The Journal - Edinburgh Issue 013

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EDINBURGH’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

ISSUE XIII

WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2008

ALEX SALMOND HITS BACK » 19

“The US election shows that hope can triumph over fear – yet we are faced with more Labour scare tactics which suggest Scotland is incapable of making its own way in the world”

Dumber students, easier degrees, weirder research FLICKR.COM/AMOLEJI

IN NEWS

Lean Christmas

Edinburgh council reveals a crippling shortfall in its operating budget

EDINBURGH NEWS » 7

The Blood is Strong

New diaspora studies centre promises to shed light on Scottish emigrant stories

ACADEMIC NEWS » 9

Purchasing Power EUSA threatens boycott of university outlets as opposition to VAT policy gathers strength

STUDENT POLITICS » 14

Prime Minister Obama?

With few leadership prospects, racial barriers in UK politics remain intact

NATIONAL POLITICS » 15

IN FEATURES

Remembering W

A look back at the rise and fall in the fortunes of George W. Bush, as the exit beckons

FEATURE » 24

Noah and the Whale

Folk-pop icons fail to set Edinburgh alight

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT » 28

Findings from a series of studies on falling standards in higher education predict a bleak future for universities

Rob Church-Taylor rob.church-taylor@journal-online.co.uk NEW RESEARCH HAS found that academics are under pressure to award students higher marks, and that plagiarism is rife in universities.

34 per cent of academics questioned felt that ‘dumbing down’ reports are correct, while 82 per cent felt that lack of resources is affecting academic standards.

Sir Peter Williams, head of university watchdog the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), wrote in the Times Higher Education Magazine: “Standards will inevitably change over time, reflecting

developments in the world at large.

“Whether they are the same as 10, 20 or 30 years ago is irrelevant.

“What is important is that they should be right for today and meet the diverse needs of society as they are now.

“As higher education embraces more and more of the intellectual range of the population, it may need to redefine and expand the concept of academic standards.”

The higher education minister, David Lammy, said: “Our higher education system has a well deserved international reputation for excellence, a fact demonstrated by the numbers of students who are attracted to study here each year

from around the world, second only to the USA. “By 2011 we will have increased funding by 30 per cent in real terms since 1997, spending £11 billion a year on higher education.”

The Times study findings came as concerns were raised over the falling quality of published academic research.

The ability to publish articles online has caused a massive increase in the number of areas of academic study from which work can be promoted.

Senior academics have claimed that because the selection of publications is so diverse, even the most unusual articles can be published, leading to a ‘dilution’ of the pool of quality published

research.

Journals such as The Journal of Happiness Studies or Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy News, are giving an increasing number of academics a platform on which to promote their work.

This has caused problems for the more traditional journals. Alex Bentley, an anthropology lecturer at Durham University, said: “There are many high-quality printed journals that a lot of people aren’t interested in anymore because their article will be treated critically and then it won’t have any impact.

Continued on page 2

10 National Student News

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

Scant progress on dodgy landlords Holly Priestman

Jodi Mullen jodi.mullen@journal-online.co.uk StudeNtS iN ediNburgh have once again fallen victim to scams by online fraudsters posing as legitimate landlords on a popular flat-finding website.

A number of Napier university students were conned out of hundreds of pounds when they arrived in the city to find no accommodation waiting for them and their deposits gone.

Foreign students used the website gumtree.com to find accommodation in edinburgh while still in their own countries and were asked to wire money for a deposit and first month’s rent to “landlords” via Western union. upon arriving in edinburgh, the students were shocked to find that the properties they had paid to rent often did not exist or were unavailable for rent and that the landlords were impossible to contact. despite reporting the matter to police, most have been unable to retrieve their money.

Chee ho Wan, a spokesperson for gumtree.com, told the Journal: “Fraudulent activity of this nature is a serious matter and we regret that any of our users have been affected by it. gumtree employs a series of preventative measures alongside an education programme in order to create a safe environment for its users.” gumtree.com has been associated with landlord scams in the past, leading Napier Students’ Association (NSA) to remove the website from its list of recommended sites for student accommodation. this follows the decision last

year by Studentflatfinder.com to drop gumtree from its own list of trusted partners amidst ongoing security concerns.

No representative of NSA was available for further comment.

NSA have warned students to be extremely vigilant when searching for new accommodation. A statement on their website advises potential tenants to ensure they see a property in person before handing over a deposit and asks students to warn friends from abroad about the scams if they are considering

studying in the city in future.

While Lothian and borders Police have received a number of complaints from overseas students who handed over substantial deposits on property only to find it did not exist upon arriving in the city, their response so far has been limited.

A police spokesman outlined the difficulties of prosecuting someone for this kind of offence: “given that most of the victims of these crimes do not have an edinburgh address and that the accommodation they pay for invariably does

not exist, there are issues over jurisdiction for dealing with the enquiries in that there is no tangible connection to this force area. People who live outwith edinburgh but have been affected should therefore contact their local police.” however, he added: “if a victim of a fraudulent landlord claim does have an address within the Lothian and borders area, then a crime report can be compiled and a full investigation carried out.”

Chee ho Wan claimed that measures were in place to eradicate phony landlords: “We also have a dedicated team

to react quickly to any reports from our users of suspicious activity, and they work closely with the police and other relevant organisations as necessary.”

Last year The Journal reported that two landlords, named as david Schulman and Joshua david Middleton, were deliberately targeting students via gumtree and had succeeded in fraudulently obtaining thousands of pounds.

While many students came forward with information, and the pair were brought to justice, it is highly likely both names are false. in April of this year the matter was brought to wider public attention when the Edinburgh Evening News ran a story about Jun-ya Shoji, a 28-year old postgraduate student from Japan. Shoji lost over £700 when he fell victim to a complex scam in which a bogus landlord produced scans of faked identification documents and photos of the interior of the flat to convince him to pay a deposit in advance.

When Shoji went to the police, he was informed that they had received a large number of similar complaints and that it was likely that the money was being transferred to somewhere outside the edinburgh area. gumtree suggest that students looking for accommodation in edinburgh view the property before handing over money for a deposit. they advise never to wire money or provide personal or bank details to others over the internet. the website encourages users to familiarise themselves with common online scams in the hope that raised awareness will reduce the chances of falling victim to fraud.

durham reinstates suspended ‘whistleblower’ flickr.com/ guy_incognito

Constantine Innemée constantine@journal-online.co.uk ProFeSSor robert WAtSoN was reinstated last week at the university of durham following a landmark ruling by the Court of Appeals. the professor of financial management was originally suspended in 2007 following allegations of racism and harassment made against him by members of staff. the initial suspension came shortly after Professor Watson raised concerns about possible acts of plagiarism by ex-don Prof. Antonio Antoniou, who resigned in September 2007, after allegations were made that he had plagiarised his Phd thesis at York university. in an email sent around to durham university staff in december of 2007, Vice-Chancellor Chris higgins said that allegations of intimidation, harassment and racist behaviour had been made against Professor Watson. “because of the serious nature of these complaints, and in order to expedite this investigation, i have decided it is necessary to suspend Professor Watson from duty without prejudice and with immediate effect from today,” Mr. higgins wrote.

A source close to Professor Watson said: “Professor Watson claims these allegations were made, and the university acted so strongly upon them to silence him, as he was trying to raise concerns about more recent

misconduct by Antonio Antoniou within the university.” the university of durham insists that Prof Watson’s raising of concerns and his suspension are unrelated, dismissing any claims of whistle blowing.

A spokesperson at durham university said: “on Friday [24 october 2008], the court of appeal ruled that the approach taken by the high court was incorrect and lifted the suspension on condition that Professor Watson gave an undertaking that he will not attend work until the disciplinary proceedings against him are concluded.” the ruling has an effect on university staff across the uK as it clarifies the procedure needed to dismiss an academic. dr Soran reader, Professor Watson’s universities and Colleges union representative, said: “this is a landmark ruling for higher education. it means universities will no longer be able to suspend staff at will. it strengthens the legal protections available to academics who challenge university decisions or raise sensitive issues in the interests of students or research.” the appeals court ruled that even though durham university had not acted in breach of contract, there was an arguable case that it had.

A university spokesperson said: “the Court of Appeal ruling has no implications for our disciplinary proceedings. these are continuing and the university has no further public comment to make.”

National Student News 11

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

Lammy calls for more black students Abi Buglass abigail.buglass@journal-online.co.uk The miNisTer of state for higher education has called for more black school pupils to continue their education at university.

At an oxford University conference on monday 27 october 2008 David Lammy told his audience that the number of black students from the Caribbean has been the same for three years, at around just over one per cent, and that the UK still had more work to do to change this. mr Lammy, who was the first black Briton to study for a masters’ Degree in Law at harvard, urged that we do not grow complacent about the progress of black people: “in this country people like me are still the exception rather than the rule. And the same is even still true in the UsA, where a black man could be elected President in a few days’ time”. This particular point has even more significance given last week’s election result. in a speech in 2004, on a similar theme, the mP for Tottenham called on schools to introduce the idea of a university education to pupils earlier on and this theme is still prevalent in his thought today. he said: “if we wait until kids are 18 before we try to convince them that, with talent and hard work, they can aspire to go to any institution that suits their needs, then we leave it far too late.”

According to UCAs, in 2003 just 4.2 per cent of university applicants were black, though this had risen to 5.8 per cent in 2007.

David Lammy confirmed that progress is being made, stating that while less than a third of black Caribbean pupils were awarded five or more A-C level GCses in 2002, this rose to almost half in 2007 adding: “Last year, the number of black and mixed-parentage entrants to oxford was over 20 per cent up on 2006. That’s progress.”

But mr Lammy also made the point that more work has yet to be done to “redress the legacy of inequality with which we currently live”adding: “Because let’s be honest about it, because we are not yet living in a society where everyone has an equal chance.”

David Lammy (below) has highlighted racial exclusivity of British higher education

» The reorganisaTion of higher educaTion in whiTehaLL one day after Gordon Brown became Prime minister in June 2007 he radically altered the make up of Whitehall.

The department for education and skills was broken into two. The department for children, schools and families and the department for innovations, universities and skills (DiUs) were established. The mP for southampton itchen John Denham took charge of the latter.

Now secretary of state for the branch mr Denham is assisted by four other politicians the most important is David Lammy the mP for Tottenham

who is in responsible for higher education and intellectual property.

The birth of the new department could well lead to confusion about who has power over universities and, of course, who makes the final policy decisions. so is it the erudite mr Lammy, who read law at harvard, or is it head of the department and staunch anti-iraq war mr Denham who calls the shots? in recent weeks both have made important speeches about the future of universities throughout the country. mr Lammy, talking at an oxford University

conference, called for more black students whilst the new cabinet minister mr Denham explained his planned student grant cuts for 2009. on the front of it mr Denham is the man in control of policy. he heads the department, attends meetings of the cabinet and makes the last decision on all policy. But mr Lammy’s role is not to be undermined as he plays a pivotal part in advising mr Denham on all things university related. for discerning students who may wish to raise concerns with an aspect of government policy it is important to

know who to write to. in this regard, mr Lammy is the best person to contact via the DiUs website. The two work closely together before setting or changing any policies and making any announcements.

The Brown-implemented Whitehall reforms have had an incongruous effect on public understanding in so far as they have confused more than informed. having said that, the aim to put more focus on universities can only be a good thing and the benefits may become apparent once the department finds its feet.

students take to the streets in support of fees cap London protest comes as prominent figures across sector call for rise in university tuition fees Hiran Balasuriya hiran.balasuriya@journal-online.co.uk ThoUsANDs of sTUDeNTs from english universities took to the streets last Wednesday to protest against the removal of a cap on university tuition fees costs. students from across various universities joined the campaign which sought to brand the higher education funding system, which could see some universities charging up to £15,000 per year as unfair.

The University of Wolverhampton student’s Union encouraged students to write their debt on tags attached to

helium balloons. meanwhile, students from Durham, Northumbria and Newcastle universities assembled a banner indicating the average student debt over the millennium Bridge in Gateshead.

Aaron Porter, Vice-President of the National Union of students (NUs) higher education group, told The Journal: “The passion shown by thousands of students, demonstrates the dissatisfaction that is attached to the current funding system. in the run up to the 2009 review into capped variable fees, it is vital that students continue to stand up and reject any possibility of a lifting of the cap, and a halt to the marketisation of higher education.”

The protests were organised by the

NUs, as a part of their “students in the red – day of action movement” included as part of their education funding campaign.

The campaign aims to pressure for what it sees as a fairer finance scheme for students across the UK, and also for a national bursary system to provide financial support based on how much students require, rather than their location of study. mr Porter said: “NUs is working on devising an alternative system altogether, which will ensure that any student contribution is collected in a fairer and more progressive way, rather than the unequal system that we currently have.”

in an report published earlier this year, Broke and Broken, NUs president Wes streeting claimed: “many [students] have witnessed with mounting dismay the growing consumerisation of education. They know instinctively that dividing up our limited resources through a market mechanism is wrong.”

The NUs report also states that the average student will leave university with a debt of up to £25,000, including the added interest. The annual charge to each account will be £950, meaning that graduates will need to earn £25,550 a year to counterbalance the interest before making any difference whatsoever to the original sum.

mary Dobson,22, a third year student at Durham University who attended the protest in Newcastle, said: “The numbers were quite good. We were intending to just be on the bridge, where we hung a huge banner, and then someone suggested that we march though town.

We marched with the megaphone, chanting about how education should be equal access. i think it was really effective in capturing imaginations. it’s such a shame that awareness of this issue is so limited.”

The department for innovations, universities and skills defended the funding system, stating that it would not stop people from enrolling in university.

12 Student News

government slashes financial aid John Denham announces cuts to loans and cap on number of new students Matthew Moore matthew.moore@journal-online.co.uk thE gOvErNmENt hAs outlined plans to restructure the student grants award system, resulting in a £100 million cut in spending and a cap on the number of new students in 2009.

John Denham, the cabinet minister for innovation, universities and skills, proposed the new plans in a statement published at the end of October. the new arrangements come partly as a result of over expenditure in 2007/8. the worst hit students will be those from middle-income families as the threshold for a partial grant will be brought down from £60,000, as set by ministers in June 2007, to £50,020. the move will only affect English students. According to statistics published

by UCAs there are around 20,000 English students studying in scotland. mr. Denham explained the cuts: “the family income threshold for a partial grant will be £50,020, which means that all students with household incomes of £18,360-£50,020 will be eligible for higher levels of grant than in 2007/08.” the current grant system provides two thirds of students with full or partial grants. Under the new plans the poorest students will not be affected. those affected will see their grants reduced and their loans increased.

According to a recent report by NUs UK, students leave university with debts of up to £25,000 with interest. the changes could affect up to 40,000 students, as the department for innovation, universities and skills seeks to make up for its financial shortfalls in the last year. mr. Denham argued that some students would be better off: “All students with a household income of £18,360£57,708 will be eligible for a more generous package of grant and loan support than in 2007/08.” stephen Williams, liberal Democrat university spokesman, condemned the plans and accused the government of neglecting students. “As we enter a recession, ministers are going to have to face-up to the fact that more students are going to be expecting to receive maintenance support in the years to come.” mr. Denham defended the changes at parliamentary universities select committee: “the key thing is that we are not changing the lower threshold for the full grant. that remains at £25,000.” the re-structuring comes just over a year since the award system was last revamped.

An aide of Denham’s told The Guardian that the changes were not a result of the current financial climate. “it is untrue to say that this is related to the economic slowdown. the issue arose because we underestimated the number of students who would apply.” mr Denham said that the changes would “reduce the cost pressure by £100 million”, on an annual basis. in a bid to further relieve the financial pressure on the department, a cap has been put on next year’s growth of student numbers to bring it down from 15,000 to 10,000.

UCAs figures published in October showed a rise in applications to universities, which have increased by 10 per cent compared to last year.

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

Animal rights “terrorist” in court Demian Hobby demian.hobby@journal-online.co.uk AN ANimAl rights activist was behind the ‘terrorist campaign’ that destroyed two Oxford University buildings with home made pipe bombs to stop the building of research facilities, a court has heard. mel Broughton, 48, is accused of planning and carrying out two arson attacks in November 2006 causing £14,000 worth of damage. self-proclaimed activist and leading figure of animal rights group sPEAK, planned a campaign in protest of plans to build new research laboratories at Oxford University. Broughton denies charges including alternative possession of materials to destroy property, conspiracy to arson and ownership of explosive articles with intent.

Prosecutor John Price told the court Broughton had collaborated with at least one other person to carry out the attacks, which consisted of fuel and an improvised fuse made from sparklers. he said: “the principle target of these devices was the institution of the university itself. they were part of a wider terrorist campaign intended to bring to an end, if it could, the construction of the laboratory in Oxford.”

Broughton was arrested at his home in Northampton in December last year where police found a battery connector and 14 packets of sparklers in a disused water tank in his bathroom.

SPEAK protest in Oxford flickr.com/digitaura they also found a university security pass and a notebook containing possible locations for “direct action” underneath his carpet. the jury heard he had been previously convicted in 1998 when police found a bomb in the boot of the car they had stopped him in. two similar bombs were found underneath a portakabin at templeton College in February last year after they had failed to detonate. the jury heard that DNA linked Broughton to a

sample used as part of the fuse.

Campaign group sPEAK pride themselves on being “pro-active” to stop animal testing, using an “ends justifies the means” philosophy of action. their website states; “we are often referred to as ‘terrorists’ because we have been forced to choose unorthodox methods to draw attention to an issue where other means have failed; proactive action has often ensured that animal rights has put issues requiring

attention firmly on the map.”

Described as an animal rights “fanatic”, the prosecutor said that Broughton had not aimed to harm anybody in his attacks on empty buildings at night but that the attacks were serious criminal offences. he said: “Acts of intimidation and violence were directed towards persons and institutions such as companies perceived as being in any way connected to the project.” the trial continues.

half of Cambridge students cheat Varsity Facebook poll finds 49 per cent of students have broken plagiarism rules Laura Robertson laura.robertson@journal-online.co.uk ONE iN tWO Cambridge students admit to having committed some form of plagiarism in their university career.

Of the 1000 students who responded to the online survey carried out by Cambridge‘s student newspaper, Varsity, 49 per cent admitted to plagiarism including handing in someone else’s work, copying and pasting from the internet, buying essays online or paying someone to proof read their work.

One anonymous student told Varsity, “sometimes when i’m really fed up, i google the essay title, copy and throw everything on to a blank word document and jiggle the order a bit.” the University of Cambridge’s website maintains that plagiarism “is both poor scholarship and a breach of academic integrity.” the faculty of law said that they were “surprised” to have the highest percentage of plagiarists in the survey, with 62 per cent of their student body admitting to having committed plagiarism of some type. the University of Cambridge states: “Plagiarism is defined as submitting as one’s own work that which derives in part or in its entirety from the work of others without due acknowledgement.” many blame the University’s definition of plagiarism for the high number

of students who have had to admit to committing plagiarism. speaking to The Journal, Patrick Kingsley, the editor of Varsity, also voiced concerns regarding the University’s broad statement on plagiarism. he said: “We were surprised that there should be so much plagiarism at the university, especially given that Cambridge is an academic institution which bases its reputation on scholastic rigour and integrity. however, we feel that this probably says more about the ambiguity of the university’s plagiarism policy than any serious wrongdoing on the part of the students.”

An anonymous third year student told the paper: “they’ve got to draw a distinction between failing to cite references properly and actual cheating.” the survey further highlighted problems concerning over-reliance on online sources, such as Wikipedia: 82 per cent of plagiarists admitting to copying material from the website.

Of the University’s colleges, Edmund College had the greatest number of students who admitted to plagiarism while selwyn College had the fewest. these two colleges find themselves at the bottom and top of the tompkins table, respectively.

A member of the University council stated: “it stands to reason that those students who are performing less well will resort to underhand means to get by.” in response to the findings, some

students suggested that a heavy academic work load left many struggling students with no choice but to cheat. A second year Cambridge student said: “the quantity of work supervisors expect us to do is unrealistic” Others asserted that “low level” plagiarism has been rife within the establishment for decades and seemed unsurprised by the findings.

A third year student stated: “All Part One lab reports are copied off the elder years, including mine. Presumably at some point someone did these lab reports by themselves, but that was probably about 100 years ago, and we have been copying it ever since.” the survey also confirmed that 80 per cent of students believe that the university is doing enough to combat plagiarism. however, a member of the general board asserted, “You can see why students, a great number of whom are breaking the rules to their own benefits, would be keen to uphold the impression that the system is working.” the university takes a seemingly hard-line on plagiarism: in a recent statement a spokesperson for Cambridge said: “the university regards deliberate acts of plagiarism as a serious and potentially disciplinary offence which can lead to failure to obtain, or withdrawal of a degree.” however, of the 49 per cent of students who admitted to plagiarism, only five per cent said they had ever

been caught. A third year student commented, “i know the university says that not acknowledging ideas counts as plagiarism but in reality i don’t think my supervisors or anyone really cares that much.” in addition, a report from the higher Education Academy and Joint information systems Committee found that out of 9,200 cases where students had been pulled up for plagiarism, only 143 students were expelled. the report found that the most common punishment was to re-submit the work.

Cambridge actively uses turnitin plagiarism detection software in many of its faculties to try and combat plagiarism within its institution.

Universities are also being advised to review their plagiarism policies in light of new evidence which suggests some students might be using Facebook to cheat. Plagiarism experts have warned universities and colleges to be aware of students copying from each other when discussing coursework on social networking sites. gill rowell, from the consultancy Plagiarism Advice, said universities needed to reassess their policies on plagiarism with “internet working in mind”. however, she insisted that institutions were treating incidents of plagiarism seriously enough.

University plagiarism experts will discuss cheating with Universities UK, the umbrella group for vice-chancellors, on 19 November.

Student Politics 13

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

Agenda set for EUSA AGM Corinne Redfern corinne.redfern@journal-online.co.uk EdiNburgh uNivErsity studENts Association (EusA) is holding its Annual general Meeting (AgM) Wednesday. it comes following recent student representative Committee debates in regards to potential constitutional amendments, and will confront various issues raised by current university students.

More motions have been proposed this year than at any previous AgM. these include issues related to identity cards and alcohol consumption, and the university’s medicine patenting policies. students want to ensure that medicines and health-related innovations developed at Edinburgh university are available at low cost to all low and middle income countries. Currently patents are often sold to the highest single bidder who then has a monopoly on the market because of the lack of a competitive market.

EusA President Adam ramsay commented: “the motion about access to essential medicines may or may not be controversial. Edinburgh does serious medical research, and the motion, proposed by medics, looks at ways the drugs resulting from this can be accessible to everyone who needs them. if the proposers of the motion are right—and that is what the debate will be about—this could save huge numbers of lives around the world.” the vice President of Academic Affairs, guy bromley, is bringing a motion to the AgM that EusA needs to change its stance on the legal drinking age to one which would permit 16-year-olds to consume low alcohol drinks in bars and pubs.

Mr bromley told The Journal: “Our motion will bring young people into an environment where their drinking is supervised and safer. there is currently no distinction in the law made between a 70 per cent bottle of absinthe and a four per cent beer. this

must surely be wrong, and contribute to the difficulties associated with alcohol and young people.” he said that many other Northern European countires take this line, for example in denmark the drinking age is 15 and in germany and belgium 16. he said: “i’m not suggesting that we’ll ever develop such attitudes to alcohol whereby we can follow Cyprus’s example of allowing 12 year olds to legally purchase, but i think that making this AgM policy would arm EusA with the tools needed to fight for more responsible alcohol policy in the future.” the government’s contentious National identity Card scheme, which is due to come into action from 25 November, has provoked a response from two separate groups of Edinburgh students. however, both have proposed different ways of reacting to the development of the information database; while student Oliver Munder is asking for EusA to campaign legislatively against the id cards, his colleague stephanie irene spoto calls for a voluntary international student boycott of them altogether. Mr ramsay believes this is “on the one hand, supporting people in breaking the law, yet, on the other, arguably the only actual way to stop the id card proposals.”

Other motions proposed this year include giving student societies the right to bring their own food and non alcoholic drinks into the union buildings and promoting a EusA supported campaign for free education. the vice-principals will also be attending the meeting to answer questions about feedback issues. the AgM is behind all major decisions taken by EusA, and in the past motions have been carried through to make Edinburgh university the first Fair trade university in scotland, and to organise a full-scale boycott of all Nestlé products in EusA outlets.

For any motion to pass at the AgM, it needs 300 votes in its favour, and all voters must bear a valid matriculation card.

EddiE FishEr

» UAEM MAkES thE cASE for tArGEtEd MEdicAl rESEArch African sleeping sickness, dengue fever, leishmaniasis and lymphatic filariasis: if you haven’t heard of these illnesses, you’re not alone. these are just some for the 14 diseases listed by the WhO as “neglected diseases.” they are called so because they exist predominantly in the poorest and the most marginalized communities of the world, and are all but elminated and forgotten in the western world. the diseases thrive in places with unsafe water, poor sanitation, and limited access to basic health care. Even though these disease leave a trail of disability and life long pain they are often ignored and given a low priority alongside high mortality diseases.

Neglected diseases affect over one billion people worldwide and nearly every one has the potential to be treated or even eradicated completely.

however, because those affected have neither the money nor the political voice to demand treatment they are largely overlooked by pharmaceutical companies who measure their success by potential profit and not by physical benefit.

Currently some treatments exist but many are now ineffective because the diseases have developed resistance, and many of the other available treatments are simply not functional because they are old, toxic and expensive. in addition many require expert medical knowledge, which is often unavailable, to administer them correctly.

Edinburgh university is already taking steps to fill this void and rewrite the imbalance in global health. there is ongoing research into African sleeping sickness led by Professor sue

Welburn and i hope that it can use this as a spring board towards further developments leading to increased research into neglected diseases. this is because as a university, which receives less than five per cent of its research funding from pharmaceutical companies and given its claim that it exists to help promote “health and economic and cultural wellbeing” it is in a unique position to stand forward in the battle against neglected diseases.

We, as students, can mandate the university to make such an effort by attending the EusA annual general meeting and voting to support the motion put forward by uAEM (universities Allied for Essential Medicines) to create a policy whereby the university chooses its research not by potential profit but by physical benefit.

Chris Lawrence

Charities week chasing more bang for your duck Rebecca Sibbett rebecca.sibbett@journal-online.co.uk this WEEk 500 plastic ducks will be released across Edinburgh, each pitted against the other to make it the furthest around the world in six months, all in the name of charity. the ducks’ bills will all be tagged with numbers for identification and a website address so they can be tracked online. Left at famous landmarks around Edinburgh, including Edinburgh Castle, the scott Monument on Princes street and Arthur’s seat, they are to be picked up by whoever finds them and begin their journey. the “ducks on the run” event is being held as part of the annual Charities Week, a joint venture between Edinburgh university student Association (EusA) and Edinburgh student Charity Appeal (EsCA). running from Monday 10 November until Friday 14 November,

the week encompasses a whole range of events supporting both small local charities as well as the larger well-known organisations.

Naomi hunter, vice President of societies and Activities at EusA told the Journal “Charities Week is a fantastic opportunity for Edinburgh students to engage with the wider community and have fun while doing it.

“We have a really varied programme this year and whether the event is organised by a charitable society to raise the funds they need to run, or in aid of a much larger national charity they all show just how much students care and the effort they will go to in order to raise money and awareness.” the involvement of students in raising money for charity is something that has been a large part of Edinburgh’s history with the first ever student rag—a collection of clothes to be given to the homeless—being held here in 1867. this developed into EsCA who now organise

a range of charitable events throughout the year, as well as offering help and advice to all students in Edinburgh who want to run their own fundraising events. simon kirkland, student Coordinator of EsCA said: “Charities Week is a chance to raise the profile, as well as money, for many smaller local charities that EsCA work with such as Waverley Care, who provide care and support to people living with hiv and hepatitis C. but most importantly it’s about involving students and having a good time doing it.” in addition to the events run by EsCA and EusA such as ducks on the run and the inflatable Assault Course challenge, a number of societies are holding events throughout the week, from the pyjama party held by Children’s holiday venture to MedsiN and WaterAid’s combined World Music Night. the week culminates in a vegas themed night at teviot house on Friday 14 November which will raise money for Children in Need.

14 Student Politics 10th birthday for edinburgh bursaries Flagship financial aid programme still lags behind help available at North American universities Marthe Lamp Sandvik marthe@journal-online.co.uk the AcceSS burSArY Scheme at the university of edinburgh is celebrating its ten year anniversary this month. this year the scheme granted awards to 182 undergraduate students compared with a similar scheme in 1989 which handed out only 52 bursaries A statement from the university reads: “the number of bursaries that we have been able to offer has continually risen thanks to the involvement and generosity of individuals, companies, and funding from the university itself.”

According to the university of edinburgh website: “Over 180 bursaries will be awarded for undergraduate study to uK students from schools or colleges in the uK who are experiencing financial difficulties in taking up their place of admission at the university of edinburgh.” the value of the awards was emphasised by recipient Natalie gibb speaking at a ceremony to mark the anniversary: “For everyone in receipt of a bursary, it provides the opportunity to go to university, the opportunity to realise your potential and hopefully make a better life for yourself and, perhaps one day, to be able to pay back into the bursary scheme and in the future help others like ourselves to experience a university education.” the minimum value of each award is £1,000 per annum which is paid at the start of each academic session towards maintenance and living costs.

At certain uS ivy league schools, such as harvard, columbia and Princeton, students with American, Mexican or canadian citizenships are eligible for large scale financial funding, covering tuition, room and board. “the financial aid here, overall, is excellent,” said Yiliu Shen-burke, a canadian second year at columbia university. the average scholarships at these schools, amount to more than $30,000 a year. And that’s only for tuition. the aim of bursaries in the uS are not only to make expensive higher education available to an increased number of students but also to reduce mass debt for graduates. At Princeton university there are few students who graduate with debts amounting to more than $3000 due to their wellfunctioning bursary scheme. in the uK, however, where some minor mean family income tests do occur, the bursaries awarded by the university of edinburgh are not tested on the basis of parental income, though students must inform bursars of their own financial affairs. in further contrast to the uS system, the grant scheme awards are only available to uK students.

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

council defends insulation pledge Magnus Huntly-Grant magnus@journal-online.co.uk A receNt ediNburgh council meeting acknowledged the benefit of free home insulation and has agreed to push the motion forward by requesting a feasibility report. the motion was proposed by green councillor for Leith Walk, Maggie chapman, after she was approached by edinburgh university Student Association (euSA) president Adam ramsay. ramsay had initially intended to propose that every student house should be insulated for free but it was decided that a more ambitious edinburgh wide insulation project would be more expedient. he said at the time: “i realised i wasn’t going to persuade the council to just insulate student flats, so i decided to push for the lot. According to the energy saving trust, this exciting idea will save students an average of £200 per flat per year. it will also help us stay warm, and cut carbon emissions.”

Speaking this week he said: “the government has a number of initiatives to fund insulation – including a requirement that energy companies invest a certain proportion in energy saving measures.

“At the moment, these pots of money all sit in separate pots corresponding to different companies and different initiatives, and each one is wrapped in its own different kind of red tape. this causes particular problems for students who rent flats, as landlords who don’t pay bills are even less likely to navigate this complex system. “in Kirklees, the council collected all the money in one pot, and proactively went down each street, insulating every house that wanted it. by having one central co-ordinating point, and just doing

every house, admin costs were saved, so more houses could be insulated. they are now looking into doing the same in edinburgh.”

Kirklees council, in the Yorkshire Pennines, has provided the template to which the edinburgh proposals can adhere. the measures taken there have yielded positive results: the authority has provided free cavity wall insulation to over 11,000 homes in the last two years, resulting in the reduction of heating costs for the residents of these homes and a consequent reduction in climate change emissions. this in turn has meant the creation of jobs in the insulation industry. the minutes of the council meeting also note that the Kirklees scheme was funded by both energy companies and the council. it was seen as a good way for energy companies to meet their obligations under

euSA maintains pressure on edinburgh First over VAt Proposal for separate trading name to protect student tax exemption fails to galvanise university outlet operator Guy Robertson guy.robertson@journal-online.co.uk AFter threAtS bY edinburgh university Students’ Association (euSA) to boycott edinburgh First catering outlets across campus last week, the company is looking into suggestions proposed by euSA to stop students being charged VAt. euSA proposed that edinburgh First and the edinburgh university accommodation services should set up a separate student-facing sister company which wouldn’t charge VAt. in this way their student market would be separated from the tax paying general public who use edinburgh First facilities outside of the university year. this is how euSA operate when their sister company euSAco cater for the festival going general public in August. however, richard Kinton of edinburgh First appeared reticent when questioned by The Journal about the proposal. he said: “euSA have given

us a proposal and we will be looking into that. Obviously there are financial and tax implications which need to be looked at first by my colleagues.” the hM revenues and customs (hMrc) states clearly that students need not be taxed on catering services by the university backed Accommodation Services: “Where an educational institution provides exempt education to its own pupils and students, then the supply of catering they make is also exempt provided any food and drink is supplied at or below cost by the school.”

Karel thomas an executive officer of the british universities Finance directors group, said that an examination of the total tax affairs of the university and the subsidiary company, taking into account the policies of hMrc as they affect universities, must be carried out.

She said: “the situation is complex and not just a question of taxable or tax exempt sales of food and services – for example, there are much wider issues involving the premises in which the services are delivered.”

the carbon emissions reduction target (cert) scheme.

Further to this, the council purports that those struggling with fuel costs could be helped and that the report should include a range of financial considerations to go to the next meetings of the Finance and resource committee and the health, Social care and housing committee. due completion of edinburgh’s report would make it eligible for consideration at the budget meeting of February 2009. however, according to conservative councillor for Southside and Newington, cameron rose, the next Finance committee is next week and this item is not on the agenda.

When questioned by the Journal on his opinion of the report, Mr. rose remained pragmatic, saying: “this is a

strategy being undertaken by members of the green Party. i wouldn’t like to make a judgement based on a report which has not yet been produced. but it will need to stack up – both in terms of clear and quantifiable benefits and in financial terms for the council before the council will agree to go ahead with this.” the question of insulation in housing is a salient one which affects students and landlords alike. Norma Williams is the Property Administrator for dove davies, a leading property management company in edinburgh, prior to this she was the maintenance manager for six years. drawing upon her experience, she told The Journal of the importance of adequate insulation: “My own opinion is that landlords should treat their let properties as if they were the ones they lived in personally, giving thought not only to income but to the comfort and expenses of their tenants.

“From my experience working in maintenance the practicalities are not too great, if it involves roof insulation and cavity wall insulation the benefits outweigh the practicalities, using less fuel for example. “undoubtedly it will save money, badly fitted or single glazed windows lose a lot of heat and cause discomfort and roof insulation is definitely a great benefit, i know this from personal experience. “i believe better insulation of our homes is very important and it can only benefit the environment. A lot of maintenance issues raised by tenants were about badly or single glazed, draughty windows and lack of proper heating, especially in edinburgh.” the need for insulation was echoed as one of the points raised by the euSAorganised Student city Forum on 30 October.

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Local & National Politics 15

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

No obama for Britain, says Phillips flickr.com/damo1977

Ross Melton ross.melton@journal-online.co.uk The hisToric elecTioN of senator obama to the oval office last Tuesday overturned 250 years of racial injustice and inequality in the United states. in Britain it has sparked debate across party lines about when Britain will follow suit and elect a black or Asian Prime Minister.

Britain has already had a Jewish Prime Minister in Disraeli. since the UK also abolished slavery 30 years before the United states, many see it as odd that all three major national parties still underrepresent ethnic minorities. There are only three non-white cabinet members, and a total of 15 members from ethnic minorities – 2.32 per cent of the house. in 2001 the former Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged that the Us was far ahead of the UK in representing ethnic minorities in top political posts, though this is set to change according to the Fabian society (A New labour thinktank) and operation Black Vote (a pressure group hoping to encourage black involvement in British politics).

The debate about the possibility of a black Prime Minister in the near future was sparked not just by the election of the senator from illinois or by lewis hamilton’s Grand Prix victory, but also by the release of research figures by the Fabian society.

The thinktank predicts that Westminster might increase the number of its ethnic minority members after the

next election from 15 to at least 25, with labour placing 5 additional ethnic minority candidates in safe seats to the conservatives’ 4 and liberal Democrats’ 1. This would still remain unrepresentative of Britain’s people, because with ethnic minorities accounting for 7.5 per cent of the national population, 25 members out of 646 represents just 3.86 per cent of Britain’s ethnic populace. operation Black Vote’s director simon Woolley emphasised the effect obama’s election victory across the Atlantic might have on British politics while forwarding his hope to see a black British prime minister, stating: “obama has single-handedly inspired a new generation to be interested in politics because of what he stands for. he had the ‘audacity of hope’, which has taken him right to the White house and which has allowed us to believe in and find the courage to pursue the dream that we can achieve the impossible.” opinions are staunchly divided, with some ministers predicting that we will see a prime minister from an ethnic minority within a generation. Dawn Butler, labour member for Brent south and newly appointed government whip, spoke her optimistic belief, saying, “i would hope to see a black prime minister in my working life time.” other minority leaders in Westminster are not so confident: Adam Afriyie, the conservative shadow innovation minister, soberly stated, “i do not believe we’ll see [a black prime minister] in my lifetime.” labour MP sadiq Khan agreed with his conservative counterpart, also

highlighting the differences between the British and American circumstances: “Mass migration—slavery—took place to America 400 years ago... our mass migration has only happened in the last 40 to 50 years. But our recent progress has been far steeper than in the Us. We have been much quicker.” increased minority representation in the highest echelons of British politics has not gone unopposed. rather predictably, BNP leader Nick Griffin has voiced his desire that Westminster should be for “the British” and that black and Asian MPs should be “discouraged.” he restated his party’s policy that all non-white ethnic minorities, should be “forcefully encouraged to return home.” on a local level, edinburgh council has stressed its position for increasing ethnic minority participation in local government. on 30 september 2008 the council’s policy and strategy committee unveiled the new edinburgh partner equalities network, a new overarching body to bring 6 citywide equality forums under one roof. These equality forums each possess individual mandates for age, belief/faith, disability, gender, sexual orientation and race.

According to the 2001 census, edinburgh only contains 1769 people claiming caribbean, African or black scot identities, amounting to only 0.38 per cent of the edinburgh population. The general register office of scotland, who carried out scotland’s part of the 2001 census and are preparing for the next in 2011, estimate that this figure has increased to around two per cent over the intervening seven years.

15 minority MPs in the UK 2005 first election of a conservative minority MP

6% support for chandila Fernando,

a sri lankan party activist, in the lib-Dem presidential election

surprise labour win in Glenrothes

students benefit local communities, claims report

Rebecca Sibbett

Katie Oakes

rebecca.sibbett@journal-online.co.uk iN A shocK victory, labour held onto their seat in the Glenrothes by-election with 55.1 per cent of the total votes last week.

With the odds stacked firmly on the sNP’s side, nobody could have expected the 6,737 majority in what was expected to be such a close contest between the two parties.

This victory for labour candidate lindsay roy is as much a personal success for Gordon Brown as for the party.

The successful Mr roy spoke of Mr Brown in his victory speech saying: “i pledge my support to the leader of this country, someone who has worked very hard on behalf of all of us, not just in Fife, but in scotland and the UK during these volatile economic times.”

The Prime Minister, in unprecedented involvement in a by-election, visited the constituency twice to show his support for the labour candidate.

By involving himself so heavily in the campaign, Mr Brown put his own political credibility on the line, risking a defeat being interpreted as a loss of confidence in his ability to lead the country. As it transpires, the victory has delivered a vote of confidence in Mr Brown and the Government’s handling of the current economic crisis. speaking on the morning after the election, Mr Brown told reporters: “What i

have learned from this by-election is that people are prepared to support governments that will help people through the downturn and offer real help to people.”

“They are less willing to support people who have no idea about how to solve the problems we have got.”

Jim Murphy, the scottish secretary referred to the result as “dreadful” for sNP. The Nationalists candidate, Peter Grant, won 13,209 votes, 36.5 per cent of those cast.

First Minister Alex salmond, who was publicly certain of a victory for the Nationalists following the results of the Glasgow east election earlier this year, has been criticised for being too confident. sir Menzies campbell, former lib Dem leader whose seat neighbours Glenrothes said: “smart Alec has had his comeuppance. once again, an extravagant prediction from Mr salmond has proved worthless. This is a personal victory for the Prime Minister.”

The by-election was fought mainly on local issues, with the sNP led coalition council in Fife coming under fire by labour for imposing charges on care packages for the elderly, something many voters felt strongly about.

The following morning, deputy first minister Nicola sturgeon accused labour of fighting a “relentlessly negative” campaign in Glenrothes. she termed labour’s focusing on a single local issue—namely the sNP’s home-care charges—as “misleading.”

katie.oakes@journal-online.co.uk sTUDeNTs Are hiGhly beneficial to the local economy and an unjustly punished for anti-social behaviour, claims new report.

The report claims that students are highly valued by the local communities, stating that as a result, “the government is seeking to establish twenty new higher education centres as a means of effecting area regeneration and job creation.”

After recent calls for the “de-studentification” of edinburgh by housing and planning minister, caroline Flint, this review will be gladly welcomed by the city’s students. students have come under attack for their anti-social behaviour in residential areas, especially Newington, Marchmont and Morningside. Anti-social behaviour covers everything from loud music, to noise on the streets at night, to leaving rubbish in the stairwell. however, Thomas Graham, co-ordinator for last year’s “right to rent” campaign which successfully halted the legislation to introduce hMo quotas last year, highlighted the benefits of a student rich community. “Whether it’s using local services, such as Warrender Park Post office, or volunteering through societies such as children’s holiday Venture, students contribute massively to our communities.”

conservative councillor for southside and Newington, cameron rose, spoke candidly of the effect of students on the local community. “sciennes, Prestonfield, southside and Newington have a very high concentration of students. i welcome that in general, though it does lead to some pressure points locally.”

Flint’s plan to de-studentify certain areas could be implemented if the quota that Graham halted was to be passed. hMo’s were originally introduced to protect the rights of the tenant and their neighbours by ensuring that properties were well managed and of good quality. rose points out that landlord regulation already exists in scotland, but not without its problems. “it is my view that generally we need less regulation but more of the types that will deal with rogue landlords who flout the rules.” however, hMo licensing could now potentially be used to control the social engineering of certain areas. last year’s eUsA president Josh MacAlister, told The Edinburgh Evening News; “if quotas were proposed for where any other group of people could or couldn’t live it would be totally unacceptable.”

Whilst the review, named the rugg review after the leading researcher, focuses attention on the need to punish sub-standard landlords and improve properties; its primary aim is to see growth in the private rented sector, as this could make a significant contribution to providing accommodation where there is current scarcity.

Tollcross: high student density Talking to The Scotsman in January of this year, William Walters from the Flat company suggests student accommodation as we know it will change imminently. “hMo’s are under pressure. it looks as if the relentless capital growth in student accommodation has run its course. Added to that is the increasing preference for purpose-built private student accommodation.”

16 News Feature

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

News Feature 17

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

Remember, remember... as police fight a losing battle against the tide of illegal fireworks in the UK, arthur's seat plays host to our fascination with pyrotechnics - on all fronts, Bonfire Night has lost any sense of context Pictures: Bill Joseph

Demian Hobby demian.hobby@journal-online.co.uk It’s a cold Wednesday night on arthur’s seat, obscured under a dense cloud of fog and smoke sporadically lit up by exploding rockets and fireworks. the shadows of young revellers drinking bottles of beer, smoking cigarettes and bending to set off their pyrotechnics before watching them with craned necks as they light up the sky, can be seen dotted along the crags – each blast eliciting a roar from its onlookers. tonight is Bonfire Night.

Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes Night, celebrates the anniversary of the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot, which aimed to blow up parliament in 1605. attempted by a group English Roman catholic conspirators led by Robert catesby, the plan was foiled when Fawkes aroused suspicion while guarding the gunpowder. an attentive guard noticed that he was wearing a coat, boots and spurs indoors – as if about to make a very fast escape.

Nowadays the anniversary is marked by explosions and fire, with burning effigies of Fawkes thrown in for good measure. However, in this apathetic age, not only is it becoming increasingly unclear what younger generations are celebrating, but in an ironic echo of the events being commemorated, 5 November is increasingly being marked with interventions by law enforcement. last year a total of 1160 people were injured, with more than half of these under the age of 17. 590 of these took place at private firework parties. No official figures have been published yet on this year’s number of injuries, but The Edinburgh Evening News reported an increase in call-outs by both the lothian and Borders Police and Fire Emergency services. conservative MP for Kettering, Phillip Hollobone told The Journal: “Every year hundreds of children are injured by fireworks, and while there is strong support for organised firework displays, there is growing concern about the antisocial use of fireworks and the distress they cause to both people and animals.” other than injuries, tax payers’ money is also spent each year on extra emergency services to deal with the dangers of Bonfire Night. this year, 50 extra police officers were assigned to patrol the city, dealing with a total of 97 call-outs. lothian and Borders Police chief Inspector stevie Neils, of the safer communities department, told The Journal that police patrols focused primarily on residential areas rather than open public spaces where “responsible adults [were] not causing any danger.” “our biggest problem in previous years has been people who are underage... setting fireworks off in built up areas and housing estates where the danger is that the fireworks will land in peoples homes,” he said. despite being set on fire two years running, Holyrood Park is not on the polices’ agenda as hotspots for anti-

“there are always alternative solutions to an outright ban on the retail sale of fireworks, but an outright ban would be the most effective.”

social behavior, or dangerous use of fireworks. “since 5 october, the police, the fire brigade and the city council have been monitoring the build up of bonfires across Edinburgh. those that are deemed to be a potential hazard, depending on the height of the bonfire, and also on the vicinity of surrounding buildings and houses, can be removed by the council… which I think certainly helps cut down the number of potentially dangerous bonfires in areas that are built up,” says Mr Neils. the number of illegal bonfires, police arrests and injuries are all increasing steadily year on year; it’s therefore no surprise that the laws surrounding private use of fireworks are increasingly becoming somewhat of a legislative hot potato.

Mr Hollobone, who has campaigned for an outright ban of the retail sale of fireworks, raised the debate in the House of commons last week. though laws around the retail sale of fireworks to under age people, as well

as the use of fireworks in public places have stiffened since 2001, many argue that more needs to be done to curb the number of injuries reported each year.

Mr Hollobone told The Journal: “there are always alternative solutions to an outright ban on the retail sale of fireworks, but an outright ban would be the most effective. “too many people get hurt including young children and pets. also the use of fireworks generally causes and increase in anti-social behavior. therefore the disadvantages of the use of fireworks outweigh the advantages.” controversial or not, the huddles of young people gathered on the crags have come out with one very important thing in common: a love of fireworks. Whether or not it’s a celebration of the foiling of the gunpowder plot, or another weekday boozing, each fuse that flickers and sparkles, each blast that paints the sky and each explosion that reverberates against the rock is hailed by excited applause and screams of glee.

University of Edinburgh student,

Gerard Kerr, 18, said: “I’m not sure if everyone here is out to celebrate the fire works or that it’s Guy Fawkes Night.

But I’m here tonight to celebrate just the fireworks.

“I like the whole atmosphere of the thing, of people getting together, having a drink and firing rockets into the sky.

What better way to enjoy an evening.” the patrolling police cars that come and go on the main road are routinely the target of flying fireworks. once the police cars have gone, the groups turn on each other, firing rockets from group to group and shouting obscenities. though the atmosphere isn’t exactly aggressive, when the flying balls of flame hit their targets, people scatter shrieking, and then promptly fire one back. stuart Mcalpine, 19, of the University of Edinburgh, said: “Guy Fawkes Night is us burning him on a bonfire because that’s what they did. He tried to blow up the parliament so he was seen as an enemy so every Guy Fawkes Night we burn him.

“But every year we always twist it to be, if he did manage to blow up the parliament it would’ve been something of a victory. so the celebration means different things to different people depending on where you stand politically.

“We know its dangerous but it doesn’t matter if someone loses a limb – we’re having fun,” says Mcalpine. the nightly blasts of fireworks have come to an end, as people let loose the last of their explosives into the sky. the debate for a total ban on the retail sale of fireworks is postponed for yet another year. likewise, the debate on the modern meaning, if any, of Bonfire Night.

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Comment 19

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

Comment Discussion&Debate

Scottish Independence:

No need to panic For all the Labour scaremongering, the case for Scottish independence is as strong as ever

Alex Salmond First Minister

comment@journal-online.co.uk

B

ARACK OBAMA’S HISTORIC triumph in the US Presidential election shows just what is possible when enough people are motivated by the desire for change and renewal.

The Democrat candidate’s mantra of “Hope” resonated with people at a time when it was a commodity in short supply, while his twin maxim, “Yes we can,” was a deceptively simple appeal to the better instincts of people yearning to feel part of building a brighter future.

How do the momentous events across the Atlantic impact on us here in Scotland? Well, I have already taken the opportunity, while congratulating Mr Obama on his victory, to invite him to Scotland next year as part of our Year of Homecoming celebrations.

Homecoming is about urging as many of the Scottish diaspora as possible to visit us next year – and what better way to demonstrate that than having the 44th President of the United States, who experts have concluded can trace his Scots lineage to the 12th century, leading the way?

But the US election also carries more fundamental lessons for us. It shows us that ordinary people will respond well to a positive message, that they are simultaneously turned off by baseless scaremongering and that ultimately hope can triumph over fear.

That is a finding that heartens me greatly, for we here in Scotland are all too frequently faced with a public discourse that lapses into the politics of fear. And nowhere was that better demonstrated than in the fallout from the global financial crisis.

We were faced with the unedifying spectacle of Labour politicians, including the prime minister, turning to the old, discredited scare tactics which suggest that Scotland is uniquely incapable of making its own way in the world, and should be denied the chance of taking on the same rights and responsibilities that all normal independent nations take for granted.

Those scare stories had, I hoped, been consigned to history, on the basis that ordinary people simply no longer believed them. Unfortunately,

the international financial turmoil has convinced the Labour Party it was worth dusting them off for one last airing, in the expectation that they would find a willing audience.

They are wrong, of course. Scotland has changed decisively in the last 18 months. As I said on the day the SNP won the Scottish election in May last year, we are a country that has moved on for good and forever.

That others fail to realise or recognise that is their problem.

Former Scottish secretary Douglas Alexander said, as Labour’s campaign manager in the run-up to the first Holyrood elections in 1999, that his party’s job was to “engender fear” among the people of Scotland.

Fortunately, Scotland has grown up a lot in the last nine years, even if Mr Alexander and his party have not.

The fears and smears of old were bad enough, but now they have been taken a step further. No longer are Labour content with simply insulting Scots – now they are talking down

some of our nearest neighbours and friends as well. It is not just crass diplomacy to try and besmirch the reputations of Iceland, Ireland and Norway in the way that the SNP’s opponents have done, in a misguided attempt to talk down Scotland’s prospects as an independent nation.

It is also a wilful misinterpretation of the facts. Yes, Iceland has manifest and particular problems, and Ireland may have moved into recession.

However, the Irish are still around 40 per cent more prosperous per head than people in the UK and are likely to emerge from recession in the same position.

Meanwhile, the UK is tipped to slide into recession along with the US, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, with the IMF predicting that Britain will see the deepest recession of any of the G7 economies next year. At the same time, the IMF predicts that Norway, Sweden and Finland will all see their economies keep growing throughout next year.

Why is it that these smaller independent European nations seem best placed to ride out the global economic storm, while bigger countries are expected to struggle? I believe Scotland would be similarly well placed to weather the storm had we the ability to take the best decisions in our own interests when it comes to jobs, investment and stability.

Ireland showed just how influential smaller independent countries can be when it moved swiftly to guarantee all deposits in its banks, a move that saw the flight of savings across the Irish Sea from British savers after the UK government failed to provide similar guarantees.

Norway, meanwhile, has accrued a massive national pension fund worth almost £200 billion, thanks to its oil fund. If only the same were true for Scotland, whose North Sea oil wealth has been squandered by successive Westminster governments.

Let us be clear about what has happened. The current financial and

banking crisis has affected all countries and economies, large and small.

In terms of how it has impacted here, it happened on the UK government’s watch and moreover within the Union.

It was Gordon Brown who, as chancellor and now prime minister, presided for more than a decade over the age of irresponsibility in the City of London, an age that has now come to such a shattering end.

“Yes we can” was a campaigning slogan the SNP first used more than a decade ago. It is a phrase that has now found its way to a wider audience as people the world over are enthused by a sense of renewal and optimism following the American election.

But that simple affirmation remains one that should guide us here in this country. And the change ushered in by the new age of responsibility should mean Scotland taking responsibility for itself as an independent nation.

Alex Salmond is first minister of Scotland

2 News

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

Scottish private schools could be stripped of charity status Ross Melton ross.melton@journal-online.co.uk FOUR OF SCOTLAND’S top private schools have been threatened with the loss of their charitable status if they fail to increase their spending on bursaries.

The four schools, which include Huthesons’ Grammar in Glasgow and Merchiston Castle in Edinburgh, have failed to meet the “public benefit test” needed for a charity. The Office of the Scottish Charitable Regulator (OSCR) stated that they have a year in which to put forward plans to expand bursaries to meet the test’s standards.

Jane Ryder, the regulator’s chief executive, said that they had failed “mainly due to significant fees and the fact that there was not sufficient help in place so that those who cannot pay the fees can also benefit from what the

charity does.”

The schools which have been criticised—including Lomond school in Helensburgh, whose pupils comprise of many navy children from Faslane submarine base, and St Leonards in St Andrews—fear the financial impact of losing charitable status. The 50 Scottish independent schools registered as charities save approximately £4.5m a year in taxes because they do not have to pay business rates or VAT. The sector claims that losing charitable status could force up their fees by between five and eight per cent.

30 charities were examined and assessed by the OSCR on their adherence to the 2005 law stipulating that every charity must pass a public benefit test in order to justify its tax breaks.

Gordonstoun, an institution favored by the royal family, was cleared and told its provision for students who cannot afford fees was adequate, along with five other

schools that came under inspection.

The four schools that failed were shocked to hear the result and are still waiting for the Charity Commission to publish its final guidance. Dr Ken Greig, Hutchesons’ rector, posted a message on the school website to “reassure current and prospective parents that we have no intention to increase fees, as we recognize that the majority of parents make considerable sacrifices to send their children to Hutchesons.”

Merchiston, a boys’ school whose seniors pay £16,395 a year, have pointed to notable charitable projects, including mentoring at a local primary school, and scholarships for gifted pupils.

However, only 16 boys were found to have means-tested bursaries, with just four getting 100 per cent support.

The OSCR said: “These arrangements were not currently on a scale sufficient to mitigate the exclusory impact of the fees.”

News Shorts wear them

HOW MUCH FOR THE GRASSY KNOLL?

A Dallas man has recently offered up the 6th floor window shot through by Lee Harvey Oswald during the 1963 John F. Kennedy assassination on eBay. Carth Byrd, whose father owned the Texas School Book Depository Building expects over $100,000 for what he describes as “perhaps the most famous window ever offered up for sale in the world.” The elder Byrd had the window removed several weeks after the assassination as so many people were removing pieces of it and remained on display in his home until his death in 1986 when it was lent to the 6th Floor Museum. Controversy surrounds the window as many conspiracy theorists dispute its authenticity or even whether Oswald was the assassin or the Book Depository his vantage point.

PRESIDENT BARRY?

Those left reeling by Alex Salmond’s revelation, on page 19, that the US president-elect is of old Scottish stock, have some more surprises in store. In an intriguing article entitled ‘Barack Obama: the 50 things you might not know,’ Monday’s Daily Telegraph dispensed nuggets including the fact that Obama only paid off his student loan four years ago, after signing his book deal. Obama, we learn, has read every Harry Potter book, while still finding time to make an impressive $4.2 million last year. The prospect of a President Barry was narrowly avoided on Obama’s arrival at university, when he began insisting on the use of his full name. Still, “Barry” does sound better than “O’Bomber” Obama’s high school nickname thanks to his ferocious basketball moves. How did the conservative smear artists miss that one?

BAIL ME OUT A CHAMPAGNE, WAITER

“Your secret is safe with me,” said comedian Patrick Kielty to a roomful of nearly 400 HBOS employees and guests last weekend.

Thanks, however, to a pair of intrepid undercover reporters from the News of the World, the £330,000 HBOS annual star gala bash is no longer as low profile as bank bosses might have liked it to be. The paper reported lavish amounts spent on food, champagne and hotel rooms, including £20,000 for the hire of Kielty, whose act involved jokes at the expense of those whose homes had been repossessed. According to one HBOS whistleblower: “There was absolutely no expense spared. We had the best of everything – great food, expensive wine, you name it. It’s outrageous really, considering all the recent troubles at HBOS. We all had a good time though. We even got a day off work – and got paid for it.” A spokesperson for the bank said: “It was a modest affair, an event we hold every year to reward our star performers.”

BANNED LEADER

One might well wonder how glam rock made it on to the GCSE music syllabus in the first place. But when the musical criminal in question is also a convicted paedophile, there’s clearly no excuse. Monday saw Britain’s biggest exam board, AQA, withdraw Gary Glitter’s 70s hit ‘I’m the Leader of the Gang’ from its recommended listening list for music coursework after a public outcry. Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, recently served three years in a Vietnamese prison for child sex offences. It remains to be seen whether loose-living geniuses Ovid and Lord Byron will survive the purge.

Dumber students, easier degrees, weirder research Continued from page 1 “WHAT THEY WANT is an article that can be treated uncritically and have a big impact.”

The problem is allegedly compounded by the way in which the impact of online research is measured, with the number of times an article is cited by others becoming a seal of quality.

Mr Bentley added: “When considering what articles to submit for evaluation, you may have this really good one in a low-ranking journal, and then you have something in a high-ranking journal, and you always submit that highranking article to the RAE (Research Assessment Exercise) even if you think that what you wrote was much better in the other one.”

This focus on popularity is changing the way that scientists work; a study published in Science by James Evans, a US based sociologist, found that articles which are published online cite more recent work than traditional printed journals.

Although the online publications cite more articles, they come from a narrower selection of journals and articles. Evans concludes that research

may become narrower and more isolated in the future as a result of this.

Concerns over online journals and the value of university degrees has also coincided with research published at King’s College London, which argues that the intellectual abilities of Britain’s brightest teenagers have decreased rapidly over the past three decades.

Michael Shayer, professor of applied psychology, ran tests on 800 13-14 year-olds’ ability to think logically and analytically. In one of the tests, 24 per cent of the children from 1976 scored high marks, compared to just 11 per cent of teenagers today.

However, the research found a significant improvement in the performance of the average pupil.

Mr Shayer said: “Teachers are concentrating on giving the basic skills to more pupils, so the average ability goes up, but they fail to stretch the brightest, so the high-end ability falls.”

The research has fuelled the debate about the difficulty of A-levels. Results in these exams have risen every year for twenty years.

Some speculate that this means exams are getting easier and standards are slipping.

First anniversary of The Journal marked with award nominations Benjamin Edwards ben@journal-online.co.uk THE JOURNAL CELEBRATED its first birthday last week while collecting a brace of award nominations from the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA) of Scotland – representing its seventh and eighth national award nominations for 2008.

The PPA Scotland Awards represent the first opportunity for The Journal to compete against professional publications such as The List and The Big Issue.

The Journal was nominated in the “Best Magazine: Small Publishing Company” category while founding-editor Ben Judge is up for “Editor of the Year: Consumer Magazine”.

Mr Judge said: “It is obviously a

great achievement for The Journal to be ranked alongside established, professional publications with the pedigree of The List and Big Issue Scotland.

“Our performance over the course of our first year should be a real source of pride for all those involved in making The Journal such a success and we will be looking to build on this in future years.”

Since its first issue was published on 5 November 2007, The Journal has been nominated for eight awards, including Best Newspaper at both The Herald Scottish Student Press Awards and The Guardian Student Media Awards.

Having picked up the New Media Award at The Scottish Student Press Awards in May, The Journal is looking to add to its collection when both The Guardian and PPA Scotland Awards are announced at the end of this month.

CORRECTIONS EDINBURGH’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

Editor Evan Beswick Deputy Editor Chris Williams Art Director Matthew MacLeod Board of Directors Ben Judge Devon Walshe Matthew MacLeod

Deputy Editor (News) Paris Gourtsoyannis Deputy Editor (Comment/Features) Simon Mundy Deputy Editor (Sport) Graham Mackay Copy Editors Helen Broadfoot, Esme Ford, Laura McCaffrey, Gemma Pirnie, Alex Reynolds, Katia Sand, Lizzy Wilkinson

General News Sarah Clark Edinburgh News Nick Eardley Academic News Rob Church-Taylor Student News Matthew Moore Student Politics Guy Robertson National Politics Ross Melton Comment Helen O’Shea Music Jacqui Kavanagh Theatre Lucy Jackson Art Colleen Patterson Football Elvira Kemp Rugby John Geddie Hockey Emily Glass Crossword Junta Sekimori Chief Illustrator Lewis Killin Photo Editors Giulia Frontini & Silvia Pavlova Foteva Web Editor Marthe Sandvik Editorial Assistant Abi Buglass

In Sarah Clark’s article “No escape for Palestinian students trapped by conflict”, it was incorrectly stated that An-Najah University is located in Gaza. An-Najah is in fact found in the West Bank.

The feature “24-hour Farsi people” was an extract from the book When Friday Comes: Football in the War Zone, available from Mainstream Publishing, £9.99 - apologies to author James Montague for omitting this information.

Send corrections or clarifications to corrections@journal-online.co.uk The Journal is published by The Edinburgh Journal Ltd., registered address 52 Clerk Street, Edinburgh EH8 9JB. Registered in Scotland number SC322146. For enquiries call 0131 662 6766 or email info@journalonline.co.uk. The Journal is a free newspaper for and written by students and graduates in the City of Edinburgh. Contact us if you’d like to get involved. Printed by Morton’s Printers, Licolnshire. Copyright © 2008 The Edinburgh Journal Ltd. Elements of this publication are distributed under a Creative Commons license - contact us for more information. Distributed by Two Heads Media, www.twoheadsmedia.co.uk.

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20 Comment

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

Congo:

Never comes again Francois Grignon & Fabienne Hara comment@journal-online.co.uk

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HE WAR tHAt claimed millions of lives and involved six African armies is close to being reignited in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. for the third time in 12 years, a tutsi-led rebel group is on the offensive and threatening to take Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province, with the support of next-door Rwanda. once again, Kinshasa is calling on Angola for help in resisting what it perceives as Rwandan aggression. once again, the fighting has created a humanitarian crisis, with more than 200,000 new displaced persons adding to the 1.2 million already in camps. And once again, the united Nations peacekeeping force, though 17,000-strong and the biggest of all uN missions, seems unprepared to confront the crisis and fulfill its mandate to protect civilians. there have been calls to reinforce it or even to send yet another multinational force into eastern Congo.

But in the current fighting between the Kinshasa government under President Joseph Kabila and Congolese tutsi insurgents under rebel leader Laurent

Nkunda, not everything is evolving according to an old script. Nkunda’s claims that Congo’s government is run by perpetrators of the genocide against tutsis in Rwanda are ludicrous. Kabila, although a major disappointment to the Congolese and the country’s international partners, is far from committing such crimes. He has also come to power by far more democratic elections than those held in neighboring Rwanda, where opposition politicians tend to be put in jail before presidential polls are held.

Kabila’s legitimate election in November 2006—heavily supported

by Western powers, south Africa and Angola—closed the national chapter of the Congo peace process. Its wider Central African chapter had made clear progress by spring 2003, with the withdrawal of the last foreign troops from Congolese territory. Yet it was never really fully settled. there was no successful disarmament of the Rwandan Hutu rebels who live in Congo and whose leaders had been involved in the Rwanda genocide, and North Kivu has remained the crucible of a deadly conflict. some of the former tutsi rebels refused to integrate with the regular Congolese army, claiming the Congolese tutsi minority needed protection from the government, and started a

Peace should have been secured in 2003, but the failure to disarm Rwandan Hutu rebels has condemned the country to further bloodshed

new insurgency soon after the beginning of the transition in August 2003. two main factors explain Kinshasa’s continued military collaboration with the Rwandan Hutu rebels, despite the untold suffering they are inflicting on Congolese civilians in the territories they control. first, there is a strong thirst for revenge against the government of Rwanda and its former proxies. this thirst exists in the Congolese high command and Kabila’s inner circle after the humiliations suffered following the two regional wars initiated by Rwanda, as well as among his Kivutian and North Katangan political base, who suffered from four years of brutal Rwandan occupation. second, there is simply no national Congolese army to speak of which can contain Mr Nkunda’s tutsi insurgency or force it to disarm and demobilize. the attempted 2006 army integration process for Nkunda’s troops collapsed within a couple of months, sabotaged both by the lack of support and rampant corruption within the high command of the Congolese army and by Nkunda’s intransigence. unless Kabila reins in his extremists and accepts direct international supervision of the Congolese army in the province, there will be no decisive progress on the dismantlement and disarmament of

obamamania:

the generation game Simon Mundy simon.mundy@journal-online.co.uk

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ost of us weren’t there to check, but it’s probably safe to assume that Edinburgh student unions didn’t have to adopt a “one in, one out” policy on the night George Bush sealed his second presidential term in 2004. the queue stretching across Bristo square last tuesday evening, as much as the lines of voters that snaked around countless blocks in cities and towns across America, was a potent symbol of the unprecedented enthusiasm generated across the world

by Barack obama’s run for the us presidency. on recent evidence, our interest in another country’s general election should have been limited. forty years after the 1968 demonstrations gave students a central place on the world’s political stage, political engagement at Britain’s universities is at a low ebb. student politicians, often written off as self-seeking irrelevances, are left to preside over glum general meetings that frequently have too few people in attendance even to pass a motion. Barely more than a third of 18 to 24-year-olds voted in the 2005 general election, with a vast majority telling one survey that they considered politicians to be “much of a muchness.” Yet in Edinburgh’s late-night bars last tuesday night, any self-respecting student was to be found glued to the election coverage, amid the kind of feverish atmosphere that usually accompanies only glorious British failures in international football.

President obama will be a

disappointment, to some extent. His rueful gag last month about his journey from Krypton showed a recognition of the absurdly high expectations with which many have burdened him, even as America’s economy slides into a catastrophic downturn that will stretch the viability of his campaign pledges to the limit. Whole swathes of the hitherto worshipful media will turn against him as soon as it becomes profitable to do so. And if this youth icon fails to shake up the Washington status quo any more than his predecessors, the resultant disillusionment could leave young people’s views of politicians even more jaded.

But there’s no denying that obama stands out from the crowd, as far as the world’s youth are concerned. Every teenager has experienced the passing conceit that he or she might be possessed of the energy and ideas to have a profound impact on the world. obama’s allure for the young stems perhaps in large part from the quintessentially youthful character of his appeal to a higher good.

It all sounded buttock-clenchingly cheesy to those convinced they’d heard it all before. In a february edition of the Financial Times, a month after obama’s victory in the Iowa caucuses saw him unveil his “yes we can” mantra for the first time, Gideon Rachman lambasted the Democratic hopeful for his “lousy, empty speeches.” “the ‘audacity of hope?’” sneered Rachman. “It would be genuinely audacious to run for the White House on a platform of despair.” this reductio ad absurdum was flogged to death by the Clinton campaign, and failed miserably. None would deny that a phrase like “yes we can to opportunity,” abstracted from

its context, sounds flimsy at best. But obama has oozed substance throughout his campaign, his calm, measured arguments convincing luminaries from Colin Powell to Warren Buffett that his are the hands to guide America through what could well be one of its rockiest periods. far from reflecting a shallow outlook, obama’s soaring rhetoric completes the package: particularly among young voters, it enabled a coupling of sensible policy with an infectious message of collective empowerment, leaving even foreign observers feeling as though they had a stake in the forthcoming changes that he unrelentingly promised. sure, obama is a media mogul’s dream, a Rolling Stone cover boy, literally a pop star ever since Will.i.am’s musical treatment of the “yes we can” speech hit the web. It’s doubtful that obamamania will substantially boost the miserable turnout at the next round of student association AGMs at Edinburgh’s universities, and Gordon Brown’s scrabble with David Cameron over which is obama’s best British buddy is unlikely to endear them to young voters any more than the latter’s Converse trainers.

Yet the potential impact of such an emphatically fresh face at the top of the political pack should not be discounted.

If obama retains his charm—something far from guaranteed—those who instinctively dismiss politicians as “much of a muchness” might be tempted to reconsider. Has the obama campaign effected a seismic shift in students’ attitudes to politics? No – but it’s a start.

Simon Mundy is the deputy editor (comment/features) of the Journal

the Rwandan Hutu rebels and no successful integration with Mr. Nkunda’s men - the only way for the sustainable restoration of state authority. the uN-negotiated Nairobi declaration of November 2007 and the January 2008 Goma peace agreement provided a fairly comprehensive political framework for the disarmament of all militias. But the implementation of these accords fell through.

Dealing with the tutsi insurgents will require a radical shift of international attitude toward Mr. Nkunda and Rwanda. Mr. Nkunda is confident in his military superiority, which has been sustained thanks to his access to Rwandan and ugandan territories, where he gets medical and military supplies. Nkunda also actively recruits young men within tutsi refugee camps and among the demobilized contingents of the Rwandan army. Last but not least, Nkunda knows he can still easily and efficiently manipulate Western guilt over the early 1990s genocide of tutsis in Rwanda by flagging the fears of similar tutsi victimization in eastern Congo, even though his troops have been among the worst humanright abusers in the province since 2004 – every bit as bad as the national army. Rwanda is motivated not only by a desire to protect ethnic tutsis but

by a desire to control mineral interests in Congo. unless it comes under heavy pressure by Western powers and south Africa to strictly prohibit the free movements and operations of Nkunda’s insurgents and their backers on its territory, as per its commitment under the Nairobi declaration, Nkunda will have no incentive to disarm.

It would not be wise for uN security Council members to expect the uN mission to solve all these problems.

Ending this latest chapter of the Congo war will require sustained and significant pressure by the us, China, france, the uK, south Africa and Belgium, the former colonial power. specifically, they must demand that Kigali and Kinshasa implement the Nairobi declaration; insist that Nkunda retreat to his previous deployment points; and require Kabila to remove all army commanders collaborating with the Hutu extremists. the international community has already invested billions of dollars to build and maintain peace in the Congo.

Not to invest hugely in diplomatic terms right now would risk it all.

Francois Grignon is Africa program director, and Fabienne Hara vice president, of the International Crisis Group.

This article originally appeared in The Wall Street Journal Europe

Comment 21

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

ID Cards:

An accident waiting to happen Helen O’Shea helen.o.shea@journal-online.co.uk

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Euthanasia:

Tied up in knots Sarah Wootton sarah.wootton@journal-online.co.uk

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N RECENT WEEKS there has been a huge amount of media interest surrounding Debbie Purdy. Purdy suffers from primary progressive multiple sclerosis and has decided that if her suffering becomes intolerable, she may travel to Switzerland to have an assisted death. Should she go through with this, she wishes to be accompanied by Omar Puente, her husband of ten years. However, the 1961 Suicide Act states that anyone who “aids, abets, counsels or procures a suicide” is liable to up to 14 years in prison. As a result, Puente could face years in prison if he travels with Debbie, knowing she is going to end her life.

While 100 British people are known to have travelled to Switzerland to end their lives, none of the people who have accompanied them been prosecuted. Yet our laws are open to interpretation and discretion, so in every case there is a real threat of prosecution.

Dignity in Dying actively supported Purdy’s recent appeal to the High Court to clarify the Director of Public Prosecution’s (DPP) policy on the 1961 Suicide Act. Debbie and Omar want to know

what constitutes assisting a suicide – is it travelling with a person to a foreign country knowing that they intend to end their life? Is it helping someone into a taxi at the start of their journey? Or is it simply packing their bag? Nobody knows.

Unfortunately, Purdy lost her battle for legal clarity on the law. As a result she, her husband, and many others in similar situations are none the wiser about what constitutes assisting a suicide. The law is unclear. Without clarity, Debbie may have to travel to Switzerland alone whilst she is still healthy enough to do so, but probably much sooner than she would do if she were allowed Omar’s help. This is wrong; if the courts will not clarify the law, politicians must change it.

Margo MacDonald MSP aims to do this, and has announced her plans to take a bill to the Scottish Parliament to change the law on assisted dying. It is hoped that the consultation paper being produced by the end of November, with the bill’s final proposals dependent upon the consultation’s results. It is encouraging to see that Scotland is taking such strides forward to change the law.

Opponents to our campaign, and to assisted dying in general, suggest that a change in the law cannot be justified by

administer the drugs.

It is a reality that assisted dying is already happening. 23-year-old Daniel James recently travelled to Switzerland to end his life after being paralysed in a rugby accident. Under Dignity in Dying’s proposed legislation, James would not have been eligible for an assisted death as he was not terminally ill. But this case further highlights the need for a debate on assisted dying. Alongside those who travel abroad to end their lives, research shows that doctors are helping their patients to die, and loved ones are committing “mercy killings.” This needs to be regulated. Legislative guidelines would allow for open and honest talks about ending one’s life, thus stopping the underground practices and devastating “botched suicides” that are currently taking place.

Of course those who oppose a change in the law are entitled to their beliefs, but their opinions should not be allowed to suppress the beliefs of others who support a change. It is time for an open and honest debate about assisted dying.

Ultimately, this is an issue of choice. Terminally ill people should not have to suffer unnecessarily against their wishes.

AST THURSDAY, HOME secretary Jacqui Smith announced that compulsory ID cards for airside workers will be introduced at Manchester and London City airports from next autumn. In announcing her plans, she claimed: “I regularly have people coming up to me and saying they don’t want to wait that long.” This surely forces the question: who exactly wants them?

Clearly not the British Air Transport Association (BATA), which represents airlines’ interests. Last July its members said they felt like guinea pigs and did not believe it would improve security. The Tories call it a “complete waste of money” while the Liberal Democrats label it a “laminated poll tax.” The Information Commissioner’s Office, responsible for enforcing the Data Protection Act, has also expressed concern.

Other developments revealed by Smith last week have added welcome fuel for campaigners such as lobby group NO2ID. In a marked change of direction from earlier plans, the Home Office is now talking to retailers about setting up public booths to gather biometric data. In her speech, Smith rejected claims that handing enrolment over to private firms would compromise security, “provided that it is conducted in a secure and trusted environment… enrolment should be able to happen at the convenience of the customer – on the high street, at the nearest post office, or at the local shopping centre.”

Let us weigh on the words “secure” and “trusted” here for a minute. Who exactly can we trust – the Home Office or, more to the point, its contractors? If they cannot keep sensitive data secure, how is anyone meant to extend trust to retailers? The record by any estimation is seriously shabby. If we look at the last twelve months, the loss of personal sensitive data by the Government is nothing short of an unmitigated disaster.

In November last year, the Government lost data on 25 million Britons – more than two-fifths of the UK’s population. This debacle occurred only a week after the personal details of 50,000 visa applicants were accidentally put on view to visitors to a website run by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Roll on the following February and the Crown Prosecution Service “lost” DNA data on 2,000 criminal suspects. In June, a senior intelligence officer from the Cabinet Office was suspended after top secret documents were left on the seat of commuter train from London Waterloo. A USB—again unencrypted— containing details on 10,000 serious offenders, as well as details of all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales, was lost in August.

In light of the recent Glenrothes victory for Labour, a general election may come sooner than hitherto expected.

Can the government risk defending what is seen by many as nothing less than a white elephant, given this embarrassing record? Of course, the later the election, the further the ID card roll-out, the harder it would be for a Tory government to roll the program back – assuming even they follow through on their pledges to do so.

Sarah Wootton is the chief executive of Dignity in Dying

Helen O’Shea is the comment editor of The Journal

The views of a reactionary minority should not deprive terminally ill people of their right to die as they wish

a “minority” of people wanting change.

This minority simply does not exist; surveys consistently show that 75 to 80 per cent of the public support a change in the law. The majority are working against a very powerful and influential minority.

Critics also suggest that assisted suicide legislation would endanger the vulnerable. However, an array of strict safeguards would be included within any assisted dying legislation to ensure that that the patient’s final decision was their own fully informed choice.

Lord Joffe’s previous Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill (2006) envisaged that the process would begin with a written request to the patient’s doctor for assistance to die. The patient would then have to undergo a consultation from two doctors—one of which must be independent—and if either of the doctors had any concerns regarding the patient’s mental health, the patient would be referred to a psychiatrist. There would be a minimum of 14 days for reflection and the patient would be required to meet with a palliative care consultant. Only after all these and other safeguards were met could patients make a formal written request to a doctor who was willing to prescribe the medication to end their life. The patient, not the doctor, would

22 Editorial

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

Letters letters@journal-online.co.uk Edinburgh’s studEnt nEwspapEr | issuE Xiii

Glenrothes:

Brown’s return to form IT MAY HAVE lacked the romance of Barack Obama’s election to the US presidency, but Gordon Brown’s comeback in Glenrothes was the real political shock of the past week. With Labour’s odds on retaining the hitherto safe seat at an astonishing 4/1 going into Thursday’s by-election, even senior Labour figures had privately written off their chances of avoiding humiliation. And the SNP had no inclination to disturb the fatalism in the air. Days before the poll, a confident Alex Salmond told the Sunday Herald: “I don’t anticipate we shall win by a landslide.

But you ask me the question, do I think we will win? The answer is: yes, I do.”

The first minister’s apparent cockiness was understandable – up to a point.

Since narrowly securing the right to form a minority government in the 2006 election, the SNP have enjoyed a political honeymoon that lasted far longer than could have been expected. Salmond’s genial populism, coupled with the chaotic leadership of former Scottish Labour chief Wendy Alexander, brought record approval ratings – even from an electorate that was, by any measure, far from wholly convinced by his party’s central goal of independence. This summer, as

nationalists crowed over the overthrow of Labour’s 13,500 majority in Glasgow East, Brown looked ever more vulnerable to the knives being sharpened at every level of the Labour hierarchy. By contrast, it seemed that Salmond could do no wrong.

If few have been left untouched by the extraordinary financial chaos that engulfed the world mid-September, Salmond and Brown have seen their respective fortunes transformed more than most. This was the kind of test that Brown, fearsomely proud of his economic pedigree, was bound to relish, and leaders around the world sat up and took notes as he laid out his plans to sort out the mess. Aides who had despaired of the latter’s habitually miserable demeanour were caught unawares by his new-found vitality, with one leaked text message panicking: “GB in his element – mustn’t look like he’s enjoying it though.”

By contrast, Salmond must surely have enjoyed the past two months less than any other period since becoming first minister. His instinctive reaction to the travails of HBOS—to blame the crisis on the greed of “spivs and speculators”— turned out to be based on a false

assumption, and, like David Cameron, his sniping from the sidelines came to look churlishly uncooperative as Brown and chancellor Alastair Darling got on with the job in hand.

A similar no-nonsense pragmatism helped to seal Labour’s win in Glenrothes.

An exceptionally well thought-out campaign, based around the familiar local face of candidate Lindsay Roy, expertly capitalised on local gripes against the SNP-led Fife council to undercut nationalist claims to be the real party of the people.

Yet this was a victory that probably originated, like so much else this year, with the collapse of the US sub-prime mortgage market. As chancellor, Brown abjectly failed to exploit a booming economy to develop a healthy current account surplus, seemingly in the expectation that the good times would last indefinitely. Hard feelings will linger, to be sure; yet voters may well decide to spurn Salmond and Cameron, and trust the devil they know to minimise the pain of the imminent recession. If the latter comes to pass, Glenrothes may prove to be the first chapter in Brown’s narrative of redemption.

Academic Standards:

DEAR SIR, Re. ‘Liberation officers to champion minority students at Edinburgh,’ Student Politics, 29 October I am writing to explain why I voted against the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) liberation groups motion for the AGM. I do so having spent the last few days campaigning with New York Democrats in the port authority bus station, which involved getting on and off buses to key states begging people to vote.

I feel those pushing this motion forward are far to quick to confuse tokenism with fair and effective representation. People were excited to see Barack Obama elected the first black president of the United States, not because he was elected solely to represent them but the fact that the electorate as a whole has decided to put him in office to represent every American.

I, like everyone at EUSA, would like to see more women on the SRC but I want them to stand for president, vice presidential and convener positions and not to limit them to being woman’s officer. If we want to show that your background, race, gender or sexual orientation is not what defines us then why pigeon-hole students? It is time for all student reps to represent the whole student body. I wish those people who have spent years campaigning for these positions had

instead spent their time encouraging underrepresented minorities to stand for the many vacant or uncontested positions already on SRC. It is my strong belief that all students not just at Edinburgh but across the UK face the same main issues like financing their education and the problems associated government cuts in University funding. While minorities face issues specific to them I feel it is the duty of every representative to ensure they are brought forward.

Regards,

Oliver G W Mundell SRC schools and induction officer, committee of management member and finance committee member

DEAR SIR, Re. ‘Capturing the essence of performance,’ Arts & Entertainment, 29 October William Hogarth died October 26, 1764. Lithography was not invented till around 1796 by Alos Senefelder, some 32 years after William Hogarth’s death.

Therefore, there is no such thing as “Hogarth’s satirical lithographs.”

Gary Arseneau Artist, creator of original lithographs & scholar Fernandina Beach, Florida

Crossword #5 - Wonders of the World

Read all about it ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER accusation of falling standards.

Last month, a survey in the Times Higher Education Supplement found that a third of academics believe universities had been “dumbed down” in recent years, while seven in ten believed that prospective students were ill-prepared for the university regime.

A more damning indictment of higher education provision could hardly be conceived. If those who are charged with fostering academic rigour at Britain’s universities have no confidence in its existence, then the debate over academic standards in this country has achieved its reductio ad absurdum.

Add the verdict of the UK’s academics and teachers to that of its students— delivered last month in the National Student Survey in which prominent members of the Russell Group, such as the universities of Edinburgh and Bristol, were roundly damned in certain categories—and conjuring a critical picture of British higher education becomes a

paint-by-numbers exercise.

Those who would use the rising tide of negative headlines swirling around Britain’s academic sector as an excuse for a return to exclusivity in education should be warned, however: the genie won’t go back in the lamp. Despite the disappointments that followed, one positive legacy of New Labour’s meteoric rise in 1997 has been unquenchable aspiration amongst Britain’s youth, particularly in the pursuit of education and qualifications.

We can brook no false negativity.

Claims that twice as many first class degrees are now “handed out” than twenty years ago could have something to do with the fact that the overall number of students has increased by a similar margin. Increased competition in the graduate workplace has played its part in creating perception that a third class degree is no longer seen as a successful conclusion of four years’ study and that students are pushed to achieve first class and 2:1 degrees in larger numbers.

However, fundamental truths cannot

be ignored. Over the course of the past year, as now, The Journal has had occasion to report on many of the depressing developments in the standard of UK higher education. The litany of complaints is exhausting: cancelled classes, poor contact time, budget shortfalls, personnel cuts, overstretched facilities, oversubscribed classes, bizarre exercises in curriculum reform, no feedback, an unsympathetic bureaucracy, misapplied resources, high costs, little academic interaction, poached staff, and never the change we need.

It may be that sufficient investigation yields the proof of what many studying in this city already believe to be true: that British students may be the most ill-served and put-upon of any in the developed world. Until then, we hold it to be self-evident that every representative institution and individual student should focus an uncomfortable level of attention on those who govern higher education at every level. Herein, at least, you will read all about it.

The Wednesday Poem:

Good Ideas, by Struan Robertson I swim front-crawl through grey matter; I pull up every boot and tin; I question all the nooks And cross-reference crannies; I mix the colours of conception, Plaiting the rainbow like the Muse's hair; I push through thick-thatched undergrowth, With discerning machete in hand, Aching for the necks of bad ideas;

I roam the streets at night with a torch, Looking down alleys; I sit on my hand and stop Counting syllables;

And the page before; I search everyone's pockets When they're not looking; I empty boxes and open drawers; But I can only come up with Haikus.

I even look in the bin, In case I've chucked one out already; I lift carpets and crawl under tables, Check in attics and basements.

I check the next page of the notepad,

The Wednesday Poem is provided by Readthis magazine, www.readthismagazine.co.uk

ACROSS

DOWN

11, 15 Wrought-iron Parisian Wonder built in 1889 (6,5) 4 Standstill (6) 9 Portentous deck of cards (5) 10 German (7) 11 Cartoonish – excited (8) 12 Portent (4) 14 Mature (5) 15 See 1 19 Ground – territory (4) 20 Fruit drink (8) 22 Relating to the Earth’s crust (7) 23 Having a strong, pleasant taste (5) 24 Somebody (6) 25 State protection for refugee (6)

1 Trick into committing a crime – (anag.) parent (6) 2 Lhasa (9,4) 3 Intestines (8) 5 Trip – French 15 (4) 6 Vatican Wonder with famously ornate interior (7,6) 7 Riddler – Saharan Wonder (6) 8 Serpent – calculator? (5) 13 Giant bronze Wonder, formerly at Rhodes (8) 16 US state (gov. Sarah Palin) (6) 17 Artist’s blouse (5) 18 Rarely (6) 21 Portent (4)

GET lAST iSSuE’S SOluTiONS ONliNE AT WWW.JOuRNAl-ONliNE.CO.uk

Profile 23

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

The Diplomat’s Wife

A surprise ambassadorial posting for French author Elizabeth Horem’s husband could have been time spent shut away in the Swiss embassy in Iraq. But the collection of short stories Shrapnels, which emerged from the experience, show the face of Baghdad even the most intrepid of journalists have failed to capture

Katia Sand & Paris Gourtsoyannis profile@journal-online.co.uk

T

HE FrENcH ExpErIENcE of the Second Gulf War has not been a particularly edifying one in terms of its public image. While the worst that was said of French efforts to prevent the conflict from coming to pass—“cheese eating surrender monkeys” unworthy of having the noble fried potato named in their honour—was rejected by most right-thinking people, there was nonetheless a perception that France was keeping its cultured hands clean, enjoying an innocence and morality of absolutes that could not exist in aftermath of 11 September 2001. running parrallel, the image many have of the diplomatic wife, bejewelled and inert, is not a charitable one, nor is it easily reconcileable with what we imagine the harsh realities of a posting to Baghdad to be. When her husband, a Swiss diplomat, was assigned to the Iraqi capital one week before the start hostilities in 2003, French author Elisabeth Horem shattered both these stereotypes as thoroughly as American bombs ended the sluggish Mesopotamian peace of Saddam Hussein’s capital.

“We found out he was being posted to Baghdad while we were en route to Switzerland for a holiday. Our kids had both finished their Baccalaureate. He was told he had to leave in three days and we just turned around. Initially we were told there would be no problem with me accompanying him. But when the war properly broke out, they said no way. He fought to have me with him.”

Horem’s husband was issued a legal writ which forced him to guarantee that his wife wouldn’t cause any “mischief,” which we was forced to sign. “I didn’t have to sign anything – I wasn’t really asked!

“Our house wasn’t in the ‘zone verte’, in the international zone. Thankfully. We did not want to be cut off from the Iraqis. And, of course, there is always added danger when you have to queue at a checkpoint to get into an international zone.”

This put Horem in a very unusual situation: she didn’t see what other diplomats saw – and they could not comprehend the situation in the way she did. In no small part, this contributed to her writing on Iraq: “We were the only foreign house in our neighbourhood. I did not have much contact with other diplomats. I was, for the most part, the only wife there, and for meetings they tolerated only useful people, not extras. Of course I sometimes saw the other diplomats, but with all the necessary added security my additional presence would require it wasn’t always possible. There was zero room for spontaneity, and yet on the other hand you always needed to be careful about divulging plans, always saying you were going a different route and leaving at a different

time.

“Thanks to our guards nothing ever happened. I feel awkward when people commend me for our bravery. We weren’t brave compared to the Iraqis, like our employees, who go to work every day, who go shopping and walk through the city. That’s real bravery.

We were protected.”

Horem’s narratives, contained in a collection entitled Shrapnels, are neither hard-hitting exposés of anguish and injustice, nor coffee table tales or stay-at-home studies conducted through bulletproof glass. Existing somewhere between the two, they dispassionately tell what has to the most well kept secret on the planet – the story of Iraq.

“Shrapnels contains true facts taken from my diary but changed, adapted to a fictional format. There is nothing invented in there, but names have been changed, details altered. It is a writing that re-humanises something that news and journalism often have the opposite effect upon by simply listing facts and figures. It is a testament to the atmosphere that was lived, to render that atmosphere sensible. It is written about one year, and its style follows a cycle of four seasons.

“While our close protection bodyguards were South African, those guarding our house were Iraqis, who all came from different parts of the city and brought us the rumours from their streets. It is alongside these renditions that I constructed my perception of the events outside my home.”

She is keen to stress the difference between her writing and that which appears in the dailys across the globe: “people always expect me to talk and write in a journalistic way, to describe this situation and that person exactly, but that is not my style. I am a novelist, a fictionalist. However, writing a novel in Baghdad was impossible. I couldn’t be there and write of anything other than Baghdad. So Shrapnels is a collection of short stories, the only way I could write of Baghdad as I lived in it.

“It was such an intense situation.

But my writing is not from a historian’s point of view; it’s not journalism.

It is personal, subjective. I was totally isolated in my home. I couldn’t leave because of security, so I can’t speak about Badghad and the news stories.

I was in the eye of the storm, a false heart in the city.”

Horem’s writing is full of contrasts, with imagery that conveys a naïve sense of fantasty combined with a wide-awake awareness of politics and tragedy. The cover picture of Shrapnels, echoes this distillation of truth through art: it bears her own photographs taken of the roof of her house. “The yellow light has not been adjusted,” she says; “you always saw the city through dust.

“I chose the name Shrapnels because shrapnel is everything that explodes, all the particles remaining afterwards – plural because it is a book of short stories, a collection

Lewis KiLLin

“The taxi driver asked him to get out, and the suicide bomber got out of the car, morose.

He had been in other taxis, had chosen that one taxi above the others because that driver was deemed worthy of sharing his fate and dignity as a martyr”

of fragments. Some are as short as a few lines, the longest is a few pages.

They are a collection of sensations, of noises. I was shut in, but you could always hear the noises of the war.”

Not everyone has met the book with critical aclaim. She explains: “some have accused the book of being cold and distant. It is written in the third person: her/him. It does not contain many descriptions of personal circumstance or individual character, nothing to refer to my husband’s diplomatic status. It allowed me to maintain a distance, to avoid adopting that pathetic tone often found in such narratives.”

It seems an unnecessary defence of her and her work for Horem to make, given that she never approaches an expression of her experiences in such “pathetic” terms. She is at all times

wholly candid, even effusive; but nothing is sugar coated.

“One day we went driving and were shot at. It was the first time someone in our party was killed. A man got into a taxi, and, revealing his belt of explosives, said he wanted to go to the best place to kill the most people.

The taxi driver asked him to get out, and the suicide bomber got out of the car, morose. He had been in other taxis, had chosen that one taxi above the others because that driver was deemed worthy of sharing his fate and dignity as a martyr.”

If her stories don’t manage to break the silence of Iraq, where soldiers’ diaries and journalists’ ramblings have dominated, Elisabeth Horem will have nonetheless rehabilitated the French engagement with Iraq, as well as that of the diplomat’s wife.

24 Feature

A tale of

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

two terms

As he enters the dying days of his presidency, George Bush's legacy is out of his hands

Andrew Wroe and Jon Herbert features@journal-online.co.uk

G

EORGE W. BUSH will not officially relinquish office until 20 January 2009 when Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America, but on 5 November 2008 his opinion largely ceased to matter.

Bush’s main short-term concern is to help engender a smooth transition to the new president. His longer-term concern is more problematic and revolves around his place in history – an issue that obsesses all ex-presidents, left with only their reputations to nurture.

Bush has good reason to be fearful.

Opinion polls suggest he is the second most unpopular president in history. Gallup records that an average of less than 30 per cent of Americans approves of the job he’s doing during his 31st quarter in office (20 July-19 Oct), well below the 51 per cent average 31st quarter ratings for other second-term presidents. Bush’s job approval ratings actually declined to 25 per cent in two early October 2008 Gallup polls, only one point above Richard Nixon at his post-Watergate nadir and three points higher than the all-time low for any president since Gallup began polling. That dishonourable distinction belongs to Harry Truman, who bottomed out at 22 per cent in 1952. Bush’s overall secondterm job approval rating is 37 percent, well below average. Democrats are almost wholly negative about Bush’s performance and only one in two Republicans are positive.

Given widespread dissatisfaction with his performance, it is not surprising that the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, distanced himself from Bush at every opportunity on the campaign trail and that the president’s appearance at the GOP’s September convention was cancelled. Obama, in contrast, sought to tie McCain to the unpopular Bush, to paint him as a facsimile of the failed incumbent. Obama’s own message of change played on dissatisfaction with the Bush regime. “Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago,” responded an exasperated McCain during the third and final presidential debate.

It is not hard to figure the sources of Bush’s unpopularity. While the United States military quickly crushed Iraqi forces in 2003, it has failed to keep the peace. Thousands of American soldiers, and more Iraqis, have lost their lives, but the neo-conservatives’ nation-building and democratisation plans are in tatters. Saddam is dead; but the new government cannot govern in the face of militant insurgents, the region is more unstable and Iran grows in influence by the week. The dire consequences of the decision to invade are made worse by the heavyhanded nature of its execution without UN approval and by the failure to uncover WMD, the key rationale for invention. Whatever the merits and demerits of the surge, most experts and laypersons agree that the war has been badly bungled. The situation is little better in Afghanistan. Vietnam is remembered as Lyndon Johnson’s war; Iraq will likely be Bush’s Vietnam.

In addition to military mistakes, the war on terror has been accompanied by an encroachment of executive power over the other branches of government and the legally questionable treatment of “enemy combatants” in Guantanamo Bay. Equally controversial is the question of domestic spying without judicial review. Cheney and

others claim the constitution grants such powers to a president and it is certainly the case that previous presidents have taken exceptional actions during times of crisis or war. Abraham Lincoln for example partly suspended habeas corpus during the civil war, on the grounds that it necessary to violate a small part of the constitution to save the whole, and ignored Taney-led Supreme Court decisions demanding its restoration. Taney, of course, authored the infamous Dred Scott decision in 1857 that ruled black persons could not be citizens, precipitating the civil war. Lincoln was in no mood to execute his decisions.

At home, two further catastrophes rocked the Bush administration. It is difficult to overstate the shock Americans felt on witnessing the destruction wrought on Louisiana by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Even more shocking was the apparent indifference of Bush’s federal authorities to the submergence of much of New Orleans under floodwater after the levees broke. Indifference was replaced by incompetence in the form of FEMA (the federal emergency management agency) under the leadership of Michael Brown, appointed by a Bush crony despite having no experience in disaster relief. Nearly 2,000 people died, largely African American, mainly drowned, and about $100 billion of damage done. “Brownie,” crowed Bush in spite of all evidence to the contrary, “you’re doing a heck of a job.” Rap artist Kanye West caught the mood better at a charity gig, saying simply: “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

The second catastrophe was economic. The global economic crisis of late 2008 has its roots in the lending patterns of American financial institutions who on the back of rising house prices loaned money to high-risk borrowers. When these so-called subprime mortgages’ attractive, low introductory repayments where replaced by higher interest rates, the loans quickly became toxic as borrowers defaulted.

Many banks both in the US and abroad, who had also bought into the market directly or via derivatives, were forced to write off billions of dollars in bad loans and some collapsed. The crisis worsened, however, in September when America’s fourth largest investment bank, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy. Suddenly banks stopped lending to each other, fearful that they would lose their money, liquidity dried up and the financial system stopped functioning.

It is difficult to argue that the credit crunch is a direct consequence of any specific decision or action of the Bush administration. Critics argue, however, that the Republicans’ laissezfaire approach to economic management generally and in particular its failure to regulate the over-heated and -exposed sub-prime market facilitated the current crisis. Bush has also been criticised for slashing taxes and increasing public spending, housekeeping that has resulted in huge budget deficits and a doubling of the national debt to more than $10 trillion.

In response to the financial maelstrom, Bush was forced to abandon his economic orthodoxy and instead offer a big-government solution in the form of a $700 billion bailout of America’s biggest financial institutions. The government would buy up the bad loans, free up liquidity and restore confidence. After an earlier defeat of the bailout by his own party in the House of Representatives—another tick in the ‘failed presidency’ column—Bush and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson finally won congressional approval on 3 October, but it did not stop a further large fall in the stock market.

The government was now behind

Feature 25

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

The Popularity of Bush Bush’s steadily decreasing popularity has been punctuated—for better or worse—by a number of key events source: pollingreport.com

9/11 ATTACKS: 80%

CAPTURE OF SADDAM: 27% OBAMA’S ELECTION: -50%

INVASION OF IRAQ: 40%

100

DOORGATE: -27% 80 60 40 20

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Bush’s failure to rise to the challenge of history offers an opportunity for the presidentelect. Obama, who faces the most difficult economic and international conditions of any incoming president since FDR in 1933, could possibly reconstruct politics and society, but he must make wiser choices than his predecessor.

the curve; liquidity replaced toxic loans as the main problem, but the bailout offered no direct solution to the former. Led by the UK, European governments instead injected capital directly into ailing institutions by buying an equity stake. The US government soon followed suit, despite Secretary Paulson admitting re-capitalisation was “objectionable.” That the Bush administration should fizzle out with the reversal of its key ideological principle in the form of the largest government intervention in the US economy since the Great Depression is an unhappy irony.

It is remarkable how quickly the Bush presidency unravelled. It is difficult to argue contrary to the failure hypothesis, but it is important to make a distinction between Bush’s first and second terms. To be sure, Bush’s tenure began in inauspicious circumstances.

He lost the popular vote to Democrat Al Gore and required five Republican Supreme Court justices to award him Florida’s electoral college votes and thus the presidency. The disrupted transition period and jibes about stealing the election did not, however, prevent Bush and his team—constituted of experienced Washington insiders (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Card) and Texas loyalists (Rove, Hughes)—hitting the ground running and clocking up an impressive list of legislative and other achievements.

It is always problematic to make objective judgements about incumbent presidents – especially one as polarising and controversial as Bush. Moreover, historical perspective is required

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to make sense of some decisions and to see how others play out. There is also the question of which criteria and methods should used to measure success: approval ratings, comparisons with other presidents in similar historical circumstances, a list of legislative achievements and failures, or some or all of these? There is clearly no definitive answer to the criteria question, but to avoid subjectively distorting the analysis, one useful measure is to see if Bush met his own goals. We would argue he largely did during his first term, and this is made more impressive because American presidents are institutionally weak, especially in domestic affairs, and because the manner of this election provided very little political capital to bolster his prospects.

Six months into his first term, Bush persuaded Congress to approve the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, which included the largest tax cut in American history, estimated by economists at between $1.3 and $1.6 trillion. It provided a tax rebate of about $300 per person and cut income, capital gains and estate taxes, especially on the rich. The cuts were trailed during the election campaign as necessary to give hardworking and overtaxed Americans a break during economic good times.

When the economy turned sour during the first months of his presidency, the justification audaciously changed; it was resold as a boost to hard-up families and to help consumers spend the country out of trouble.

Bush had further legislative success

in 2003 when Congress passed the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act, which further reduced taxes on unearned income, including dividends and capital gains – again,overwhelmingly benefiting the rich. The first tax cut in particular is a remarkable political achievement given Bush’s lack of political capital and his razor-thin majority in the Senate, where a few recalcitrant members can easily filibuster legislation. Ronald Reagan passed a smaller tax cut during his first year in office, for which he is still revered by conservatives.

When the dust settles and conservatives analyse soberly the Bush years, the current incumbent may join Reagan in conservative heaven – although hardliners generally do not approve of a Bush’s next legislative success, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which fundamentally restructured the delivery and organisation of school education in the United States.

It increased substantially the role and power of the federal government over education, traditionally the responsibility of the individual states.

NCLB is fundamentally Blairite in ideology. Among other things, it set strict achievement targets for pupils and schools across a wide range of indicators and imposed strict sanctions on teachers and schools that failed to meet them (including sacking and closure). There is no consensus among educationalists on the extent of the act’s success, but it is important to note that it was a clear legislative victory for Bush, more so because it received congressional approval before 9/11 (although it was not signed into law until January 2002). More awkwardly for Bush, NCLB is an example of the big-government interventionism that he and conservatives profess to detest.

Bush also reduced the cost of elderly and disabled Americans’ prescription drugs, via the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 – but at great cost to the taxpayer, and again to the chagrin of some fiscal conservatives who bridle at estimates suggesting the programme could cost more than one trillion dollars over ten years. Finally, Bush was able to tip the Supreme Court to the right with the appointment of two justices—albeit after the embarrassing Harriet Miers’ debacle, a Bush loyalist whom the Senate’s social conservatives viewed as not conservative enough—and was very successful packing the lower federal judiciary with like-minded ideologues.

Aaron Wildavsky, a great American political scientist, argued that there are “two presidencies.” Presidents are powerful in foreign affairs, but are institutionally weak in domestic affairs, even under ‘unified government’ where their party holds a congressional majority. Weak parties, strong interest groups, a separation of powers and checks and balances mitigate against strong executive leadership or indeed any sort of leadership. The founding fathers, concerned about tyranny, designed the system to be deliberative, slow, inefficient even. While tax cuts, education and Medicare reform and a strengthening of conservatives’ grip on the federal judiciary may not, to an European observer, seem a particularly impressive list of achievements, they in fact represent a very good return for President Bush’s first term, and more so when the political context, especially pre-9/11, is considered.

Crises help centralise power in the executive over the legislature and the central government over the state and local governments, and Bush certainly benefited from this dynamic post 9/11.

His approval ratings rose dramatically and he used his new-found popularity

to retaliate quickly in Afghanistan, reorganise the federal government security apparatus and win domestic approval for the invasion of Iraq in early 2003. As a war president, he invoked patriotism and continuity to overcome a strong challenge from Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in November 2004 and enhance the Republican Party’s majorities in both House and Senate; but Iraq was also Bush’s biggest mistake, and the catalyst for many second-term failures.

Given the constraints noted by Wildavsky, very few presidents are able to leave a significant mark on the American political system. Those great presidents that do, such as Lincoln and FDR, are according to historian Stephen Skowronek “reconstructive.”

Only rarely is the American system amenable to such change, but the opportunity usually arises during times of great crisis or flux. The apparent tragedy for Bush is that 9/11 offered him the opportunity to restructure the presidential branch and reframe the political system in his own image for decades to come, but he chose to wage a possibly illegitimate and seemingly un-winnable war that curtailed future choices and reforms.

One such example is immigration reform. Bush and his political svengali Karl Rove figured they could build a long-term Republican majority by winning over the large, quickly growing, Democratic-leaning Latino population. Rove always argued that the Republican Party, with its pro-family policies should be the natural home of hardworking, socially conservative Latinos, but that they were alienated by the party’s restrictionist, anti-immigration image in the 1990s. To redress it and leave a formidable electoral legacy, Bush proposed in his second term to legalise the status of, and offer a “path to citizenship,” for over ten million undocumented immigrants, mainly Latinos. The ambitious plan failed, but it would have stood a much greater chance of success had Bush been a popular, powerful political force. A potentially significant legacy was doomed by his earlier actions and decisions.

Indeed, Bush’s failure to rise to the challenge of history offers an opportunity for the president-elect. Obama, who faces the most difficult economic and international conditions of any incoming president since FDR in 1933, could possibly reconstruct politics and society, but he must make wiser choices than his predecessor.

We must remember, however, that legacies can take years to reveal themselves. Barry Goldwater, humiliated by Lyndon Johnson in the 1964 presidential contest, is now widely acclaimed as the father of modern conservatism and Jimmy Carter has seen his stock rise as history allows us to better contextualise his presidency. Most notable, perhaps, is Harry Truman, one of two presidents rated worse than Bush by the American people, but who many historians now place as a neargreat chief executive.

Bush’s legacy rests on events in the Middle East. If Iraq is able somehow to democratise successfully, it may help engender a wider regional rush to democracy, bringing peace and stability and undermining radical influences. Our best guess is that this is very unlikely, but history may judge otherwise. Bush must hope so, because his first-term successes are currently forgotten, buried deep below his second-term failures.

Andrew Wroe and Jon Herbert’s new book, Assessing the Bush Presidency: A Tale of Two Terms, will be published by Edinburgh University Press in 2009

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Liberton Craigour Avenue, 900, 4, 1S 3D G PG P UF, 0870 062 9424 Kilngate Brae, 725, 3, 1S 2D G PG P, 0870 062 9424 Gilmerton Road, 625, 2, 2D G P, 0870 062 9424 Howden Hall Court, 620, 2, 1S 1D G PG P, 0870 062 9558 Old Burdiehouse Road, 575, 2, 2D G P, 0870 062 9460

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Longstone Redhall Drive, 650, 3, 3D G O UF, 0870 062 9592

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Silverknowes Ferry Gait Crescent, 625, 2, 2D W P, 0870 062 9384 Ferry Gait Crescent, 625, 2, 2D E P, 0870 062 9384 Ferry Gait Crescent, 625, 2, 2D W P, 0870 062 9384

Slateford Slateford Road, 650, 2, 2D G CG O, 0870 062 9522 Moat Drive, 625, 2, 2D G CG O, 0870 062 7736 Hermand Terrace, 595, 1, 1D G CG O, 0870 062 9478 Laichpark Road, 595, 1, 1D G CG P, 0870 062 9478

South Gyle South Gyle Gardens, 499, 1, 1D 1B G PG P, 0870 062 9456

Stenhouse Stenhouse Drive, 650, 2, 2D G PG O, 0870 062 7736

Stockbridge Raeburn Place, 740, 2, 2D G Z, 0870 062 9594 Dunrobin Place, 560, 1, 1D G PG Z, 0870 062 4830 Ettrickdale Place, 550, 1, G P, 0870 062 9456

The Shore Western Harbour Midway, 700, 2, G CG P, 0870 062 6450

Tollcross Home Street, 625, 2, 2D E Z, 0870 062 9460 Glen Street, 275, 1, 1S G Z, 0870 062 9478

Trinity Craighall Road, 550, 1, 1D G CG O, 0870 062 1108 Dalmeny Road, 525, 1, 1D G CG O, 0870 062 9592 West Ferryfield, 525, 2, 2D G CG P UF, 0870 062 9456

Warriston Calder Crescent, 550, 2, 2D G O, 0870 062 9456

West End William Street, 795, 2, G Z, 0870 062 9300

Arts & Entertainment 27

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

Feature

ten til ten.

Nika Kupryova explores a hidden world of underground art

Nika Kupryova

nika.kupryova@journal-online.co.uk

The jourNey begiNs as i walk along Tradeston street looking for any signs of an art space. it is hardly a street in its social sense, but just one of the roads branching off the M8 highway and lined on both sides with rows of identical warehouses. it is already dark and mildly rainy when two middle-aged ladies point with their glowing benson & hedges across the road to number 60. There is no sign, not even an open door, and when i press the buzzer marked with an inconspicuous pencil scribble i am let in by one of the curators and given a beer. Would i have found it without knowing exactly what i was looking for? Probably not. yet i find myself intrigued by the idea of a hidden art space, the deliberate lack of promotion, the underground appeal of the warehouse so special for a newcomer to glasgow. rocca gutteridge, one half of ten til ten’s curatorial team, explains that the venue was not set up to become another artist-run gallery, but primarily a project space providing the artists with time and space to develop their practice. it was established by rocca and Lindsey hanlon in December 2007, in an old printing studio lent by graphic design company Pointsize Wolffe, and became what rocca describes as “an experiment in art and business collaboration.”

The curators see the potential for the scottish art scene in the aspiration of the commercial businesses to engage with the artistic community, enabling and encouraging venues like ten til ten. rocca is from London, but prefers to work in scotland, which both she and Lindsey see as offering more scope for their initiatives. eventually, one of

ten til ten’s objectives is to establish a dialogue between the edinburgh and glasgow art scenes traditionally based around the two art colleges.

This is the pair’s third show, a conclusion of the summer residency awarded to the berlin-based artist, Dan rees. The space is dark apart from strategically placed flashlights assigning the focal points of the show: two pairs of plaster hands casting shadow animals on the warehouse walls. The hands look pale and inanimate, a meticulous relic of motion made purely for this brief moment of recognition when the hands and the shape of the shadow merge into the familiar narrative. i am persuaded by the artist’s poetic disregard for an art object when the visual quality of those delicate, seductive sculptures is sacrificed in favour of the temporary trick of light, the immediacy of the subtle visual humour.

The back wall is covered with black and white posters, which under closer scrutiny turn out to be cheap photocopies of rothkos: postcards bought by the artist in one of London’s museums.

The projection onto the posters features famous neon works, that change with comfortable rhythmic consistency.

There is an interplay between the old paintings and the new photocopies, between the modified and shaped lights in the projection and the deliberately switched off strip lights of the warehouse, bringing to mind imaginary dialogues with artistic ancestors and post-modern re-narration of the old art stories in the new spaces.

The show doesn’t have an immediate impact; in fact looking through the artist’s portfolio makes it much

Music

Theatre

De La Soul

Midsummer

a good time is guaranteed from these underrated hip-hop veterans

The LiquiD rooM ThursDay 13 NoveMber Tom Evans

tom.evans@journal-online.co.uk

easier to connect with the work and trace the development of its measured spontaneity.

The curators confess that they are not certain if the artist’s witty misleads and word play benefit from the roughness and the size of the warehouse. i could only partially agree with that; the projection would perhaps be more readable in the white cube space, but the need to hunt for the scattered artworks in the darkened warehouse works well with Dan rees’ emphasis on the dialogue between the artist and the viewer. one of my personal favourites is a

photograph of the two white horses in the far end of the space titled “something Completely separate and unrelated.” i wouldn’t say it is entirely unrelated – in fact it provides the key to the entire show and acts as one of the first clues to the artist’s specific sense of humour.

aFTer a NighT of drunken passion they should never have shared and a chance meeting the following day, bob and helena are confronted in the Castle Terrace car park by the humble ticket machine, whose scrolling screen innocently informs them that “change is possible.” Taking this literally, they embark upon a weekend of hedonism interspersed with the kind of selfrevelation that is possible only between two people who don’t really know each other – and songs.

Midsummer, a new play written by David greig with musician gordon Mcintyre, is an exhilarating romp through four days that all too quickly steep themselves in night. The action is boisterous, enhanced by the characters who narrate their own lives and each other’s, ducking and diving and revisiting the narrative to compile an almost photographic montage of thoughts, feelings and action.

Mcintyre’s songs are poppy and simple, and punctuate the action in order to convey a certain state of mind

of one or both of the characters: a reflective, acoustic meditation on love, for example, or a teenage-girl electric guitar bed-stomping rock-out. While really they achieve neither elucidation of a situation nor clarification of emotion, they do serve as welcome breaks from, or additions to, the often frenetic action. both performers are superbly talented and take the alternations between characters, moods and narrative style easily in their stride, ensuring that the more emotional scenes are not thrown away in the mêlée but are in fact incredibly touching. it is their investment in the piece that provides the polish on greig’s confident, clever script, while the finely crafted set contains enough surprises to impress and constantly change our modes of reference to the characters. greig and Mcintyre have opened up two lives, invited us to observe and enjoy ourselves with them, and produced a joyful, celebratory work to lighten up the dark days.

For more information contact 60tradestonstreet@gmail.com. Dan Rees is also showing in The Guest Room of the Collective Gallery in Edinburgh between 8th of November and 6th of December.

 De La souL’s debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, is a landmark record. its eclectic sampling, jazz-soul-funk laced grooves, humour and laid-back rhyme style were, in 1989, a radical departure from the increasingly homogeneous and aggressive sounds of the hip-hop mainstream. The album is an implicit manifesto for an innovative and positive kind of rap, what De La called a Da.is.y. age (Da inner sound, y’all). but the moment passed it seems, along with their mainstream commercial success, and though their broad influence is undeniable it is little known. “got to have soul” insists the intro to ‘The Magic Number,’ and here’s the key to their music. What you get from De La soul is a passion for invention, originality and plain-good beats. you won’t hear rhymes about superior skills on the mic or violent retribution for a perturbed ego. instead there’s something meaningful, a little philosophical even, in each melodic spin of phrase. but all important is that the Long islanders, three old school friends, never take themselves too seriously.

Playing live, De La soul have a huge back catalogue packed with hits and memorable lesser-knowns (‘eye Know,’ ‘a roller skating jam Named “saturdays”’, ‘Keepin’ the Faith’), which is combined with an expert knowledge of how to show people a good time.

Ninety minutes on stage is sure to pass far too quickly.

Poppy songs and boisterous action come together nicely

The Traverse TheaTre 24 oCTober15 NoveMber Lucy Jackson

lucy.jackson@journal-online.co.uk

28 Arts & Entertainment

on the horizon THEATrE

MuSiC

La TraviaTa

The BLack keys

one of the world’s most celebrated opera directors, Glasgow-born David Mcvicar returns to Scottish opera to direct his first ever production of La Traviata, an authentic take on the famous courtesan’s tragic tale that remains faithful to alexandre Dumas’ original novel La dame aux Camélias.

ohio Blues-Rock duo are set to blow away the sold out queen’s hall. Their sexy, ballads smoulder and burn, channelling the best of hendrix and Page with their own intoxicating blast of raw, thudding blues power.

Sunday 16th November, Queens Hall

Festival Theatre, Wed 19, Thu 27, Sat 29 Nov, 7.15pm; Sun 23 Nov, 4pm

NormaL

mr scruff

Dealing with the case of serial killer, arsonist and rapist Peter Kurten, known as the ‘Düsseldorf Ripper’, Normal is a dark, twisted and exhilarating exploration of insanity, a short, sharp thriller of a show.

a disciple of post-acid-house Manchester, Mr. Scruff brings massive innovation and distinctively confident jazz lines, dirty break beats and unexpected remixes to the electro house scene.

Bedlam Theatre, 18-22 November, 7.30pm (plus Sat 22nd Nov at 2.30pm)

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

Music

Noah and the Whale

 Pop-folk pioneers haven’t changed a bit since they hit the big time - perhaps they should

Thursday 20th, Liquid Rooms.

ArT Gerhard richTer

PLayBack

a major retrospective of Gerhard Richter, one of the most important and influential artists of the post-war period.

New monthly open mic night courtesy of Instant magazine and openmics.co.uk, in the opulent setting of the voodoo Rooms

National Gallery, 8 November 2008 4 January 2009, £6/£4

Voodoo Rooms, Wednesday 12 November, £3/£2

The LIqUID RooM 26 oCToBeR Jacqui Kavanagh

jacqui.kavanagh@journal-online.co.uk

Fashion

Jean Muir: Scotland’s Chanel The National Museum’s new exhibition sheds light on the career of an enigmatic fashion icon

Elisabeth Evans

elisabeth.evans@journal-online.co.uk

“I haTe The word ‘fashion’,” Jean Muir once said. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

Muir saw herself simply as a dressmaker, and on the seventh of November an exhibition opened in edinburgh to provide an insight into the life and work of a woman who defied what she saw as the pretensions of the fashion industry – and to whom stars flocked to be dressed throughout her illustrious 50-year career.

Lauren Bacall, Barbra Streisand, Charlotte Rampling, antonia Fraser and the artists Bridget Riley and elisabeth Frink were just a few of many stars who fell in love with Muir’s work; and with fashion designers Manolo Blahnik, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Issey Miyake and Giorgio armani all citing Muir as an influence, the unveiling of the collection in edinburgh is seen as a significant fashion coup for the city. a collection of 18,000 pieces was donated to the National Museum of Scotland in april 2008 by harry Leuckert, Muir’s widower and former business partner.

“Both of Jean’s grandparents came from Scotland and she was tremendously proud of her Scottish roots,” says Leuckert. “She loved the country, its landscapes and its people and used a great number of Scottish craftspeople in her work throughout her career. I hope that through this donation of her work, the next generations of great designers will also be inspired.”

National Museum curator Kristina Stankovski is unsure of how many dresses the museum actually owns, but each are boxed and stored in acid free tissue paper along with the sketches, designs, tuilles, photographs, diaries and documents that constitute the rest of what is an extraordinarily rich archive. Muir’s desk from her headquarters in Bruton Street is on display, as are her dressmaker’s dummy and some of her own clothes.

“When we got the collection, we did

a lot of research into similar archives elsewhere,” Stankovski says. “We learned that because of its size and the comprehensive nature of what it holds, it’s the largest collection devoted to any one designer in any museum in the world.”

The process of cataloguing is still ongoing and this is one of the first of several exhibitions of Jean Muir that are planned.

Muir loved to work in suede and leather – materials well represented in the exhibition among the 33 dresses that are selected for display from the museum’s full collection of hundreds.

Sketches and photographs illustrating the dressmaker’s technique are also on show.

Despite Muir’s preference for understated and subtle elegance, there are some vividly dazzling pieces on show too, one floral print blouse with a bow at the neck particularly catching the eye. Muir’s signature style is exemplified in the long red and black dress in the exhibition made of a viscose fabric that she started using in 1968, and which figured consistently in her designs.

“The female body was at the core of her work and that was a fabric that could hang beautifully on a woman and emphasise her shape,” says Stankovski. “She loved movement and would often design garments that had a really beautiful full skirt or which were designed to enhance the wearer when she moved. She felt that explained why her clothes were worn by so many celebrities.”

The demure Miss Muir was a true enigma, in addition to being a fashion icon. Fiercely private, many of the details of her life are sketchy to say the least. Uncertainty surrounds even the date of her birth and more than a decade after her death, only one biography has been written. all this makes the National Museum of Scotland’s collection a still more valuable resource.

WheN NoT heLPING to up the sales of plaid shirts in urban Britain, folk act Noah and the Whale have found time to craft a highly calculated on-stage formula. While this approach works to keep the music tight and crisp, it does invite a definite impression of monotonised routine even before the band’s appearance.

Prior to the show, the band treat us to a rather affected film clip, embarrassingly worthy of Spinal Tap. on two projectors to either side of the stage, the band are depicted in moody black and white, backstage at some festival making their way to the screaming crowds. Unsurprisingly, just before their heroic appearance on stage, the arty clip freezes and in this cultivated air of expectation and anticipation, into our adoring presence they stride. In truth, it’s a rather cringeworthy bit of ostentatiousness.

The songs are executed flawlessly – but whether this is through a concentrated effort of unadulterated

Theatre

Wuthering Heights  Something for everyone in this stage production of the Gothic classic

KING’S TheaTRe 4-8 NoveMBeR

Anna Fenton

anna.fenton@journal-online.co.uk

talent, or solely the result of two years playing exactly the same songs remains to be seen. ‘Rocks and Daggers’ was the unexpected (and premature) climax of the evening, with ‘Shape of my heart’ following on a close second. Fink’s attempts to redirect his band from over-popular folk trendiness is glaringly apparent in the one dimensional live re-working of the usually down-home traditionalistic ‘Mary’ which now seems to have dropped its diversion into a heavy jamming session. Without this, it was circular and uninspired.

Two years ago, Noah and the Whale helped to coin a pop/folk persuasion that now is entirely mainstream. Fink’s Nirvana tee shirt reflects an anxious fumbling for a grittier new route for his collective. To regain their momentum, Noah and the Whale will need to produce a new inspiration, something with a bit more guts – anything to fend off the folk twee convention. aDaPTING oNe oF the best-known works of literature into a stage production can be problematic on many levels – die-hard fans will inevitably complain, while a slavish following of every word can lead to accusations of a lack of inventiveness. april de angelis’s interpretation struggles with neither of these categories, resulting in a sensitive and yet highly innovative production.

Stark and brooding, the set reflects the mood of the performance; the distant whistling of the wind over the moors and the clouded sky are the only accompaniments required to the tumultuous lives explored. Perhaps the most controversial decision is the casting of antony Byrne as heathcliff – those wishing for a dark, handsome lead will find him lacking, but looks aside his performance is passionate and multi-faceted. Intimidating and brutal, particularly in his treatment of his wife, the audience can still feel sympathy for him as his portrayal of his character as a mistreated and abused child is so impassioned. amanda Ryan gives an impressive performance as Cathy but sometimes emphasises the peevish, childish nature of Cathy’s character more than is necessary. Bad-tempered and abusing those around her, this production brings out the full potential for Cathy’s cruelty and impetuousness.

The narration remains the same as in Brontë’s novel, telling the story through the dual narration of Mr. Lockwood (Simon Coates) and Nelly Dean (Susannah York). Lockwood’s comic interludes, with his blustering charm and oftenmisguided views are a wonderful witty break in this otherwise cheerless tale; his constant presence on the stage reminds us that he, like the audience, is subject to a powerful story over which he has no control. an intelligent and moving production, De angelis’s Wuthering Heights will not leave fans disappointed – while Brontë virgins might well find themselves converted.

Eating & Drinking 29

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

Marchmont's sweet secret

Holly Priestman

Marchmont hideaway, sweet Melindas is the perfect antidote to those autumn blues

Ailsa Ross ailsa.ross@journal-online.co.uk No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds— November!

With his UNReleNtiNg negatives, thomas hood bleakly described the most melancholy of months in No! Resisting the urge to hibernate, i decided to review the hopeful sounding sweet Melinda’s, hoping for comfortingly gloopy gravy and sticky crumbles. then a friend pointed out that sweet Melinda was the “goddess of gloom” in one of Bob Dylan’s seminal songs, ‘Just like tom thumb’s Blues’. i ignored the name, and looked to the restaurant’s reputation as a tiny temple of seafood and game, where all the fish is reassuringly hand-picked each morning from eddie’s seafood Market next door. there is a secretive air when you arrive, which is particularly impressive given the restaurant’s location on Marchmont’s busiest road. the old black and white photographs that adorn every inch of white wall tell of knowing faces and hidden secrets. the burgundy ceiling and low-lit candles only add to the collusive air. it’s a

stylish rather than stylised room, fitting in no more than a dozen simplydressed tables. the only addition that took away from the warm ambience was the fake flowers in the corner, although they were dutifully ignored. the service was excellent; knowledgeable and charming, the staff made us feel completely welcome. We shared an appetiser that mixed irish cuisine with Mediterranean, enjoying soda bread with olive tapenade. the tapenade could have been a bitter disappointment, the flavour of olives depending so much on quality, but their superiority showed in the amount of dip eagerly slathered on our bread. there was a huge choice of wine available. Our sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc were nothing special, missing the refreshing flavour expected with a clean white. Perhaps we were just unlucky, or perhaps Marchmont’s old ban on premises selling alcohol has rubbed off on sweet Melindas, making it a restaurant more suitable for seafood aficionados than wine lovers.

My partner’s starter of slow roasted pigeon with sautéed potatoes and grapes was ideal autumn food. Who wants gazpacho, when November provides such rich, gamey flavours? the pigeon was perfectly complemented by peppery rocket, and the addition of crunchy purple grapes provided the

ideal contrast to the tender meat. it was a suitably hearty portion, perfect for this time of year.

My option of fried squid salad with sea salt and lemon began with an overpowering hit of coriander.

While pleasant enough, it was a relief when the herb relented to the classic combination of chilli with perfectly cooked squid. it was a remarkably fresh starter, in contrast to the richness of hers, although both were equally excellent. her main of tuna steak with crab and basil mayonnaise was, like all the food at sweet Melinda’s, simply presented, allowing the food to speak for itself. After watching documentaries such as trawlermen, all salty sea storms and haggard fishermen in boiler suits, i always find it astonishing to find seafood innocently gleaming on ceramic, as if it arrived by immaculate conception. the tuna steak was a tender medium-rare, although it was let down by the creaminess of the mayonnaise, which washed out the crab.

My main of hand dived king scallops, pan fried with sweet chilli sauce and creme fraiche was perfect; the creamy white scallops melted in the mouth. the accompanying chilli sauce was a rich, sticky concoction which the creme fraiche cut through to create a moreish juice.

We shared mixed vegetables of carrot with a coriander crust, and confit potatoes in butter and parsley. Again, the chef’s generous use of fresh herbs lifted standard fare to the level of truly memorable food.

My companion’s Valrhona chocolate torte struck the elusive balance between sweet and bitter, and was a delight. the combination of sweet and spicy plums with nutty almonds worked well in my choice of tart – but given sweet Melinda’s frequent nods to locally sourced, seasonal produce, it was disappointing to see a decorative strawberry and cape gooseberry spoil the plate. For the three-course dinners

and two glasses of wine, the bill was a reasonable £64.80. sweet Melinda’s expertly demonstrated that autumn food does not necessarily equate to bangers and mash or fish pie. Far preferable to the usual stodge were the fresh, seasonal meals created at this stylish restaurant, which will no doubt become as famous for its skilled use of herbs as it is for its seafood and game. sweet Melinda’s could shake anyone out of their autumn blues, even thomas hood.

Sweet Melindas, 11 Roseneath Street, Marchmont 0131 229 7953

Musseling inn Rose street's Mussel inn is worth dipping into – but stick to the simple stuff

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Ailsa Ross ailsa.ross@journal-online.co.uk While it is the perfect antidote to a long day pushing past grey faces on Princes street, the Mussel inn is not the restaurant to celebrate a special occasion in, its dining room a bland sweep of plain walls and plainer furniture. the only decor that is not completely forgettable is a large fish mosaic, which unfortunately hints at up-market chippy, rather than the award-winning restaurant that it is.

Yet this Rose street joint’s reputation for simply cooked, fresh fish is as strong as ever. there is a good range of seafood served, from smoked salmon to oysters. i was immediately enraptured by the huge, steaming pots of mussels quickly brought out in healthy kilos and half-kilos. there is a reasonable range of sauces to choose from, although i found the mature blue cheese addition made for an odd pairing with the poor man’s shellfish. i opted for a traditional shallot and white wine dressing, letting the rich flavour of the mussels come through. that unmistakable, sweet flavour was all that was needed to evoke happy memories of childhood holidays spent on the beaches of Brittany. While the obligatory crusty bread was more Delice de France than crisp French baguette, at just £5.65 for half a kilo of naturally selected scottish mussels, this was a small complaint. the quality of the baguette is telling – the kitchen’s expertise does not lie in boulangerie. stick to the fish. the pasta with wild mushrooms,

3 time slots daily: * TEATIME ACOUSTIC spinach, and fettuccini with lemon and mascarpone cheese sounded delicious on the menu. On the plate, the pasta floundered, an insipid mess devoid of any depth.

Unsurprisingly, the wine menu features an abundance of whites. We opted for the crisp Paul Bouchard, priced at £14.50, which naturally went well with the fish. the lunch menu is excellently priced, at £7.50 for a bowl of mussels or seafood chowder with salad or fries, accompanied by beer, a glass of wine, or a soft drink. this deal runs until 3pm on weekdays, and 5pm on a Friday. the restaurant also offers a “catch of the day” which is a fish dish based on what the suppliers have caught an abundance of that day.

With such simple, fresh produce on offer, the Mussel inn is bound to flourish as much as its aquatic namesakes in the cold seasons.

Mussel Inn, 61–65 Rose Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2NH 0131 225 5979

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News 3

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

Gutenberg's Endgame By launching its ground-breaking online book service, has Google sounded the death knell of the printed word?

Alice French alice.french@journal-online.co.uk

The old and the new: will Google’s literary ventures render the printed word obsolete?

Oliver PrOctOr

ON the sixth day, God created man and he saw that it was good. On the eighth day, God created the internet and students everywhere rejoiced. they can order food, alcohol, organise their social lives and even read lectures online. Until now, however, one thing has still forced students to emerge from their cocoons into the cold light of day: the library.

Now however, Google has saved the day. in the last twenty years the internet has changed the way in which we live almost unrecognisably. in October 2004, Google introduced their revolutionary idea for an internet database containing millions of books available read online. But in a revolutionary settlement reached last week Google are now able to expand their database, free from fear of legal action over copyright infringement.

Formerly known as Google print, this service currently allows access to over seven million books that can be read from the comfort of your own bed. the idea is to allow ease of access to books that are out of copyright, out of print or even unpublished. Although this seems like something we have all seen before, in the form of JstOR or similar online services, the difference is that Google’s service is completely free; every student’s favourite word.

A spokesperson for Google said: “the aim of Google Book search is to help you discover books and learn where to buy or borrow them, not read them online from start to finish. it’s like going to a bookstore and browsing – with a Google twist.”

According to The New York Times, Google is scanning over 3000 new books every day and although it has refused to release information about how much this project is costing, CiO today estimates that the venture will be in excess of 100 million dollars.

Google has implemented this service alongside its standard search engine.

When you enter words that are deemed relevant enough, up to three books appear at the top of your search results.

For books that are no longer covered by

copyright law, the entire piece is available to be read, in full, by anyone with access to the internet. if the book is covered by copyright law however, a preview in some form or other is often still available, as well as details on where one can find the complete work.

Microsoft launched a similar venture in December 2006 in competition with Google, but the project was later abandoned when they realised its potential legal complications.

Mr Ruben, Microsoft Lawyer, said in March 2007: “Companies that create no content of their own, and make money solely on the backs of other people’s content, are raking in billions through advertising revenue and iPOs.” three years ago, Google was hit with a multimillion dollar lawsuit by the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers, and a handful of irate authors and publishers. they claimed infringement of copyright by Google and demanded closure of the service and appropriate compensation. however, in this last week, Google has reached a groundbreaking agreement with said parties, allowing Google to continue with their project. they settled for 125 million dollars. Good news for all it would seem. edinburgh’s libraries coming to a laptop near you?

Let’s hope not, but it might help to make student life that little bit lazier.

30 Sport

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

edinburgh dominate 2008 'Burgh Varsity competition James Pope james.pope@journal-online.co.uk The 2008 ‘Burgh Varsity competition proved to be a highly a one-sided affair with edinburgh university dominating in four of the five events. In recent years, the Varsity has proved to be a close encounter, however, this year edinburgh cruised to victory in all field matches, losing only the newly-included boat club challenge.

Now in its fourth year, the annual ‘Burgh Varsity competition is a growing event; its significance being reflected by the impressive levels of commitment from both universities in all five fixtures.

Although all the results clearly signified edinburgh’s dominance, every event began with a tense and highly-contested opening, with both sides showing tremendous heart and determination to win.

All events were played and supported in the best possible fashion, reflecting the strong friendly rivalry between the two universities. edinburgh was first seen to flex its sporting muscles late on Monday evening, when the Ladies’ hockey fixture got underway at Peffermill. The result was a comprehensive 6-0 victory for the home side, setting the tone for what would be a near-total demolition of heriot-Watt in the forthcoming events. hoping to emulate the success of the edinburgh ladies on Monday night, edinburgh’s footballers took to the pitch and did not fail to deliver. Both sides looked to be on equal terms in the opening minutes, but it was edinburgh that was seen to be

the more threatening side as the first half progressed, with in-form striker, Michael hazeldine, looking dangerous up-front.

The game ended 2-0 to the home side, with goals either side of half time. having been humiliated in last year’s Varsity match, edinburgh’s rugby men were eager to lay their daemons to rest, and did so in emphatic fashion. grit and determination from the offset resulted in the home team running in three converted tries and scoring six penalties, wrapping up the game at 39-10.

Before the Men’s hockey had begun, it was clear that the Varsity quaiche would be returning to edinburgh’s trophy cabinet, but that did not stop Simon Sampson and his men from going out guns-blazing. heriot-Watt Sports union President, ross Simpson was mindful of the 5-0 whitewash that was now looking like a realistic possibility for the home side, and his confidence was dealt a severe blow as he watched edinburgh secure a convincing 3-1 victory, despite a gusty display from the visitors.

The final event of the day came in the form of the newly-introduced university “row-off.” Never having held such an event in previous Varsity competitions, neither side knew of the strengths of their opponents. The event, which took place indoors and was undertaken using rowing machines, took the format of three races over a distance of 2000 metres, with victory going to whichever side won two of the three head-to-head battles. The physically demanding challenge was eventually won by heriot-Watt, who were greatly relieved to have avoided

the whitewash.

This year’s Varsity contest was clearly the biggest yet. The strength of competition, as well as spirit of the games and the support saw a perfect example of how sport should be played and watched.

With the competition going from strength to strength with each passing year, the future looks bright for university sport in the capital, with the 2008 ‘Burg Varsity serving as testimony to the sporting talents and achievements of both edinburgh and heriot-Watt. edinburgh university Sports union President, Joe gray, said: I am amazingly happy with the performances of the players from both universities, the large and vocal crowd, the spirit of the competition and ultimately the result. The addition of a row-off capped a perfect day.

Women’s Hockey: edinburgh 6-0 heriot-Watt

Men’s Football: edinburgh 2-0 heriot-Watt

Men’s Rugby: edinburgh 39-10 heriot-Watt

Men’s Hockey: edinburgh 3-1 heriot-Watt

Row Off: Novices edinburgh win by 0.7 seconds Senior Women heriot-Watt win by 50m Senior Men heriotWatt win by 75m

Sport Results FOOTball

FixTuRES

Scottish Conference Men’s 1a P W D L F A Df Pt

Edinburgh 1 Stirling 1 Glasgow 1 Heriot-Watt 1 Rob. Gord. 1

4 4 4 4 4

3 3 2 0 0

1 0 1 1 0

0 1 1 3 4

11 12 4 7 1

3 5 6 8 13

8 7 -2 -1 -12

10 9 7 3 0

edinburgh 1

2 – 0 heriot-Watt 1

5/11/08 edinburgh 1

vs vs

glasgow 2 edinburgh 4

vs

heriot-Watt 2

19/11/08 St. Andrews 2

WOMEN’S HOCkEy Scottish Conference Women’s 1a P W D L F A Df Pt

29/10/08 4 – 1 robert gordon 1

Edinburgh 1 Glasgow 1 Strathclyde 1 Edinburgh 2 Glas. Caley 1

4 3 3 4 4

3 2 1 1 1

1 1 0 0 0

0 0 2 3 3

17 8 4 4 5

2 2 8 13 13

15 16 -4 -9 -8

10 7 3 3 3

FixTuRES RESulTS

19/11/08 edinburgh 1 Stirling 1

vs vs

glasgow 1 heriot-Watt 1

Scottish Conference Men’s 2a P W D L F A Df Pt

Edinburgh 2 Strathclyde 1 aberdeen 1 Edinburgh 3 Dundee 1

2 1 2 2 1

1 1 1 0 0

1 0 0 1 0

0 0 1 1 1

4 3 5 2 2

2 2 6 3 3

2 1 -1 -1 -1

4 3 3 1 0

RESulTS Aberdeen 1 Stirling 2

12/11/08 Strathclyde 1 Dundee 1

vs vs

edinburgh 2 edinburgh 3

2 2 1 1 2

1 1 1 0 0

1 1 0 0 0

0 0 0 1 2

5 5 4 1 2

3 2 0 4 8

2 3 4 -3 -6

4 4 3 0 0

vs vs

edinburgh 2

vs

edinburgh 1

vs vs

glasgow 1 edinburgh 2

19/11/08 edinburgh 1 glas. Caley 1

2 2 2 1 1

2 1 1 1 0

0 0 0 0 0

0 1 1 1 1

8 8 3 1 2

4 3 5 3 5

4 3 -2 -2 -3

RESulTS 29/10/08 Aberdeen 1

5-2

herriot-Watt 1

vs

Dundee 1

FixTuRES 12/11/08 heriot-Watt 1

P W D L F A Df Pt

P W D L F A Df Pt

5 5 5 5 4

4 3 2 1 1

0 1 0 1 0

1 1 3 3 3

15 18 12 16 9

9 11 14 16 20

6 7 -2 0 -11

12 10 6 4 3

aberdeen 1 Stirling 1 Edinburgh 1 St andrews 1 Dundee 1

3 3 3 2 3

3 2 1 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

0 1 2 2 3

92 42 115 46 54 73 14 64 35 86

50 9 66 6 -19 3 -50 0 -51 0

RESulTS 5/11/08 edinburgh 1

6-13

Dundee 1

vs

Aberdeen 1

vs

St. Andrews 1

FixTuRES

RESulTS 3-1

heriot-Watt 1

6-2

Aberdeen 1

12/11/08 edinburgh 1 19/11/08 edinburgh 1

Scottish Conference Men’s 3a

FixTuRES

P W D L F A Df Pt

vs

heriot-Watt 1

vs vs

heriot-Watt 1 edinburgh 1

Edinburgh 2 Glas. Caley 2 abertay 1 Dundee 2 aberdeen 2

2 2 2 1 1

2 1 1 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

0 1 1 1 1

50 5 31 21 40 31 5 36 0 33

45 6 10 3 9 3 -31 0 -33 0

Scottish Conference Men’s 4a P W D L F A Df Pt

Strathclyde 2 Dundee 2 Heriot-Watt 2 St andrews 3 Edinburgh 4 Napier 1

6 3 3 0 0

Scottish Conference Men’s 1a

glasgow 2 Abertay 1

Scottish Conference Men’s 1a

12/11/08 Stirling 1 19/11/08 Aberdeen 1 Stirling 1

12/11/08

RuGby

MEN’S HOCkEy

29/10/08 edinburgh 1 05/11/08 edinburgh 1

edinburgh 1 Strathclyde 1

P W D L F A Df Pt

FixTuRES

Edinburgh 1 Stirling 1 Heriot-Watt 1 Glasgow 1 aberdeen 1

edinburgh 2

FixTuRES

aberdeen 1 Dundee 1 abertay 1 Rob. Gord. 1 Heriot-Watt 1

P W D L F A Df Pt

12/11/08 heriot-Watt 2 Napier 1

29/10/08 glasgow 1 2-0 5/11/08 glasgow Caley 0-3 edinburgh 2 0-2

Scottish Conference Women’s 2a 2 – 1 edinburgh 2 3 – 0 edinburgh 3

FixTuRES

abertay 1 St andrews 1 Napier 1 Heriot-Watt 2 Glasgow 2

www. journalonline. co.uk

heriot-Watt 2 Napier 1

RESulTS

Scottish Conference Men’s 3a

Join The Journal while you still can

12/11/08

2 1 2 1 2

2 1 1 1 1

0 0 0 0 0

0 0 1 0 1

8 3 9 2 4

6 2 4 1 2

2 1 5 1 2

6 3 3 3 3

2 1 0 1 12 6 6 3

RESulTS 29/10/08 edinburgh 2

14-0 glasgow Caley

FixTuRES 12/11/08 Aberdeen 2 vs edinburgh 2

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

A MALIGN LOOK AT THE WORLD OF SPORT : R E K C A H

A journey down the road to excess Chubby, ailing and still going strong: Maradona’s astounding reversal of fortune can teach us all a thing or two

Graham Mackay

Deputy Editor

graham@journal-online.co.uk

“It seems that nothing can keep the ex-England front-man out of the headlines for long; this year alone, he has twice been sectioned under the mental health act for problems relating to alcohol and unruly social behaviour. Last week, however, Gazza appeared to have broken due to his failure to submit a tax return for the last two years”

SPORT

SHORTS SNIPPETS OF SPORTS NEWS AND EVENTS FROM THE LAST FORTNIGHT WEST HAM INVITE OBAMA TO MATCH Barack Obama has been invited to watch a football match at Premiership club West Ham United when he is next in Britain.

The president-elect is believed to be something of a fan of the club, since attending a match at Upton Park with family members in 2003. The Hammers have extended the invitation to Senator Obama as a gesture of congratulations in the wake of his being elected to be the next president of the USA. A source at West Ham said: "We are delighted that Barack Obama has an association with West Ham and are sending him our congratulations and an invitation to attend a match whenever he is in Britain."

Obama is known in America for his appreciation of "soccer," and his 10year-old daughter plays regularly for a club in Chicago.

West Ham’s American defender, Jonathan Spector, who comes from Obama’s home-state of Illinois, said: "From a personal perspective it certainly would be something special to welcome him to West Ham."

A

T SOME TIME or another, everyone has picked up a book of amusing quotes from the world of sport and sat down, usually for the duration of a trip to the lavatory, flicking through the pages of insults, gags and commentary gaffes uttered by sporting personalities of the past and present. Though many of these witty verbal extracts may well fly straight over our heads, every now and then one of them stands out in a way that makes us sit up and take note of its speaker, and none so much as the cheeky confession of legendary footballer and celebrity bad-boy George Best.

Presuming I am correct in my assumption that I’m not the only one whose preferred restroom reading consists of that described above, I shouldn’t need to remind anyone of Georgie’s immortal one-liner that summed up his life off the football pitch, but just in case I’m wrong, here it is: “I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.”

Direct and to the point, this audacious gag exemplified the attitude that made Best more than just a phenomenal footballing talent. For him, it was just as much about his rockstar lifestyle; drinking, shagging and splashing out on any and every decadent vice that his fame and fortune would allow.

20 years on from the heyday of his self-indulgent life of drunken debauchery, it is not entirely surprising that the iconic Northern Irishman is no longer with us. What’s more, with today’s stringent laws that govern the behaviour of elite athletes, as well as the constant pressure of the unforgiving media, the likes of Best are a dying breed in the world of professional sport.

However, there remains at least one relic of the day when a global sporting figure could throw caution to the wind and just do whatever the hell he wanted; a footballing reprobate who has drunk, sniffed and splurged his way onto the front and back pages of virtually every British tabloid over the last 15 years. I refer to no other than the legendary and infamous Paul Gascoigne.

It seems that nothing can keep the ex-England front-man out of the headlines for long; this year alone, he has twice been sectioned under the mental health act for problems relating to alcohol and unruly social behaviour.

Last week, however, Gazza appeared to have broken new ground in attracting negative press, coming within inches of being declared bankrupt due to his failure to submit a tax return for the last two years.

With a bill in excess of £200,000 owed to the taxman, reports state that the one-time multi-millionaire does not even have enough money left to pay his debt to the national treasury. Failed business ventures, an expensive divorce

Sport 31

CHAMPION BALFOUR HANGS UP HER SWIMSUIT and repeated visits to rehab and mentalhealth institutions, not to mention the hefty sums of money squandered on drugs and alcohol, have all taken their toll on Gazza’s finances, thought once to have been in the region of £14 million. On Thursday, the High Court in London gave the troubled Geordie a nine-week period to file his late tax returns and avoid a bankruptcy petition

by HM revenue and customs. Gascoigne’s lawyer attempted to downplay the hype over the crisis, though his claim that “it is just a question of having time to make the returns” has raised more than a few eyebrows.

I do not for one minute mean to advocate a lifestyle of drink, drugs and irresponsible behaviour, but surely if that is the path one chooses to take, there is a right and a wrong way of doing it. What I mean is, though George Best’s life of vice and excess was indeed his ruin, you just couldn’t imagine him ever sinking to the lows of failing to deliver when it came to one of the most fundamental civic duties of a British citizen. There was an element of class and boyish charm about Best, which is visibly absent in Gascoigne. Had he been alive today, one could almost imagine Georgie Boy flying through the streets of London in a suped-up Jaguar swigging back spritzers on his way to personally deliver a cheque to Alistair Darling. There was a romantic honesty about him; a sense of candour and integrity that meant we kept on loving him despite his savage 30-year rampage down the road to ruin.

Gazza, on the other hand, is the picture of depression, and it is impossible to see, read or hear anything about him without feeling a sense of remorse for the loss of one of the greatest sporting talents of the modern era. The truth is, as much as we may have lapped up the playboy lifestyle of the adorable Georgie Best, we don’t want to see yet another of our own come to a premature end

in the name of intoxication and depravity. So who can we turn to as a example for our fallen footballing icon? Who, too, has reached the bottom of the barrel and then risen like a phoenix from the ashes back into the limelight of sporting success? I never thought I’d say it, but maybe an Englishman can learn from Diego Maradona.

Okay, so maybe the “phoenix from the ashes” analogy was a bit dramatic, and it would probably be more appropriate, in Maradona’s case, to refer to a re-emergence more like that of a “walrus from a snow-storm,” but the fact that the tubby Argentine has finally managed to ditch the coke and get his life back on track makes him a more than suitable model for a guy like Gazza.

Whether it was the “hand of God” or simply the realisation that further abuse would unquestionably kill him, Maradona has been free from cocaine since he suffered a massive heart attack following an overdose in 2004. The road to recovery was not easy for the former Barcelona and Napoli striker, and alcohol troubles still haunted him long after he kicked his extensive drug habit, which spanned nearly two decades.

Nonetheless, last month saw a historical U-turn in Maradona’s life when, to the surprise of football fans the world over, he was named as the new manager of his beloved country’s national football team. Astounded as the sporting world was to hear of Maradona’s appointment, this epic reversal of fortune proved that a fallen superstar can indeed rise up against the odds and regain the love of his devoted countrymen. Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, I’m certainly not suggesting that the FA instates Gazza as the next England manager, but with any luck, he’ll someday come to realise that however much he cried on the pitch during his time as a player, his saddest days were those spent passed out next to a bottle and a rolled-up £20 note.

Scottish champion swimmer, Kirsty Balfour has decided to retire from professional swimming aged 24.

The Edinburgh-born 200-meter silver medallist has made her decision following her participation in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Balfour, who was married on Saturday, said: "The time was right for me to leave the sport and with my wedding coming up it was time for a big change.

"I always planned to swim up to Beijing and see what happened there and when I came home I just knew I was ready for a change in my life.

"I have been swimming for 12 years and I have enjoyed it so much. I will be doing a lot of work for my church and some youth work in the coming months."

Balfour has won eight Commonwealth, European and World Championship medals and achieved numerous British titles and records.

NOVO SAYS NEW PASSPORT IS FOR FAMILY REASONS Rangers striker Nacho Novo has revealed that he will get himself a British passport, but insists his decision has nothing to do with the prospect of playing for Scotland.

The Spanish striker made the headlines last month amidst rumours he has been approached by the SFA to play for the Scottish national team, something which would require his becoming a UK citizen.

Novo, who has lived in Scotland for eight years, would be eligible to join the Scotland setup, having never represented his native Spain at any level internationally.

However, he was quick to dismiss the speculation that his choice to apply for a UK passport is related to the possibility of playing for Scotland. He said: "I haven't applied for my passport yet. But, even before the question of whether I would play for Scotland or not arose, I was always thinking about getting a passport for my family – not to play for Scotland."

32 Sport

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

Sport

Oliver PrOctOr

edinburgh’s rugby men fail to make an impact against Dundee Rugby

University of edinburgh 6 University of Dundee 13 Jack Charnley jack.charnley@journal-online.co.uk The UNiversiTy of edinburgh struggled in the rain and drizzle against Dundee University, coming out worse in a scrappy encounter at Peffermill.

A try at the end of either half was enough to secure victory for Dundee, who were inspired by the brilliant performance of their fly half and scottish under-20 internationalist Cameron ferguson, whose power and kicking ability led to both tries and helped Dundee control the game. While edinburgh defended fiercely, led by the militant approach of new flanker Phil Lucas, they were let down by their line-outs and often gave away possession on a day when the ball slipped through many a pair of hands at crucial moments.

After an early exchange of penalties in the first half the game became a kicking battle, both sides opting to use the boot rather than pass to hand in the wet conditions.

from the outset, the match was a contest between the two opposing packs and, despite the big hits of edinburgh flanker Lucas, Dundee’s height in the line-outs and aggression in the scrums gave them the edge, often winning them possession and control of the game. it was ferguson’s brilliant clearing kick that led to Dundee’s try in the first half. Almost on his own try line, the winger sent a huge kick over the top, leaving his teammates to chase on. The retreating edinburgh full-back Matt Bennett found himself isolated with several Dundee players closing in on him, and from the resulting turn-over, the impressively mobile Dundee second row Conor swail had space to score a simple try. only two points separated the teams in the 75th minute, when edinburgh won a line-out deep in their own twenty-two. To the anguish of their coach and supporters, edinburgh lost the line-out, as they had done on several previous occasions. The ball fell to ferguson, who broke past his man with ease and touched down to put the match beyond edinburgh’s grasp. only in the last five minutes did edinburgh look dangerous. sprightly

scrum-half, Jake Webb, began running with the ball and inspiring more creativity amongst edinburgh’s back line while outside-centre, James shepherd made some incisive runs to mark his return back from injury. in one of the final edinburgh attacks, space opened up on the right flank, the ball was passed along to substitute winger James Pang who made a break for the corner. however, to edinburgh’s despair, ferguson appeared once again, tracking across and making a brilliant covering tackle pushing Pang into touch.

When edinburgh started to make impressive runs in the second half, Dundee’s well-organised defence was well up to the challenge. After the unexpected decision to take off Lucas, who was by far edinburgh’s most passionate forward, Dundee’s break through late on was inevitable. edinburgh were unfortunate to come up against a scottish international on top form, but they will regret the number of turnovers they gave away in a home game which they would have expected to win. The result puts Dundee level, in third place with edinburgh in their sUsA league with three points each, trailing behind leaders Aberdeen on nine points and stirling on six.

hibs pay for slack defending against inverness Football

hibernian 1 inverness CT 2 Nick Eardley nick.eardley@journal-online.co.uk

hiBs Were MADe to pay for defensive frailties and lack of precision in the final third as the capital side slumped to a 2-1 defeat at home to inverness Caledonian Thistle.

A 30th minute goal from midfielder Don Cowie against the run of play gave the visitors a one goal lead at half time, and with only two minutes gone in the second half, ian Black doubled iCT’s advantage. hibs were handed a lifeline in the 68th minute after richard hastings was judged to have fouled Colin Nish in the box by referee Chris Boyle, but ryan esson justified his inclusion in the squad over normal first choice keeper, Michael

fraser, by getting a strong hand to Derek riordan’s penalty. it wasn’t until two minutes into stoppage time that the home side managed a consolation goal when riordan hit the ball into the back of the net after a goalmouth scramble. hibs started positively after last week’s goalless draw with st. Mirren, and riordan looked in fine form in the first few minutes, narrowly hitting the ball wide of esson’s right hand post with barely 60 seconds gone. hibs came close again two minutes later when riordan’s looping ball was only marginally too fast for the incoming David van Zanten who would have found it hard not to open the scoring for the home side had he had the pace to reach the ball. hibs continued to boast the majority of possession, with rob Jones’s header from another riordan cross on twenty minutes being cleared only after it had beaten the goalkeeper and travelled the length of the six yard box.

however, it was the travelling side that made the breakthrough on the halfhour mark after some terrible defending from van Zanten. A long ball forward which should have been cleared by the former st Mirren defender was allow to fall at the feet of Cowie who hit the ball past yves Ma-Kalambay.

After Cowie’s goal, Caley Thistle looked content to protect their lead, and despite hibs’ possession advantage throughout the first 45 minutes, the rest of the half presented no real threat from the home side. injuries to Ma-Kalamby and midfielder stephen fletcher forced two hibs changes at half time, with goalie Andrew McNeil making his fourth league appearance of the season, and steve Pinau coming on in midfield. hibs were the first to get a shot on goal in the second half with Bamba’s strike being parried wide by esson.

Again, however, the home side’s defensive problems were exposed on the

counter attack: some clever passing football from Caley allowed ian Black enough space to hit the ball past McNeil before he had the chance to touch the ball after coming on. hibs went on the attack again with another riordan free kick giving captain rob Jones the chance to pull one back for hibs, but his effort fell easily into esson’s hands. By the hour mark it was clear that frustration was setting in for hibs, who were increasingly resorting to the long ball in search of a route back into contention. furthermore, hibs continued to look vulnerable on the counterattack as Wood and vigurs made a number of runs up the wing for the visitors. hibs should have been back in the game after 68 minutes when richard hastings pulled Colin Nish to the ground in the box, but riordan’s low penalty was saved by esson who then smothered the ball before anybody else could get to it.

The home side continued to press for a lifeline for the next 20 minutes, but

sloppy passing meant that their best chances continued to come from set pieces. steven Pinau did hit the ball into the back of the net after 89 minutes, but the whistle had already gone after a foul in the build up play. hibs managed to pull one back two minutes into stoppage time, after Pinau’s shot was saved by esson and fell at riordan’s feet after the resulting scramble. however, it is unlikely the striker will take much from his first goal at easter road since his return from Celtic on deadline-day of the summer transfer window.

The final whistle was met with a chorus of boos from the hibs fans who had stayed to the end, and there can be little doubt that the capital side will have to tighten up at the back if they hope to take anything from their travels to Tannadice midweek or their home game against Aberdeen next week, particularly if they want to retain realistic hope of achieving a position in the sPL’s top six.

4 News

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

environmental report predicts 'energy crunch' Oil supply could peak as early as 2013, ushering in global energy poverty Amy Grant amy.grant@journal-online.co.uk ACCOrDING tO A new report, a severe ecological recession more catastrophic than the credit crisis is rapidly approaching. the Oil Crunch: Securing the UK’s energy future predicts that production of easily available oil will peak by 2013 with the resulting spike in fuel prices having an overwhelming effect on the world’s economy both directly and indirectly. the report, published by industry taskforce Peak Oil, urges the government to re-prioritise and treat the fuel crisis as a more immediate threat to national security than both climate change and terrorism.

Will Whitehorn, chairman of the Peak Oil and Virgin Group representative said: “the first report of the taskforce is a balanced look at the energy risks and opportunities we face but it is also a wake-up call to the urgent actions required in the UK and other major global economies to overcome the consequences of the end of the era of cheap oil.”

Mr Whitehorn suggests that this crisis presents an opportunity for Britain to set a worldwide example by investing

in renewable energy sources. However, Peak Oil argues that immediate action is crucial as after oil production has peaked, the necessary resources needed to instigate these developments will be unavailable. the Peak Oil group is composed of eight major UK companies, including transport giants Stagecoach and firstGroup, Scottish and Southern energy, and engineering firm Arup. Its findings are based upon its own research alongside analyses of oil-supply risk by Peak Oil Consulting and Shell, the latter believing that a production plateau is more probable. However, the study concludes that we are most likely facing a peak and fall scenario, with outright collapse in production also a risk.

It is purported that the oil industry has made significant discoveries of oilfields in Brazil, however the report claims that these are not substantial enough to support rising demands from developing countries, such as China and India, reaching energy-intensive phases of urbanisation. furthermore, concerns have been raised that existing national reserves have been grossly exaggerated for political purposes. yet the emergence of these findings during the credit crunch is not entirely bad news, as the current economic

climate could lend the government valuable time, and Peak Oil suggests that the advantage should be taken of higher unemployment and availability of capital assets to invest in a renewable infrastructure. the department of energy and climate change formed during Gordon Brown’s cabinet reshuffle have recently committed the United Kingdom to cut our greenhouse emissions 80 per cent over the next 42 years whilst gradually advancing toward green energy solutions. Its appointed leader, ed Miliband has yet to release any information on how the department intends to address the impending environmental crisis.

Several days before The Oil Crunch was published, Gordon Brown told the BBC Politics Show: “We have a global energy problem, but we don’t have a means of co-coordinating people’s actions so that we reduce our dependence on oil. And these are the problems that as a world community, you’ve got to deal with them. “that’s why I’ve been proposing international action to deal with both the energy problem and the problems of the financial sector.” the Peak Oil group have elected to continue studying the issue and searching for further solutions.

30 years for Kercher's killer Skye 'leopard' hermit rejoins society

rudy Guede found guilty of British student's murder as further suspects await trial Emma Blinkhorn emma.blinkhorn@journal-online.co.uk rUDy GUeDe HAS been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder of student Meredith Kercher. erASMUS student Meredith Kercher, 21, was found dead on 2 November 2007 in Perugia, Italy.

Speaking to reporters after the trial, Kercher’s sister, Stephanie said: “today has been really important in our steps towards justice for Meredith.”

It has been announced that the two other suspects will also stand trial for the murder. Amanda Knox, 21, Kercher’s American flatmate and rafaelle Sollecito, 24, Knox’s Italian boyfriend were both believed to have been involved in an elaborate sex game along with Guede, 21, that led to Kercher’s death. the rationale behind the verdict will be published within the next 60 days.

It is alleged that Knox stabbed Kercher in the throat as Sollecito restrained her allowing Guede to then sexually assault her. Kercher’s body was discovered semi-naked with her throat cut.

Knox and Sollecito have been held by the Italian police since the murder. their trial is due to begin on 4 December; their request to be kept under house arrest has been declined by the judge.

In an unexpected development, Amanda Knox this week confessed her

involvement, along with two men, in Meredith Kercher’s death. According to detectives, Ms Knox broke down, and confessed to a criminal act.

Knox initially told police that she was in the house, though later changed her story, claiming she was not, in fact, in the house. Sollecito claims he was in his own flat the night of the killing.

It is only Guede who fully admits that he was in the house, claiming that he attempted to rescue Kercher when he heard screams from an intruder who he alleges looked like Sollecito.

DNA evidence confirms that Guede was present and that he and Kercher had sexual contact – whether or not it was consensual is inconclusive.

Knox’s family are convinced of their daughter’s innocence and are close to financial ruin caused by the legal fees. they have said that there are serious flaws in the evidence with regards to DNA and the way in which the Italian police handled the case.

Ms Knox’s father, Curt Knox, told The Seattle Times in one of the family’s few interviews: “We don’t have a choice but to believe in their legal system, we will take this as far as we have to take this, because she is walking out of there totally free of anything related to this.”

After almost a year since Kercher was murdered, a leading Italian criminologist franceso Bruno, told the BBC that the Italian police “bring in the forensic teams far too late, when the crime scenes have already been irrevocably

Corinne Redfern corinne.redfern@journal-online.co.uk

damaged and crucial evidence lost.” the main evidence against Guede was a bloody handprint found on Kercher’s pillow which matched his finger prints. A shard of glass was found in his shoe and his footprints were also found in the house where Meredith was murdered. furthermore, Guede’s flight to Germany after the killing did not act in his favour. Neither did the fast-track trial that he requested because he believed Knox and Sollecito had formed a pact to frame him. Guede hoped to be granted a lesser sentence but actually received a full Italian life sentence.

Guede has the right to appeal his 30 year sentence.

After 20 yeArS as a hermit, the “Leopard Man of Skye” has swapped his isolated island bothy for the less savage conditions of a sheltered housing apartment on the mainland.

Known until two years ago as the most tattooed man in the world, tom Leppard spent 28 years in the special forces before he decided to cover 99.2 per cent of his body in leopard print patterns, a design he chose for its simplicity rather than any particular symbolism.

Since then he has lived alone on an otherwise uninhabited island off the coast of Skye, sleeping on a polystyrene board in a windowless cottage, and cooking his meals on a small camping stove.

But Mr Leppard has now decided that, at 73 years old the three mile weekly commute by canoe to mainland Kyle for supplies—often in poor weather conditions—has got the better of him. Mr Leppard said that he was “getting too old for that kind of life,” and has relocated to the Scottish village of Broadford.

Mr Leppard, who changed his name by deed poll from Woodbridge after his famous tattoo was completed, spent £5,500 on his body art, considering it an investment which could enable him to leave his oppressive city lifestyle behind.

Speaking of his somewhat unusual work-life balance, Mr Leppard told The Guardian: “I would get an income from

being the most tattooed man in the world, and would be photographed for the Guinness Book of Records, or featured on tV. I had a spare set of dentures, shaped like fangs, that I’d put in for the publicity shots. But it was a necessary evil to supplement my income support, or latterly my pension. It’s not something I enjoyed.” the majority of people who have mimicked the animal kingdom and, in doing so, could be considered Mr Leppard’s peers have usually chosen to more openly flaunt themselves for the amusement of others.

Lizard Man, who sports bony ridges on his skull, has opened shows for bands Slipknot and Godsmack in the US. But while experiencing a warm welcome from audiences receptive to counter-culture free spirits, not everyone has been so tolerant. One tale he recalls is of a small girl remarking, “Daddy, look at that man!” to which the family’s driver responded, “Oh, he wouldn’t be from here…”

However, mid-west America is not analogous to a Scottish community, and Mr Leppard admits that while he became “a bit of a tourist attraction,” he hasn’t had much difficulty being accepted by the locals.

Nevertheless, he’s content to keep himself to himself for the time being, rejecting modern conveniences such as a telephone or radio, and opting instead to reread the history books that kept him company over the past two decades.that, and to sleep on a comfortable mattress.

News 5

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

£500,000: it's what's in a name As Napier University embarks on a half-million pound rebranding exercise, students and staff pause to reflect on its value Matthew Moore matthew.moore@journal-online.co.uk

JEN MAH

BURIED DEEP WITHIN the proposal to change the name of Napier University are the facts which have provoked curious consternation amongst its student fraternity. Go beyond the introduction page, which outlines the reasoning for the minor alteration—from Napier University to “Edinburgh Napier”—and even further past the ringing endorsements of worthy consultees, ranging from universities across Scotland to MSP and councillors, and you will find the two pages dedicated to the meagre internal student consultation.

Of the paltry 200 responses from received from students requested to air their views, 83 per cent were against the name change, with 15 per cent in favour and two per cent unsure.

Those against the change listed as their reasons: the potential for confusion with the University of Edinburgh (31 per cent); undermining Napier’s vision/ showed lack of pride (17 per cent); and, suitably for Napier’s thrifty students, the waste of money (13.5 per cent).

A poll was conducted by the Napier Students’ Association late in 2007 ending early in 2008. In a sample of 551 students over 60 per cent were against, 30 per cent were for and eight per cent undecided.

Although both consultations were relatively small in scope considering the total student population of Napier is almost 15,000, the results are representative of a student body unconvinced by the inexplicably large expense of an exercise in “image management.”

University bosses point to research which shows that the location of the university is unknown to many students outside Scotland. However, in a survey carried out in the spring of 2007 of 1,000 students across Scotland, England and Wales only one third did not know Napier was situated in Edinburgh.

Perhaps more concerning is a survey carried out in March of this year among prospective students in Belfast, which found that only 13 per cent could correctly identify Napier’s home as Edinburgh.

Christine Tierney, director of communications and marketing is leading the name change project and believes one of the best ways to enhance Napier’s reputation is to emphasise its location.

“Statistics have shown that the second most important thing to prospective students is the location.”

It is worth noting that the massive 70 per cent of the participants were not even aware of Napier university’s existence perhaps stood little chance of guessing where it is situated.

Mrs Tierney is confident that accentuating its position will make it more attractive, as well as putting it nearer the top in alphabetical listings. She also confirmed that the red triangle “will be staying” however it will be incorporated into a new design which has “excited” students who have been consulted.

Raymond Philip, a recent Napier graduate, believes the university is making a positive change, but warns that it could backfire: “From a marketing point of view I think it is a positive change; it’s certainly snappier.

“Also Edinburgh is a place that is

MIKE MURRAY

The cost of changing a name The UK Post Office changed its name to Consignia in 2001, in an attempt to reflect its more commercial and international approach to business.

The name change, which cost £2 million, was based on the word “consign” which means to “entrust to the care of.” The name was changed back following popular protest and the realisation that Royal Mail was a far more recognisable brand name.

In 2007, the Home Office split into two different ministries, with the Department of Justice becoming a separate entity. The reform was implemented to address a percieved increase in the terrorist threat to the UK, and to streamline what was considered an unmanageable portfolio which included prisons, courts, policing and security. The split, which

is claimed to have incurred no extra cost to the tax payer, was deemed an “irresponsible decision” by the former home secretary Charles Clarke, who claimed it would delay essential reforms of the criminal justice system.

The Edinburgh University Students Association (EUSA) recently spent £10,000 making the S in its logo red, in an effort to further emphasize its committment to students.

The hunt for a new official tourist slogan for Scotland, which cost the Scottish government £125,000, yielded posters proclaiming “Welcome to Scotland” being hung in airports to replace those bearing the previous slogan, “Scotland, the best small country in the world.”

immediately identifiable. One problem could be that the uni is seen to be losing touch with its history and its sentimentality.”

The university takes its name from John Napier, the Scots mathmatician who founded the logarithm and whose birthplace, Merchiston Castle, still stands in the centre of the university’s Merchiston campus.

If the name change is approved by the Scottish Parliament at the beginning of next year, planners aim to implement the name change before the 2009 prospectus is released in May. Also within the application is a list of organisations and politicians who received letters form Professor Joan K Springer CBE, principal and vice-chancellor of the university, seeking support for the project. Of 88 external consultations 51 respondents gave their support, two were against the proposal and 31 didn’t reply. The remainder pleaded neutrality for various reasons.

Surprisingly, only the city of Edinburgh council, West Lothian Council, Rt Hon George Foulkes MSP and Councillor Marilyne MacLaren stated that they were concerned that confusion with the University of Edinburgh could be an issue.

The University of Edinburgh itself wished Napier “every success” in the endeavour in an attempt to enhance good relations between the two universities.

The plaudits paint a pretty picture for Napier’s chief; however they don’t correlate with the general student opinion across the city – particularly those of students at Edinburgh’s most

prestigious institution. One University of Edinburgh graduate, Jane Maddison, told The Journal of her concerns regarding the name change: “It makes it sound like they are [Napier] twinned with University of Edinburgh, which they aren’t.

I think it will only serve to confuse prospective students.

The former anthropology student added that she thought it would be more advantageous for Napier to play on their strengths: “You can’t shake off the image of your past by changing your name.

Napier has a really high postgraduate employment rate, they should play to that, build on that, be proud of that.”

But the rationale just doesn’t seem quite enough to justify the cost of around half a million pounds. It’s branded as an investment in the future of the university and it is expected to generate greater interest, not only among students but also academics, businesses and the public sector, across the UK and abroad. They cite a highly competitive market and emphasise that it is imperative that the university capitalises on being in Scotland’s capital.

Of all the figures published in the application documents the university seems to most lament the fact that only four per cent of students are from south of the border, neglecting to add that 17 per cent of full-time undergraduates come from overseas. Perhaps one day in the future bosses will produce results that show the name change was a worthy financial investment. Until then one might wish to reflect upon the words of Charles Dickens: “The light of reason never rises.”

6 Edinburgh News

Edinburgh shoppers given early Christmas treat

Alice Stanes alice.stanes@journal-online.co.uk SiNce 1 November, edinburgh’s christmas shoppers have been taking advantage of the free parking in and around the city centre, as edinburgh city council introduce free on street parking in the evenings and Saturday afternoons.

Following annual tradition the city council have proposed free parking from 5.30pm monday to Friday in onstreet pay-and-display bays, and also every Saturday from 1pm. The scheme will run until early January in a bid to boost trade, particularly those affected by the chaotic tram developments. councillor Phil Wheeler, edinburgh city council’s transport convener told the Edinburgh Evening News: “it’s important that the council does all it can to promote our wonderful city centre.

“We know from previous years this is a particularly popular initiative for those who like to be able to bring their car into town.”

The proposal itself was introduced by the city of edinburgh council and the open For business campaign, a scheme set up to promote the shops, businesses and attractions of edinburgh throughout the tram works. 2008 is the first year to witness this new parking initiative as

early as November, and will take place within the city centre, West end, old Town, Tollcross and the Grassmarket.

The plan is being supported by essential edinburgh business improvement District who seem enthusiastic about the project. A spokesperson said: “essential edinburgh is delighted to be involved with bringing the free parking scheme back again this year, and that it has been extended to include November.

The atmosphere of the city centre this time of year is magical and we would

encourage all christmas shoppers and revellers to take advantage of this fantastic offer.”

Paid parking is usually in place throughout these areas from 8.30am to 6.30pm monday to Friday, however the scheme will bring free parking forward an hour. Free Sunday rates still apply, and some yellow line restrictions are still in place.

The parking proposal will cost around £36,000 per month, but receives great support from the open for business

Mickael Binon

edinburgh band join celebrities calling for end to homelessness Nick Eardley nick.eardley@journal-online.co.uk iN A FAmiLiAr fusion of music and charity, upcoming edinburgh rockers Dirty modern hero and singer songwriter KT Tunstall are among acts who have signed to support Shelter’s “hometime Scotland campaign.”

Launched at the start of the summer, the campaign aims to put pressure on politicians to ensure that homelessness in Scotland is eradicated by 2012, in line with current policy. it has already attracted support from calvin harris, The Wombats and Scottish outfit idlewild.

Speaking of their involvement, Dirty modern hero said: “it is clear that the more people who are made aware of this campaign and the current Scottish Government promise, the more power we will have as a nation to ensure that this promise is met and that in only four years time we may have dramatically improved the lives of so many people currently homeless in Scotland.” under current Scottish legislation, all homeless people should have access to permanent home by 2012. At present, only those deemed in “priority need” have the right to permanent

accommodation, whilst others have the right to temporary shelter.

Graeme brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said that the campaign would make sure that politicians kept their promises: “We’ve been delighted with the response so far from people as we’ve been touring around the country. There’s hardly anyone who isn’t aware of the housing problems we face in Scotland, in particular the need for more homes.

The Scottish Government knows this too, which is why we need them to remain focused on providing more affordable rented homes for people in housing need. We have an internationally acclaimed homelessness target to meet in 2012 and we cannot afford to fail.” he added: “The eyes of many nations will be on this island that year, and not just because of the olympics. many nations have already shown an interest in our forward-thinking legislation and we must show it can work.” on 15 october, The Journal reported that the homeless population in edinburgh was on the rise, with many being forced into temporary accommodation due to shortages in affordable housing.

Dirty modern hero front man Aidan mcivor, a 4th year medicine student

group. The group itself concentrates on maintaining trade within the city during tram construction, and gets involved in particular activities such as investing in new branding and marketing for the West end village, providing support to The Leith Festival and Leith Walk, and arranging the Spa in the city day. “continuing this concession until the 10 January will take in the start of the January sales too.” mr. Weeler confirmed.

Some seemed less enthused by the proposal. bruce Young, Lothian and borders co-ordinator of the Association of british Drivers, told the Edinburgh Evening News: “This worked well last year but i think they could have gone further and started the free parking earlier in the day. “i think one of the side effects last year was that people put off going into the city centre until later on when they knew the parking would be free. This brings its own pressures in terms of the spaces available, but i think people will welcome this.”

Phil Weeler remained completely supportive of the campaign: “This is the fourth year of our parking promotion and the second year we’ve been able to offer free Saturday afternoon parking and i am sure that extending the offer throughout November and December will be a great stimulus for encouraging more people into town.”

at edinburgh university, spoke to The Journal of his hopes for the project: “We are supporting the campaign because it’s the chance to tackle an issue that is in your face in edinburgh. You can’t avoid homelessness; it’s in your face.

“The fact that the campaign is targeting young people is extremely important, and hopefully it will make them more aware, and therefore we will reach out to more people.” he also stressed the importance of local action: “i think that the local effect is important. This is a campaign for Scotland, and the issue is much closer to home than other campaigns in the past have been. People have a special connection to home, and we can relate to issues that we see every day. The local aspect will hopefully help the campaign to have a bigger impact.”

As well as targeting the support of various musicians, Shelter is running a poll to see which song reminds Scots most of home. So far The Proclaimer’s popular hit ‘i’m Gonna be (500 miles)’ and Dougie macLean’s equally anthemic ‘caledonia’ are neck and neck at the top of the charities self collated chart.

Adding her support to the campaign, KT Tunstall revealed “my favorite song that reminds me of home would have to be ‘Getting Some Fun out of Life’ by billie holiday. i love putting it on my old record player. it’s the sound of a warm kitchen with a pot on the stove, a bottle of red wine open, and a dance with a good man.”

A special handover between Shelter Scotland and politicians will take place later this month, when the winner of the poll will be announced.

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

Dutch get crime reduction tips from edinburgh Nick Eardley nick.eardley@journal-online.co.uk eDiNburGh ciTY couNciL has touted international approval of its steps to reduce crime after it was confirmed that officials from The hague are to visit the capital to pick up tips on how to reduce criminal offences.

The visit comes following a 20 per cent fall in group 1-5 crimes in the capital over the past 6 months.

The delegation from the Netherland’s third largest city, including its mayor Jozias van Aartsen, are to be shown the work of edinburgh city council’s community safety division this week, as well as visiting important community safety facilities throughout the city centre.

Speaking of the visit, councillor Paul edie, community safety leader said: “we are pleased to host this visit, so we can show how the model used by Lothian and borders Police and the council is producing results and cutting crime. i look forward to discussing our approach with mayor van Aartsten and other members of the delegation.”

The drop in group 1-5 crimes, which include vandalism and violence, has been attributed by many at the council and police to the introduction of neighbourhood action units, and subsequent action on antisocial behaviour based on intelligence from local communities.

As reported in The Journal on 15 october there has also been a 21 per cent fall in nightclub crime in the city centre following the first year of the unight scheme, established to create a database of known troublemakers to edinburgh venues.

The delegation’s trip to the capital has received praise from Justice Secretary Kenny macAskill, who will meet the delegates during their visit. he said: “there is some excellent work to tackle violence in edinburgh and it’s great to see officials from the hague taking the time to come and find out more about it.

“We know that communities across Scotland are blighted by violent crime, much of it fuelled by alcohol. That’s why we’re working with our police forces and the national violence reduction unit on a twin track approach of tough enforcement and educational work to change the culture.” he added: “in edinburgh, specific initiatives, such as neighbourhood action units and the edinburgh violence reduction unit are making a real difference in local communities. i hope this combination of local and national work can make Scotland safer and stronger.”

The visit is likely to further ease the minds of those who fear that city centre crime is becoming endemic, and certainly suggests that these measures are tackling the problems. A spokesperson for Lothian and borders police echoed mr macAskill’s sentiments, offering an explanation of what had brought about the fall in city centre crime.

“The neighbourhood action units, launched in February 2008, have had a significant impact on vandalism and antisocial behaviour across edinburgh and the central policing team, part funded by the city of edinburgh council, has a clear remit to provide public reassurance in the heart of Scotland’s capital.” he continued “The edinburgh violence reduction Programme, a multi-agency programme, focuses on a series of measures to tackle violence against women, street violence and alcohol abuse with the message that violence is not acceptable across edinburgh.”

Edinburgh News 7

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

council faces shortfall as credit crunch hits home Projected £20 million shortfall blamed on current economic climate flickr.com/photojoy

Financial crisis might restrict any further expensive building projects

Francesco Cirillo francesco.cirillo@journal-online.co.uk The effecTs of the global financial crisis hit edinburgh last week, as it was confirmed that the council faces growing financial pressures.

Until recently it was expected that edinburgh city council would bring in around £43 million from the sale of land and properties which would pay for new projects in the capital. however it is now faced with a shortfall of up to £20 million. similarly, increases in the price of fuel and energy could cost the council around an extra £10 million next year.

The autumn budget statement has warned that the combined cost of inflation and the downturn in the economy, along with the increase in demand for care services and affordable housing, means the council will find itself in an increasingly difficult financial position.

The ongoing decline of the stock exchange and the slashing of interest rates indicate that the effects of the credit crunch are becoming increasingly real for the general population.

The downturn which may have previously affected only the financial system is now set to affect the lives of millions of people in the UK. In september, councillors on the finance committee agreed that there should be a high-level strategy for council funding, including a ten-year programme for capital investment. however, finance convenor councillor Gordon Mackenzie conceded: “our

intention is to plan for the long-term but we must also focus on the problems of today, especially with the current uncertainty over economic conditions. “of course, we will continue the drive for efficiency savings, but we will also have to look again at what are the really important services we provide. so, we do want to hear from people throughout edinburgh about where we should concentrate our efforts and resources.”

Questionnaires for the business community, voluntary sector and general public are to be made available online, and neighbourhood partnerships will also be getting involved in the discussions about priorities for the next year. The budget-setting process is carried on throughout the year, but the consultation feedback and other detailed information will be considered from December, with the council due to meet in february to agree its financial plan for 2009-2010. councillor Mackenzie added: “This city, like every other community, will feel the effects of the credit crunch and rising prices. It will impact our plans, but what we have to do is ensure that we continue to deliver as much for the people of edinburgh as we can, and to keep ourselves well placed for when the recovery comes. every budget process is difficult and this one is likely to involve particularly tough choices.”

Residents, businesses and charities are to be consulted on the council’s plans to talk about the crisis and possible countermoves to fight against the increase of costs and the lower income.

8 Academic News

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

Antarctic landscape uncovered Cameron Robinson cameron.robinson@journal-online.co.uk The uNderlyiNg laNdforms of the east antarctic are to be revealed in detail, thanks to a project being launched by edinburgh researchers to map and monitor the rock beneath the worlds biggest ice sheet.

The east antarctic ice sheet spans around four million square kilometres and rests upon rock buried for millions of years by the huge quantities of ice. an international team of scientists, led jointly by researchers from the university of edinburgh and the university of Texas, are aiming to accurately measure the properties of the underlying rock, such as composition, density and texture, as well as recording the thickness of the ice sheet itself.

The aims of the project, appropriately named iCeCaP—investigating the Cryospheric evolution of the Central antarctic Plate—are to provide valuable information into forecasting sea level changes and to aid understanding of how climates have changed over thousands of years by pinpointing the best sites for further analysis of the ice sheet.

Professor martin siegert of the university of edinburgh said: “This project will help us understand the behaviour of the largest ice sheet on earth.

“The data that we collect should provide a lot more detail on what caused past climate shifts, why there appears to be more ice loss from glaciers at present, and give us real clues as to what may happen in the coming decades. “it will allow us to see for the first time the shape of the ice, and the land and lakes underneath it, and help us plan future research.”

The team will use a heavily modified dC-3 aircraft, equipped with high frequency radar and other sensory equipment, to carry out the survey, spread over three antarctic summers.

The first period begins in around two months and will focus on the eastern section believed to have antarctica’s thickest ice, up to 5 kilometres in parts. Next summer the team will chart the western half of east antarctica, including parts of one of the largest glaciers in the world. in the final season the team will survey in detail an area in the east of the region which lies below sea level. iCeCaP is part of a major international Polar year project to explore this vast region. also involved in the project are the australian antarctic division and many other international partners. funding for the £3 million project comes from the uK Natural environment research Council, the australian antarctic division, the us National science foundation and the university of Texas at austin.

ediNburgh’s sTudeNT NeWsPaPer

ediNburgh’s CiTy-Wide sTudeNT NeWsPaPer is reCruiTiNg

WriTers desigNers illusTraTors PhoTograPhers busiNess develoPers for more iNformaTioN visiT reCruiTmeNT.jourNal-oNliNe.Co.uK

Academic News 9

The Journal Wednesday 12 November 2008

‘Dramatherapy’ opens at QMu to mixed reviews tom.evans@journal-online.co.uk As of JANuAry next year, Queen Margaret university (QMu) will be offering a course in ‘dramatherapy’, the first of its kind in scotland.

The dramatherapy foundation certificate is designed for both drama students and healthcare professionals, and adds to the list of creative arts therapies already taught at the university.

Dramatherapy uses aspects of drama and theatre to help people explore difficult or painful life experiences. It is practiced as both individual and group therapy in many locations ranging from schools to mental health institutions, and it is used to treat a wide variety of patients.

The new dramatherapy certificate will strengthen QMu’s position as the only scottish university to offer training in creative arts psychotherapies. These kinds of therapies are grounded in the historically recognised healing properties of artistic

performance, but are also influenced by contemporary psychological theories and therapeutic practices – practices increasingly seen as effective alternatives to pharmacological intervention and more traditional practices in mental healthcare. The new dramatherapy course at QMu will not qualify students to practice, but will serve as an introduction to the ideas and techniques involved.

If it is successful, the university may well create a qualifying postgraduate degree in the subject, as it has done for

Gerhard Richter

dance therapy.

The Msc in Dance Movement Psychotherapy is the first of its kind in the uK, and is the only programme in scotland that produces qualified therapists.

QMu now boasts a unique set of courses in creative arts therapies, unrivalled by any institution in the country.

The university looks set to play a crucial development role in the future of mental healthcare in scotland as alternative psychotherapies become more widely used and accredited.

National Gallery Complex The Mound, Edinburgh 8 Nov 2008 to 4 Jan 2009

For tickets and information visit www.nationalgalleries.org £6/£4 Under 22s free Media partner: The Scotsman

One of the most important artists of our time

Gerhard Richter, Kerze, 1982 © Gerhard Richter Photo: Frieder Burda Collection, Baden-Baden

National Galleries of Scotland is a charity registered in Scotland (No. SC003728)

reCruITMeNT.JourNAL-oNLINe.Co.uK

Tom Evans

uofe launches £1m centre for diaspora studies Nick Eardley nick.eardley@journal-online.co.uk The uNIversITy of edinburgh has officially launched a £1 million centre of study with a promise to shed new light on the role of scots throughout the world.

The Centre for Diaspora has been billed as the first centre in the world for the advanced research of scottish emigration, and university chiefs have expressed hopes that it will become the eminent school for analysis of the impact of scots worldwide.

The project will be headed by leading scottish history Professor Tom Devine, who has said that he believes that the centre will help to open the “wider intellectual envelope” of scottish history. speaking at a public debate which coincided with its launch, Prof. Devine said that the centre builds on the domestic focus of scottish history in the past 40 years, providing a fuller understanding of scottish influence elsewhere in the world.

Prof. Devine said: “The effect of the scottish Diaspora was total—economic, political, cultural, social, scientific and educational—and on a massive scale from the medieval period onwards. “from the 1850s to the second World War, scotland was one of the top three nations in europe in terms of emigration.

Paradoxically, this massive outflow of people was from the second most industrialised nation on the planet.” he continued: “Because scotland in the 18th and 19th centuries had a disproportionate number of semi-skilled, skilled and professional emigrants, they tended to have a disproportionate impact on the countries of settlement.”

The new centre will provide a number of postgraduate students with funding to complete theses on the various elements of the scottish diaspora, and plans are in place to create a new one year Msc course on Diaspora studies at postgraduate level.

Those spearheading the project have also set a five year timescale for the centre to become the prominent school in its field of study.

The centre was established through a private donation of around £1 million from Alan Macfarland, managing director of equity investment firm Walter scott and Partners, and his wife Anne. The donation is believed to be the largest contribution to such a project in the uK. Mr Macfarland said: “It is important that scotland as a nation has a full and proper appreciation of its place in the world, especially at a time when we’re turning inwards and debating issues of our constitution.

“That debate, I think, needs to be informed properly by an understanding of the scots nation’s and individuals’ role in the wider world.”

Among those contributing to the public discussion at the launch event were leading historians from both Lancaster and strathclyde universities, as well as Professor susan Manning from the university of edinburgh’s english Literature department. first Minister Alex salmond, despite his being unable to attend, also expressed his admiration for the project. studies at the centre will look beyond typical studies into scottish influence in the Anglophone world, and will also provide insight into the role of scots in countries such as sweden, Poland, france and Asia.