Fresh November 2009
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Could You Afford £7,000 each Year on Fees alone? By Josh Paterson
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Graduation: Will the build up to the big day at Guildford Cathedral really be worth it?
n the middle of the biggest economic downturn of the last decade, It’s highly likely that you have all heard the rumours circulating of student tuition fees being increased to a phenomenal projected figure of over £7000 in some institutions.
they could charge top up fees, they were also told that in return they would have to significantly improve their bursaries for poorer students. This didn’t happen. Last year, universities spent £19 million less than they had promised. They clearly cannot be relied upon to provide for poorer students.
The Government have stated that throughout 2009, a review of student finance is required by the same legislation that brought in variable tuition fees five years ago.
“Higher fees would lead to a disastrous market in higher education, which would inevitably price poorer students out of our most prestigious institutions. We cannot fall for vice chancellors’ promises that poorer students would be provided for.”
Higher fees mean higher student loans! If student fees increase to the £7,000 level, that some feel is now necessary, then it would mean that some current & prospective university students would come out of University with a shiny new degree in hand, but also with massive amounts of debt looming over their heads, up to 3 times bigger than that of previous years in the worst case!
NUS’ Blueprint proposes an alternative to the current loan repayment scheme, whereby students only contribute to the costs of their degree once they have graduated. Under this system, those who benefit most from university by earning more will contribute more.
If the caps were to raise, it would also lead to the marketisation of education, making affordability a barrier for potential students. This would mean people would only be able to take up courses that they could afford, rather than having a free choice over their study and in turn, the class gap would only continue to grow, with inevitable retention rates from those of less fortunate socioeconomic background. To put it bleakly, students would become marginalised. It could be argued that with the changes, the Government would most probably create more scholarships for students with exceptional circumstances. However as NUS President Wes Streeting stated in October of this year, you cannot take promises at face value. “When universities were told that
Launching the Blueprint, Wes Streeting said “NUS’ proposals would give universities double the amount of funding they currently receive, while allowing the children of poorer families to go to university without the fear of debt. They would also prevent the emergence of a market in higher education, where only the rich could afford to attend our most prestigious universities.” The silver lining is that this legislation has not yet been passed. However, it is time to take action, and get involved in putting an end to any more talk of raising the cap. It’s time to take the message about unfair fees out into the community, and the RSU and NUS needs your support... >Story continues on Page 10
Campaigns Pullout:
Black History Week review Well-Being Week preview
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www.roehamptonstudent.com
Editorial Anant Naik, Editor in Chief & Production, VP Communications Hello Roehampton! We’ve got a great issue for you this time, with some fantastic diversity, but make sure you read about the Town Takeovers (Front page) as well as The Wave protest, as these are campaigns very high on the student agenda right now! We had our first ever writers meeting for Fresh Newspaper the same week the last issue came out. So that was great in terms of getting some first hand feedback, and I was especially happy as we managed to establish a committed team of house writers, so hopefully within this issue, you’ll now be able to read less word heavy articles but a larger number of articles, with greater diversity of subject matter, reflective of our writership! I also hope you find this issue a bit more colorful throughout as well! BW, Anant! Josh Paterson, Editor, Student Media Officer Hello everyone! Hope you have had an amazing first few weeks of term & have settled into University life! We’ve got a busy month ahead, with Well-Being Week and S.H.A.G. Week on the campaigns front and of course all of RSU’s massive weekly events! The Comms department have been busy scribbling away getting this issue of Fresh ready for you all. But we are still always looking for writers & photographers to contribute, so come along and get involved! Happy Reading Readers!
The Green Issue: The Wave (p.9)
In Focus: Question Time (p.11)
Fresh This issue of Fresh Newspaper was brought to you by: Editor in Chief & Production - Anant Naik Editor - Josh Paterson With special thanks to: The Sabbs, Harry Harris, Nikki Watson, Alex Murray, Tadashi Suzuki, Berlinda Stott, Richard Donnelly, Joe Booth, Jerome Thomas, Sam Kirby, Caty Garcia, Natasha Pearson, Lucy Wallis, Luke Springett, Tim Birkbeck, Tom Halet, Ed Eames Martin McGlynn, Adam Le Breuilly, Chris Davis, Georgia Day, Nhya Pasha, Dave Robson, Jonny Green, Luke Holiday, Ruth Price, Rochelle Harvey, Ryan William Cooper, Beth Cissel, Kelsey Heng, Jessica May Fergusson and Banquet Records!
Interview: Ash (p.21)
WRITERS WANTED. Are you interested in writing for Fresh Newspaper? Is there something you're not happy with and think you could improve on? Send in any articles you would like published to either fresh@roehampton.ac.uk or anant.naik@roehampton.ac.uk The deadline for the next edition of Fresh will be 27th November 2009. For all advertising/marketing enquiries please email Chris O’Boyle on c.oboyle@roehampton.ac.uk or phone 020 8392 3221 RSU, Hirst Union Building, Digby Stuart College, Roehampton University, Roehampton Lane, London, SW15 5PH
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News RSU travel to Manchester for the NUS’ first ever Zone Conference’s Members of the RSU’s Sabbatical team and full time staff represented Roehampton students at the NUS’s first ever ‘Zone Conferences’ during the tail end of October. These events came about as a result of a recent governance review that took away a lot of policy discussion away from the Annual conference and gave officers and staff more chance to discuss specific issues in depth. There were 5 different Zone Conferences running back to back in Manchester, these were: FE (Further Education), Society and Citizenship, Higher Education, Welfare and Union Development. HE (Higher Education) Zone Conference Gary Coates(RSU President) and Gemma Kelly(Academic & Finance Advisor) attended this conference which looked at issues specifically related to Higher Education. We attended workshops and seminars including ‘Supporting Part Time students’, where a representative from Staffordshire University took us through their research in to the specific needs and wants of Part Time students. She claimed that the future of Higher Education would shift much more towards a flexible approach to study, suggesting that the standard term dates and times would have to be extended to reflect the needs of students with outside commitments to their course. We also heard from Aaron Porter, VP for Higher Education of NUS, who outlined his vision for the future of Higher Education, in which he outlined the severe threat of a market based fees system . This led to a panel discussion with representatives from Anthony McClaren, Chief Executive of the Quality Assurance Agency (Higher Education’s answer to OFSTED) and Paul Marshall from the ‘1994 Group’ of Universities. David Willetts MP, Shadow Minister for Universities and Skills, spoke to the conference at the start of Day Two and discussed the need for a logical and constructive debate for any future government when tackling issues concerning funding. He was very shrewd in not giving too many straight answers though! We also continued networking and elected members of the ‘Zone Committee’, who are elected to act as a scrutiny panel for the VP, Aaron Porter in that area for the forthcoming year! Union Development Anant Naik (VP Communications) joined Gary Coates in Manchester for the Union Development Zone Conference the next day. This conference focused around making Unions a more effective campaigning body through effective mediation and also looked at helping Unions to realise their potential when looking externally and building a profile both regionally and nationally. Delegates heard from Carl Roper, a representative of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) who discussed how Student Unions and worker’s Unions could work together for the benefit of their memberships. A question arose over a potential clash between SU’s and trade unions over teacher’s strikes, with the particular example of London Metropolitan University, who have been hit with widespread course closures and redundancies. There were also a wide range of workshops and best practice sharing sessions, including achieving best practice in Union communications, the role of Students’ Unions in the 2012 Olympics, as well as improving the quality of elections (which featured a debate over e-voting, something we are yet to use for any form of election in Roehampton). Graeme Wise , a senior staff member from NUS and Robbie Erbmann who
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represented the co-operative party, gave a presentation on their report “Cooperatives on Campus”, which looked at ways SU’s and institutions can work together with students to create a co-operative approach to solutions that include dual ownership of halls of residences, establishing credit unions (where staff and students contribute to one common pot of money, which can then be distributed back to people in exceptional circumstances, similar to the University’s ‘Access to Learning’ fund. We also received a report from the VP Union Development, Richard ‘Bubble’ Budden and elected the part time zone committee for this particular zone as well as scrutinising the work done over the previous year in this field of work.
Fire in Southlands highlights danger of unattended cooking In the early hours of 20 October, there was a serious fire at Southlands that was started due to an unattended pan that was being used to cook chips. Luckily, nobody was injured in the fire and this was at least partly due to the swift actions of Southlands Flat Rep Steve Molyneaux who got all his Freshers out whilst closing doors behind them and thus containing the spread of the fire from the kitchen. Steve was reported by one of his Freshers as “coping brilliantly” as “he made sure we were all out and then grouped us together outside.” Steve has been commended by Southlands Student Welfare Officer, Belinda Stott, as being “a true hero that epitomises the role of the Flat Rep in supporting Freshers in a calm, professional manner and putting the needs of his Freshers as central.” The whole of the affected blocks were evacuated to Chapman Hall which was used as a centre for students to wait in. The Southlands community worked together to make sure that this group of students were fully supported on the night as well as over the longer term. Some students from the flat stayed in the flat of the DP and LO before being relocated in other rooms throughout the University until their flat is ready to be occupied again. Steve is still working with the DP, LO and Student Welfare Officer to support all his Freshers during the aftermath of the fire. Student Services has also offered support through their Health and Wellbeing Officer. Steve commented, “It has been a hard time for everyone in the flat for different reasons. As Flat Rep of a very close group of residents that have always supported each other, I’m just looking forward to moving back in. I was told that would be in about 3 weeks time and we’re all aiming for that so we can start getting things back to normal. Everyone feels bad but we are working through it together as a group and trying to get some positives out of the situation in terms of thinking how we can raise student awareness about fire safety throughout the Uni.” The Accommodation Office has sent photos of the fire damage to all students living in Halls in order to highlight the importance of fire safety and awareness as well as stressing the need for students to be vigilant at all times. Additionally, in conjunction with the Student Welfare Officers and the DPs and LOs, the University Health and Safety Team has initiated Fire Safety training for the Flat/Hall Reps in all four colleges as an immediate response. Please contact your Student Welfare Officer if you want to be involved in this training or direct specific fire safety queries to the University Health and Safety Manager, Graham Courtney (G.Courtney@roehampton.ac.uk). Anyone needing emotional or welfare support or just to talk to someone about what happened should contact their Student Welfare Officer .
www.roehamptonstudent.com
Any Other Business New Top-up Style Flat Rep Training Scheme Announced by SWO’s This year, the four Student Welfare Officers are delivering the Flat/Hall Rep programme of 8 workshops along with the RSU and Student Services. Although, the workshops are being held at each of the 4 colleges on specified dates, they are all open to Flat/Hall Reps and other interested students from any college. Once again, Money Doctor training has been included in the training programme at key points during the academic year. For the first time, St John’s Ambulance basic first aid training is being included in the training package for Flat/Hall Reps - with a first aid certificate for attendees. There is also option of extending the training so that students now have an opportunity to become fully qualified St John’s Ambulance volunteers living here in Halls. The sessions at Southlands are being hosted by the collge Chaplaincy team and are being held in Southlands Chapel on Monday dates at lunch times. Southlands College Flat Reps are being used to pilot an e learning initiative which is designed with alternative learning engagement strategies in mind. The intention is to meet the diverse learning styles of all students as well as taking account of the academic, social and outside commitments of students. The e learning option for Southlands students means that their training programme now is far more flexible and student friendly and it is hoped that this will encourage Freshers, in particular, to get involved with the Flat Rep system and to have training before they take up the role rather than only after they are appointed. Southland’s e learning strategies include a Facebook group and electronic access to the session resources from all the big workshops as well as bite size face to face support. Web page promotion of the scheme (with direct access to resources) is currently being developed with RSU, Southlands College and Will Cooper from the student mentoring team. If successful, it is proposed that this e model might be rolled out to the other colleges. Students who are interested in any aspects of the Flat/Hall Rep training programme should contact their Student Welfare Officer. The Flat Rep contacts for Southlands students who want information about e learning are Matt Aung (Senior Training Manager) on twistweaver@hotmail.com or his assistant Kelsey Hockerday on center_stage@hotmail.co.uk.
system that has given £500 billion to rescue failed banks, and then used this to justify cuts in spending on education and talk of tripling tuition fees. The time has come to ask – where is our bailout? Where is the bailout for the one million unemployed under-24s in this country? Where is the bailout for those who were sold university education on the promise of better jobs, only to find out that, for all their learning and hard work, they too are destined for the economic scrapheap? On 28th November, a national protest will march to parliament to demand answers to these questions, and categorically say NO to unpaid or low paid apprenticeships, YES to a living wage for all, NO to tuition fees, YES to full employment and, mostly importantly, YES to putting people before corporate profit. For many of us, these will be matters of conscience and principle. But, for all of us, these are matters of our future success and, indeed, the future of our society. More information is available at www.youthfightforjobs.com Richard Donnelly
NUS News
A round up from the national voice for students.
NUS calls on Government to “practice what it preaches” The National Union of Students (NUS) warned that student representation would be essential to the validity of the forthcoming review of higher education funding, as the Government prepares to publish a set of proposals for the future of the sector. NUS President Wes Streeting said “We agree with the Government that students should be an equal partner in higher education, and that is why it is absolutely essential that we are given a seat at the table in the forthcoming review of fees, rather than merely being consulted. “
Chuka Umunna joins NUS in fight against fees Labour’s Streatham candidate Chuka Umunna announced on his official website that he is joining forces with NUS to call for the abolition of up-front student fees and oppose the possibility of new higher ‘top-up’ fees in the future.
As well as the obvious benefits of attending training, students’ commitment to this programme will be recognised by the Roehampton Award certificates which will be presented to regular attendees at a ceremony run by Student Services at the end of the academic year.
Both Chuka Umunna and NUS are calling for an end to student fees charged upfront and are instead backing alternative plans set out in the Funding Our Future campaign, with graduates contributing according to the benefit they have gained from their time in higher education.
Belinda Stott (SWO Southlands College)
NUS calls for resignation of student loans chief
Support a Better Deal for Graduates and All Young People. Students are told again and again that their having to pay for their university education is justified by the promise that they are more likely to be recruited for higher paid jobs than others. However, this promise, which prompted millions of students to go to university and pay for the privilege of a higher education, has been thoroughly violated in the current economic crisis. There has never been a worse time to graduate – 20% of all people under the age of 24 are now unemployed, with that figure expected to rise for some time. Businesses are closing their graduate recruitment schemes, while those graduates who are lucky enough to get a job are often being forced into unpaid apprenticeships on the often violated promise of eventually getting paid work. For many next year, graduation will not be a celebration of a new-found freedom and self-respect, but rather the start of a desperate attempt to find work to pay off student debts and avoid having to give up the liberty they’re use to by moving back into their family homes. Broken promises, exploitation and pessimism – these are the symptoms of a government and economic system that cares more about increase of profit than about the happiness of the people they are supposed to serve. We inhabit a political
NUS called for the chief executive of the Student Loans Company (SLC), Ralph Seymour-Jackson, to resign as new figures revealed that, as of 18 October, 146,000 students had still not received funds despite their applications having been approved. NUS President Wes Streeting said “The Student Loans Company has given students a string of broken promises about when they should expect to receive some or all of their loan payments. SLC bosses have failed to acknowledge the distress they have caused to students, and have sought to apportion blame anywhere other than their own doorstep. “If they had been open about the extent of the problems, universities would have been able to plan contingency funding more effectively. It is time for Ralph SeymourJackson to take full responsibility for this shambles and resign immediately.”
Willetts on fees: “no case for lifting the cap today” Shadow secretary of state for universities, David Willetts told an audience of student delegates at NUS Higher Education Zone Conference that if there was a vote on the fees cap today he would not support any increase. Willetts said “It is very important that the student voice is heard; in relation to the CBI report, Vice-Chancellors and businesses seem to have got together around a table, at which students were not present, and seem to have agreed that the way to solve the HE crisis is for students to pay more. This is an entirely predictable outcome and underlines why the student voice needs to be heard”.
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Fresh Newspaper
Blogs President, Gary Coates
Digby Stuart, Harry Harris
Just when I thought it would start calming down...No Chance! Gemma Kelly(Academic & Financial Advisor) and I have started the Programme Rep training sessions, the first ones we’ve ever done! Thanks to all reps who came and we hope you enjoy your badges! I’ve also been involved in the Campaigns Crawl, it was a really good chance to catch up with students, see how everyone is getting on!
We have all got a Cold.
I’ve also been working on the Environmental Agenda with Jonathan Horner from Estates on a departmental competition that RU are apart of! I’ve also been meeting with : College Principals, Head of Catering, Drama students, Birkbeck SU, the Director of Student Services and a meeting about Student Discipline amongst other things, it’s been chaos! I’m writing this on the train back from NUS Zone Conferences (full report in this issue) Coming up...a lot more meetings and our second SUC, where I’m presenting our annual budget and we’re hoping to co-opt our last available officer position... Exciting times!
Last week I met with a group called the Society of the Sacred Heart. Many of you will not know this but this group of Nuns are in fact the founding mothers, if you will, of Digby Stuart College and hark all the way back to its creation in 1874. We are currently entering into talks with the Society about contributions that they can make this year in student life so keep a look out for some developments on that front......
VP Activities, Natasha Blake Activities! Activities! Everyone’s raving about activities, and that’s exactly what I like to hear. This semester has been running smoothly which is brilliant. Trips away are going great, with Brighton and Go-Ape going very well and with Disney land Paris next. I’m happy to say that everyone’s on board the trips band wagon this year! We have plenty more on offer so keep a lookout for info. Deposits for Amsterdam are being taken as of Monday the 2nd of November so get on it quick as it usually fills up fast! Classes such as Tai-Chi and Self defence still need to build on numbers, so if you’re bored and want to do an activity get involved. £3 a go is nothing, that’s a pint and a shot at the bar! Pole dancing is thriving and the DJ workshops run by the DJ society are going down well for more info about these classes look on the RSU website. I’m keen to get your ideas on Activities you want to hold? Contact me at natasha.blake@ roehampton.ac.uk . Look at the wellbeing week section for info on activities there. Also on November 23rd I will be holding the First ART attack, which will be fun and creative. Societies and Sports are doing well; there are enthusiastic staff and students at Roehampton who have the passion to succeed. The allotment society held their harvest moon night which went down a treat, live music, dance, and food all in the outside space made by those who have passion for the environment. The ACS also held their first event for Black history, ‘black to the future’ showcased fashion, singers, dance and poetry. It was a great way to kick of the week, photos can be found on the RSU website. There are plenty of other society events happening so keep checking the many Facebook society groups! Well that’s me done for now, my activity filled brain is going to explode from intensity.
VP Communications, Anant Naik With everything, jigsawing together naturally by now, it’s been a great month for the communications department, which I wrapped up at NUS’ first ever Union Development Zone Conference in Manchester at the tail end of the month(see page 2) The induction period is now over, and the comms angle has shifted from informing and making students aware of our work at the RSU, to actually getting students involved and engaging with what we do. Last month we managed to put out the first ever episode of the RSU Podcast! The show chopped between RSU updates, chitter chatter, topical discussions, interviews, info on societies, campaigns etc. To plug the gaps, we had music chosen by students via our new chart on social networking site Last.fm (you can have a peek at the chart on page 21). Please join the Last.fm group by searching for ‘RSU Radio Chart’ so we’ve got more to go on! As always keep checking the website at www.roehamptonstudent.com to keep on track with what we do, if you’re and eager beaver then follow our tweets at www.twitter.com/RoehamptonSU . Cheers!
VP Welfare & Campaigns, Becky Aston Hi Everyone So term has really kicked in and we are over half way through our first semester, and I hope everyone is settled in and loving Roehampton life. In the welfare and campaigns department we have successfully completed the first couple of campaigns that we had planned; Campaigns Crawl and Black History Week. Both of these went extremely well and provided an opportunity for a whole range of students to not only get involved in a number of activities but also to have much more of a say in what we in the RSU are doing. Over the next few weeks we have two more campaigns coming up; our Well Being Week, which has a whole range of different activities to get involved in, and S.H.A.G. (sexual health and guidance) Week, where our G.I Jonny’s and Jane’s will be out in force. Make sure you keep an eye out for more information.
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So we are coming up to half way through term and just like you I have a cold. Illness aside we already have had some cracking College times, the 80s Night in the Belfry being my personal highlight. To see people dancing on the stage and dressed up on a Tuesday night is certainly a sight for sore eyes.
Harris Out
Froebel, Nikki Watson Its getting to that time of year when assignments are due in and assessments are looming. I have noticed a few third years starting to get stressed about their dissertations too! But that hasn’t stopped October in it’s tracks, with everyone at Froebel pooling together and still getting involved in events both on and off campus. The weekly Sunday quizzes have been nothing short of great, with people winning LOADS of cash, drinks and BOP entry tickets! Well done to all of our winners, and for the rest of you – just keep trying, there’s plenty of Sundays still to go! The Tuesday College nights have been a great success. For the first one we had our welcome dinner in the Portrait Room, which I have been told went down well (I wouldn’t know as I was in quarantine from Swine Flu!). It was Open Mic night the following week, which looked to be heading for disaster when the band failed to turn up with any equipment. Needless to say, we pulled it off and already people have been asking for it to be a regular event. We then had karaoke night, which was running smoothly until I got too drunk to load the discs into the DVD player! We’ll continue the good times in November with a cocktail and flaring night in the bar – yes we have the professionals coming in! For info on our other college events, join the Froebel Courtyard Bar facebook page! Finally, have another Froebel only event. We are taking a trip to Essex to see The Ladyboys of Bangkok. This is a wicked night of cabaret and comedy, and the title kind of gives it away!There are still 5 places available so for anyone that would like to go please email me on watsonn11@roehampton.ac.uk.
Southlands, Alex Murray This month has been great at Southlands, especially with Southlands FC winning all of there games. 11-0 Nescot?! Need i say anymore. Come check them out when they play, Wednesdays on the pitches behind St.Marys Hospital. On another high note the ACS Dirtbox was a big success with the Black to the Future crowd coming down after the event. 3 Dj’s playing various music so come check out the next Dirtbox in November, and if you feel like playing a set get in contact with the RSU. Southlands is also host to Poker society nights on Thursdays, join the group for information about dates and time. Look out for our Tuesday night events at Southlands Bar - join the Facebook group to keep updated. There has been alot of interest in Southlands College hoodies. Im happy to say these will be going on sale in the near future so look out for posters around the Southlands bar and the facebook group. Hope all is good and the studying is going well!
Whitelands, Tadashi Suzuki Whitelands students seem to have settled down quite well. A lot of us Joined sports teams or societies, attended RSU events and made friends from other campuses as well. Now we are facing real academic life,,,, ouch! There was a big noise issue but it seems to be getting better. The Acoustic Night at Whitelands bar has been very successful so far, and the bar has reached its maximum capacity. Upcoming events would be Whitelands Xmas party which would be a great opportunity to get Whitelands students together and have memorable evening!! We are also planning to have a common area for students. Hopefully this will happen soon so that all off campus students can have place they can spend time before, after or between lectures for study groups or just to chill out, enjoying wireless internet connection!
www.roehamptonstudent.com
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Fresh Newspaper
Environmental Green Meat?
The UN released a report a few years ago stating that the global meat industry is responsible for being one of the biggest causes of global climate change. 70% of all Amazonian deforestation has been for the rearing or growing of feed for the meat industry. That doesn’t mean that everyone has to start eating lentils for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Vegetarians are real, you may even now one in your day to day life and more often than not they are healthy too. Seriously though, statistics prove that the meat industry is causing as much damage as most transport networks and we need to do something to try and stop it. A completely vegetarian diet although not appealing to some but can be good for your health and medical research has shown can lower chances of contracting some forms of cancer! The idea of completely giving up meat is certainly a daunting one for most true blood carnivores and it certainly isn’t something I’ll ask of you here, although we can all do our part to try and lower our own consumption. Cutting out such things as fast food and cheap intensively farmed meats are a fantastic place to start, it is the factory farming industries which are the biggest climate criminals. Locally and ethically sourced meat products are a fantastic way to ensure that your dinner has the lowest carbon footprint possible and has suffered the least. Cutting out meat for one or two days a week is a fantastic way to lower your impact and maybe even see if a vegetarian diet is for you and there are countless ways to eat a vegetarian diet without having to learn new and complicated recipes. Meat substitutes like Quorn and fry’s are fantastic ways for the more carnivorous types to enjoy a vegetarian meal with minimum effort and more often than not without noticing they aren’t even eating meat. Or even better yet, using foods like beans and pulses you can guarantee your protein intake is safe for the minimum impact possible.
Swooping Successes at Ratcliffe-on-Soar As I mentioned in my previous months article the camp for climate action declared October 17th and 18th two days of mass action against Ratcliffe-on-soar coal fired power station in Nottingham. The station in question is the flagship coal-fired power station owned by evil energy company extraordinaire E-on. Responsible for being one of the biggest and dirtiest power stations in Britain, Ratcliffe was an easy choice for climate activists who voted for it (over its previously Climate Camp targeted coal-smoking cousin Drax) to become the target in a competition which took place at this summers Climate Camp in East London. With the target set and the mission being simply put as to; gain entrance to the power station and ‘find the big red button’ the activists set off in massive numbers, with some even sleeping in the wilds of Nottingham the night before. Of course nobody was really going to manage to shut down the station, as contained within the station fences was a small battalion of riot police there to stop that very thing from happening. Several blocs were made for the day in an attempt to split police resources and try to maximise the success of the day’s action. The type of action that took place over the two days was of a type often used by the climate camp called a ‘swoop’. It is basically massive groups of people congregating on one target all at the same time in a bid to shut down the target and hopefully catch the police by surprise. Organised chaos is a tool used at its very best here, with the focus on activists working together as separate ‘affinity groups’ to create confusion and spontaneous actions throughout the day. The success of the swoop was evident in the results. The variety of tactics
So my challenge for you dear students of Roehampton is simple. See if you can try and cut out meat for one night a week. Maybe see if you can last an entire week. It isn’t as painful as you would think and you may even feel a lot better for it. Stick to it every week and it should become as big a part of your routine as recycling. We are going to be making a big deal of this at P&P and will be launching a campus wide campaign to help you cut your eating habits carbon footprint.
employed meant that various groups did manage to break through the several levels of perimeter fence and gain access to the station. Activist employed a myriad of tactics to break through the fence to charging at it with bolt croppers to pulling it down with ropes. Although nobody actually found the big red button, they did succeed in showing E-on that no matter how big and expensive their fences are they will always be taken down. Activists on the day were said to be in high spirits and vowed that while E-on still gamble away our futures by investing in the method of coal-generation that they will always be there to swoop and destroy. Next month we will be having an interview with activists present on the day and hear their feelings towards direct action.
Joe Booth
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www.roehamptonstudent.com
The Wave: Come together Job Shop to stop climate chaos! On Saturday 5 December 2009, the UK’s biggest ever demonstration in support of action on climate change will flood the streets of central London, ahead of crucial UN climate talks in Copenhagen. The Wave, a carnival-style street procession beginning at 12pm from Grosvenor Square in London, is being organised by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition and supported by the National Union of Students (NUS). A stunning finale will take place at 3pm as The Wave encircles the Houses of Parliament.
We are the Roehampton University Job Shop, a small but friendly team of two, made up of Nicky Smith (manager) and myself, Jerome Thomas (student assistant). We know that sometimes living off your student loan isn’t enough, and with the credit crunch in action finding a part time or full time job can be really hard. Well it doesn’t have to be…here at the JobShop we specialise in advertising jobs, volunteering opportunities, placements, internships etc, for Roehampton students. Vacancies are put up two to three times in the week and all you have to do is register with us and you have the choice to be notified when new jobs have been uploaded. The JobShop gets tons of different job types, such as: childcare, retail assistants, manager training courses, etc. The Job Shop is split into four sections;
The Stop Climate Chaos Coalition represents 11 million members across 100 UK organisations, from the Women’s Institute and RSPB to Oxfam and Unison. All are united in their demand for an end to dirty coal, and a fair and just international climate change deal that protects the worlds’ poorest communities. Director of Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, Ashok Sinha said: “The Wave will send a strong message to Gordon Brown that people in the UK want to see their government do all that’s needed to deliver a strong and fair deal that puts poor people and the planet first at Copenhagen. All the eyes of our 11 million strong coalition will be on world leaders as they gather in the Danish capital to ensure climate justice is delivered.” NUS Vice President for Society and Citizenship, Susan Nash, said: “NUS is proud to unite with the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition for the global march on the 5th December. Students and young people have played a central role in the fight against destructive climate change, and we urge the UK government to listen to our calls for a fair deal at Copenhagen.” A family friendly event, The Wave is encouraging people to follow the theme by wearing blue clothing and bringing blue fabric, banners and props. From blue dragons in Wales, to student ‘wave dance’ flashmobs, blue handprints in schools to ‘wheels to the wave’ cycle network, The Wave is already building from all corners of the UK.
Part-time/vacation work For Roehampton undergraduates who want to do casual or part-time work or are looking for vacation work. Jobs after graduating For students in their final year, or graduates who plan to get straight into a full time job. Work experience/placements For students and graduates who are looking for work experience, placements, internships or voluntary work. NewsBox Our electronic noticeboard advertises all sorts of different opportunities we think our students and graduates would be interested in e.g. competitions, courses and taster day information, graduate schemes, useful web links, etc. Finally the Careers Service has expert careers advisers who are here to support students offering regular drop in sessions if students need help to improve their CV (further information can be found on the careers webpages link – see below). We at the Job Shop can’t promise you a job straight away but we can provide you with the stable platform to get you on your way. So go to http:// studentzone.roehampton.ac.uk/careers/jobshop to register with us, what’ve you got to lose? Jerome Thomas Student Employment Services Assistant
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Fresh Newspaper
Features Town Takeovers Continued from front page...
NUS is planning a series of demonstrations in towns and cities across the UK this autumn to raise awareness of their ‘Funding Our Future’ campaign for a fairer educational funding system. With Bristol, Liverpool and Sheffield already running successful takeovers, now it’s London’s chance to make a change! Students’ unions from all over London will be coming together in support of NUS during the takeover, but we need you to come along too! If we are going to put an end to top-up fees, we need as many students as possible to speak out and engage with the conversation that affects us all as students! Alongside other London higher education Students Unions, the RSU will be taking to the streets of London on Tuesday 1st & Wednesday 2nd December 2009. For the London Town Takeover, we have an enormous visual stunt planned, that being London’s biggest game of pass the parcel in the capitals Trafalgar Square, to highlight the scale of unwanted student debt and the burden it creates. Once fully unravelled, we will then march the contents down to Mr. Brown at 10 Downing Street! For the London demonstration, we will be encompassing the theme of an Unmerry Christmas, where protesters are encouraged to wear red clothing, so highlight the extent of those ‘in the red’. We are also in discussion to create our own London wide paper to rival those such as The London Lite or the Metro for the days of the takeover, in order to make non-students, prospective students, businesspersons, parents or the elderly aware of how a rise in top-up fees could prove detrimental to society in the grand scheme of things. A debate will also take place in Camden Town Hall on one of the evenings, times and dates are to be announced nearer the time once members of the panel are confirmed. This event is co-ordinated entirely by Students’ Unions, so we want as many Roehampton students there as possible, more information will be available in the week before the Takeover, and we hope to see you there showing your support!
Academic and Financial support Hi my name is Gemma Kelly and I am the Academic and Finance Advisor for the Students’ Union, I make up the other half of the Welfare department along with Becky Aston. My role is to help, guide and advice students through any Financial or Academic issues that they may encounter throughout their time as Roehampton. If you find that you have picked the wrong module or you’re not enjoying your course, or maybe you will want to make an appeal or if you have any other concerns about academic issues then I am here to guide you through and hopefully reach your goals. If its finance advise you need, I can help with that too. From simple budgeting, to contacting your LEA about loans and grants, or any other sort of financial issue, you can talk to me and I will do my best to help you. We advise all students who suffer any difficulties while studying is the seek advice in the first instance even if you think the problem is really small, this stops situations spiralling out of control and have a detrimental affect on your studies and experience of Roehampton. There are loads of different support networks within the University for you to take advantage of from Programme Reps, Student Mentors, Flat Reps, Students’ Union, Student Services etc... The list goes on. If you are unsure on who to see pop up to the student union and we can point you in the right direction. The welfare department are here to talk to you about any concerns that could affect your life at Roehampton, and we are always happy to have a chat with students. We look forward to seeing you during the year.
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Funder Finder Funder Finder is a service available in the SU for students who have completed the Access to Learning Fund (ALF) service or for students who do not fit the criteria for an access to Learning Fund/loan. Funder Finder is a database that has access to lots of small charities and organisations willing to fund students who are in a serious financial predicament. Student Bank Accounts What is a student bank account? - It’s a day to day current account specifically for students in higher education, with beneficial rates and terms. Go for the Overdraft, banks try to bribe students with freebies to entice you to open an account with them, but these sweeteners are only a secondary consideration. Focus on the banks that’ll give you the biggest and longest 0% overdraft facility. All student accounts offer overdrafts, this will enable you to withdraw more money than you have paid in, but its important not to blow this is all one go, you should budget it across the year. How much do I pay to borrow it? -This depends on the interest rate, the lower the rate is, and the less the debt costs you. Banks allow you to borrow interest free, PROVIDED you stay within the limits: and this is as good as it gets, but it is a much bigger gift than any freebie. •Never go above the agreed limit without permission -If you do, the costs rocket with huge amounts of interest and penalties. •Never borrow more than you need -Just because you’re not paying interest doesn’t mean you wont need to repay the debt. Never borrow unnecessarily once you graduate you’ll pay these debts, so budget as best as you can and never spend more than is absolutely necessary. Should I ignore freebies? The value of freebies is pale compared to interest-free overdrafts, but when a number of different accounts offer similar overdraft levels, and then freebies are great tie-breakers. Always remember why freebies are offered though, banks know most customers never switch, so they hope a £50 freebie buys your customer for life. It’s for this reason that while the big high street banks are usually the least competitive provider, in the student market they’re fighting it out with super hot products. They know that if they get you now, they can make serious bucks out of you for a long, long time. However, if you’re savvy you’ll take advantage of this. Choose the right student account and max out your gain from it, however vow not to let their short term bribe and free overdraft money buy your customer for the long term. Grab what’s on offer, then once you finish studying, ditch and switch to the best graduate account and eventually the best bank account. Always remember to not feel pressured into taking out a student account with a certain bank, its important to shop around and make sure you are making the right decision for you and your money. Gemma Kelly RSU Academic & Financial Advisor
Time For Xeno’s Did Question Time producers get full use of BNP’s Griffin’s visit? As you are quite possibly aware, towards the end of October a big event in political and television history took place. Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party (BNP) appeared on the political panel show Question Time. Surrounding this lingers an array of debates. Should Nick Griffin have gone on to
Question Time? Is it really an early Christmas present to the BNP? Did it benefit the BNP’s PR? Was it really a fair argument? I couldn’t help but think what the point of the show was really about. Of course it was inevitable that perhaps ‘Dick Griffin’ should have had the airtime – if not to get criticised by other politicians- but to prove that he doesn’t really have much to say at all. Nothing worthwhile anyway. It was to happen sooner or later, and he had the right to have an appearance, and I’m glad he did. It made excellent television seeing such a fascist being beaten down. But would I be wrong or sick to have felt a little bit sorry for the poor guy? After all, it seemed to me that the panellists never really gave him a chance to speak. He was constantly getting interrupted or stopped in his tracks, and I couldn’t help but think that perhaps if he did have the chance to speak, he quite definitely would have beaten his party down himself. Seriously, what did he really say that made a true impression of great leadership? He was stumbling over his words and often left feeling foolish and speechless when trying to answer the audiences’ questions and defend himself after tracing his words relating to past-quotes. ‘I can’t tell you why I used to say those things anymore than I can tell you why I have changed my mind,’ he said in response to an audience members’ question. And as far as it being an early Christmas present for the BNP I feel that the only way it could resemble a Christmas present was if it was one of those shit jumpers which Granny buys for you and uses an old Playstation 3 Box to wrap it in. Sheer disappointment and a total waste of time- for him and his party I mean.
www.roehamptonstudent.com
would have voted for them to scare the mainstream parties when the expenses scandal was first leaked, but it is a silly mistake that we as a whole should not make again. We can’t let a racist and fascist party get any more seats in parliament. As questions came flooding in thick and fast towards the BNP leader from people of all races, sexualities and ages it was clear to see that Griffin had a hidden agenda as he was reluctant to answer questions in an honest fashion. He would try and please the individual with a ‘charming’ slur of lying, slimy nonsense. For example, telling people from ethnic minorities that he wanted to keep those people in but not let any more immigrants into our country. But we all know what he really wants. The argument was totally biased, and against Nick Griffin. I feel that with a room full of anti-Griffins it seemed inevitable that he would get crushed. I’m not too sure whether it would have been better to let him speak and to have had more of a ‘mixed bag’ of audience members and if so, would the debate have been any different? After all it wouldn’t have affected the despise that the large majority of the British public have against the BNP as we ‘have too much common sense’ as Bonnie Greer, culturist, critic and playwright, put it. I find it funny how ironic it is that Griffin has such a ‘hate’ towards minority groups but it’s clear to see that he himself is in one, and certainly stuck in the 17th century. I can’t help but feel though that it was a bit like a ‘beat up Nick Griffin show’ rather than a true Question Time, as there are real issues that needed to be raised. Postal strikes and the war in Afghanistan are present and I would have liked to have seen how Griffin would respond to those actions. Of course I’d expect his words to be fabricated, ‘fluffy’ and full of drivel, but I think as a British citizen who has the right to vote I think the show could have been a little bit more focused on things that are affecting the country and how the politicians would deal with them. As opposed to it being similar to a school playground brawl. All of the arguments raised were related to the BNP, even the five minutes towards the end regarding sexuality, so did we gain much about the politicians? Perhaps that they’re all a little bit pathetic and immature. I know the BNP aren’t getting my vote, and I trust they won’t get yours, but after that display I don’t really know who will. You can find the BNP Leader’s performance on BBC iPlayer, the show was aired 22nd October 2009.
S.K.Kirby
For the British public it was a real eye-opener. I can fully understand why people
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Fresh Newspaper
Features Student Slash Parent Here I am, like the rest of you, five weeks into the course, let me tell you it has been both easy and hard at the same time. I’ll start after that crazy and now distant “fresher’s week”. I got my timetable and…. surprise! It seemed there was something wrong with it. I had virtually one lecture per day, and a day off. I couldn’t believe my luck! It meant I was going to be able to collect my son from school 3 days out of 5, which saved me lots of money on childminding, plus plenty of time to prepare for my lessons. Yet... Oh I couldn’t have been more wrong! After few days into this ‘easy’ timetable I realised the reason for so many ‘free hours’. I began to fall behind in my lectures! I found myself rushing from getting everything ready the day before my lessons, struggling between classes, getting my son to after-school activities and getting my driving license sorted (it is getting cold for cycling!). On top of all, my childminder let me down a few times at the last minute, and I really mean ‘at the last minute’. Thanks to technology & mobile phones, I found, in 4 minutes, someone else to collect my son as I was at a school placement somewhere in Clapham Junction! I’m very thankful for all those full-time mums that were able to pick up my son so I could attend to my lectures, bless them! Then the word “ASSIGNMENT” came into the picture! I still shiver of the thought of it… how on earth am I going to get my lectures ready AND the assignments (which are about 2500 words each) on time!? I’m still trying to figure that out. The expression “time management” in bright colours had been flashing in my head for quite sometime… it was time to take action! I decided to make the best out of those “free hours”, and have become a regular in the library. I try to get my work done right after my lectures now so I can concentrate on my assignments (although that hasn’t happen yet!) during the rest of the week and weekend. Doing a little work everyday has giving me a bit of fresh air. But I have to say that I sometimes feel like University seems a lot harder than it should be, but it is not that bad because it is all about time management! I remember Domenic Haydn-Davies saying at the welcome lecture that we were in Uni to read for a degree; well… he forgot to say about the writing part as well! It has been, overall, such a nice experience. Meeting new people, acquiring an unbelievable amount of new knowledge, feeling like a youngster again, but it hasn’t being easy to combine with family life. I’m getting there though. It is nice to know that I’m not alone either; I had met a few Student-Parents as well that have been going through the same adaptation process; and some others that have already survived Uni, so hope there is hope! So far I did manage to pass my driving test and bought an old car, so now I can use the time I spend driving to talk to my son and find out how his day went; and found a new reliable childminder as well!
Caty Garcia If you are a student parent, whether you consider yourself ‘mature’ or not, please get in touch. The university is asking for accounts of the Student Parent Experience over the next couple of months. Please share your story with me at kstanley@me.com . No story too long, or too short. Katherine Stanley, Mature Student’s Officer.
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Study China Programme re-opens Want to travel to the far east but don’t know how to go about it? The government funded three week Study China Programme run by Manchester University is open to any undergraduate in the county and enables you to “visit China, take an intensive course in Chinese language and be immersed in Chinese social and cultural activities.” You need to pay for flights, visa and vaccinations- and that’s it! You’re provided with accommodation, food, all the trips and excursions and the language course! Attracting over 1500 applicants, myself- Natasha Pearson, 3rd Year Dance Studies student and Marie Bahr Psychology student (now graduated), were fortunate to be two of the one hundred selected choosing to go to Beijing, to study at Beijing Normal University, whilst the other one hundred went to Shanghai. Here’s a taster of things I got up to on this incredible programme: Academic studies we completed over the three weeks, including Mandarin class every morning from 8.00am until 11.30am (students at British universities really shouldn’t complain about 9.00am lectures!) were lectures on Chinese society and economy, calligraphy, paper-cutting and Tai Ji classes, with visits to; Hyundai Automobile factory, Yanjing beer factory, a secondary school, the British Council, 789 Art District, Beijing Opera, an acrobatic show, a weekend stay in the countryside and of course, climbing the Great Wall of China. But hey I didn’t go there just to study! A great aspect of the Programme is that we had plenty of free time in which we were left to our devices to explore- which is why I went! One of the crazy experiences was a legendary trip to ‘The Night Market’ aka a strip of outdoor food-stalls that host some of China’s ‘delicacies.’; That night I ate; Worm, Starfish, Sheep’s testicals (although there was a rumour it was pig), Shark, Snake, Octopus and... DOG!! I think I was wise to stop at the scorpians and cows stomach...! I saw so many sights the list could go on forever but a sample of a few include: The Beijing Olympic Village, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and Summer Palace. The Programme runs Easter and Summer programs, for all the details e.g. selection criteria and application forms (applications are now open) visit: www.studychina.org.uk If you are accepted onto the programme, please let me know as I can give you plenty of advice and tips! pearsonn@roehampton.ac.uk Natasha Pearson
www.roehamptonstudent.com
? MORE SOME TO O H P WANT SU THE R AT VISIT NLINE t.com O Y R E n e L d L u GA ptonst S oeham PHOTO www.r H T ESE E FROM E E S TO OR ANY M PLUS M OBER 2009 OCT
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Fresh Newspaper
Campaigns Pullout Black History Week 2009: A review
STICK ME ON YOUR ! WALL
For Black History Week, we put on a number of different events which celebrated various aspects of Black culture and history, but also tried to provoke change. The week started on a massive high with the ACS talent show, ‘Black to the Future’, which showcased poets, dancers, singers, models, designers and a comedian. The highlight of the night however came from the very impromptu ‘danceoff’ which got everyone up on their feet. The next big event of the week was ‘Lets Kick Racism out of Sport’, which aimed to get students to not only go to support our teams, but to also to come to a pre-Fez party at Whitelands which would have various drinks promotions and games. The response from students showed that this was something that they were very happy to be a part of, and a campaign that should be consistent throughout the year. On the bands night, we decided to follow on from ‘Let’s kick racism out of Sport’ to ‘Love Music, Hate Racism’, and show not only celebrate various types of music, but again to send out this message of change and empowerment. The Friday provided the opportunity to do a small exhibition which not only showcased a number of different aspects of what RSU had been doing, but also a lot of the work that is being done nationally by NUS. It was also a chance to look at a number of influential Black figures from all over the world, who have had an impact in various different fields, such as sport, music and politics to name a few.
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Photos courtesy of Kelsey Heng & Beth Cissel
Well-Being Week 2009 Well Being Week is a chance to explore a range of activities concerning your ‘well being’. The idea of well being looks at a whole range of aspects of everyday life, from eating healthily, to exercise, to relaxation, to information and advice on things such as finance. It is all of these aspects and more that we are going to be exploring throughout the week by linking up with a number of different departments within the University. As well as working with a lot of departments internally, we have also linked up with the BBC, to launch an initiative called ‘Grub Club’. This project is part of the BBC headroom project which explores how healthy eating can promote good mental health. We are using this to coincide with the launch of Well Being Week, and on Monday 16th we have been fortunate enough to get in celebrity chef Gizzi Erskine from ‘Cook Yourself Thin’ who will be available to chat to, and will be giving a couple of cooking demonstrations throughout the day.
This week is also an opportunity for the Wandsworth Primary Care Trust to come onto campus and give out information and advice (as well as various freebies). We will have experts in alcohol and drugs awareness, sexual health and quitting smoking around throughout the week. These are services that are provided in conjunction with RSU throughout the year.
www.roehamptonstudent.com
Wellbeing advisor, and Nicky Reid, the Money Doctor who have agreed to put on some informative sessions for this week to help students with specific problems relating to their time at Roehampton, whether it be making the most of the University experience, or how to budget throughout the year. Not all of ‘well-being’ relates to eating healthily or exercising. The chaplaincy team have also agreed to take part in this week by putting on various meditation and relaxation sessions every morning throughout well being week. As well as working with a number of different departments throughout the university, we have also made sure that we look at the societies that we have, such as the allotment and nutrition societies. Well Being Week has a lot to offer, and is providing a variety of different activities so that there is an opportunity for you to get as involved as possible, and make the most of what we have at Roehampton. If you would like any further information please email becky.aston@roehampton.ac.uk and also make sure you keep an eye out for posters with full details of times and places, as well as on www.roehamptonstudent.com for regular updates.
Also Coming up... Sexual Health and Guidance (S.H.A.G.) Week
Exercise is a fundamental part of ‘well being’ and as a promotion for Well Being Week, RoeActive have generously agreed to have free trial sessions in the gym for non members for the whole week, as well as provide a discount on some of the ‘Give It a Go’ sessions. There will also be a number of different activities that are taking place throughout the week, such as a group run, basket ball matches, bike rides, a tug of war, and group work with the cheerleaders. Student Services are also a department within the University that has something to offer for this week. Within the department there is Stephen Messinger, the Health and
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Fresh Newspaper
Wall of Fame/Shame
Photos courtesy of Jessica May Fergusson, Josh Paterson,Kelsey Heng & Beth Cissel
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Sangria, Salsa and the Belfry... October has been a demanding month for the international students with lectures getting in full swing, first assignments looming, the notion of homesickness and of course getting to grips with the notorious English weather. However, on a more festive note, October also prompted the coming of the International Party 2009, hosted annually by the International Office, open to all ERASMUS and language students. Its 2008 theme of sangria and salsa received such great success last year, sparking a popular comeback for this year’s event. Although the Belfry isn’t what you’d call an exotic or beachfront like venue, but its warm and friendly atmosphere together with its spacious dance floor set the perfect scene. There to show us all the moves was Natasha Burrows, 20, a secondyear modern languages student at Roehampton and dance teacher in her hometown of Reading. Natasha started dancing at the age of 4, learning ballet and street jazz; but it was at the Country School of Dancing in Reading, which specialises in Latin-American ballroom, where she took many training courses and was able to teach Salsa and other Latin dances. In a brief interview with Natasha, she gave Fresh an insight in to what Salsa entails: “Salsa dancing is one of the most diverse of the Latin dances [...] It’s quite free and open to improvisation, which is great for me as a teacher because I get to see everyone’s personality and interpretation of salsa when they are performing”. Natasha not only proved to be an incredibly talented dancer but a great teacher and motivator with all the lecturers and international students taking to the floor – a number of students who
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After releasing lots of stress and learning some sassy Latin moves, the International Office provided the students with sangria, pizza, snacks and a great opportunity to socialize. After speaking with a few international students during the party, it seems that the majority of them find it quite difficult to strike up a conversation in a language that is not their mother tongue, so events such as the International Party can break the ice so to speak. Marina Redondo Navarro, an ERASMUS student from Córdoba (Spain), told Fresh how excited she was about the International Party 2009, “it is a good way to share similar feelings about our experience as an ERASMUS student”. Although Marina is living in the UK she explained how hard it is for a non-native speaker to speak to English people - “So this kind of meeting helps to find people who are really interested in speaking to you”. Many of the French international students who attended told Fresh that despite spending the evening with fellow French pals, they made a number of new friends owing it all to the salsa dancing, which they say ‘encouraged everybody to mingle’. Although arriving just after the salsa class, Naoko – an international student from Tokyo – managed to meet lots of new people, giving her the chance to practice her English speaking skills. She told Fresh that she finds it more effective talking with English native speakers, but also added, “whenever I talk with someone from other countries like me in English, I can talk feeling more relaxed and confident, compared to when I talk with British people”. It’s safe to say that the general consensus of the evening was a rather positive one – many members of the international office praising it as a “well organised and very enjoyable evening”, with all international students thanking Roehampton University for making them feel so welcome.
were in the Belfry to watch Wednesday night football were also spotted on the dance floor! “They all seemed to pick it up pretty easily and their enthusiasm was great!” said Natasha, genuinely surprised but also thrilled to have seen so many people up dancing and joining in. “I owe a massive thank you to my dance partner, Adam Murdoch from the University of Westminster”, added Natasha, who asked Adam to step in at the last minute.
Lucy Wallis
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Fresh Newspaper
Societies
Roundup: Freshers Fair 2009 Joining a society can be a lot of fun, but sometimes it can’t be the easiest thing to do. Some people lose interest or other commitments get in the way and when deadlines or bad weather come along even the most hardcore members can find their desire to attend meetings waver. Like all student run activities communication can be an issue as well, meetings times get changed or the venue is no longer available. So for this issue of Fresh, we’ve worked on a societies survival kit!
Societies of the Month: The Societies that really stood out this month This month societies have been doing extremely well in trying to engage new members and have also been putting on varied events throughout the semester. Those that have come to light this month for their great progress have been put as our top five societies of the month. Well done to you all, societies are working their way to the spot light.
Luke Springett Societies President
The Top five are:
Societies Survival Kit
ACS society: For doing so well at this year’s Black History week and engaging students of all races to get involved in cultural development.
Okay, so it’s now November, reading week is looming and you’ve finally got a chance to clean out your room, you come across loads of A5 flyers and such given out during freshers fair and forgot that you joined so many societies. You find yourself asking ‘How do I get involved now the hype’s died down?’. Here are some core tips for society survival... 1. Join the Facebook group. Facebook effectively runs our lives at uni, it’s the easiest way to contact people and to get information around to a lot of people. Plus it’ll most likely have all the relevant information you need. There is also a full list of societies available via the RSU website at www.roehamptonstudent.com/ societies where you can also look up the Presidents of each society, and the best point of contact. 2. Don’t be afraid to give it a go. Societies are always a laugh and a great way to meet new people. Even if you don’t have anyone to go with make the effort and you’ll soon find friends. 3. Try and stick with it. Try and go to meetings regularly, regular attendance helps you to get to know people and build up new relationships, plus if you’ve paid a membership fee there is no reason for you not to go! 4. Don’t do too much at once. Joining up with loads of societies is fine during freshers week, but once the term moves on you’ll find you get other commitments, being a member of two societies and doing them well and enjoying them, is far more rewarding than trying to go to five and not really having any time. 5. Encourage people to join. You’ve settled into your society well and having a great time, why not bring a friend along too, see if they enjoy it as well!
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Allotment Society: for engaging students and staff in weekly workshops about Permaculture and creating an environment in which to work outside and grow produce. The Harvest moon festival was superb. Human Rights Society: for continuously putting on lectures and inviting guest speakers into our university, detailing specific major issues. Dance society: for having a detailed structure of dance events and activities for the whole year and flying high in this year’s fresher’s fair. Roehampton players: for building excitement and enthusiasm around drama and musical theatre and getting students active by putting on various theatrical projects. Please Do not feel discouraged all societies are doing their best and have the chance to encourage students and staff to get involved in all aspects of the work they do. You could be in next month’s Fresh, remember this is all gearing up to the society’s achievement ceremony, so make it count and make your society flourish. If you have any problems please contact me or Luke Springett (Societies President). Natasha Blake
www.roehamptonstudent.com
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Fresh Newspaper
Music Editors - In This Light And On This Evening (Kitchenware/Sony)
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Many bands are now playing ‘Epic’ arena sounding music, Elbow and Interpol to name just two. Editors may be seen as one of the leading bands in this particular style of music. Due to earlier success of albums The Back Room and An End Has A Start, and so, this album had some big shoes to fill. As each song started, and built up momentum to a grand finish at the end. With the new album In This Light and On This Evening all the songs seem to follow this formula, which if you are a fan of it is fantastic. If it is not your cup of tea then all you are going to find on this album is a very dull voice singing along to some rather simple drum beats. Editors have also seemed to pull much influence from the 80’s rock era by using the electric snare drum sound made popular by bands like New Order and Tears For Fears. Whilst this does work well it does seem very outdated. INLAOTE is enjoyable upon first listen, but after a few more it almost becomes background noise and nothing really shouts out ‘Great Album’. Tim Birkbeck
Rammstein - Liebe Ist Für Alle Da (Spinefarm Records)
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After four long years, rumours of break-ups and feuds, Teutonic industrial metallers Rammstein have come thundering out of Germany once again with their sixth album, Liebe Ist Für Alle Da. The band have pulled no punches on this latest release, with a new drumming style, meaty guitars and singer Till Lindemann on excellent form. Rammstein have never been afraid to tackle the more stomach-turning current events (Mein Teil was inspired by the story of a German penis cannibal) and Wiener Blut (‘Viennese Blood’) continues the trend, inspired by the crimes of abominable Austrian Josef Fritzl. Lindemann’s delivery rises through unsettling whispers and growls, with a toe-curling “Wilkommen” to make you shiver before the typically punishing chorus. There’s no shortage of good tracks: Take the hilarious single Pussy, a ridiculously catchy send-up of German sex culture; B********, which features feral-sounding growls reminiscent of Dir En Grey; or the anthemic title track. The standout moment however is Frühling In Paris, a strangely moving ballad which borrows Edith Piaf’s immortal lyric “Non, je ne regrette rien” for a rare glimpse into the band’s more emotional side. Overall, this is both a return to form and an evolution for the band, and a very fun listen. Sehr gut! Tom Halet
Tubelord - Our First American Friends (Hassle Records)
8
In a music scene which frequently finds itself turning somewhat stagnant, it’s truly refreshing when a band comes along that breathes new energy into it’s genre whilst at the same time happily acknowledging it’s predecessors and influences. Kingston locals, and Banquet darlings, Tubelord, are a band that are generating a lot of interest in exactly the right areas, mainly because of the quality of both their song-writing and their musicianship. Their eagerly anticipated debut has had many scenester-types doing all sorts of sex wees in their super-tight jeans, and now that it’s finally out, it’s easy to see why. Each song on the album has been meticulously crafted; choosing to openly ignore the verse/ chorus/repeat structure that so many bands happily fall into, their appreciation of all things mathematical create meandering, shifting songs that constantly challenge the rigidity of 4/4 time scales and guitar solos. The guitars layer and clash at exactly the same time; I’ve heard it described as 4 different people playing 4 different songs, but don’t let this put you off. The songs work; I don’t know how, and quite frankly I don’t care. Tubelord are a band that haven’t made this album to become yet another Vice ‘Do’, but to write songs that evoke a menagerie of emotions in just 3 or so minutes. A key example of this is ‘Somewhere Out There A Dog Is On Fire’ (the band have a penchant for Fall Out Boy-esque song titles), which recently featured on the sublime compilation ‘Music Sounds Better With Huw.’ The narrative, if that’s the correct term, of this and every song, is beautifully exclusive. The music isn’t there for empathy, instead it’s there to appreciate the craft that’s been put into it. This isn’t a band that sets it’s goals at your heart, it sets them at your brain. Lead singer Joe Prendergast has a stunning, ethereal and downright androgynous voice that contrasts the sometimes raucous music perfectly. The drums are as tight as a duck’s arse and
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the guitar playing is an enchanting mix of Bombay Bicycle Club and a less crack-addicted At The Drive-In. ‘Night Of The Pencils’ is the song that sums up what it means to be 20+ years old: an acceptance that teenage frivolity is over, but that fun is still possible and perhaps now far more worthwhile. It’s an embracement of youth without sounding twee or childish. It’s a stunning soundtrack to being ‘twenteen’ in London and quite simply one of the most charming, seductive debuts in a very, very long time. Ed Eames
Weezer - Raditude (Polydor)
7
Time to put on your geekiest sweater, most comfortable chinos and develop an unnatural fear of the opposite sex: it’s new Weezer album time. A band that throughout it’s career has unashamedly embroiled itself with the cool-uncool dichotomy, Weezer are a fan’s band through and through. Their new album, with perhaps the most perfect Weezer-esque album title yet, is one of their most engaging yet, blending their characteristic pop/grunge /indie hybrid with new musical directions that seem both intriguing and perverse at the same time. First things first; yes, there is a song with Lil’ Wayne, and sadly, it is awful. The buttockclenchingly cheesy ‘Can’t Stop Partying’ is really, really bad. A horrible, cheap sounding backing track that shows none of the musical talent that is so apparent with Weezer, coupled with lyrics that sound like they were written on a 14 year old girl’s Bebo profile, it’s just really, really upsetting. Lil’ Wayne’s rapping sounds lazy, reflecting none of his characteristic wit or delivery that was present on the frankly brilliant ‘Tha Carter III.’ If you are a certified mentalist and the idea of a Weezy/Weezer crossover sounds appealing, then may I direct your attention to a free remix album called ‘Weezyer - What Lil‘ Wayne’s Rock Album Should Sound Like’ (www.weezyer.com) which is surprisingly refreshing and showcases a similar level of craftsmanship to that which went into arguably the Holy Grail of ‘mash-up’ album’s, Dangermouse’s ‘The Grey Album.’ Throughout the album, there are definite signs of musical experimentation. A key example is the refreshing and charming ‘Love Is The Answer’, which features a stunning Bollywood sample and sitar work by Indian legend Nishat Khan. Where the success of such ventures is at times debatable, such as the unnecessary level of synth on ‘Put Me Back Together’ that strays into Cyrus-sibling territory, it is nice to see the band attempting new things with an already successful formula. There are several songs on the album that are classic-Weezer, notably the ones where the production was solely in the hands of lead singer Rivers Cuomo. ‘Let It All Hang Out’ is McLovin in a Marshall amp and ‘In The Mall’, although somewhat cheesy, is still one of the best Weezer songs from their past 3 albums. Weezer have produced an album that will both entertain existing fans and attract others, mainly with the presence of celebrity names such as Jermaine Dupri and Lil’ Wayne. Although at times hit-and-miss, ‘Raditude’ is a very strong album that shows the band retaining their trademark sound and ethos whilst at the same time continuing to move forwards. Ed Eames
Karen O & The Kids - Where The Wild Things Are (Soundtrack) (Polydor)
7
This album is obviously a soundtrack, rather than some grandeur, statement solo album, although it is impressive to listen to such a different direction for Karen O. The songs are melodic, whimsical, and have a fairytale theme, which fits in perfectly with the children’s choir that appears on several tracks. Karen O has such a striking voice that this will always be apparent on any track she makes, but the musicality of the songs really bear no resemblance to the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, instead it has taken more of a folk route, which is obviously on trend at the moment and the tracks aren’t confined to a strict, chorus, verse, chorus, verse structure they include sound effects of howling wolfs and crescendo’s of an instrumental Arcade Fire-esque nature. Of course you’d expect Spike Jonze to ask Karen to write the soundtrack of his much-anticipated Where the Wild Things Are, taking their history into account, but she has more than proved herself as a worthy contributor, as you can really picture the songs working contextually within the film and also holding their own weight without the media strength of the movie. With input from other credible artists, including YYY’s members, the album is definitely worth a listen, it is often moody, often uplifting, with intriguing lyrics and sounds and as imaginative as you’d expect a soundtrack for a fantasy movie to be. Martin McGlynn
Interview: Ash It’s November, and Northern Irish rock trio, Ash, are midway through an ambitious scheme. They’re ditching the tried and tested album format and are instead opting to release a single every two weeks for a year, entitled the A-Z Singles. Our student media officer Josh Paterson caught up with them for a chat before their gig at the Kingston Peel. Firstly, whereabouts in the world do you think Roehampton University is? Mark(Bass): Northampton? No, Roehampton! Tim(Vocals, Guitar): That’s a new one to me! Are we going anywhere near it on our tour? Yeah, you’re about 3 miles away! T: Oh really! Okay, well that’s a new one for us! Did any of you attend University yourselves? Rick(Drums): I went to Queens in Belfast for a year. T: I looked into it, I applied for deferred entry at Glasgow, just to keep my parents quiet. We already had a record deal and thought I’d just see how it went. By the time it came round, we had a number one album already, so University was the last thing on my mind! For your latest tour, you’re performing at smaller venues, what was the reason behind this? T: For most of our albums we’ve gone off the beaten track. One of the best times was before the release of ‘Free All Angel’s’ in 2000. We actually started the tour here in Kingston, we figure now its important because we have a year of music coming out, and that means a lot of touring, so we want to spread the whole thing out. We don’t just want to hit the mainstream market; we want to start smaller and build it up R: We know about ‘off the beaten track’. We grew up in Belfast and bands wouldn’t really come there in the late 80’s early 90’s We’ve come from the mentality of having to travel for gigs, its important that the people watching really love the music. It seems a daunting task, releasing a single every two weeks for a year, how prepared are you right now? T: 80 or 90% right now maybe. R: We recorded 44 songs so far, each one is going to be a single so we just want to keep the quality up. We are going to record another 10 tracks in January, the campaign runs until the end of next September, so we have a lot of time. If we write a killer single at any point, we can record it and slot it into the set. If you have an album, it’s quite frustrating to think that is your material for the next 3 long years. Where did the idea for the A-Z Singles originate? R: It started in summer 2007 with a concept on an album. We were thinking about whether we were actually going to do an album, or if we were going to do something on more of a subscription basis and have things a bit more regular as that’s what we find frustrating with an album. At one point we thought about releasing a single a month, but that had already been done by ‘The Wedding Present’, so we just thought we will do 2 a month, which meant 24 a year, then we realised that if we did 2 more, that would be 26, and with the 26 letters in the alphabet that’s how the idea was born. I remember some of your gigs at University & Academy venues with previous albums. Do you see that now as a separate era of Ash? T: Not really. We started in 1992, but I still feel like we have the same spirit as from when we started out, especially when playing live. M: Although our albums have evolved. Its not stuck to the 3-year cycle. Usually there’s the writing process, then recording, and then it’s the tour, which comes back to the idea that it takes a whole 3 years for the fans to actually hear the music, which is a long time. But what we are doing now, a new song every 2 weeks for a whole year, that’s something quite way out and interesting. R: It’s kind of nice not to have everything set out in stone, a bit more natural. You have worked very closely with numerous media outlets on the promotion of A-Z, especially NME. Was there a certain age group or market that you were trying to tap into? T: We have a lot of hardcore fans from over the years, people come in at different albums. We want to reach them all, as well to bring in new fans. Is releasing individual singles something you’re going to stick with, or do you think you might go back to recording conventional albums? T: Once this is set up it we will be a good position to continue doing it. It’s a new thing, I think it’s hard for some people to get their heads round initially, but it will become common. M: You need some of the big companies like Apple to start offering subscriptions with iTunes. We asked them to do that with us but it wasn’t ready, so they are probably waiting for a Coldplay or Muse or someone big to launch that type of thing. I don’t think it will be long before something is announced.
In every issue, we pair up with Banquet Records in Kingston to bring you their favourite albums of the month gone by, according to their in house staff! Here’s how October looked...
Jon’s Record... Florence & The Machine You’ve Got The Love (The XX Remix) Mike’s Record... A Skillz & Nick Thayer Insane Bangers Vol. 8 Dave’s Record... The Mountain Goats The Life Of The World To Come
www.roehamptonstudent.com
You have crossed the pond to New York and have Heart Records. Was this a dream of yours for a long an influence upon the A-Z singles. T: Yes, it’s given us great freedom. We were speaking to record really fit into their systems. M: Record labels see singles as loss-makers and make their whenever we said we wanted to release 26 singles they would say where’s the money in that, screw you. So we are kind of being our own guinea pigs! And just finally, I read you once made a horror movie called ‘Slashed’. Is this true? And do you have a release date yet? T: No it never got finished. R: We made like 95% of it, the script just kept on developing. We were doing a lot of support touring in America and that’s where the idea came from. We ended up doing a lot of festivals, and ended up writing in Chris Martin and Dave Grohl. Chris and Jonny from Coldplay participated in it and both of them were FBI agents who got hacked to death by an axe-wielding ghost, which was pretty fun! But it just never got finished.
Live: Eastpak Antidote Tour 2009: Alexisonfire, Anti-Flag, Four Year Strong and The Ghost of a Thousand The Forum, Kentish Town Wednesday 14th October
started your own label, Atomic time and do you think it has had companies about the idea, it didn’t money on sales of the albums, so Top Artists: 1. Radiohead 2. Animal Collective 3. Bloc Party 4. The xx 5. Weezer 6. Deftones 7. Brand New 8. The Temper Trap 9. Slipknot 10. The Beatles
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke: Made for binary
Top Tracks: 1. The xx - Crystalised 2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll 3. The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition 4. Muse - Exogenesis: Part 3 5. The Specials - Ghost Town 6. Bon Iver - Skinny Love 7. Surfjan Stevens - The Seer’s Tower 8. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart 9. Friendly Fires - Lovesick 10. Regina Spektor - Samson
As the grim October day draws to a close, the Eastpak Antidote tour just begins in London’s Kentish Town Forum. We waited patiently in the queue of easily 1500 others, anxious to see what these four bands promise. Those four bands being ‘Ghost of a Thousand’, ‘Four Year Strong’, ‘Anti-Flag’ and of course, the sole reason for my attendance at this gig ‘Alexisonfire’. Snakebites in hands,we watched GOAT to open things up. I was impressed with the Brighton four piece’s performance, which only towards the end, seemed to affect the crowd in any sort of way, once the lead singer requested a circle pit be formed in front of him as the yell of “I want to see a massive fucking circle pit” bellowed from the speakers, the loyal fans obeyed. GOAT clearly set the levels high for the next act with their solid performance . I was brought down by Four Year Strong, and fast. They failed to impress, and the twelve year olds next to me singing every lyric didn’t make them any more credible. After nearly 20 years of touring Anti-Flag provided the most entertainment of the night their core punk stylised elements came out thoroughly during the show. As the bassist through his guitar at people on stage, with the faint words ‘this machine kills fascists’ in view written on the instrument. He then dove face first into the crowd, smashing a security guard in the face with his foot, and carried on dancing, it seemed like he was the most entertaining of the four. Anti-Flag got the crowd roaring with anthems from the early days of their 1996 album ‘Die for the Government’ all the way through to their most recent 2009 release ‘The People or the Gun’. There was also a mention of their favourite band (The Clash) before hitting straight into the classic ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go’ and there was also a brief run on by Alexisonfire’s Wade McNeil to provide vocals through a megaphone for ‘The Gre(A)t Depression’ The drummer ran down to the stage, asked people to clear a space, then begins setting up the drum kit in the centre of the crowd, while the rest of the band continues to play ‘One Trillion Dollars’, for everybody in that room, this was an incredible moment. With such an established band supporting, there’s a certain pressure for the headliner to put on a better, grander show. Flawlessly, ‘Alexisonfire’ managed this. Dallas Green’s soaring vocals kick through every song in the set list, George Pettit provides the angst felt by everyone at that moment in time, and Wade McNeil, well, he is just Wade McNeil. There is nothing that could take them away from being the deserving headliner of the night, they poured out their discography with ease, barely breaking a sweat as one after another they songs blew from the speakers. Dallas Green’s vocals are incredible at the very least. What the man can bring to a record, he can do fivefold in a live arena. If you only had the chance to see one band within the next two years, make sure Alexisonfire is that band. Go now, listen to this band, you will love them (and unfortunately hate them depending on your music tastes). Adam Le Breuilly
Jane’s Record... Tegan And Sara Sainthood Aaron’s Record... Annie Mac Annie Presents Pier’s Record... Sub Focus Sub Focus Milly’s Record... Mumford And Sons Sigh No More
Tom’s Record... Our Time Down Here Live, Love, Let Go Ollie’s Record... Girls Album Harry’s Record... Tubelord Our First American Friends Adam’s Record... Johnny Foreigner Grace And The Bigger Picture
Sean’s Record... Converge Axe To Fall
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Fresh Newspaper
Books Books you should know before starting University Hi Guys. On the 18th of this month we will see the 60th National Book Award. This prestigious award’s past winners include Gore Vidal, Phillip Roth and John Updike. Walking away with a cool $10,000. This year sees exciting works from Bonnie Jo Campell, Daniyal Mueenuddin and Laini Taylor, which I recommend you look up, but here’s what I read.
Versed
Author: Rae Armantrout Published: 2009 ‘Look-I’m cooperating!/ I can pull myself apart/ and still speak.’ Rae Armantrout is a well-established American poet. In her 10th book of poetry she sets out to explore the ‘perversity of human consciousness’. ‘Versed’ is divided into two sections, ‘Versed’ and ‘dark matter’. Both are Armantrout’s first attempt to capture her ordeal with cancer in her works. Illness and mortality are themes in the poems, for example in ‘dark matter’, ‘but the part is sick/ of representing the whole’, is simple word substitution, but when given the knowledge of her illness, the sentence takes dark connotation of corrosion and sickness. Her use of form has always been modern and ‘Versed’ is no exception, her style imitates thought processes through line by line statements, pauses and contradictions, as well as conversations over heard in public spaces, which gives the collection a sense of intimacy and recognisable (we all think strange thoughts whilst alone in town). Armantrout is powerful conjurer of images, and a catalogue of phrases, demonstrated in ‘Pleasure’, ‘A sleight-of-hand/equilibrium/being produced/as bees/pass one another’. ‘Versed’ is a powerful and introspective work, which has all the force of a personal drama to give it weight, and I recommend those who are looking for/thinking about writing some contemporary poetry to read this, and I wish her the best of luck for the award.
Happy Birthday… Last month saw the birthdays of a number of Literature’s ‘big dogs’, Pinter (10th Oct), Wilde (16th Oct) and Pound (30th Oct), but I’ve chosen to dedicate the remainder of this article to Dylan Thomas (27 October 1914- 9 November 1953). Born in Wales, Thomas moved to London, where he lived through the war years writing, scripting war movies and drinking, defending himself with the famous statement, ‘An alcoholic is someone you don’t like, who drinks as much as you do’. His turbulent lifestyle soon trickled into his marriage, in which both were routinely unfaithful. His poetry voiced his fascination with the circle of life, love, growth and death, with images borrowed from Welsh folklore, the Bible and Freud. His most well known poem is ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ (1951). A powerful and highly lyrical villanelle, Thomas evokes his once vigorous father to ‘Rage against the dying of the light’ as he became blind and frail in his old age. The reason it is reprinted again and again in anthologies is the music and power of his words, as well as his command of the form, which is generally used to reflect light and repetitive subjects, such as beauty and landscapes. This is one of the most powerful songs urging to fight against death, and will remain timeless.
The annual Literature Festival is back in Richmond throughout the whole of November. The festival features readings and conversations from a plethora of contemporary writers, including Will Self (24th), A S Byatt (28th) and Steven Berkoff (22nd) held in various venues around Richmond. Check out… http://www.richmond.gov.uk/home/leisure_and_culture/arts/book_now_ literature_festival.htm
Dark Tourism
Author: Dom Joly Published: Expected 2010/2011 ‘Hello! Hello! Yeah I’m in Lebanon!’ We all remember when Joly first blessed our screens in ‘Trigger Happy TV’ (Imagine it was 10 years ago!), but he’s not all dog costumes and oversized telephones, no, he’s actually quite a prolific travel writer, blending his unique comic style with acquired taste for destinations. His latest adventure is ‘Dark Tourism’, a travelogue across the world finding locations of death and suffering. Morbid? Of course. But it is not a historical book, nor a plea for change, rather it is Joly’s own journey (bearing in mind this is the man who posed as Santa to give shoddy x-mas presents to expectant children) exploring himself-he visits his native Lebanon-and his need to laugh at danger and death. The book is as of yet unreleased, but his talk on the 20th offers a sneak preview, as well as the man himself.
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Most poets are defined by one or two poems from their career. What made Thomas so fascinating was his infatuation with words, and how he made his living from his craft of them. As well as poems and short stories, Thomas wrote plays, mostly for the radio. In 1953 Thomas wrote the radio play ‘Under Milk Wood’. Performed for the first time 2 months after his death in 1954. Inspired by his stay in New Quay, and written in response to the atomic bomb attacks, ‘Under Milk Wood’ is the poetically written play about a day in the small, fictional town of ‘Llareggub’ (‘Bugger all’ spelt backwards). The main protagonist is ironically both blind and all-seeing, being able to see into the lives all the inhabitants, including ‘Captain Cat’, an old sea captain who dreams of his deceased friends, a milkman who dreams of pouring his milk into the river, and a policeman who ‘relieves himself’ into his helmet at night. This play is funny and warming, and is, for some (including me) a nice reminder of small-time living before London. From now till the 9th of November is the ‘Dylan Thomas Festival’, not only celebrating his works, but that of his contemporaries and those inspired by.
Chris Davis
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Fashion The Devil Wears Primark November is now and the majority of our student body would have spent there loans (if you’ve actually received them) on the quintessential of life; alcohol, music and clothes. Okay maybe not the fundamental items of survival, but definitely a first aid box for the university social club. Now having spent all our money on the unnecessary items, a couple of pairs of expensive shoes, maybe a Casio watch and 3 different shades of denim skinny’s how are we ever going to afford a new get up for the Bop? You may laugh, in fact you may cry but this my friends is what happens every Friday. But when the old fancy dress box is looking a bit lifeless or doesn’t fit the current theme the solution is one bargain bin and that is Primark. Primark sells everything from clothes and cushions to mugs and mascara. It is the poor mans Debenhams and markets itself as ‘fashionable clothing at competitive prices’. Thus this is true; there are bags which closely mimic the celebrity’s favourite patent Chanel, the gladiator strappy heels and boys can bag a polo shirt for £2.50. These current trends at cheap as chips prices (not Richmond chippy’s though, more like Brenda’s chips) all tick the boxes for a perfect student shop. Yet in the mid Noughties Primark began to be exposed for what it really is (or isn’t). In 2005 Primark scored the lowest of all leading chains in the U.K on an ethical index chart. This included workers rights. However, Primark representatives denied such claims and immediately joined the Ethical Trading Initiative in 2006. To show buyers, employees and the media that they are committed to a healthy employment regime. Yet more trouble came crashing down on Primark as the retail store was part of an undercover investigation for workers conditions and rights in the Indian factories where those bargain booties and panties-for-a-pound are produced.
The BBC’s Panorama programme in 2008 uncovered that three of India’s garment factories that supplied Primark’s mass production of clothes where employing child labourers, for 10p an hour. When Primark was presented with this information they denied all knowledge and “under no circumstances would Primark ever knowingly permit such activities” and cut all connection with the chain of companies. However, child protection groups say that their reaction was irresponsible and instead Primark have now left deprived families unemployed. They should have created a system that worked. Obviously not employing children, but making sure these children’s parents had jobs and the wage was increased. After they released a statement
saying they are establishing the ‘Primark Better Lives Foundation’, which will provide financial assistance to organisations devoted to improving the lives of young people. So does the Devil really wear Primark? We already know the Devil wears Nike as the media managed to prove the maltreatment of employees and sweatshop conditions in Nike’s Asian factories. Surely if the BBC did a documentary on all high street stores some child sitting at a sewing machine will be discovered. Though do these truths even stop us, do they prevent us from purchasing a £2 belt instead of a £25 one in a high-brow store. Can we resist temptation? In a hypothetical scenario if every person boycotted Primark and the company went bust it would cause a huge devastation, not only to the mass unemployment of people in Asia and the hard workers in these factories but in Britain too. There are 136 stores in the United Kingdom that would be a lot of unhappy staff. What we should do is become more ethically aware as a consumer, we should be suggesting ideas on how to improve labour practices in every country not just our own. We should be signing petitions; donating to charity and just appreciating where are clothes come from. The people who make these clothes have no care for fashion, yet they sit in sweat shops sewing to survive. Secondly, when it comes to the Bop or another night out in central and the wardrobe is looking a little glum and suddenly you own no clothes you don’t have to immediately jump on the bus it to Primarni. Instead walk down to Danebury Avenue there is a charity shop there called Dove on Line which has a rail of 50p clothing, faux fur coats and old school denim jackets. Or get on the internet and start bidding on eBay. There is a wide range of vintage clothing out there and new clothes that people just don’t want anymore all at bargain prices (just watch out for that postage)! Plus, it’s all individual. Therefore you won’t go out and bump into 666 people who say I own that dress or that shirt. One up-and-coming clothes label is Me&Yu (www. meandyu.com) they hand make and hand print all there own clothing for boys and girls, all at a reasonable price too. Fashion should be about recycling old clothes to your own style, look in your mum’s wardrobe and on the internet. And when you do buy mass produced clothing just remember where it came from.
Georgia Day
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Fresh Newspaper
Films Up
Couples Retreat
Directed by Pete Doctor
Directed by Peter Billingsly
Up follows the story of a 78 year old man who decides to fulfil a dream. He ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies off to South America. However he finds that he is not alone on his adventure.
A couple on the brink of divorce decide to book a couples retreat holiday to save their marriage. To get a cheaper deal they invite their friends along (three other couples).
I honestly wasn’t interested in seeing this film. I didn’t think I would enjoy it at all. I was very wrong! Up is such a beautifully created film. I think this is by far one of the best animations to come out of Pixar in recent years. The movie is both sad and uplifting and keeps you hooked throughout the film. I must admit I did cry on more than one occasion, as did many people in the cinema. This film has had a great reception in the UK and around the world. It’s topped British Box Office and has become the biggest animation of 2009 and one of the biggest animations of all time. It is now second behind Finding Nemo, in terms of success.
This Is It
The film follows the couples dealing with their marital problems through various different activities. I wasn’t expecting this film to be great, but the film makes a decent effort of being a funny movie. There are some laugh out loud scenes, mostly from Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn. This isn’t one of Vince Vaughns best films but it’s still a reasonable effort. If you’re after an easy film with a few laughs then watch Couples Retreat. It isn’t the funniest comedy of the year but still worth a watch.
Directed by Kenny Ortega When it was announced that the King of Pop’s comeback tour was to be turned into a documentary I, and many others, were very excited at the possibilities. Perhaps we would, at long last, catch more of a glimpse into the life of the legendary enigma that is Michael Jackson. So many rumours hung over the show before it even hit London. Would MJ be on stage for more than 20 minutes? Is he using stunt doubles? Will he be able to do all 50 dates? I had hoped that the film would answer these questions for me. Whilst ‘This is It’ is an enjoyable experience and, certainly not to be missed, it doesn’t answer any of the questions that we so wanted to know. There is no 1-2-1 interview with Michael about his feelings surrounding the tour or on any other matter. Though there is a particular moving moment when rehearsing with his band to ‘the Way you make me feel’. He stops the keyboard player in his tracks for coming in too early and says “Stop, Stop! You got to let it simmer, tease the audience. I know my music, I know my songs.” You leave the cinema wanting to know more and not entirely satisfied by the content presented. But isn’t that the curse of Michael Jackson. We always wanted more so much more that it killed him.
NP
David Robson
This film was a great surprise and I would highly recommend it. This is 96 minutes worth watching. Nyha Pasha
Repulsion (1965, Roman Polanski)
CLASSIC REVIEW
In last month’s issue of Fresh, due to the death of Patrick Swayze, the question of ‘what was his finest film’ was raised. In a similar, but far removed way, I wanted to talk about another film-related celebrity that has been in the headlines frequently over the past month. I want to talk about Roman Polanski. And more importantly, what was his finest film? (All prejudices aside). Firstly, I want to point out that this auteur has a history in film that expands over 50 years and his work spreads out into many different genres thus making a choice about his best work extremely difficult. However, I have decided to choose Repulsion as it is a brilliant film that plays on our senses. Polanski’s psychological horror is a startling black and white film set in the heart of London’s swinging sixties.
Caption: Insert caption here
The film’s opening scene reveals a striking image of the lead protagonist Carol (Catherine Deneuve) staring out from the screen with a one-eyed, icy yet disembodied stare. This conjures up a feeling of being watched, preconceiving one of the main themes in this film; paranoia. Our protagonist has a strong dislike for men and when her sister (who is also her flat-mate) goes on holiday, her overbearing thoughts become forefront in her mind and she spirals into a nightmare world of her own sensual fantasies. In this film, Polanski plays heavily with sound to build tension. In one of the most unforgettable yet terrifying scenes, tension is cleverly built by gradually increasing the tempo of a non-diegetic ticking clock which replaces the sounds of screaming. This leaves us to conjure up the noises we should be hearing to match the striking, scandalous on-screen images. Overall, this film uses imaginative ways to thrill the audience and shows the talent of this controversial film maker. The original trailer for the film perfectly depicts how “fact and fantasy are fused in a frantic fury of repulsion”. Other recommended titles by Roman Polanski include Chinatown and Roesmary’s Baby. Jonny Green
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Enron
BRAND NEW ON! SECTI
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Live and Local
Three Blind Mice, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and debt guzzling raptors: now there are three things I never thought I’d put together. These are just some of the images you can expect in Lucy Prebble’s ‘Enron’. Amongst them you will find businessmen yielding light sabres and a Siamese twin version of the Lehman Brothers. Although you wouldn’t immediately associate these images with the financial scandal of American energy company ‘Enron’, this is exactly what the extremely talented Prebble has done. And as the Enron slogan demands, I hear you asking WHY? This is just one of the techniques that Prebble uses to un-complicate the financial jargon and the confusing world of the stock market to tell the story whilst catering to stock market innocents like myself. Expect to laugh at the humour throughout the play and, don’t worry, the baffling business terminologies are explained to the audience. One recurring idea throughout the piece was that money, or greed for money consumes your life. Jeffrey Skilling (Samuel West) suffers both physically and mentally from running this scandal and is visibly worn down. One memorable scene which strengthened the message that greed for money is harmful includes a chorus of business people becoming more and more mechanical as they become obsessed with making money. Computerised numbers are projected over the actors making them appear almost non-human. The music becomes obsessive getting faster and faster and with it so do the actions of the business people. The words gold and aluminum are projected on the stage and the business people go crazy for it. It showed the audience how people can get swept up by the idea of money and greed for money can spiral out of control. The audience also get easily swept up by it all to show just how the whole world got swept up by Enron. The play has an exciting and comic style with recognisable and catchy songs that you will find yourself singing along to. The changes between scenes were quick and efficient so you have no time to stop and think about what’s actually happening. The humour and the serious aspects of the play had more merit individually but worked against each other when put together. The comic element of the play also affected the ending negatively as I felt I should be sympathetic towards the millions of people who lost their life savings but I didn’t. The lighting (Mark Henderson) and the design (Anthony Ward) were carefully thought out and the animated acting brilliantly brought the key members of the scandal back to life. Rupert Goold (director) may have jam packed a lot of ideas into this play and despite the slightly long running time ‘Enron’ is entertaining, informative and fast paced throughout.
Cymbeline William Shakespeare directed by Stephen Oliver Richmond Shakespeare Society at The Mary Wallace Theatre Last Thursday I was on hand at The Mary Wallace Theatre, Twickenham, to watch The Richmond Shakespeare Society’s performance of Cymbeline. It may be naive of me to assume that Cymbeline is one of Shakespeare’s lesser known plays, but the audacity, humour and volume of the plot, mean Cymbeline in no way falls short in comparison to its more well known predecessors. The plot revolves around the deteriorating relations between the ‘Britons’ and the Italians, and also follows the affairs of the daughter of Cymbeline (The King of Britain) Known as Imogen. As with many of Shakespeares plays, parts of the story seem to intertwine with that of some of his previous works. The relationship between Imogen and her banished husband Posthumus is reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, as are there many moments which could be related to Twelfth night. . The pace of the production is high from start to finish, with no pauses between scene changes, as the set is kept relatvely simple throughout. At times it could be criticised for being too pacey and missing out on moments that require a little more patience from the actors, and a little more time to think for the audience, as there are some points at which the plot intertwines complicatedly between characters. Despite this my criticism does not lie with the actors themselves, but more the Director and the Costume designer, who appear to have not had a clear enough image of the production they wished to create, nor the originality to bring Shakespeare to their stage with any inventiveness or the unique brand that most directors thrive on creating in modern productions of one of our countries greatest writers timeless works. The costumes and use of props seemed as if they had no particular place in time or
space on the stage, creating confusion and dissaray, only resolved within the final act of the play. Overall the production is lighthearted and thoroughly entertaining, and contains a fascinating contrast between the older, more experienced members of the cast (the most notable performances of Michael Daly, Chris Williams and Barry Evans) and the younger, modern generation of Shakespearian actors, that together create a fresh appeal to Shakespeare on stage in our ever modernising world Luke Holliday
Spotlight On: Hannah Daisy Missing her art classes and in need of a hobby whilst at University in 2004, Occupational Therapist Hannah Daisy picked up her camera and started taking pictures. Five years later, her portfolio contains thousands of both portrait and live gig photographs, whilst her collection of gig photo-passes boasts names such as Amanda Palmer (formerly of The Dresden Dolls), Queenadreena, The Destroyers, and Rachel Stamp. Even more impressively, her photographs have been posted by Amanda Palmer on her myspace blog and used by the band Pythia for a limited edition promotional poster, which was sold at gigs in 2009. Ruth Price spoke to Hannah to find out more... How did you realise that you had a talent for photography? I’m not sure if I have realised as such... but having people who I don’t know tell me they like my pictures has been lovely and surprising! How did the opportunities you’ve had come about? Through self-promotion, hard work and basically just talking to people. Myspace is great for making connections! What has been your favourite moment so far? Bat For Lashes using my photo on their website! Another great moment was when the artist Stella Vine [who is a friend of Hannah’s] painted a picture of my housemate’s cat from a photo I took. Prints are being sold at Tatty Devine in London! Who or what inspires you? I couldn’t say one person or one thing really. I love nature... but then I also love glitter and darkness! I love my cat too. And I guess I find a lot of inspiration from live music. What advice do you have for others that might want to take it up? Buy a cheap digital camera and just have fun. Take it everywhere, take millions of photos and then do it again! To find out more about Hannah Daisy’s work, visit www.myspace.com/makedaisychains or www.flickr.com/photos/hannahdaisy . If you are interested in working with Hannah, contact hannah_daisy_@hotmail.com Rush Price
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Fresh Newspaper
Sport Roehampton Athletics Union: Presidents Roundup Happy November!
must get a player catching the disc in an end zone (like American football) but you can’t run with the disc (like netball). It’s also non contact so you don’t have quite so many injury worries!” To get to the bottom of this growing phenomenon, I followed the team round for a week to see how they trained and followed them to Plymouth to see how they played...and how they partied after!
We’ve had such a great start to the semester and now everyone’s beginning to realise that they’ve actually got work to do, but don’t get too bogged down its never too late to join up with SportRoehampton and keep fit! Our first social was a complete success, winners of the best dressed were netball who went as shuttlecocks and well the cracker eating we just don’t talk about..!! We raised a lot of money to go towards the A.U dinner, so thanks to all those that helped out and to those that came and donated … we had a blast! There will be a bigger and better Christmas social coming up so keep your eyes peeled for more information! We’ve had a mixed bag of results from our teams but generally we are doing pretty damn good! Lets up our game and show everyone just who Roehampton are! For those of you that are wondering deposits for tour are £60 and are due November 30th latest November 31st but you can get more information by dropping me and email or asking your social sec or captain! I look forward to the rest of this month with you guys! Rochelle Harvey, AU President
RU Ultimate Frisbee’s weekend in Plymouth! “You know what it is... ever since I’ve come to college, I’m so all about ultimate Frisbee” said Family Guys Stewie, and to put it bluntly, it is a sentiment that is growing stronger every year in University circles around the country. Ultimate Frisbee is fast becoming one of the top sporting teams for freshers and continuing students alike. The Roehampton team, RUF (Roehampton Ultimate Frisbee), has some excellent advocates of this as the Captain (Sam Drayson Le Tissier) Chairman (James Leadbetter) and Coach (Alex Watkins) all took up the sport in their first years and have all played in national tours outside of the university team. RUF has made a lot of progress since its foundation in 2005 but the core ethos of the team has remained the same. As Sam says “Ultimate Frisbee is a fun, fast paced, sport without all the testosterone fuelled machoism you get in many other main stream sports”. As a club RUF makes sure that the fun of Ultimate (the official name of the sport) is not lost. One of the more attractive parts of Ultimate is the fact that it is a mixed sport with separate divisions of Open (usually all male but women allowed) Mixed (at least 2 women on each team) and Women only tournaments. In each of the divisions there are indoor, outdoor and even beach tournaments in which to enjoy the game. What is Ultimate Frisbee I hear you say? Well I asked Coach Alex Watkins to describe it to me. “It’s a cross between American football and Netball. Each team
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RUF meets twice a week to train, but many of the players continue to do group trainings throughout the week in the RoeActive gym. On Wednesdays between 2 - 4 pm, RUF meet in Froebel’s Davies Hall for indoor practice and on Thursday nights they meet at 7 PM on the Whitelands field for outdoor flood light training until 9PM. Training sessions involve practising disc throws, building stamina and fitness, energetic team drills, playing mini matches and most importantly, having a good laugh whilst doing it all! The tournament in Plymouth’s Mayflower leisure centre (17th – 18th Oct) marked a turning point for RUF; a turn for the better. Clearly, all the extra effort put in by captain, coach, chairman and the players came into fruition in Plymouth and this showed with excellent game plays, some heroic efforts and many points being achieved. RUF may have not won every match (they did win a lot), but they did play a fantastic tournament and finished 9th out of 22 teams. Their character and knowledge of the game also got them awarded the ‘Spirit Award’ by all the other teams by vote. “Spirit” is highly important in Ultimate as there are no referees which means honesty and knowledge of the game and rules and particularly important to know. At the end of every tournament each team rates the teams they played on “spirit” and the team with the best spirit rating is awarded a prize (usually a bottle of spirit!). But RUF is not just a good thing to join to get fit and learn a cool new sport... oh crumbs no! The social aspect of the team is fantastic and as many of the players are close friends, their connection on the pitch spills over into their everyday lives. For instance, the team couldn’t have slept in a small room made for two days if they didn’t get on. But they did it and it became one of the highlights of the weekend and was a good bonding experience for the new players (despite phones going off all night, taps on the window from dirty stop outs, flatulence, snoring, screams and all). The band of brothers, and a sister, also managed to squeeze a night out on the tiles whilst away, showing the other Universities how we do it at Roehampton; with me, the sports correspondent showing the world how to drink 6 pints of what can only be described as raw spirit and Shaun Dillon winning a Michael Jackson dance off with some crazy pop and lock moves. If you want to learn more about Ultimate Frisbee and possibly even join the team then e-mail roehampton.ultimate@hotmail.co.uk.
Ryan William Cooper
www.roehamptonstudent.com
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