Seren - 224 - 2011/12 - May Issue by Seren

Bangor Students’ Union’s English Language Newspaper

ISSN 1755-7585

Issue No. 224

A FREE SOCIETY

May Issue 2012

INSIDE: Summer Ball Line-up!

Holla for Hollaback! Gwynedd

Picture by Eddy Reynolds

• University Increases Students’ Union Funding • Societies and Clubs Benefit from Free Memberships LJ Taylor

rom the start of the next academic year, all Bangor University students will be able to join S.U. societies and A.U. clubs for free. This development comes after lobbying from the team at Bangor Students’ Union to get students more value for money in light of the University’s increase of tuition fees to £9,000 per year which beings this September. Clubs and societies charge anywhere from a few pounds to over a hundred for membership so this could potentially save students hundreds of pounds each year. The Students’ Union has been firmly against any rise in tuition fees since the idea was first proposed back in 2010 and refused to stand down when the decision was made to increase students’ fees to £9,000. The union wanted to ensure that students wouldn’t be losing out from this fee increase and that the

extra money would be pumped back into student facing areas. One way to ensure this was to have the University increase Students’ Union funding to cover the costs of membership fees. We have been given assurances that free membership for any student to any club or society will not mean that the club or society in question will lose money. The increase to the Union’s budget will be used to cover the money that students themselves would have previously invested through membership fees. The amount that each individual club and society will receive is yet to be finalised, but will be worked out with the current year’s membership in mind. When the University initially announced its intention to support the Students’ Union’s initiative, President Jo Caulfield, who had been at the centre of negotiations, released this statement: “We have been fiercely lobbying for Bangor University to invest in areas that

matter to students and directly benefit students... From the academic year 2012/13, student clubs and societies will be completely free for all students. This means no membership fees and no additional personal insurance costs. Whilst we are pleased with this commitment, it is simply a starting point, and we will be continuing the pressure on our institution to make significant improvements in areas that directly benefit students. We are also calling on the University to be transparent about where students’ money is being spent. Bangor Students’ Union campaigned hard against fee increases and we view any additional cost to students as unpalatable, unwelcome and a risk to the adage that higher education should be available to those with ability, not those with the ability to pay. We will continue to be at the forefront of discussions to ensure that Bangor students receive additional benefits in line with their additional invest-

ment.” Bangor University’s agreement to this is just the start of an overall shift in the way the University makes its decisions. With their new Student Experience Enhancement Strategy, the University will guarantee that students will be at the heart of its decision making process. This strategy was written in collaboration with the Students’ Union and covers areas such as student employability, the services the University offers, developing its education strategy and committing to a more inclusive and diverse student community. The strategy also commits the University to “sketching out plans for transport links between our campus sites in Bangor, to make it easier for you to get around”, which we think those who live in Bryn Eithin halls will be particularly pleased by. An online version of the strategy can be found on the SU website: www.bangorstudents.com

Brand new Motors Page! Gwynedd

We say bye to the Sabbs!

Editorial

The Seren Team

Editor: Aaron Wiles editor@seren.bangor.ac.uk Deputy Editor: LJ Taylor deputy@seren.bangor.ac.uk News: Steven Freeman news@seren.bangor.ac.uk Politics: Anna Hatﬁeld politics@seren.bangor.ac.uk Features: Rosie McLeod features@seren.bangor.ac.uk Creative Corner: Tom Haynes creative@seren.bangor.ac.uk Food & Drink: Joe Russell food@seren.bangor.ac.uk Film & TV: Amy Westlake & Heather Boyles ﬁlm@seren.bangor.ac.uk Music: Joey McNally music@seren.bangor.ac.uk Fashion: Kaden Wild fashion@seren.bangor.ac.uk Health & Beauty: Emily Tearle & Sara Royle beauty@seren.bangor.ac.uk Advice: Ashleigh Garnett advice@seren.bangor.ac.uk Travel: Rowena Nathan travel@seren.bangor.ac.uk Sport: Tom Knott sports@seren.bangor.ac.uk Secretary: Luke Dobson secretary@seren.bangor.ac.uk Design: Dan Turner design@seren.bangor.ac.uk

The Sabbs

Jo Caulﬁeld jo.caulﬁeld@undeb.bangor.ac.uk Danielle Buckley danielle.buckley@undeb.bangor.ac.uk Danielle Giles danielle.giles@undeb.bangor.ac.uk Rich Gorman rich.gorman@undeb.bangor.ac.uk

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk Sean Talbot Toby Raynsford Hello! Welcome to what I can’t believe is already my last issue of Seren! Just a few months ago we were creating our Freshers’ Issue, now in the midst of dissertation deadlines, essay stress and exam trauma, we’re getting ready to wave you off for the Summer, and unfortunately, some of you for good. Congratulations on getting yourself a degree, and for passing your year. Here at Seren we like to go out with a bang, which is why this issue is once again a massive 48 pages. This obviously means we have new features, and for the first time ever we have a Motors section, you should be aware that it’s my favourite page this issue, and not just because I made it. The issue also sees the return of the business page, and this time we’re giving you tips on how to make some extra cash using eBay. You may have heard about Hollaback, it’s a street harassment campaign and we’ve heavily covered it in this issue because we think it’s important that you’re kept safe! Also inside this month’s issue, we’re saying goodbye to the current Sabb team who have all done excellent jobs whilst in office, we have all your standard music and film reviews including a bit of an Avengers special simply because we loved it. Most excitingly though, this Seren profiles the acts playing your Summer Ball, and what a ball it is going to be! We’re seriously impressed with the line-up. I’m going to sign off now simply by saying that it’s been a pleasure editing Seren this year, and I’m thankful for the experience I’ve gotten from it. I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading the paper as much as we’ve enjoyed putting it together, Seren has got a good team of people behind it and without them it wouldn’t look as good as it does today. For those graduating and heading off into something new, good luck, and for those who are returning, we’ll see you next year! Ps. R.I.P. Graham </3

Aaron Wiles

Contributors Nicola Hoban Samantha Austin Alex Thomson Georgia Mannion Jennifer Krase Jez Harvey Dhan Panesar Emily Taylor James Gudgeon Regan Jamieson

Sean Talbot Toby Raynsford Adam Pazdor Charlotte Summers Jonathon Howard Ryan Iddon Matt Jackson Matt Coombs Liam Connolly Sophie Smith

News Politics Comment Environment Features Hollaback Business Societies Union Creative Corner Summer Ball Fashion Health & Beauty Ashleigh Answers Music Classics Film & TV Games & Gadgets Food & Drink Travel Breaktime Motors Sport

3-5 6-7 8-10 11 12-13 14-15 16 18-19 20-21 22-23 24-25 26-27 28 29 30-31 32 33-35 36-37 38-39 40-41 42 44 45-47

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Local News Appeal to Find Missing Peer Guide of Matthew Williams the Year 2012 By Nicola Hoban

n appeal is being made by the family of an A-level student who went missing Wednesday 25th April 2012. Beloved brother and son Matthew Williams, 18, from Bangor, was last seen by his parents Dennis and Susan Williams as he left their home on Caernarfon Road on the Wednesday to get a McDonalds from the nearby outlet, and later told them he was going to visit a friend’s house nearby. Matthew’s mum Susan, 42, became concerned when she discovered that Matthew, who volunteers at an old people’s home, was not in his room Thursday morning when she went in there, despite his assurances that he would be back by 11pm on the Wednesday night. “I knew straight away something was wrong. He is not the type of lad to stay out or go clubbing with friends so I knew something had happened.” Susan told the Daily Post. Dad, Dennis, 52, then alerted police, instigating a massive search for Matthew that has seen friends and police join the hunt. Matthew Williams, a student at Coleg Menai, was due to sit his A-levels this month, hoping to become a doctor. Susan revealed: “It is with us every second, we can’t understand why he would go away. The worst part is not

By Steven Freeman

knowing what has happened to him. We are just praying and hoping he will come home, we can’t give up hope.” His parents, devastated by his disappearance, have explained how they have had to tell Matthew’s 6-year old sister Tiana that her big brother was missing. “We didn’t tell her for a few days but then felt we had to because of all the posters around of Matthew asking for help. He is my best friend and he is Tiana’s best friend as well. Telling her has been one of the hardest things.” Susan continues, “His sister misses him, he is a very loving brother. His older brother Daniel is desperately worried as well and has been back from Telford, where he lives, to search for him.” It has been more than two weeks now without any news about Matthew. Dad, Dennis said: “We just want to him to come home. If he can’t do this we just want him to let us know he is safe and well.” He adds, “We want to thank the police and all those who have supported us to search for Matthew.” North Wales Police are appealing to anyone with information to contact them

on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. “We also want to hear from anyone who may know of Matthew’s whereabouts. I would also appeal to Matthew himself to contact police and his family to let them know that he is safe and well.” Matthew, 18, was last seen in the Caernarfon Road area of Bangor at about 5.00pm on Wednesday 25th April 2012. He is described as being 5’11”, slim build and muscular. He is clean shaven with brown short hair. He was wearing a green long sleeved hoody top and blue jeans.

Honorary Fellowships Announced

By Steven Freeman

angor University has announced the names of the venerable individuals who they are awarding Honorary Fellowships in 2012 in graduation ceremonies which take place this year between 14 – 20th July. The names of this year’s Honorary Fellows are: Professor Malcolm David Evans OBE - Professor of International Law, University of Bristol [for services to Law] Professor Steve Jones - Professor of Genetics, University College London (UCL), prizewinning author and broadcaster [for services to Science] Terence David Hands CBE - Director of Clwyd Theatr Cymru; who also ran the Royal Shakespeare Company for 20 years [for services to the theatre] Bleddyn Wynn-

Jones – plant collector and cultivator, Crug Farm Nurseries [for services to Botany and Horticulture] Professor Tony Jones CBE, FRCA – internationally-known arts administrator; an Anglesey man who is Chancellor of the School of Art Institute of Chicago [for services to the Arts] John Gibb Marshall (also known as John Sessions) – actor and writer, and Bangor graduate, who has enjoyed a distinguished acting career – starring most recently as Edward Heath in the film The Iron Lady [for services to drama]

Actor John Sessions

Professor Catherine McKenna Professor of Celtic Languages & Literatures, Harvard University [for services to the study of Celtic languages & literatures] The Rt Hon Lord Barry Jones former MP for Alyn & Deeside, and government minister, and graduate of Coleg Normal [for services to Welsh public life] University Registrar Dr. David Roberts said: “Bangor University has a strong tradition of recognising the achievements of various men and women in different walks of life. This year is no exception, and we look forward to awarding Honorary Fellowships. Our Fellows will add great distinction and glamour to the ceremonies at which we also recognise the achievements of our students.”

ebecca Earnshaw, a German language student from the School of Modern Languages has been named Peer Guide of the Year 2012 for her committment and excellent work in the award winning mentoring initiative. Every year Bangor University deploys hundreds of peer guides to help first years settle into their new university life, in ways such as helping them move into their new accommodation to matters regarding their studies at Bangor, not forgetting introducing them to their fellow students on their course. At the end of every academic year, the Central Peer Guiding Unit opens nominations for first years to nominate their peer guides if they feel they are worthy of winning the Peer Guide of the Year Award and nominations from across the schools flood in. Rebecca’s nominators said : “She is very approachable and willing to give advice whenever needed and has always been there for the students, even when needed on one particular occasion in the middle of the night.” Another of the nominators mentioned that, without Rebecca, they would have found it really difficult to make friends and that Rebecca had made their first year at Bangor easy and fun.

Rebecca being the proud winner this year commented: “I decided to become a peer guide as I really like helping people, and it was a way of giving something back to the University. There were many nominees, all of whom have done lots of good things, so it’s really amazing that I have won this honour. I’ve made three really good friends, and we’ve kept in close contact over the last year. I’ve found peer guiding really enjoyable and really rewarding and I’d recommend it to anyone.”

Bangor Societies Showcase in Jubilee Weekend Festivities By Steven Freeman

angor University Medieval Reenactment Society and B.E.D.S are working together to put on a show in Beaumaris Castle scheduled for the Jubilee weekend following the success of last year’s “Medieval Day Out”. The bank holiday weekend is set to be a busy weekend for the Anglesey tourist hotspot and visitors can expect stunning show fights and battles along with mini plays which will take place throughout the day. Bangor University Medieval Re-enactment Society Captain, Dan Goodall said: “We are delighted to be able to gig at Beaumaris again as last year’s Medieval Day Out proved highly successful. From a reenactment point

of view, we now have more authentic living history kit and lots of shiny new armour which will make our battles and show fighting look ever more impressive and we hope to bring much excitement to the days proceedings.” Beaumaris on the Jubilee weekend will also be home to a ferris wheel which has been nicknamed the ‘Beaumaris Eye’ which will sit near the sea front and offer panoramic views over the North Wales coast.

UK News

First Charges Made in Phone-Hacking Scandal By Steven Freeman

ormer Chief Executive of News International Rebekah Brooks has been charged along with her husband and four other high ranking staff at News International, all of whom face charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The charges are for offences relating back to July 2011, when it is alleged that the individuals charged are thought to have concealed documents and computers from police in an attempt to mislead the phone-hacking investigation. The charges are the first charges to be made in an inquiry lasting 18 months and resulting in many arrests, of which 40 people still remain on police bail. QC Alison Levitt said in a statement “There is sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction.” Mrs Brooks and her husband Charlie Brooks have retaliated against the charges saying “We deplore this weak and unjust decision”. The six charged who include Mrs Brooks’ personal assistant Cheryl Carter, chauffeur Paul Edwards, Security worker Daryl Jorsling and News International Head of Security Mr Hanna all face the charge of trying to conceal materials between 6th and 19th July. Mrs Brooks and Mrs Carter also face second charges, where it is alleged that they removed seven boxes from the News International archive in order to try and hide incriminating evidence that may have been of inter-

est to the phone-hacking investigation between 6th and 9th July. A third charge was given to all but Mrs Carter, for allegations relating to the concealing of computers and electronic devices from police officers between 15th and 19th July. The charges come at a time when Mrs Brooks recently revealed that Prime Minister and friend David Cameron had messaged her saying “keep your head up” after she resigned as Chief Executive of News International in July 2011. The situation has created much embarrassment for the Prime Minister and the recent charges are sure to create further embarrassment at a time when the Tories are not particularly relishing in an atmosphere of good

favour, given the massive losses in the recent local elections. As the world awaits the outcome of the recent charges, it is sure that many will be praising the decision to charge the alleged six as for a long time, it has seemed that those who are responsible for allowing such malpractices regarding phone-hacking have escaped being held responsible for their actions and managed to avoid criminal prosecution. However, although the charges may seem welcomed by those disgusted by the events of the phone-hacking scandal, it seems that the inquiry and its investigations are far from conclusive and there would appear to be a long path ahead for all those involved in the scandal to be brought to justice.

he government plans to advance with proposals made last year regarding giving parents with special needs children more control over their child’s education. The recent plans come after Children’s Minister Sarah Tether said the current system of special needs education is “outdated and unfit for purpose.” It is thought that parents would be given a “personal budget” in which they could direct the education of their children in specific ways, thus addressing the needs of each individual child in special needs education. If successful, the plans could address the issues highlighted in last year’s Green Papers which reported that many parents with special needs children had to “battle” the system. The changes are also thought to see less children being regarded as special needs, to which some have struck out

saying that the shake up should not be a cost cutting exercise and that its primary objective should be bettering the education of those who most need a tailored education. The “personal budget” is designed to allow such instances where parents could choose to buy in more specialised external services if they feel appropriate, but it has also been stated that if parents are happy with the education their children receive, the local education authority will carry on planning the education of those children whose parents seem happy with the current system. The plans come at a time when it has recently been announced that schools are having to battle more than ever for finances, but the plans which promote personalisation in special needs education show some promise atleast.

May Faces Criticism Over Police Cuts

By Steven Freeman

Special Needs Children to Receive Tailored Education By Steven Freeman

Olympics Defence Measures Revealed

s the Olympic flame begins its relay around Britain security officials have announced various plans for security measures for the Olympics some of which have caused somewhat of a stir. Earlier this month it was announced by the MoD that they were planning to place surface-to- air missiles on top of residential apartment blocks in Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. Concerned residents appeared obviously less than happy about the plans and criticizers have questioned the devastation that would prevail if the military were to launch missiles over London at a time when it is bursting at the seams as the debris would surely shower the capital. These plans are not however the only security measures to be an-

May Issue 2012

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nounced and in latest developments the MoD have announced that there will be placed around London sonic devices known as LRAD, or Long Range Acoustic Devices, which are designed to emit “pain inducing tones” to try and peacefully resolve potential crisis situations. The MoD have however announced that the device is more likely to be used as a long range communication device for issues such as crowd control rather than being used to deploy an ear wrenching tone which can cause people pain when situations become volatile. Plans have also been unveiled detailing security exercises which will take

place over the coming weeks involving all of the military departments which will form part of a multi-operational effort to try and protect London whilst it is the focus of the world. It is thought that overall, 13,500 military personnel will be involved in protecting London and the games.

By Steven Freeman

heresa May faces yet more criticism in her plans to radically reform the police service as she is set to address the Police Federation conference in Bournemouth. The reforms will see cuts of up to 20% across police forces nationwide and many top ranking officers have said that she is destroying the integrity and reputation of one of the world’s most admirable police forces. The Police Federation are expected to tell Theresa May that along with the 20% cuts, they are also unhappy with the proposed changes to pay and contractual conditions, aswell as the increasing interest and slant towards privatising sections of the police force. Paul McKeever, the federation’s chairman, will tell her: “This is a bad deal for the police service. We have less resilience, fewer warranted officers, a weakened front line and a radically al-

tered model of British policing.” He further commented: “You cannot expect officers, those who understood the fiscal situation and accepted that some cuts were necessary, to take an unfair share of the cuts and just sit there and be content with their lot.” Mrs May is however expected to reiterate and tell the Police Federation that the cuts are necessary and that the government will stand strong on this issue.

May Issue 2012

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World News

Palestinian Hunger Strike Blasts in Syria Kill to End After Deal Struck 55 and Injure 370 By Nicola Hoban

deal has been struck with the Palestinians after the Israeli authorities promised to improve their conditions, aiming to end around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners hunger strikes, after the International Red Cross warned that several of the prisoners were on the verge of dying. With several prisoners having been on hunger strike for the past 77 days, most joined the strike on April 17. The deal, brokered by Egyptian mediators, was struck after it emerged how serious the conditions of some of the inmates were and Israeli authorities were urged to transfer them to hospital for emergency treatment. The hunger strike protest, inspired

By Luke Dobon

by the IRA hunger strike in 1981 that lasted 66 days, was set in motion after anger grew in response to the Israeli policy of ‘administrative detention’ where prisoners could be held for months or sometimes years without being charged or facing trial. At the moment, there are 308 administrative detainees in Israeli prisons. Another demand of the inmates was to have more access for relatives to visit them, ending the lengthy solitary confinement periods. According to the Palestinian prisoner affairs minister, Issa Qaraqe, Palestinian prison leaders signed the deal in an Ashkelon Israeli jail. The deal was then confirmed by Israel’s Shin

Bet security agency and Palestinian militant groups. The terms of the deal, proposed by Israeli prison authorities amid fears of triggering anger and violence in the Palestinian chairs, states that firstly, prisoners in both the West Bank and Gaza are to be allowed more family visits; secondly prisoners currently in long periods of solitary confinement will be allowed back amongst the general population; and thirdly, those hunger strikers who are administrative detainees are to be released at the end of their original terms. Palestinian legislator Dr. Mustafa Barghouti said that if the deal held then it would provide proof of the power of “non-violent resistance”.

Weird and Wonderful: US Town Prepares to Hand Out Fines to Text Walkers

By Steven Freeman

ew Jersey police officials have announced that people in the U.S. town of Fort Lee could be hit with an $85 fine if they text whilst walking down the street. The fines come after an increase in jaywalking incidents, where people cross the road recklessly or without paying due care, to which the police have said mobile phone distractions are a big contributing factor with regards to the rise in incidents in the town. Police officers have been handing out leaflets informing residents and visitors about the crackdown and the reasons for the initiative and police patrols are being stepped up to try and deal with the problem. Fort Lee Police chief Thomas Ripoli said ““It’s a big distraction. Pedestrians aren’t watching where they’re going. They’re not aware.”

wo huge blasts, exploding within minutes of each other, went off in Damascus last week killing 55 people and injuring 370. This is the most recent in a spate of bombing attacks that have hit the Syrian capital over the last few months. The first bomb went off on a key road during morning rush hour, outside of a government building. The security wall of the building was knocked down by the blast and people rushed to help. Soon after, however, the second blast shook the area, setting dozens of cars alight and sending a large cloud of debris up into the air which was visible across the city. Both blasts caused tragic scenes of carnage, with body parts strewn across the street and rubble of buildings affected by the blasts; where the devices had gone off, there remained craters in the tarmac. Syria has been in a constant state of turmoil since the popular uprising against the ruling al-Assad regime started last March. Over the past year the Syrian government have fought

with uprising movements, who they have ruthlessly put down wherever possible. Over recent months, certain groups have taken to using terroristic means to further their cause, though the main group linked with previous attacks (Al Nusra Front) have denied any links with these bombings. They argue that the government staged the attacks themselves in order to discredit the rebelling movements in the eyes of the Syrian public and world media. Foreign diplomats have all denounced the attacks and have repeated calls for talks between the separatists and the al-Assad regime. The Free Syrian Army, a collection of anti-regime militias, has denounced the attacks whilst the government has declared that they believe that the opposition groups are in some way linked to al Qaeda. More information is difficult to come by as the Syrian government has highly restricted access for international journalists.

Massacre in Mexico

By Nicola Hoban

orty-nine decapitated bodies – forty-three men and six women - have been found dumped on a road from Monterrey to Reynosa in northern Mexico on the US border. Security officials also revealed that the victims hands had also been removed which made identifying them much more difficult, though it is believed that they were Central American migrants. These murders seem to be the latest in a string of brutal killings and have been blamed by officials on a conflict between rival drug gangs. A note that was left with the mutilated bodies, found at 09:00 GMT, saying that the Zetas cartel was responsible, who have been fighting for control of smugglings routes into the US against the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels. The bodies, according to security officials, were killed in another location up to for-

ty-eight hours before being wrapped in plastic bags and dumped from a truck. Before this grim discovery police earlier found eighteen decapitated and dismembered bodies in two abandoned vehicles in western Mexico on May 9th. Twenty-three more bodies – fourteen of which were decapitated – were found in the border city of Nuevo Laredo found on May 4th. Approximately 50,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2006, when President Felipe Calderon deployed the army in an effort to combat the cartels.

May Issue 2012

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Politics Greece’s Political Difficulties T

he two big parties of Greek politics, Pasok and New Democracy (ND), have been punished, a vital detail to the aftermath of this election. The voters opposed more austerity and any party associated with being austerity driven. Voters in France, the UK and now Germany all seem to have rejected austerity to some degree, but I have yet to hear a proper alternative; do we spend our way out or do we just keep putting more public money into the economy? These economies will grow but it will be false growth. Countries will gain more debt and whilst eventually there will be a need to put public money back into the economy when governments’ have a better grip on the finances, I believe the main crux to be unequal austerity. There has been a tax cut for the rich in Britain which was undeniably wrong; it felt so out of place in a budget that should have been about taking more off the rich. Syriza (an already existing coalition of left-wing parties) could be punished if they do not seek a compromise. And if the other left-wing parties do not join

Scotland Wants Minimum Price For Alcohol

them, such as the smaller Democratic Left, they too could suffer at the ballot box. The left-wing parties are unlikely to find a solution by themselves: one of the two big political parties has to be part of the game. One of the many problems with these fringe groups that have gained votes because of the anti-austerity factions is that they also have very bad attitudes, some of which are morally wrong; for instance Golden Dawn has been described as Neo-Nazi and doesn’t take too well to transparency. While it may not be necessary to have either Pasok or ND in government, it may not be avoidable. The party leaders, having felt the anger of the people, will be more rational in the future. In fact all Greek leaders will have to think in a more thoughtful and strategic way or otherwise they will become consigned to history. The financial situation for Greece is critical. It will have to find 450m euros on 15 May when a euro bond expires. It may not be a significant amount of money but if no payment is received then it will have drastic ramifications for Europe and the world.

This situation has the potential to cause another world recession but then we will have to tax the rich. It could have the potential to unite the world under one banner of anti-tax avoidance; it may sound rather far-fetched but a world recession may just achieve this. The Drachma is a very dangerous alternative to the euro and the decision could have more enduring consequences than staying within the euro. One solution for Greece is to negotiate in a tougher way with the eurozone and then focus on development on a national and European level. From 2009-11 Greece had the potential of 20bn euros in EU structural funds but used just 5bn of it. It was the Greek government that was responsible for not using the money appropriately. Fifteen billion euros were left waiting for Greek proposals or action. The political leaders should do their utmost to avoid a repeat election - because if they are unable to find a compromise, Greece could experience an even more painful economic process than if they stayed in the euro. Alex Thomson

he Scottish government has confirmed that it wants to set a minimum price for alcohol at 50p per unit. The figure - 5p higher than previously proposed- comes as a 40p price is planned for England and Wales. It is hoped that the measure will reduce health problems caused by excessive drinking which is supposed to be symptomatic of Scottish culture. Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon made the announcement during a visit to Glasgow Royal Infirmary. This will put pressure on the UK government to get on with its minimum pricing of alcohol plans. It is hoped the move - which would make the cheapest bottle of wine £4.69 and a four-pack of lager at least £3.52 - will lead to a reduction in hospital admissions and deaths through alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse puts a lot of strain on the NHS and could improve people’s health in general. The law will be ditched after six years if the policy does not work after a “sunset clause” was inserted as part of a deal to secure Conservative support for the SNP proposals. Both the Scottish Conservatives and Lib Dems supported this measure and voted with the Scottish Government to eventually make the Alcohol Minimum Pricing Bill a law. Scottish Labour refused to support such a law, arguing that it would fall unfairly on occasional drinkers and those who knew how to control their drinking. I personally think that this bill is the right way forward and Scotland is setting the benchmark for the UK government, who must follow and set

look at the original police investigation into phone hacking and judge whether the investigation was fit and proper. The second part of the inquiry is all to do with phone hacking, Newspapers will be ordered to reveal to the Leveson Inquiry if they are using anybody’s personal data bought in the past by its journalists. This issues does have farreaching potential impact into whether newspapers have committed various illegal acts in order to get a ‘scoop’ and find out information not to help any police inquiry but to make the front pages. One example of this is the Milly Dowler case where in July 2011, the Guardian said News of the World reporters deleted messages, giving her family false hope she was alive and prompting the inquiry. This type of journalism is unacceptable and even the accusation raises questions about how the media gets its information from in order to publish. Maybe no paper did hack phones and voicemails, the evidence has yet to be presented that any have done this terrible deed but it’s a bad day when the organisations which are supposed to find out the truth and

unearth wrong doings are the ones using illegal and wrong methods of gaining information. There has been a lot of attention paid to ‘Huntsgate’ but I feel that there needs to be attention put on Andy Coulson. Coulson has told the Leveson Inquiry he held shares in News Corporation worth £40,000 while working as the prime minister’s press chief. There was no “grand conspiracy” between the government and the media, he said. He was asked if he had seen any contact between Prime Minister David Cameron and the media he regarded as too close, he said: “I look at it from the perspective of whether or not there was improper conversations or a deal done, which I think is all part of this sort of grand conspiracy that sort of sits over this idea” So here is the murky relationship between politicians and the media, Andy Coulson was indebted to NI through the shares and was still far too close to the company whilst working for the Prime Minister and this shouldn’t have been allowed by the Prime Minister. It is too easy for people to paint the incumbent Prime Minister as being the worst offender, but every politician to some extent has gotten too close to the media. There needs to be far more transparency in our Government. The first part of the inquiry is where the information arose about Jeremy Hunt’s potential wrongdoing in the takeover bid. A string of emails suggests there was a steady flow of information from the culture secretary’s office to

News Corp advisers from June 2010 onwards giving valuable information about the department and its potential judgement on the takeover bid. Hunt denies any wrong doing and Adam Smith has resigned from his position so is it that Hunt was ignorant of the leaks from his department to BskyB or was it that Hunt was biased and helping BskyB in its takeover bid? Well, a special advisor is a Minister’s right hand man and as such it would take serious bad management to let them go astray and disobey the instructions laid down but there is no actual link between Jeremy Hunt, Adam Smith and NI and Hunt did take independent advice on every single decision so the jury is still out on that particular decision. Ed Miliband and the Labour party believes that Hunt is guilty, they are ‘shocked’ that Hunt is still in his job and that there has been no independent review into Hunt’s behaviour by the Prime Minister’s independent advisor on the ministerial code and whether he broke the aforementioned code. It’s almost certain that something bad went on whilst the bid was assessed but what exactly went on is still a mystery. I think that Hunt needs to explain himself completely and soon, and right or wrong he should resign for the damage done to him is far too much for him to carry on as Secretary of State; a new fresh face can resume the work the department faces. There has been a new development in the Leveson inquiry with Lord Justice

a 50p minimum price immediately. The culture of drinking in the UK is something that also must be dealt with; although this cannot be changed by Government policy, it can be affected by policy made by government. The next step is to set a drinking charter to which all schools and youth clubs are to sign up to and send out booklets to teach young people in particular, but also every adult how to responsibly drink. The money for this responsible drinking campaign should come from the industry because it has a much bigger influence on people’s drinking habits than the Government. At the moment it may not be advisable to ban alcohol adverts because of the sheer lack of money in advertising which supports many television channels. When we get back into proper growth then there should be a banning of alcohol adverts because they do glorify and make drinking seem acceptable, which is wrong. It’s about time drinking was cracked down on, as cigarettes are. We will see the impact in the next few years in Scotland and then in Britain as a whole and hopefully we shall see some improvement. The Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA) also welcomed the Scottish government’s announcement and believes that the 50p per unit minimum price is an appropriate starting point which is fair and ‘proportionate’ to help combat the low cost sales of alcohol that is so visible in Scotland.

The Leveson Inquiry

urely the biggest thing that has happened in politics recently is the Leveson inquiry. Every week it seems to reveal details about the ‘unhealthy’ relationship politicians have with the media in the UK. Before we go into the details about Jeremy Hunt and whether he broke the Ministerial code in his ‘quasi-judicial’ role in judging the bid by News International to completely takeover BskyB or should resign or stay on as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sports we need to set the scene and explain a few basics. The judicial inquiry, led by Lord Justice Leveson, is in two parts. The first is focusing on “the culture, practices and ethics” of the UK media. It is looking at relationships between newspapers, broadcasters, social-media networks, politicians and the police as well as media regulation. The panel includes journalists, police officers and a civil-rights campaigner. The second part of the inquiry focuses on the extent of unlawful or improper conduct within News International (which will be referred to as NI from now on) and other newspaper groups. It will also

Alex Thomson

Jeremy Hunt Leveson granting eight government ministers “core participant” status at his inquiry - allowing them advance sight of witness statements. The ministers are David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Vince Cable, Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Theresa May, Ken Clarke and George Osborne. Essentially what the Government is trying to do here is be aware of any potential damaging information being released, not censoring it but being aware so that any damage control can be prepared (if necessary). There will be much more information that will emerge out of the Leveson inquiry and we haven’t heard the last from either part of the inquiry, for instance Jeremy Hunt has yet to give his evidence to the inquiry and that will prove interesting when he does.

Alex Thomson

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Politics

The Queen's Speech T

he Queen’s speech is the start of the new Parliament session, when the Queen will read a prepared speech to her Parliament, outlining the government's agenda for the coming session. This event is often held annually but this is only the second speech, last year the speech was cancelled giving more time to ministers to get major pieces of legislation through. This year’s speech was seen as part of the ‘fight back’ from the Conservatives and the Lib Dems after bad election results and a catalogue of errors and mistakes in the past couple of months. Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill This is one of the bills that is supposed to help the economy and pick it up from recession. Competition enforcement will be strengthened by merging the Competition Commission and parts of the Office of Fair Trading. A Green Investment Bank will be established to promote private sector investment in a greener economy in which companies will bid for money, its unclear how this will be funded. It will reform the employment tribunal system by providing more options for the early resolution of disputes through Acas. On Director's pay, shareholders will be allowed a binding vote on the remuneration of directors but doesn’t go further than that and disregards a few of the options given to the government in trying to limit executive pay. Banking Reform Bill This will ensure that banks which

want to provide retail banking services will only be able to do so if these services are divided from the investment activities of the bank. It reduces the risk to the taxpayer it will try to stop any repeat of Northern Rock) of a bank going bust by making sure those who have money deposited in bank accounts are given primacy over other creditors.

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This year’s speech was seen as part of the ‘fight back’ from the Conservatives and the Lib Dems after bad election results and a catalogue of errors and mistakes in the past couple of months.

Groceries Adjudicator Bill This will establish a Groceries Code Adjudicator to enforce the Groceries Code. This makes sure the largest retailers, such as the big name supermarkets, treat their suppliers fairly. Small Donations Bill Providing a new system of top-up payments similar to Gift Aid for small cash donations to charities. For donations of less than £20, charities will be able to claim back 25p for every £1 collected in the UK, up to a limit of £5,000. Its aim will be to stop the backlash against the cap on donating to charities. Energy Bill A small reform the electricity market to encourage more investment in low

The Assassination of Spencer Perceval

pencer Perceval was Prime Minister of Britain between 4th October 1809 until 11th May 1812. You may notice that the date of his departure from the Premiership was two hundred years ago (at the time of writing) last week. The anniversary of this is relevant because Spencer Perceval is the only British Prime Minister ever to have been assassinated. There have been various attempts, such as the Brighton hotel bomb which nearly killed Thatcher. Every Prime Minister in modern times lives in fear of some form of attack or protest group attempting to get to them, but assassination? It seems very strange in a country where protests tend to either be witty or poignant. On the evening of May 11th, Spencer Perceval entered the lobby of the House of Commons where he was confronted by a disgruntled male. This male then proceeded to draw a pistol and shoot the Prime Minister in the chest. Perceval was taken away to an ante-room where he died minutes later. As a result of the assassination of the Prime Minister, there were fears that the population could rise up and overthrow the government, but these turned out to be groundless. The assassination was not the result of a co-ordinated plan by a group, but rather the actions of one dissatisfied, disenfranchised man. John Bellingham, who had

been imprisoned in Russia and failed in his attempts to get compensation off the British government, and therefore decided to take drastic action against the people he felt had wronged him. Bellingham’s own words on the incident were that “Recollect that my family was ruined and myself destroyed, merely because it was Mr Perceval's pleasure that justice should not be granted; sheltering himself behind the imagined security of his station”. Spencer Perceval is not famously or fondly remembered in the annals of British politics, and his assassination is not a historical event widely remembered to this day. However, there are some important lessons that we can learn from the assassination of Spencer Perceval. It took place back in the days where politics was even more accessible than it is now. The world of politics is shocked when things like the ‘Prescott punch’ happen, or when Tony Blair was pelted with condoms filled with purple flour. The politicians of today who go to such lengths to represent their friends in big business, and not the common man on the street, should be relieved that we don’t like in the same times as John Bellingham and Spencer Perceval. As the 200th anniversary of that shocking even passes, it’s something that they should bear in mind.

carbon generation and clean energy but doesn’t actually go anyway near helping customers with their bills and doesn’t put any new competition into the sector. Puts restrictions on the emissions of new coal plants and creates a new independent regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation which will be funded by the industry itself. Draft Water Bill Allows for greater freedom of public bodies and business to choose their water supplier and will make water companies more responsive to the needs of customers. Pensions Bill This brings forward the state pension age to 67 between 2026 and 2028 and reforms the state pension system to make it simpler and more sustainable as people live longer which is problem that many pensions will face. Public Service Pensions Bill Moves public sector pensions over to a career average scheme and extends the age at which members can draw their pensions. The Government says this will make them sustainable (with people living longer) with costs shared between employers, workers and taxpayers 'more fairly'. Draft Local Audit Bill Aims to save money and increase local accountability and transparency in England. Abolishes the Audit Commission and sets out new arrangements for the audit of local public bodies but doesn’t actually explain how the audits will be done.

Children and Families Bill This covers Changes to the rules on adoption will make race considerations less important than finding a child a permanent home quickly. Families will get more choice on education for pupils with special educational needs. Parents will be given access to flexible leave to allowing greater sharing of caring responsibilities. Draft Care and Support Bill An England-only Bill that aims to modernise adult care and make access to support clearer and more equal. This will include giving people greater choice and making councils adapt the services they offer to people's needs and experiences. Electoral Registration and Administration Bill Introduces individual voter registration and makes it easier for people to register to vote but is very controversial and some critics have claimed that it will reduce the number of people actually eligible to vote. House of Lords Reform Bill This will potentially bring democracy to the House of Lords and will ensure that majority of its members are elected. The size of the chamber will be substantially cut. The reforms are expected to be controversial and debate on the plans has already begun. Crime and Courts Bill Establishes a National Crime Agency to take the lead on organised crime, enhance border security and fight cybercrime. It will allow TV cameras into

courtrooms for the first time "in limited circumstances". Driving under the influence of drugs will be made a specific offence. Defamation Bill Will introduce changes to defamation law which will rebalance freedom of expression with a person's ability to protect their reputation. Defamation will only have occurred if "serious harm" has been cause. Rules will also be tightened to avoid libel tourism and try to stop people exploiting the system. Justice and Security Bill Strengthens oversight of MI5 and MI6 and allows courts to consider sensitive information with national security implications through the limited use of closed proceedings. Draft Communications Bill This will allow the police and intelligence agencies to collect data on communications, like texts and emails, flexible to changes in technology, such as the internet. European Union (Approval of Treaty Amendment Decision) Bill This approves the creation of the European Stability Mechanism, a permanent means to support Eurozone countries in trouble. It will exempt the UK from a new European bailout agreement between Eurozone countries and then finally Croatia Accession Bill

lot of ground to the Labour party, the same goes with the Liberal Democrats but they lost a lot of votes and in some places came fourth or fifth in elections. It was definitely Labour’s elections but not a general election winning result, they only achieved what opposition leaders have won in mid-term elections, for instance Neil Kinnock and Michael Howard both achieved this result in the mid-terms elections for them.

cils, Birmingham, Sheffield, Nottingham, Manchester, Bradford, Coventry, Wakefield, Leeds and Newcastle-UponTyne did vote against having a directly elected mayor. Bristol voted to have an elected Mayor with a turnout of 24.1% which suggests that there may have been electoral joy for an elected mayor or just apathy with the political system. This apathy is a growing problem and will continue to be a problem until the Government takes action to give people a good reason to go out and vote. In London, to no one’s surprise Boris Johnson won the Mayoral election but only won through second preferences which are surprising, Johnson couldn’t win outright with first preference votes. Lib Dem candidate Brian Paddick came fourth behind the Green Party's Jenny Jones, with less than half the votes he received in 2008In London generally, Labour saw a big increase in support in the London Assembly elections and gained two first-past-the-post seats. It was a bad night for the BNP with every seat they contested, they lost. The Green Party of England and Wales celebrated a night of steady progress after they added to their number of councillors and successfully defended seats in existing strongholds. The Greens won 34 seats - a net increase of 11.

Alex Thomson

Local Election Results

onservative Boris Johnson has been re-elected as Mayor of London. Labour make big gains in English local elections, with the 38% vote share ahead of the Tories' 31% and Lib Dems' 16%. Nine cities reject the idea of an elected mayor, but Bristol says "yes". Doncaster also votes to keep its mayor. The SNP pulls ahead as the largest party in the Scottish council elections, while the Lib Dem vote collapses in several areas. Labour leader Ed Miliband says the election shows his party are "regaining ground"; David Cameron says the elections took place against a "difficult national backdrop" for the Conservatives with some of the Party saying that they should turn far more right-wing and reject the liberal influence in the government. It was a difficult election for both coalition parties, with the Conservative vote not exactly destroyed but losing a

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In Wales Labour have had their best results since 1996

In Wales Labour have had their best results since 1996, retaking control of former strongholds that they lost in 2008, the Welsh Conservatives lost their majority in Monmouthshire and lost control of the Vale of Glamorgan, losing 61 seats overall. Plaid Cymru had hoped to gain overall control in Gwynedd, one of its heartland areas, but fell one seat short (there is a by-election in Gwynedd and Plaid will hopefully win control with this seat) and lost 41 seats overall with the Lib Dems lost 66 seats overall. Also at the same in 10 cities there were mayoral referendums on deciding whether they have should directly elected mayors to control the coun-

Alex Thomson

Comment

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Life Sentence

Going to University is one of the most important decisions we make yet we’re forced to make it as teenagers

Not in Nottingham Is Big Society working or should we follow Robin Hood's lead?

y favourite film as a child was the Disney version of Robin Hood. If you held a gun to my head, I’d have to admit that it was probably still in the top 5 favourite films of mine, even after a recent re-watching where I realised just how cheap Disney had been in terms of the production of it. It speaks to me across the decades as a heart-warming tale of love, justice, and snooty idiots getting their comeuppance after systematically screwing the people, regardless of how poor, sick or needy they are. Bet you can guess where this article is going? One of my favourite scenes is set in a jail. Most of the city of Nottingham have been imprisoned by the evil Sheriff of Nottingham, as they can’t pay the taxes demanded by the upper-class mummy’s boy who is only King on a weak pretext. Luckily, he never had to enter a coalition to become King, or this would seem like a set-up. The narrator of the film, a wise-cracking cockerel troubadour, sings a heartfelt, plaintive song about how there’s no hope, no faith and no spirit left. “Can’t you see the tears we’re cryin’? Can’t there be some happiness for me? Not in Nottingham”. A few weeks ago, the Sunday Times published its list of the richest people in Britain. Whilst it may often feel like there’s no happiness for the majority of us, for them, there are no tears being cried. Despite the austere times we live in, for the people of Mayfair and Belgravia these are still boom times. A record year saw the combined wealth of the richest 1,000 rise to over £414 billion,

an increase of a little over 5%. There are obvious questions as to how and why the very richest can remain to get richer and richer, whilst the inflation rate and unemployment cause the rest of us to squeeze every pound harder, but they are not the focus for this article.

A record year saw the combined wealth of the richest 1,000 rise to over £414 billion. What is the focus is the question of the Big Society, charity and austerity. King John’s vision... sorry... David Cameron’s vision before he became PM was to rejuvenate the spirit of giving in the country. Private charity would replace public spending on welfare, a return to the old days of rich landowners and employers providing housing and healthcare for their grateful peons. A vision of the glory days of Britain. You know, when we had to shit outside and toady to those richer than us. When women stayed at home, men stayed down the mine, and children died in vast numbers. Better days... Sadly for this vision, though there’s been a small increase in kind hearted giving, the total donated by the top 100 philanthropists on the Rich List doesn’t hit the £2 billion mark- this despite the top 100 givers having a combined wealth of nearly £200 billion. David Hockney, who tops the list, probably thought he was really helping when he

gave over £75 million worth of cows in aspic and bling-coated skulls, but Dave buddy, we are alright for modern works of art, a bit short on the whole hospitals-and-schools front. So, how is it that the rich can stay so very well-heeled? Mainly because, yearon-year, they don’t spend anything like the amount that they own. Remember, this wealth is based on things that the paper can state they own - the contents of their bank accounts isn’t included. So, if they’re getting rich by staying rich... what’s to stop them sharing a bit more? Perhaps with incentives from the Government? For instance, if someone who was very, very rich didn’t want to give a bit more of their wealth, they could go to prison. We could call it a tax or something, maybe even a Robin Hood tax! David Cameron, who got his millions inheriting from his father who was an expert in ensuring that he paid very little in tax, probably hasn’t heard of this idea. But I think it might be a good time. Then, we could perhaps start rebuilding those schools that are falling down. Or get some new nurses and doctors. Or those fancy fighter jets that make him feel like a big man when he’s got the boys from the G8 round. We wouldn’t want him feeling inadequate now would we? Time has come for King John and Sir Hiss to meet their Robin Hood. The time has come for the very, very richest to dig a little deeper. These are austere times after all, and we are all in this together. Jez Harvey

Teen Mom 2 Is it promoting domestic abuse?

was watching Teen Mom 2’s Reunion Special online whilst avoiding tidying my room and during this show they recap the entire season. There is one woman on the show, Kailyn, who was being verbally abused by her ex and baby’s father. Can somebody explain to me why men think it’s ok to be verbally, or physically, abusive towards women? I just don’t get it. Also, why do some women keep going back to those who have a severely negative influence on them. How is it that MTV’s filming crew did not step in and at least say something. Who feels that calling a woman a ‘whore’ because you’re upset with her is anything that should be done, EVER. I mean seriously, Kailyn’s ex, Jo, should

be confronted regarding his behaviour. The second person, Chelsea, needs to see that her relationship with Adam will never work. They constantly fight. He calls her stupid, a bitch, and has cheated. Explain to me how he is somebody that you would want to be with. And it’s not like it happened when they were broken up, because then it would not be cheating. This happened while she was pregnant. This doesn’t make sense. The last person, Janelle, may have finally figured out that her ex, Kiefer, is not who she needs to be with. Yes, Janelle has her issues, but Kiefer seems to always bring out the worst. Because of Kiefer, Janelle ended up getting arrested. Dr. Drew is a badass. He basical-

ly told Janelle that she could tell Kiefer to ‘Fuck off ’ and that he is a loser. Kiefer needs to get his ass into rehab and see what type of negative influence he is having on those around him, and more particularly, how the type of people he hangs around with bring him down. I do not know why I watch these shows, nor why more women do not step up and say, ‘No, enough is enough.’ It does not make sense to me. But then again, if things made sense to me, it would make sense to everybody and we would have had this little discussion.

Kaden Wild

s I write this, I am 3000 words away from the end of my degree. A degree that I have reluctantly struggled through because when I filled in my UCAS form 4 years ago, I barely knew myself let alone what I wanted to do with my life. If you could go back, what would you tell yourself? Not to worry about missing your old school friends? To appreciate having meals cooked for you while you’re still at home? To pick different halls or to pick a different university altogether? I would tell myself not to listen to anyone who thought they knew what was best for me.

When I filled in my UCAS form 4 years ago, I barely knew myself let alone what I wanted to do with my life. There is so much pressure on teenagers to know what they want to do, want to be and to begin their careers. Doesn’t it strike you as slightly ridiculous that we ask all these questions of (basically) children who haven’t even begun to live their lives yet? They’ve been in training for the world since they were born and suddenly they’re flung into it and expected to thrive. Some of us have just been trying to keep our heads above water. Some lucky people just know what they want to be. I always thought that was ridiculous and laughed at my year 7 classmate for declaring that she was going to be a marine biologist. 10 years later and that laugh haunts me as I imagine HeatherRose on a boat in the Seychelles tagging lemon sharks. My dream. In my first year I was lucky enough to take modules in phonetics and phonology. As I discovered later this is the only area of linguistics that I actually enjoy. I failed my second year

because I spent all my time working on Seren and not doing any uni work. Year 2: The Revenge I was strictly off societies until I had passed and year 3 has been a slow and painful slog through weeks of lectures on grammar and psycholinguistics. As I overhear classmates excitedly saying “I asked *insert leading academic* for some advice and they said…” it feels like nothing has ever been less funny. 4 years after my first eagerly anticipated lecture and I just want it to be over. Graduation will not be a celebration of my time here, but a celebration of no longer being reduced to tears over the constant battering my self-confidence has taken. As Einstein said “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” That is all academia is and when it comes to the subject of linguistics, I am most certainly a fish. It’s just a shame that no one adopts this attitude as you’re doing your A-levels. Everyone is too busy shoving prospectuses and free pens emblazoned with “The University of Exeter” into your hands. If we didn’t throw teenagers from Alevels into university and expect them to know what they want to do with their lives before they’ve even had a chance to live them, maybe people like me wouldn’t end up wasting this opportunity that we’re lucky to have in the first place. Perhaps I should just be grateful for what I’ve got. Yes I feel spoilt and yes plenty of people don’t have the chance to go to university at all, so I should get off my privileged soapbox and shut up. But I can’t shake the feeling that something is terribly wrong with our system when we churn out so many graduates with useless qualifications like mine. What is sadder than missing an opportunity as great as this because you let yourself be pushed into it?

Georgia Manion

Facts about Domestic Abuse 1 in 4 women experience domestic violence in their lifetime

Only

35% of domestic violence incidents are reported to the

police. There is an estimated incidents of domestic violence in England and Wales On average a woman is assaulted times before her first call to the police. The police receive a domestic assistance call every minute.

635,000

*Source: Reguge.org.uk

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Comment

THE RADICAL NOTION OF EQUALITY

With the tories dropping support and Obama picking it up, Luke takes a look at gay marriage in the US & UK

hen the President of the United States of America declares their opinion on an issue, especially an issue which has proven to be divisive, there is bound to be uproar of both sorts. After President Obama’s declaration supporting gay marriage last week there was, predictably, a backlash from conservative groups in America and elsewhere. For some, this came across as another betrayal from a President who has done everything in his power to promote a socialist, liberal agenda; yes, this is how the more vocal elements of the American right-wing seemingly see the world. However, his support has come as a surprising, yet joyous, turn of events for those who are fighting for equality. After repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, this was the only major issue concerning gay rights that Obama had yet to opt to fully support. The base of his supporters had, perhaps, started to lose a little faith in him when it came to equal marriage, but they have been vindicated. Yet this does not change much, apart from that some votes will probably switch hands in the upcoming elections; whether it will affect his overall approval, and his chance at a second term in the White House, it remains to be seen. The American political system means that, when it comes to issues such as same-sex partnerships, individual states hold the right to legislate in-

dependently. The Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) which was passed into federal law (meaning that it affects all states as decreed from Congress), says that “the word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.” So, basically, it is enshrined in American law that marriage should remain as it is; though there is no federal restriction on same-sex partnerships, which several states now have.

the arguments against LGBT people being able to get married: pure, blatant prejudice. Obama saying that he backs gay marriage does nothing at all to change this, as laws are passed by Congress, a body which the President has no control over. It would be up to the Democrats, Obama’s Party, to forward a motion to repeal DOMA, but the House of Representatives (similar to the House of Commons) is currently held by the Republicans who, more than likely, would put a stop to any such action. So, why is there an implication that the words of this one man have such an

Nicola’s Home Alone

impact? It boils down to what I said earlier; this is the President of the United States. In his country, the office is revered second only to the almost sacred Constitution; what that person says is meant to reflect upon the nation. And elsewhere? Before Bush Jr. the words of the U.S. President were listened to as the words of the most powerful person upon the Earth; now that we have left those eight years of foolery behind, the words of Obama have been consistently listened to just as Clinton, Kennedy or Truman before him. We all, by now, know the arguments against LGBT people being able to get married; they always use religion to cover up the main reason: pure, blatant prejudice. One quite succinct image making the rounds of the internet at the moment sums up the opinions of people against equal marriage. The top image is of conservative protesters carrying placards, rallying against the abomination that gay marriage is; below this is an image which is the same, with two exceptions: it is from the 1960s and the placards are denouncing interracial marriage. The point is clear, that these people are terrified that they’re about to be crushed by the wave of progress and, in years to come, they will be looked upon as pitifully ill-informed and bigoted individuals. As Obama joins the ranks of the new French President Hollande, and our own David Cameron, on supporting the issue of equal marriage, there has been a disturbing turn of events. It would appear that, after the recent defeats that they suffered during the local elections, the Conservative’s are backing down on the issue. Indeed, they seem to be retreating to their base position of social conservatism, as they think that it was their progressive policies which lost them their seats not their radically aw-

ful leadership to date. Cameron’s commitment to have equal marriage legalised by 2015 is no longer a definite, as the ever-present Tory homophobic backbench use the defeat to pull the Party and the country backwards, instead of pushing it forwards. In the Queen’s Speech last week, there was no mention of this promise and, rightly so, those who support the equalisation are worried. If these Tories actually listened to the public they would see that it is not gay marriage which has made them reviled. In fact, in a recent Populus poll 65% of people agreed that “Gay couples should have an equal right to get married, not just to have civil partnerships,” whilst only 27% disagreed. I am of the opinion that civil rights such as these should never be left up to public opinion; they are just too important. However, those numbers confirm that the British public are with the times and know that this is something which needs to be rectified. Of course, there are those within the 27% that are fervently fighting to stop the Government from implementing these plans. The Catholic Church, not content with the amount of prejudice and criminality laid upon its head, have led the way for people to sign a petition against the notion, and several Tory MP’s have ‘voiced their concerns’ that equality may not be a good thing. It sounds idiotic when laid out that plainly, doesn’t it? There is never a time when essential equality can be argued against by any rational human being. Those for the change have the Equal Love campaign, European law, a majority of the British public and morality on their side; but when have little things like that meant anything? Only time will tell with this issue, here and in America. One thing we

must not forget, though, is that we are but two countries; there are other countries, I’m looking at Scandinavia, where our supposed progressivism is put to shame. Then there are entire nations who are, essentially, a hundred years behind the rest of the world in terms of social policy. Equality is right. Prejudice is wrong. The most powerful man on the planet knows this; get savvy.

Luke Dobson

Moral Relativity Are our misfortunes worth any less because we live a more privileged life?

o as everyone is gearing up for the summer, running around shops for last minute necessities and jumping on over-packed suitcases trying to zip them shut, I sit at my desk comtemplating how I’m going to get everything I’ve accumulated this year home; how I’m going to spend my summer apart from working (probably trying to get extra hours and cursing the fact that none of my favourite shows new seasons come back until September) and I’m slightly annoyed. Not at the fact that my friends are giggling excitedly as they prepare to leave for the airport in a matter of days for their week’s holiday. Nor am I complaining that every time I log into Facebook, I see photos from family who are travelling abroad, showing off their tans or in some cases a serious case of sunburn. I’m not really annoyed at all, just slightly put out at the fact that once again my parents have gone on holiday without me. Now for some of you reading this, you may be thinking, what the hell? Why would you be complaining!? Drinking time! The thing is, I enjoyed the time I spent with my family when we went on our holidays. As one member of an eight-person household, holidays were always extremely stressful but always exceptionally fun. How-

ever, I haven’t actually been away on holiday for the past five years! This is due to the fact that the family didn’t go on holiday for the first year, and then the following year I was eighteen and was old enough to go on holidays with my friends, so if I wanted to go on holiday with the family, I was to pay for myself. Fair enough! But my parents never actually told me when they were booking a holiday, though they talked about it for weeks before while I expressed a ton of interest (“I want to go too!”). I have a sneaking suspicion it has something to do with my parents wanting me to get over my social awkwardness. In the past few years they’ve gone to Disneyland, and I was studying for my A-levels at the time so I couldn’t go, and the same goes with the time they went to Spain. This year they’ve taken the youngest to Egypt for eleven days. This time though, they’ve left two of the siblings at home while they study for GCSE/A-Level > insert evil cackle here <. Next year though, parents, I’m off on holiday so I win! (Though in all honesty they probably win because I’m going away with friends and plan on being social...damn it!)

Nicola Hoban

oral relativity is a tricky concept. It doesn’t really have a set definition, other than being forms of relativity not involving physics, but it’s still a very important subject. Our morality affects the way we interact with other humans, and even other species, but just how much of that is grounded in relativity and not in absolutes? I’m only going to ask two questions and then try to answer them. First, is everything relative? Second, do we need it to be?

Could we identify anything we experience at all without having something to compare it to? The question of the relativity of everything is not as daunting as it sounds. All it means is that everything that happens and everything we experience must be judged – not can be judged, but must – in relation to the world around us. I like to call this question the ‘Starving African Children’ discussion. Remember being six and not wanting to eat your peas, only to have your parents tell you that there were starving children in Africa that would love them? That is at the crux of this question. Are my misfortunes, as a first-world middle-class white male,

devalued because of my lifestyle? Does my suffering carry less weight because I own an Xbox and have a family that love me? My answer is no. This is obviously a biased answer, and I would say that no one can speak truly objectively on this issue, but I believe that regarding everything as being relative to what could be is to risk losing perspective on what actually is. Though I may have many things that a person living in extreme poverty does not, we still share some commonality. Heartbreak over the ruination of a relationship is no less impactful in the first world than the third. Some people that I know will brush off their own misfortunes this way, saying that it could be worse or they are still relatively blessed. To them, and to everyone else that thinks that way, I say stop. Your life is no less important, no less valuable because of your privileges. You may not have to expect sympathy from someone without running water when your internet connection fails, but when it comes to things that we all have in common, regardless of our means, don’t dismiss your anguish just because it could be worse. The second question is not as related to the first as it may appear. This deals with the idea of moral absolutes and the nature of opposition. Once again, I will define by example: can we have good without evil? This is obviously the most contentious of cases,

but similarly, is there hot without cold? Joy without sadness? Big without small? Could we identify anything we experience at all without having something to compare it to? Again, I say no. Our lives are built on comparison. We judge our attractiveness, our success, our wealth, and our happiness based on those of the people around us. Please note that ‘around us’ refers to people that we know of. If someone using bronze tools is only aware of people using stone, he considers himself very advanced. Someone with running water may consider himself privileged over his neighbours if he lives in sub-Saharan Africa, but if he knows of the luxuries of, say, England, he may think that he is very poor indeed. One could argue that good would still exist without evil; we just might not call it good without the comparison. If so, what is good? We may regard a world without theft, murder, rape, and abuse as a good one, but that is only because we can compare it to our own. No, we need reference points because these are all opinions, even if they are opinions that nearly everyone shares. Speaking of opinions, I’ve given only mine here. They are not objective truths because there are none in this domain. Your views may differ, and though I will debate with you vehemently, I regard them as no less valid than mine. Have a good day, whatever that means.

Adam Pazdor

Comment H

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

A New Experience Regan recounts her time at Bangor University as an American exchange student

ow is a twenty-one year old Biology and Secondary Education major from the Midwest in America studying at Bangor University in North Wales? It amazes even myself at times when pondering on this very question, yet life is more properly planned than we often expect. In the summer of 2006, my brother and his team mates travelled through England and Wales in order to experience soccer (football) in a completely new light. Along with their kits, each of their families joined the adventure as well. Apart from the beautiful landscape, friendly people, and relaxed lifestyle, the visit itself was momentous, for many of my own football coaches from Kansas City call Wales their homeland. Little did I know that my heart would again have the opportunity to fall in love with the Welsh culture and countryside. Upon searching for a college to attend after my senior year in high school, studying abroad was undoubtedly a key element in my choice for an institution. After several painstaking months of analyzing and reanalyzing visits to over ten universities, Central College in Pella, Iowa became an obvious choice. With not only opportunities to heighten my academic, athletic, musical, and spiritual life through a liberal arts education, a women’s soccer team, a community orchestra, and

campus ministries, Central College offered something outside its campus in Iowa: a study abroad program. They offered programs that spanned the whole globe, from Hangzhou, China to Ghana, Africa. My experience living in Bangor, Wales and attending the University has been everything I anticipated and beyond. The term “learning” has reached an entirely new level as I have been so privileged to participate in educational program excursions to not only nearby exhibitions such as the castles of Beaumaris, Caernarfon, and Conwy, but also to the beautiful capital city of Cardiff for a weekend. In addition, our program director, Tecwyn Vaughn Jones, guided us through experiencing Ireland for about a week during the start of Easter Break. We spent time in Dublin, Galway, and did a day trip to the Aran Islands where we rented bikes and enjoyed surprisingly sunny and warm weather. I have discovered that moments and small memories are more cherished than anything else. If I were to mention one aspect of what my eyes, ears, and heart have felt over these last four months it is this: it is important to

be different, to hold onto your heritage, your culture and traditions, yet it is also vital that we each become vulnerable and expose ourselves globally. Through doing this, I have realized more than ever before that regardless of how drastic our inner and outer selves are, everyone ultimately wants and needs the same things in life. This unearthing of becoming more empathetic towards the world and its people has also greatly stemmed from being a student at Bangor University. Living with seven first years on Ffriddoedd Site, all of whom are English, in addition to the 17% of students who are internationally based, I have been more exposed to cultures of the world than I ever have been in America, the “melting pot” country of the world. Granted, I live in United States suburbia, and diversity is only truly found in Midwest cities such as Chicago, or Kansas City. I recall being in Main Arts one day and a student to my right was reading Arabic on her computer screen and the student to my left was speaking Swahili to her mother on the phone. In that moment, my pompous ability to speak a little Spanish plummeted. I greatly envy the require-

The greatest gift of all: the discovery or rediscovery of yourself.

ment of learning second and third languages during schooling in the U.K. and the whole of Europe. This skill can take people further in life than they realize. Apart from developing a great liking for a proper cup of British tea, having a kettle in the kitchen, seeing Snowdonia every day from my bedroom window, and making new friends in and outside of my flat and American program, I have developed a home. It is important for any study-abroad student to remember that your destination is not just a temporary place, but a place you are living in. Bangor has become my home. Not because I have an address here, or because I’ve taken the Theology of John and the History of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, or because I shop at Morrison’s, but because I have learned, changed, and grown from the inside out. Bangor has become my home because it is where my heart has started to become whole again. Being stripped of family, friends, and the comfortable environment you’ve always known gives one perhaps the greatest gift of all: the discovery or rediscovery of yourself. The effort made to widen your eyes and your heart is the first step. That in itself is where every journey begins.

Regan Jamieson

LJ Loses The Plot Where is The Plot?

These Four Years

What comes after University, are we ready to take the next step?

t the start of this year, I wrote an article about making the best of your time here. I spoke about how these years at University would be expensive, possibly pointless and stressful, at times, beyond belief. I also wrote though about how it would be the time of your life; one that you would never forget. These years will stand in your memory as the high points. Friends you keep for life are made here, lessons (both in the classroom and in the real world) learned that stay with you forever, and experiences that you’ll remember with joy in your dotage. I quoted a document that led the way to University being something everyone has a right to, that said that we must, in life, “do justice to the complexity of things”. It was right in 1963 when it was written, and it is still right today, perhaps more so. I hope that in these months and years spent here at Bangor you have done that. These last four years have been incredible and as I start to have to think about what’s next, I’ve been thinking more and more about what has been. In part, because the next step is a big one, as I’m sure many of you reading this will be coming to realise. However, as I wrote at the start of the year, we have to grasp the opportunity with both hands. This step only seems bigger than the one we took to come here because we have got through it. That we have succeeded is something we need to remember as well. The old cliche about regretting the opportunities never taken is true. I regretted leaving University when I was 19, and it wasn’t until I graduated last year that I felt that regret pass on. University is about learning, and after a BA and an MA, what I’ve learnt is to become afraid of having to add another thing to the list of regrets (though snakes are still top of the list of things I am afraid of). My point, in a roundabout way, is that these are

times that we should cherish, and that should be protected. I don’t want to end my time writing for Seren on an angry note, but have you seen what is going on? Higher education, NHS, welfare, social services, VAT rise, bribed police, bribed politicians, a press that was free but now is owned by just 5 different families and a coalition filled with promise breakers and people who honestly think that the EU is a Godless-facist-commie attempt to smash proud John Bull beneath the jackboots of Krauts and Frogs. What the hell are we doing letting these people run the country? And don’t take this as a party political attack, the others are all vile as well. Week after week, sleaze after sleaze. Taxes for those at the bottom, bailouts for those at the top. We are students. Traditionally, we lead the way when we see social, political and economic injustice becoming the norm in politics. Where are we? The far-left student leaders of the 1960’s and 1970’s are some of those responsible for these degradations. Have we lost our faith in them, or have we seen them transform into those that threaten and bully their way into power and do anything to keep it and realise that we may too go the same way? First steps are scary things. We have all taken at least one big step in the last few years, in coming to University, in breaking out of our old lives to start our new ones. But first steps are the route to ensuring that we get these experiences, and understanding how precious they are. We have loved our time here, but these are not rights and things owed to us, these were fought for by people before, and it is our duty to fight to ensure that they are there for the people that follow us. Or else, we have already gone the way of the former radical leaders turned Home Secretaries. And that’s heartbreaking.

Jez Harvey

think the general consensus, in life, is that everyone (or at least the majority of people) are fans of TV and film. I’m one of those people, of course I am a media student. I’ve never really just enjoyed a TV show or a movie though, I’ve always found myself emotionally involved with the storylines. In fact, ever since I was a kid I’ve been a huge fan of anything with a good storyline. I would say that the first time I got really hooked on a TV show, though, was with Fox’s Prison Break. I was introduced to the show by a friend halfway through the first season and was instantly captivated by Michael’s intricate plan to rescue his brother from death row. The plan wasn’t really Michael’s of course but came from the brilliant mind of Prison Break’s head writer, Paul Scheuring. Though my memory isn’t always the best, I want to say that it was Prison Break that inspired my love for TV drama’s and my desire to join the likes of Scheuring as a screenwriter. Then of course came the Writer’s Guild strike of 2007-2008, and arguably the death of most good TV drama writing. The strike cut short Prison Break’s third season, which strayed too far from the line’s of reality with Michael finding himself imprisoned once again. It was a terrible season, which lost the show a lot of fan’s, and while I can’t say for sure that it was the writer’s strike that killed one of my favourite shows, I know it played a part in it. Since then I’ve noticed a huge decline in the quality of TV shows, sure there are of course the exceptions (Ashes to Ashes, Haven and Smallville, to name a few), but, following the writer’s strike, TV didn’t seem the same. It felt as though any love for the stories had been thrown aside to be replaced by quickly written, quickly made shows that just, generated revenue for the networks. Its something that didn’t only happen for TV shows but across the media. Movies became more focused on the use of special effects with a borrowed

story (Avatar), or previously built up storylines forgotten in the wake of new technology and a big, plotless, climax (Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End). Video games, somehow, have made their way through this rough patch and come off better. Amy Hennig, of Naughty Dog, outdid herself and video game writer’s across the world when she took the typical action adventure story, combining elements of both Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider, to create the hugely successful and critically acclaimed Uncharted series. She even won a Writer’s Guild award for the third instalment. The video game trilogy has some of the best scriptwriting I have ever seen and combined with the talented voice acting, of the Uncharted team, rivals pretty much any film Hollywood brings out these days. The same can be said for Haden Blackman’s video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which also won a Writer’s Guild award. And the fact that Hollywood is constantly making, unsuccessful, videogame-adaptation movies proves that the movie industry (and TV industry for the most part) are only concerned with making money off the back of the talent video game writer’s. I have to admit though that despite what I say about the lack of decent scripts to be found in Hollywood, or TV-Wood, these days there is the occasional writer that shines through and gives me back hope for what I fear is becoming a forgotten profession. Most recently is Joss Whedon’s Avengers (reviewed later in this issue), that reignites that flame with its brilliant, fast paced action writing but without the sacrifice of emotion and character development. Yes, some of the special effects that the industry is capable of these days are brilliant, but are they really worth sacrificing a good story written by someone who actually cares?

LJ Taylor

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Environment

Eco Terrorism: Where do you stand?

Is arson the only way to get the attention of the government and corporations or is there an alternative?

he FBI define eco-terrorism as “the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against people or property…for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience beyond the target, often of a symbolic nature.” Unlike actual terrorists, ecoterrorists attack money, not people. They are known for burning down buildings that contribute to pollution, destroy a natural area, aid the destruction of a natural area or promote urbanisation. The Earth Liberation Front (ELF), established in Brighton in 1992, was the first organisation to be given the label eco-terrorist when an American cell burned down a ski resort in Colorado costing the owners $12m. Elf claimed afterwards that “of clearcuts will ruin the last, best lynx habitat in the state. Putting profits ahead of Colorado’s wildlife will not be tolerated”. At the heart of the ELF’s radical environmentalism is the bio centric

belief that human beings are just ordinary members of the biological community (and that we should act accordingly).

in favour of the ELF is that there have been no deaths from their actions. They have caused over $50m of damage at one time, but

With governments backtracking on environmental policy, slashing renewable energy subsidies and threatening to drill oil in all the earth’s most sacred places, is this the only way to be taken seriously? The ELF are mostly known for the millions of dollars worth of damage caused through arson, but they have been known to spike trees with nails which, although harmless, can break chainsaws and timber mill saws. Although often portrayed in the media as dangerous to the working men who fell the trees, tree spikers mark spiked trees clearly for the safety of workmen. The media enjoys the attack on the “terrorists” because of the comparisons they can draw between the guerrilla tactics used by the ELF and the Vietcong, as if they are comparable. One fact which works

it is still the rich man who values industry over nature that is hurt by the actions of the ELF. When the facts are laid bare, propaganda will only stretch so far. The discussion really lies in whether you think this is the right path to take. With governments backtracking on environmental policy, slashing renewable energy subsidies and threatening to drill oil in all the earth’s most sacred places, is this the only way to be taken seriously? Is the only way to speak to the mega-corporations, to cut off their production? When peaceful environmental

protests are kettled and plans for more London airports rolled out every day is there another way to stop or even slow the damage being done to the environment? Of course these actions should not be necessary, but governments of late seem to be spouting a lot of hot air about how they care for the environment. Politicians know that to be green is trendy and that to appear so, wins them points. At the moment, a point scoring game is all it is. How can we get governments, especially ours to take the environment seriously?

Georgia Mannion

Super awesome eco book giveaway!

For the avid recycler: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!: An Easy Household Guide (Green Books Guides) by Nicky Scott

2. For the undergraduate environment enthusists: How to save the planet on a student budget by Kate Aydin

3. For the chef:

The Good Table: Adventures in and Around My Kitchen by Valentine Warner

Seren’s Top 5 Eco Blogs

Treehugger

ht t p : // w w w. t r e e hu g ge r. c o m / e n e rg y/

ince we won’t be back until September, here’s the breakdown of what food is in season and when. A good website for more information on seasonal food is eatseasonably.co.uk

Melon

May Cauliflower

Pollock Asparagus Cucumber Sardines

Spinach Lettuce Sweetcorn Plums

ht t p : // l i f egog g l e s . c o m /

June

Cherries Celery

August

Nectarine

We can’t say much more about this blog than it is SO INTERESTING. Please go and look at it.

World Changing

ht t p : // w w w. wo rl d c h a n g i n g. c o m / p o l i t i c s /

Strawberries

Cabbage Bramley apples Blueberries Rabbit Raspberries

Marrow

For the ecotheorists: On Extinction: How We Became Estranged from Nature by Melanie Challenger

ht t p : // w w w. e nv i r o n m e nt a l g ra f f i t i . c o m /

Courgette Carrots Peas Beans

Life Goggles has lots of different product reviews. We like this website because it’s nice to look at and the book reviews are useful. Worth exploring.

Environmental Graffiti

Rhubarb

Lamb

Well organised, interesting features. Easy to navigate and enough content to interest any reader.

Life Goggles

seasonal

July

Being environmentally aware is trendy these days, but the politics section of this blog really gets stuck into the dirty business of being a politically informed ecowarrior. It’s about time we moved away from biodegradable toilet brushes and took a look at sustainability from a political standpoint.

The Daily Green

ht t p : // w w w. t h e d a i lyg r e e n . c o m /

Lots of practical information for how to improve the sustainability of your lifestyle.

Win! To win one of these books answer the following question: True of false: Seren is printed on the 100% recycled paper. Email your answer to editor@ seren.bangor.ac.uk Don’t forget to tell us which book you want!

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Features

Feminine Features

The last Features of the year looks at the women of the Art world

The Brontës - a sisterhood of gothic writers

he daughters of a solemn Irish reverend, the three sisters grew up at the family home based in Haworth, Yorkshire, although the extended family remained on the Emerald Isle. The Brontës wrote in a time before women could vote and many worked as scullery maids who would be fortunate to earn £6 a year. The educated trio of sisters attended a school for the children of less wealthy clergy members and their love and ability for writing began as a childhood game. Charlotte Brontë, best known for her novel Jane Eyre, suffered the terrible sexism typical of the Brontë’s day when she submitted a collection of her poems to the then poet laureate, Robert Southey. He vigorously rejected her efforts and shared the popular view that the literary scene was no place for female creativity. The eldest Brontë sister refused to be defeated. She discovered that Emily too enjoyed writing poetry and convinced Anne to follow suit. The three sisters’ poetry project had begun. Struggling against the grain of the patriarchy and the prejudices of the day, Emily, Charlotte and Anne Brontë adopted the male pseudonyms Ellis Bell, Currer Bell and Acton Bell respec-

tively -thus retaining their genuine initials- to improve their chances of becoming published. They took a measure of moral support for one another in their literary pursuits; not only did they chose pen names that meant they were still known as three siblings, the three sisters also made group submissions to publishing houses. By May 1846, a collection entitled Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell had been published. Charlotte’s aim to defeat the patriarchal view of women in literature had been realised, but this was only the beginning. By 1846, the Brontë sisters had written and together submitted their first novels; Emily’s Wuthering Heights in its original form of two volumes, Charlotte’s The Professor and Anne’s Agnes Grey, which was originally intended as the third volume of Wuthering Heights. In July of this year, a parcel encasing the manuscripts of these works by an assumed literary brotherhood was peripatetically traversing London, being considered in one publishing house at a time. 1847 was a landmark year for the sisters: A year after submitting their

Kate Bush- Queen of Art Rock

t was Emily Brontë’s gothic novel Wuthering Heights (‘Wuthering’ is an adjective particular to the north of England meaning ‘tempestuous’) that provided the inspiration for Kate Bush’s 1978 hit song of the same name. At the age of 20, it was her first single and went straight to number one. The daughter of a folk singer and a scientist, this AngloIrish gem was raised in Kent. The lyrics to Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights are taken from the third

chapter of Brontë’s novel, when Cathy’s ghost returns to Wuthering Heights (the name of her childhood house), rattling at her beloved Heathcliff ’s window, longing to be reunited with him. It is the first time the reader is made aware of Heathcliff ’s strong and passionate affection for this woman. It might be because I know more about the Brontë sisters than is probably healthy (if you haven’t fallen asleep yet, you probably guessed that), but I do

prose to publishers, all three had their first novels published. Their novels are not only a faithful reflection on the difficult times in which they lived and grew up, but each is also constructed of a highly autobiographical ‘collage’ of their own personal

see genuine similarities between Emily Brontë and Ms Bush: Both of Irish ancestry, each educated in non-secular establishments and each gifted pianists from an early age. More relevantly, they are both famed for their zany and eccentric artistic style; Brontë wrote with a vivacious, impulsive, sometimes even frantic and volatile energy similar to that intense and mesmerising energy with which Bush performs and sings. She (Bush) was recently awarded The

life experiences; working as governesses, living in a rural setting, desire not to leave home, hereditary family illnesses, unrequited love, mindfulness of nature and tempestuousness in the home to name but a few. These experiences formed the Brontë’s minds, selves and world outlook that they channelled into their works. Wuthering Lives Before Fame While Anne and Charlotte left for Belgium to study German and music, Emily was determined not to leave home. Documented as an intense character with a stubborn nature, she possessed a tempestuous and impulsive humour that we see reflected in the Wuthering Heights protagonist Cathy Earnshaw. Her predicament of being a waged spinster, unusual for the day, is reflected in Nelly (Ellen) Dean, who narrates the novel. An intense affection for her beloved northern England initially thwarted her travelling, but in 1842, Emily did embark on a study visit to Brussels with Charlotte. The two attended a boarding school where they were tutored in foreign languages and music. Both women quickly learned

to write with an excellent command of French. Emily was shamefully rebellious and insolent to her tutors, but displayed a natural aptitude for piano. When the study programme had been completed, the sisters were invited to remain at the school, free of charge but on the condition that they taught some lessons. Emily’s pupils did not endear towards her and Charlotte fell deeply in unrequited love, causing her to return home to Haworth. It is rumoured that Emily had an affair with to Anne’s husband and buried the resulting baby on the Yorkshire moors. It was these adventures and misadventures, coupled with those of their upbringing and its very era and location that provided the inspiration for the plot, intensity, Romanticism and passion we see documented in their novels. It is impossible to imagine the outcry that the gothic nature of (especially) Emily’s writing would have caused, had the public known it came from the pen of not only a woman but also a vicar’s daughter.

Rosie MacLeod

Southbank prize, has also partaken in duets and was one of the first women to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. She has had single hits in the 1970s, ‘80s, (the glorious) ‘90s, 2000s and the....ones we’re in now.

Rosie MacLeod.

Janis Joplin- The White Rose of Texas Blues Poly Styrene – Punk

orn in Texas in 1943, this unabashedly rebellious and nonconformist female singer is deemed to have the best white blues voice in musical history. A disruptive pupil, she was a selfconfessed misfit at school and cited these experiences as her motivation to become a singer. At times she was very overweight and her skin suffered, at others her size was described as “emaciated”. She certainly channelled her experiences of battling against the grain of a world in which she felt so isolated into her music and lyrics, and this in turn was her source of strength. She enjoyed success with the albums Cheap Thrills (1968), I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama (1969) and her trademark and posthumous collection, Pearl (1971). Although her success was rooted in her albums, she is also famous for her covers of Piece of my Heart and Me and Bobby McGee, in which Joplin changed the gender of the title character from female

to male. Her best-known individual track is undoubtedly the a cappella Mercedes Benz, one of her last-ever recordings, made in 1970. In 1969, Janis Joplin recorded a song with Welsh singer Tom Jones entitled Raise Your Hand. In the same year, she was a headlining act at the weekend-long Woodstock music festival in New York. While Jimi Hendrix insisted on being the final act to take to the stage, this rose of Texas per-

formed with her trademark energetic moves- she seldom kept still whilst singing- literally until the Saturday turned into Sunday. She is quoted as saying “Don’t compromise yourself, you’re all you’ve got”, but this optimism was likely in part a cover up for the unhappiness and insecurity she still felt in her adulthood. She descended into a very low state of regular drug use and alcohol abuse, regularly consuming heroin and immodest amounts of Southern Comfort, her partiality for which she was famed, and there exists an iconic photograph of her holding a bottle (left). She was found dead, overdosed on what is believed to be a concoction of abnormally strong heroin and alcohol in 1970, aged 27. Although her life was a troubled one, her distinctive music and lyrics spurred her on to produce some of the tracks that defined the 1970s music scene. Rosie MacLeod.

n April 25th last year, the London punk scene mourned the loss of a most individualistic gem. Poly Styrene, real name Marianne Joan Elliott-Said, lost a battle to cancer and passed away aged just 53. Luckily, she was able to give her fans one last gift before she left us. Less than a month before her death, her final and highly critically acclaimed album, Generation Indigo, was released. Raised in Brixton, the half British and half Somali singer found fame as the lead singer of a London punk band, The X-Ray Spex. They enjoyed success with hits such as Germfree Adolescents (1978), The Day The World Turned Day-Glo (1978) and Oh Bondage U* Y**rs (1977), which is Poly’s attack on misogyny armed with her higher range and a saxophone solo. This vehement feminist- whose views may well have been formed from an upbringing by a single mother- decided to embark on a punk career after attending a Sex Pistols concert. Her fans will always fondly remember her ability to speak her mind, to sing powerfully yet tunefully and for her eccentric, theatrical dress sense. Rosie MacLeod.

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Features

Wuthering Heights: A truly original story?

have always been interested in the Brontë sisters since I knew that the original school that they attended, at Cowan Bridge, is only a twenty minute drive from where I live. However, much local talk and histories has revealed the link between the Brontë sisters, and my home in the Dales, is stronger than I once thought. It appears that a local slave was inspiration for Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, and worked only five minutes away down the valley. The author, Emily Brontë, described Heathcliff ’s skin colour “as dark as though it came from the Devil”. Until now, this description somehow never registered with film producers. Heathcliff,

had escaped. He was said to be named Thomas Anson, “a Negro Man, about five feet six inches high, aged 20 years or upwards”. But how could Heathcliff be connected with the story of slavery in Dentdale? After all, Dentdale is the best part of 50 miles from the famous parsonage at Haworth where Brontë wrote her dramatic love story. The answer is that between 1824 and 1825 Emily and her sisters Maria, Elizabeth (not all the sisters were famous writers) and Charlotte were sent to the Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge, on the main route from Leeds to Kendal but, more pertinently, fairly close to Dentdale and

as the Brontë connection is concerned, he had what Kim described as an “enigmatic relationship” with Ann. “It would seem,” wrote Lyon, “that Richard Sutton was taken into the Sill household and treated little better than a servant. Indeed, one might go so far as to say little better than a slave.” And like Heathcliff, Sutton also managed to rise in the world and to dominate his master. The parallels between fact and fiction are obvious. Sutton now lived in the bleak High Rigg End, while Ann lived the life of a

The idea of a dark-skinned Heathcliff was not a wild flight of Brontë’s imagination the greatest romantic character in 19th century English literature – black? Surely not. The idea of a dark-skinned Heathcliff was not a wild flight of Brontë’s imagination. For the first time a black actor has been cast as Heathcliff. James Howson played him in the most recent version of Wuthering Heights, in 2011. The idea of a dark-skinned Heathcliff was not a wild flight of Brontë’s imagination though. There is evidence that she based the character on real events that took place in what used to be one of the most isolated parts of northern England. Dentdale is within half an hour’s drive of the M6, but it was once hard to reach and it is easy to understand how the story of the bringing of enslaved Africans to the area in the second half of the 18th century took decades to reach the outside world. The legend lives on in the Yorkshire Dales, and it is traceable by visiting old houses and seeking out some graves in the churchyard at Dent containing the remains of Edmund Sill, his wife Elizabeth and other members of the wealthy Sill family. The Sills owned a farmhouse called High Rigg End situated on the flanks of Whernside. Their fortune came not from farming, however, but from the ownership of plantations on the Caribbean island of Jamaica. That the Sills brought slaves to Dentdale to work as their servants is not just local folklore. It has been proved by the discovery of a Liverpool newspaper advertisement in 1758 placed by one Edmund Sill of Dent in which a “handsome reward” was offered for the return of a slave who

a place which had known connections with the Sills family’s social circle. The link between the Sills and Wuthering Heights has been known to Brontë scholars for some time, and in 2002 an edition of the novel, by Christopher Heywood of Sheffield University, was published showing a black Heathcliff on its cover. Much of what is known has been traced by Dentdale historian Kim Lyon. She began researching the rumours of the Sills’ slaves in the 1970s and came across an intriguing story. It related to their adoption of a white orphan boy called Richard Sutton, described as a “foundling” when brought to Dentdale by Edmund Sill. Rather than bringing him up with the Sills’ three sons and one daughter, however, he was kept with the slaves. When she began researching the Sills, Lyon found herself on the trail of similarities between Sutton and Brontë‘s Heathcliff. Both were orphans taken in by well-off families, both were badly treated, and both lived fairly wild lives. In a book called The Dentdale Brontë Trail, which Lyon self-published in 1985, she wrote that by 1805 Edmund and Elizabeth Sill were dead, as were their three sons. Only an unmarried daughter, Ann, survived them and she inherited huge estates, including 20 farms in Dentdale and neighbouring Deepdale, as well as the family’s fine residence, West House, near their farm at High Rigg End. Sutton, meanwhile, rose from being the foundling brought up with the slaves to become the Sills’ estate manager. But more interestingly as far

lady at West House, just as Heathcliff lived in the remote moorland farmhouse of Wuthering Heights and Catherine Earnshaw resided at Thrushcross Grange. Lyon wrote that Sutton’s character “was not of a very high moral standing on other people’s eyes. He had so displeased Ann that, on one occasion, she’d had him flogged”. Yet her will proved she was fond of Sutton, because she left him High Rigg End, another property and one-tenth of her income. In her book, Lyon suggested that Brontë combined another scandal from Dentdale for the story of Cathy and Heathcliff ’s doomed romance. She appears to have mixed the relationship between Sutton and Ann with local gossip that Ann fell in love with a black coachman. The coachman subsequently disappeared without trace, and it is said that Ann’s brothers had decided such a union would be inappropriate. A century later, in 1902, a human skeleton was found beneath flagstones in the cellar of West House. The implication is that this was the remains of Ann’s lover. Today, the Sills’ homes can still be seen in Dentdale. West House is now known as Whernside Manor, where legend has it there were iron rings on cellar walls for chaining up slaves. The current owners have found no evidence of these. Nor is there proof that many of the slaves –

Amy Winehouse A Child Prodigy L

ast summer wasn’t the best of times for North London. In the world of sport, Tottenham Hotspur and rivals Arsenal got thrashed by northern teams Manchester United and Manchester City in a collective huge defeat over one weekend. Politically, the riots began in Tottenham and in the music world, Amy Winehouse passed away on July 23rd. Like Joplin, she was only 27 at the time of her death. Her passing was deﬁnitely felt strongly in North London; I never text if I know the recipient is somewhere in which mobiles are unwelcome but even I unhesitatingly delivered the sad news via text to my mother who was at the theatre. Like Janis Joplin, she was disruptive and volatile in the classroom. Due to being expelled and an inability to settle, she attended various schools, including the same performing school as Katie Melua. Unlike Joplin, Winehouse’s songs held a mirror up to the gritty and real-life experiences she (Winehouse) was having; writing music was far more of an escapist and distracting technique for Ms Joplin. Winehouse was born into a Jewish family in Southgate, North London. She was the daughter of a taxi driver and a pharmacist, a marriage that failed when she was nine. The granddaughter of a singer, she was exposed to jazz at a young age, began to play guitar at 13 and in childhood even appeared in an episode of The Fast Show! She never imagined how successful she could really be, nor had any realistic foresight as to the true extent of her imminent success. In an interview before she hit the big time, her phrase was “I want to sing a bit, be a waitress.” (!)

When her first album, Frank, hit the shelves back in 2004, a fuller-figured Ms Winehouse was a picture of health. With the release of Back to Black a mere two years later, the cracks in her wellbeing were becoming increasingly apparent and concerning. The album is autobiographical and inspired by the issues affecting Ms Winehouse; those of alcohol addiction, narcotic use, family issues, tempestuous relationships and difficulties thereof and then some- had become as famous as the tracks themselves. Amy’s music was a confrontational window thereon, unlike the aforementioned distraction and self-comfort that Joplin’s own tracks provided her. Notwithstanding her personal problems and lifestyle issues, Winehouse still enjoyed phenomenal success: In 2008, she won five of the six Grammys for which she had been nominated. In the same year, she gave a memorable performance of Heard it Through the Grapevine with Paul Weller on Later With Jools Holland. She openly and vehemently opposed the mainstream commercialisation of music that is the X Factor, claiming that “Jazz is real”. This phrase of hers certainly sums up the highly honest, confrontational and autobiographical nature of her work. Since her death, Back to Black is the bestselling album of the 21st century in the UK to date. Amy Winehouse, we “cry for you on the kitchen floors” of North London and beyond.

Rosie MacLeod

contrary to local legend – were brutally murdered. Dentdale still retains many secrets. Some of the older residents recall their grandparents remembering the slaves “wandering into Dent” after the Emancipation in 1833. Dentists in our area are aware that some Dentdale residents have a mixed heritage as their teeth and the shape of their mouths have an African genetic heritage. The school did a lot of work a few years ago on this history. It is quite a story, though there is little hard evidence to support this theory.

Heather Boyles

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

May Issue 2012

Hollaback

? k c a b a l l o H s i t Wha

ollaback! is a movement that is currently running in 50 cities, 17 countries and 9 different languages and its aim is to put an end to street harassment using mobile technology. Even though it is an extreme pervasive form of gender-based violence, street harassment is one of the least legislated against acts and it rarely reported, being culturally accepted as ‘the price you pay’ for being a female or for being gay. A global reality for LGBTQ individuals and women, acts often range from objectifying comments like ‘You’d look good on me’ to groping, flashing and assault. This kind of harassment is a power play and is a gateway crime that allows other forms of gender-based violence seem OK. Silence often seems to be the only feasible response to take, because any other

type of action will only escalate the situation, and while this is true to an extent, it has made it habitual to accept any sort of harassment. Hollaback! is an organisation that rejects this social norm, believing that everybody has a right to be themselves and feel confident and safe whilst doing so. The organisation itself started up in New York in 2005 as a response to street and traffic harassment i.e. subways, using a 25 page start up pack. However in May 2010, the organisation transitioned to a non-profit and identified that since 2005, 20 Hollaback! sites had launched but three remained active. Upon investigation, the organisation created a new model that still included local leadership and autonomy but filled the gaps that had been in the old model. They chose to create an internet

forum where people could respond to street harassment, sharing their stories with other people. In a new era where the internet and technology plays a prominent role, Hollaback! has chosen to take this opportunity and use it to their advantage by leveraging the technology to highlight an issue that had previously been ignored, breaking the silence by creating this forum as well as phone apps which allows people to take photographs of their harassers. They can then upload the photo online since it is not illegal to do so, and name and shame their harasser. Hollaback! is also seeking to teach people through their website how to take action and how to stand up to street harassment without risking instigating aggression. Quite often when someone is being harassed they are

surrounded by a crowd of strangers who don’t do anything, though they have the power to do something! Hollaback! provides an individual with a way to hold their harasser accountable, since quite often, the police cannot do anything about harassing behaviours in the streets – not because they remain ignorant to it, but because until now there hasn’t been a feasible solution. Through this method of safely collecting women’s and LGBTQ individuals accounts and pictures and allowing them to be shared with mobile phone applications, Hollaback! is rapidly creating a crowd sourced initiative that will hopefully put an end to street and traffic harassment once and for all.

t e e r t S s i t a h W + 0 2 ! k c ? a b t r n u o e y t o m g s e v s I’ a r a H

ollaback! Gwynedd is a web-based activist project to end street harassment. But what is street harassment, you might wonder? Or you might even dismiss it outright as something you’ve never even heard of, much less experienced! Well, here’s a story for you. Catcalls, whistles, honks and compliments are just flattery! Get over it! You’ve just left your house in Upper Bangor. The sun is shining, it’s unseasonably warm, and you have your headphones in, thinking about what to pick up for dinner at Morrison’s- when you’re interrupted by a loud shout. It startles you. You look around for the source, whipping your headphones out of your ears, and then realise it’s someone heckling you from the nearby pub. Suddenly you’re aware that your skirt hem is flapping softly against the backs of your thighs, your backside is a little more jiggly and you think, maybe, this has invited the calls. (You conveniently push out of your mind the fact that this happens regularly even when it’s laundry day and you’re on day-old trackie bottoms.) Only a minute ago you were thinking what a nice, warm spring day it was and that you could finally abandon leggings under your jeans for once in March. Now you’re acutely conscious of every facet of you appearance, wondering how to make the lip smacking and the comments on your legs stop. You rush past the pub, and into Morrison’s, and you keep your head down on the way back home. You suppose you should just accept that some men think this is a flattering way to talk to women- after all, your friend says she likes it when men notice her in public. Maybe you should just suck it up. It happens to everyone, you think. Or maybe you shout back, something that gets carried away on the breeze and you don’t feel vindicated because the only response is derisive laughter. So you vow that next time you’ll have a ready-made response. Ah, you think. A classic case of staircase wit. Next time, I’ll do better. But next time it happens, you’re walking through Lower Bangor, past the clock in the middle of town. You pop into the bank to check if your loan is in (the NatWest site is, predictably, malfunctioning) and on your way out you meet your girlfriend. She’s brought you a pasty from the bakery across the street; you give her a peck on the lips and say thanks, munching away on

spinach and feta and flaky pastry. She offers you a napkin and you hold hands as you walk back toward your house in Hirael, your afternoon errands punctuated with calls of “Are you LESBIANS?” and “Lezzies!” as you go. Not so easy to excuse it as flattery when it’s said with a leer, this time. The first time it happened you thought, well, it’s just teenagers, isn’t it. But then it’s not just teenagers, is it? Sometimes it’s middle-aged women. Sometimes it’s whole gaggles of people who’ve gathered round the benches for an afternoon cigarette. You try to think of something to say back to them but, you think, they’ll just laugh in your face. Once, one of them seemed to follow you a way down the High Street, so you’re a bit wary of saying much of anything at all to them. The last thing you need is to cut across the alley way behind the kids’ fun centre and get stuck between oncoming groups of people who already look at you funny when you wear your Seren hoody out in public. This is feeling less like a compliment and more like being singled out for harassment, Halfway home you see your friend, he’s got his head down and his headphones on and he’s walking quickly. You catch him up, and he doesn’t even notice you till you practically wave your hand under his nose. You wonder why he’s walking so quickly, but then you realise it’s because he’s from Korea, and come to think of it, you remember him telling you about getting racial abuse shouted at him on his way back to the halls up at St. Mary’s site. He says it’s any time of day, but it’s especially bad later at night, when he comes home from evening lectures or societies meetings. Walking up that hill in at dusk can’t be fun with people threatening you, telling you to go home, back where you came from. You reckon you’re pretty lucky that you blend in till you open your mouth- of course, half the time doing so means being ragged on for being a student. Sometimes shops seem reluctant to serve you when it’s clear that you’re not from around here. Unfortunately, when you try to complain about these things, people don’t really seem to take you seriously. Or they just tell you to lump it like everyone else does. Thankfully, you think, you can tell someone, anyone- by going to the Hollaback! Gwynedd website and sharing your story.

Jennifer Krase

Nicola Hoban

Gwynedd’s ollaback H S ince starting up in 2005, the organisation Hollaback! currently runs in 50 cities, 17 countries and in 9 different languages. Gwynedd is now one of those locations that are a part of this organisation, thanks to the Bangor Women’s Society which decided in September 2011 to create a priority campaign which would become their main focus for the year, deciding upon Hollaback! and its work against street harassment, after seeing the West Yorkshire Hollaback! site. After speaking to some of Bangor’s students, the members of the society discovered that Bangor was one of the worst places for street harassment compared to other places. However, the society needed to supply enough evidence to ensure that they would be heard. After speaking to the president of the Bangor Students’ Union, Jo Caufield, who gave support for the campaign, the Women’s Society wrote a survey at the beginning of December 2011to be put online asking for students views on Gwynedd street harassment, contacting students through their email and Facebook pages. Overall, the society received about 500 full responses from students stating how they feel that Bangor is an unsafe place and quite often they feel comfortable walking around at any time of day. However, the responses also indicate how students feel that they have to accept it. The Bangor Women’s Society, like the Hollaback! team, feel that people shouldn’t be made to feel like this and want to undermine this idea. At the beginning of 2012, the society presented their findings to the Welfare Working Group in an effort to raise their awareness of the ongoing cases of street harassment. The

International Student Welfare group were also asked to push this, and soon a representative sample of international students was gathered. It was key that the Women’s Society keep trying to make the University deal with the street harassment issue, as well as the Bangor Police and the Student Union. This alone was a threemonth process. After contacting the Hollaback! team, the Women’s Society started their Hollaback! training, joining at least 150 other leaders located around the globe. They received guidance on creating a multi-lingual website, and ensured that they had a Welsh speaker on their team. The Gwynedd Hollaback! website launched on the 23rd April, and the society are looking for more students to get involved with the website and the Hollaback! organisation. Using the funding supplied by Bangor Univeristy’s School of Creative Studies and Media Studies, the Women’s Society’s goal is to produce several videos based around the topic of street harassment. At the moment, they are looking for students that are wanting to contribute blogs about street harassment and are hoping to hold a fundraiser, currently seeking the University’s aid in helping raise awareness and to encourage students to talk and participate in the campaign. Street harassment is not just aimed at women. Men, LGBTQ individuals and international students alike are targeted and Hollaback! has created a place that is accessible for everyone that has been affected by street harassment, including Bangor University students.

Nicola Hoban

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Bangor Students’ Union ran a survey about street harassment in Bangor and Gwynedd. Here are some of the numbers that came out of that survey. The results showed a very clear understanding gap between the meaning of ‘Street Harassment’ and actual experiences of it.

52.3% of respondents said they experienced ‘street harssment’

78.2% did not report it to the police

22.3% said they had objects thrown at them

62.1%

said they experienced whistles or horn honking from vehicles

18.8% experienced unwanted physical contact

14.2% had comments about their race or ethnicity

68.1% did not think it was important enough to report

Clever Title About What To Do When Harassed

Responses to street harassment fall on two continuums. The first is how you respond emotionally; some people feel scared, or anxious. A number of people in the students’ union survey said it triggered panic attacks for them, especially the more threatening incidents like getting shouted at, or having things thrown at them from cars. Some people aren’t too bothered about the run-of-the-mill sexual harassment, and some people even feel positive about it. If you don’t like it, then there are a lot of ways to respond constructively that can lessen the emotional impact. This is the second continuum- the action you take. We’ll talk about that here. It’s also important to remember that harassment can have a cumulative effect. So while 99% of the time you might just put up with it, that 100th time, it just tips you over the edge and you want to do something. Here are some excellent- and evidenced- ways to respond. These are mainly drawn from research by Holly Kearl of AAUW, a women’s equity organisation in the United States, who has published two books and numerous reports on street harassment. The Stop Street Harassment blog has some excellent articles on responding assertively to harassment; we’ve borrowed a few of their key ideas here to give you a demonstration. 1. Situational awareness- this starts long before you open your mouth, and it’s something that comes second-nature to a lot of people who are accustomed to experiencing street harassment. Always take a moment to assess whether you feel safe in responding directly to a harasser.

ere asked to w y e rv u s e th in ts Participan followe th t. n e m s s ra a h describe street popular words used. ing are the most

2. Whatever you say or do, speak with a calm, clear, loud voice. Think HEAD TEACHER. Swearing and overt anger tend to get you laughed at, and what you don’t want to do is escalate the situation, because that can backfire. 3. Use the information you have to your advantage- Kearl suggests naming exactly what happened (“Don’t whistle at me, don’t touch my breasts, don’t call us faggots”) or even more specifically, calling out the person (“Man in the yellow shirt, stop smacking your lips at me, Child in the grey jumper, don’t racially abuse me”) 4. Embarrass them- “What would your mother say if she heard you talk to me like that, I can’t believe you just did that” 5. If it’s from a car, write down their number plate and a description of the vehicle. Make sure you get it right in case you decide to report it to the police (in the case of items being thrown from the car, this is especially helpful). These are just some of the ideas from the Stop Street Harassment website. For more information check out the site and the blog, and let us know here at Hollaback! Gwynedd how you choose to respond to street harassment. We’ll leave it here for now- but our bywords for dealing with street harassment (whether you’re a witness or a target) are composed, confident, and safe. Keep those in mind and you’ll not go far wrong.

Jennifer Krase

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Business Interest Mounts as Clinton Collapses

espite going into administration, retail chain Clinton Cards could be having a turn around after WH Smith emerged as a potential saviour for the collapsing company. Clinton Cards, which employs more than 8,000 staff, was forced into administration on Wednesday 9th May. It was later revealed that Clinton Cards had failed to reveal that three weeks prior their key suppliers refused to provide it with stock. Despite the Financial Services Authority riles stating that companies must disclose to the market any information that is deemed price-sensitive, Robin Knight, an administrator at accountant Zolfo Cooper, the restructuring group appointed as administrator, said: “No-one from the FSA has contacted us as administrators for either Clinton or Birthdays”. Although Clinton chief executive Darcy WillsonRymer and the rest of the Clinton board were laid off the same day the company went into administration, the likelihood is that if a rescue of the company is to occur, then it is highly possible that at least half of

the ﬁrm’s 628 Clinton Cards stores and 139 Birthday outlets will be forced to closed. Other possibly interested parties in Clinton along with WH Smith may include Clinton’s biggest suppliers American Greetings, which acquired £35m of the ﬁrm’s debt from lenders Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland, saying it “may ultimately participate in the ownership of the business or may continue as a supplier to any buyer of the business”. American Greetings had refused to back Clinton’s turnaround plan that had been drawn up suggesting a company voluntary arrangement, concerned by the fact that the money owed to it by Clinton would be put in jeopardy. The collapse of Clinton Cards is the biggest of a listed retailer since Woolworths in 2008, in terms of the amount of stores, and follows after the collapse of fellow retailers Game Group and Peacocks.

Nicola Hoban

Double Trouble For Nokia

okia have been dealt a double blow. Once the biggest company in Finland and the top mobile phone provider in the world, they are now running in second place in both fields. Finland’s current top company, the energy provider, Fortum is valued at one billion euros more than Nokia. Samsung’s range of Galaxy phones has knocked Nokia from its top global position, as it competes with the Apple iPhone. Nokia sold approximately ten million less phones than Samsung at the beginning of the current year, and with its hip new Lumia it looks to be moving further away from the much loved sturdy and reliable original design. The Nokia webpage quotes their Head of Industrial Design Axel Meyer as saying ‘it was an exercise in aesthetic and technical minimalism, taking a first principles approach to smartphone design... we looked at what could be left out as much as what could be put in’ and there certainly is something left out, as we can see in the sales figures. That being said, the design aim of the Lumia is to tackle the issue of buttons. The main fault most people can find in the touch screen is the inability to use the phone at high speed. Nokia have made the buttons on their touch screen bigger to compensate for this wasted time. Perhaps this is Nokia’s way of retaining the wonderful aspects of their 3310 in the modern world. Of course it could be a play at ignorance so that they can take

over the Blackberry’s failings in their new range; the market is open for a new business phone with a practical and sturdy design. Bought in in 2010 the new CEO Stephen Elop has indicated that this could be the end of Nokia. With hundreds of designers on their payroll, if Lumia is the best they could come up with... It’s playing it far too safe and is completely inadequate in comparison to the current Apple and Samsung products.

Samantha Austin

TIPS TO MAKE EXTRA CASH Do you have a room full of items you don’t use? In need of extra cash? Or the space? If so then all you need is access to the Internet, an eBay account and you are one step closer to that extra dosh. Selling your unwanted junk online is a great way to accumulate some extra cash for your back pocket. Seren have come up with some great tips for getting the most from your listings. This includes tips on getting your items noticed, what sort of items to list and what things you should pay attention to.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Make sure you take plenty of quality looking pictures. This will save time when lots of people are sending you questions like “what does it look like on the inside” Just take pictures at every angle. Building from tip #1 :You can save money by using online picture albums instead of adding pictures to the eBay gallery. Some categories can charge 10-36 pence per picture, and in some they are free. Do your research before you list a particular product, spend some time researching similar products on eBay following the bidding process. Shipping is under the control of the eBay seller, but some methods of shipping are better than others when you’re selling on eBay. Make sure you know how much your item costs to send as you will be eating into your proﬁt if you get this wrong. Know current trends in order to make a proﬁt. If a celebrity is seen with something you want to sell then it’s a great opportunity to sell that item. I recently sold a cap seen on Rihanna and I sold it for 3 times the amount it was worth.

6. 7. 8.

In order to sell your item, you have to maximise the views for your item. This means writing a strong eBay listing by combining search engine friendly phrasing with concrete details about the product, in a way that will entice people to bid on your product. Register for PayPal, it’s like an online bank account and eBay users love it! You can send and receive money on it easily; it’s fast and efﬁcient and is the recommended payment method for eBay. Feedback speaks VOLUMES! Feedback really matters when you’re selling on eBay. If you have a consistent record of positive feedback, prospective buyers will both bid more often and be willing to pay higher prices.

9. 10.

Be aware of scammers and time wasters! I once tried to sell an iPod on eBay and the listing sold to time wasters who had no intention of sending the money for it. Have fun, and don’t stress out over your listing. Don’t worry that it hasn’t had many bids, as most users bid in the last few minutes. It’s the best feeling ever watching your item rocket up in price.

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Societies

May Issue 2012

2012 TY AWARDS SOCIE Society of the year

Community Award

Most Improved

GEOG SOC

Brass Band

International Society of the Year

Christian

Brass Band PhotoSoc

Achiev ment of the Ye ar

se Society e C in h Union

Campaign of the Year

Faith Societ y of the Year

of the Year

Best Performace Award

Chri stian Un ion Charity Award Event of the Year Comedy Society Student sCut Film Academic Society

WomSoc STAG

Best New Society

Chess Club

SODA

Environmental Award

GEOG SOC

Best Collaboration Award

Beaumaris Medieval Day Out omas

BEDS, Comedy, Cadi Ha, Th ills, Stanley Welsh Levy, Circus Sk y Archery club, St. John's Societ

Gold Awards

Geog Soc's Chris Bibby Chinese Societies' Yujie Wu Women's Society's and Seren's Jennifer Krase Bangor Comedy's Rory Cooke Unity, Amnesty and Seren's Yousef Cisco Seren's Aaron Wiles

Silver Awards Awards Silver Charlie Wild – Geog Soc Robin Gillham – Chess Club Kate Yates - SODA Florian Breit – Linguistics Paddy Pritchard – Bangor Comedy Charlotte Hughes – Medieval Re-Enactment Lucy Barrett - Japanese Soc & St John Ambulance Society Elena Neophytou - Nightline Stuart Smith - Linguistics Society

May Issue 2012

Societies

New Society: MOBS!

inecraft society (MOBS) is a brand new society dedicated to players of the game Minecraft. For you gamer-types it’s really just a limitless sandbox to run around in but for those unfamiliar with gaming it’s essentially LEGO on a infinite scale with monsters (known as Mobs!) and explosives. This is all playable in multiplayer or single player environments with no limitations with the cherry on top being that there is a ridiculously huge modding, or personalisation, community. My personal favourite is the Pokemon mod where you can catch and level them up and I believe someone has already built a stunningly accurate Pontio using TNT and water. Depending on what you want to do, you can play for different reasons; to build amazing structures, to make technical mechanisms, to fight other players, to play role play games, to play adventure maps. The list is endless!

The society has huge plans in development, from planning to recreate Bangor brick by brick and potentially inter-university competitions with Iowa and Sheffield university! Having an online based community means members can play from anywhere and we can challenge any university that also has a club so you are never short of creative or survival/quest competitions to take part in. We are also a very social society, regularly meeting up to game together or go out. There is no regular meet-up time each week, you play when and how you want to, meaning when you log in there is almost always another person online to chat to whatever the time of day. To join, you can buy the latest version for a fraction of the price of other games or an earlier version for free! We also have our own dedicated server: mobsoc.co.uk and even our own blog http://bangormobs.wordpress.com

Student Drama Season

Go to death and go to satire: The importance of staging Earnest, Sherlock Holmes, Dr Faustus and the Pirates of Penzance

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

t’s never easy staging a well known play that everybody knows backwards and can quote verbatim, as I discovered by doing Blackadder whilst treading the boards in Rostra. From January to March, both BEDS (Bangor English Drama Society) and Rostra performed four productions native to the British Isles (a term that includes Ireland) and firmly engrained on our British psyche. The curtain went up on Irishman Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ and Edinburgh’s Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘Sherlock Holmes’. ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ by Victorian Londoners Gilbert and Sullivan and ‘The Tragical History of Dr Faustus’ by Christopher Marlowe, who “iiiiiiiiiiiis an Englishman!”- just keeping up the Gilbert and Sullivan theme - also formed the viewing programme. Both groups managed to put their own stamp on these classics by adapting them slightly to their own style. Rostra’s warm and jovial production of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ set in an 1895 London mansion house made the audience feel involved with the action, either indoors with the butler or in the stately gardens with Cecily. The classic line “In a handbag”, more recently associated with Dame Judy Dench, was delivered effortlessly by Josie Whyatt whose ‘cover version’ of the outburst was made truly her own, delivered with more irritation than surprise. Matt Heslop, Sally Higgins and Ambles Hubbard directed the BEDS Sherlock Holmes adaptation, ‘221B’, which included some of Conan Doyle’s stories in full and others in part. An interlude playfully depicted the substance-abusing London detective highly intoxicated and on the verge of a discovery whilst also in a state of apparent simultaneous irritation, inspiration and relaxation. The opening part from ‘A case of

Mistaken Identity’ opened the second half and was an extremely faithful visual representation of Conan Doyle’s words, with the lines from the story resonating heavily through the cast’s speech and actions like an aftershock for anyone who has read it. ‘Silver Blaze’ and ‘The Greek Interpreter’ also formed the programme and were performed in full. In the former, BEDS put their own slant on the London classic when Colonel Ross became ‘Welsh-ified’ into Colonel Rhys and was played to perfection by Tud Jones. In the latter, Daniel Short played baddie Wilson Kemp with a glint of venom in his ocular and an evil laugh in his voice as he taunted his victim.

OH! Wasnt that the most hilarious misunderstanding?! An Evening of the Arts, organised by Bex Phillips and Abigail Gregory, saw an abridged and jape-filled adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘The Pirates of Penzance’. Joshua Pink directed and narrated the piece that displayed a healthy dose of Impsoc’s own brand of spontaneous humour and was punctuated with jokes firmly aimed at the kings of plot twists. This comic send-up, featuring more parody than you can shake a deliberately awful prop at, was tailor-made for anyone who has ever rehearsed (or suffered) at length any Gilbert and Sullivan. BEDS and Rostra also showed off their darker sides with some eerie and sinister dramas. Rostra ambitiously staged ‘The Tragical History of Dr Faustus’, directed by Ceri Roberts and Sara Burgess, in which the title character (played by Chris Davies) makes a pact with Lucifer for twenty-four years of servitude from Mephistophilis. The directors chose to have each of the seven deadly sins personified in a character baring that sin’s name, who all enjoy torturing

Dr Faustus in a scene that effectively portrayed him descending into a madness constructed from his own lust for power and knowledge. BEDS put on a Murder Mystery Evening in and around JP Hall, set at the funeral of the deceased leader of a fictional nation. It is not long into the service before a furore erupts and accusations are flying left, right and centre as to who is responsible for his death. BEDS added an extra layer to thicken the plot: between the staged action, there were two interludes of audience interaction. Rather than having the information relevant to the play presented to the audience through a staged script, the viewers went looking for it! During these interludes, the characters all dispersed, meaning the viewers were able to ‘eavesdrop’ on seemingly private conversations between them and, in the labyrinth style, pose questions to them directly. Not only did this give the audience the opportunity to discover the identity of the killer by uncovering the secrets a set script may conceal, it also let them put BEDS’ method acting to the test. Some of the ‘overheard’ exchanges were hard-hitting, others atmospheric and mournful, but each of them convincingly tense. The action unfolded around the audience as the drama escalated and more truths were revealed. The Whodunit is a classic British favourite, and with this set up BEDS added an extra layer of curiosity to it. So whether BEDS and Rostra have taken you to Penzance, nineteenthcentury London or a giant Cleudo? board this semester, they have certainly been working hard. And, as Gilbert and Sullivan would sing, “it’s greatly to their credit”.

Rosie MacLeod

BANGOR CARNIVAL 2012!

f after the exams and highly anticipated summer ball, you’re hanging around Bangor for a little longer you might be wondering if there is anything to get up to. Well you’ll be happy to hear that the 3rd annual Bangor CARNIVAL is rolling into town on Saturday 9th June and is expected to be bigger and better than ever. After the protests in Bangor three years ago about the lack of pride and sense of community in the area, a group of residents took it upon themselves to create this event for everyone to enjoy. The day will start with a parade from 11am starting at Sackville Road, all along the high street down to Beach Road, involving a samba band, Pontio’s own sound cart and a 30ft Chinese dragon.

A mixture of local and university clubs and societies will also be participating so you might spot a friend to cheer on! After the parade, Beach Road will be transformed and will be holding a Fun Fair, climbing wall, hog Roast, beer tents, a clairvoyant, and stalls selling local crafts and goods, as well as other carnival activities. Entry is completely free, so it is a great excuse for a cheap day out. Everyone is welcome so feel free to join in the fun. The carnival are also after any budding photographers for the day. References will be provided. If interested/further details can email bangorcarnival@gmail.com

Charlotte Summers

The Big Give!

he Big Give is an environmental project run by Student Volunteering Bangor that encourages students to dispose of unwanted items in an ethical manor at the end of the academic year. This is done by arranging collections from within halls of residence and other locations on campus and then donating the items to local charities. What kind of things can I donate? • Non-perishable unopened food • Clothing • Bedding • Household items – dishes, cutlery, kettles, irons, unopened toiletries etc. • Books, DVDs CDs, etc. • One year, we even got a working X-Box! • Bras! – This year The Big Give is supporting Oxfam’s ‘Bra’s For Africa’ appeal and will

help provide these much needed items for women in African countries. What can’t I donate? • Perishable or unopened food • Torn or stained clothing or bedding • Half used toiletries • Lecture notes (please recycle these!) Where can I donate? • All University Halls of Residence • Anglican Chaplaincy • Neuadd Willis • Main Arts Building Collection Dates • 18th May – 26th June Can I help with The Big Give? Of course! Send us an e-mail at thebiggive@ undeb.bangor.ac.uk

r y e

Union

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A SABB GOODBYE

May Issue 2012

They’ve led the Union through the ups and downs we’ve faced; the move from the old building, the introduction of £9k fees and the loss of the trading company. It’s fair to say that they’ve faced a lot, but students in Bangor face a stronger future than any other in Wales because of their hard work. One of the strongest course rep systems, an Athletic Union and Societies Department bigger and better than ever, and millions more from the University into students lives. As they head off into the real world, let’s take a look at the great work that they’ve done in their time here...

JO CAULFIELD President

hen this sabbatical team took charge of your union back in July 2010 we didn’t have an SU building, the government was threatening unlimited tuition fees and 40% cuts to higher education, we had a new Vice Chancellor, a new institutional focus and a pretty uncertain future. So naturally, we set to work. Early last year, we took 250 students to the national demo in London and successfully fought a proposed £75,000 cut to our Union. We got you a nightclub, became a Union with a zero tolerance stance towards any form of discrimination and made Academi a safe space. We fought for a fairer disciplinary system in halls, argued for greater investment in Normal Site, and secured £87,000 in compensation for students living in Bryn Eithin who faced a number of significant problems with their accomodation. We introduced a comprehensive course rep system, ensuring that every single school in this university had elected course reps to get your voice heard in your academic department and we successfully lobbied for library improvements in line with your feedback, securing investment to extend opening hours over the summer and a fixed book-to-student ratio that will be rolled out next year. We were successful in arguing the case for anonymous marking and from next year it will be the default way of marking assignments across all academic schools. We’re really pleased with that. I have to mention our formidable campaign to free up Wednesday afternoons. We petitioned, we postered the place, we raised the issue in every meeting we had with the University and at the end of a long year, we were successful. Now, 98% of students have Wednesday afternoons free from lectures and when Pontio arrives that figure will be 100%. So, if all that wasn’t enough, this was the year the University decided to charge £9,000 fees. Naturally, we were pretty disappointed by this but we took the opportunity to ensure that the fee money of future students was spent in a way that directly benefits those students. Thanks to our lobbying, from next year the University is giving us funding to make all of our clubs and societies free at the point of entry. That means no membership fees, free AU Cards, free Societies Cards and free UMCB cards. Alongside this, we campaigned for more investment in volunteering, making it a priority for our union. From next year, we’ll have an additional £100,000 to spend on increasing participation and maximising the number of projects we can organise for you. Finally, on a personal note I’d like to say thanks to all of you who have made the past two years the incredible experience that they’ve been. To everyone who signed our petitions, to anyone who came to a protest, who became a course rep, who voted in our elections, who attended our Varsity games or indeed any AU game or society event to support your students. To anyone who became a Senator or a Trustee, to everyone who took the time to send us feedback, to tell us we were doing well, to tell us where we could do better and to every single one of you who has given your time and your dedication to our incredible Students’ Union. You have made these last two years the most amazing of my life, you have done our student body proud and made me an incredibly, incredibly proud President. Cheers folks.

During my two years as VP Education and Welfare, we’ve made some real progress with loads of initiatives to improve your time at university. Firstly, the Course Rep system has gone from strength to strength. When I took ofﬁce in 2010, the Students’ Union had around 35 course reps across the University, now we have 300, all trained and working hard to make sure your voice is heard in your academic schools. I organised two Housing Fortnights that were a great success, complete with sessions on house hunting advice that over 600 students attended. I also gathered loads of information from you about your landlords in our housing survey and used this to get the University to make some changes on that front. I also made progress with Bodnant Surgery, after you told us where they could improve and feedback so far suggests this has made a really positive difference. This year, we ran our ﬁrst ever Student Led Teaching Awards, an initiative designed to give you the chance to nominate any University staff member who made a difference to your student experience. The awards were a resounding success, we received over 300 nominations and held an awards ceremony that 200 staff and students attended. We’ve had loads of really positive feedback and I’m hoping to get an invite to next year’s ceremony...! I’ve also spent a lot of time working closely with students in individual departments to sort out problems. We successfully managed to prevent changes made to third year modules in Biological Science, which made a number of students happy. In addition to all of this, I worked at a national level, starting a petition to the Welsh Government for free chlamydia testing kits in Wales. We made it NUS Wales policy for them to support this campaign and the petition has nearly a thousand signatures at this point. I’m looking forward to seeing where NUS take this campaign and hopefully we’ll get the same treatment as NHS users in England when it comes to STI testing. I’ve really enjoyed my time as a sabb and wish my successor, Shôn Prebble, the best of luck for next year!

DANIELLE BUCKLEY VP Education & Welfare

May Issue 2012

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Union

“When I took office there were around 50 active societies. Now, as I finish, there are nearly 100...”

RICH GORMAN VP Societies & Community

was originally elected as VP Societies & Sustainability in 2010, a strange combination, but one that I enjoyed. Sustainability was a new part of the Union, and whilst I enjoyed a good cup of Fairtrade tea and had a degree in Sustainable Development (Geography with a funkier sounding name), it was quite scary being given a whole new department and being told to ‘build it’. Luckily, NUS were running a scheme called ‘Green Impact Unions’, Bangor had managed to get ‘Bronze’ level in 2009, thanks to myself and a few other hippies hassling the previous Sabb team until they probably wanted to hang us with our organic hoodies. I set out to try and get us up to a Silver, there were over 200 different criteria and tasks, from ensuring all paper used in the Union was recycled paper, to encouraging biodiversity on campus. Several months later, it was a massive shock when Bangor was awarded Gold, named Most Improved Union and awarded The Ecologist Prize! I was re-elected and took on the Community portfolio, albeit giving it a little green focus, from running community planting projects to encouraging students to put their bins out correctly (a massive local gripe) with a focus on recycling. We even managed to win NUS Wales’ Community Engagement Award for our variety of community based campaigns! In what spare time I had, I kept going on the NUS Green Impact programme too, and this year managed to achieve 99% completion – this led to us not only retaining our Gold award, but being named Union of the Year in our category – a massive success, from Bronze to Best in the UK in 2 years – not bad! However, despite all this tree-hugging, Societies have been the real mainstay of my role. When I took ofﬁce in 2010, there were around 50 active societies. Now, as I ﬁnish, there are nearly 100 active student societies at Bangor. I wanted to make it easier for students to start societies, get rid of some of the pointless bureaucracy that surrounded them (who wants to have to write a 4 page constitution just to get a Chess Club going?) – I’d like to think I’ve succeeded. I wanted to give each individual society the attention and support they needed, some societies are huge, others are small, some are well known, others fairly niche. The truly unique thing about the Societies department is how diverse we are, each society is completely different from the next, and that is what makes us so successful – we’re able to represent as many interests and hobbies as our students have. It’s been an absolute honour to be a Sabb for these last 2 years, I’ve met so many great people at Bangor who have inspired me. So thank you for the opportunity, and remember, keep on recycling!

hat a year it has been! So much has happened, so much has been achieved, amazing! Over the two years we have seen an increase of 35% in the number of students participating in sport for performance, including activities in Healthy Living Week, BUCS, intramural sport, varsity and club activities. Over both years we have worked together within the AU to produce a good Healthy Living Week, with a healthy living fairs, activities to try, free fruit and lunchtime walks to name a few of the events. This year has seen AU Nights become a huge part of students’ nights out. With the move back to Academi, the AU has been able to raise valuable funds. Varsity; both years were different to me with being away and home but this year’s was magical I will never forget the passion of our students, it was incredible and we WON!

“Right now, we are 60th in the BUCS league table, up 8 from last year” This year we have been very successful, right now we are 60th in the BUCS league table up 8 from last year, an amazing performance by many teams this year! Intramural events have continued with an increase in participation and the increase of intramural leagues with the addition of a Halls League. To say that it has been a good year cannot be complete without mentioning the huge amount of money that AU clubs have raised for charities including British Heart Foundation, Breast Cancer Care, Prostate Cancer, Hope Hospice and Mountain rescue. It shows that even when clubs are in need of money themselves they still ﬁnd time to help support others. I can’t forget to mention the highlight of my time as AU President: the AU dinners have been amazing, to celebrate the year with all your friends in a great room, with great food and entertainment, is what I leave behind - I hope I get an invite next year. These past two years have been amazing and we have achieved so much I couldn’t have asked for a better sabb team or students to work with. I wish Emyr all the best and can’t wait for Old Boys!

“It’s been a busy year for UMCB, a very successful one & I am very proud to be a part of it all”

DANIELLE GILES VP Sport & Healthy Living

t’s been a busy year for UMCB, a very successful one, and I am very proud to be a part of it all. In terms of events, Clwb Cymru has been held every other Thursday in Academi, it has been a great night giving Welsh students the chance to celebrate Welsh culture and to make some money for UMCB and our societies. A very successful event for us was the UMCB Rugby trip to Dublin in February, where 150 of our members went to Dublin for the Six Nations match and we were all celebrating a victory for Wales after a very exciting game. The biggest event of the year for UMCB was the Eisteddofd Ryng-golegol (inter-collegiate Eisteddfod) that was held in Bangor in PJ Hall back in February. This is one of the main events on the social and cultural calendar of any Welsh student. The weekend included a Sport Gala with rugby, football and seven a side netball championship, the Eisteddfod itself with stage competitions: everything from singing, dancing and acting competitions, and also a magnificent gig to follow the Eisteddfod with a performances by a number of Welsh bands. The Eisteddfod was a great success. Bangor came out on top achieving an overall 843 marks, with Aberystwyth University in second place with 482 marks, and the Welsh gig was a sell out! The atmosphere was electrifying and everyone enjoyed themselves. This year a lot of my time has been given to the development of Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol. A very significant development of critical importance to Welsh medium Higher Education, its main aim is to increase, develop and broaden the range of Welsh medium study opportunities at universities in Wales. We managed to secure students reps on the College’s Board of Directors and Academic Board - I held a workshop for student members of the Coleg to discuss what they wanted from it and how they wanted their representation to work. I’ve enjoyed my 2 years in office, I’ve learnt so much and have made great friends, I’ll be sad to finish but I know the next UMCB President, Mared Jones, will do a great job.

MAIR ROWLANDS UMCB President

May Issue 2012

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Creative Corner

Want your work in the Creative Corner? Email: creative@seren.bangor.ac.uk

Drawings By Emily Taylor

The Campfire Goes Out A sudden chill wind steals a Promethean flame. Embers cool and fade.

Fade To White A star blinks awake and we crumble like dried leaves whilst insects look on. - Dhan Panesar

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Found Poetryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; By Jonathon Howard

Photographs

by Aaron Wil es

May Issue 2012

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DAMIEN HIRST: A LIFE IN ART

With the success of the newly opened Damien Hirst exhibition in London, we look at the life of Britain’s most famous living artist.

irst was born in Bristol in 1965, before spending his youth in Leeds. Having originally been refused entry to the Jacob Kramer School of Art, he was enrolled on their foundation diploma course, before later beginning a job in construction. During his teenage years, Hirst began to explore the concept of death, which would later become a key theme in his art. He made regular visits to the anatomy department of Leeds Medical School, making life drawings of the bodies he found in an attempt to understand human mortality. In 1986 he began a BA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, where his understanding of the distinction between painting and sculpting developed. It was here he began his series ‘Medicine Cabinets’, using the packaging of his grandmother’s medication in his work. He would later state that the exhibition explores ‘how science is the new religion for many people’. He then began his series of ‘Spot Paintings’, of which there are over 1000 in existence. The concept was ‘pinning down the joy of colour’, and all evidence of human intervention was removed, leaving just circles of painted colour on a blank page, as if created by machine. Work began on Hirst’s ‘Natural History’ collection in 1991, and it has since become his most iconic series. Animals were preserved in clear tanks filled with formaldehyde solution, creating a ‘zoo of dead animals’. These included ‘The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living’,

which entailed the preserving of a deceased Tiger Shark. Issues of life, death, beauty, and science have continued to be explored in his artwork up to the present day. His ‘For the Love of God’ piece is a platinum skull set with 8,601 individual diamonds. His reasoning behind the piece is ‘you don’t like it [death], so you disguise it’, making it beautiful.

For the Love of God Damien Hirst Hirst is reputed to be the world’s richest living artist, with an estimated wealth of £215 million according to the Sunday Times Annual Rich List. He has three sons, and spends most of his time in a remote farmhouse in Devon.

Creative Corner

Interview with Allan Redfern

former university lecturer, Allan Redfern is now one of Anglesey’s top artists. His work has been displayed in galleries throughout Wales and beyond, with solo exhibitions at Oriel Ynys Mon and Beaumaris. In 2008 he won the People’s Choice Prize at the biannual exhibition of the Anglesey Art Group, and has since become the chairman of the club. What materials do you most like to use when painting? I particularly enjoy using oil and acrylic in my work, and have also used watercolour in the past. Do you ever use materials other than paint? I enjoy using pencils, both normal and coloured, particularly for quick sketches. I’ve also used indian ink, and charcoal amongst other things, and like to experiment with different materials.

What draws you to painting landscapes? I like the romance and beauty of the Anglesey landscape, and am fascinated by the relationships between the natural and man-made aspects of the environment. I also like the effects different lights can have on a landscape, from natural light, to man-made, such as on the Menai straits, and the shipping area of Holyhead. Which artists do you most admire? I’ve always appreciated the work of Hockney, Lowri, Lucien Freud, and Turner, however, my biggest influence was probably Peter Prendergast, a Welsh Landscape painter, who was a tutor to me at the Liverpool School of Art, where I studied for my degree.

Tom Haynes

What's on at Bangor Art Gallery?

ARTIST Andrew Smith is exhibiting his new collection of paintings in Bangor Art Gallery. The collection, ‘Edge Of Colour’, will remain open to the public until June 21st. Smith focuses on clashing vivid colours in his paintings, using oil and gouache on canvas as his primary medium. The artist, based in Harlech, said of the exhibition ‘The process of making has, over time, led to colour being the only real direction for my painting. It often feels that the work has developed on its own accord into an area of self-manifestation. Colour has its own meaning.’

DESIGNER Ann Catrin Evans is showcasing her metalwork in the gallery. Evans sculpts metal into shapes, ranging from palm sized to architectural. Her pieces include necklaces, plates, vases, and animals. It is created using hot forged steel with braised detail. The designer holds a degree in 3d Design, and has won various awards. Her work has been displayed both in the UK and abroad.

What are you currently working on? I’m continuing with my work on landscapes, particularly focusing on the port of Holyhead. Most of the drawings I’ve done so far of that area have been set in daylight, however I’m aiming to do more night time scenes. I’ve also been painting the Menai Bridge, Newborough Beach, and the local mountains. As an artist, what are your plans for the future? To carry on painting, and continue to find new ways of creating things – I want to use new materials, and not get too complacent in what I do. Finally, what advice would you give to aspiring artists? To relax in your work, enjoy what you do, seek advice from people you respect, and to have faith in yourself and your work. Tom Haynes

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Summer Ball Ticket Winners!

The answer to the question asked in the last issue was of course Travie McCoy! We had a lot of entries but unfortunately only two could win. The lucky winners were picked at random and you can see who to be jealous of below!

Devaney Werrin

Hanna Hughes

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

May Issue 2012

Cheryl Cole vs Rihanna: Battle of the bad-ass pop pants

Forget the battle for number one, Rihanna and Cheryl Cole go head-to-head in their latest videos to see who can claim the Worst Trouser award. Full disclosure: I’m obsessed with Rihanna. As the rightful heir to Beyoncé’s throne at the palace of pop (though be warned, she’s only on maternity leave) I’ve been religiously cooing over her every video, tweet, holiday snap and red carpet appearance. But I have to admit, her latest video for single ‘Where Have You Been’, which was released recently, has me a little concerned. The opening dance sequence sees Rihanna in tribal mode dressed for the Serengeti/Sahara in a rather snazzy Roberto Cavalli zebra-print swimsuit, feathered headress and - dun dun daaaa - HAREEM PANTS! Okay, she’s ‘in character’ here with a hunky bunch of war-painted tribesmen dancing around her, we get the reference. Meanwhile, in the Los Angeles dry riverbed, which shot to fame as Thunder Road in Grease, Cheryl Cole was busy slipping into a similarly roomy pair of multi-coloured drop-crotch trousers for her latest video venture for single Call My Name. From what we can tell, Cole - who also has a hunky bunch of bruisers boogying around her - is not in character, unless dressing as a Geordie on a night out counts (and since she’s a Geordie and it’s nighttime, we’re assuming it doesn’t). This can only mean one thing…harem pants are making yet another bid for fashion stardom. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN! Popstars like Rihanna and Cheryl need to accept that with great power, comes great responsibility. It’s not, therefore, okay to dally with such dangerous trends as these without understanding the effect this could have on ladies at large. For their part, ‘civilians’ need to understand that just because Rihanna and Cheryl are wearing them, it is not okay. Okay? FYI Rihanna still looks better <3

Rihanna & Armani Jeans Capsule Collection ‘12

Style Culture Founded by Stephane Raynor in 1977, the story of BOY is a true one off, in that that the wildest rumours and legends that surround it couldn’t hope to compete with the reality. Beloved by the underground, but frequently courted by an overground hungry for a piece of BOY’s trademark attitude, it remains the label that everyone wants in on. From Warhol, to Madonna, Punks through to New Romantics, club kids to fashionistas, all have worn BOY. Adopted as the uniform of choice for every youth movement that has mattered, the brand has outlived them all, with the unmistakeable spirit that underpins all things BOY remaining the same today as when it was ﬁrst formed… In the here and now, you can see stars such as Rihanna, Nicky Minaj and Jessie J sporting Boy London clothing and accessories, making the products highly thought after and, once again, the coolest brand around. You can buy Boy London clothing from their online retail store Leavetheboyalone. co.uk or selected retail stores

Colour me good.

It’s A Kate Moss Colouring Book The iconic model — with a colourful history — gets all washed out in the Colour Me Good Kate Moss Coloring Book. Just as it sounds, the stunner takes center stage in this 14-page book in outlined illustrations, ready to be brought to life with a little help from Crayola. Excuse us for being tardy for the party — we’ll admit the Kate Moss-inspired pastime Don’t think of it as child’s play (warning: not all the pictures are PG-rated), think of it as a way to spark a little creativity, think outside the box, and draw outside the lines...at least, that’s what we’ll tell our friends when they catch us scribbling away. Colour Me Good Kate Moss Coloring Book, £9.69, available at Shopbop. com

Love her or not, any pop-culture junkie has to admit that Rihanna’s rise to fame has been totally enrapturing. First, she was a Barbadian starlet with a pretty face, then she turned into a “Rude Boy” sex goddess. But when RiRi showed up in “We Found Love,” rocking some truly in-theknow brands like Henry Holland, it was clear: the girl is now a fashion force to be reckoned with. This week take two of Rihanna‘s collaboration with Armani Jeans and Emporio Armani Underwear has dropped with the addition of denim overalls, jeans, shorts, cotton basics and a leather j a c k e t , recalling the spunky t o m b o y s t y l e that she donned in videos for both “We Found Love” and “Hard,” . The Armani Jeans pieces feature a classic vintage American denim feel running throughout the collection of three denim pieces, four t-shirts, a leather jacket and a canvas bag. Designed with a boyish feel in mind, the collection aims to bring out the coltish glamour in work wear, with hidden surprises in each design. For example the denim high-waisted shorts feature a tartan

print lining that is revealed when you roll up the cuffs of the shorts. The Emporio Armani Underwear pieces take a different turn with the emphasis on comfortable, feminine basic underwear which feature a “Rihanna for Emporio Armani” inscription across the elastic. Having modelled for Armani Jeams and Emporio Armani Underwear, the relationship between Giorgio Armani and the Grammy award winning singer is one of mutual admiration. “Rihanna is a great artist. She has personality, charisma and energy, and has been a pleasure to work with,” says Armani. “She captures the young and contemporary essence of Emporio Armani Underwear and Armani Jeans perfectly.” “I have always really admired Giorgio Armani and his elegant work; I never dreamed I’d be able to collaborate with him to design unique, modern and fun clothing,” Rihanna says of the Italian fashion designer. Seren thinks this small collection is full of attitude, and deﬁnitely youthful, the Rihanna Navy will certainly be pleased. Kaden Wild

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Health & Beauty

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Summer Ball Hair Inspiration It’s only a week to go until the summer ball and with all those exams and essays you probably haven’t had time to even think about what you’re going to wear, let alone how to style your hair! Fear not because the Seren Beauty team are here to help! Get inspired from our collection of looks! Getting Reese Witherspoon’s top knot is much easier than you think! The key to getting this look right is by investing in a bun ring. 1) Gather your hair into a ponytail and put it as high as possible. 2) Put the bun ring over the ponytail and backcomb the section of hair from the ponytail with a bristle brush. 3) With the backcombed hair, place it all around the bun ring and then place a hair elastic over the top of the ring to keep the hair in place. 4) Lastly, pin any remains of the hair into the bun with grips.

Feeling Blue? With summer just around the corner, we’re dreaming of blue skies and crystal clear oceans. Sadly, our student budgets might not stretch to a week in the Seychelles so we’ll have to bring that summer feeling to our make up routines instead. Luckily for us, brilliant blues are bang on trend this summer season and, even better 2true, have got everything we need for every imaginable occasion!

Eyeshadow Dazzler in Shade 6 Coat your lids in this bold blue for a statement colour pop look!

Glossywear Nail Polish in Shade 15 Try this season’s biggest trend on your nails too!

Keep it simple like Emma Stone by opting for a relaxed up-do. 1) Pull hair back into a loose ponytail and twist it upwards. 2) Secure it randomly with pins and let the ends hang down. 3) Finish the look with a statement hair accessory.

Eyeliner Dazzler in Shade 6 Use this for a sexy sparkle to make your eyes pop!

Why not try vintage style waves like Jessica Alba? 1) Start by curling your hair with a hair wand or tongs, wrapping large sections of the hair. 2) Once all the hair is curled, use a bristle brush to gently brush out the curls into a glamorous wave. 3) Finish this style by sweeping all the hair to the side and spray with hairspray for long lasting hold and a sleek smooth ﬁnish.

Perfect Guy-Brows You might not want to admit it, but the fact of the matter is that most guys need some sort of eyebrow maintenance. Caterpillar eyebrows are simply unacceptable, and a well groomed set of brows can really frame your face. With the summer ball coming up, now is the perfect time to start getting those brows into shape! Whether you opt for waxing or plucking, Seren is here to guide you through this (relatively pain free!) process...

Fresh Breath Lip Gloss For minty fresh lips, smack on a coat of this delicious lip gloss!

ALL PRODUCTS ONLY £1.99!

This is the ultimate product to achieve effortless beach waves. Spritz the lightweight mist enriched with seaweed extract, vitamins and minerals into towel dried hair and dry with your ﬁngertips. Blake Lively eat your heart out!

TommyGuns Clever Curls and Waves Texture Spray £6.50

Waxing Not as painful as you may expect! There are home kits available, but we’d suggest getting yourself to a professional salon before trying it yourself. After you’ve been waxed a few times, the eyebrows will grow back signiﬁcantly less quickly and much ﬁner. It’s also great for getting a good initial shape, that you can then keep tidy with tweezers.

Trimming Good for those sporadic longer hairs on their brow. All that is needed is a small pair of sharp scissors and a steady hand! Simply comb the brow and trim in the direction of hair growth. Don’t get carried away though, you need some hair left!

Tweezing Great for in-between waxes. Make sure you’ve got a good pair of tweezers and, starting from the underside of the brow, move to the outer side, working in the direction of hair growth and removing one hair at a time. Be careful not to tweeze too often, you could create a kind of male-pattern baldness in your eyebrows.

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Ashleigh Answers

Here we are, the ﬁnal issue of Seren for this year, sad times indeed. To celebrate the end of your hard work and the end of an era for some of those graduating from Bangor, why not head to the Bangor Uni Summer Ball on the 26th May. The amazing folk at Mikes Bites and UNO are staying open for when us drunken students roll out of the Ball at 4am, what more could you need on a night out? It’s been emotional and I hope everyone has beneﬁtted in some way from my advice giving. Until next year…

Ashleigh xx

Home vs. Halls If you are graduating this year then this is one decision you don’t have to face. I personally don’t have to make that decision either as living off Lidl cheesy beans, pasta bake and 29p Tesco teabags (that’s 29p for 80 teabags FYI) all became too much. However, I did enjoy the occasional Morrison’s Salad Bar as a Thursday treat. If you live in the Glasgow or London areas then yes, I would probably advise you to choose halls because 3am daily commutes on the train may make you slightly insane. Personal experiences are always good for the nosey folk amongst us so here’s a glimpse into my decision. I only lived about 45 minutes away from university and thought the train commute would drive me mad so opted for halls. I have never been a ‘sick-on-my-own-feet-at-4am’ kind of gal but wanted to experience university halls and meet new people. I loved the fact that I only had to wake up 30 minutes before my lecture for the 5 minute stroll and that if I wanted a Pot Noodle sandwich then I could have one whenever I liked. Many of my nights were spent in my flat mates rooms watching The Inbetweeners and Family Guy so university in first year to me was heaven. I think I went out drinking about 3 times in the entire year in my first year in university halls, which I believe

Home

• • • • • •

May be able to get a free clothes washing service (courtesy of the parents) Home-cooked food (sometimes including the glory that is a Sunday Roast) No Rizzle Kicks blasting through your walls at 2am on a Wednesday No mouldy kitchen covered in dirty plates with leftover cheesy beans on toast Still get to see your family and friends from home often Feel more secure or supported if don’t feel conﬁdent enough to live away from home yet (you can always move to university in second year if you change your mind)

Graduating? Do not fear... By the heading of this section those who are lucky enough not to have finished university yet may not be interested in this area, but believe me it will go so fast and in no time you will be in your gown getting your scroll photo done in Main Arts, so read on. Whether you’re petrified or excited at the prospect of leaving university, it’s completely normal, as everyone feels different and copes in different ways. Finishing university is a drastic change in someone’s life, as you’re suddenly going from freedom like never before on to rules, deadlines, 9 to 5 and BEING AN ADULT. There is one thing that gives encouragement about becoming a proper working adult though, and that’s a nice big fat salary. Your ‘hard’ work in university will have paid off and you will begin the task of moving into the big wide world of work. With your fingers numb and cramped from writing the joy that is a dissertation, perhaps the largest thing you’re ever going to type in your existence, you deserve to feel happy and relaxed. And even though you’re heading into work you will still be learning new things so the fun doesn’t end at university. Your fear isn’t so much about the graduating, but more about what you’re supposed to do when you finish, or what you ‘perceive’ you should be doing. There is no set path for graduates to follow and one of the reasons that university is so diverse is that everyone can choose a different route regardless of whether you’re on the same course or completely different course. There is no set job for students with a specific degree and it is up to you to decide what you want to do, after all you must have picked your specific degree for a reason, so enjoy the options in front of you.

No one will forget their time in university whether you commuted or stayed in Bangor and the traits learnt in many aspects will be carried with you until your free bus pass arrives in the post when your 65 years old. Enjoy your summer because you deserve it, and if you’ve already secured yourself a job for when you ﬁnish university then high ﬁve to you because as we all know us brainbox uni go-ers have had it tough in recent years with regards to the ‘job after graduation’ malarkey. No one will be more proud of you than your family and friends who see you in your gown with your scroll on graduation day and that will come around faster than you believe. The university has a fantastic careers centre that run career workshops which can help you decide which path you wish to take or discuss options you may not have thought about before. They can give you interview skills, CV writing help, taster days, assessment centre practice and much more. You can give them a call on 01248 382071 or drop them an e-mail at careers@bangor.ac.uk where they can answer any questions you have or arrange to meet up to discuss your options. You can always meet with your personal tutor, as that’s what they are there for.

makes me the most boring student ever! This year being in my second year, I lived in Neuadd Willis as I wasn’t ready to go back home yet or back to reality, and so another year of 4OD, Demand 5 and BBCiPlayer took place. I feel now that I have experienced all I have to of university student living so am going to move back home and drive next year. I will have less money to spend on utility bills and more money to spend on the luxury Asda ‘Extra Special’ range instead of frozen microwavable burgers with about 3% meat in. I don’t regret living in student accommodation as it gave me independence and an experience that neither my mum nor I ever thought I’d ever get, as she did my washing until I was 19. I made amazing friends and could rival Jamie Oliver with how good my Tuna Pasta Bake is, seeing as how I’ve had 2 years to perfect it. However, realizing my new independence since being back home, my mum refuses to do my washing or let me sleep in till 1pm so maybe student accommodation didn’t seem so bad after all. To help aid that decision some of you may be making this summer, here are some things to consider on living in student accommodation and living at home;

Halls

• • • • • •

Meet new people and experience living independently Live on Lidl pizza (not Dominoes unless its ‘student loan’ day), 39p beans and 19p lemonade Flat mates Jagerbombe’d off their heads stomping in at 5am Break away from nagging parents Learning to manage your money (hopefully not in Varsity on £1-a-pint night) Experiencing more things with your chosen schools on society nights out instead of missing out through travelling

Surviving: Festivals and Camping I would have hoped to begin this sentence with ‘as its approaching summer time’, but due to the UK weather being well, UK, I shall begin by saying screw the weather, we love camping and festivals anyway. My experience of festivals is Wakestock in Abersoch and V Festival in Hylands Park. Both were equally amazing as they were dirty. It’s a tough world out there in the land of mud, port-a-loos and £10 festival burgers. I have been going camping since I was about 3 with my family and love it every time. Going camping is cheap and some places do as little as £6 per night for a tent stay. I’d say it beats going abroad any day and where better to go camping than the beautiful Welsh countryside. Eating beans and sausages out of a tin on a disposable barbecue and spending 2 hours blowing up an air-bed are the best bits. Whether your just camping or hitting the festivals, here are some essentials; •

Baby wipes (best creation ever – can use them as face wipes, deodorant wipes, cleaning wipes and toilet wipes) That’s a lot of ‘wipes’ in one sentence

•

Chewable toothbrush, as well as your normal toothbrush and toothpaste, for on-the-go freshness

•

Tins of beans, spaghetti, sausages with the ring pull openings

•

Matches unless you want to do a bear Grylls and use 2 sticks to make a ﬁre

•

Hand sanitizer

•

Dry shampoo (for the chicks primarily)

•

Wellies – a campers best friend

•

The rowdiness will have to be kept at a reasonable level so not to disturb the oldies enjoying a weekend in their caravans – but alcohol and drinking games are great around a little camp ﬁre

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Music Music Editor, Joey McNally, brings you what’s hot and what’s not in music this month

Featured Artist:

Best tracks: ‘Not Ninteen Forever’ ‘If It Wasn’t For Me’ ‘You Overdid it Doll’

Spector- Celestine It’s happening, they’re starting their takeover. More catchy than the Vaccines, and certainly more interesting, this band are going to be HUGE.

Jack White- Sixteen Saltines I honestly don’t think there’s a cooler person on the planet right now than Jack White. Apart from penguins, I’d imagine they’re pretty cool.

Blood Red Shoes- Lost Kids There should be more bands like Blood Red Shoes. The fact that there’s not is depressing. Another great effort from them.

The Saturdays- 30 Days

here’s an awful lot that can be said about these Mancunian wideboys, but mostly it should be said that you need them in your life. Originally billed as the ‘second biggest band in Manchester’ (after some band called Oasis, whoever they are), their second, more experimental album ‘Falcon’ saw them become big, then slip off the radar slightly. Rest assured that when they return you’ll know about it, and if their third album matches the witty, euphoric brilliance of their first two, they’ll be on to a winner. Great songs, great attiude and a great band. If you haven’t heard them yet, what are you waiting for?!

Is it just me, or is anyone else very bored of The Saturdays now? Sub-par compared to their usual

The Wanted- Chasing the Sun This song is quite shamelessly aimed at the ‘summer anthem’ market. Dreary and predictable.

Justin Bieber- Boyfriend How this child hasn’t been found guilty of crimes against humanity yet is beyond me.

Classic Album: Sum 41- Does This Look Infected?

credit this as the album that got me into rock music. Marking their ﬁrst album since becoming worldwide superstars with ‘All Killer No Filler’, this album ditched the pop-punk sensibilities and turned the volume up a bit. Unfortunately for the Canadians, this album didn’t go down as well, which is a shame considering it’s stuffed full of great songs, buzzsaw guitar riffs, and even the odd comedy moment. Their deﬁnitive album, and criminally underrated.

ou’ve all got a good bit of summer-lovin’ a’comin’ after these grotty exams, so it’s time you’re all exposed to Gold Panda. Although one of my Chelmsford brethren, the county of Essex inspired Gold Panda (Derwin Schlecker) only in so far as it pis*ed the fella off. A need to avoid its depressing guitar bands urged him to start sampling, and also to muck around with electronic beats made in any way possible. The lad started out by making beats on a GameBoy and loop pedal, chucking out some shi**y experimental clap-trap under the name of Kiss Akabusi, albeit only for a laugh. He had, though, unwittingly taken his first tentative steps towards the ambient, looping techno of Gold Panda. Luck Shiner (Derwin’s first album) is quickly pleasing: it wafts you into an ethereal landscape of cassette tapes, tiger t-shirts and tin toys. The cigarette crackle of dusty equipment, the yawning, moaning fizz of wires and circuitry, and the reliable, spliced, stutter of keyboards whips up a boiling sea of ear-based porn that you can’t help but disappear into: into that festival haze of electric-blue dust or behind the steam on the window from a freshly drained cuppa.

Named after Derwin’s Grandmother, Lucky Shiner is not so much the weird instrumental dance record it sets out to be, but more one of the melancholic voices of his family and friends. ‘Parents’

consists of nothing but a tickled guitar and samples of Derwin pottering around in the garden with his Grandma. There’s only so much emotion you can afford a piece of lyricless music, but Gold Panda manages it through the romantic subtext of ‘You’, the tear-stained woman he has trapped inside ‘You.’ and the downright blue frowns of ‘I’m with you but I’m lonely’. In many cases, these

reflect his fragile relationships: the ones he’s f**ked up and the musical ones that were unfulfilling but red-blooded. You are, then, free to build your own stories around his titles, and they change every time you slam that CD in the Walkman. The redolent colour coupled with the nostalgic energy of ‘India now’ and ‘Same dream China’ drag the old ears through the buzzing hues and unspoken utterances of the streets you dream of and it’s welcome respite from the drooping grey that covers poor Bangor. I assure you that once you’ve cracked this bad-boy out, there’s no going back. You’ll be jabbing expectantly at a cash machine when a sudden stab of setting-sun will catch you unawares, and you’ll slip and fumble back into Gold Panda’s half built but dream-like constructions, and you won’t want to leave till you’ve put every dream to bed. Trust (bruv). There’s naught flaccid and impotent about this Panda. His album of tangy instrumentals and rhythmic bangers will fondle, canoodle then ravage your eardrums and you will be powerless to prevent that bamboo-sucking mother-lover from doing so. Enjoy.

James Gudgeon

Best tracks: ‘Still Waiting’ ‘The Hell Song’ ‘Mr Amsterdam’

For fans of: Blink 182 Green Day

In defence of Morrissey...

ivisive though he is, Stephen Patrick Morrissey is one of the greatest music artists ever to have walked the earth. His angst-filled lyrics, his crooning soft voice, and above all THAT quiff mark him out as one of the defining artists of the indie movement, and set off a frantic arms race of bands to see who could most effectively ape his dazzlingly witty words. There’s a lot of criticism aimed at Morrissey, most notably that he flirts with nationalism and bigotry, or is indeed an actual racist. Firstly I can assure you that if I believed for one second Morrissey was a racist, I’d never listen to him again (I’d also have to throw away my Smiths t-shirt). Morrissey is not a racist. When he described the Chinese as a “sub-species”, he was talking about their animal rights record, not their ethnicity. For if there’s one thing Morrissey is, it’s a fanatic. He is fanatical about animal rights to the point where he’s walked off stage after smelling meat at festivals. His controversial comments about the shootings in Norway, that they were “nothing compared to what happens in McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Sh*t every day” are based around a value system which equates human lives with animal lives. If you take that as a given, his comments were actually rather truthful. Of course I don’t agree with him, I thought he was far from correct and in many ways rather offensive. However to Mor-

rissey, his comments were justified, simply because he values animal life so highly. It’s true that Morrissey supposedly made some rather unfortunate comments about immigration, but he claimed these were down to a misrepresentation by NME, and the court case for libel is due to get underway this year. The outcome will be of interest to us all. I have faith that Morrissey was misrepresented though, as his work with Love Music Hate Racism in the past has proven that he’s no bigot, famously stating himself that “if the National Front were to hate anyone, it would be me”. But if we forget all the mudslinging and out-of-context quotes, the music remains. The Smiths’ back catalogue is embarrassingly rich, and Morrissey’s own solo efforts more than set the bar for lead singers thinking of breaking away from their group. Simply put, the man’s a genius. I defy anyone to sit down and listen to ‘Panic’, ‘Still Ill’ or ‘Irish Blood, English Heart’ and tell me you’re not dealing with an absolute titan of the music scene. And despite all his detractors, that’s what it boils down to, the music. As Morrissey himself put it in the song ‘All You Need is Me’: “You don’t like me but you love me, either way you’re wrong, you’re going to miss me when I’m gone”.

Joey McNally

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Music

lright there chaps and chapettes! Welcome to my last ever music pages (save the tears, honestly, I know it’s devastating but get a grip!). It’s been an incredible two years, a sharp learning curve and some VERY late nights. I couldn’t have done it without a few people, like former editor Gemma, current editor Aaron, and tech guy and general design genius Dan. I’ve called a few things spot on (The Vaccines, Jessie J, Azealia Banks), and been slightly off on a few (Mona anyone?!), but in general I’ve loved every second. Hopefully there’s something that you’ll get from every Seren subeditor (including myself) and that’s a massive passion for what we do, what we talk about, and what we end up producing. I’ve tried my best to indoctrinate you lot with a few of my personal favourites, and raved about a lot of albums. I could go on forever about the songs and albums that have made me a very happy bunny, but I’m sure you can all guess some of them. Enjoy these ﬁnal pages from me and a few lovely contributors (I love the Gold Panda analysis), and I’m sure next year you’ll be in equally safe (albeit less rambunctious) hands. Speaking of which, the position of Music Editor is still open, so if you’re here for another year and you fancy giving it a red-hot crack, then email our wonderful new editor LJ at editor@seren.bangor.ac.uk.

ummer is almost upon us, everyone is finishing uni for the year and it’s finally time to take a few trips to the beach! What better time to be gifted with a new Best Coast album? ‘The Only Place’ was released on 15th May and is the Californian duo’s second album. It follows up from their well-received, scuzzy debut, Crazy For You, a surf pop record that brought the lo-fi sounds of the sunshine state to our stereos.

Goodnight Bangor, it’s been emotional. Love, hugs and a 12 inch chicken barbeque pizza,

Joe xx

The first track, The Only Place, is typical of what Best Coast are all about, “why would you live anywhere else?”, sings Bethany Consentino in her alluringly mellow voice. But the rest of the album isn’t as simple and the effort put into some tracks and lyrics gives us a new, unexpected sound from Beth and Bobb that is considerably more personal and sincere. Particularly the finishing song, Up All Night, it is an instant favourite and ends the album beautifully. The appeal of Crazy For You was the lo-fi guitar sounds and general vibe of carefree youth, The Only Place is notably a lot more than this. The lyrics and sounds are more refined and the album seems to have been taken more seriously; no more are we hearing tales of Bethany’s cat and the pleasures of smoking weed, “I want to be a better girl”, sings Consentino in the aptly named track, Better Girl. Though the charming, hazy sound that the duo achieved has not been entirely lost, evident in The Only Place, Last Year and Dreaming My Life Away, they’re still capable of sending us into a daydream of sea and sand and The Only Place is set to be the sound of summer 2012.

Sean Talbot

ast issue I reviewed the ﬁrst single from the new album, the incredible Primadonna, and since the eagerly anticipated album has been released I couldn’t wait to get my teeth sunk into another review. Electra Heart cannot be described merely in one word. Marina’s latest work packs a whole array of

genres and themes taking you on an emotional journey through the highs and low of society and her life. The opening track ‘Bubblegum Bitch’ lyrically reveals a more playful, Avril Lavigne-esque side to Marina with a punky edge, something seen throughout the album with often childish, self-indulgent lyrics. However, this happy-golucky attitude is drastically juxtaposed throughout the album. The constant change from rock bottom low to sky high happiness plays with our emotions and leaves us in a daze, with regards what to expect next. The most obvious explanation to these lyrical mood swings would be that once scratched beneath the surface, the album reveals a much more personal theme. This reﬂection upon her life, in all fairness seems rather

depressing, reminiscing over futile crushes and squandered youth. Although due to the never ending dance beat pounding throughout most songs, any negative connotations are quickly disbanded: let the raving commence. Lies, Living Dead and Homewrecker, despite being personal favourites, are a perfect example of the range Marina gives us in this latest instalment. Lies, complete with damning lyrics and topped off with a dubstep based chorus demonstrates the size of Marina’s musical spectrum. The same rings true for Living Dead and Homewrecker which contribute massively to making this album. This cluster of genres and themes, produced with such care and a personal ‘Marina touch’ to each song demonstrates not only Marina’s development as a musician, but her metamorphosis to maturity. Regardless of this change, each track retains the ‘Marina quality’. However, none more than bonus track ‘Buy the Stars’ which ends our journey with Marina on a more familiar, raw note. Electra Heart is a musical exhibition of the progress Marina has made, proving that she is far more than just a one trick pony. As mentioned in my previous article, Marina has suffered criticism from fans and critics for her change of musical direction and adoption of a more mainstream style. The music is listenable for all music lovers, yes of course this means she is technically mainstream, but there are few artists who can accomplish a task such as this, delving in and out of each genre, and manage to do a good job of it. Electra Heart is a manifestation of Marina’s talents and since the release of the album, has received no end of praise from critics and most importantly, her fans.

Toby Raynsford

hese days not a lot of bands or solo artists stick around very long, a lot of them have a hit and then fall off the radar until an unsuccessful second album. Metallica, on the other hand, have been around for thirty plus years and are still going strong. Last August marked the twentieth anniversary of Metallica’s fifth studio album, aptly named ‘Metallica’ but better known to fans as the ‘Black album’, and the band just this month embarked on their anniversary tour. The tour kicked off in Prague on the 7th of May and will end in Nickelsdorf, Austria at the Nova Rock Festival on June 10th. It’ll take the band across Europe and see them headlining a number of festivals over the summer with their only UK date being at Download Festival, in Donington Park on June 9th, the penultimate date of the tour. During the tour the band will be playing the ‘Black’ album in its entirety in reverse order, it was revealed by drummer Lars Ulrich late last year. ‘Black’ is the album responsible for a number of Metallica’s biggest hits with the band releasing five singles from it; ‘Enter Sandman’, ‘The Unforgiven’, ‘Nothing Else Matters’, ‘Sad But True’ and ‘Wherever I May Roam’. Twenty years later each one is still huge with the Metallica fans and well known across the rock and metal industry. The album’s release saw it debuting at number one in ten different countries and to date has sold 25 million copies worldwide, the band’s best-selling album. In 2009 the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) certified it 15 times platinum (diamond) and 2003 saw it ranked at 252 in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. So its fair to say that ‘Black’ is a good album. From the heavy hitting ‘Enter Sandman’ through to the softer ‘Nothing Else Matters’ all the way to the marching band like drum intro of ‘The Struggle Within’ the album delivers. It will forever remain the backbone of Metallica’s archive and has secured its place in rock history for decades to come.

LJ Taylor

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Books

May Issue 2012

Seren’s Summer Reads So it’s that time of year: your exams and essays are coming to an end, and the long expanse of summer stretches out before you. This is no bad thing, summer is a time to relax and enjoy life, and what is better than having a few good books piled up ready to read? These are books that you’ve not got round to reading because of Uni work; they are novels or collections of essays of interesting scientific works; whatever you like, whatever keeps you entertained and, most of all, whatever goes best with a chair in the sun, an ice cold glass of something, some summer tunes and that wonderful feeling of freedom. Here are just a few books that Seren thinks you should put on your summer reading list. Enjoy!

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Combining the surreal wit that comprises a lot of British comedy with brilliant storytelling, action set pieces and an ability to not let you go; The Eyre Affair is a mercurial novel that is perfect for those sunny afternoons. Thursday Next is a LiteraTec, a police officer responsible for investigating literaturebased crimes. Yes, in this universe the icons of literature are revered more than any pop icon or Kardashian troglodyte; making for some peculiar and hilarious reveals as we, the reader, find out more about this increasingly strange and interesting world. Follow Thursday as she battles with Acheron Hades, a man who is completely immoral, across literature.

Freakonomics by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner

Fancy something a little different than your average fiction paperback? Freakonomics is just the thing; a book compiled by two economists on how the world actually works. By applying economics and the theory that incentives affect everything, from the roots upwards, to pop culture examples, we are taken on a wonderfully bizarre journey. From information control as applied to the KKK and real-estate agents, to the economics of drug dealing (where we learn of the surprisingly low income of cocaine dealers), this book will re-educate you and reinvigorate your sense of wonder and bemusement with the world. You will watch the news differently after reading this, and so you should.

Ghostwritten by David Mitchell David Mitchell (no, not the comedian) is one of the most critically ac-

claimed authors of the last few years. You have probably heard of his Cloud Atlas, well, Ghostwritten is better. The story is split between 10 locations, all with their own distinctly intriguing characters and stories. From a terrorist hiding out after an attack, to the tale of an elderly woman who has lived on a Holy Mountain in China her entire life. A complex tapestry of life is woven, with thrilling set pieces, mild fantasy elements and, throughout, a sense that we are learning more about humanity through these slightly surreal tales than we ever have before.

Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon Jupiter’s Travels is the original Long Way Down. Ted Simon travels the length

of Africa, the American continents, Oceania and part of Asia on his Triumph motorbike and this is his travel log. He encounters generous people of Africa, holy men in India, is arrested in Brazil, lives on a commune in America, gets drunk with truckers, has his skin saved by monks- this is no ordinary travel book! We see his packs get smaller, his instincts get sharper, we enjoy his minor victories as if they are ours and experience his disappointments just as tangibly. The Triumph powers through 64,000 miles of culture shocks and Simon writes eloquently and convincingly about what he experiences.

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Even if you’re not into science fiction, The Forever War is a classic that you should read before you shuffle off this mortal coil. One of the defining books of the genre for the last forty years, Joe Haldeman’s novel ponders on a simple question, with a complex scientific background: What would happen if you returned home from time on another planet, only to know that centuries have passed on Earth? Our protagonist is a scientist which means, in this future, that he has been conscripted into the United Nations Exploratory Force. He and his fellow scientist-soldiers face alien attacks and, ultimately, the psychological effects of being displaced hundreds of years into the future.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

David Sedaris is a celebrated humorist whose essays are always guaranteed to bring an unbidden laugh, even on those rainy days that we are treated to far too often in the British summer. This is his sixth collection of essays but he is no less witty, observant or oblique with his views. From describing how he went about safeguarding his house from neurotic songbirds by taping LP’s onto the windows (in hopes that the album covers would scare the birds off ), to re-telling what a New York cab driver had openly told him about his sex life; these essays are un-missable works on the innate comedy that pervades life on this planet.

Making History by Stephen Fry

Ever wondered what it’d be like to go back and make sure that Hitler was never born? We’d all love to do it, but what would the consequences be? In Making History, his best novel, Stephen Fry explores the idea in a witty, engaging story based on history, hatred and love. We follow a budding academic, Michael, who meets a physicist who has developed a machine that can look back at history. Working together they update the machine so that it can send objects back; sending a contraceptive pill into the well from where Hitler’s father drank. The problem with meddling with history is that everything changes, as Michael soon discovers.

Velocity by Dean Koontz

For fans of a good paperback thriller that does the job better than most, Velocity is perfect. Koontz sets up the premise well; we, through the protagonist, are presented with a moral conundrum in the form of a note left from a mysterious person known only as ‘the freak’. Either Billy Wiles takes the note to the police or he doesn’t, but whatever he chooses to do will lead to a different murder. If he doesn’t take it to the police, a young blonde school teacher will die; if he does, an elderly woman will be killed. What will Wiles do? What would you do? A cracking read.

AFromThousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini the author of The Kite Runner, this is a sublime novel which will

take you in a bear hug of fine writing and wrenching story. Mariam and Laila are two Afghani women, of completely different ages, who are thrown together because of the masculine world they inhabit. Their tale twists into a survival story when the Taliban descend on Kabul, turning the already religiously charged world into a place which is downright dangerous to live in. You will weep, you will smile and you will love this book.

Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O’Malley Made popular by the Edgar Wright film, the Scott Pilgrim series is a must have, even for non-comic readers. This, the first in the series, sets up Scott, a Canadian twenty-something slacker who plays video games and is in a band. One day he meets Ramona Flowers, a mysteriously peculiar girl who he ends up going home with. She warns him, however, that he will have to defeat her seven evil exes in order to go out with her. Filled with pop culture references, witty dialogue and brilliantly realised action scenes, this superbly drawn book will have you scoffing down the next five volumes in no time.

The Last Arakad by Guillaume Wolf

new author is stepping onto the scene in the form of Guillaume Wolf, author of The Last Arakad. Gaining fans through the social networking site Facebook, Wolf attracted interest for his novel by weekly releasing new chapters on the internet which fans quickly snapped up. ‘Do you believe in destiny? When young female

protagonist Maya and her younger brother Thomas move from Los Angeles to Paris to live with their reclusive family friend Uncle D. after the death of their father and their mother becoming gravely ill, they did not suspect what thrilling adventures would await them. Discovering that all is not lost as it seems, everything that these two young characters knew and believed in is about to change. What starts as an initiation into the mysterious age-old order called the Arakad soon takes a drastic turn for the worse as string of brutal murders turns Maya’s world upside down. Finding herself in the centre of a violent battle between good and evil which puts the future of humanity at stake, she struggles against being caught up in the clutches of an ancient prophecy. As she becomes the ultimate target of an evil clan, the choice falls to Maya as to

whether she will learn to trust herself and the power she holds or whether she fall prey to her own fears. A thought-provoking and inspiring idea, when I started reading this novel I was hooked immediately, which is one of those rare but fantastic qualities to find in a book. The author has clearly done his research and it shows in his writing. Captivating from the start, the readers see a change go through Maya, and the two young characters are easy to relate to; the author doesn’t make them perfect and flawless, but instead makes them humans that make mistakes and with this comes a sense of realism. The plot is moving and never dull, constantly sweeping the reader up into the world that has been created and making it an impossible story to walk away from. A definite must-read!

Nicola Hoban

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I W

hen Being Human first premiered back in 2009 it took the UK by storm. The show quickly became one of the most popular shows on BBC iPlayer and has been comissioned for a fifth season. A British TV show that’s become a cult phenomenon naturally was going to be snatched by the Americans. However, unlike shows such as Life On Mars US, Being Human US works. The show first launched in January, 2011 following the same premise as the UK version, a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost sharing a house. Being Human US is set in the city of Boston and begins with vampire Aidan (Sam Witwer), named after Aidan Turner the actor who plays the UK version’s vampire, looking for a house with werewolf Josh (Sam Huntington). The two work together Suffolk County Hospital, but later their backstory is revealed and we start to understand how a vampire and a werewolf, enemies in legend, became so close. Being Human isn’t about a vampire and a werewolf who share a house for the hell of it though. The two want to feel normal for once; Aidan has been trying to leave behind his past and not drink live blood and Josh has run away from his family because he’s afraid of what he is, and so they decide that they will rent a house together and try to live a normal life. The house, however, turns out to be haunted and their hopes of living a normal life are shattered as they now have to share the place with Sally (Meaghan Rath) the ghost of a young woman murdered there. The show’s first season gave audiences the chance

he third season of The Vampire Diaries has been an emotional rollercoaster, packing one hell of a punch. With a rapidly moving plot, the script ensures it supplies the audience with an aneurism every episode, keeping fans on edge with their hearts in their mouths. A hit supernatural drama The Vampire Diaries, developed by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, is loosely based on the book series of the same name written by L.J. Smith. Premiering in September 2009, the series takes place in the fictional Mystic Falls, a small town haunted by supernatural beings including vampires, werewolves, witches and hybrids, plus a ton of ghosts. The series focuses around protagonist Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) and the love triangle between her and vampire brothers Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder). We are also introduced to fellow characters Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), Elena’s younger brother, best friends witch Bonnie Bennett (Kat Graham), and vampire Caroline Forbes (Candice Accola), plus ex-boyfriend Matt Donovan (Zach Roerig), his best friend werewolf-turned-hybrid Tyler Lockwood (Michael Trevino), and Elena and Jeremy’s aunt Jenna Sommers (Sara Canning), their new guardian. Throw in history teacher/vampire-hunter Alaric Saltzman (Matthew Davis), a supernatural-hating town council, and the Salvatore brothers malevolent sire Katherine Pierce, who like Elena is a doppelganger, and a family of unbeatable original vampires, and it’s a great big mesh of emotion and confliction. It is ridiculous how flawless this cast are, not just in appearances but also in their acting skills. The third season has somewhat been rushed in plot development, and it is true that certain factors could have been dragged out for a few more episodes. The introduction of the vampire

to get to know each of the main three characters and pitted them against a number of different challenges. Aidan finds himself struggling to escape the clutches of his maker Bishop (Mark Pellegrino). Josh has to come to terms with the fact that he is now a werewolf while Sally discovers how she really died. One of the greatest parts of the show though, other than its immersive storylines, is the chemistry between the cast. Its easy to believe that Witwer, Huntington and Rath could live together. While the show is essentially about these three supernatural beings sharing a house they all have separate storylines that intertwine as the boundaries of their friendships are tested. The second season premiered in January this year and so far has taken the now developed characters and thrown them into even more intense storylines but again always returns back to the importance of their friendship. With Bishop gone Boston’s vampire underworld is in the hands of Aidan, while Josh deals with the fact that he’s turned his girlfriend into a werewolf and Sally tries to accept that she passed her chance to cross over and they deal with all of this from their kitchen. As of yet there appears to be no plan to broadcast the show in the UK but its one of those shows that’s worth going out of your way to watch, the show constantly delivers episode after episode. If you’re a UK Being Human fan then chances are you might enjoy the American take on the show and either way if you’re a fan of supernatural dramas it definitely worth a watch.

LJ Taylor

Originals at the end of Season 2 where we met brothers Elijah Mikaelson (Daniel Gillies) and hybrid Klaus Mikaelson (Joseph Morgan) was carried on smoothly into Season 3 where we meet fellow family members Rebekah (Claire Holt), Kol (Nathaniel Buzolic) and Finn (Casper Zafer). We also meet Original parents vampire-hunter Mikael (Sebastian Roche) and witch mother Esther (Alice Evans) who are continuously plotting to destroy their abominable children. Parents of the year clearly! Throughout Season 3, we see Stefan be compelled by Klaus to forget his love for Elena and go all out vampire on a blood-drinking binge, while Klaus uses Elena’s doppelganger blood to create his vampire-werewolf hybrid army, as her friends and the overbearing but infatuated Damon is trying to protect her while trying to save Stefan. All while they try to kill the Originals but not get killed in the process. This show does have its flaws: it is over-rushed, the plot is all over the place and the love triangle factor is starting to get old. The ending of Season 3 was predictable in places but mainly because they had to happen to shake the show up and allow for the game to change for the next season. However, this show does have strengths clearly represented by the millions of fans screaming through their tears at the TV screen, eagerly awaiting next week’s episode If you do to choose to start watching The Vampire Diaries (and I recommend that you do) you will not regret it, though buy some tissues! Also, for those of you that have watched the Season 3 Finale, I share your pain! The Vampire Diaries will return with Season 4 September 2012.

Nicola Hoban

f you’re reading this I’m going to assume that you’re on American time, because it seems in the UK the only realistic way you can watch Glee is online. As Graduation rapidly approaches, Gleeks start to prepare to say farewell to key characters that have been there from day one. Can you imagine Glee without Kurt, Finn, Rachel or Santana? Would you watch Glee without independent Quinn, or diva Mercedes? Or are you actually tired of Finchel and want something fresh? The mid season finale, left us witnessing Quinn in what looked like a fatal car crash. The series’ writers have been criticised for sucking all potential drama from this story line. When the series started again, did we see her in a critical condition with the New Directions praying for her survival? Oh no, she was there in the choir room first episode back. Sure she was in a wheelchair, but with a promise that with psychical therapy, she would be up and walking soon enough and otherwise happy and healthy. It tested the relationship of Finchel, Finn realised he hadn’t actually planned what he was going to do in New York, while Rachel danced into musicals on Broadway. The temptation of Puck’s offer moving to LA to expand his pool cleaning business briefly pulled Finn away, long enough to make Rachel realise she had been selfish, sung Finn a song and apologised, and they were back together again. Klaine’s relationship was briefly tested when Kurt encountered a very complimentary Chandler in the music shop. A fellow student aspiring to Broadway fame in New York who won Kurt’s number with the line “us future New Yorkers gotta stick together,” and proceeded to text Kurt nonstop. Blaine found the texts and accused Kurt of cheating. Kurt defended that Chandler complimented him, something Blaine never did. A hurt Blaine then performed “It’s not Right but it’s OK,” Kurt told Chandler not to text him again and once again they were back together. In recent episodes we’ve seen tributes to John Travolta, Whitney Housten and even a guest star Whoopi Goldberg. Rachel possibly gave her best performance yet when she performed Kelly Clarkson’s “Cry” at the end of the shocking “Choke” episode. Glee Project winner Samuel Larsen as Joe Hart, seems to be having more of a storyline than fellow winner, Irish Damian. Joe has been helping Quinn with her physical therapy, and of course has developed a crush on her, but with Quinn about to graduate, could this possible romance realistically develop into anything before she leaves? We’ve also seen The Glee Project’s final offering,

BC’s The Voice launched earlier on this year and is a concept brought across from the Netherlands. The voice like many current popular television programmes is a reality TV show based around singing. However this show harbours a difference, initially the contestants take part in a blind audition where the “coaches” cannot see them. This means that the usually shocking auditions (anyone remembers Amanda Holden’s reaction to Susan Boyle) become much less surreal as the coaches just get simply blown away by p owerful voices. If a coach wants to recruit an act to their team they had to hit a button turning their chair around and revealing the then delighted contestant to them; often resulting in high fives and air punches when they realised most acts still fit in with the pop star image. If one or more of the famous coaching line up (will.I.am, Jessie J, Sir Tom Jones and Danny O’Donogue) turn around they must then name drop their way into the contestant’s heart; this often ends up with some witty lines such as my personal favourite “he’s got tactics I’ve got tictacs, ‘cause I stay fresh holla” from the ever-so-cheeky will.I.am. The coaches, in my personal opinion,

for this series, in the form of Wade Adams (Alex Newell). Seemingly a lovechild of Kurt and Mercedes, he goes to them for advice on performing in drag, at Regionals with Vocal Adrenaline. They tell him not in to for fear of him getting hurt. But Wade defies both of their advice and goes behind team leader, Jess St James’s back, performs in full drag, (making a remarkably convincing woman) winning the audience and Regionals. Season two of The Glee Project starts in June, so maybe by the time we get a new series of Glee we’ll be seeing even more new faces. Sue meanwhile, is told if the New Directions don’t win Nationals, then she will lose her position as coach of the Cheerios. So she does everything in her power to encourage the New Directions and in a very unlike Sue way, is nice to them. She doesn’t let on her selfish intentions though she blames it all on hormone surges as a result of her baby (which we still don’t know the father of yet.) In the last dinosaur themed prom episode, the boys of the New Directions performed One Direction’s “What makes you beautiful” complete with boy band choreography. We saw Rachel finally looking very glamorous, and more like Lea Michele at a premiere than Miss Berry. The season finale this week is a two hour special. Previews have hinted that the first half, is to be a dream that Tina has, after hitting her head. She imagines herself as Rachel, and the whole of the Glee club swap roles. Mark Salling as Blaine (with hair!) which means, oh yes, Darren Criss with Puck’s mow hawk. With Tina as Rachel can only mean Rachel with Tina’s goth make up and Kurt and Finn swapped should be very interesting. I won’t give away anything else but I’ll just say there’s also some gender swapping too, with even the adults not acting like themselves. With Graduation upon them, perhaps the Glee club will finally win Nationals...

Heather Boyles

show a very wise selection from the production team behind The Voice, not only are they coming across as quite likable characters, they span a wide variety of music tastes and generational gaps. Sir Tom Jones, whilst being loved by one and all will be more familiar to the older generations where as will.I.am and Jessie J will have more mainstream appeal. Despite being a seemingly controversial choice Irish singer Danny O’Donoghue hosts a wide range of musical achievements including two best selling albums with his band The Script. The coaches, named so, because they do not judge the singers, rather than acquire them for their team in order to love and nurture their talents, seemingly pick acts that follow their own style. Whilst some (mainly Sir Tom Jones) steer away from their own personal section of the music industry the other three chose acts that they felt they could look after best (any singer would learn from the man himself though surely). Following the team selection and blind auditions the coaches rally around a counterpart and start preparing their acts for the chop (they all had to lose half of their original 10) before the public are unleashed in a public vote; which has caused quite a stir as over 30 people complained at the show being pre-recorded. All in all the Voice has provided a refreshing change from the usual type of Saturday night reality show that we’ve been plagued with in the past, and I know I for one have actually heard some of the artists and thought “yeah I’d probably give their record and a chance and see how well it ends up”, which I know is something that the likes of the X Factor have yet to provide me with.

Matt Jackson

he Avengers...how do we even begin to express our adoration for this film!? As the opening credits appeared on the screen we were excitedly tapping each other’s shoulders, internally screaming and wriggling in our seats like puppies. After all, we’d waited what felt like a millenium to see it. The Avengers is quite possibly the super-hero film to end all other superhero films, in true writer-producer Joss Whedon fashion – this man does nothing half-arsed. Featuring an incredible cast, The Avengers sees the formation of a group of dysfunctional, broken super humans who are brought together by the head of the agency S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to defend Earth from an ‘alien’ invasion led by the villainous Loki (Tom Hiddleston), adopted brother of Asgardian demigod Thor (Chris Hemsworth). Along with Thor, the other members of the Avengers Initiative are Tony Stark aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers aka Captain America (Chris Evans), Bruce Banner aka The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Clint Barton aka Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). Recurring characters from the previous Marvel films are also brought back, including Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), plus new characters such as Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders). The characters and the actors that play them in this film are flawless from beginning to end and the transition from their individual films was executed perfectly. In fact, in The Avengers we see more character development than we do in the individual films. From the get go in this film, there is not one boring or uninteresting moment. Whedon manages to make every minute count for something as he throws the audience into the beginning of the action. Although the characters were brought into the film somewhat quickly this was necessary to keep the plot moving at a pace that kept the audience on the edges of their seat (to be honest we had practically melted onto the floor in a puddle of emotion by the time Thor was introduced). It was interesting to see the interactions between the four main characters, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk, all dominant characters who have previously stood alone in their battles. Unsurprisingly, their personalities and egos clashed with an all out fight breaking out between Iron Man and Thor upon the latter’s

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first appearance. Captain America then gets involved, in an attempt to control the hot-headed demi-God and the self-obsessed billionaire. The result is a perfectly written scene in which all their powers cancel one another out, with Iron Man’s suit being no match for the strength of Thor’s hammer, which in turn had no effect on Captain America’s shield and lightning produced by Thor powering Iron Man’s suit to 400% capacity. It’s the beginning of a perfect realisation that together they are unbeatable. None of the characters in this film overshadow each other, which we thought was brilliant and those characters we hadn’t seen much of in previous Marvel films were given a little more character development in terms of back story and relationships (We demand a Black Widow film now please!). The witty banter and emotional talks in The Avengers was typical Whedonstyle, constantly provoking laughter or heart-breaking sobs whilst still adding to the characters and taking nothing away from the plot. Particular comedy highlights came in the form of interactions between Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts and Tony Stark whose chemistry, we’re glad to say, was unchanged in the hands of a different writer. Intertextuality, understandably, plays a huge part in The Avengers with four epic films and even more beloved Marvel characters thrown into one. One of the best references by far though; “Hulk. Smash.” As has become habit with Marvel films we even get a cameo from creator Stan Lee and a number of plot points suggest a little more character crossovers in the upcoming individual sequels. For example, we’d love for Tony Stark to keep his word and bring Banner to visit his lab at some point during Iron Man 3. Speaking of Iron Man, yes we said that Whedon did a fantastic job of making sure not to favour one character over the others, but Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man really shines. Perhaps it’s because his character has had more chance to warm our hearts in both Iron Man and Iron Man 2, perhaps it’s Downey Jr’s magnificent portrayal of Stark or perhaps we’re just partial to red and gold metal. Either way, we can’t help but fall in love with Stark all over again. Despite having the most to lose, he’s now in a ‘stable-ish’ (his words not ours) relationship with Pepper (and her cheeky, sneaky shorts) and is the head of a billion dollar company, he is prepared to make the greatest

sacrifice to ensure the Earth’s safety and really pulls at your heartstrings in the film’s climatic finale. As much as we love him, he’s definitely not the only star of the show; we would just like to take a moment to honour one of our favourite characters, Agent Phil Coulson who represents The Avengers fandom perfectly – if you’ve seen The Avengers and flailed over it as much as we did you’ll understand. He may be a minor character but Agent Coulson plays a huge part in both Iron Man movies, tasked with getting Stark on board the Avenger’s Initiative, and is an integral part in getting The Avengers to stop comparing weapons and finally work as the team that the Earth needs. For us, the crowning scene of Whedon’s Avenger’s is the final battle scene. You have to congratulate the guy on not only creating such a fantastic movie but for doing it without favouring one character over another. Our favourite part sees the complete team in the middle of a warstricken New York fighting off Loki’s attack. Sounds simple enough with modern day technology, right? It’s not just any slapped together fight scene though, the camera expertly follows our heroes from sharpshooter Hawkeye on the rooftops all the way through to Captain America and Black Widow fighting on the streets below. It’s a ridiculously impressive piece of film that perfectly links up our heroes with Hulk and Thor taking out an alien midair while Iron Man zooms past. No film is without its problems though and The Avengers does have one or two problems: One is that we didn’t feel the development of Banner’s control over the Hulk was covered very well, more that it was actually skimmed over and the change seemed rather drastic and sudden to get him into the battle. Secondly, we would have liked to see more kick-ass action from Nick Fury in the (epic) battle scene, rather than him practically sitting on the sidelines waiting for his team to do the job. These are our only complaints with the film though, and we cannot wait for it to come out onto DVD which is why you’ll more than likely spot us at the cinema getting our Avengers fix and heavily anticipating the obvious sequel film and individual films to follow.

Nicola Hoban and LJ Taylor

The Avengers

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When renowned gamma radia tion expert Dr Bruce Banner ﬁnds himself in the middle of an attem pt to reinvent the super-soldier sche me, Hulk things turn a little bit ugly. In order to protect people from hims elf and ‘the other guy’, The Hulk, Banner, goes into hiding. But when Loki threatens the Earth’s safety Nick Fury knows that not only does he need Banner’s expe rtise on his side but also his unimaginable power. The only problem is can Banner control himself when he see’s green?

to take Odin, is set Thor, son of become King d an e ac pl his father’s ignites the until he re d Thor of Asgard gardian’s an As e th n t ho s hi war betwee at ants. Furious the Frost Gi shes Thor to ir Odin bani to -headed he rn the right ea y of wielding t us m he come worth Earth where ce again be from The on d rth an Ea rs e th we his godly po r protecting te her, Loki, Af ot ir. br ln lf jo ha , M ad the hammer his power-m s found ha by ki e Lo er th at th nt to him. Now Destroyer, se to Thor ed up rn tu its , re er e ov rs ar nt on taking Thor’s powe be planet. llr ei he , th g rth ectin to Ea ger’s in prot his way back en Av e Th t d assis to return an

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Cap

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here are many to whom the mere mention of Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Fireplay) will instantly increase their interest in something. But, until The Avengers put him firmly into the Hollywood spotlight, there were many who had never heard the name – those are most likely the people not rushing out to see this independent horror film he created alongside writer/director Drew Goddard (Cloverfield/Lost). That the film was granted little advertisement worked in its favour – to go into Cabin in the Woods with more than a hint of the plot could seriously damage viewing pleasure. This is not your average horror film; there is no set up to be inevitably paid off twenty minutes from the end. The story, more than a series of jumpy moments, although there are plenty, moves as one excellent arc through proceedings. Every time you think you’ve cottoned onto something the story moves again and the entire experience steps up another notch. Of course there are obvious references to the horror genre played with by the film – The Evil Dead being the most obvious. But it’s important to note that The Cabin in the Woods is not a spoof. It is an all out horror film from start to finish. That is not to say, however, that it isn’t funny. At times it is so much so that it could rival any of the year’s comedy films for nailing a joke in exactly the right way. There is no humour gained in the genre’s standard way – through the use of cringe worthy awful clichés – the humour is thoroughly intended and it works in the films favour. Softening the tension just enough so that each time it returns the audience is more on edge. The cast, as might be expected, contains multiple actors from Joss

Whedon’s other projects – most notably Chris Hemsworth (The Avengers) and Fran Kranz (Dollhouse) as well as other minor characters. Each cast member brings something and each is in his or her own way excellent but the two standout performances are those of Kranz and leading lady Kristen Connolly. Connolly, a relatively unknown actress before The Cabin in the Woods, holds much of the plot weight on her own, particularly in scenes in which she is alone on camera. Kranz brings comedy when needed but the rest of the time heightens tension and makes observations set to draw audience attention whilst claiming himself many new fans as Cabin’s best actor and one of the main reasons for the films excellent developments. It is difficult to review Cabin in the Woods as one might any other film. Whereas normally it might be expected to see hints of a plot in a review, for the purposes of this film it seems necessary to give away nothing. The film is a gamechanger in many respects and its everunfolding plot sets it leagues above the majority of modern production line horror. Cabin in the Woods is a terrifying experience, occasionally poking fun at the genre but forever highlighting what it is that makes horror lovers so dedicated, and when funny, it’s hilarious. It already looks set to be the horror film of the year, if not one of the films of the year, and hopefully now on the back of The Avengers more people will get the chance to see it. A must see.

merican Reunion is the fourth instalment of the original American Pie series and the eighth film for the American Pie Franchise. American Reunion brings back the original cast thirteen years after they have graduated high school when they gather for a ‘Class of ‘99’ reunion and a weekend together. Instead of people being intimate with apple pies, the storyline has moved on to depict the frustrating relationship problems of parents Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) and the frustration of being boring adults who have day jobs and relationships to maintain. When we meet the rest of the cast, their lives aren’t perfect and this American Pie instalment tells the story of a group of adults who simply cant be satisfied… in more ways than one. For this film, all of the original cast are back. Seann

Film

William Scott reprises his role as Steve Stifler, Chris Klein is back as OZ, Eddie Kaye Thomas as Finch and it wouldn’t be an American Pie film without Eugene Levy as Noah Levenstein, a.k.a Jim’s Dad. Other characters back include Kevin Myers (Thomas Ian Nicholas), Vicky (Tara Reid), and Stifler’s Mom (Jennifer Coolidge). This is the first film that all of the original cast have been together in since American Pie 2 in 2001. As an American Pie fan I was genuinely looking forward to reliving my teenage days watching this group of funny guys back on the big screen. American Reunion is funny and there are some great laugh out loud moments but I don’t think the film is as good as I expected. A lot of the jokes are recycled from previous Pie films and sometimes it felt like the writers where trying too hard to make this film great. It is clear that the cast have grown up and there is an attempt at a more grown up storyline but in all honesty it falls flat on its face. One minute you are watching Jim and Michelle be parents to their young son and the next, you see boobs, sex and bondage and any sense of adulthood disappears. If you are a fan of the American Pie films then you will enjoy this instalment. It fits in with the franchise well, it certainly feels like an American Pie film and it follows on from the previous films nicely. Seann William Scott and Eugene Levy are the stars of the film. Sometimes it feels like a Stifler film as he gets the best laughs but these two characters certainly got the most laughs out of the entire cast. The soundtrack is also something to look out for. It is great and accompanies the film perfectly. Songs are provided by artists including Good Charlotte, Cobra Starship and Boyz II Men. Overall it is funny and does make you laugh but it is questionable as to how much further this franchise can go. The cast are getting too old to be playing these silly jokes and the storylines just aren’t developing enough. It seems that American Pie just wants to be the film that you love at 15 because it’s a bit naughty and explains your teenage angst.

Amy Westlake

Tom Knott

The summer of cinema

he Avengers opened the spring cinema season on 26th April and has already set and broken records. Taking over $1 billon dollars worldwide, The Avengers has left the door open nicely for a summer cinema season of superhero’s, aliens, fairytale characters and rock gods. Ofﬁcially kicking off the 2012 summer cinema season is Men in Black 3, which is released on 25th May. The ﬁlm reunites Will Smith (Agent J) and Tommy

Lee Jones (Agent K) as Agent J travels back to the 1960s to stop an alien from assassinating Agent K. More alien life will be hitting cinema screens with the release of Prometheus on 1st June. From the creators of the Alien franchise, Prometheus precedes the events of Alien but is not directly related to the original film. Prometheus will be presented in IMAX 3D as well as RealD 3D. A sequel has already been hinted at and it has been said that if another Prometheus film is made then it will step further away from the Alien series. As well as some major blockbusters being released early in the summer, cinema-goers can also expect to see Snow White and the Huntsmen released on 30th May. Rock of Ages is released in cinemas on 15th June and is the film adaptation of the popular stage show. Set in 1987 Los Angeles, Drew and Sherrie are two young people chasing their dreams in the big city. The cast includes Tom Cruise, Julianne Hough and Catherine Zeta Jones and is the only musical released this summer season. The Ice Age franchise will be releasing a fourth instalment, Ice Age; Continental Drift on 13th July. Also released on this day, a film bound to pull in female audiences, is Magic Mike, which is a film, based on the life of a male stripper, Magic Mike (Channing Tatum). Alongside Channing Tatum is Matthew McConaughey, Alex Pettyfer and Joe Manganiello, The film adaptation of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, staring Dominic Cooper and Benjamin Walker is released on 2nd August. The 16th President of the United States discovers vampires are planning to take over the United States and he makes it his mission to eliminate them. Following this, Dwayne Johnson and Channing Tatum are back with the release of GI Joe: Retaliation as part

of the GI Joe franchise on 3rd August. August is a good month for film releases and as well as the films already discussed, The Bourne Legacy starring Jeremy Renner is released on 13th August and follows the story of a new CIA operative. If you’re not a fan of the Bourne films then released on the same day is Brave, a Disney film that tells the story of Princess Merida who brings chaos to her kingdom and has to rely on her bravery and archery skills to undo a beastly curse. The Expendables 2 is due for release on 17th August and brings back the cast of the first film for what should be an easy pay check, but when a man is killed on the job, their quest for revenge puts them into enemy territory and up against an unexpected threat. For those unaware, the cast includes Jason Statham, Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Younger fans of the films can expect to see Liam Hemsworth in this installment. Following on from the success of The Avengers, this summer is once again filled with great superhero films. The Amazing Spider-Man is released in the UK on 3rd July and is a new take on the Spiderman series. Andrew Garfield is the new Spiderman and is accompanied on screen by Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. This Spiderman film is presented in 3D and was entirely filmed in 3D so this one might be worth watching just for a great 3D experience. A sequel to The Amazing Spider- Man is already in the works and is set for release in 2014. Hot on the heels of Spiderman, the highly anticipated The Dark Knight Rises is released on 20th July and is bound to be the film of the summer. The cast alone, which includes Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine has caused fans of

the Batman franchise to get excited early and with Christopher Nolan filming over an hour of footage in IMAX, this is surely going to give The Avengers some competition. This will be the last Batman film that director Christopher Nolan creates and is likely to be the last Batman film that Christian Bale stars in. If this doesnt make you want to watch, then I don’t know what will! This summer cinema season is bound to be a successful one for cinema and is sure to bring in audiences of all ages. Whether you want to see alien time travelling, superheroes in 3D, new chapters to already existing franchises or you just want to hang out with your friends and have a good time at the cinema, then there is bound to be something for you released this summer.

Amy Westlake

hen the first Bioshock got released it caused a bit of a storm, with gamers and reviewers loving it. The second one did little to dull that popularity. It’s now been over two years since Bioshock 2 was released, but we all know what is coming next: Bioshock Infinite. The game has been teased since August 2010 and was set to be released October this year; however it was revealed that Infinite would be pushed back to February 2013 much to the dissapointment of us avid Bioshock fans. Suggested reasons for this setback are said to include Ken Levine wanting to improve the multiplayer mode, as well as redesigning some of the characters. Platforms getting the game include the expected Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. 2K Boston and Ken Levine have been

May Issue 2012

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quite active at keeping Bioshock Infinite in the public eye. It’s unusual to see long gameplay videos released before launch, and yet Infinite got plentiful previews which can be found on their website. If you’ve played through the first two games and are eager to get your hands on Infinite, remember it’s not a true sequel to the previous two games. There are no Big Daddies (sob), and you aren’t underwater in the wondrous world of Rapture. In fact, this is the complete opposite with the story playing out in the floating city of Colombia, which is suspended in the air by giant blimps and balloons! Furthermore, you can say goodbye to Plasmids as these have been renamed. Set during the turn of the Century, Infinite brings us back to the 1890s inspired by the Chicago World Fair. However, it is set in the fictional early 20th century, building on the ideas of American Exceptionalism. The story is set to revolve around the main

character, Booker Dewitt; a former Pinkerton Agent who is sent to the floating air-city of Columbia to seek out a young woman, Elizabeth, who has been held captive there for the last 12 years. Booker quickly discovers that Elizabeth is central to the civil war raging in the air-born city and her rescue is the start of a chain of events that ultimately lead to the literal downfall of Columbia. Furthermore, without wanting to reveal too much, Elizabeth is said to hold her own strange powers to manipulate rifts in the timespace continuum that ravage Columbia. Any upset caused by the delay is soon replaced by anticipation of what the team have managed to create and hopefully improved on the Bioshock formula. Although how can it be a true Bioshock game if it’s not set in Rapture? I believe they are pinning its success on carrying the Bioshock name, to entice us game players that fell in love with the first two. However I’m sure they will deliver another visually orgasmic first person shooter which is different from all the rest and I’m hoping it turns out to be another great success for the Bioshock team. Bioshock isn’t the only anticipated game to be pushed back; the new Tomb Raider Origin has been delayed till late 2013. It seems next year will be pretty exciting for us gamers!

Kaden Wild

October to December in Gaming

his summer is full of Hollywood blockbusters but there is very little on the gaming front. Come autumn all the big names in gaming will be back in stores, their discs rarely leaving our consoles. The intriguing steampunk action adventure Dishonored kicks off the big game season on October 9th across Playstation 3, X Box and Windows. The plot follows Corvo, an ex-guard of Dunwall (the fictional city in which the game is set), who has been accused of murdering the Empress that he used to protect. Meanwhile, the imprisoned Corvo encounters a character called The Outsider who gives him magical powers to help exact revenge on Lord Regent, who framed him for the Empress’ murder. On first thoughts, it appears similar to the Assassin’s Creed franchise, giving the player the chance to run through a city with a full arsenal of weapons doing as they please. Dishonored combines stealth and weapons, much like Assassin’s Creed, but has a particular emphasis on the former as well as the use of gadgets. Corvo’s weapons include swords, guns and muskets. The supernatural powers instilled in him by The Outsider can also be utilised within the game allowing Corvo to teleport, stop time, or just casually possess any living creature. The big downside to Dishonored, in my opinion at least, is that it’s a first person game. I’ve never been a fan of not being about to see the character I’m playing as. While at first glance it does look a lot like a supernatural Assassin’s Creed, Dishonored is definitely worth a play. The end of October, the 31st to be precise, marks the new chapter in the Assassin’s Creed legacy. It’s a classic case of out with the old and in with the new as familiar hero Ezio is replaced by Native American Connor Kenway as our new assassin. Moving away from Renaissance Italy, Assassin’s Creed 3 pits us in the American Revolution with Connor torn between each side. With an improved engine, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series is set to continue in style with the intention to make the game look “next-generation on current-generation consoles”. That’s not

the only improvement we’ll see in the game though. The new installment of the franchise also boasts new weapons and new environments taking you out of the city and into the wild frontier land of Native America. While Assassin’s Creed 3 isn’t likely to be anything amazing that we’ve never seen before, it will definitely be a must play for anyone who’s followed the previous four games. A huge selling point on Assassin’s Creed 3 is the fact that in a lot of ways it’s a fresh start. Leaving behind Ezio, the protagonist of the past three games, means that new players can come into the franchise and understand the story more, though it’ll be undoubtedly more enjoyable to those who have been there from the start. Not being an X-Box owner or player, I feel I’ve missed out on the Halo franchise. Come November 6th however, X-Box fans across the world will no doubt be very pleased with their choice of console when the latest in the Halo franchise is released. Halo 4 begins a new trilogy in the franchise, the ‘Reclaimer Trilogy’, and will be the eighth game in the series. Master Chief returns as the game’s main protagonist for the first time since Halo 3 back in 2007. Typically a first-person shooter, the Halo franchise is evolving with the new instalment focusing more on mystery, exploration and discovery. The story is set up for a three game story-arc and is intended to darken as the plot progresses. Whether the franchise has been taken too far or whether the new trilogy is better off as a result is yet to be seen. I don’t want to, but it will be one of the biggest releases towards the end of the year so I can hardly boycott Call of Duty. The multi-billion dollar franchise is set to release yet another installment on November 13th. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will be the ninth COD game to date and is a sequel of the 2010 Call of Duty: Black Ops. Unlike previous games though, Black Ops 2 is set in the future, with a new cold war between China and the United States providing the backdrop. It will begin, however, in the eighties continuing on from Black Ops with Alex Mason still as the main protagonist. The player character in 2025 will be his

son, David Mason. New to the franchise will be player choice which will branch out into different storylines dependent on choice, a good addition to help with replay value. The plots focuses on the introduction of all the futuristic weaponry and how it could harm those it was meant to protect. One of the biggest parts o f Black Ops was the inclusion of the zombie mode which has been conﬁrmed for the sequel and will support eight player co-op. With the game only just being revealed at the beginning of the month there isn’t a whole lot of information on it to start with. But there’s no denying that it will be a huge success in the gaming industry. That just about covers the big games due out towards the end of this year but 2013 looks pretty promising already with Bioshock: Inﬁnite, the new Tomb Raider and Naughty Do g ’s T h e Last of Us to name just a few.

It’s an interesting journey to say the least. Following the story of the original game, The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge sees Guybrush, having saved Elaine, now searching for the ‘Big Whoop’ treasure. The sequel is the only one in the franchise to not feature Monkey Island, though it has been said that the finale of the game was set on a part of Monkey Island. The Curse of Monkey Island, the series’ third installment, sees Elaine once again kidnapped, this time as a gold statue after Guybrush accidentally turns her into one with a cursed ring. Eventually Guybrush and Elaine get married but return to Mêlée Island in Escape from Monkey Island, the fourth game, to find that while they were on their honeymoon she has been declared dead and is no longer Governor. The plot of this game revolves around the two of them proving she is alive - apparently she herself is not proof enough - and Guybrush ends up embarking on a quest to Lucre Island to obtain legal documents proving Elaine’s right to the Governor’s Mansion. Of course none of this goes smoothly and he soon finds himself caught up in a race to find the ‘Ultimate Insult’ before LeChuck. There has since been an episodic adventure called Tales of Monkey Island, created by Telltale Games, under supervision of LucasArts, which has also been released on the Playstation Network but has none of the same charm as the original games. One of the main aspects of Monkey Island is its insult swordfighting where instead of having to attack your opponent, you must select the correct comeback to their insults in order to win the dual. It’s an interesting change to the usual way of fighting in a game, which was replaced by insult armwrestling in Escape from Monkey Island, adding to the humour and wit of the entire series.

Insult swordﬁghting isn’t all you do in Monkey Island games though. At times the games can be quite challenging with you having to make sure you say the right things to the right people in order to add items to your inventory which will later come in use. For example, in Escape from Monkey Island, in order to break into a bank, you have to get hold of some prosthetic skin to put over a manhole and bounce your way into an open window. Later on, you have to combine the right ingredients to recreate the smell of a thief! In a time where video games are judged on graphics and their online multiplayer capabilities it’s easy for a game like Monkey Island to get overlooked. It’s a sad truth because I highly doubt that there’ll ever be a game with quite the same with strategy and all round amazing storylines.

“I am Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate!” Or at least I was for all those long days of my youth that I spent playing Monkey Island. The franchise was first introduced to me years ago by my Auntie and I’m proud to say I’m still a huge fan; the theme tune still makes me want to run to the nearest PC and I still spend the occasional afternoon insult swordfighting through a fan website. The Monkey Island series is a LucasArts franchise, who are responsible for one of the world’s biggest franchises - Star Wars, so you already know it’s going to be amazing. It follows the wannabe pirate and bit of a drip Guybrush Threepwood as he attempts to become the most notorious pirate in the Caribbean. Guybrush first turns up on Mêlée Island, home of love interest and Governor Elaine Marley, to begin his journey to become a real pirate. In the Scumm Bar Guybrush meets three pirate captains’ who set him tasks to become a pirate. He must win a fight with Carla, the island’s swordmaster, steal an idol from the Governor’s mansion and find some buried treasure. Naturally, Guybrush’s pirating abilities are put to the test when evil ghost pirate LeChuck, the series’ main antagonist, raids Mêlée Island with his crew and kidnaps the Governor, Elaine. Guybrush vows to save and win her heart, setting off on his voyage having bought a ship and acquiring the haphazard crew of ‘Carla’ - the pessimistic swordmaster and a prisoner he met on Mêlée Island by the name of Otis and Meathook, a guy whose hands have been replaced by hooks.

LJ Taylor

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

nce upon a time our illustrious students’ union president dropped her iPhone in a cup of tea. As you do. By some stroke of luck the phone survived and spent the next few hours of its life in a bowl of rice. Apparently rice soaks up the water, or so our Editor, Aaron, tells me. That must be why we have copious as amounts of the stuff in our kitchen. The need for rice is almost up though. Across the ocean in Lancaster, Pennsylvania a company specialising in nanotechnology has designed a solution that’ll have us no longer even batting an eyelid as our £400 plus smartphones go for a swim. NeverWet, a spray designed by Ross Nanotechnology, coats your iPhone (or equivalent smartphone) in millions of tiny nanoparticles which, when self-assembled, essentially create an invisible, impenetrable fortress around your device. The spray not only protects your phone from the dangers of deep sea diving, or tea-dunking, but it also stops dust from getting in. In fact, NeverWet keeps your phone completely clean. When put in contact with any liquid the

et me be the first to admit, I hate the sudden influx of photo sharing, photo editing, p h o t o whatevering apps on the market. Well, I say ‘sudden influx’ but they’ve b e e n around a while now, the problem is they are still holding strong. Unfortunately. I mean, how many angles can a kid with an iPhone really shoot his hazelnut latte and why do I need to see it in the first place? Why do I want to watch someone’s life in filtered, edited and frankly, repetitive pictures? My hatred aside, I did find myself scouring the internet in search of new and exciting apps for you, our dedicated readers, when I came across Klik. I saw the word ‘hipster’ and instantly thought of Seren’s Comment Editor and hipster in the making, Cisco, who conveniently happened to walk in just at that very moment. And after ticking our two requisites (is it available on the iPhone and is it free?) we downloaded Klik. What sets apart this photo app, made by Face.com, is just that. Face.com boasts ‘the world’s largest and most accurate face recognition platform’ and has been been providing the internet with face recognition software since 2009. The site is responsible for the popular ‘PhotoTagger’ Facebook application which will go through a bulk upload of photos and tag them all for you. This, as I’m sure you can imagine, saves a lot of time when you’ve just uploaded an album of two hundred plus photos. They also provide the ‘PhotoFinder’ application which scours Facebook for untagged photos of you or a friend. The Klik app takes all of this software further, realising the growing demand of users to upload on the go, and provides a

spray encasing your phone will just make it slide off, even something as thick as syrup. It’ll even keep out bacteria and apparently ice, though if you’re putting your phone in the freezer then you probably deserve the repercussions. With the company responsible already having at least four deals set up with different manufacturers we should hopefully be starting to see NeverWet roll out across the market over the summer.

LJ Taylor

way for this to happen with ease and the ability to boycott the who it thinks it is. So far I’ve been myself, Seren’s current Editor treacherous Facebook mobile app. With Kilk taking a photo on Aaron and Seren’s last Editor Gemma. There seems to be some your phone automatically tells you who is in the frame, with the sort of theme going on. option to ‘learn’ any faces that it doesn’t recognise, and then For a free app I’d say Klik is definitely worth the download just allows the hipster-side of you to take over and whack on an to have a play around with it and who knows you might find you Instagram-esque filter. Kilk also lets you include the names of the prefer it to the alternatives. Klik’s biggest downside however is people tagged in the photo and then lets you choose whether to probably going to be that it’s currently only available for iPhone share with the whole of Klik, Facebook or Twitter. meaning it’ll miss out on the growing number of Android users. Klik doesn’t just like to know who’s in your photos but where your photos were taken too. With Foursquare integration Klik gives you the option to not only tag the people in your photo but to tag the location too, like a number of apps these days. Tagging the location and then sharing it publicly on on Klik means that your photos will appear on the app’s main page displaying all the photos that were taken nearby. At the moment when you look at this page in Bangor you see about three Bangor users with the next nearest being in Bangor. The main problem with Klik is that it isn’t really anything that new or exciting. Sure the whole face recognition premise is pretty cool but it’s more of a gimmick than something you really need. The filter’s it provides aren’t amazing and I doubt it will take the place of Instagram in this respect. The response time of the app is quite slow and it’s easy to find annoying when you’re waiting to capture your ‘Kodak moment’, though it is something that Face.com will likely improve with updates. My biggest issue with Klik is that it requires you to sign up using Facebook. Of course there’s really not a lot that can be done about that since it uses your Facebook to recognise faces. I do however appreciate that it doesn’t start posting everything to Facebook, like a number of apps do, and instead gives you the choice of whether you want to send your pictures to the social networking site or not. In no way do I think Klik will take off and become the new go-to mobile photo app but it is good fun to play around with and offers a few different filters to Instagram. I also enjoy that it doesn’t, like a number of social networking applications, require you to have friends but instead shares photos based on location. It is quite entertaining and an easy way to upload tagged photos on the go. My favourite thing about Klik though is the ‘learn’ feature which makes Klik isn’t always accurate though! It thinks our Music sure that the app knows your face. Clicking on it has Editor, Joey is 36% female and 21% our Editor, Aaron!! the software searching whoever’s face is in the camera lens at that point in time and shows accuracy bars of

LJ Taylor

Tattooist Implants Magnets Into His Arm

LG Flexi Screen

e’ve all seen photos of phones with smashed displays before and we’re pretty sure that you have at one point experienced it before. Well if you’re sick of that heart wrenching feeling when you drop your iPhone and have its display smashed, it seems that LG is currently working on a flexible OLED display which the company claims is unbreakable. The report (from OLED-info) claims that these flexible OLED displays contain plastic substrates and that they’re designed for use in today’s mobile phones, so if you’re thinking that this technology will result in flexible phones like what LG’s competitor, Samsung, is reported to be working on, you’d be out of luck. Instead these screens have been designed for today’s smartphones to help ensure the next time you drop it, you can worry about something else other than the screen breaking. Michael G. Helander straight from LG’s research lab, says the biggest advantage is that such screens will be thinner, more durable, and less prone to impact than the current ones with glass substrates, rather than the whole “bending like Gumby” thing we envision for phones with them. Supposedly LG’s 3.5-gen production plant is ready to begin production by the end of the year so it come be early-mid 2013 when we start seeing phones being advertised with “unbreakable” displays. I don’t know about you but Seren thinks a flexi ruler mobile phone screen is definitely something worth looking forward to.

Kaden Wild

or those unfamiliar with the body modification world, let’s just say that piercings on the ear and tattoos can be considered to be the tamer forms of body modification. For the more extreme person, tattoos and piercings in odd places along with implants placed under the skin, are also possible body modifications and in the case of body piercer Dave Hurban, he decided to take things to the extreme by implanting four magnets under his skin ouch!. Tattoo artist Dave Hurban used dermal implants to secure his iPod nano to his wrist. Hurban implanted four perfectly placed, powerful magnets under his skin to hold the small iPod in place. Now Hurban can use his iPod nano as a watch without having to use a wristband. While we have to admit the end-result is pretty neat! We can’t imagine that surgically installing foreign objects into your wrist is a good idea. And we certainly don’t recommend doing this yourself! Not to mention, what is Hurban going to do if Apple changes the Nano’s design next time around?

Kaden Wild

May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Food and Drink

Recipe Central: Pigs’ cheeks with carrot, Asparagus. apple and ginger.

sparagus, the king spring vegetable, is in season from now till the start of July. Shipped in from Peru, the asparagus available for the rest of the year is a poor imitation of what is undeniably my favourite vegetable. Right now, there’s no need to peel them because the stalk is so tender; in fact, to remove the woody exterior would be a damning indictment of your decency as a human being. Ignore the tired mantra, ‘but it makes your pee smell’, an oft-peddled line from people with no appreciation for the salient moment of spring. Without asparagus’ attendance, though British springtime would still be a picture of vivid gree, for thousands its vibrancy would be dulled. There would be no asparagus with melted butter; nor asparagus with a voluptuous poached egg, the yolk of which coats the spears, making them even more irresistible. To honour their arrival, here are three simple ways to cook asparagus (serve one). If you’re looking for a way to celebrate ﬁnishing your exams, buy one less vodka and coke and spend your £2 on a pack of asparagus.

igs’ cheeks are the most ridiculously value for money ingredient around right now. Eight cheeks cost around £2.50 and are invariably well stocked in morrisons. I think the reason they’re always so plentiful is because people are reluctant to eat a part of the pig that is bloody ugly. This is only exacerbated by the thought of said ugly piggy chowing down on all kinds of nature. But ignore all that, because pigs’ cheeks nascent position as darling of the culinary world will soon reach the kitchens of Britain. Highly regarded food Renaissance man Tom Parker-Bowles (son of Camilla) called pigs’ cheeks a ‘hidden beauty of a cut, cheap, generous and versatile’. In fact, just as a finished writing this article, and subsequent two hours in the kitchen, I came across Hugh Fearnley-wittingstall (you don’t have to have a double-barrel surname to eat pigs’ cheeks) lauding them, claiming that ‘their flavour and texture is unrivalled’. If you think about it, the cheek is an ideal cut for eating. It gets a strenuous workout because the pig eats so much, resulting in tough fibres that become beautifully gelatiness once cooked. Like all cuts from parts of the animal that work hard, pork cheeks need long, slow cooking to give them a soft, unctuous texture. Here, I’ve paid homage to all-round good egg Bryn Williams (from Denbigh) and his recipe for pigs’ cheeks with carrot and ginger. Instead of ginger beer, I’ve used apple juice, mainly because pork and apple is probably one of the most symphonic pair of ingredients you can get. My far inferior interpretation diverts from Williams’ slightly but that’s because it’s a cheaper, abridged version. If you’re to do one dish from this column all year, make it this one. I can’t put pigs’ cheeks on a high enough pedestal; here, they’re the centrepiece of a cheap, filling dish that’s given a spring lift from the light, acidic apple juice and peas. Eight cheeks will feed two hungry people but comfortably feeds three, though you may need a healthy portion of carbs on the side to bulk it up. Before you cook the cheeks, you need to remove the small film of sinew from them.

Asparagus and egg Asparagus, one egg, ham, dill, mayonnaise, lemon juice. The above photo is from noma, widely regarded as the best restaurant in the world. The dishes many elements include white asparagus, sous vide wild duck egg, ﬁddlehead ferns (nope, me neither), hops and bulrush , served with a woodruff sauce. Because we aren’t all privy to the delights of a sous vide machine (or the Nordic coastline for that matter), here’s a basic (and I can’t stress that word enough) version of the masterpiece. Method Start by blanching the asparagus in boiling salted water for three minutes. Immediately plunge into cold water to halt their cooking. Next, poach your egg. Thoroughly whisk a pan of boiling water until there’s a tornado effect. Add a splash of vinegar before sliding the egg into the middle of it and turning down the heat. Three minutes later, gently spoon the egg out of the pan and drain on kitchen roll.Finally, make a dill mayonnaise. Finely chop fresh dill and mix into mayonnaise (make it fresh if you’ve got the time) and season with salt and lemon juice.To dress, put the asparagus on the plate and top with the egg. Drape some ham (parma or prosciutto hams if possible) over it and dot the mayonnaise around the plate. Great with toast. Asparagus and prawn stir-fry Asparagus, cooked prawns, a handful of torn basil, 1 red chilli, 1 garlic clove, two tablespoons soy sauce. Method If you’re using thin asparagus stalks, cut in half and fry in oil till they’re glistening. Thrown in your chopped chilli (deseeded if you don’t want the heat), crushed garlic clove, salt and pepper. Add in the cooked prawns, soy sauce and basil leaves. Quickly stir in cooked egg noodles and serve. Asparagus Pesto A bunch asparagus spears, 3 handfuls spinach leaves, 2 cloves garlic, 50g grated Parmesan, a 50g pine nuts, 150ml olive oil, salt and pepper, juice of 1 lemon). Method Put the asparagus into boiling salted water and cook for no longer than 3 minutes. Drain under cold water. Cut the tips off and set aside for later. Except for the olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice, blitz the ingredients in a food processor – if you don’t have one, a mortar and pestle would be great or, you could crush the pine nuts and mix everything in a bowl together with the olive oil, which would be delicious in its own right - gradually adding the oil as you go. Taste and season with the lemon juice, salt and pepper to your taste. Serve with cooked pasta, stirring in the saved tips at the very end.

Ingredients (Serves 2) One sliced white onion Three crushed cloves of garlic A sprig of thyme Two carrots The zest and juice of half an orange Eight pigs’ cheeks Two tablespoons of ground ginger Halved Jersey Royal potatoes 750ml chicken stock 400ml apple juice Salt and pepper A handful of peas

Method Heat some oil in a heavy based pan and gently caramelize your cheeks for 1 minute on each side. Take out and rest on a plate. In the same pan, add your onions and garlic and cook really gently for around ten minutes until they’re soft and sweet. To prevent them from burning, add some salt which will help to remove the water content from the onion. Add in your ginger and incorporate with your onion and garlic. Put the cheeks back in the pan, along with the zest and juice of half an orange, thyme, stock and apple juice. Bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cover and cook on a low heat for an hour. After the hour, add your carrots and potatoes and cook till tender. By this time, the cheeks should offer no more than slight resistance when prodded with a fork; the sauce should be the consistency of syrup. If the cheeks are still slightly tough, take the vegetables out and top the liquid up with a touch more chicken stock and cook till the cheeks are ready. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Take off the heat, add in your

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May Issue 2012

www.seren.bangor.ac.uk

Food and Drink

Restaurant Review: Forte’s O

69 Mostyn Street, Llandudno, LL30 2NN (01492877910) Meal for two, including service, £30

ur childhoods were littered with lies. Loosely, they can be separated into two distinct categories - lies that were created to bring us happiness (think Santa Claus, the tooth fairy et al) and then the con lies that were invented ant | Fortes's Ice Cream, Llandudno, North Wales to prevent us from outing our morally bankrupt elders and their mischievous ways. I don’t know who told me but for years, I believed that McDonalds added gherkins to their burgers because the sugar content of their buns and dressing (specifically the Big Mac) was so high that without a slice of gherkin, they’d have to classify it as a dessert. Instead of questioning it (it’s not true, I’ve researched it) I used it to justify my aversion to gherkins. For every great childhood memory of Mum’s roast dinners (but were they great or am I just lying to you?) or Nan’s scones, there’s the harrowing burst of accidentally biting into a tooth achingly vinegary sliver gherkin in my burger. I just couldn’t comprehend why they would want to ruin what was otherwise the perfect burger. It was the childhood version of a really dirty, sordid porno. You knew you should stay well clear of it but there was something strangely alluring about the heavy meat, sugary buns and cheesy finish. And the gherkin? Well, that was a bit like someone knocking on your door halfway through. But that was then. Now, I’m an unashamed gherkin groupie who would quite happily do all kinds of horrible things just for one more hit of lip smacking gherkin (plus, the government are slowly instigating plans to ruin every desperate, sexually aroused web user’s anonymity so that one’s out as well). I frequently experience pregnant-like cravings for some gherkin. If I can’t get my hands on any, something that’s been submerged in pickling liquor for at least five seconds has to make do. I often wonder if I have an unhealthy love of vinegar but, a life without it would be pretty dull, I reckon. So imagine my delight when, upon reading the menu of Forte’s in Llandudno, I saw a classic American burger on the menu. I couldn’t contain my excitement; here I was, sitting in Llandudno, about to have my fetish fed. with its smacks of gherkin

and juicy beef. I’m sure if there wasn’t a burger on offer there I’d have paid more attention to the décor; from what I acknowledged, there are some oversized mirrors to stare at yourself in, lots of retro Italian photographs and some funky tiles. The waiter (who I believe ascended from the original Forte) came over and I placed my order. My patience was going to be tested. Foreplay arrived in the form of garlic bread; the warm baguette wasn’t exactly

dripping with garlicky butter but it had a pleasingly soft, doughy texture to contrast the crunchy crust. The main courses arrived and by and large, the standard was good. A pizza Margherita had a thin, crispy base and the classic tomato, basil and mozzarella topping, free from any bastardisation. Then there was a portion of fish and chips that was made up out of the most obscenely large fillet of white fish I’ve seen. The batter was light and gave way to perfectly cooked flakes of soft, moist fish. Mushy peas on the side acted as a solid condiment. Sticking with fish, we also tried a seafood platter; deep fried squad, scampi and prawn was fine and benefitted from

Great British Menu Returns

reat British Menu is back and this time, it’s serious. In recent years, the show had struggled to captivate, mainly because the ﬁnal banquets became pretty low-budget affairs in comparison to early versions that saw the chef’s cook for the Queen’s 80th birthday. As a result, the chefs competing were the rising stars of the culinary scene, rather than the established names of Britain’s food world. This year, however, the big guns are back. To put it into perspective, The Good Food Guide, possibly Britain’s most reliable arbiter of good restaurants, includes nine of the chefs featured on Great British Menu in its 50 best restaurants list. That’s not to mention Aiden Byrne, the youngest ever winner of a Michelinstar; Stephen Terry, who worked for Marco Pierre-White before going on to win his own star, is competing in the Welsh regional heat and in the ﬁnal heat of the series, Nathan Outlaw, head-chef at the eponymous two Michelin star restaurant in Cornwall, goes up against Simon Hulstone (a fellow Michelin cheffy) and Paul Ainsworth, the man who is tackling the legendary

Rick Stein’s monopoly of the Padstow restaurant scene. The highlight so far has been Simon Rogan, whose restaurant L’enclume is recognised as the country’s second best by The Good Food guide. He progressed to the overall ﬁnal after narrowly defeating Aiden Byrne. Watching Rogan cook was a really formative moment for me. His use of archaic techniques, such as clamping vegetables – a Victorian method of preserving vegetables underground – was combined with properly unique elements such as rosehips (picked at altitude) made into a syrup, and a snow made from distilled hyssops (it’s minty in ﬂavour, apparently). Normally, this sort of gimmicky trickery does nothing for me but Rogan’s approach is so organic (indeed, he has another restaurant called Roganic) and sincere, it’s impossible not to admire. As tenuous as the link between cooking and the Olympics is, it’s helped to revitalise a waning format and bring some of the country’s best chefs to our screens.

a cleansing squeeze of lemon. Amongst all this, two types of chip battled it out – the matchstick fry vs. the chunky chip. The oversized chips were just undercooked which highlighted their floury texture, unfortunately missing the contrasting crispy exterior that makes a chunky chip successful. A chip lives or dies by its crispiness and the matchstick fries most certainly lived up to expectations. They were covered in beautifully hot, dripping fat with little bursts of salt dissolving in. As chips go, these were pretty damn good. And then there was the burger. I was instantly hit by a really, bloody fantastic piquant kick of a sharp gherkin pickle. Though the patty had good flavour, the meat was ground down too finely giving it a dense, filling texture. Being so tightly packed and heavy, the burger really benefitted from the acidity of the pickle, its fat being cut by all kinds of gherkiny goodness. So, rather disappointingly, it didn’t quite live up to expectations. But I think I’m being unduly critical. It was never going to be good enough. That perfect burger only exists in my mind and I hope I never find it. That way, I can spend my nights dreaming of the day. But it was certainly enjoyable enough to mean that the next time I’m in Llandudno, I’ll be sure to give Forte’s a visit. If you do decide to go, be sure to check out their ice cream parlour and more specifically, a really nice raspberry sorbet. It’s what they’ve built their reputation on since 1926.

7/10

World’s top 50 restaurants The much anticipated World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards were announced late last month, with bittersweet recognition for Heston Blumenthal and a gradual Nordic revolution the two main talking points.

he awards reflected a good year for Scandinavia, with the regions flagship restaurant, Noma in Denmark, holding on to top spot. Noma is the ultimate Wildcultureinspired restaurant. Its ingredients are almost exclusively foraged and gathered from the Nordic larder and turned into dishes such as ‘Blæksprutte og kartofler; mayonaise og brunet smør’ - Squid legs and potatoes; mayo and brown butter (opposite). If Noma is the ‘standard-bearer New Nordic movement’ in food then Frantzen/Lindeberg, also an ingredient led restaurant, Sweden, is its nearest rival. Sweden is represented twice more: Fäviken, no.36 and Mathias Dahlgren, no.41. Elsewhere, Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck – at one stage the best in the world – was

demoted down to 13th, four places behind his new venture, Dinner in London. Blumenthal, who has previously expressed a nonchalant attitude towards the list, will be delighted and disappointed in equal measures; despite his attempt to play down the list’s importance, it generally reﬂects the mood within the food society and perhaps acts as a poignant reminder that Blumenthal’s molecular approach to food is not enduring. Britain’s only other top 50 representation came in the form of The Ledbury, whose head chef, Australian Brett Graham, promotes seasonal dishes; if it isn’t in season, you won’t ﬁnd it on the menu. Gordon Ramsay’s Royal Hospital Road restaurant once again missed out on the list, as well as its 51-100 sub section.

May Issue 2012

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Travel Dart Destination is back and this issue we’re taking you all the way to Scandinavia to see what’s on offer in the World Design Capital of 2012;

Helsinki, Finland

It’s time for this issue’s...

Dart Destination

hen people consider a European holiday the ﬁrst places that come to mind tend to be countries such as Spain, France, Italy. There are over forty more countries within the continent though, each with their own charm and different experiences to offer. Finland is one that stands out the most. With its outstandingly beautiful nature, peaceful surroundings and extraordinary activities, Finland is a place in Europe that really shouldn’t be forgotten by holidaymakers. In contrast to Spain in, Finland’s weather is often associated with cold and snow. Southern Finland’s winters usually last four months and snow covers the ground from December through to April meaning whilst in Northern Finland, the home to Lapland, winters can be a lot more extreme and last up to seven months, with snow covering the ground from October to early May. None of this is a bad thing though, because experiencing Finland properly means experiencing just how snowy the Scandinavian country can get. So why should you visit Finland? The country’s capital, Helsinki, was included in The New York Times’ ‘45 Places to Go in 2012’ and ranked number two; praised for its design scene “Design. Design. Design.” (New York Times), Helsinki has plenty to offer in terms of old architecture and new and modern designs. The city was voted the most liveable city in 2011, by British Lifestyle magazine, so you

ought to be prepared not to want to leave! One of Helsinki’s main selling points as a tourist destination is the ‘Helsinki Helpers’ scheme. Through the busy months of June to August the city is patrolled by the Tourism and Convention Bereau’s staff who can be stopped anywhere to ask for directions, suggestions of what to do or just if you want a map of leaflet. This means that those of you who don’t like to plan things out can head out into the city and explore without having to worry about getting lost or what to do until you’re ready and come across a Helper. It also saves queuing at a tourism desk. And if you can’t seem to find one of the bright green clothed Helper’s don’t worry because the Helsinki Tourist Mobile Info Container is on hand to not only provide tourists with any information they need but to represent Finland’s love for design with its modern steel and wooden architecture look. Like any good capital city Helsinki, of course, has a number of sightseeing tours. If you don’t fancy a bus tour of the city though then you have plenty of other options. Being just by the sea means that Helsinki provides sea excursions with some ferries taking you to the Suomenlinna Maritime Fortress or the Helsinki Zoo on Korkeasaari Island giving you a chance to fully experience Finland’s beautiful nature and wildlife up close. The fifteen minute journey to the Fortress is often one of tourists’ favourite parts of visiting the city. Once you’re off the ferry you’re free to explore the Fortress, which attracts about 700,000 visitors per year. You’ll discover typical fortress elements like walls, cannons and tunnels as well as a submarine, museums and a brewery. The fortress even has a number of cafés and restaurants in case you forgot your packed lunch. If you’re brave enough you can even take an aerial tour of the Suomenlinna group of islands! If instead you were to choose the Helsinki Zoo then you’ll encounter over

150 different species of animal and over 1000 different plants, showcasing Finland’s diverse wildlife and nature. The Zoo takes you through rainforests, tundra, foreign mountain peaks and wetlands immersing you in many a different environment. You’ll feel like you’re in the Amazon Rainforest as you hear the monkeys jumping between trees above your head before you find yourself in the Himalyas with the snow leopards and miniature pandas. You can even take a mountain tour! A lot of people visit Helsinki for the shopping experience, and those who don’t soon find themselves enjoying the experience. Home to some of the world’s best designs you could easily find yourself soon replacing all your furniture at home, Sweden isn’t the only Scandinavian country with an eye for home design! One of the best parts about Helsinki shopping however is the markets and market halls. There’s a number of different market squares and halls across the city each providing a range of traditional foods and handcrafted souvenirs for you to take home from your visit. Eco-friendly shopping is also very big in Finland, why not take home some earrings made from keyboards? Other popular tourist destinations in Helsinki include the Helsinki Cathedral which was completed in 1852 is one of the beautiful pieces of architecture that surrounds the Senate Square which established Helsinki’s centre when it became the country’s capital. If you haven’t had enough of all the Olympic height over here then Finland’s Olympic Stadium is also worth a visit. It was built in 1938 and hosted the Olympic Games in 1952. The stadium is now used for national and international sporting events and concerts of which are worth the experience if you happen to be in the city for one if only because of the sheer beauty of the stadium and the atmosphere it can create. The city is also home to a number of popular museums. The National Museum of Finland boasts 170 years worth of work dating back from prehistoric times. It is also home to

the Workshop Vintti, an interactive exhibit especially designed for children in which Finnish history is learnt with the use of your head and hands. I know I keep mentioning it but Finland really does have an eye for design and The Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma “breaks the boundaries of traditional art and follows the latest trends”. The Kiasma is also home to a theatre and its schedule includes drama, dance, music, film and video and lectures amongst other things. If you’re visiting Finland during the winter month’s there’s two experiences that you simply cannot miss out on; a husky and reindeer ride. There’s a number of different companies offering you the chance to have these experiences and the rides operate around the country. The one’s in Helsinki from family run business ‘BearHillHusky’ give you the chance to have a short husky ride, a reindeer ride, spend the night in an Igloo and have a drink at Europe’s biggest indoor icebar. There’s plenty more things to experience in Helsinki, or Finland in general, but we have just named a few. The Finnish are particularly enthusiastic about their music scene and so you can easily stumble across an amazing gig in a visit. The shopping experience doesn’t just end at markets and home design but the cities market square is home to many high street shops with all the latest fashions and trends. Finland is highly praised for its unique cuisine, something you will no doubt find yourself trying, but of course caters to all different tastes. Instead of spending your money going on the ubiquitous sun-soaked holiday why not take a gamble and give Helsinki a chance? After all it has been voted the world’s most liveable city and the country is home to fictional creatures, The Moomins!

LJ Taylor

May Issue 2012

f you fancy getting away for the summer, seeing some magniﬁcent sights and travelling to places you wouldn’t have ever imagined - then interrailing across Europe might just be what you are looking for... InterRail is a company which provides a number of different offers on unlimited train travel across Europe. The scheme began 40 years ago, since then it has become the most popular way for European citizens to travel. This is fantastic for anyone who wants to see the sights that Europe has to offer! Everyone who is living in Europe is eligible for these offers and can purchase a

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pass to travel across no less than 30 countries throughout the continent. Unfortunately, interrailing passes cannot be used to travel across your own country! The great thing about interrailing is that you don’t even need to take a whole month off to go travelling. There are a multitude of passes which range from ﬁve day passes to use within a space of ten days, to passes which can be used everyday within one month. For people who are younger than 25 this a brilliant deal as prices are phenomenally cheaper. The amount of experiences that you can have for such a small amount of

money practically begs the question, why am I not already doing this? Susie Turnbull, a third year language student from Bangor said about her experience: “I went for one month and it was fantastic! Best way to get around Europe and it was great fun planning the route too. I would totally recommend it!” Whilst travelling, you can use an online route planner. In the case that you don’t have access to internet or you like to be organised, you can always plan your route before you leave for your adventure. There is also a book with all the timetables for European trains which you can

Travel

purchase from Thomas Cook, if you are feeling little more spontaneous! Of course with interrailing you will always be on the move, so don’t forget to pack light and take only the bare essentials. I recommend that you take a smaller rucksack as it will be lighter and easier to transport – what may seem okay to carry normally may get a bit strenuous after very little sleep and hours of walking! Don’t forget to be sensible whilst travelling and always err on the side of caution to make sure that your experience is a pleasant one. Another top tip is to always travel with someone else, preferably a friend or

someone close to you. Remember these are the people who will be with you for the entire time so it’s best if you get on with each other! So, what are you waiting for? Summer is practically on our doorstep now and there is so much out there to see. You could even use interrailing for a last minute holiday, as it requires very little planning. Happy travels!

Rowen Nathan

Must-Have Summer Travel Essentials

The summer holidays are just around the corner and now is the perfect time to start getting excited and thinking about what you might want to take with you on your travels! This year there are three things that should be on your list of essential items for your trip...

Travel Diary

Which you can even buy whilst you’re away! As well as this being a fantastic souvenir of your time spent away, this can also be an excellent way of recording all of the fun you are having so you can look back and remember in the future!

Amazon Kindle

Yes, yes I know these aren’t exactly a new invention but they are becoming increasingly popular down to the simple fact that they are amazing! The Kindle is small, light, straightforward and can store over a thousand books on it – what more could you want? For all those puritans out there who love books (believe me I was the same) it is a fantastic way to carry around all your favourite books and not have to worry about the extra luggage cost! Oh and did I mention that the battery lasts for one month? Perfect for your summer getaway.

Pac-a-Mac

Don’t let bad weather ruin your fun! There are plenty of Pac-aMac’s out there which are small, handy and can ﬁt in your beach bag for just in case. ASOS are doing a great ﬂoral Cath Kidston Pac-a-Mac which is perfect for the fashion conscious women out there!

Around the world with

WINNER!

Timothy Jacobson

Pictured to your right, Timothy is standing in front of a sign in Finland. According to our account this makes him the winner of our competition to get Seren the furthest around the world. We started the competition in Fresher’s Week and said that if you managed to get a copy of Seren to a destination, take a picture proving it, and send it back to us, then we would figure out who had gone the furthest; the person who won at the end of the year would win a free meal for two in a restaurant in Bangor (with a bottle of wine thrown in). Well, Timothy has pipped our other entrants to the post with his Seren voyage to Finland, printed in our Christmas issue. In honour of this achievement we’ve dedicated this issue’s Dart Destina-

tion (that page to your left) to the wonderful country that is Finland. We’ve had some great entries, and it’s been nice to see you lovely lot taking Seren with you on your travels, so we’d like to say thank you for that. Some of you with more keen memories may be thinking how Timothy won when, in our previous issue, Seren made it across the Atlantic to Miami. Well, that particular issue was being carried by one of our Sub-Editor’s. In the interests of fairness we decided that anyone involved with Seren couldn’t qualify to win this competition, otherwise what’d be the point? Once again, congratulations to Tim, and we hope you all have a summer filled with some travelling, holidaying fun.

May Issue 2012

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Breaktime

crossword ACROSS 2. ___ DMC (3) 3. Winner of 2012 FA Cup (7) 5. Marvel superhero team (8) 6. Welsh for ‘dance’ (5) 8. Fights 7 evil exes (12) 10. Finnish mobile phone company (5) 11. Deadly snake under Hogwarts (8) 12. Lucy in the sky with ____ (8) 13. Gwen Stefani and Gwynedd street campaign (9)

DOWN 1. American Reunion likes what desert? (3) 4. This is a ____ (9) 7. ‘Where Have You Been’ artist (7) 9. Computer program used to put Seren together (8

Sudoku 1 5

6 1

8 3 9 1 4 5 6

4 7 3 5 2 8 1 9 4 6 2 3 2 9 8 2

9 3 4

2 1 9 9

RECYCLE ME! Hello hello! Seren is made from 100% recycled paper, so get in on the action and recycle me when you are done!

4 4 1 3

6 4 7

6 5 9 8 62 2 5

May Issue 2012

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Dear Editor,

Letters to the Editor Dear Editor,

I’d like to begin by saying I’m not a pedantic old man, BUT I

of I received three copies of your newspaper today, the April Issue

was enjoying filling out the crossword in your latest edition of

this Seren. While normally I enjoy reading the students newspaper

Seren and was disappoint to find that many of the answers

e on morning I was most perturbed by errors in the Crossword featur

were either non existent, had the incorrect number of spaces or

page 24. While attempting to complete a usually enjoyable crossw

had clues missing. Across 8,9 and 18 were missing clues as was

were this issue was rife with errors. Clues for 7, 8 and 9 across

2 Down. 17 Across was also stated twice! Just thought I should

missing making the Crossword impossible to complete, furthermore,

bring this to your attention,

the clue to 2 down was also missing not to mention and extra space

Best wishes,

that in 11 down. Upon discovering these errors I became most annoyed

David Draper.

I could not complete said Crossword. These aforementioned errors

ord

in a made the repeat of two 17 across clues a minuscule mistake, crossword made up of spaces impossible to fill and therefore a puzzle impossible to complete. Yours Sincerely, A Concerned Crossword Doer.

Across

Down

1. Name of the new Bangor 4. The Menai Bridge leads to? (8) City stadium (9) 2. Name of the Student’s Union 7. Steep Bangor hill (5) building (7) 9. 24 hour Bangor store (4,4) 3. Bangor library on road of the 10. Name of main hall in Main same name (7) Arts (2) 11. Seren’s annual ___ night (3) 5. Ffridd site bar (3) 6. Bangor’s nearest hospital 13. Lower Bangor construction (12) site (6) 8. Ffridd security have a pet 14. Bangor Uni’s Vice-Chancellor ___ (3) (10) 12. Bangor Uni’s confidential listening and information service (9)

Dear readers,

First of all, let me extend my apologies. We at Seren have no idea how this has happened, but our intention was to never ruin your breaktime fun, we’re sorry. Let us make it up to you by offering you exactly the same puzzle, but this time you can actually complete it! Yours Sincerely Aaron Wiles Seren Editor

? say about Seren to t an w u yo you mething yed, or maybe Do you have so jo en y rl la cu ti e par prove? Anything you’v think we can im put u yo o d w o H ? want to haven’t enjoyed at all that you ts en m m co y r.ac.uk If you have an r@seren.bango o it ed to em l th forward, emai publish them! en ev t h ig m e w and

May Issue 2012

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Motors Audi Closes the Gap On BMW Adam is the Name! S ales over at Audi increased by 14.4% to 125,000 last month, compared to BMW who saw a smaller increase of 7.4% to see sales of 121,476. Audi have been gaining on their rivals for a couple of years now and it seems like there is no stopping them. However, they haven’t yet managed to overtake BMW in year on year sales with Audi trailing by just a few

p until recently, Vauxhall’s upcoming rival to the Fiat 500 and the Mini was known as the Junior, however Vauxhall have now confirmed that the new stylish city car is actually going to be named Adam! The car has been snapped countless of times wearing heavy camouflage and it’s likely that we won’t see the finished product until Vauxhall debut it at the Paris Motor Show in September. We’re surprised that Vauxhall haven’t named it the Custom, for that is going to be the main selling point of the Adam. Vauxhall say that there are going to be around 10,000 different varieties of paint and interior trim, meaning that no two Adam’s will be the same. Styling wise, the car is influenced by the 2004 Vauxhall Trixx concept but will borrow heavily from the established design already seen in the current Vauxhall line-up, Vauxhall say they are going for a “sporty and muscular design”. The Adam will sit under the Corsa whilst borrowing a shortened platform of the next generation model.

The three-door only model is expected to measure around 3.70 metres in length. In terms of power, engines available will be a range of small efﬁcient petrol and diesel engines, with a new three-cylinder engine being introduced. The Adam will go on sale in early 2013 with starting prices looking to be around £10,000.

Aaron Wiles

thousand cars. BMW is top with 478,030 sales, Audi is second place with 471,300 whilst Mercedes falls behind even more with sales of 418,426. With the new A3, the updated R8 and electronic versions of models in its current line-up, expect Audi to close the gap or even take the top spot in the very near future.

Mini GP II J

ust like the original GP of 2006 was, the Mini John Cooper Works GP II is a special edition of the current hatch and is a ﬁnal goodbye before the third generation Mini is announced. Ofﬁcial power details of the GP II haven’t yet been detailed, but the car has lapped the Nurburgring in eight minutes and twenty three seconds, some nineteen seconds faster than the previous GP. Therefore we can expect more power from the 1.6 litre turbocharged engine, and a 0-62mph time of around six seconds plus. Styling wise, the GP II takes inspiration from the original. Red brake vents, red bonnet intakes and red wing mirrors were all featured on the old GP, as were the pretty similar alloy wheels and GP badging. Mini have also removed the rear seats to save weight, again just like the original. The signature Mini handling should be even better too; the car has adjustable race suspension, slicker tyres and stronger brakes which will no doubt provide endless fun on the race track or just a quick drive to the corner shop. The GP II is expected to cost around £25,000 with just 2,000 editions being produced.

Aaron Wiles

Mini

Jaguar XJ

Citroen 2CV

Audi R8

Spotted in Bangor

Audi Porn

May Issue 2012

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Sport

City Take Title on Incredible Final Day

Matt Coombs

oming into the last day of the season, many teams still had everything to play for. Working from the bottom up, Bolton Wanderers needed to win and hope that QPR would lose against Manchester City. Champion’s League football was up for grabs for Newcastle United who needed to win against Everton and hope that Arsenal or Tottenham Hotspur slipped up against their respective opponents. Of course, the ultimate prize of the Premier League Championship was still up for grabs too with Manchester City’s superior goal difference meaning that a win against previously mentioned QPR would all but seal the title for the blue half of Manchester. Over at the Britannia Stadium, Stoke City took an early lead through a controversial goal. ExTrotters forward Jon Walters appeared to knock the ball out of goalkeeper Adam Bogdan’s hands and into the goal on 13 minutes. Although not the start that Bolton needed, by half time Wanderers were 2-1 up and a goal at the Etihad to City meant that they were temporarily out of the relegation zone. Goals from both Mark and Kevin Davies had an element of fortune to them, the former by Mark Davies came after an attempted clearance by Andy Wilkinson struck the Bolton playmaker and found its way past Thomas Sorensen and the second by Kevin Davies came from a cross which found its way past Sorensen at the near post, an error that will undoubtedly be the source of some embarrassment for the Danish veteran. However, all of the hard work by the Wanderers players was to no avail after Jon Walters slotted home a penalty to level the scores and confine the North

West-based team to the final relegation slot and at least one season in the Championship, regardless of events at the Etihad Stadium. Goodison Park was the venue for Everton and Newcastle’s final day match. It quickly became apparent that it wasn’t to be for Newcastle, who have impressed many this season under the management of Alan Pardew. Goals from Steven Pienaar, indispensable January signing Nikica Jelavic and Johnny Heitinga meant that an incredible come back was needed by Newcastle. Not that it was beyond their reach, many still remembering the incredible 4-4 game against Arsenal from last season where the Gunners went 4-0 up in the first half. Unfortunately it was not to be, although Tony Hibbert’s own goal in the 73rd minute sparked dreams of a revival. A well mannered game was marred by the post-match sending off of Tim Cahill, who appeared to raise his arm in the direction of Yohan Cabaye. Newcastle could console themselves in the knowledge that neither Arsenal nor Tottenham faltered. Arsenal recorded a 3-2 away win at the Hawthorns against West Brom, who were hoping to win in their last game under England-bound Roy Hodgson. Indeed, the Midlands outfit put up a good fight and were at one point ahead through

goals by Shane Long and Graham Dorrans. Yossi Benayoun, Andre Santos. Laurent Kosciely and surprisingly enough not Robin Van Persie secured the win, and third spot for Arsenal. Over at White Hart Lane, Tottenham completed a comprehensive 2-0 win against Fulham. Tottenham were buoyed by the news that Fulham’s 23-goal hero Clint Dempsey would miss out with a groin injury and took full advantage. Simple finishes by Emmanuel Adebayor and Jermain Defoe gave Tottenham the three points and fourth place, meaning that they would take the fourth Champion’s League place and would enter the competition at the non-champions play-off qualifying round. Manchester United went into their game at The Stadium Of Light knowing that the title was out of their hands. They had to win and hope that QPR could pull off something miraculous. The title did in fact change hands numerous times throughout the 90 minutes, with all games kicking off at the same time in the interest of fairness. The Red Devils were slotted into first place on 20 minutes via a cool Wayne Rooney finish from a Phil Jones cross, but found themselves going in to the dressing room at half time demoted into second with Paddy Kenny inexplicably failing to keep out Pablo Zabaleta’s

tage has been taken away because all countries are being allowed to train in Britain. The lighting of the Olympic flame at the birthplace of the ancient games was a stirring moment, which reminded people of the historic significance of the movement and London’s responsibilities this summer. Besides a brief scare when the flame went out, the ceremony passed smoothly. But even with the sun shining it was hard to ignore the gloomier economic backdrop for the event. Greece is facing a crippling economic crisis. And while it seems slightly perverse to bemoan cuts to sport at a time when so many are losing their jobs here, the impact on elite athletes has been severe.

All domestic competitions have been cancelled belief that if the home footballing nations rally beand the International Olympic Committee has hind the Union flag for the Olympics and doesn’t been forced to step in with another Greek bailout really take into account the changes that have oc- this time to ensure they can field a decent team curred since London won the right to stage the in London. Olympics with the SNP saying that they will hold a indeThe indignant response “They insist there is no new agreement, from the Scottish and Welsh pendence re f e re n football associations to the no falling in line.” announcement of Great dum in Britain football teams for the 2012 Olympic 2014/15, so are Scotland really be part of a Great Games cannot have come as any surprise to the Britain team when the Scottish Government is intent on separating from the rest of the United British Olympic Association. The other home nations outside England have Kingdom? I wish that a GB team could be formed long made clear their implacable opposition to for every sport in the Olympics because it would the idea of a joint team, and they are clearly find- show to the world that Britain can forget about ing the language used by the BOA in making the political arguments and join together to play sport. Football’s world governing body FIFA may announcement provocative. They insist there is no new agreement, no fall- well in time, eventually, decide to make the joint ing in line. This row has been festering for years. team a permanent fixture which would, in my It’s quite a unionist idea and founded on the basic opinion, only be good news.

too much snooker in China?’ and the answer is ‘No!’ ‘We are playing where the demand is’. Once play got underway, there were several reasons for consternation, but few of them towards Hearn.

ing their integrity. Allen was subsequently fined; the Northern Irishman is a supreme talent but his penchant for saying ill-judged, controversial things is unwelcome. Next, the exodus of many seeded players: the Marks – Selby and Allen – were joined by 5th seed Shaun Murphy, along with Stephen Lee, Martin Gould, Ding Junhui, Graeme Dott and Stuart Bingham in exiting the championship in the first round. Judd Trump, John Higgins, Mark Williams, Neil Robertson and Stephen Hendry all fell before the semi-finals that saw Ronnie O’Sullivan defeated Welshman Matthew Stevens 17-10 and Ali Carter get the better of Stephen Maguire 1712. Carter, who’d already had an eventful fortnight (he’d had a Twitter argument with Judd Trump,

relatively tame finish. There were even further changes in the second half. A Djibril Cisse rifled effort shortly after the break restored United’s lead at the top and was then further assured when Jamie Mackie headed home a pin point Armand Traore cross on 66 minutes, despite QPR being down to ten men courtesy of a rush of blood to the head from Joey Barton. It was beginning to look like the title was heading to United with City seemingly unable to break down QPR’s defence and the much improved goalkeeping skills of Paddy Kenny. However, with Roberto Mancini bringing on Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli to add more attacking prowess to the front line, it began to seem inevitable that City would score, but could they get two? City scored the equaliser almost as soon as the game at Sunderland had finished, Edin Dzeko scoring a header, seemingly unmarked, from a corner. Further in to injury time, the come back was complete and the title was sealed. Sergio Aguero started and completed the move, cooling slotting past the helpless Kenny, sending the packed Etihad Stadium into scenes of joy and delirium. There were tears, there were pitch invasions, quite simply, the final day of the season had everything. Aptly enough, the season which is being called the most exciting in the Premier League’s history by journalists nationwide was ended with one of the most exciting days of football I have ever witnessed. There were times when both Manchester United and City were thought to have sealed the title and the fact that it went down to the final day is testament to the quality of the league, which has been questioned at length by the press.

The Olympics: Will Sport Take a Back Seat?

Alex Thomson

have to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of the Olympics, the venue is wrong it needed to be in either the West Midlands or in the North to really kick-start failing regional economies for all the money that would have been pumped into the area both public and private. London in the 21st century still has all the money and all the influence so why does it need the Olympics on top of everything else? We keep getting told that money will flow from London to other parts of the country and re-ignite Britain, I doubt that it will do any of that, it will be London with more money and influence. The sport, I believe is second place because Britain won’t win the Olympics; the home team advan-

O’Sullivan Claims Snooker World Championship Title

Joe Russell

n spite of the commentators’ interminable references to its sponsors, the BETFRED. COM(!) World Championship proved itself to be a thoroughly enjoyable two weeks, full of controversy and offering a timely reminder that when he concentrates, Ronnie O’Sullivan is close to unbeatable. Since its takeover by Barry Hearn, who’s in the process of prostituting snooker to the far-east market, snooker has been in a stage of transition. There are now more events than ever before and the World Championship was clouded by rumours that its venue, The Crucible in Sheffield, was to be axed in favour of a move to China. Hearn tempered criticism of his plans to increase the game’s expansion in China by saying, ‘there are some corners that say “Are we playing

“Once play got underway, there were several reasons for consternation.” First, there was Stephen Hendry’s immaculate 147-break that he, unfortunately, followed with the announcement that he was retiring. Snooker’s most successful player was giving the game up to focus on business interests in China. Sticking with the far-east, Mark Allen found himself in hot water after making a wholly inaccurate, damning contention against Chinese players’, question-

who called Carter ‘childish’), had snooker’s real entertainer Peter Ebdon – he of 12-break in four minutes fame – in his corner. Unfortunately for Carter, O’Sullivan, who had breaks of 56, 117, 52, 92, 141, 68, 62, 101, 54, 64, 55, 70 and 61 in the final, was playing his brand of total snooker – patient aggression combined with a phenomenally effective safety game – and went on to win the final 18-11. O’Sullivan, who has a reputation for threatening retirement, immediately announced a six-month sabbatical from the game, citing Hearn’s attempts of ‘blackmail’ as a reason. If this year’s championship illuminated anything about snooker, it was that its new dawn will be full of controversy and equally dependent on Ronnie O’Sullivan’s continued excellence.

May Issue 2012

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Sport

Chelsea Claim 2012 F.A. Cup

Liam Connolly

he 5th of May was a blue day at two minutes later when Craig Bellamy Wembley Stadium as Chelsea smashed a volley against Branislav left the F.A Cup final with the Ivanovich in the Chelsea penalty area. trophy in their hands. The game began The longer the game went on the more with 85million pounds worth of goal comfortable the London side looked as the reds failed to bring scoring talent on the bench as both Andy “With some Liverpool Suarez into the game, Uruguayan too ofCarroll and Fernando players claiming the ball the ten isolated against the Torres failed to make had crossed the line, blues back four. the starting line ups. Frank Lampard esThe latter was not perhaps it will be one of caped Jay Spearing far missed. With just 11 the Cup’s most contro- too easily before slipminutes on the clock, versial moments” ping the ball to Drogba Jay Spearing’s inability to control the ball in the Liverpool penalled to Juan Mata seizing possession. ty area and the big Ivorian swept a left With Liverpool on the back-foot he foot shot past the Liverpool ‘keeper’. It swept a ball through to the galloping was the Strikers fourth F.A Cup final Ramires who outpaced Jose Enrique goal in as many games. Dalglish had to make a change. The to fire the ball past Pepe Reina at his near post, both of whom will be disap- struggling Jay Spearing was replaced by Andy Carroll; he made an instant pointed with their part in the goal. Liverpool responded well to the impact. Just ten minutes after his ingoal as they got their first real grip on troduction to the game Carroll was possession. They were nearly level just on the scoresheet. Stewart Downing’s

persistence paid off as his block on a Bosingwa found its way to Carroll deep inside the Chelsea penalty area. Liverpool’s number nine twisted and turned to gain half a yard on John Terry before firing a shot past Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal. Liverpool began to dominate. At 2-1 Chelsea began to become nervy and tired as the newly inspired

Liverpool side pressed relentlessly for the remaining half hour. Finally the ball was sticking as Andy Carroll caught everything thrown at him. The thirty-five million pound man nearly became the hero in the 81st minute. A lovely clipped ball from Suarez found Carroll looming at the far post and his header was brilliantly

Mixed Emotions for Williams

Matt Jackson

T Liam Connolly

he Allianz Arena is set to host the Champions League final on Saturday in what is sure to be another magnificent European night. For both Chelsea and Bayern difficult domestic seasons have added extra significance to the game that is always the pinnacle of the football calendar. Bayern Munich head into the game on the back of a 5-2 defeat to Borrusia Dortmund in the German Cup final, hardly the kind of preparation manager Jupp Heynckes would have been hoping for. Bayern’s league campaign brought equally as little joy as they were forced to settle for a runners-up spot again behind Dortmund. De-

spite Bayern’s failings, any talk of low morale may be premature as the Champions League is a strange animal; domestic form rarely counts for anything in these big European ties, just ask Chelsea. Off the back of the FA Cup win the blues lost 4-1 to Liverpool in a shambolic performance, and finish the league campaign in 6th place, the lowest of league finish of Roman Abramovich’s tenure. However, Saturday’s 2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers may well provide Roberto Di Matteo with some optimism. With so many Chelsea players suspended, it would seem Di Matteo’s most difficult job will be to dig deep into the squad in order to find 11 players eligible to play. John Terry, Ramires, Branislav

Ivanovic and Raul Meireles all miss out through suspension. However, news that David Luiz and Gary Cahill have returned to training will be a welcome boost for the London side. The German’s haven’t got a full squad to choose from either, with Gustavo Lopez, David Alaba and Holger Badstuber having picked up suspensions in their semi-final tie with Real Madrid. Should Bayern win it will be the fifth time they’ve lifted the famous trophy, while Chelsea seek to get their hands on it for the first time in their history. While it remains to be seen whether Munich’s home advantage will be a benefit or a burden, what is guaranteed is yet another dramatic Champions league night.

Bucs table week ending 13/04/2012

League 1644.5 1 Loughborough University 277.5 58 London School of Economics 59 Liverpool John Moores University 313.5 315.5 60 Bangor University 295 61 Lincoln University 278.5 62 University of East Anglia 0 149 Scottish Agricultural College

Cup Indiv. Total 902 2443 4989.5 120 19 416.5 88 12 413.5 70 22 407.5 107 5 407 93 26 395.5 0 0 0

For Bangor’s complete Bucs scores and tables visit: visit Bucs online or scan the QR code to the right.

saved by Petr Cech, a save that is sure to become one of the iconic moments of the F.A Cup’s history. With some Liverpool players claiming the ball crossed the line, perhaps it will be one of the Cup’s most controversial moments too. Chelsea held out to win their 7th F.A Cup. As John Terry became the captain to lift the trophy the most times in the modern era, Chelsea’s attention now turns to Munich and the Allianz Arena for the Champions League Final on May 19th. For Liverpool a disappointing season ends on a sour note, despite hammering Chelsea 4-1 at Anfield mere days after losing to them in the cup final. Both teams will know a Cup win may not be sufficient success in the next campaign.

he Spanish Grand Prix marked a bittersweet day for the Williams team, with the end of the race looming #ABV – anything but Vettel was trending on Twitter. The Williams driver Pastor Maldonado picked up his first Grand Prix win and William’s first win in eight years. However the joyous occasion was overseen by tragic events inside the William’s pit crew. A pit fire broke out injuring a total of 7 people; 4 of which were from William’s own team. The other injured persons were made up of four Caterham mechanics and a Force India crewmember that suffered from smoke inhalation; the tracks first aid and medical teams treated them all. Martin Betts received the worst injuries following the incident and has second-degree burns on 15% of his body; the worst effected areas are his hands and legs. Caterham said that three of their crewmembers had suffered from respiratory problems whilst one crewmember had suffered from minor burns on their hand. Following the incident there have been calls from various people to try and tighten up on track safety within the sport. The efforts of various crewmembers from Williams and their competitors have been labelled as “heroic”. Spanish reports suggested that the track fire crew had already left the event prior to the fire, which occurred an

hour and a half after the race had came to a close. The fire crew that attended the blaze had to come from a nearby location. The fire is said to have started from a KERS supply. KERS or the Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems has been controversial in its time at Formula One as it was originally seen as something that would separate the big teams, who used KERS with the smaller teams who did not. This is another move in a long line of F1 controversies linking over the widening gap within F1 with teams regularly dominating a whole season. Amidst the devastating news about the Williams team the Spanish Grand Prix will be remembered for Michael Schumacher’s collision with Bruno Senna. Since his return to the sport Schumacher has been described as more mediocre than what his previously decorated career would suggest. Schumacher called Senna an idiot over the radio however the officials suggested that the collision was his fault giving him a 5 place penalty for the famous Monaco Grand Prix. Following the race Williams and the FIA have launched an investigation into the cause of the fire and have vowed to focus on prevention in future in order to avoid a similar incident. However for Pastor Maldonado this is a chance to silence his critics and celebrate his first formula one Grand Prix. For a lot of formula one fans it shows a refreshing moment for one of the Red Bull to not win.

May Issue 2012

LJ Taylor

ith the whole country in an olympic uproar its easy to forget that they aren’t the only major sporting events taking place this year. Two years after 2010’s World Cup championships in South Africa, its time for the UEFA European Championships. This year’s European Championships will be the fourteenth organised for international teams by UEFA and will take place between 8th June and 1st July with the championships hosted by both Poland and Ukraine, the first time either nation has hosted the tournament. The two host nations automatically qualified for the finals championships in which they will be joined by fourteen other teams that have made it through the 51 team qualifiers. The teams that will be joining the home nations are: Greece, Russia, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Republic of Ireland, Croatia, Sweden, France and England. This year will be the l a s t time that the UEFA European

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Sport

UEFA European Championships

Championship finals will include sixteen nations, with the 2016 championships, hosted in France, being the first to allow twenty-four of the teams into the finals. The winner of Euro 2012 will gain automatic entry into the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil in June of that year. This tournament will consist of the host, Brazil, World Cup 2010 winners, Spain, 2011 Asian Cup winners Japan, CONCACAF Cup winners, Mexico, Copa America winners, Uruguay and the yet to be determined OFC Nation’s winners, Euro 2012 winner and 2013 Africa Cup of Nation’s winners. The groups from the tournament, which were decided on the 2nd December, have turned out pretty interesting with World Cup runner up’s The Netherlands finding themselves in Group B with possible favourites Germany. The Word Cup champions, Spain (who if victorious will pass their Confederation’s Cup place to the runner’s up), join Italy in Group C along with one of two UK nations to qualify, the Republic of Ireland. England’s Group D has shaped up to be a pretty interesting contest too with both France and Sweden posing a threat to their chances of advancing

Old Rugby Boys and Girls Re-

Nicola Hoban

he Bangor University rugby we had a really good team and we did teams welcomed back some old pretty well.” faces last week as the Old Boys The men’s match kicked off at 2pm and Old Girls from previous years re- and stood at 5-7 with the Old Boys pullturned to Bangor to prepare for their ing ahead when the game had to be cut annual rugby match, though this year short after one of the Old Boy’s broke it was held in memory of Old Girl Sam his tibia and fibula and badly dislocated Hurst who died earlier this year of his ankle, and emergency services had leukemic cancer. to be contacted. The two match- “This year we had a really good Third year es, held on the team and we did pretty well” Bangor student Treborth pitches Philippe Brown, on Sunday 6th May, saw the Old Girls Number 5 Second Row on the Bangor and Boys face the current Bangor Uni- University Men’s team said of the day: versity rugby teams while the crowd “As always a great game to see the old standing on the sidelines stood watch- faces of Bangor! It was really enjoyable ing and cheering. The women’s match although a serious attitude reflects the kicked off at 12.30pm, where the Ban- kinds of players we are when we enter gor Women’s rugby team faced some the field. The game was cut short by a stiff competition as their components shocking injury, but these are unfortuconsisted partly of players of the pre- nately the types of occurrences that be miership England Women’s rugby seen in such a physical game. Prior to team. With the game resulting with the injury however the match had been the Old Girls winning, the score stood fairly even.” at 36-5. Second year student Gabriella The match managed to raise £440 Rosseti, who plays openside flanker as for Leukaemia Research UK by selling number 7, said of the match: “It was a wristbands in memory of Old Girl Sam really tough match but we put up a re- Hurst, who passed away from leukaeally good fight, whereas before we nor- mia earlier this year. mally got smashed. This year though

LJ Taylor

from the group stages. For me though, my interest lies with The Netherlands of whom I’ve been a fan for eleven years now. Following their disappointing end to a vastly successful World Cup campaign in 2010, which landed them with the Runner Up place, it’s going to be interesting to see how they handle the European Championships. Many people commented on the change in style of football from Holland in the World Cup, leaving behind their roots in ‘beautiful football’ and instead playing a dirtier game, the nation was criticised. The fact of the matter remained though; it worked. Dominating the group stages, with a win in every match, the Dutch soon found themselves in the Quarter Finals up against one of the world’s best nations and favourites for the cup; Brazil. Losing 1-0 at halftime to a team who hadn’t lost a World Cup match in which they held a half time victory for 37 matches, the Netherlands managed to turn the tables and win 2-1 with an amazing corner kick straight into the net from Wesley Sneijder. Meeting Uruguay in Cape Town for the SemiFinals really tested the team but after a dramatic match they came out on top and on their way into the World Cup Final for the first time since 1978. The final, in which the Dutch took on the Spanish, was an intense rollercoaster of a ride that

looked to be going into penalties. The World Cup final marked the last professional match for Dutch Captain Giovanni Van Bronckhorst who was brought off towards the end and replaced in defence by midfielder Rafael Van Der Vaart. It was a bad decision from the manager, arguably in preparation for the expected penalties in which Van Der Vaart’s left foot would have been a valuable asset, but left the Dutch end of the field without the strong line of defence it needed when Spain’s Cesc Fabregas broke the Dutch defence and got the ball to Iniesta. Dutch hearts broke across the nation and as they say the rest is history. Two years later the Netherlands are back in an international championship, with the chance to meet Spain once again but can they seal the deal this time around? I hope so and I think it’ll be interesting to see how the Dutch approach Euro 2012. Their new style of football, criticised in the World Cup, brought them a lot of success but will they give it up and return to the preferred ‘beautiful football’ that the Dutch are so well known for? I know I definitely won’t be counting them out as one of the favourites for the title and despite the recent retiring of Dutch legend Ruud Van Nistelrooy the Netherland’s have plenty of young and brilliant players. Hopefully this time they can grab the gold.

Alan Pardew: Unexpected Hero

hen Alan Pardew was announced as Newcastle United’s new manager, just three days after the sacking of Chris Hughton, in December 2010 it was to mixed reactions from the fans. The Newcastle fans have long been known for their sheer dedication and love for their team, despite the fact that their team has little to offer in terms of silverware, and so it was an important decision on who should manage the historic Magpies. A poll, by Sky Sports, revealed that only 5.5% of the 40,000 voters backed Alan Pardew to become the Magpies’ new manager, a figure that would likely change if they could see him now. Just returned to the Premier League, Newcastle were ready to return to their old form and Pardew was happy to be given the chance to lead them to success. He knew he would have to do a lot to earn the support of the fans and the players but he was ready for the challenge and knew it wasn’t a job he could pass up. In his first game as manager Pardew saw his team defeat

Liverpool 3-1 at St James’ Park and then a brilliant 5-0 victory over his former club West Ham. Peoples’ opinions on him were quickly changing. He and the team faced quite a bit of embarrassment when they lost 3-1 to League 2 team Stevenage though. That loss, however, was cancelled out with one of the Premier League’s greatest comebacks of all time. Down 4-0 at half time to Arsenal, in February, Newcastle United somehow fought back and ended the game 4-4. This season Pardew brought in some of Newcastle’s now most valuable player’s such as Cabaye and Ba and led them to their best Premier League start in 17 years with an undefeated streak of eleven games. January this year he brought in Cisse who’s proved his right to the legendary Newcastle number 9 shirt by scoring thirteen goals in

twelve games. Pardew’s time at Newcastle has had a few downs but has mostly been ups and he’s really had a huge impact on bringing the Magpies back to the standard of the Alan Shearer days. He was awarded for his dedication and hard work by being named as the Barclay’s Premier League Manager of the Season, the first Newcastle manager to do so. He’s managed to secure Newcastle fifth place in the Premier League this year, above big names Liverpool and Chelsea, and a place in the Europa League. Unfortunately Newcastle just lost out on a Champion’s League place.

Murray Triumphs Again

Matt Jackson

AU AWARDS 2012 A

Club of the Year: Women’s Gaelic Football Team of the Year: American Football Garbiella Rosettit: Blues for Jitsu & Women’s Rugby Varsity Teams of the Year: Men’s & Women’s Football AU President’s Award: Robyn Cooke Spirit of the Union: Lacrosse Sportswoman of the Year: Kathryn Howard Sportsman of the Year: Ben Butler

ndy Murray struggled his way into the third round of the Rome masters following a fairly one sided first set that eventually turned into a colossal struggle against David Nalbandian. In the end a lucky break in a decisive third set was what finally saw Murray through on his 25th birthday. Murray looked stronger initially capitalizing on a series of errors from his opponent and sailed his way into a convincing 4-0 lead. Nalbandian pulled back but following a massive 15-minute game Andy Murray paved the way to seal the four game cushion. Nalbandian however looked a lot stronger in the second set and looked as though he could easily give British favourite Murray a run for his money. The set loomed at 5-5 and Murray looked as though he could have easily been turned over by the Argentine Nalbandian however Murray eventually stormed 0-40 ahead and following a cou-

ple of close chances sent shot just edging over the net and pushing Murray one step closer to the win. The close of the game however was still an uphill struggle for the seemingly self destructive Murray who would have been shocked to overcome his opponent. He found himself 15-40 down as he attempted to serve for the match but came out the eventual winner as Nalbandian sent a final forehand shot hurtling into the net.