever. It is rare to find such people, whom we admire and eulogise about, people who have achieved great success, such a practical and sensible attitude to the idea of giving it all up. But when speaking to University graduate Paul Manning, I found just that person.

At the end of the Beijing Olympics in the summer of 2008, whilst the British public were bathing in the successes of Chris Hoy and Rebecca Adlington, Manning quietly announced his retirement from cycling and he rode away from the sport with its most coveted prize; Olympic Gold.

Along with Ed Clancy, Bradley Wiggins and Geraint Thomas, Manning won the Men's team pursuit crown (breaking the world record along the way) to seal the one medal which had alluded him throughout an illustrious career.

Despite Olympic gold alluding him for so long, Manning is Birmingh a m ' s m o s t successful alumnus in

Manning says he would like to be involved with the British cycling team at the Olympics

Men's Lacrosse

Manning shows off his gold medal at the soon to be London Velodrome

1st: Birmingham v Loughborough 9 – 18 Blayne Pereira

Photo: www.london2012.com terms of medals won.

From the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and World Track Championships, he has won a total of 15 medals, six gold, six silver and three bronze.

Unsurprisingly he picks out the achievement in Beijing as his finest moment; 'As a sports person my proudest moment is naturally the Olympic Gold. It sums up my com-

but surely pays off.

This hard work started over a decade before any of his Olympic achievements were accomplished and central to his cycling education was his time at the University. Manning graduated from Birmingham in 1996 with a degree in Earth Sciences and during his time at university much of his commitments involved cycling.

'We went from thinking about winning a medal before Sydney to learning that it was possible' petitive career'.

At the Sydney Games in 2000, at the age of 30, he won a Bronze, then pushed on to achieve Silver in Athens four years later before his moment of golden glory in the Laoshan Velodrome two summers ago.

Manning acknowledges that this progression helped both himself and his team really focus on winning gold; 'We went from thinking about winning a medal before Sydney to learning that it was possible. This realisation meant our ambitions and expectations shifted from what they were and in Athens and Beijing we wanted to win the gold.

It took two attempts but [our success shows] that hard work does in fact get results.'

In fact Manning's Olympic experience not only provided him with a fitting climax to his career but also embodies the notion that hard work slowly

He insists however that achieving the right balance between studying and competing wasn't difficult; 'It wasn't too hard to juggle [my time], I always fitted in time for training and racing around my studies'. Manning did concede that it was useful being a local lad (he grew up in Lichfield) and being able to commute from home in Sutton Coldfield did help him in his final year.

Manning also admits that his extraordinary dedication to cycling (he even took his bike on a six week mapping trip to the Alps because he didn't want to miss out on any riding) meant he didn't lead much of a 'normal student life'. In keeping with his pragmatic attitude, he has no regrets about his time at the university; 'I love the campus and the history of the University.

It has been really special to head back in the last few years and reacquaint

myself with the place.'

Despite those who were successful in Beijing spending more time in the spotlight, it is not a surprise to hear that the Birmingham alumnus is unfazed by missing out the attention that his achievements deserved.

'Admittedly cycling is on the up in terms of media coverage, I never felt it was something that I missed out on. It isn't the reason a person competes just something you learn to cope with along with success.'

Along with holding no bitterness about missing cycling's potential cash camel, Manning is also content to be coaching rather than competing when it comes to London 2012. He is back working with British Cycling and is also involved in the building of the London Velodrome and since retiring has also enjoyed travelling the world.

Commenting on Olympic triumph, he concluded 'It was my peak. Olympic Gold on top of World and Commonwealth titles along with a world record is a pretty high point'.

Manning clearly felt his time had come and had 'planned for my retirement and so have continued to enjoy it. If an athlete fears retirement they have either had it forced on them or not planned for it.'

Manning's determined attitude has clearly been key to both his career victories and happy retirement. I only hope that he can pass on this winning formula to his successors and ensure Great Britain's cyclists are laden with gold come 2012.

'OH no, not Redbrick' was the warm reception I received when I arrived to report on the Men's Lacrosse 1st team, as they took on Loughborough on the Metchley 3G pitch.

The home team were huge underdogs heading into the game against arguably the country's most well known sporting university, having won just two of their seven games so far this season and having also lost the reverse fixture 12-0. Clearly, the players were not too optimistic about their chances but nonetheless remained in good spirits.

Loughborough started strongly and quickly found themselves two goals up, thanks to Dave Gill and Will Sugden (who features in the national team). The lead could have doubled but for Joe Church putting his effort wide and then a brilliant close range save by Dan Charles from a Sugden effort.

Birmingham fought back to level the match through Luke de Noronha and Steve Smith, before Loughborough goalkeeper Dan Charles wandered towards midfield where he found Gill who, in turn, found the back of the net with a powerful longrange shot. The hosts fought back and Joe Page levelled once more before de Noronha set up Smith, who scored, to give them a somewhat surprising 4-3 lead. Smith forced a good save from Charles before Sugden found Alex Castle, who also plays in the national set-up, to restore parity as the first quarter came to an end.

The second quarter saw the two teams continue to play an unlikely game of cat-and-mouse.

Photo: Tom Flathers

Castle was again on target before a brace from Smith saw Birmingham retake the lead. Dave Raybould was then seemingly given all the space in the world by the Birmingham defence but he lacked composure when it mattered and struck a wayward effort well wide.

Sugden's equalizing effort was met with another goal from Smith, who somehow turned the ball into the net after an almighty goal-mouth scramble. The visitors called a time-out with the score at 7-6 in favour of the home side.

At this point Birmingham club captain Jack Grylls, who was not playing due to injury, was heard expressing his pleasant surprise at his side's success against the leagues top team, 'this is ridiculous, we're doing really well.'

Unfortunately, Birmingham could not maintain that lead as the half drew to a close, with Sugden hitting a quick-fire brace, either side of another fantastic save from Charles.

Loughborough flexed their muscles in the second half and managed to score five goals without reply to give themselves a 13-7 lead, Sugden scoring another three along with goals for Hugh Mitchson and Church. Smith did reply for Birmingham, but Sugden countered as the penultimate quarter ended. The final quarter saw a repeat of the one which preceded it, with Sugden continuing his outstanding game by scoring four goals all after Smith had pulled one back for Birmingham.

While the 18-9 defeat might seem like a comprehensive defeat, Grylls was clearly fairly delighted with the result, 'Our first half performance was unbelievable...lots of their players have some sort of experience at national level like their number five (Sugden whose final tally came to 12). Men's lacrosse is only in its second year competitively, so despite being in the same league as us, Loughborough are a much better side. A result like this is very encouraging as we get ready for the knockouts'.

26 Sport

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

Edinburgh can't keep Birmingham at Bray Women's Hockey

Photos: Lucy Percival

1st: Birmingham

A Birmingham player keeps control of the ball despite close attention from three Edinburgh defenders

The girls celebrate another goal on the way to an easy win

v Edinburgh 8-0 Toby Maxwell WHEN these two teams met earlier in the season, Birmingham came away with a narrow 1-0 win.

This time around, the score was much more resounding for the hosts, who cruised to an 8-0 win at the Bournbrook pitches courtesy of a virtuoso offensive display which saw Sarah Page score a well executed hat-trick.

Birmingham started with a real sense of urgency and the highly impressive Sophie Bray fired just wide straightaway.

This was rapidly followed by a decent chance for Page who fashioned it herself through a determined dribble. However, Page wasn't to wait long for her goal which arrived after ten minutes as she capitalised on a great pass from Bray to calmly slot past the Edinburgh keeper. Page's strike served as a catalyst and a flurry of first half goals were to follow in quick succession.

The first of these came from Jenna Woolthen who scored after surging play and accurate passing by Sarah Haycroft. Immediately after it was 3-0, this time Elin Thomas benefiting from brilliant attacking play by Bray, who effortlessly skipped past two Edinburgh challenges before presenting Thomas with the goal at her mercy and she duly made no mistake. It could have been four, moments later but good goalkeeping denied Becky Slater.

Birmingham were to increase their lead before half-time and the fourth goal came from Page who firmly struck a shot past the hapless keeper into the net. At the break, Birmingham coach Phil Gooderham instructed his players to maintain their concentration and to keep the discipline at the back.

The second-half started, however, with Birmingham slightly sloppier than in the first period, and without the same intensity that enabled them to

open up such a commanding lead.

Thankfully, the presence of Bray meant that there was a constant creative spark despite the decreased tempo and the home team eventually created a few half chances, one in particular which saw Page denied her hattrick after a well worked penalty corner. With 20 minutes left, the hosts upped their energy levels and made it 5-0, with Page teeing up Becky Slater to tap in. A fine strike from

Emily Atkinson almost made it six but she was denied by a good save.

Three goals were to come in the last ten minutes of the game. The first of these came from Haycroft converting a tantalising pass from Bray, and then Page dispatched a penalty to finally complete her hat-trick. Alys Brookes then completed the rout in the last minute, turning in a pass from Slater. Birmingham had really strolled to a simple victory here, with their

opponents not putting up much of a fight and home goalkeeper Josie Morris not having a single save to make.

After the game Gooderham praised the positive attitude of his team and though not wanting to tempt fate, claimed that Birmingham have 'a better chance than most' of winning silverware this year. On the evidence of this match, the team have an abundance of attacking flair and force to trouble any future opponents.

Golfers hold nerve to secure league success

Photos: Tom Flathers

THE University of Birmingham's men's golf firsts edged out Central Lancashire in a tight match that finished 3.5 - 2.5 in favour of the home side. The match, played at Edgbaston Golf Club on Wednesday morning, means that Birmingham secure the Premier North Divison title after winning six of their seven games.

Sport

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010 Men's football preserve Premier status

27

Rugby League rollercoaster ends all square Photos: Tom Flathers

Men's Football League 1st: Loughborough v Birmingham 2–4 COMBINE the threat of relegation with the connotations surrounding an away day in Loughborough and most teams would be beaten before they even got on the bus.

The University of Birmingham men's football team however, used fear and a sense of injustice to overpower an overrated Loughborough side and secure their status in the BUCS Northern Premier League.

The visitors got off to the best possible start with left winger the impressive Rich Powell scoring but Loughborough were allowed back into the game through an Anthony Church header before half-time.

The second period began with the hosts scoring a controversial penalty after Alex Deeming had seemingly won the ball. Spurred on by a desire for redemption Birmingham got a deserved equaliser thanks to Deeming before Powell set up Sam Youngs to restore the visitors advantage. Birmingham's domination was confirmed when Adam Farnworth tapped into an open goal to complete a satisfying away day.

W

Birmingham celebrating far too soon

Men's Rugby League 1st: Birmingham v St Mary's 28 – 28 Edward Conlon A LAST gasp St Mary's try cruelly stole victory from the University of Birmingham 1st team in a pulsating rugby league game which ended with the scores tied at 28-28.

On the back of a 56-0 drubbing last week, Birmingham needed a positive start to boost their confidence. The home side immediately put their opponents under pressure and within two minutes had taken the lead. A clever kick from scrum half,

Aidan Oakley, bounced kindly for James Johnston who scored under the posts.

Birmingham looked stronger going forward throughout the game. A high tackle gave them a penalty on their opponent's 30 metre line and they looked to press home the advantage, passing the ball well from right to left. Stand-off Andy Stimpson then pierced the defensive gap with a kick to find Johnston for his second try.

As the game progressed, Birmingham allowed their opponents to gain some momentum of their own with tackles being missed in the centre of the field. St Mary's were soon back in the game and, after a good kick found touch., they piled forward. The Birmingham defence couldn't handle the pressure and the subsequent try and conversion try reduced the difference to six points.

Weak tackling from Birmingham continued to assist the opposition in their comeback and the home side seemed to have lost some of their early confidence. However, on the stroke of half time, the hosts surged forward and won a penalty. Birmingham showed quick hands as the ball moved from right to left to find Matt Infante who scored in the corner. Despite the missed conversion the home side led 16-6 at the break.

Two more Oakley penalties soon increased the lead by four points but further pressure from the hosts was undone when they were caught ball watching in their opponent's half. The away side played a fast passing move which found the full back on the left wing, who used his pace to full effect and sprinted 70 metres to touch down under the posts before adding the two points himself.

Only minutes later a

poor Birmingham pass was intercepted on half way by the St Mary's centre, who sprinted 20 metres before offloading to the full back to finish the job for his second try. His kick made it 20-18 and Birmingham were in danger of throwing the game away.

A third Oakley penalty soon increased Birmingham's lead but St Mary's continued to pile forward, sensing that they were turning the corner in the pursuit for a victory. As they moved closer to Birmingham's try line, the forwards proved too strong and the London based side scored to take the lead for the first time at 22-24.

But Birmingham were not going to let a positive performance go to waste.

An excellent cross field kick from Oakley found Infante on the left wing who slid over to regain the lead. With just five minutes remaining and Birmingham leading by four

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Redbrick 1363

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Sponsored by Waterstone's at the University of Birmingham This week's prize is a £10 Waterstone's voucher

Across

Down

1. 1942 film starring Humphrey Bogart (10) 5. ____ Tissue, Red Hot Chilli Peppers' 1999 single (4) 7. Popular saying or phrase (7) 8. ____ Davies, star of Johnathon Creek (4) 10. Captivate, enrapture (9) 12. Curved structure (4) 14. Enthusiastic, zealous (7) 15. Solitary; isolated (4) 16. Seizure, abduction (10)

1. A body of people with a common interest or goal (11) 2. _____Encounter, 1945 British film starring Celia Johnson (5) 3. ________Ahern, author of 2009 novel, The Book of Tomorrow (7) 4. _______ Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden author (7) 6. Pulsation, beat (11) 9. Amiable; friendly (7) 11. The Last 10 _______, Simon Kernick;s latest novel (7) 13. Fragrance, scent (5)

points the outcome of the game was still anyone's guess.

As they went about maintaining their slender lead, the hosts gained good territory when they had the ball but were still missing some big tackles when it mattered. St Mary's remained camped in their own half looking unable to break through.

But again they found their full back, this time on the right wing, who put in another impressive sprint performance to outpace the Birmingham defence and score his hat trick in the corner.

He then had the chance to convert his try to steal a last minute away victory but was unable to overcome the tight angle as his team nervously looked on. As the ball sailed wide of the posts, Birmingham were left relieved and will hope next time that they can be more ruthless and dominant in order to be victorious.

Last issue's solutions:

equator==bloc m==d=p======o b=torpid==t=l e==p=r==coral l==t=e=i==o=a leases=n==y=b i====s=n====o s=o==e=oyster h=n==d=c=e==a meyer==e=c==t e=x==tundra=i n======c=e==o trap==neutron 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 £10 voucher from the University's Waterstone's branch.

The deadline for the crossword is Tuesday 2nd February.

Last issue's winner was Stephanie Jenner, 2nd year Post Grad, English Literature. We will email you to confirm a time for you to collect your prize.

28 Sport

REDBRICK 1363 / 29th JANUARY 2010

SPORT

26 Golf Photo report from men's title winning victory

27 Rugby League The men secure a credible draw at Bournbrook

Lloyd-Penny shows his value to bankroll win Men's Hockey 1st: Birmingham v Nottingham Trent 4–1 James Phillips CAPTAIN Nils Lloyd-Penny celebrated his 21st birthday in style by leading the University of Birmingham's men's hockey team to a comfortable victory over their opponents from Nottingham Trent. Rich Marshall, Nick Rees, David Harding and Pete Jackson all managed to get on the score sheet for the hosts.

Prior to the match, the two coaches could be found in contrasting moods. The home team's Malcolm Wood was confident when he said, 'We should win comfortably.

Trent appear to be in disarray with only twelve outfield players available. They have three or four outstanding individuals but the rest aren't so good. We've been solid throughout; the only team that can beat us today is us.' Trent's young

A scramble ensues in the Nottingham Trent penalty area

Birmingham force the Nottingham Trent goalkeeper into a smart save Australian boss Andrew Monte was less assured as he stated, 'It's always hard after a break. You never know what you're going to get. The guys are excited though, we want a win'.

The game got underway on the Bournbrook pitches in chilly, overcast

conditions but the home team got off to a flying start when Marshall was set up by Tim Craven to open the scoring inside two minutes. However, before a further two minutes had passed, the away team were level with Trent's number six John Hickman scoring from a

penalty stroke.

The surprisingly open start continued with the visitors' Chris Gregg, Shay O'Sullivan and Dan Webb breaking down the right, Webb dribbled into the centre of the pitch but was foiled by Birmingham's defenders and Rees managed to break away. A series of penalty corners were awarded to Birmingham but Trent's vocal goalkeeper Chris Burton kept out Craven, amongst others. At the other end, Gregg, O'Sullivan and Will Cotton endeavoured to win a penalty corner, but home keeper Patrick Smith defended his goal well.

Somewhat against the run of play, Rees got a touch in the shooting circle to make it 2-1 to Birmingham with just 12 minutes played. The away team responded through Gregg but his impressive run lead to nothing as he shot wide of the target.

Andy Brookes and Rich Gere-Evans then attacked down the left which eventually resulted in Harding

scoring after a penalty corner. With only 15 minutes on the clock, Brum were pulling ahead at 3-1.

Rees impressed playing across the whole frontline and was unlucky to see a shot saved by Burton before missing the rebound.

Birmingham continued to control possession for a lengthy period after their third goal but in the minutes leading up to half-time Trent managed to get themselves back into the game and the hosts were put under pressure, conceding several penalty corners.

When Brum's Craven attempted to counter-attack to relieve the pressure, John Ames and Gregg combined to keep the ball near the Birmingham goal. A wild tackle from Webb on defender Brookes kept up the tempo and Birmingham managed to scrape through to half-time with the score still 3-1 despite conceding a further two penalty corners just before the whistle.

Photos: Tom Flathers The hosts seemed rejuvenated after half-time and launched several attacks, Pat Longson, Marshall, Rees and Brookes all getting involved. A great touch from Marshall just failed to set up Charlie Hayward on 40 minutes but Trent were looking hapless again with the hosts bossing the possession. Gregg did win a penalty corner after intercepting a stray pass but Webb wasted his chance and after 52 minutes Jackson wrapped up the game after some good play by the home team. Despite the energetic Webb's efforts, Birmingham saw out the game easily and Longson was unlucky not to add to the score line.

Captain Lloyd-Penny was understandably cheerful saying, 'It's a good result. We've got one of the best defences in the league and we converted our short corners well.' The team can now look forward to the start of the knock-out round in two weeks time.