Seren - 167 - 2001-2002 - December 2001

seren

December 2001

inside EDUCATION, EDUCATION...

2

Official English-language newspaper of UWB Students’ Union

FREE

Bangor student activist jailed People and Planet protestor sentenced to three months

FFRIDDOEDD LAUNDERETTE

3

WHAT’S THIS?

5

BOARD GAMES

8

MOVIES NEW AND LESS NEW

11

WHAT A WOOKIE

12

WAKE UP WITH ANT

20

Report by CATHERINE WALKER News Editor jenny gaiawyn, a Bangor Marine Biology student, was found guilty on 5th November of a breach of the peace, for her part in a peace blockade. She was sentenced to a three month imprisonment.

Miss Gaiawyn was attending a peaceful protest back in Februaryagainst a nuclear base at Faslane in Scotland, when arrested, somewhat ironically, under breach of the peace laws. She told the court that she considered her treatment “arrogant and petty-minded.” This comment did not place her in contempt of court, but could explain for the extreme sentence she received.

Her case has been brought to the attention of MSP Tommy Sheridan and Caroline Lucas MEP, who have both condemned the

Jenny Gaiawyn

sentence passed by Sheriff Morag Galbraith. Tommy Sheridan said: “This is a dammed disgrace. People guilty of threatening life and limb end up with less of a sentence, and yet a woman willing to fight for peace is punished by a court system which is increasingly discredited and out of control.” It is known that Mr. Sheridan will be asking Justice Minister Jim Wallace to arrange an enquiry into the case.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled in 1996 that the possession of nuclear weapons is contrary to international law, and this was reaffirmed by a Scottish court in 1999. Miss Gaiawyn’s intention was therefore to uphold the law, not to break it.

“The three month prison sentence handed to Jenny Gaiawyn is an outrageous attack on her human rights, and a scandalous reflection of the arbitrariness of Scottish law,” said Dr Caroline Lucas MEP, who was given a £150 fine for the same charge as Jenny.

Jenny is an active member of People and Planet group here in Bangor as well as an SVB volunteer.

In a statement, James Brownsell said, “This harsh sentence is out of all proportion to the nature of the offence, and has got to be the most bold example of how discreditable the Scottish courts system has become. The students of Bangor work hard in our local community, and I urge you all to rally round and support Jenny at this time.”

contd. page 2

Defiant: Jenny avoids the camera in happier times

The Faslane protest at which Jenny was arrested

SPECIAL YULETIDE EDITION FEATURING CHRISTMAS CAT AND MORE!

2 SEREN December 2001

NEWS

news@seren.bangor.ac.uk

Fury over fees “U-turn” Students confront Blair as NUS declines to protest against huge rise in loan rates Last Wednesday, 28th November, the PM was confronted once again with the wrath of students as he stepped out of a meeting room in the House of Commons.

The angry mob of students had just been informed that they would have to take their argument to the Government without the help of the NUS. Mr Blair was forcibly told by the group that they would not bend to the idea of graduate tax, tuition fees or commercial interest rates on student loans.

The protest was jointly organized by the Campaign for Free Education along with Student CND, who used the dispute as an occasion to express their frustration over continuing military action in Afghanistan. Faz Velmi of the Campaign for Free Education, who stepped out in front of the entourage to block its passage said; “I told him that we didn’t want tuition fees or graduate tax and asked if he realized the proposed changes to student finance would make a bad situation only worse. He just froze, with ‘What do I do now?’ painted all over his face.”

The demonstration was prompted by an apparent government U-turn over student finance.

On November 26th it was stated that not only will there be no return of grants, but that instead of a graduate tax, loans may be charged at commercial interest rates. The future of tuition fees is still uncertain, as is whether “top-up fees,” which some universities are calling for, will be allowed.

It appears that no definite decisions on the future of student funding will be made before the end of the year. Barry Sheerman, a Labour MP and leader of the Commons Education Select Committee, said “they are in a bit of a mess over this. They have realized that they have got a lot of Middle England voters excited and raised expectations about change. The DfES is now running around like a headless chicken trying to come up with some new system. This is not the way to make policy. At the moment we’re getting the worst of all possible worlds: uncertainty, and high expectations which I think will all end in tears.”

Protestors in London in 1997: but still it seems the government isn’t listening

Ultimatum for De Montfort Students’ Union The Executive Committee at De Montfort University has been forced into accepting the small amount of space proposed for their new SU building by the university, or lose any guarantee of space at all within the new building.

After all the energy and effort put into campaigning for their own larger building, the SU has been dealt a very severe blow. Despite the arrangements that have had to be currently accepted, they have no plans to lay down in defeat and still maintain a positive outlook.

Negotiations are being undertaking in relation to the proposed downstairs bar, which possibly could be run by an external company.

De Montfort’s SU President, Stuart Hill quoted Frank Lloyd Wright, saying that the building is the “reality of the space within.”

They aim to make the best of what they have been able to secure. It was decided at a general meeting that the Union should take the building as a foothold for a longer journey, not just as the be all and

Big muddy field or archaeological paradise?

The old De Montfort Students’ Union building end all.

The possibility of purchasing a supplementary building in the area, for use by the SU, is still open.

Stuart Hill said that “the current feeling amongst our students is one of unity and trust in its Union to continue to fight for them to grow stronger, harder and faster.

We will be an example of student unity and strength, with or without the support of our university.”

The DMU Sabbatical team: still campaigning against their university

Builders unearth Roman remains in Carmarthenshire Builders working on the construction site of a new council depot in Carmarthenshire have unearthed a Roman urn containing human bones and ash, along with two lamps. Archaeologists are celebrating this West Wales discovery, as the artefacts are believed to date back to the First Century AD. This rare discovery has provided experts with an excep-

tional insight into Roman family life. Gavin Evans, curator of Carmarthen Museum and archaeologist, said, “It’s only the second time a Roman burial site has been discovered in recent times in Carmarthenshire.” It was extremely lucky that the workmen had not missed the items and “absolutely brilliant” that they had recognized their significance and contacted the museum, he added.

academic@seren.bangor.ac.uk

Poetry reading The Department of English at the University of Wales, Bangor, has arranged a night of story and poetry readings to celebrate the close of the year 2001. The reading will take place at the Union, Garth Road, on the 10th December from 7.30pm. Among the people taking part will be Carol Reumens and Cliff Forshaw.

Students are invited to bring their own short stories or poems and to take part in the evening, entitled “The Word ends with a Bangor” (according to the posters, though perhaps “World” would make more sense!). Those not confident enough to read themselves can simply sit back with a pint and enjoy the night.

All standards are welcomed, and all students are invited to come along for this “essential” reading.

In a spin Students are getting into a lather due to the appalling state of the laundrette on the Friddoedd site. An increasing number of students who use the facility for convenience and the low price have had their time and money wasted by broken machines. Often the faults go unreported by the students, leading to further problems and also the machines not getting fixed.

As recently as last week, nearly half of the available machines were broken, one of which had not been repaired despite being reported as faulty two weeks ago. Although the laundrette is a luxury, for many it has become the only affordable and physically viable option for washing their clothes.

Faults with the halls of residence take priority over the washing machines and driers at the laundrette, but many students find the delays and problems unacceptable. With few affordable alternatives, some people feel that the situation is intolerable. However, Seren is assured that all necessary action is being taken to improve the service at the laundrette.

ACADEMIC NEWS

SEREN December 2001 3

Bangor bids for £2M business partnership Bangor University awaits news on bids worth over two million pounds to enhance its services to businesses in Wales and across the world.

Some of the bids to the Knowledge Exploitation Fund (KEF) cover feasibility studies and market research; others involve largerscale projects giving direct support to business. Projects range from microelectronics to multimedia, from materials chemistry to marine science, and from music to marketing. All of these will help to create skilled jobs in North Wales.

Bangor’s Director of Business Development, Nigel Peacock, said “I am very pleased with the range and quality of this set of project proposals. Many of these projects help to take forward innovative ideas developed in the University.”

The department of Chemistry have submitted a project that will provide a resource for the computer modelling of chemical reactions. Given the expense, this type of advanced facility is normally only available to major chemical corporations, but the University will make this service available to small companies to help them to remain competitive. Professor John Macdonald, Head of Bangor’s Department of Chemistry, said “This state-of-the-art facility will offer considerable potential for collaborative work with existing businesses and for the development of high-tech spin-out companies.”

Other proposed projects include the development of Ban-

gor’s Centre for Applied Marine Sciences (CAMS) and Centre for Advanced & Renewable Materials (CARM), together with the establishment of a knowledge-transfer network for businesses interested in forestry, agriculture, and natural resources. Staff in Bangor’s Centre for Business & Regional Development have submitted proposals to enhance the University’s range of TCS (Teaching Company Scheme) partnerships with business and to bring experts from the United States over to Bangor to advise on the commercial development of the University.

Work in the arts and humanities has not been neglected. Proposals to enhance the ANTHEM network for businesses interested in Welsh music have also been submitted to KEF, as has a proposal to develop and equip an advanced media demonstration studio in the University. Delyth Prys of Canolfan Bedwyr and James Dawson of the Centre for Learning Development have put forward proposals for the development and marketing of IT services in the areas of Welsh translation and training respectively.

Bangor’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Roy Evans, remarked that “working in partnership with business is an important part of the University’s contribution to the region. I am very pleased with the enthusiasm and commitment which has been put into developing these project proposals, and I very much hope that these bids will be successful.”

A virtual molecule of Fe4S4(S-tBu)4]2- yesterday

Microelectronics: and a bloke named Luis

Seeing stars with the Young Entrepreneurs Club An opportunity to experience the weightlessness that astronauts feel in space is now available to all students. The event, organised by the Young Entrepreneurs Club North Wales, takes place at the John Phillips Hall at the University of Wales, Bangor on Saturday 15 December between 2.30- 5.30. And since it is a student event, there will be no fee.

As well as the portable planetarium which will take you on a journey through the solar system, there will be a “guided tour” of the familiar constellations on an interactive touch screen wall. Other exhibits explain rocket flight, demonstrate

the principles of flight and examine the seasons and day and night.

Also on hand will be Dr Andy Breen of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, who will give a short talk on “What are the stars?”

The Event is the last in this term’s series of talks which has included talks by Dafydd Wigley AM and Mr Huw Jones, Chief Executive of S4C. The “Seeing Stars” event should provide an interesting afternoon for all, whether or not they eventually become astronauts,” said Dr Tom Parry Jones, founder of the Young Entrepreneurs Club North Wales. “The Young Entrepreneurs

Club is intended to give young people and their teachers an understanding and appreciation of entrepreneurship and the business world. The talks and activities are designed to be linked to other activities in the National Curriculum and provide interest outside the school environment”.

The Young Entrepreneurs Club North Wales is supported by the University of Wales, Bangor, the Engineering Education Scheme Wales and Menai Bridge Community Heritage Trust. Although the event is aimed primarily at schools, the university welcomes any interest in the event.

4 SEREN December 2001

COMMUNITY

community@seren.bangor.ac.uk

Polar explorer visits Bangor with message of responsible waste disposal There is currently an appeal running in Bangor High Street, a campaign targeted at helping the elderly in the cold weather. It is being coordinated by Age Concern, which goes on red alert each winter. Each year they give hot meals and sometimes install home insulation. This year, with the freezing weather threatening to persist for several more months, they are hoping to do more.

Sponsoring the Fight The Freeze appeal are Halifax, who are collecting this winter, and the Bank of Scotland. On the High Street, look out for a ‘Fight the Freeze’ blue collection box. People are being asked to fill the plastic bags provided with their leftover foreign European currency and put it in the box. There are 12 participating countries in the Euro Zone, excluding the UK. Euro notes and coins were available from the 1st of January; European national-currency notes and coins will be withdrawn from UK circulation by February 28th. Until this point Halifax and the Bank of Scotland will buy back foreign European national banknotes (but not coins!) and travellers cheques.

From 28th February any remaining foreign (European national currencies) money cannot be used in the Euro Zone. None of the above applies to countries that have not joined the euro. Please donate national-currency foreign European coins (such as the change from your holiday money) to Age Concern. This money will be used to buy blankets and other goods and services for the most vulnerable

FIGHT THE FREEZE - Who says money can’t buy happiness? elderly in the community. Age Concern (a federation of registered charities) are trying to prevent winter deaths. The aim of this appeal is to help older people in the UK survive the winter. In the winter of 1999/00, 46,520 more old people died than died that summer. In 2000/01, this figure was still 22,700 more deaths than in the summer.

A fuel-poor household is defined as one spending over 10% of its net income on energy. This is the case for most older people. For every 1EC drop in temperature there are 8000 more deaths. More people in the UK than in any other European country die as a direct result of

On November 17th Christian Aid held a Trade Justice Day at Penuel Chapel in Garth Road. The aim was to raise awareness of third world issues and the patterns of injustice caused by corporate expansion, monopolies and globalisation. Fairly traded goods were on sale and literature and displays were available. The facilitator, Mary, had come all the way from England to lead the day. Her illustrated talk was supplemented with breakout sessions in which the groups were given different true scenarios and asked to comment on them. The groups answered questions and reported back. One group dealt with bananas, which are grown in South and Central America as well as in the Caribbean. Those in the Caribbean are grown

cold. Old people are affected most of all as many can’t afford to heat their house (which may often be in poor repair), or to eat properly to fight off illnesses. Old people need £150 a week to live on, but 75% of pensioners in the UK don’t have this much.

FTF is an appeal that aims to raise £1 million in foreign currency.

You can also donate UK currency at Menai Bridge Co-op. 60p pays for 1 emergency phone call to be handled. £2 buys a hot meal; £5 a warm blanket; £10 a packet of winter clothes. £20 pays for 20 befriending visits to old people in their own homes. £50 buys an emergency heater.

on less land and without intensive production. Those from continental America are grown intensively on vast plantations obtained through clearance of primary rainforest, with cheap labour and excessive pesticides. The beneficiaries are the chemical and shipping companies, plantation owners, loggers and transporters.

Local people lose out and the environment is destroyed, and the people of the Caribbean suffer because a rule by the World Trade Organization favours the American crops and the Caribbean growers cannot compete. The WTO’s role in world domination was highlighted when Mary said that the WTO delegate from Uganda had the US government telephone the Ugandan government, telling them to remove

Old people face a lot of difficulties in winter; dark cold days, and dangerous icy pavements. There is more depression and isolation; and people often can’t get out, or don’t want to go outdoors. Hypothermia can easily kill an elderly person, who may not notice themselves getting colder over days or weeks.

People with hypothermia gradually lose sensation and awareness.

Their consciousness level falls and they eventually lapse into a coma.

Advice to old people is to have at least 1 hot meal and several warm drinks a day, keep the room temperature at at least 21EC, to get some exercise, and to dress warmly, even indoors. They can

the Ugandan delegate because the USA didn’t agree with his politics and thought he was too radical. Japan has 25 delegates but Bangladesh has 1, and many WTO countries have no delegate at all because they cannot afford to send them.

Participants at the day signed postcards to MPs against debt and injustice. They compiled a list of where their food and clothing were from; not much was from Wales. It came from Taiwan, Italy, China, England, Morocco… and most other parts of the world, as was displayed on a map.

wear insoles in their shoes. They can ask Age Concern for a volunteer to befriend or visit them.

Volunteers and trainees are always welcome, and Bangor High Street has a Help The Aged charity shop.

Call Age Concern on (01286) 677711/678310/830590. Gordon Lishman, director-general of Age Concern, said: “These unnecessary deaths should not happen. [This appeal] can help us make a big difference to the lives of many older people. [It is] the best way of wishing older people a very happy New Year.”

To find out more about the Fight the Freeze Campaign, log on to http://www.fightthefreeze.org.uk.

community@seren.bangor.ac.uk

COMMUNITY

SEREN December 2001 5

Welsh Christmas Diwali: light my fire Karl Sadil examines the yuletide traditions of Wales Nadolig Llawen! This means Merry Christmas, of course. The Welsh particularly like to sing Christmas carols at this time of year, and the season is a time for competitions between choirs.

An old Welsh tradition is to draw water from a well before dawn on New Year’s Day, wake everyone in the village, sing the “New Water” carol, and sprinkle everyone you meet with the water. In the days around Christmas, Welsh children liked to make and eat treacle and toffee in the evenings. Traditional domestic Welsh Christmas trees were small and hung with charms. The house was decorated with simple paper decorations.

Modern Welsh Christmas dinner is roast turkey with mixed vegetables, and then a Christmas Pudding.

At Christmas and on New Year’s Day people displayed a decoration in their homes called the Calennig, an old pagan decoration that symbolises good crops in the next year. This is how to make a Calennig! Make a tripod from three twigs. Cut a piece of box from a hedge (or holly or an ear of corn will do), and stick it into the top of the apple, after removing the apple stalk. Push cloves into the sides of the apple, about a centimetre apart. Glue raisins or hazelnuts onto the sprig of box, to make them look like berries. Wind strips of gold foil and pieces of ribbon around the twigs and the apple as if it were tinsel. After New Year’s Day, give it to a friend, to pass the luck on. Less artistic families substituted the decoration with a simple donation of a few copper coins; that was a different type of Calennig.

The Mari Lwyd (Venerable Mary) was another old tradition. Get a horse skull and stick it on a pole!

Arrange it so the jaws can open and shut. Drape a white sheet over the skull, big enough to conceal a man.

Decorate the head with a bridle, bells, and red and green streamers, and reins. Make false ears from cardboard. The person holding the pole hides under the sheet and moves the horse’s jaws open and shut. He gets drunk with his mates and goes from house to house, trying to make better songs and poetry than the inhabitants, and if the family lose (as in trick-or-treat)

they have to invite the gang in and feed them. Sometimes the rest of the gang dress up as Sergeant, Merryman (jester), Punch and Judy, etc.

Aberystwyth students are reviving this tradition, entirely in Welsh.

Traditionally in Welsh homes a plough would be placed under the family dining table and sprinkled with beer, this symbolised the end of work in the knowledge it would be done again. Activities included hunting rabbits and squirrels, and playing football (originally the semi-lethal kind that could go on for days/miles). They also danced to harp music and sang songs together. Houses were decorated on Christmas Eve with holly, mistletoe, ivy, rosemary, and bay. The Plygain (Daybreak) service at church was held on Christmas Day from 3 to 6 am. This was a shortened morning service, lit by hundreds of candles brought by the congregation. Up to 15 carols might be sung. The service ended with Welsh Rarebit and ale. Christmas lunch was a goose. On St. Stephen’s (Boxing) Day, holly-beating, or holming, was done by young men and boys.

They whipped female servants’ arms with holly till they bled; and they also beat the last person to get out of bed (and made him/ her the family slave for the day).

Animals, especially horses, were subjected to bloodletting, to boost stamina. All debts must be paid by New Year’s Day; nothing should be lent then, either.

If you want to get more into the spirit of a Welsh Christmas, snuggle up in a giant cushion (www.giantcushions.co.uk) and read Christmas in Wales, ed. Dewi Roberts, published by Dufour Editions, available from amazon.com.

A horse’s skull (right)

November 14th this year was Diwali (also called Divali, Deepavali and Deepawali). It is the Indian festival of lights and is celebrated all over the world, from Sydney and Southall to Singapore and from Leicester to Taiwan. It is a major five-day festival celebrated

by Hindus, showing the victory of good over evil. It comes twenty days after the day Rama destroyed the demon-king Ravana who had kidnapped his wife Sita. People in the UK have sung songs like “Light a little diva [lamp] in my house, to welcome Sita home.” Unfortunately, Rama later banished Sita because she’d been made unclean.

At Diwali people wear their most colourful clothes, and women wear their best jewellery. There are fireworks, decorations, bright lights and thousands of small lamps (divas or diyas: a deepam means a lamp, from Tamil) arranged in rows. People go to market for discount goods, and visit their friends and exchange gifts. Diwali gifts today include idols, jewellery, clothes, scented candles, sweets, dried fruit, and boxes of food.

There is gambling for stakes on Diwali night, because the goddess

Lighting candles for Diwali Parvati played dice with her husband Shiva on this day. The first day of the festival is celebrated by the rich caste, welcoming Lakshmi, who is the goddess of wealth/ prosperity. Cows are decorated, powder footprints are drawn on the floor, songs are sung. It is also the night Yama, god of death, is worshipped. The second day is a day of bathing with oil before sunrise, and worshipping Rama and Kali/Durga. The third day worships Lakshmi, Krishna, and Yama. The fourth day worships Krishna and marks the coronation of King Vikramaditya. On the fourth day, the idols are bathed in milk, dressed up, and given offerings. Husbands

and wives give each other gifts.

Also, it is the one day when Bali, god of the underworld, comes to do good on Earth. The fifth day is for love between brothers and sisters, because Yama visited his sister Yami. Jains and Sikhs also celebrate the festival of Diwali— Jains to worship Lord Mahavira, Sikhs for the release of Guru Hargobind Singh. Special Diwali food is: gujia (deep-fried chapattis with raisins and almonds); kheer (milky sugary rice with spices, cashews and raisins); mitha kaja (jaggerydough balls fried in clarified butter); kharipudi (sliced spicy fried rolled dough); and lapsee (floury buttery chopped nuts).

If this is your palette, try the DAW’s Short Play competition (details below)

Upcoming community events BTCV want volunteers to come and work outdoors on a variety of projects. Travel is free, and tools and refreshments are provided.

Meet 9.30am at Farrar Road stadium carpark each day for: 10th December, Pond management and training; 11th December, Bird and Tree Identification and training; 12th December, clearing rhododendron at Menai Woods; 13th December, wallbuilding on the Little Orme. On the 16th December meet at Theatr Gwynedd at 10am for more rhododendron clearing!

Ring (01248) 354050. If the outdoor life isn’t your cup of tea and you’re miserable with deadlines, work, rain and other problems (such as the roof leak in Informatics that flooded the lecture theatre and damaged the carpet in the common room)… well, don’t despair, because there are plenty of community activities going on in the warm and dry. You could enter the Drama Association of Wales Short Play Competition 2002. Entries must be in by 31st January to DAW, The Old Library,

Singleton Road, Splott, Cardiff CF24 2ET. To get a form go to the municipal library by Bangor’s main post office or call DAW on (029) 2045 2200. It’s £7.50 per script, which must be a one-act stage play in Welsh or English, of up to 50 minutes. You could win £125. Or, less tricky, see a display of Celtic style embroidery at Plas Newydd from 15-16 December and maybe buy some. It’s free to get in, and runs from 11-4 with food 12-2pm and live music 12.30pm-2.30pm.

6 SEREN December 2001

IN THE SU

su@seren.bangor.ac.uk

Decisions, decisions

Bob Connerton presents an impartial and fair account of recent SU business He’s also worked on the rules for the Halls five-a-side footy, where he’s volunteered to ref all games!

There could also be a new AU Club shortly: a Roller Hockey team.

UMCB President

The motions box: are its days numbered?

For those curious how this page is composed, I’ll tell you: I go to most of the meetings that I refer to, and also receive minutes, which I summarise and where appropriate add to from the notes I take of the meetings.

Anyway, another issue of Seren, and more reporting! Since my last column there have been several letters. I will state now, if you’ve got an opinion, and can string sentences together in a fashion, and you write something on the SU, let me know, and I’ll consider including it. Apart from more opinions, observations and others, it means I get to write less. Which is nice.

So please get in touch!

to people about using the Archway, been travelling about the country and England representing the Union on various events, been up to college to fight for student issues, been to the Fed University, and as well as paper and office work he’s been elected onto the Exec of UCMC/NUS Wales.

CCSO

Committee reports

The CCSO has been dealing with BUMS Health and Safety issues, advertising Union events, attending college meetings, been about Wales on business, has ordered new order books and has also started working to free Wednesday afternoons from supervisions.

This is in addition to working on the usual Clubs and Societies business.

SU President

AU President

Our President has been working on the Union’s stances against Student Hardship, and has been doing media interviews; speaking

The AU President has been working on Health and Safety issues, rearranging fixtures that have had to be postponed due to bad weather.

In addition to general office/UMCB work, Ellen’s been working on a call for more Welsh medium classes and gathering support for a Welsh Federal College; starting a new homework club. UMCB Choir have came 5th out of 11 competing teams, including some wholly professional choirs.

Welfare Officer

The Welfare Officer’s been busy with NightLine, Safety issues (a lot!), placing information on the Intranet for support/advice for the recent attacks on females, liasing with local police officers, has been working on Health and Safety, and issues concerning possible NightLine moves. This is in addition to office work!

SCA Organiser

Has been working on preparing for the annual tea Dance for Bangor’s elder-folk, sorting out contracts for Amser/Time cloakroom staff, sorting out a new project - the Sunday Club and considering forming a partnership with the Love Lane homeless shelter. In addition to those bits, he’s attended a couple of meetings up at College.

Non-Sabbaticals

Since the last ‘Seren’, two people have stepped down: Frankie

O’Dowd from the Chair, and Iwan Bennyworth as Executive Member without Portfolio.

The LGB Officer, has been busy painting ‘Jock’s Bar’ and visiting places away from Bangor, in addition to receiving a visit from ‘Attitude’ magazine.

The Women’s Officer has been working on Breast Cancer awareness.

The Nursing Rep has raised awareness of his existence, should shortly be invited to attend college meetings, and has arranged for Union cards to be issued from Fron Heulog. He’s also been considering the ideas of a Roaming Executive.

The Education Officer has been liasing with Strathclyde and updating the Education Website.

The Normal Site Rep has also raised awareness of her existence around Safle y’r Normal, has assisted in delivering safety leaflets and has been investigating the possibility of vending machines for the site.

The Senedd Convenor has been preparing for the Senedd just gone.

The Exec. Secretary has investigated establishing a section on the Intranet for ‘Union News’, which is still on-going, and has been working on the forthcoming General Meeting.

Decisions & news Caught on camera

Frankie O’Dowd laments leaving the Executive Roaming executive

A proposal was made to take the Executive Committee around the College Estate, particularly in Halls.

This is to be investigated further, although it appears to be in favour of going ahead.

Arts library toilets

A complaint was received about graffiti in the loos in Main Arts Library. The issue will be taken to the appropriate Committee.

Modernisation

A proposal to modernise the way motions are submitted for Union meetings was suggested - that they could be submitted by e-mail. This is still under consideration.

Letter from the VC

It is now likely that a video will be produced as a joint venture between the Union, and Media Department showing perspective students the Union in action.

A letter has been received from the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. H. R. Evans, thanking the Students of Bangor for their generosity and interest in the Royal British Legion’s annual Poppy appeal.

Main Bar cloakroom

Sunday, Sunday

It was approved that rag should have control over the co-ordination for the Main Bar Cloakroom.

Presidential laptop

A proposal was made for the President to have a laptop given that much of his time is spent away from the office. This is still waiting action, as investigations as to costs have to be considered and advise given.

Loan to Sub-Aqua club

He wishes...

St Ba

The Executive approved a loan of £4,800 to the Sub-Aqua club to replace an unsafe compressor that is dying. The loan is to repaid over three years.

Concerns have been raised that the Union is not open on Sundays, which is depriving Clubs from functioning. The reason offered were the costs of securing the Union, and the matter is ongoing, with the possibility of funding coming from the Company. The matter is on-going.

The Company

A meeting is to take place for the Union to pass comments on the Company to the Company.

Arrangements are being made by our esteemed Union President (james@undeb.bangor.ac.uk), who can be contacted for more details!

IN THE SU

su@seren.bangor.ac.uk

SEREN December 2001 7

What have the students ever done for Bangor?

Student volunteering publicity officer Jenny Gaiawyn explains what Student Volunteering Bangor (formerly Student Community Action) is, what it does—and why.

Is it right that, when there is so little money about for clubs and societies, £6,000 of Students’ Union money is spent on Student Volunteering in the community?

Do students really benefit from this? Why should we have to worry about other people’s problems?

We have a hard enough time as it is. It’s not our fault that Bangor has some of the poorest areas in Wales with high unemployment, poor housing and low incomes.

We’re here to get an education: that’s more important than helping out locally when, as it is, we’re here for such a short time that we won’t really make a difference anyway, and aren’t there council groups who are supposed to do all that stuff?

Bangor is a small city, with about 14,000 residents, meaning the yearly influx of over 7,000 students in late September is felt strongly within the community.

Often, the relationship between students and locals is tense: they view us as drunk, loud, annoying youths who invade their home town for eight months of the year causing havoc and mayhem and putting nothing back in.

Let’s face it, they’re right on quite a few issues. How many of us go out drinking, then stagger home, happy as can be and quite unaware that the kids next door are asleep? Have you or your mates thrown up on the streets of Bangor, rushed past some older person on the street on the way to a lecture (or the pub!), or just added to the queues at the supermarket when all poor Mrs Jones and her two screaming kids wants is to get the week’s shopping and go home!

One contribution we make to the community is our student loans: many people in Bangor benefit from our rent, shopping and recreational activities. Most of the locals don’t, however, and volunteering in the community is a way for us to say thank you to locals for their patience and friendship. Let us not forget that the University was set up in 1884 with funds raised locally, including voluntary contributions made from the wages of the slate workers for a number of years.

We all spend at least three years here, and that’s a long time—long enough to realise that there is more to life than being a student, and that, once you leave university, you will become part of a community somewhere. By volunteering you can cross the student/local divide and become part of Bangor, not just Bangor University.

Bangor, like all communities, needs help overcoming problems caused by lack of money and facili-

Volunteering in the community is a way for us to thank the locals for their patience and friendship. ties that the council don’t provide.

Volunteering fills a part of this gap.

We have kids’ clubs three times a week, giving disadvantaged kids opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise get, and their parents a valuable break; we befriend elderly people and take some around local attractions; we help with the education of some young lads expelled from school and at a Welsh homework club, go riding with disabled youngsters and direct volunteers to other local groups. The community benefits, and they see this.

Volunteering is great PR for students and thus the Union. The Tea Dance every Christmas is attended by over a hundred elderly people and supported by local companies, and there are young adults in Bangor with kids of the own who still remember coming to the Splodge kids’ club when they were about six. We are in direct contact with over two hundred locals through our volunteer projects, and they all benefit from our activities. If each of them tells just two of their friends/family how we help them and they tell their mates etc., pretty soon all of Bangor knows the students are contributing.

So the Union benefits from the improved image of students; but what about individual students?

At the moment there are over sixty students in SVBangor. Yep, some people out there actually want to give up a few hours of their free time every week. Why? Well, there are numerous benefits.

SVBangor offers more free training for students than any other group in the Union, from first aid training to child protection issues.

The training and skills you develop can be used throughout your life, unlike many of the things we learn at uni: let’s face it, how many of us are going to be still holding tequila slammer races in 10-15 years time?

But you will still be in employment, and volunteering can help you get the job you want. As well as all the skills you pick up, from project management to how to control twelve bored kids, it looks great on your CV, and the Student Volunteer Organiser will provide you with a reference.

You can gain valuable work experience, as the range of our projects is so large, and get to see more of Gwynedd taking kids or the elderly to local attractions. You can even get to go to the pub as one of our projects takes out adults with learning disabilities every Wednesday night.

With sixty volunteers we already make a real difference to the lives

The Mayor of Bangor congratulates SV Organiser Andrew Wilson on the valuable work done by SVB of two hundred people. Just think what we could do with six hundred, or even six thousand!

It is the responsibility of the Students’ Union to represent us,

and to improve the image of students within Bangor. But who is the Union? We all are—that’s the point! So it’s our responsibility. So get volunteering!

SCA (now SVB) volunteers present, quite literally, a large cheque to camera

CULTURE BOOK REVIEW

Evil Rennie Sparks, by mail order (see http://handsomefamily.home. mindspring.com for details)

Handsome Family values: Rennie and Brett Sparks

Rennie Sparks is one half of gothic alt-country duo The Handsome Family, and is responsible for the band’s lyrics. Someone usually dies in every song she writes, but usually in a blackly comic way. It’s always grim, but it’s often quite funny too, and in this reviewer’s opinion, she’s the best lyricist of her generation. So when Seren discovered at a recent Handsomes gig that Sparks had written a collection of short stories, they were

Board games round-up Can Mattel’s new offering match up to the classics?

Monopoly Mattel, about £17 Perhaps a self-contained example of capitalism, perhaps a shocking reflection of so-called civilisation, Monopoly is the epitome of board game evil. The premise is simple enough—to subjugate your family or friends by owning the world and imposing a hefty tithe on their right to life. Everything that is bad in humanity is here—money, greed, taxes, unlawful imprisonment, beauty contests and the rail system (where you can’t catch a train). To embark upon a game of Monopoly is a trial. There will be squabbles over who gets to be the car or the top hat, there will be the chore of dividing the money—complete will the inevitable “wish-thismoney-was-real” comments—and there will be reluctance to take the responsibility of the bank. And, like the real suffering and misery in the world, the game will go on far too long, slowly destroying people’s will to live. Monopoly is, to the loser, utterly destroying while, to the winner, liberating to the point

of ecstasy. And this is why it shall always be loved by board gamers: a chance to indulge those malevolent megalomaniacal urges, a chance to rule with an iron fist. Or boot.

Ian Fallon

Scrabble Spear’s, about £15 my friend Olivia once invented a game. Each player is dealt one card; and the player with the highest card wins. It’s a simple game, but to me it seems every bit as worthwhile as such “classics” as Monop-

oly, Cluedo, Mouse Trap—in fact, any of the hundreds of popular board games which ultimately boil down to die-rolling contests.

So thank the Lord for Scrabble; a game which can only be won by being smarter, being more observant, thinking more laterally. Sure, there’s an element of chance— which of us hasn’t longed for the discovery of a new direction, somewhere between up and left, called “leeelep?”—but, over the course of a game, the odds tend to even out, and the best man, usually, wins.

And that’s before the collateral benefits. In Scrabble you can improve your spelling and learn new words. You may never have heard of a “vibex,” but just wait until your opponent plays it over a Triple Word Score and you’ll never forget it. And best of all, it’s also a tantalising glimpse into your opponent’s psyche. Everyday words take on a huge, ambiguous significance: what does it mean when a rugbyplayer decides on the word “fairy,” or a gorgeous diva comes up with “alone?” And it works both ways: you can surreptitiously plant ideas in your opponent’s head, or at least coerce the conversation round to

culture@seren.bangor.ac.uk understandably excited.

The thirteen stories (the number is probably significant) in Evil are dark. Very, very dark. Overweight teenagers go on shooting sprees, failed executives contemplate mass murder and suicide and a woman suddenly realises that the whole world is crawling with bugs and bacteria. Several stories (for example, “Skanks and Dirtbags”) deal with the traumas of being an unpopular teenage girl in 80’s small town America, so you suspect they are partly autobiographical. The rest, however, are just the workings of Sparks’ warped imagination.

The best stories here (particularly “Web of Gold,” “Springtime” and “Fire”) keep the same mix of bruise-black humour and genuine

A forum for poems by Bangor students

Poetry Corner

8 SEREN December 2001

creepiness that makes her lyrics so good. Some of the stories though, leave the humour out and end up being just too grim to be enjoyable. Sparks is a good writer, her first-person prose is never less than engaging, and she has a good way with a metaphor. However, most of the stories lack any sort of resolution, and although she is prompting the reader to use their imagination with these endings, it sometimes gets annoying.

Evil is an intriguing collection, but check out a Handsome Family album first. The words are as good, and they’re backed up by some equally great music. This is Sparks’ first collection though, so hopefully successive outings will see her improve her writing.  Daniel Hartley

“I am not old” I am not old; and yet I feel as if I have already lived a dozen lives, Seen generations surge, and bloom, and fade— Seen cities rise and crumble. In my heart I feel as if these virgin hands have fought And toiled in places I have never been.

Inside I cry alone for buried wives; For chances never taken; for my God; And for my own, dead, past. I am not old; Yet every life I touch breathes into me Some fragment of itself. I am not old; These years upon my shoulders are not mine. b.c. buxton

where you want to be. And it’s not your fault—it’s just the letters you’ve been dealt! Ah, Freud would have had a field day.

So, in short: Scrabble—a great game AND a social phenomenon.

Darien Graham-Smith

Thinkblot Mattel, about £20 with a reasonably simple premise, this game is all about what shapes you see in the inky spots on a page.

Just like a Rorschach test!

There is a flip chart of multiple splodges, and a unique little die with strange thingies on to dictate what you have to look for: creatures, people, food, wearables or anything. Everyone then has to write down as many things in their

category as possible in the time limit. To score points, you must persuade your fellow gamers the images you could see are on the page. If everyone agrees, then you get a point. You get two points for a unique answer, and bonus points if you spot the images on the back of the page.

Quite a clever little game, but the scoring process can become a little tedious. It can take some time to convince your friends that there is actually a dog wearing a bowler hat on the page!

If you play this game with your family on Christmas, then you shouldn’t be bored. It’s not exactly the kind of thing that will keep you in of an evening, but it will amuse and help while away the occasional rainy night.  Julie Neild

MUSIC

culture@seren.bangor.ac.uk

SEREN December 2001 9

Album reviews What’s spinning on the Seren platters this month

GIG REVIEW

Electric Soft Parade + Kid Galahad + Tetra Splendour Main Bar, 23rd November 2001

pieces of shit. In fact, it made it onto the second track before a lyric required that the CD be ejected from the stereo and hurled across the room from sheer disgust at the blatant attempt to manipulate listeners’ feelings. Owners of this record will lose all respect of this reviewer and will be shunned, or worse. 

The Blueprint Jay-Z (Def Jam) it seems that Jay-Z’s head has got as big as his trousers. Unfortunately, his tunes appear to have suffered at the expense of his bling-blinging and illegal antics.

Jay-Z appears as a man with something to prove, dissing rappers left, right and centre, and without the backing of his posse on the tracks. “The Blueprint”, which showcases Jay at his most raw, is unsatisfactory and very quickly boring. The saving graces are the first single “Izzo [H.O.V.A]” which is bouncy and commercial, “U Don’t Know” which is slick and “Renegade” featuring Eminem.

The latter in fact sounds just like an Eminem song and overshadows to the extent that Jay could just be a member of D12. Where Eminem’s style is fluid, exciting and refreshing, Jay-Z seems to plod along like a directionless elephant. And not even the likes of Q-Tip can save the second single “Girls, Girls, Girls” from being the most tuneless song you’ll hear this year.

Whilst better than his previous attempt The Blueprint doesn’t return to the heights once scaled.

Jay-Z needs to stay ahead of the emerging new talent to save himself from the bargain bucket.  Angie Cranfield

Sold Bronze: Great Hits The Beautiful South (Mercury) if you like the Beautiful South, then you may be interested in this album. However, if you already own a copy of Carry On Up The Charts, there’s not really any reason to get this.

As they are on the other greatest hits album, the classics like “Everybody’s Talkin’”, “Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud)” and “A Little Time” are just as good as they’ve always been. When it comes to the newer songs however, the verdict is divided. If you are a fan

of songs from their last couple of albums then all right, but some of their most recent output is not to everyone’s liking.

Basically, this is the best of their best of, with a few new songs thrown in for good measure. If you don’t own an album by the Beautiful South, then you might like this one but if you do already own anything by them, you probably shouldn’t really bother with it: buy Carry On Up the Charts instead.

Solid Bronze is a blatant jump onto the Christmas present bandwagon: good, but done better before.  Julie Neild

it was that no one could even claim to know anything about this girl. I include myself in this number—I wasn’t interested, and I’ll listen to just about anything once; but it falls to me to say something about this album and I’m afraid that I’ll sound biased.

This music is uninspiring and bland in a way that cannot be entirely summed up in words. Suffice to say it’s not even of sufficient emotional resonance that it could make it onto the soundtrack to one of those Dawson’s Creek

Free Love Peppercorn (Arista) this album could not find a reviewer. Though offered to many people, no one would bring themselves to listen to it, let alone experience it with an open mind.

Maybe it was the hideously pretentious sleeve with the woman in silhouette against the sunset; maybe

I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings Radiohead (Parlophone) Remember Radiohead? The rock band that pushed musical boundaries and scooped up awards by the bucketload only to confuse and frighten people with their shift into avant garde noise? Here are seven tracks from the last two albums and a new song played live over four different

Half Hour of Power Sum 41 (Mercury) this is not the album—you know, the one on the telly ads—this is their EP thing. Concept? One half hour of Sum 41 songs. No more. As a result all the tracks are incredibly short—an average of around 2:20 across 11 songs.

No, the maths isn’t wrong: there’s a bonus three and a half minutes of silence on the end to take it to the half hour. It’s good, fun, jumpy kind of music, similar in many ways to Blink 182 but with much more pronounced influences. Namely Iron Maiden and NWA, which means that they tend to sound a bit like the Beastie Boys when they’re not doing drum solos, bass solos or widdly axe solos. It’s hard to hate this band— regardless of the youthful vigour that makes me feel past it when I’m yet to hit 23, there’s a sense of humour that’s somewhat irrepressible and makes these little Canadian scamps with their not-angry-enough-to-be-punk, not-loud-enough-to-be-metal rock music, quite loveable. 

shows. This is a must for the fans who didn’t “get” Kid A or Amnesiac. The songs now writhe with rhythm, passion and energy, the life is breathed into them and the result is mindblowing. Who could have imagined a crowd singing along to “Idioteque”? How can you not move to the relentless bassline of “The National Anthem”? “I Might Be Wrong” rocks like it was meant to, “Like Spinning Plates” pulls at your soul and the previously unreleased, beautifully uncluttered “True Love Waits” gives you a hug at the end. An essential live album to rival Spiritualized Live at the Royal Albert Hall—buy this. 

bangor’s musical renaissance continues apace, with the arrival in the Main Bar (that’s the Main Bar, for God’s sake) of one of the most exciting young bands in Britain, along with two other promising prospects. The dilapidated but much loved venue was (sort of) packed with eager music lovers, thankful for something to do in Bangor on a Friday night at last.

So it was a shame that Tetra Splendour were a bit of a letdown. It’s not that they were bad, just plain average, with forgettable tunes (think early SFA, only less retro, and less good) and a distinct lack of stage presence. Next.

Kid Galahad were a bit better, with enough youthful arrogance to make their spiky indie-by-numbers seem quite exciting. They did suffer from every tune sounding pretty much the same (apart from a lovely slow one), but they had energy, and seemed to be enjoying themselves despite some technical problems (are you listening, Cosmic Rough Riders?).

Electric Soft Parade rock. They were quite simply amazing, more than worthy of the attention and gushing praise of the big music publications. Every song was a guitar pop gem, from the jangling opener to the ten-minute psychedelic meltdown that closed the show. The singer was a miserable get, and single “There’s A Silence” was thrown away a little too early, but these minor gripes. Next year could belong to them, just as this year belonged to The Strokes.

A good night all round. More please.

Dan Hartley

10 SEREN December 2001

MOVIES

movies@seren.bangor.ac.uk

All the right movies My children. It is upon us. Lord of the Rings is out in two weeks.

Yay. Right, that’s enough of that.

Anyway, Christmas is upon us, and with it comes a season of theoretically brilliant movies. LOTR, of course, but also Michael Mann’s Ali; Frank Darabont’s The Majestic; Scorsese’s Gangs of New York and so on. This year’s been so good that the prospect of five star movies on the horizon forces me to kidnap magic monkeys left right and centre. Ali will win best picture at the Oscars. Though LOTR will have been robbed. Chris Tucker will die not-so-tragically. I will be happy.

Oh, right, I saw the Star Wars trailer the other day. The Forbidden Love one. First half—sappy, clichélined bumfluff as Annie and Ammie go all Wookie on each others’

arses; second half—stirring action packed gusto genius. There’s a shot of Anakin zooming across a Tatooine desert with the voice over “I WILL BE THE MOST POWERFUL JEDI EVER!,” which for me, qualifies as the finest single shot the series has ever created. And it’s got Christopher Lee, and Watto! Seren loves Watto, yes we do. “Nooo, you dooon’t!” Quiet Watto. However, it’s called Attack of the Clones, so it’s probably doomed.

Seems that Harry Potter will indeed be a huge box office. However it’s not world-beating by any stretch and will probably only take half what Titanic took. Oh dear.

I’m sure Ms Rowling is still smiling though. Now, where did I put that golden snitch? Clit-grabbing euphemism-tastic.

Chris Chapman

Star Wars Episode 2: Don’t Say You Weren’t Warned (working title)

MOVIE REVIEW

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Now showing at LLandudno Cineworld (Cert. 18) according to comedy genius Kevin Smith, …Strike Back is to be the last of his “Jersey” films, set in the slightly off-kilter, self-contained universe his fans have come to love. If this is true, then it is a fitting finale, as it not only contains references to Smith’s previous four films (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma, for those of you who don’t know), it represents the pinnacle of his obscenity-fuelled humour.

There’s so much more here than inventive cursing here, however. To watch …Strike Back is to become drawn into a dizzying maelstrom of dick jokes, “passive-aggressive” gay bashing, film parodies and gratuitous self-referencing (there are even sly nods to the ill-fated Clerks animated series). At the same time as all this, the movie feels like a sort of homage to the 80’s feelgood films of John Hughes, even down to the “let’s have party” ending. It is also very, very funny.

We should tell you about the plot (though it’s not strictly important). Small time drug dealers Jay and Bob discover that a movie is being made of the Bluntman and Chronic comics, which in turn were

Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith and the man Eminem likes to call “Ben Assfuck” based on them (cf. Chasing Amy).

More perturbed by comments on the Internet than the large amount of money being denied them, they set out to stop the film being made, encountering a gang of PVCclad jewel thieves on the way.

That’s about it, but this ignores the genius parodies (including the best Scooby Doo pisstake ever) and hilarious cameos (Carrie Fisher as a nun and Mark Hamill as Cock

Knocker being favourites). Special mention should go to the ever reliable Jason Lee, reprising two of his previous roles in Smith films, and Chris Rock as the director of Bluntman and Chronic, basically playing the epitome of black rage.

With all the self-referencing, a passing knowledge of Smith’s previous four films will probably help your enjoyment of this. It’s not essential, but roughly half the

jokes will fall flat if you haven’t watched any of the other movies.

Though this could be seen as a problem, Smith has always maintained that this is one for the fans, and it certainly works in that respect.

As a large fan of the director’s work, this reviewer can overlook the occasionally dodgy acting (though Jason Mewes as Jay is actually quite good these days; God,

Clerks seems so long ago now), though others may not be so forgiving. The plot is weak, but Smith doesn’t care, and neither should you, just feel the quality of the dialogue.

If you come to this film wanting good dumb dirty fun, you’re going to love it. If you want sophistication, you’ll hate it. You’re also a cock smoker. Nooch.  Daniel Hartley

movies@seren.bangor.ac.uk

MOVIE REVIEW

Zoolander Now showing at the Plaza Cinema (Cert. 12) what’s in a name? To me, Zoolander promises a safari flick, or maybe something erudite, à la Amistad. It doesn’t make me want to go and see it, and it certainly doesn’t suggest a silly but engaging comedy, which is what it actually is. Did Hollywood learn nothing from Bowfinger?

Still, any enthusiasm you can muster for Zoolander is repaid in spades. The movie centres around nice-but-dim supermodel Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller, who also directed and co-wrote the screenplay). After losing his “Model of the Year” crown to newcomer Hansel (Owen Wilson), Zoolander sets off on a quest for personal growth; evil fashion magnate Jacobim Mugatu (Will Ferrell), however, has other ideas, and plans to brainwash him into assassinating the Prime Minister of Malaysia, thus ensuring the continued availability of cheap sweatshop labour.

Along the way, Zoolander meets snippy reporter Matilda Jeffries (Catherine Taylor), and the plot is so slight that that’s really all I can tell you without spoiling it.

But then the plot doesn’t really matter, as Zoolander is propelled along by a great cast of larger-than-

MOVIES TO RENT

tomb raider

Angelina Jolie has pretty legs. If Tomb Raider is anything to go by then director Simon “Con Air” West evidently believes her to be in possession of a pair of spellbindingly gorgeous feet/hips connectors. His camera is unhappy to be hovering anywhere other than around her strapping thighs.

Jolie is charismatic, sexy and most importantly, she seems to be really enjoying herself; killing and giggling in equal portions. Good, good. The plot however is completely uninspiring (there’s like, this clock, man, and like, it’s ticking. Oh look, planetary alignment), and the annoying desire to bring Lara’s dead dad (Jonny Voight Boy) into proceedings reminded this reviewer of Star Trek: Generations’ Shatner fetish. Engghhhh.

Still despite the clumsy direction,

life characters. In other hands, Zoolander could just have been an irritating, superficial idiot, but Ben Stiller brings so much well-meaning naïveté to the role you’ll want to forgive even the most cringeworthy lines (though the fourth time he pronounces “eulogy” as “you-googly” is particularly challenging). Mutagu is deliriously camp, a walking cliché, perfectly realised; his vampish assistant Katinka (Milla Jovovich) manages to out-Xenia Goldeneye’s Xenia Onatopp; Zoolander’s manager, Maury Ballstein (Jerry Stiller, father of Ben) is a comedy Jewish boss in the very best Mel Brooks tradition; and oh, hell with it. Everybody in this film is exuberantly brilliant. There.

There are a few clunky moments: some deaths early on that jar, and seem too quickly forgotten. Later on, Matilda, swallowing hard, admits that she used to be bulimic—only to be laughed at and told “it’s a great way to shed a few pounds.” And when she goes on to confess that she “hasn’t had sex in a few years” the consequence, though played for laughs, still perhaps sends an uncomfortably predictable message.

But these moments pass quickly enough,andpartofthedelightofZoolander is that there’s always some preposterous distraction just around the corner. Unsurprisingly for a comedy about the fashion industry, there’s no shortage of hilarious costumes and sets; and the

MOVIES

O Mein Papa: Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) and Maury Ballstein (Jerry Stiller) constant stream of big-name cameos—some in wrily-cast bit-parts but mostly playing themselves—is just the icing on the cake.

If there’s an overall criticism of Zoolander it would have to be that it’s utterly lightweight, and perhaps trivialises issues that deserve more respectful treatment. But lightweight is better than lumpen, and from the word go it’s obvious that Zoolander’s trump card is that it trivialises everything—and does it with such gleeful abandon that you can’t help but be swept along.  Darien Graham-Smith

Commando-style hero invulnerability; and a stoopid “I can travel through time? Ok, but I’ll only go back 30 seconds to resolve the story!” ending, there are a few decent action set pieces early on. Still, there’s a feeling that the makers were more anxious to get Lara and her bosom up on screen than construct any story for her to inhabit. Chris Barrie is rather good though. 

and Reitman used to make films that were funny without incessant fart or fucking jokes. This is a funny film though, and by today’s standards it’s fine but it can’t compare to Ghostbusters. The plot is stupid and so are the jokes but that’s fine cos it’s just a bit of fun. This is not really a keeper—and the product placement is gonna date this film more that Ghostbusters—but it’s a laugh and in the end isn’t that all we were looking for?  [and a half! I wanna give it another half star! Damn you, Chapman!]

Ian Fallon

EVOLUTION

Dracula 2001, from a purely critical point of view, is a pile of crap. It has all the intelligence of a three year old, with its cliché-ridden ideas and borrowed plot. What I should do, critically, is to kick it to death until it’s buried so far underground it cannot harm any viewers but unfortunately I can’t. Because I like this movie. True, the nonsense plot, with its Dracula being resurrected in 2001, is crap and, having borrowed from every vampire movie and story (Bram Stoker’s Dracula (the book not the movie), Dracula AD 1971 etc. etc.), it should fail miserably—but somehow it charms you. It has a fun quality that creates a morbid fascination that one would

Meteorite crashes into planet carrying some sort of rapidly evolving life form that will threaten to consume world. Two teachers stand in its way.

That’s the plot. The film was made

by Ghostbusters’s Ivan Reitman. That was the main selling point. There are similarities, but it’s just that faux-science buddies team up against special effects. Trouble is, you don’t wanna be Duchovny’s buddy anywhere near as much as you wanted to be Aykroyd or Murray’s buddy and the life form special effects aren’t as groundbreaking as Zuul’s were—in fact, they’re just some more CGI bugs like Starship Troopers or Men In Black. Oh yeah,

SEREN December 2001 11

dracula 2001

Reaction shot etc. etc.: Mugatu (Will Ferrell) recoils associate only with carnival freak shows. The cast, which inclues Johhny Lee Miller and Omar Epps, is nothing spectacular as well—minus of course Christopher Plummer, who hams it up beatifully and even mutters the mother of all cliches, “God help us all.” All in all , if, like me, you can find in yourself a soft spot for a disfigured freak of a movie like Dracula 2001, go rent it.  (critically);  (personally).

E. Ersoy

SHREK

I wouldn’t advise that you listen to any of the hype over the video or the original release, prolific though it all is. It’s a fun, harmless movie, that makes a little too much of trying to poke fun

at Disney, but was able to make me laugh out loud occasionally (which is rare for a film), and sometimes even go “yurgh”, at the fantastically icky bits. They were quite funny.

The animation is pretty good for computer generated stuff, but the difference between the main characters and the background people is noticeable. The characterisation is patchy but generally very good—Eddie Murphy as the talkative donkey is excellent. However, Shrek’s Scottish accent seemed out of place.

There are some good lines in this film, and the older the person watching the film, the more jokes they will get. Oh, and the dragon is fantastic.

Watch it for the dragon.  Julie Neild

All titles available to rent now from Albin’s Video on College Road

12 SEREN December 2001

GAMES

games@seren.bangor.ac.uk

GAME REVIEW

Warioland 4 Game Boy Advance Available Now From Press-X Games in the Wellfield Centre

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: like nothing else on earth. Um.

GAME REVIEW

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds PC (233MHz, 64Mb) I’ll admit I had grave misgivings about this title when first I saw it. It reminded me of a certain phrase... ah that’s it, cash-in. Using the old Age of KingsTM engine and having the Star WarsTM licence tagged on it seemed a likely candidate for the BinTM. Thank God I don’t review on face value alone!

My doubts were dispelled within minutes of starting my first campaign game. Take your pick from six different factions, including

Wookie and The Empire, then take up the interwoven story from the point of view of the faction you chose. This is an interesting technique, as it allows Lucasarts to bring together races that were separated by thousands of years in the films.

There is a lot that has been “borrowed” from Age of Kings, but it was so well adapted to the Star Wars theme that I didn’t really care all that much. Gameplay is quite satisfying, with a varied mission structure featuring a mix of base building and solo character infiltration and assassination. There is always something to occupy your attention in the game, and I never found myself bored.

The units are the real stars of the game though. At last! Realistic depictions of AT-ATs, snow speeders and the rest-all moving,

sounding and kicking butt like their movie counterparts. Throw in some Jedi and Sith units, some tanks, a few aircraft and some naval units and there you have it. The mix of units is just right for each civilisation, and they each have that certain mood and architecture that reflects their philosophy. All the personality of the Star Wars saga is recreated in RTS form, and the result is one of the most satisfying games I have played this month.

If I had to sum up Galactic Battlegrounds in a single sentence, I would say “don’t bother me while I’m busy crushing the rebel scum.”

I would recommend this game to any fan of the Star Wars saga and to anyone else who wants a decent RTS title to while away the long winter evenings.  Jamie Stewart

MAD! Staring into the eyes of the insane 3. Vib Ribbon (2000)

Japanese game companies used to pay their game designers with weapons-grade LSD—FACT. Vib Ribbon concerns the exploits of a rabbit named Vibri (made entirely of white pipe cleaners) as he runs along a ribbon, meeting obstacles of various shapes and sizes along the way, Should he fail to clear these blockages, he begins to slide down the evolutionary ladder, becoming a frog, and then some kind of square sperm-like creature. Biology ain’t what it was in my day....

The true madness of the game comes in the fact that the obstacles are created from the music found on any CD, allowing the player to physically clamber all over their favourite Hendrix rut somersault across Steps, or mount Tori Amos. Hmmm...

In Vibri’s own words. “La La La! Oh what fun!”

Until you try traversing Queens of the Stone Ages “Feel Good Hit of the Summer,” that is. Grrr.

this reviewer has never been too keen on the portly mirror-Mario evil collection of pixels known as Wario. Nintendo ditched Mario’s Game Boy adventures in favour of three (count the buggers!) boring Wario adventures. Oh, for even a rehash of the classic Super Mario Land. I’d murder Julie Andrews for something like that.

Not much hope for the singing nun then, as this month, Nintendo force Warioland 4 onto the GBA stage. It turns out to be as unspectacular a game as we will hopefully ever see on the Advance.

We control the overweight tache-bearer on his quest to steal all the loot from an ancient temple.

I’ve never been a fan of the Ancient Temple LevelTM that pops up on virtually every platform game ever; thus the prospect of an entire game set in these surroundings was not nice at all.

The game play is old school and unimaginative; there is a certain nostalgia about going back to a conventional platformer, but Warioland 4 doesn’t experiment enough to interest the experienced gamer.

The graphics don’t show off the GBA at all, seeming far more suited to the Game Boy Colour than my beloved 34 bit hand hugger (eh?).

There’s a general sense of the developers treading water and still finding that there are bricks tied to their sinking feet.

If Nintendo had put time into creating an original game for the GBA (i.e. not Super Mario 2 from ten years back) instead of slaving over this backwards step then the console would probably have a far brighter future.  Chris Chapman

End of level: this gentleman is called, brilliantly, Cractus

GAME REVIEW

World Rally Championship 2001 Playstation 2 vroom vroom! Another car game hauls itself onto the PS2.

However, this game is different from the reasonably diverting Gran Turismo 3, and a far cry from the hilariously bone-crunching Grand Theft Auto 3. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the world of the rally simulator.

The game is quite well presented. As usual with car games, the sound effects are uninspiring. Graphically the game is more impressive, but strangely disappointing at the same time. FMV cutscenes are rife, and the cars are well-rendered, but the tracks are rather flat and dull. The drivers themselves are apparently likenesses of real rally experts. If this

is true. they have the squarest heads I have ever seen. Furthermore, the press bumf promised that the cars would sustain damage in a realistic way. Well I beat seven shades out of my Skoda, and chuff all happened. I feel cheated.

The game itself is pretty tedious. Racing against time is no match for zooming after first place alongside other cars, but such is the nature of the rally. The tuneable features lend a new dimension, and bonus unlockable tracks give added longevity. But that’s if you can stand to play it for any length of time.

As with GT3, my opinions may be coloured by my dislike of racing games. and so an extra star has been given to account for my original lack of interest. If you enjoy watching lone cars crawling along in mud, this may be the game for you. If you prefer competing against visible opponents, get GT3. I’ll stick with something more rewarding and entertaining.

Hey, is that some paint drying?... 

games@seren.bangor.ac.uk

GAMES

SEREN December 2001 13

GAME REVIEW

Silent Hill 2 Playstation 2 the survival horror genre has had a long and colorful past.

Coming into being with the arrival of Alone in the Dark, it has since taken in such diverse titles as Resident Evil (definitive), Hail to the King (amusing) and Chase the Express (shite). But no other game was as trouser-soilingly terrifying as Silent Hill, being the tale of a man, a lost girl, and a dimension-shifting town.

So what of the sequel? For starters, it plays like a good survival horror should, with all of the pros and eons inherent in the genre. The main character, James. handles well, and shoots straighter than Harry from the original, meaning that the player experiences a minimum of frustration when Irving to do away with a slavering denizen of Hell.

But let’s be honest: it’s not the gameplay we’re interested in. In survival horror, atmosphere is everything, and, thankfully, Silent Hill 2 has this by the bucketload. The graphics, which have improved noticeably since the PSX original, are sublime, both in the game sections and the unfeasibly gorgeous cutscenes.

Fuithermore. the sound effects play an important part in making the game a truly frightening experience, with eerie noises emerging from the fog that engulfs the town. The music tends to either swell subtly or crash in a bellow of proto-industrial noise, but never in a cheesy fashion. Everything is tailored

Who indeed? Silent Hill 2: a dark, dark game in every sense to make you really think twice about finding out what is behind the next door.

With adjustable difficulty levels (which allow you to shift the emphasis between creature killing and puzzle solving), multiple endings and bonus items, Silent Hill 2 is a game you will want to play again and again.

If you liked the original, you’ll love this, and if you’re new to the genre, this is a good place to start. Just don’t complain if you spend the next few nights sleeping with the lights on... 

Hmm—some legs.

Have you seen me?

Hmm—a body,

On the trail of the X-Box with Michael McGeachin

I am a disappointed man. I was hoping to have, for your delectation, a lovely fat article about Microsoft’s long-awaited X-Box. But no. No article. No flippin’ X-Box. It transpires that this impressive-sounding piece of kit will not gain an official release in our fair continent of Europe until March next year (although Acme Computer Games in the High Street have plans to stock an import version before this—much as they did with the GameCube). Have Microsoft gone mad? What do they think they’re doing? Christmas is surely the sweetest time of the year to shift units of any product. This goes double for consoles, as spoilt little kiddies pester their doting mummies and daddies for the latest in videogame gadgetry.

In their defence, Microsoft have stated

that they wish to ensure that there will be plenty of software available for their little box o’ tricks. This may turn out to be a wise move, as they will apparently be making a loss on every console sold, in the hope that they will make it back tenfold on the games sales. Clever planning by Mr. Gates and his cohorts? We shall see. More news in the New Year. Until then, have a lovely Christmas, y’all!

TIF2002 COMPETITION WINNER

The winner of the fabulous This Is Football 2002 comp was... me! Congratulations to me, and I hope I enjoy my prize. Next time, try getting your collective arses into gear and actually entering the competitions. Or don’t, See if I care.

14 SEREN December 2001

FEATURES

features@seren.bangor.ac.uk

‘Tis the season...

It’s Christmas—again—and Dawn Slade is looking ahead to the festivities Every year, we read the same sort of articles about how Christmas is over-commercialised and how the festival has lost its real meaning. So, instead of discussing what it doesn’t mean, here’s a look at what Christmas actually does mean for students in the twenty-first century. Of course, for some people Christmas is still a religious festival and personally, I support that. But realistically, the majority of students will be spending Christmas slightly differently.

Advent calendars

Ah. Remember the cute little Advent calendars that you had when you were small? The ones with the little chocolates behind every door. Of course, we’re all to old for that now. No student has an advent calendar hanging in their room. No student buys one from the “reduced to clear” section at Safeways as a means of obtaining cheap chocolate. Of course not.

Christmas cards

This is a simple, and—dare we say it—cheap, way to let your friends know you’re thinking about them.

Plus, it just looks good if you have thousands of cards plastered all over your notice board. Fortunately, most of us haven’t yet

reached the stage where we have a huge book full of names and addresses of people who have to receive cards from us because they were our friends at school, used to live across the street or are related to us in some obscure way that no-one really understands.

Christmas trees

First brought to England by Prince Albert in the nineteenth century, Christmas trees have definitely changed over the last two hundred years. Now, not only do we have artificial trees, we have fibreoptic trees that look stunning and almost eliminate the need for “fairy lights.” And that, as anyone who has ever spent hours trying to figure out which bulb in a chain of a hundred and twenty has blown the fuse will know, is a definite bonus. In addition, should we feel the need for an authentic tree, there are several dozen varieties to chose from: different shapes, heights, countries of origin. Of course, on a student budget, a “Christmas tree” is more likely to be a cheap plastic one with a few pieces of tinsel draped over it.

Still, it’s the thought that counts.

Christmas dinner

For most housewives, this means a morning spent painstakingly plan-

Santa jollily demonstrates various yuletide apparatus ning and timing the preparation of the turkey, vegetables and side salad so that it’s all ready to eat at the same time. For most students, this means moderate amounts of alcohol accompanied by a filling meal that we didn’t have to cook or pay for. Brilliant. Of course, the meat traditionally cooked at Christmas is goose, but somehow that doesn’t have quite the same ring as “Christmas turkey” (and most people would probably rather have turkey anyway).

Christmas presents

Presents for the Editor (first load)

This is (understandably) what a lot of people most look forward to and lets face it, what could be more fun than being given all the things you can’t afford to buy whilst watching other people’s delighted expressions as they open the presents you hunted up and down the High Street to find for them? Of course, if you’re not so lucky, you might find yourself being given a lot of useless things you’ll never use while hoping that your brother has so many presents that he won’t notice none of them are from you, but let’s be optimistic. On a more serious note, this is where the commercialisation of Christmas really hits home. Somehow it’s now expected that, however little you can afford to, you

not only buy people presents, but buy them certain kinds of things.

(As a rule, people tend to be less impressed with home made gifts than they were when you were in Infant School—shame, that.) This can really work havoc with your budget, especially coming at the end of term when your student loan has dwindled to nothing.

Christmas television

Actually, this can be a very economical way of obtaining copies of films you can’t afford (or can’t be bothered) to buy on video.

True, a lot of it is children’s films but they usually manage to find space for one or two blockbusters from the year before (or the year before that). It also gives you something to do in the evenings when your family are sitting around the living room and you would normally be in Time with your friends. As for the Queen’s speech, this is, like it or not, very liable to be a feature of Christmas for some time. Even if it is predictable, it can be interesting to watch. It’s surprising how many things happened early this year that we have now resigned to the distant past. At any rate, the speech isn’t that long, and if it comes to it, you can always turn it off.

January sales

A major part of the seasonal festivities is rushing madly from shop to shop before you finally find the bargain of the century (only to return two days later and find it reduced even further.) True, the loan isn’t in the bank yet, but what’s an overdraft for if you can’t use it to buy all the things that you couldn’t normally afford and didn’t get given at Christmas? Plus, there’s always the money given to you by thoughtful relatives who couldn’t think what else to give you. They wanted you to enjoy it, right? So enjoy.

Christmas parties

If anything sums up the way twenty first century students celebrate Christmas, it has to be the Christmas party. Good music (usually), good booze (occasionally) and good company (nearly always) is a brilliant combination. This is where you get to make up for all the nights that will be spent at home with your family rather than out drinking. And why not? The term is (almost) over, exams aren’t close enough for you to have to really worry, you have Christmas to look forward to and when you get back in January there’ll be a nice new instalment of student loan waiting to be spent. Have a great time!

.

features@seren.bangor.ac.uk Why is there continued debate on whether Britain any longer needs a monarchy? For one thing, the talk never seems to come to anything. For another, there are a number of very good reasons why we do need a monarchy.

Tourism, for one thing. How many people come to this country every year to visit Buckingham Palace or watch the changing of the guard? Huge numbers, whic equates to quite a hefty income for the tourist industry—and, let’s face it, tourism in this country needs all the help it can get.

Between foot and mouth and the continuing problems with terrorism, businesses up and down the country are in enough trouble as it is. But even if this had been a good year for tourism, the fact would remain that we can not afford to scrap the monarchy.

There is, of course, the argument that some of this benefit is offset by the cost of the civil list. There are several important things to remember here: firstly, only senior members of the royal family actually have their expenses paid in this way. In fact, most royals have some kind of income, whether from their estates or from businesses. Secondly, it isn’t cheap to support any head of state. As an example, the US President’s transport fleet costs more than twice what our government spends on transport for the Royal family.

Thirdly, if you’re looking for waste, an estimated ten per cent of the EU budget is lost to fraud and mismanagement (and this is without any benefit at all). Lastly, is it really possible to put a price on something as unique as our monarchy?

There are very few monarchs left in the modern world. And how many of those are as well known as the Queen of England? You only need to take a look through Hollywood movies and notice the number of times that the English monarchy is mentioned. After all, would James Bond have the same appeal if he wasn’t “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service?” What would our national anthem be if we had no monarch? “God Save the Prime Minister?” Somehow it doesn’t have the same ring to it.

If the royal family is part of our culture, then it is definitely part of our heritage and has been (with the exception of a few decades after the Civil War) for hundreds of years. We have managed to retain it while countries all over Europe and further afield have succumbed to revolution. If the monarchy was that useless, it never would have survived though such turbulent times as the period after the French revolution. This says something about the importance of keeping it now.

FEATURES

SEREN December 2001 15

God save the Queen?

Controversy over Prince Charles’ position in the University is part of a wider debate on the monarchy. One writer puts the royalist case.

Buckingham Palace: if you were a royal, this would be your house

“If you’re looking for waste, an estimated ten per cent of the EU budget is lost to fraud and mismanagement.”

The royal family may have a long and rich history, but that does not (despite what some people argue) mean that it has not moved with the times. Over the past centuries, the monarch has moved from being a ruler with power to appoint ministers to a much more ceremonial role. Just think of Prince William. True, most students don’t have the mass media covering their arrival at University, but the point is that he has tried

to be as “normal” as possible. In fact, his UCAS form was submitted under a false name to ensure, as far as possible, that he got in on his own merits rather than on basis of his name. Of course, he’s never going to be a regular student. None of the royals are going to be normal people; that’s what makes them special.

True, the monarchy has suffered a lot of bad PR over the last very decades. This is nothing

new. People have been complaining about royal conduct for centuries. No human being is perfect.

Just look at all the behaviour of other famous people: do the royals behave any worse than famous pop stars or sportspeople? A large part of it is the result of being in the public eye. When the national tabloids are displaying the fine details of your life on a regular basis, chances are you’re not going to look good all of the time.

That’s not to say that British monarchs now, and in the past, haven’t had good images. Queen Victoria, for example, was greatly admired by a lot of people and our present Queen manages to escape most, if not all, of the negative publicity. After all, it wouldn’t be fair to judge, say all Bangor students on the behaviour of one or two. If people did that, they’d probably think we were all drunk and irresponsible.

And let’s not forget the good work that is being done by the royal family. To take the obvious example, just think of all the good work that Princess Diana did. Not to mention the number of royals give their support as Presidents or figureheads of various charities. Even if their role is purely symbolic, their support gives the organisation credibility and may well attract additional funding.

In the modern world, democracy seems to be seen by most of the western world as the best way to govern a country. The point is, Britain is essentially a democracy.

All the real power in this country is (conspiracy theories aside) held by elected officials. In the past, when monarchs were overthrown it was usually because enough people thought they had too much control. Not too much danger of that now that the Queen has little or no real power. We have, in fact, arrived a fairly ideal solution.

We have both the equality of a democracy and the prestige of a monarchy.

In the end, it comes down to one thing. The monarchy no longer really runs our country, but still it provides not only income from tourism but a priceless cultural symbol and a vital part of our culture.

seren

16 SEREN December 2001

EDITORIAL

editor@seren.bangor.ac.uk

Students’ Union, Deiniol Road, Bangor LL57 2TH

Tel: 01248 388017 Fax: 01248 388020 http://seren.bangor.ac.uk

Alarming developments

In October’s Seren I discussed the idea of replacing the existing student loans system with a graduate tax. You may recall, I concluded it wasn’t entirely a bad idea, at least not compared to the way things stand today, because it would spell the end of the Student Loans Company. But, much as I hate the Student Loans Company, compared to the government’s latest brainwave it’s a godsend. A new suggestion from the Treasury is that all future students could be expected to find private funding, as postgraduates are already forced to do. For the majority of school-leavers with no savings and ordinary qualifications, this could only mean a vast bank loan, with interest likely to be at least 7% per annum.

This is rather more than the 2.3% currently charged by the Student Loans Company, and to translate the difference into figures, imagine that you graduate with a £25,000 debt and immediately start paying £150 per month towards your student loan. If you pay interest at 2.3% APR, it will take seventeen years for you to pay off your student debt, and you will have paid, in gross terms, £30,600 in total.

If, however, you are being charged 7% APR, and you continue to pay “only” £150 a month, it will take fifty three years to clear your debts (by which time you will be over 70) and the total amount you will have repaid to a private company will be £95,400.

The discrepancy is so huge because a monthly payment of £150 only just covers the interest on a £25,000 loan. If you could pay an extra £50 a month, you’d be out of debt thirty years earlier. But who the hell can spare over 15% of the average post-tax income? Sure, graduates earn more than non-graduates, but remember Tony Blair is hell-bent on forcing half the British population through university.

When everyone has a degree it will no longer guarantee a highly-paid job; but it seems it will guarantee a crippling debt. And woe betide any student who fails to keep up his repayments: the Student Loans Company is rightly despised, but compared to the High Street banks it’s a very Mother Theresa of compassion.

Bad enough? There’s more. The Student Loans Company currently charges interest at 2.3% because this is, at least by one measure, the current rate of inflation—and if that changes, so does the Student Loans Company’s APR. So although in the example above you’d seem to be paying back about £5,000 more than you’d borrowed, you could be sure that, in real terms, the amount you repaid would only be worth the same as the amount you’d originally borrowed. Whereas, of course, if you were paying interest at 7% APR, you really would be paying back significantly more than you’d borrowed: in fact, after twenty years you’d have paid more than twice as much (in real terms) as you’d borrowed; and over fifty years you’d pay eleven times as much.

So the government is effectively proposing that students should pay not only the full cost of their education, but far, far more, with the heaviest burden falling on those who take longest to clear their debts—i.e. the worst-off. If the proceeds of such a scheme were to be diverted straight to the Treasury this would be little short of criminal; but the government’s suggestion that they should be collected by private multinationals, for (we may presume) the sole benefit of their shareholders is enough to make even the most ardent capitalist stand up and scream something along the lines of “my God, has the whole world gone insane?”

This is an impossible idea. It is preposterous, incredible, inconceivable. It is hard to believe any government would ever consider such a proposal. Yet we have already seen Labour destroy the farming industry through illegal, illogical means: can we trust it will not do the same to Higher Education? Though party policy on student funding is still under review, this proposal is extremely dangerous. It must be resisted and it must be defeated.

Darien Graham-Smith editor@seren.bangor.ac.uk

Merry Christmas to all our readers from the Seren team and everybody at the Students’ Union

State of the Union President James Brownsell reviews the month “and so this is Christmas?” said John Lennon, and fair enough, what have we done? Since last month’s demonstration against student hardship, we have been working solidly on the campaign, liasing closely with NUS Wales, in order to take the campaign to the National Assembly for Wales. Plans are underfoot for a mass lobby of Parliament on 5th December, so you’ll have to watch out for an update in next month’s issue! The massive protest march in London will be held on the 26th of February next year, so stick that in your diaries!

Closer to home, one of our very own students has been at the receiving end of a draconian punishment system courtesy of the Scottish courts. Jenny Gaiawyn, a Marine Biology student, was attending a peaceful protest against a nuclear base in Faslane, Scotland, when arrested under breach of the peace laws. At the end of last week, she was sentenced to three months imprisonment. Jenny is a member of the SU People and Planet group and a Student Community Action volunteer, probably one of the most active members of our Union.

This harsh sentence is out of all proportion to the nature of the offence and has got to be

the most bold example of how discreditable the Scottish courts system has become. The Students’ Union should be exactly that—a union of students—so I urge you all to rally round and support Jenny at this time. Please email me (james@undeb.bangor.ac.uk) if you want to help. Thanks.

It’s always a little unnerving to receive a letter from the Vice-Chancellor himself.

Christmas is a cold time in a Scottish prison.

On a lighter note, we appear to be doing well with the Keep Wednesday Afternoon Free campaign and with levels of participation in Union activities on the increase, I believe that at the end of the calendar year, we are in an excellent position to be able to look forward and embrace the new year and all the potential that it offers.

I sit on fifty-three University committees—my job, essentially, is to ensure that students are rep-

resented at all levels of decision making within the University. This is something that I endeavour to do, regardless of the company I find myself among. Despite being typically assertive in the presence of senior University officers, it’s always a little unnerving to receive a letter from the ViceChancellor himself. It was, however, to my great delight that I recevied a forwarded letter from the Royal British Legion [see letters]. Every day of the week, the students of Bangor continue to receive an unwarranted bad name, but this letter does go a long way to formally recognise the good work that students do here, and the benefits, both social and economic, that occur from their presence in our fair city. In Bangor, we live in a vibrant bilingual community that is at once big enough to find space in, and small enough to feel a part of. It is fantastic news for me to be getting some positive feedback from that community in which we play an integral role.

So Merry Christmas everyone.

I hope you have fun. Christmas is a wonderful season, but please take time to think about those who can’t be with their loved ones.

Cheers ‘n’ beers!

letters@seren.bangor.ac.uk

WRITING FOR SEREN To join the Seren staff writers’ email list, send an email to listserver @undeb.bangor.ac.uk, with subject: subscribe seren. Alternatively, you can get directly in touch with any of the Section Editors via the email address at the top of the relevant page.

The next issue of Seren goes to print on Monday, 21st January.

Submissions for inclusions should reach the relevant Section Editor at least one week in advance.

EDITORIAL STAFF Editor-in-Chief ������� Darien Graham-Smith Production.......... Julie Neild Assoc. Ed..... Chris Chapman Sub-Editor............ Ian Fallon Distrib......... Frankie O’Dowd News......... Catherine Walker Academic. ........ Lola Kidney Community........... Karl Sadil SU . .............. Bob Connerton Culture......... Kirsty Harrison Music................... Ian Fallon Movies......... Chris Chapman Games. ..... Mike McGeachin Features........... Dawn Slade Lifestyle......... Alison Beedle Sport.................... Jon Ewing AOB.............. Emma Bentley

ADVERTISING IN SEREN To advertise in Seren, call 07074 692773 or email ads@seren.bangor.ac.uk.

Seren is distributed free to every Students’ Union site, every hall of residence and many other locations around Bangor. We offer competitive rates to businesses and subdiscounts for Union-affiliated clubs and societies.

LETTERS

SEREN December 2001 17

Letters to the Editor Send correspondence to letters@seren.bangor.ac.uk

Letters must include a name and contact details. Names will be withheld on request.

Poppy appeal NUS LGB: pot calling the gratitude kettle prejudiced?

Forwarded by the Vice-Chancellor SIR—I am writing to you in my capacity of Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal Organiser for Bangor and District. Now that all the tins have been collected and banked, I have a bit more time to take in what my helpers have told me.

There were seven people selling Poppies at Safeway, Upper Bangor, during the week leading up to Remembrance Sunday, and the story was the same each time. They all commented on the generosity of UWB students and the interest shown by overseas students. I saw this first-hand when on my Poppy duty at Tesco, Caernarfon Road. The owner of the Late Stop in Upper Bangor repeated this comment.

Would you please pass on to the students my, and the Royal British Legion’s, thanks for their generosity. The students are often blamed for various incidents in Bangor, but this time they really do deserve praise for their thoughtfulness.

I did write to Mr. Andrew Wilson at the Student’s Union, in early October to ask if any Students would be able to help with the Poppy Appeal, but sadly I never received a reply.

Once again my grateful thanks to your Students.

Pat White Poppy Appeal Organiser SVB Organiser Andrew Wilson replies: First, I would like to offer my congratulations to the Royal British Legion on a successful Poppy Appeal, and my thanks to all the students who made donations towards this worthy cause. I would also like to apologise to Mrs. White for not having replied to her appeal for help with fundraising. I passed her request on to RAG (the Students’ Union’s “Raising And Giving” society, which is more geared towards fundraising than SVB)—and forgot to inform Mrs. White I had done so.

I have since been in contact with Mrs. White and have explained this mistake, and have also said I would be more than happy to help her with any future appeals... and will remember to reply this time!

SIR—Having just attended the NUS LGB Conference (should we say the conference for lesbian and bisexual women and gay and bisexual men and party political broadcast by the Alliance for Socialist Workers) we thought we’d let you know some of the details. Many topics were discussed, including racism and facism, health, how to include women and how anyone who supports Labour or the Lib Dems is fundamentally wrong! Unfortunately, few subjects that really affect those of us who are students—and also LGB students— were disscussed.

There were many useful workshops and caucuses, but unless you fitted in to a particular type of closet you were unable to attend. If you were not a black, disabled, bisexual lesbian, who also defines themselves as transgendered, you had to miss something. For most of the conference we felt that we had to wear a label around our neck explaining our gender, sexuality, dietry requirement and other sexual and

non-sexual facets of our lives.

Perhaps if we wear pink neon signs explaining our sexuality we won’t be discriminated against?

Rest assured we don’t do this in Bangor. In fact this conference opened our eyes to some of the homophobic and heterophobic beliefs held by the NUS LGB Committee.

If you’d like to hear more about LGB, get in touch with robpw@undeb.bangor.ac.uk Also, in accordance with NUS LGB Campaigns, if you know anyone who deserves an award for being homophobic let us know, and we will pass the details on to NUS (as they feel people should be rewarded for being homophobic) We are intent that Bangor LGB remains the nondiscriminatory, friendly, supportive and open-minded group that it always has been. We will not allow party politics and bigotry to stop us tackling the issues we are working for or enjoying our time at university.

Rob Pirie-Warsop (LGB Officer) David Bennett (LGB Secretary)

Academic standards

access to university was greatly expanded in the 70s, but standards were not concurrently lowered. As a consequence, Italy has a student drop-out rate of more than 60%!

Apart from using parameters other than drop-out rate for assessing quality of teaching, I also suggest that funding should be linked not only to number of students/graduates but also to QUALITY of graduates. Feedback from employers or standardised national surveys on graduate knowledge and skills may be useful.

Keep doing this great job for your fellow students. In the short-term they might see only the positive side of “easier” courses, but in the long term they will also be the real “victims” of this degree devaluation process.

Samuele Marcora Lecturer in Exercise Physiology, School of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences

SIR—Just a short message to congratulate you for your crude but clear and intelligent analysis in last month’s editorial of “dumbing down” at universities.

As you mentioned in the piece, the main causes of this process are the Government’s policy of massive expansion, together with a) the false idea that student drop-out rate is a valid index of teaching quality and b) the link between university funding and student numbers.

In my opinion, to expect half the population of Britain (or any other country) to have the intelligence, motivation and self-management skills to attain a degree is unrealistic. The only way to meet this target is by lowering standards.

In my home country, Italy,

Executive applauded SIR—The current Executive Committee have had such a brilliant term in office so far; it’s time they were thanked and congratulated for their amazing work for the Students’ Union.

As someone frequently about the Union building and involved in many Union areas, I have seen first-hand the commitment, integrity and passion they have shown, and how much they have given of themselves, while successfully providing benefits and improvements for students in Bangor over and above the call of their duty.

The hours they put in are stunning; it is by no means uncommon for Sabbatical Officers to arrive at work before nine and not leave until gone twelve hours later. While not intending to trivialise the work of other Executive members, to illustrate what the Exec have done for us, look at CCSO Matt Tapping.

He has organised the most comprehensive, well-organised, and successful Serendipity anyone can remember; produced (in defiance of considerable unexpected pitfalls) a well thought-out, generous and fair budget, which was pretty much unanimously accepted at every Union meeting it passed through; provided strong, informed, fair advice and support for Clubs and Societies; worked alongside the other Officers in the day-to-day administration of the Students’ Union; worked with several Union bodies on numerous problems; and represented students on countless University committees— among many other achievements.

And this is just one of the thirteenodd members of the Exec.

As I said, I do not wish to ignore the equally notable achievements of the other members. Thank you, folks, all of you who’ve been involved. You’re doing a great job, and have given us so much!

Jon Mason

Space for one more SIR—It’s a small world. So you’ve got to use your elbows a lot.

Frankie O’Dowd

18 SEREN December 2001

SPORT

sport@seren.bangor.ac.uk

More BUSA triumphs for Bangor teams Strong performances from all corners of the Athletic Union

Report by JON EWING AU President Women’s football has finally got its season underway! Last month I reported that they’d had every single game cancelled or postponed for one reason or another. One possible reason I put forward for this was that the other teams were running scared, and maybe I was right. On the 21st November they annihilated a bemused Warrington side, scoring twenty six goals—the only surprise being that we actually conceded a goal (just the one). Not content with that, they beat Salford girls 18-0 the following week. Last year’s captain Sarah Stevens explained: “This is one of our strongest teams for years, and we have a huge potential. All we needed was a chance to prove ourselves.” She would also like to thank everyone who stuck by the team as they endured a barren spell of two months without a game!

The Men’s Football fourth team are also currently riding high, in second place in their league, with a game in hand over the current leaders Chester (whom Bangor have already beaten 1-0, incidentally). A major clash is scheduled for the 11th December when they come up against our own third team, who have been bizarrely drawn in the same league. The two teams have an intense rivalry stretching back many years, and there’ll be no holding back when it comes to the crunch. Fourth team boss, ghetto boy Ed O’Connell was unfazed by the prospect of supposedly superior opposition: “This year we finally have a group of players that can compete at a high level,” he said. “We’re seen as the underdogs in this game, but we’ll go out there

Waterlogged: Bangor’s BUSA wins are achieved in spite of the state of the pitches and give it our best shot—we’ve got nothing to lose.” Third team gaffer Gaz Dommett added to the war of words, stating that his side sees this as a must-win game if they’re to progress to the knockout stage of the competition.

Women’s Rugby has had a mixed few weeks, starting with a farce against Northumbria. After being promoted at the end of last season, our girls have found the standard of opposition this year has improved—but the standard of refereeing certainly hasn’t. The referee in the Northumbria game couldn’t control the game to the extent that it became dangerous, and Bangor club captain Glenys Jones, concerned for the players’ safety, took the team off at half time. Their mood was improved the following week, though, when they routed a decent Manchester side 44-20, avenging their defeat earlier in the season.

The Women’s Hockey 1st team enjoyed a perfect start to the season, but unfortunately suffered their first defeat of the campaign

on the 21st November, losing to Central Lancs. They picked themselves up and turned things around on the 28th, convincingly beating Keele 3-1 away from home with a goal from Cherrie Daley, and two from club captain Lucy Dixon. The 2nd team are consistent at least, drawing their last two games 1-1.

After scoring their side’s equaliser in the game against St. Martins, captain Becky Allen praised her side’s determination in turning the game around.

Men’s Hockey has had quite a successful month, beating Edge Hill 3-1, and slaughtering Central Lancs. 5-0. Both games were away from home, but a third away trip took its toll, with the lads unable to get a team together for the trip to Manchester. Obviously degrees sometimes have to take precedence (only sometimes). Captain John Morgan has been pleased with the high level of performances so far this season, and singled out top scorer Ed Stropek (aka Noel) for special praise.

Our Men’s Badminton team

turned a corner this month, winning their first game of the season at home to Warrington. The 6-2 scoreline reflects the total dominance of the Bangor team, and with any luck it’ll kickstart their year!

The two Netball teams have suffered a bad run and have succumbed to a few heavy defeats, but despite this, the 1st team are still in a mid-table position, and it’s still possible for them to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition. Their main problem is finding umpires for their home games—is North Wales completely devoid of Netball officials?

Moving on to one of the success stories of the year, the Men’s Tennis team looks set to push for honours this year. Despite narrowly losing to Manchester (and I mean narrowly), they’re still favourites to finish top of the group, having beaten Manchester 5-1 earlier in the season. Alex Munro and Steve Dunklin are the two masterminds behind their amazing run of victories, which include 6-0 against Lancaster (twice!), 4-1 against Cen-

tral Lancs, and 6-0 against Keele.

All in all, another successful month for Bangor on the sporting front. All that’s missing now is the support from the rest of the students. Whenever I’ve played football away at other universities, the level of support for the other team has been far greater than anything we receive when we’re playing at home. There aren’t many games left this calendar year, but if you’re interested in cheering on our teams then what better way to start than by coming along to the Women’s Football game between Bangor and Manchester Met. on the 12th December. And there’s always that grudge match between the Men’s 3rd and 4th teams the day before—if you can stand the pace.

However these games, as with all our other outdoor fixtures, depend on the state of the pitches here in Bangor. Some of them are getting so bad that some clubs are even having to cancel training sessions, never mind the actual games. That’s Welsh weather for you!

sport@seren.bangor.ac.uk

SPORT

SEREN December 2001 19

Senior University staff consider Wednesday afternoon proposal Report by JON EWING AU President Did you ever think you’d see the day when Wednesday afternoons became free from lectures, allowing you to pursue your sporting interests without having to worry about what your hopping mad Professor might do to you? It’s not going to happen just yet, but there are encouraging signs emerging from Top College.

At a meeting of the Universities Planning and Resources Committee on the 21st November, Matt Tapping (CCSO at the Students Union) presented a proposal on behalf of Union President James Brownsell outlining the benefits to both students and staff of removing contact time from the Wednesday afternoon timetable.

The proposal was well received: no one at the meeting seemed opposed to the idea in the slightest, and bearing in mind that this committee consists of several high profile officers of the University, including the top bod, Vice Chancellor Roy Evans, the lack of opposition can be considered a significant boost to those campaigning for it.

As it stands, pretty much the only department which doesn’t timetable lectures for a Wednesday afternoon is SHES (Sports Science etc). This implies that currently the only students able to represent the University in the BUSA competition are Sports Science students.

Is there some unwritten rule that Chemistry and Music students are not supposed to play football or hockey?

Granted, some courses, such as Biology and Chemistry, do necessarily involve a lot of contact time—about 24 hours a week for first and second years—but the fact is students are missing significant chunks of their course and being penalised for representing their University in something they’re good at. Everyone I know would be more than willing to attend lectures all day Tuesday and Thursday if it meant they could have a few hours off on a Wednesday. Currently, many members of staff have to make individual discretionary decisions to allow certain students to miss a given practical or lecture. This wouldn’t happen if the “Wednesday after-

noons free” proposal became University policy—and therefore the proposal also supports University staff. Besides which, I bet they wouldn’t mind Wednesday afternoons “off ” either, as it would give them more time for planning, research, marking and other administrative work.

There’s more to this than sport though. We’d be foolish to expect the University to allow us Wednesday afternoons off merely to boot a football about for a few hours.

So, to sweeten the deal a bit, the proposal also points out that if Wednesday afternoons were free, other extra curricular activities could be organised for that time slot, such as student volunteering within Community Action, for those students who aren’t interested in sport. This would promote students and the University in the eyes of the local community, as well as differentiating Bangor from less supportive Universities to potential new students.

The Students’ Union Executive Committee are pushing hard for this move to go through—no one more so than SU President James Brownsell, who pretty much sums this whole article up in one quote: “This University needs graduates of a high calibre in order to be competitive in the employment market. By keeping Wednesday afternoons free from formal study, our students can have the chance to learn key skills such as teamwork, leadership and initiative— transferable skills that cannot be taught in a lecture theatre.”

There’s also a petition going around—the NUS Wales “Free for All” petition, which has been signed by hundreds of people already. Most of the signatures are from students, but there are many non-students on the list too, showing that people outside the Union body can see how important this proposal is. If you’d like to add your weight to the campaign, you can sign your name on the dotted line in the Athletic Union office during normal working hours.

Don’t dismiss this article! Most people think that there’s nothing they can do about the current situation. But the more supportive voices we have, the more likely people will listen; and if they see the sense behind it, Wednesday afternoon lectures will become a thing of the past.

The “Wednesday afternoons free” movment aims to turn this...

...into this. You can sign the petition at the AU office.

SPORTS SHORTS Basketball teams’ Main Bar success

Thursday 29th November saw the most successful Nice Choons night to date, a joint venture between the Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams. The Main Bar was heaving after a mob of Sports Scientists turned up and the Basketball club reaped the rewards. The theme was “Pimps and Hoes”—a little risqué, but if it pulls in the crowds then who’s to argue?

Bangor highly-placed in sailing nationals

At the Student Sailing Nationals in Weymouth last month, our very own club enjoyed a creditable amount of success. Richard Thoroughgood and Sam Firkins finished second overall in the Laser 2 fleet, whilst Ashley Johnston came eighth out of forty in the Laser 1 fleet. Congratulations to the lads on their achievements!

DRINK REVIEW

Ant “Natural Stimulation” drink tired of carnation cows?

Then how about golden insects instead? A new stimulant, made from ants and fruit juice, is about to hit the shops. But is it any good?

According to the press release, ants were regarded as “the viagra of the ancients,” and contain 8-13 times more protein than milk and meat, though whether this really has any baring on this drink is another matter. This drink is free from caffeine and taurine, which makes it a good alternative to the usual brands, and low sugar and calories are also bonuses.

But what’s it like?

Well, it smells like grape juice, and has a distinctly grapey flavour, with a strange, but not that unpleasant aftertaste. It is smoother and easier to

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

drink than its bovine rival, but knowing how it’s made can only make people less likely to try it.

In the office people were reluctant to try it, partly due to squeamishness and partly due to beliefs like veganism, but all agreed that it smelt nice. The general consensus was it tasted “intriguing.” It tastes a little cactusy, and one person thought it had ginseng in it, which it doesn’t—but it does have a similar zing (excuse the pun.)

It’s the kind of thing people will enjoy when drunk—it’ll act as a pick-me-up, and they won’t be too bothered about what’s in it.

I’ve drunk about half a bottle, and so far don’t feel particularly different, but am definitely feeling more awake than I did before, and have a pleasant tingly feeling all over. Whether or not you believe the press release, I think this is quite an enjoyable drink, but the others in the office weren’t so keen.

A bottle of sparkling Ant

1 Who manned the Thunderbird Space Station ?

2 How many golf balls are on the moon ?

3 What is Damon Gough better known as ?

4 In what sport do you “shag flies”?

5 Who wrote A Clockwork Orange”?

6 How many hearts does an octopus have ?

7 Which band’s line up consists of Tim, Mark, Rick, and Charlotte?

8 What was Ant and Dec’s third Album called?

9 Ernest Penfold and Baron Silas Greenback were in which TV show?

10 From which film is the line “Did you ever find Bugs Bunny attractive when he’d put on a dress and play a girl bunny?”

Danni’s make-up tips Danni Mangano speaks of prettying up the peepers Different eye make-up styles make it possible to create a different look for day and evening.

It’s a good idea to have a separate look for day and evening so you don’t look the same all the time.

The good thing about eye shadow is that, unlike foundation, it isn’t necessary to spend a fortune to get a decent look; the cheaper brands aren’t necessarily a poorer quality. With mascara, however, it is probably better to spend a little bit more on a decent brand as these are less likely to clump , flake or melt off. Invest in an eyelash curler and that why you wont have to fork out for the more expensive curling, lengthening mascara’s and it will also mean you’ll need less mascara to get your desired look.

The more attractive and fashionable look at the moment is the wide eyed look, and not slit eyes that you get with liquid or pencil eyeliners, so the following tips take that into account and avoid eyeliners, instead using a darker eye shadow to line your eye.

The colours you use on your eyes should depend on the colour of your eyes.

Blue eyes A pale blue on your eye lid with a deeper blue or grey eye shadow as the eye liner. Brown mascara Brown eyes A light brown on your eyelids and a darker brown e.g mahogany for the eyeliner. Black mascara Green or hazel eyes A light brown on your eyelids and a green eye shadow as the eye liner. Brown/ black mascara

Daytime

The key to daytime make-up is to look as natural as possible.

One colour brushed lightly over your eye lid is more than enough for your day look, with maybe a cream coloured eye shadow under your eyebrow to open your eyes up a bit especially if you look tired. If this is the case avoid eyeliners as they will make you look even more tired. If you do want to line your upper eyelid along the lashes use a fine eye shadow brush with an eye shadow in a colour slightly darker than the one you’ve used as a base, and draw a line following the shape of your eyelashes.

aob@seren.bangor.ac.uked

Quick Horoscopes Leo Quiz Aquarius  

1. John Tracey; 2. Three; 3.

Badly Drawn Boy; 4. Baseball; 5. Anthony Burgess; 6. Three; 7.

Ash; 8. The Cult of Ant and Dec; 9.

Dangermouse; 10. Wayne’s World

20 SEREN December 2001

Jan 20-Feb 18 This month will see an injection of passion into your life. However, don’t lose sight of what is truly important to you.

Pisces Feb 19-Mar 20 Virgo Aug 23-Sep 22 It is time to open your heart Making plans for the future  to someone close to you.  is good but spending too Don’t hold back, your happiness could ultimately suffer.

Next month: lipstick and blusher

much time planning isn’t. Go out and be spontaneous for a change.

Aries March 21-April 19 Libra Sep 23-Oct 23 You have been feeling under changes of friend pressure from a heavy work  Sudden ships will leave others feelload. Take a break and leave the world behind for a while.

ing uncertain. Talk to a good friend, the advice will be valuable.

Taurus April 20-May 20 Scorpio Oct 24-Nov 21 Life is just one big rollat where your life is  ercoaster at the moment.  Look heading. Now is the time Slow down and sort your head out before diving into something new.

for change. Opportunities are all around—grab them.

Gemini May 21-June 21 Sagittarius Nov 22-Dec 21 Recent situations may be The future’s bright, keep  making you feel unwanted.  focusing on it. Don’t look Call an old friend for a chat. Have faith that the tide is on the turn.

back. New friends will fill the void which has been troubling you.

Cancer June 22-July 22 Capricorn Dec 22-Jan 19 Life has taken an unexThere is a part of your  pected turn. Even if you  life that you are trying to don’t think so at first this will turn out for the better.

forget. Face your demons. This is a month of emotional discovery.

Seren Quick crossword Across 1 Largeststring instrument (10) 8 Removefastening from a shoe (6) 9 Crabice(anag)(7) 10 Typeofhound(6) 11 Unhurried(7) 14 Withoxygen(7) 17 Loseshape(6) 18 Holdbackuntilsuch time (7) 19 Unwraporuntie(6) 20 Verysmall(sl.)(5,5)

Evening

You can experiment more with evening make up and have a bit of fun. Glitter can look great but it can look awful if you wear too much.

The best place for glitter is under your eyebrow to the top of your eyelid. This will look pretty and will open your eyes. As with daytime make-up, avoid black eyeliner especially under your eye. It will close your eyes up and the heroin addict look is not attractive. So again use an eye shadow to line your eye.

If you want it to look slightly heavier put a tiny amount of eye cream on your brush before putting the colour on. This will make the eye shadow less matte and more dramatic but still won’t be as heavy as a liquid or pencil eyeliner.

July 23-Aug 22 This month is the light at the end of the tunnel—the perfect time for going out and having fun. Things are looking up.

2 3 4 5 6

Down Mind (6) Talk nonsense (6) Teach (7) Briskly (music) (7) Broken down (7,3)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7 8

9 10 11

12

13 14

15

16

17 18 19

20

7 Insidious (10) 12 Worship (7) 13 Feast of one’s eponymous Saint (4,3) 15 Mob (6) 16 Infertile (6)

Last month’s answers—Across: 1 Sieve, 2 Adopts, 7 Apologetic, 9 Assassin, 11 Auld, 12 Opus, 15 Patellas, 17 Generalise, 18 Rasher, 19 Clasp. Down: 1 Scarab, 3 Detonate, 4 Piccalilli, 5 Stoic, 6 Ages, 8 Oesophagus, 10 Suspense, 13 Asleep, 14 Lunar, 16 Tart.

SEREN LISTINGS

We regret this month we are unable to carry our regular Listings section.

We offer our sincere apologies to anyone expecting a particular event to be included. We hope to be able to resume normal service next month, so keep sending event details to listings@seren.bangor.ac.uk.

SECTION TITLE

editor@seren.bangor.ac.uk

SEREN December 2001 21

Senedd: the awful truth Just the facts, ma’am: Bob Connerton was there so you didn’t have to be It’s happened. The second Senedd of the year opened at around 7.45pm on Tuesday 27th November in its usual venue, the Council Chamber at Main Arts.

Typically, the first Senedd of the academic year takes discussion of the Union’s Budget, and then, every Senedd is like a General Meeting: no specific requirements on what has to be presented in terms of motions.

Executive reports

The Agenda listed nine motions for discussion, although one motion was withdrawn before debate. Before the motions could be discussed, minutes were corrected: some minor changes were made, and then minutes were approved. The Executive then made its report. Much of the details had already been made, viz. the weekly Executive “Matters to Report,” although time was dedicated to receiving the reports, and then for questions to be asked. Reports were received from all Sabbaticals except for the SCA Organiser, who made a Standing Committee report instead of an Officer’s report. The Non-Sabbatical Officers in attendance (the LGB Officer, Nursing Representative, Women’s Officer, Normal Site Rep, Education Officer, Secretary and Convenor/Deputy Chair) made their reports. A few questions were asked by the meeting, including lighting on the approach to Top College from the SU (asked to the Welfare Officer), and that a proposal to restructure the SU and extend it had gone to a Planning Committee, and the expected date for project completion would be by the end of December 2002.

The CCSO informed the meeting that Storm FM, Bangor’s long awaited radio station could be up and running by the end of the academic year. The Executive’s Report was accepted. It was reported that several members of the executive had resigned: the Member without Portfolio and the Chair. The Executive are to consider “memAssas-bers” who had not made their own:required meetings and had, techense,nically, been deemed as resigned.

Other reports

Senedd Committee Reports then came. The Steering Report had been made by the Convenor when he made his report on Executive Business; which meant that the next issue was to consider the

report of a Committee investigating a policy motion that concerned the security of, and access to, the Union. The report was received, questions asked (some answered), and the committee were not discharged: the report had been rushed, and further investigation and meeting time was ordered.

After the reports had been received and voted on (all were accepted), Senedd’s internal elections took place: Senedd elected a secretary (Dave Bennett); an ordinary member of Steering (Helen Wright); and yours truly was elected onto the Finance Committee.

Standing committees

The ninth matter considered was the ratification of Executive business, which is when the matters discussed by the executive are either approved or rejected. All Executive business was ratified, although questions were asked to clarify issues. The only matter that Senedd objected to were two references to an individual, and these remarks were formally struck from the record.

The meeting then received reports from four of the twenty-seven

The meeting received reports from four of the twenty-seven Standing Committees.

Standing Committees.

Nightline reported that training had been successful, and, apologising for the bad translations, that they are after ideas for fundraising and are considering the ideas of help by SMS/text messaging and e-listening.

Seren reported that the October issue of Seren had made a profit, that Seren will be issued every three weeks of term-time and that internal issues had been resolved.

The SCA report included the promised Sabbatical report: the Committee have been involved in setting up a database of its members, that there would be a volunteering fair in PJ Hall, that work has started on the Christmas tea-dance for the senior citizens of Bangor. It was also reported that SCA have been helping RAG, and were planning a re-launch to mark the name change that was approved by General Meeting. The Sabbatical officer reported that he had been working on the idea of a Roaming Executive (see ‘Decisions, Decisions’) and arranging an informal meeting to consider the future of meetings in the Students’ Union.

RAG informed the meeting that they had held a raffle in time and that they have secured having some time organising the Main Bar Cloakroom.

Elections

Executive ratified

NUS sorted?

Senedd was then able to move to discuss the policies submitted: three concerning the NUS, all instructing the President to submit motions to NUS Conference for matters of reform. Some time was consumed by the meeting discussing proposed amendments. I unfortunately cannot remember if the amendments were accepted or not, but the three “NUS” motions were. After the three motions had been discussed, I noted that the time was almost ten past eleven.

Rollover?

A motion to allow clubs and societies that had not received a grant to “rollover credit balances” had been submitted, but after twenty minutes of consideration, it came to the vote: more people abstained than any other group, so the motion fell.

Budget revisited

Senedd was informed that as it stood, the Union did not have a budget. This had occurred following on from the General Meeting.

A fair bit of debate occurred on the proposed budget (the same as had been submitted in the past), and debate finished at five past midnight. Amendments that had been proposed to cut the payments made by the Union to staff used by the company (i.e., that the company should pay for the staff used) and to restructure allocations were rightly rejected: the figures proposed (by myself) had not been accurately composed due to a lack of information in

the public domain and figures not being made available. The budget was passed, following the threat that should Senedd not accept the budget, College were likely to impose one—despite having been informed that an important committee of College (Senate/ Students’ Union) had already approved the budget.

Another committee

Believe it or not, the Union’s Senedd approved the creation of

At twenty to one in the morning, Senedd was adjourned until the next meeting: 19th February. another committee! This one is entitled the “Constitution Review Committee,” and, as the name implies, its purpose is to review the Union’s governing document, the Constitution. The motion was necessarily long, to define the members, functions, powers and duties of this committee. At seven minutes past midnight, it was approved, and became interim policy of the Union. This one dealt with, meant that only two more motions were to be debated.

Information flows

The penultimate motion for discussion concerned the proposal to create a database of the Union’s members: it was proposed, and accepted, that due to the implications of the motion, and the timescale, that it should be referred to the Annual General meeting, the bureaucratic highlight of the year. This was at 12.15am. Swift progression between motions was occurring.

ITV and football

This motion was hailed as a success—for a Union President to get an AU president involved in Union Politics. The motion concerned ITV changing the kick-off time for games, and the only recognised benefactors being the “fat cat TV bosses” and the armchair supporters. This motion was accepted just before twenty past midnight.

Anything else?

There were still a few more things that the meeting heard: the first concerning the Union and weekends. This was proposed on behalf of the WarGames and Role Playing Society, who had eloquently and courteously made various points throughout the meeting, in a manner that appeared to me to always be with great decorum.

The point made was that the Union is not open after 4pm on Sundays. It was suggested that the Union ought to open from midday until 8pm: a motion supported by various people in attendance.

A second point was a mandate on Steering to amend the process by which amendments are tabled for the meeting so as not to make a mockery of the Union’s bilingual policy: basically, to extend the periods of submissions, agenda preparations and submission of amendments, so that the meetings could be considered as bilingual.

The organisers of the meeting were also formally thanked by the meeting.

Finally came a report from the Rooms Review Group, which could not be voted on, as it invoked business that should have been raised earlier.

That was it: at twenty to one in the morning, Senedd was adjourned until the next meeting: 19th February.

DATES FOR YOU DIARY Executive: every week of term, 5pm in the Union Building Senedd: 19th February, Council Chamber (Top College) 7:30pm General Meeting: 26th February, Main Bar.

Extra cash

After Senedd came the poorly advertised “Extra-Ordinary General Meeting” (in fact, it had not been summoned by a recognised authority). The purpose of this was to distribute £752 which had not been included in the Budget. £240 was allocated to BUMS for Health and Safety considerations; £100 to the Archery Club for some Straw Butts; Stage Crew were given £300 for some kit; and finally Normal Site were granted £83 for questionnaires and minibus costs. It was noted that should additional funding come about for the BUMS (via Individual Learning Accounts) then the £240 would automatically be re-allocated.