The Journal - Edinburgh Issue 51

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ISSUE LI

EDINBURGH'S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

WEDNESDAY 2 NOVEMBER 2011

'WE CAN SAVE THE EUROZONE' Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling argues that decisive action now can pull Europe out of the ongoing debt crisis

» 11

NUS Scotland anti-hate crime vigil draws high-profile support As a candlelit vigil in Edinburgh marks International Day Against Hate Crime, SNP justice secretary Kenny MacAskill tells The Journal that education is as important as enforcement in tackling prejudice in Scotland STANLEY LIEW

Amanda Svensson Falk News editor

Former foreign secretary and failed Labour leadership candidate David Miliband touches down at Edinburgh University to face questions from students

IN NEWS >> 6

IN NEWS >> 4

City council’s Shine a rubbish plan light Proposed plans to privatise bin collection and other council services are met with outrage

Bristo Square shines as the Olympic torch comes to Edinburgh

IN ARTS >> 17

Slava's Snowshow There’s no business like snow business

»3

GOVERNMENT MINISTERS, SENIOR police officers and activists last week added their voices to a national campaign against hate crime, at a candlelight vigil in Edinburgh marking the third International Day Against Hate Crime.

The NUS Scotland-organised vigil, held outside Edinburgh City Chambers on Friday 28 October, included a twominute silence in remembrance of victims of hate crime and speeches from high-profile public figures including justice secretary Kenny Macaskill, Lothian & Borders Police deputy chief constable Steven Allan and Gay Men's Health chief executive Bruce Fraser.

NUS Scotland LGBT Officer Nathan Sparling, who helped organise the event, told The Journal that the purpose of the vigil was to show solidarity with victims and to encourage people to report incidences of hate crime.

Campaigners have identified public reluctance to report such crimes as one of the main challenges faced

by Scotland today. "Some people feel there is still a bit of stigma attached to reporting hate crimes to the police," said Mr Sparling.

"The goal is essentially to eradicate hate crime, but if we can’t do that it is Continued on page 2

IN SPORT >> 23

The modern game Hacker reflects on the art of tackling in football, and the increasingly widespread attacks upon it

2 News

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High-profile support for NUS campaign

THIS WEEK INSIDE

Continued from p1

The fight to cure malaria

»5

Edinburgh scientists hope a new vaccine could end the worldwide malaria epidemic

Going it alone

»9

New Holyrood poll suggests that Scots are warming to independence

to at least increase reporting numbers to over 50 per cent, and that means anything from graffiti, to verbal abuse and physical assault.”

According to a recent NUS Scotland report, only four per cent of hate crimes are reported to the police. Statistics from the Equality Network, an LGBT pressure group, show that twothirds of LGBT people in Edinburgh have been verbally abused because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, while up to a third said they had been physically assaulted.

Addressing the crowd on the Royal Mile, SNP cabinet secretary for justice Mr MacAskill said that it was "very humbling" and "a great privilege" to be a part of the vigil. He stressed the need for strong anti-hate legislation, but said that government policy tackling racism and homophobia must also attempt to educate perpetrators.

Mr MacAskill said that although he wished hate crimes were things of the past, the fact that this is not the case was his responsibility, as justice secretary, to be held accountable for.

Speaking after the event, Mr MacAskill told The Journal that, while he felt the Scottish Government had taken a hard line in implementing anti-hate laws, it was crucial that government ensured that those laws were effectively enforced, and "that everyone feels that if they report a breach of the law, an attack upon them or even insidious comments, it will be acted upon."

He added: “This is the 21st century, people have to realise that there are laws and that they will be enforced.

And people also have to realise that these views are completely unacceptable in a modern, social democratic Scotland.”

Asked what impact he thought the vigil would have, Mr MacAskill said: "I think it's important we had the event tonight. There is a purpose to these ceremonies that's very poignant and very touching, and I pay tribute to the organisers.

“Those who have suffered, and continue to suffer should be remembered, both those who have lost their lives and those who have been hurt.”

» 15 The power of social media The Journal explores the deep influence of Facebook, Twitter and the internet

The candlelight vigil was held outside Edinburgh City Chambers NATHAN SPARLING

Motor racing rocked by successive tragedies

» 22

Fatal collisions have once more put the sport under scrutiny

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STUDENT POLITICS

News 3

EUSA to send Edinburgh students to major London demonstration Student Council votes to fund subsidised coach travel to London demonstration in support of fee protesters Greg Bianchi Student Politics editor THE EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY Students Association (EUSA) has chosen to support the anti-fees and cuts demonstration in London which is due to take place on 9 November.

In a statement released by EUSA, president Matt McPherson confirmed that the Union has “secured funding from Student Council for the London Demonstration against fees and cuts."

EUSA will be providing subsidised coach travel to London from Edinburgh and agreed to allocate seats via a lottery system which was agreed at the Student Council on 25 October.

EUSA Vice President of Academic Affairs Mike Williamson expressed

his support for the action, telling The Journal: “David Willetts’ White Paper is undoubtedly the biggest attack on higher education we've seen in our lifetimes. It is very important that we as a movement mobilise against this defacto privatisation of universities.”

However questions have arisen over how appropriate it is for students to travel to the demonstration, as the National Union of Students (NUS), whilst having expressed political support, are not explicitly organising the demonstration.

Instead the demonstration is being organised by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC), which has lead to questions being asked over the legality and safety of the demonstration. Following this, the NUS have released a statement advising student

associations about safety checks they should perform before agreeing to send students to the demonstration.

Due to the charity status of EUSA and other student associations the NUS has advised that all legal requirements are met including a comprehensive risk assessment and taking “steps necessary…to minimise or mitigate the risk of public order or criminal offences being committed."

EUSA believes that these obligations have been met. When asked about the NUS not organising the demonstration Mike Williamson said: “I’m personally astounded that they [the NUS] don’t want to give this campaign priority over others” but added that “NUS has to act upon the will of its members” and that this is “disappointing but understandable."

Elder Miliband returns to limelight The former Foreign Secretary spoke of 'Occupy' protests, Scottish independence and RUK fees at Edinburgh University event ESF was only founded in November 2010 DAVE HUEHN

Edinburgh student forum hopes to increase its status Edinburgh Students Forum seeks to make more of an impact after inauspicious start

Janina Engler

THE EDINBURGH STUDENT Forum (ESF) recently convened to discuss a number of issues relating to students across Edinburgh.

The ESF is a body set up with the aim of becoming an effective and meaningful tool for student campaigns in the Edinburgh region. The ESF was officially set up in November 2010 during the last National Union of Students (NUS) council meeting, and is still in the process of developing and promoting itself.

As forums are generally a vital part of Edinburgh University Student Assosication (EUSA) policy-making and one of the major sources for campaign ideas, the recently-set-up ESF is potentially an important representative tool for students involved in campaigning or expressing an interest in student issues.

Heriot-Watt recently led a successful bid to the NUS activist development fund and as a result ESF will be involved with this project working on promoting and improving itself as a forum.

Despite being set up last year, the forum made little impact as it initially

attempted to establish and structure itself. However, Heriott Watt University Student Association (HWUSA) president Mike Ross said: “This year there has been much more of drive to get it going and build up a reputation." This coincides with a number of student campaigns being launched over the next coming months, and the body could therefore become a key player in future student action. The concept of a student congress was suggested in February to ensure that ESF is focusing on encouraging students to get involved in activism. This will be done through a number of workshops and guest speakers encouraging students to discuss and become involved in student politics. Additionally ESF is looking further into local action it may be focusing on as well as setting up a blog or website to make it more accessible to the student population. However, as the forum is still relatively new, it has remained focused on environmental issues on campus and wider national issues rather than student politics.

Yet as the ESF continues to develop and progress, the forum plans to work on making the body more publicly known by the student population through advertising and branding.

ANDREW GASS

Tom Nutland & Greg Bianchi

DAVID MILIBAND MP appeared in a packed-out George Square Theatre on 26 October to field questions from an audience of students. Starting at 4pm the Question and Answer session lasted an hour and covered diverse areas such as capitalism, nuclear weapons and trade unions.

Mr Miliband, who famously lost his 2010 bid for the Labour party leadership to his younger brother Ed, appeared confident, speaking clearly about a wide range of issues. He was first asked about topics currently dominating the headlines: the Arab Spring, the eurozone crisis and the “Occupy” protests. On the protests Miliband said he’d spent twenty years thinking about government for the people, yet now saw the need for government by the people.

This theme of self-determination was returned to later in the session, when the question of Scottish independence was brought up. The ex-Foreign Secretary stressed his pro-Union stance, observing that independence goes against the global trend towards connectivity between nations.

He also mentioned that the threehundred-year-old Acts of Union between England and Scotland could make Britain a “forerunner” for a new kind of relationship between states and the differing national identities within.

Speaking to his audience of university students, Mr Miliband also said that academics, when studying politicians, should look at their motivations and actions, as opposed to simply what they say.

The former-leading Labour politician was, it seemed, reluctant to issue any overly negative criticism of the Westminster coalition. When asked about current government policy, he even stated he is happy to agree with the coalition on some issues.

Miliband, pictured with politics professor Mark Aspinwall In the wake of protests against raised tuition fees and government education spending cuts, it was only natural that the Labour politician would have to answer questions about it.

When meeting with the press, the question of Labour’s response to Rest of UK (RUK) fees surfaced.

Mr Miliband told The Journal: “Scottish Labour is going to have to develop their own policy”, but emphasised that higher education was still extremely important to Labour.

Mr Miliband also claimed that, whilst students may be “sceptical” of politicians after the Liberal Democrats proved unable to implement their education policies, he believed students would be “more open” to Labour than they have previously been.

After the interview an aide of Mr Miliband informed The Journal that the Labour party in the Scottish Parliament are currently calling for a cap from the Scottish Government on university education costs.

Following the event, students said they found Mr Miliband charismatic, confident and more direct than his younger brother, Labour-leader Ed Miliband, although some thought he handled the question on Scottish independence badly.

Although retired from frontline politics, David Miliband is still the MP for South Shields in the northeast of England, and before appearing at the University’s Q & A session he spoke to Edinburgh Labour students.

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Council privatisation scheme under fire 'Alternative Business Models' proposals under attack as SNP councillors refuse to back privatisation plans Emma Elliott-Walker Comment editor THE CAMPAIGN SURROUNDING Edinburgh City Council’s proposed Alternative Business Models (ABM), took a turn in favour of the protesters as the SNP declared that they would not back it.

The ABM policy, proposed by the council in December 2009, would see managerial and environmental services farmed out to private companies who would run them on the Council’s behalf. The Council have claimed that delegating its services to companies specifically catered to providing them will improve services to Edinburgh residents, increase efficiency and may also lead to the creation of new jobs. Union leaders and local protest groups however, have hit back.

UNISON, the public services trade union, claim that the introduction of profit-driven companies would lead to either a reduction in the quality of services, or mass job loss. They cite the example of Blackburn, considered a flagship by those in favour of ABM, where privatisation of council services led to the loss of over 1,000 jobs, and where the provision of care and support to the elderly and vulnerable has been labelled a ‘disgrace’.

ABM has also been met with a great deal of scepticism from within the council itself. Labour representatives have steadfastly maintained that they will

not vote in favour of the policy, claiming there are alternative solutions. Councillor Andrew Burns, speaking at a public meeting on 23 October, said the council deficit could be met “if the right amount of political will was applied." Labour suggests an “in-house” approach to service provision, proposing that the shortfall could potentially be met by scrapping expensive and unpopular policies.

With regards to this, Mr Burns reported that ABM will save roughly £7 million a year, compared to £4 million using the “in-house” method, pointing out that the current council has just committed £15.3 million annually for the next 30 years to get the tram to St. Andrews Square.

He went on to criticise the council for trying to implement this policy so soon before elections, as, if the ABM proposition does go through, it will tie the council into contracts of at least seven to 12 years, over which the new session will have little power.

The Conservative Party, along with the Liberal Democrats, have pledged to support the policy when it comes to the vote, claiming that ABM was the only solution to the council deficit that “doesn’t draw money out of frontline services." The parties support the theory that privatisation will improve public services, claiming that companies will be held to a standard and will be strictly penalised if they do not meet it. However, critics argue that the Council lacks the necessary skills to manage

companies of this nature, or to effectively enact punishment upon them, and cite the trams fiasco as an example.

The discussion of ABM has raised several other issues about the conduct of Edinburgh City Council, particularly regarding the way in which it consults the public. Campaigners, as well as opposing the policy of ABM, have noted how little the council has engaged the public on the issue and have even claimed that evidence against the policy has been deliberately suppressed.

The results of an Ipsos Mori opinion poll - which found that the vast majority of the Edinburgh populace distrusted privatisation - was never published, and knowledge of it has only come to light because of councillors leaking it to their constituents. Both the Labour and Conservative councillors present at the meeting on 23 October were quick to criticise the Council’s failings in this matter, whilst at the same time conceding that their own parties have been less than proactive regarding this same issue.

UNISON are currently investigating whether the lack of public consultation on this issue is, as some claim, an infringement upon the councils ‘statutory consultation laws’, in which case they claim they will fight ABM on a legal basis.

In a meeting held on 27 October councillors agreed to defer a final decision on the ABM scheme until 24 November.

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ACADEMIC

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Napier head wins leadership award

Edinburgh University scientists in new malaria breakthrough Scientists hope a new vaccine could end the worldwide epidemic of malaria Katie Richardson Academic News editor A VACCINE FOR malaria, which was created by scientists at The University of Edinburgh, has been further developed after research discovered a key protein in the blood of African children, who were naturally exposed to the infected mosquitoes that cause the disease.

Dr David Cavanagh, Senior Lecturer for The Institute of Immunology and Infection Research at The University of Edinburgh told The Journal: “We identified this protein, which is found on the surface of blood stage malaria parasites, as a target of antibody responses in African children naturally exposed to malaria by their exposure to infected mosquitoes.

"Importantly, we observed that the children who had antibodies in their blood to this protein were less likely to become ill with malaria than children who lacked these specific antibodies.

Antibodies to other parasite proteins did not correlate with this protection.

“Our vaccine targets the malaria parasite form that emerges from the liver, and which then rapidly infects red blood cells, causing the characteristic fever and death in infected children. The blood stage of the parasite is the stage of the parasite life cycle

which is responsible for the disease we know as malaria.”

It is hoped that the new vaccine can be combined with the existing RTS,S vaccine in order to combat the disease’s ability to create new strains of itself, each having to be dealt with by the human immune system differently.

The study has already proved successful in preliminary trials on animals and has subsequently applied for trials to be carried out on humans.

Dr Cavanagh added: “Most scientists would probably agree that any highly effective vaccine against malaria will need to get above the 50 per cent effectiveness of RTS,S has at the moment. We'd like to think that our blood-stage vaccine could complement RTS,S or a similar liver stage vaccine, and get us close to the World Health Organisation (WHO) target of an 80 per cent effective vaccine by 2025.”

However, the vaccine could take up to another ten years to be developed with human trials being expensive and funding difficult to attain. Dr Cavanagh said: “RTS,S has been in development for over 20 years, so we are at the beginning of a very long road. It can take 10 years or more for a prototype vaccine to reach the people who need it."

Malaria is spread by mosquito bites and affects 225 million people, causing an estimated 781,000 deaths

CK YUAN

Scientists identified a protein which lowers risk of malaria in 2009 according to The World Health Organisation (WHO).

Dr Cavanagh stressed that the vaccine would “need to be free, especially in Africa where the people who need

it are living on one or two dollars per day. That requires BIG money from governments.”

The full study has been published in the journal PLoS One.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh believe they have isolated a protein which triggers a protective mechanism in the brain during a stroke

SCIENTISTS FROM THE University of Edinburgh have been involved in work that aims to help stroke victims.

New information shows that supplies of oxygen and glucose are restricted because of damaged or narrow blood vessels during a stroke. A mechanism has been discovered which enables the brain to protect itself in this situation.

The protein, called AMPK, triggers a protective process in the brain when the body detects that there is not enough oxygen and glucose available. In order to save energy and protect nerves the brain then slows down.

The work was carried out by researchers from the universities of Edinburgh, Leeds and Dundee. Leading the team was Mark Evans, Professor of Cellular Pharmacology at the University of Edinburgh. He told The Journal: "Our findings suggest that if brain cells run short of energy, they start to work more slowly. But it is better to work slowly than not at all."

The mechanism works by opening

and closing a series of valves on the cell membrane. This series of valves, or ion channels, dictate heart-cell rhythm and protect against reduced blood supply.

The Office of National Statistics Health Statistics Quarterly estimated that 150,000 people have a stroke each year in the UK. In England alone, the annual cost to the NHS of providing direct care for stroke patients is over £2.8 billion.

Professor Chris Peers of the University of Leeds believes that the findings could eventually lead to new treatments for patients suffering from problems with blood supply to the brain.

Graham Hardie,Professor of Cellular Signalling at the University of Dundee, first discovered the presence of AMPK in the body. He said: “There are drugs currently on the market that stimulate AMPK, which are used to treat other conditions. In future, these and other drugs could be given to at-risk patients to give them a better chance of surviving a stroke."

The research was published in the journal and was funded by the Dundee-based Welcome Trust charity.

Dame Joan Stringer named Public Sector Leader of the Year Alexis Nelson

Stroke discovery hope to increase survival rates Eilidh Dobson

News 5

Research could help the brain protect itself during a stroke JAMES GLOVER

THE PRINCIPAL AND Vice-Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University has been awarded the prestigious Public Sector Leader of the Year award.

Professor Dame Joan Stringer received the Scottish Leadership Award at the National Museum of Scotland on 6 October.

The Scottish Leadership Awards recognize influential leaders in the private and public sectors, and are orchestrated by Scottish Business Insider Magazine. The list of candidates are compiled by the magazine, followed by a group vote to decide who amongst them will win top honours in various leadership categories.

Professor Dame Stringer told The Journal, “I was honoured to receive this award as it demonstrates that Edinburgh Napier University is now recognised not just as a leading Scottish university but as a highly-regarded international university.”

Professor Dame Stringer has been Principal and Vice-Chancellor at Napier University since January 2003. Her assumption of this role made her the first woman leader of a Scottish University. Before gaining her current position, she served as Principal and VicePatron of Queen Margaret University College. Under her leadership, the college experienced wide expansion and transitioned from a college to a university with full degree-awarding power.

Professor Dame Stringer has been involved in the advancement of both local and national higher education in Scotland. She currently holds positions as Chair of Education UK Scotland, along with board memberships at the Universities Scotland Executive Committee. As an advocate for the public sector, she fulfilled the 1998-1999 appointment as chairwoman of the Northern Ireland Equality Commission Working Group. Her work for this group involved brokering a peace process between four different equalities commissions.

From 2002 until 2007 she was Lay Member of the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland. She has also been a member of the Secretary of State’s Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament. This group has the important role of laying out methods and rules for the proper operation of parliament.

Napier's Craighouse campus MIKE MURRY

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Drop in university applications Raised tuition fees are blamed for a drop in university application numbers

Tom McCallum

APPLICATIONS TO SCOTTISH Universities from people living in Scotland have fallen 10 per cent since last year.

The figures, released by UCAS, also show a drop of 15.4 per cent of applicants from Scotland to English universities and a 4.5 per cent drop in English applicants to Scottish universities.

The decline comes despite the fact that Scottish students will remain exempt from tuition costs, but experts have said the figures could be the result of confusion over the new fees system.

Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, said: “This set of applicant figures was always going to be volatile because of all the changes to fees north and south of the Border.

“However, it’s very early in the applications cycle and far too early to tell anything about student demand with any certainty."

The figures were published after the closing date for applications to Oxford and Cambridge. The figures are expected to increase by the closing date for the majority of universities in the UK in January next year. Mr Sim added: “About the only thing that is clear from this data is that prospective students are choosing to weigh up their decisions more carefully and apply later in the cycle. That’s perfectly reasonable given all the changes and the fact that many Scottish universities only set out their fee intentions for students from

the rest of the UK a few weeks ago.”

Robin Parker, President of the NUS, has blamed the figures on the introduction of new policies on tuition fees: “We have real concern that these figures show that the confusion and fear of fees created by Westminster’s damaging fees policy is having an impact on people in Scotland’s decisions, even though the Scottish Government has rightly decided to not introduce fees.

“We just hope that it’s more that people are putting off applying, rather than being put off from going to university.

“It is a great shame, and no real surprise, if £9,000 fees are shutting down the opportunities for Scots to study in England.”

Ken Macintosh, MSP, Scottish Labour’s education spokesman, also criticised the new system: “There is a real need for much more detailed information to be supplied to those thinking of going to university.

Just saying there are no tuition fees in Scotland is not enough as there are all sorts of other costs associated with going away from home to study."

He went on to blame the coalition government for their decision to lift the cap on tuition fees, saying doing so "closed off the opportunity" for Scottish students wanting to go to an English university.

Despite the national decline, interest from overseas applicants has risen.

Applicants from non-EU countries to Scottish Universities were up 18.3 per cent on last year and applicants from other EU countries were up 3.1 per cent.

Scottish universities have seen a 4.5% drop in English applicants UCAS

Several Edinburgh students are in the running to represent Great Britain at the 2012 Games

Olympic Torch visits Bristo Square The University of Edinburgh became part of the worldwide preparations for London 2012 Sean Gibson

THERE WAS MUCH fanfare in Bristo Square last week as the Olympic torch made a fleeting visit to Edinburgh University.

Senior university officials and selected sportspeople received the torch at a reception in the students' union, before giving students the chance in the afternoon to have their photograph taken with it.

Hundreds queued for the event which was part of a tour to publicise the Olympic Torch Relay that will take place next June, in the build-up to the Summer games in London.

Sam Trett, president of Edinburgh University Sports Union (EUSU), told

The Journal: “The torch coming to the university highlights the key role that sports play at the University of Edinburgh.

“We cater for 24 of the 26 Olympic sporting disciplines and we have a long history of athletes coming to the University and going on to conquer the sporting world.”

This history of success dates back as far as the 1924 Olympics in Paris.

Eric Liddell won 400m gold in the same year that he graduated from the university, and was later immortalised in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire.

More recent alumni include rower Katherine Grainger and cyclist Sir Chris Hoy. Grainger is a two-time Olympic silver medalist who took up rowing at university, whilst Hoy’s tally of four gold and one silver medal make

him Scotland’s most successful ever Olympian.

Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea, principal of the University of Edinburgh, has said: “Sport is extremely important to us as a university, and our involvement in the Olympic and Commonwealth Games is a key part of our identity.”

Current students competing for a place at next Summer’s games include dinghy sailor Charlotte Dobson, fencer Lisa McKenzie, swimmer Richard Shafers and rower Polly Swan. Many more are aiming at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

EUSU president Sam Trett was positive on the potential impact of the Olympic torch’s visit, saying: “Hopefully the torch coming to Edinburgh will help push the University’s sporting starts to win medals in the future.”

EUSA starts campaign for more study space EUSA sets out to accommodate students' need for study space on campus during exam and essay periods Greg Bianchi Student Politics editor THE EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY Students Association (EUSA) is planning to organise the creation of alternative study spaces for students wishing to revise at the University during the December exam diet.

Over the past semester, students have been finding it hard to access enough study space at the university library and other university buildings.

As a result EUSA hopes to open up alternative study spaces, for example in unused lecture theatres and seminar rooms, for students to use should the library be too busy.

Academic Services convenor Hugh Murdoch has announced on his blog that “a quiet crisis in study space has been building up." Mr Murdoch claims that the University is caught in a “perfect storm” of an increased intake of students, library redevelopment, studies being more reliant on IT services and the presence of the careers service

on the third floor.

The question of the careers service was partially solved by EUSA who stepped up pressure on the University against plans to grant the entire third floor to the careers service which would have exacerbated the problems of study space.

EUSA Vice President of Academic Affairs Mike Williamson has told The Journal: “EUSA is working with the University to signpost other spaces which are available for study in the lead up to the December exam diet in

order to relieve pressure on the Main Library."

Mr Williamson also added that “so far the University has been very receptive to our concerns, and I hope that continues."

According to statistics seen by The Journal, over 30 per cent more students are using the library week by week since last year. The afternoon period seems to be more popular for students, averaging over 1,000 students per day during October.

Whilst EUSA is calling for a short

term strategy to deal with the shortage of space for the upcoming December exam diet, it is also calling for a longer term solution to deal with the lack of computers and other technology around the University.

Mr Murdoch’s blog states: “in the medium term, the University needs a more ambitious strategy with computers.”

A Facebook group has been set up for students to express support and contributions to the initiative.

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Focus was on the independence agenda at the SNP conference Andrew Barr National Politics editor AT THE SNP annual conference in Inverness this week, First Minister Alex Salmond told delegates the days of “Westminster politicians telling Scotland what to do or what to think” were over, and claimed the Scottish people were now “in the driving seat."

Mr Salmond used his speech to reiterate what he believes is the UK Government’s lack of mandate to govern Scottish affairs and to set out a “Nae Limits” agenda for Scotland’s wealth of energy resources. Following a recent BP announcement that current North Sea oil findings are to last until 2050, Mr Salmond told the conference that “London has had its turn."

Mr Salmond stated: “After 40 years of oil and gas Westminster had coined in some £300 billion from Scottish water – around £60,000 for every man women and child in the country.

“The Tories’ own Office of Budget Responsibility figures suggest another

£230 billion of oil revenues over the next 30 years - and that was before the latest announcements.

“Let the next 40 years be for the people of Scotland.”

The First Minister also set out the SNP’s commitment to tackle youth unemployment and announced an annual 25,000 modern apprenticeships in addition to offering every 16-19 year old a training opportunity.

Convener of the Federation of Student Nationalists, Gail Lythgoe, told The Journal: “Most young Scots have never known anything but devolution in Scotland and understand that independence is a means to an end - to a fairer, more just, more equal society. We - the independence generation - are ready to deliver for Scotland. We owe it to the people who have gone before us, those today who are struggling in an unequal society and we owe it to the future generation of young Scots.”

The Scottish independence referendum is expected to be held during the second half of the SNP’s term in government.

Scots believe Holyrood should run the country New survey suggests that Scots are warming to the idea of independence

Dominique Cottee Staff writer A MAJORITY OF people (74 per cent) in Scotland believe Holyrood should have the most influence in running the country, according to a recently-published government survey. The social attitudes survey, conducted between June and November 2010, also shows that 61 per cent of people trust the Holyrood government to make fair decisions, while 49 per cent of people believe that the Scottish Government gives them a stronger voice.

Jim Eadie, SNP MSP for Edinburgh Southern, believes the results of the survey underlines the appetite for further constitutional progress to extend the powers of the Scottish Parliament.

He said: “These findings are not just an endorsement of the Scottish Government, but are a real encouragement that people in Scotland want to take charge of their own destiny – and only the SNP matches those aspirations.”

Comparatively, only 24 per cent

trust the Westminster government in the same way, although 45 per cent believe they currently retain the most influence over the way the country is run. However, the survey also indicates that 64 per cent of Scots believe the Scottish economy had grown weaker in the 12 months prior to the survey, and 54 per cent felt that living standards in the country had also deteriorated.

Speaking to The Journal, Mr Eadie continued: “The vast majority of people want Scotland’s Parliament to have the full economic clout needed to fight recession, support recovery, and build a fair society – which is why the Scotland Bill needs to be improved and strengthened.

“The debate in Scotland is no longer between change or no change – it is about the kind of change we seek, and the right of the people to choose their future in a free and fair referendum.

“Popular opinion in Scotland has moved far beyond the status quo. Opinion poll after opinion poll shows a clear majority of people in favour of radical constitutional progress for Scotland."

NATIONAL POLITICS

News 9

Controversial competitor enters race for Scottish Labour deputy leadership Glasgow South-West MP Ian Davidson announces he will run SCOTTISH LABOUR

Megan Wells

IT HAS BEEN announced that Glasgow MP Ian Davidson will become the fourth contender in the race for deputy leader of the Scottish Labour Party. Also competing for the position are Dumfries MSP Elaine Murray, MSP for North-East Scotland Lewis MacDonald, and Mr Davidson’s fellow Glasgow MP Anas Sarwar.

The position became available following the Scottish Parliament Election in May of this year, after which leader Iain Gray announced his resignation. Current deputy leader Johann Lamont is now a candidate for the leadership of the party.

Annabel Goldie, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, and Tavish Scott, who held the same position in the Liberal Democrat Party, also left their posts after the SNP took a majority government, in what has been described as a ‘disastrous’ election.

In Westminster, Mr Davidson chairs the Scottish Affairs Committee, which will be holding inquiries into the Scottish independence

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The Journal Wednesday 2 November 2011

referendum and the consequences it would have for Scotland. However, the MP has caused controversy in the past by labelling the SNP “neofascists” in a House of Commons debate. More recently, he has been accused of threatening SNP MP for Banff and Buchan, and a fellow member of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee, Dr Eilidh Whiteford.

Dr Whiteford has claimed Davisdon threatened to give her a “doing” if discussions by the committee that were held in private session were leaked to the media. This has caused Dr Whiteford to withdraw from the committee, stating she will not return to its meetings unless Mr Davidson renounces his role as its chairman.

Dr Whiteford said of Mr Davidson that she did not “believe this behaviour is compatible with the position of chair of a select committee."

A complaint against Mr Davidson has been made to the Commons speaker by the SNP’s Westminster leader Angus Robertson.

A conference was held in Glasgow on 29 October and marked the beginning of the Scottish Labour leadership campaign. The results will be announced on 17 December.

Ian Davidson

10 Editorial

twitter: @EdJournal

The Journal Wednesday 2 November 2011

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Crossword EDINBURGH’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

ISSUE LI

Hate crime in Scotland

Time to confront the prejudice ON 22 OCTOBER, a man was found dead, savagely beaten and badly burned, on an industrial estate in the small Ayrshire town of Cumnock. The victim, Stuart Walker, was 28 years old and well-liked in Cumnock, where he worked as a barman. He was also gay. But although the police have been reluctant to classify his murder as a homophobic attack, that has nonetheless become the prevailing narrative in this awful case.

This is not the first brutal attack on a gay man in Scotland. It is only the most recent, and among the most horrific. But whether or not Mr Walker’s murder was driven by prejudice, the case has highlighted the lack of urgency with which policymakers in Scotland are confronting the issue of hate crime here.

It is now over a year since the implementation of the Offences

Aggravated by Prejudice (Scotland) Act, which put crimes motivated by sexual orientation on the same judicial footing as those driven by racial hatred. When the law entered force in March 2010, the Scottish Government and opposition parties vowed that hate crimes - whether motivated by race, religion or sexuality - would not be tolerated in Scotland. That is a fine sentiment, but the government must act decisively to enforce the law.

Crown Office statistics show a fivefold increase in crimes against LGBT people over a five-year period up to 2010, and The Herald cite a 2010 survey suggesting that two-thirds of Edinburgh’s LGBT community have been the victims of homophobic verbal abuse.

That is a staggering statistic. The need for social inclusion, and the right of every person to feel safe in

their community, regardless of their ethnic background, religious belief or sexual orientation, is not a matter of debate: it is a moral imperative. Scotland has an ugly history of prejudice, from the continuing blight of sectarianism to the tragic memory of Michael Doran, the gay man beaten to death in a 1995 ‘gay bashing’ in a Glasgow Park. But this is not what defines Scotland, nor should it be.

Attacks like these are more reminiscent of a medieval society than the modern, cosmopolitan Scotland we live in. The government must address the fact of hate crime from a judicial standpoint, but it must also confront the backwards social attitudes which cause these horrible attacks. If it does not, then how can the 300,000 Scots who identify as LGBT feel that their government cares about them at all?

COMPILER: JON BALDIE | DESIGN: KATJA TROLLE TAKSHOLT

Reverend Giles Fraser

An honourable resignation

Across

Down

THE RESIGNATION LAST week of Giles Fraser, canon chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, was a surprising but welcome reminder of what a public figure publicly standing by their beliefs looks like. On 27 October, senior clergy at the cathedral announced that they would seek legal action to removed the Occupy London Stock Exchange encampment from the steps of the cathedral, where it has squatted for over a fortnight. Reverend Fraser promptly resigned, saying that a police eviction of the occupiers would amount to “violence in the name of the church”.

He later told the Guardian that his decision was “not about my sympathies or what I believe about the camp. I support the right to protest and in a perfect world we could have negotiated. But our legal advice was that this would have implied consent.

The church cannot answer peaceful protest with violence.”

1- Large edible game fish 4- Cured meat from the back sides of a pig 7- Someone from Australia (slang) 8 - A game bird 9- Knock unconscious 10-An idiot 12-To untie a knot 17-City in northeastern Scotland 19-Space occupied in a house or flat 20-A directionless quantity (mathematics) 21-Second largest river in the world 22-A decoration to recognise achievement 23-A plant of the parsley family, eaten raw

1- Lacking in growth 2- As opposed to winnings 3- Compliance with law and order 4- A long, flat-bottomed boat 5- Most important 6- Required 11-A spark of genius 13-Island nation in North Atlantic 14-Rubbish 15-The wealth and resources of a country 16-An aromatic ointment for medical or cosmetic usage 18-To speak in a slow, lazy way

PUBLISHER Devon Walshe EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Marcus Kernohan DEPUTY EDITOR Megan Taylor MANAGING EDITOR Marthe Lamp Sandvik DEPUTY EDITOR (NEWS) Amanda Svensson Falk LOCAL NEWS Hannah Raine ACADEMIC NEWS Katie Richardson STUDENT NEWS Leighton Craig STUDENT POLITICS Greg Bianchi

Compare Rev Fraser's departure from the cathedral chapter with the ignominious exit as The Journal went to press of Reverend Graeme Knowles, the dean of St Paul's and its most senior cleric. After a fierce public backlash against the cathedral's handling of the occupation, Reverend Knowles resigned on Monday saying his position was "untenable". One was an act of conscience: the other was a PR move.

Political historians like to refer to the 1982 resignation of Margaret Thatcher’s foreign secretary, Lord Carrington, as the ‘last honourable act in British politics’. Accepting executive responsibility for the Foreign Office’s failure to foresee or prevent the Argentine invasion of the Falklands, Carrington dutifully fell on his sword not because of personal scandal, but on a point of principle.

Where is that spirit now? To our

NAT'L POLITICS Andrew Barr DEPUTY EDITOR (COMMENT & FEATURES) Jon Baldie COMMENT Emma ElliottWalker, Dominic Sowa FEATURES Daniel Keller INTERVIEW/PROFILE John Foley DEPUTY EDITOR (ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT) João Abbott-Gribben THEATRE Amy Taylor FILM Matthew Macaulay ART Emily Burke

recollection, it last showed face eight years ago, in Robin Cook’s dramatic 2003 departure from the cabinet over the war in Iraq. But the fact that we can remember these names and speeches suggests that they are exceptions proving a rule: no-one in public office seems all that willing to stand by their personal beliefs anymore. If they did, one suspects our coalition government would feature far fewer Liberal Democrats.

Reverend Fraser is to be applauded: his exit was a brave statement, well made. It was not an especially grand or flashy resignation - he announced his departure on Twitter - but it was a rare triumph of conscience over status. It was not a political move or a publicity stunt, but rather a man simply standing up to say ‘I cannot be a part of this.’

And that is something we should all admire.

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Letters Occupy Edinburgh Not much of a movement really.

Maximum numbers during the day are 10-15. Three to five actually stay overnight in the 30 tents they have erected to give the false impression of some large presence. Usual suspects: uni students, aging hippies and anarchists... Not the broad-based movement they and the media would proport them to be. They will fade like the summer weather.

- 'stfo', via web I visited a day or so ago, and what you're saying is clearly untrue...

I'm not denying it's quite small, but

as part of a world wide movement, every little certainly helps. There also seems to be more to it than "Uni students, aging hippies and anarchists" (not that the point expressed would be less valid if they were the only ones). There are plenty of people there that are none of these things. Besides, since the movement has attracted thousands in Wall Street, the London Stock Exchange, and other major camps, we've either got an awful lot of extremely dedicated "Uni students, aging hippies and anarchists" (in which case, perhaps you should take their views into account), or there are other people there.

- Alastair, via web

The Journal Wednesday 2 November 2011

twitter: @EdJournal

Comment 11

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Comment Quick action can save the eurozone Discussion&Debate

Eurozone governments need to get borrowing under control without stalling prospects for future growth STEPHANIE JONES

Alistair Darling Chancellor of the Exchequer, 2007-10 ON 7 OCTOBER 2008 the world’s banking system came within hours of collapse. That morning one of the biggest banks in the world, RBS, a truly global bank with its headquarters on the outskirts of Edinburgh, was in trouble. Its chairman telephoned me to say that the bank was running out of money and would have to close its doors that afternoon - and for good measure, he asked what was I was going to do about it.

I knew that if RBS closed its doors, switched off its cash machines and stopped making payments inevitably the banks would come under pressure. People panicked at the prospect of having no access to cash or credit, and if the British banks went down then within hours the American and European banks would follow.

We were truly on the brink, and it was only because we took immediate action - far greater than people expected - that the banking system stayed on its feet. But of course, the complete collapse of confidence in banks led to an economic crisis; the

The end of the Euro? Not necessarily, says Alistair Darling consequences of which we are still living with today.

The eurozone is in a crisis because it didn’t take action quickly enough to resolve the problem that Greece was facing. It took far too long and then came up with a compromise which, although better, I don’t think

will work. They should have taken action decisively as soon as it was obvious that Greece had problems in 2010, and at the same time taken action then to shore up Europe’s banks as we did two years earlier.

And the fundamental reason why the policies in Europe and here at

home won’t work is because governments today have forgotten the lessons not just of three years ago but of the 1930s. Simply put, if you pursue a policy of austerity, taking money out of the economy when it’s not growing, you’ll make a bad situation worse.

And here at home it’s quite wrong

for the Government to blame Europe for all our troubles. Our economy was growing from the end of 2009 right through the general election into the Autumn of 2010. It was doing so because of the action we took to stop recession becoming depression.

Every other major developed country did exactly the same thing.

Today though the picture is very different. Our economy stopped growing about a year ago. Growth has completely stalled and indeed my successor as Chancellor, George Osborne, has had to downrate his forecasts four times since he became Chancellor. The Bank of England is now extremely worried that the recovery is off track and that the economy has stalled.

If we carry on like this we will consign ourselves to perhaps five or ten years of lost opportunities and higher unemployment as eastern economies continue to grow.

What’s needed now is a resolution to the euro crisis once and for all, but above all a coherent plan to get borrowing down in a way that doesn’t jeopardise future growth. Failure to do so will be to consign another generation with the prospect of unemployment and lost opportunity.

Alistair Darling was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2007 to 2010. His book 'Back from the Brink' is published by Atlantic Books.

Greece needs rescuing from its creditors European leaders must take responsibility and help Greece get its debt under control, or face default

Robert Zymek University of Edinburgh WHEN ASKED ABOUT their views on financial support for the nearinsolvent Greek government, European voters tend to deliver a clear verdict. A recent poll found that 68 per cent of French people disapprove of their government’s contribution to the latest rescue attempt. Their German neighbours are even less generous, with 80 per cent of respondents opposing further aid to the Mediterranean country. Nevertheless,

European leaders agreed a new €109bn bail-out package for Greece in July, the second lifeline in two years. Are Nicholas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel more sympathetic than their electorates?

Unsurprisingly, the answer is a comprehensive no. The French president and the German chancellor know that their countries are bound to the fate of Greece not just by a vague spirit of European solidarity, but by a tangled web of financial linkages.

According to the Bank for International Settlements, French and German banks would be hardest hit by “haircuts” on Greek government bonds. In addition, a complex network of financial bets on a Greek default, known as Credit Default Swaps (CDS), has made it

near-impossible to predict where else in the European financial system the fallout from a financial collapse of the country would be felt.

So far Europe’s strategy for dealing with the resulting uncertainty has been to rescue Greece in order to rescue itself. This strategy has had perverse consequences. It has made Greece the target of much Northern scorn, while delivering few tangible benefits to ordinary Greeks. It has also shielded European banks from the consequences of their reckless lending to a profligate government.

Most of all, it has missed the root cause of the problem – namely that Europe’s financial system has become so fragile that it cannot stomach losses on Greek sovereign debt amounting to a modest two per cent of the eurozone’s GDP.

In recent weeks, European leaders have finally acknowledged that the European debt crisis is to a large extent a banking crisis. Now, any bold new strategy for Europe should have the following two components.

First, European banks should be required to accumulate larger capital buffers to protect against credit losses. Immediate capital injections out of a common European fund should be made available to those institutions whose solvency is imminently threatened by a possible Greek default. The price of this government support ought to be stricter regulatory supervision, especially – but not exclusively – in the credit default swap (CDS) market.

Second, Greece’s creditors need to accept a reduction in the country’s obligations which would bring them

down to manageable levels. This may require a significant decline in the face value of outstanding Greek debt. If no voluntary agreement of sufficient scope can be reached, the Greek government should be allowed to force this debt reduction on its creditors by means of an outright default.

To be sure, Greece would continue to depend on financial support from the rest of Europe for some time. But once this money is no longer used to keep the country artificially solvent, it could at last aid the prolonged and painful structural adjustment which the Greek economy must undergo.

Professor Robert Zymek is lecturer in Economics at the University of Edinburgh.

P R O P E R T Y L I S T I N G S P R O V I D E D BY W W W. C I T YL E T S . CO. U K

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Fountainbridge

A USERS GUIDE TO CITYLETS LISTINGS Meadows

Area Agent phone number

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S Single D Double T Twin B Box G Gas Central W White Meter E Electric PG Private CG Communal Z Zone O On-Street P Private UF Unfurnished

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Inverleith Inverleith Row, 1500, 3, 3D G CG O, 0844 635 4820 Inverleith Row, 700, 2, 1S 1D G PG, 0844 635 9320 Monmouth Terrace, 700, 2, 2D G CG Z, 0844 635 4820 West Ferryfield, 625, 2, 2D G CG O, 0844 635 4820

Leith Kirk Street, 1300, 5, 2S 3D, 0844 635 3700 Leith Walk, 1300, 5, 1S 4D, 0844 635 3700 Bonnington Road, 1250, 5, 5D, 0844 635 3700 Easter Road, 1200, 4, 4D, 0844 635 3700

Easter Road, 1200, 4, 4D, 0844 635 3700 Albert Place, 1100, 5, 2S 3D, 0844 635 3700 Western Harbour Brkwater, 1100, 2, 2D P, 0844 635 4820 Portland Street, 990, 4, 4D, 0844 635 3700 Easter Road, 900, 4, 4D, 0844 635 3700 Ferry Road, 900, 3, 3D G CG O, 0844 635 9446 Western Harbour Brkwater, 875, 2, 1S 1D G CG P, 0844 635 4820 Great Junction Street, 850, 3, 3D, 0844 635 3700 Madeira Street, 850, 3, 3D, 0844 635 2267 Portland Place, 850, 3, 3D, 0844 635 3700 Western Harbour Midway, 850, 3, CG P, 0844 635 9308 Dock Place, 550, 2, 2D W, 0844 635 4820 Admiralty Street, 550, 1, , 0844 635 9338 Albion Place, 550, 1, 1D G, 0844 635 3330 Albion Road, 550, 1, 1D G CG O, 0844 635 1312 Sloan Street, 550, 1, 1D G CG O, 0844 635 4820 Elbe Street, 545, 2, 2D, 0844 635 9332 Lindsay Road, 525, 1, 1D G O, 0844 635 9446 Salamander Street, 525, 1, 1D G O, 0844 635 9679 Chapel Lane, 500, 1, 1D E O, 0844 635 9422 Lindsay Road, 500, 1, 1D G CG O, 0844 635 9474 Albert Street, 495, 1, 1D O, 0844 635 9238 Great Junction Street, 485, 1, 1D W O, 0844 635 9434 Buchanan Street, 475, 1, 1D W, 0844 635 9318 Duke Street, 440, 1, 1D G Z, 0844 635 9560 Balfour Street, 320, 1, G, 0844 635 0085

Leith Walk Leith Walk, 1500, 5, 5D, 0844 635 3700 Croall Place, 1150, 4, 4D O, 0844 635 9314 Leith Walk, 1100, 4, 4D, 0844 635 3700 Croall Place, 1000, 4, 1S 3D, 0844 635 3700 Dalmeny Street, 945, 3, 3D, 0844 635 3700 Allanfield, 850, 3, 1S 2D E, 0844 635 3330 Ryehill Avenue, 850, 3, G PG, 0844 635 4475 Leith Walk, 725, 3, 3D, 0844 635 3700 Huntingdon Place, 725, 2, 2D G P, 0844 635 4820 Brunswick Road, 695, 2, 2D G Z, 0844 635 9679 Smith’s Place, 695, 2, 2D P, 0844 635 9316 Dalmeny Street, 675, 2, G CG O, 0844 635 6872 Dicksonfield, 675, 2, 2D G Z, 0844 635 4820 Hopetoun Street, 650, 2, , 0844 635 9338 Dickson Street, 630, 2, 2D W CG O, 0844 635 9312 Coburg Street, 600, 2, 2D G P, 0844 635 9488 Iona Street, 595, 2, 1S 1D G CG O, 0844 635 9422 Leith Walk, 550, 2, 2D W O, 0844 635 9326 Madeira Street, 280, 1, 1D G, 0844 635 2267

Marchmont Warrender Park Terrace, 2250, 5, 2S 3D G, 0844 635 4820 Lauriston Park, 1900, 5, 5D G Z, 0844 635 4820 Spottiswoode Street, 1250, 3, CG Z, 0844 635 9352

Strathfillan Road, 995, 3, 3D G O, 0844 635 9362 Spottiswoode Road, 950, 3, 1S 1D 1B 1T G CG, 0844 635 9245 Marchmont Street, 900, 2, 2D G Z, 0844 635 9478 Roseneath Terrace, 825, 2, 2D G O, 0844 635 9362 Roseneath Terrace, 695, 2, 2D 1B E O, 0844 635 9324

Meadowbank Wolseley Terrace, 1175, 4, 4D G CG O, 0844 635 9679 Wolseley Terrace, 1175, 4, 4D O, 0844 635 9314 Parsons Green Terrace, 1100, 4, 4D G CG O, 0844 635 9679 Parsons Green Terrace, 1100, 4, 2S 2D O, 0844 635 9314 Parsons Green Terrace, 1050, 4, 2S 2D, 0844 635 3700 Wolseley Terrace, 1000, 4, 4D, 0844 635 3700 Earlston Place, 990, 3, 3D G CG O, 0844 635 9679 Meadowbank Terrace, 800, 3, 3D O, 0844 635 9314 Meadowbank Terrace, 800, 3, 3D G CG O, 0844 635 9679 Royal Park Terrace, 675, 2, 1S 1D 2T G CG O, 0844 635 2418 Dalgety Street, 650, 2, , 0844 635 9338 Parsons Green Terrace, 650, 2, 2D G CG O, 0844 635 9679 Parson Green Terrace, 650, 1, 1D 1B G O, 0844 635 4820 Moray Park Terrace, 625, 2, 2D G P, 0844 635 2418 Queen’s Park Avenue, 595, 2, 1S 1D G CG O, 0844 635 9422 Meadowbank, 550, 2, G PG Z, 0844 635 3880 Dalgety Road, 550, 1, 1D E P, 0844 635 3780 Marionville Road, 500, 1, 1D W CG O, 0844 635 8694 Dalgety Road, 495, 1, 1D E O, 0844 635 9320 Piersfield Grove, 495, 1, 1D 1T G, 0844 635 2418 Dalgety Road, 475, 1, E CG O, 0844 635 9390 Earlston Place, 475, 1, W Z, 0844 635 9688 Rossie Place, 475, 1, 1D E Z, 0844 635 9478

Meadows Simpson Loan, 4000, 3, 3D G P, 0844 635 4820 Simpson Loan, 1250, 2, Z, 0844 635 9308 Livingstone Place, 525, 1, 1D E CG Z, 0844 635 4820 Boroughloch Lane, 475, 1, G, 0844 635 4475

Morningside Morningside Road, 1625, 5, 2S 3D G Z, 0844 635 9679 Morningside Road, 1625, 5, 2S 3D Z, 0844 635 9314 Morningside Road, 1600, 5, 5D G Z, 0844 635 9679 Morningside Road, 1600, 5, 5D Z, 0844 635 9314 Morningside Road, 1450, 5, 5D Z, 0844 635 9314 Morningside Road, 1450, 5, 2S 3D, 0844 635 3700 Morningside Road, 1450, 5, 2S 3D, 0844 635 3700 Morningside Road, 1400, 5, 5D, 0844 635 3700 Morningside Road, 1400, 5, 3S 2D, 0844 635 3700 Comiston Gardens, 800, 2, 2D G Z, 0844 635 9560 Morningside Road, 800, 2, 2D G, 0844 635 4820 Millar Crescent, 750, 2, 2D E, 0844 635 3780 Morningside Road, 695, 2, 2D G CG O, 0844 635 3780

Morningside Road, 675, 2, 2D G, 0844 635 2287 Craighouse Gardens, 650, 2, 1S 1D W CG P, 0844 635 3780 Craighouse Gardens, 595, 1, 1D W CG P, 0844 635 9679 Balcarres Street, 575, 1, 1D E CG O, 0844 635 0085 Springvalley Terrace, 575, 1, G Z, 0844 635 2418 Craighouse Gardens, 480, 1, 1D CG P, 0844 635 0085

New Town Ainslie Place, 2000, 6, 6D G, 0844 635 4820 Windsor Street, 1800, 5, 5D G CG P, 0844 635 4489 Annandale Street, 1795, 4, CG Z, 0844 635 9352 Eyre Place, 1600, 5, 5D Z, 0844 635 9314 Great King Street, 1600, 3, Z, 0844 635 9308 Eyre Place, 1500, 5, 5D, 0844 635 3700 Henderson Row, 1495, 5, 5D G CG Z, 0844 635 9334 Dundas Street, 1450, 3, 3D G PG Z, 0844 635 4820 Coates Gardens, 1440, 3, 3D G PG Z, 0844 635 9362 Barony Street, 1400, 4, 1S 3D G Z, 0844 635 9688 East London Street, 1400, 4, 4D G Z, 0844 635 9320 Scotland Street, 1400, 4, 4D G CG Z, 0844 635 9460 Eyre Place, 1395, 3, PG Z, 0844 635 9308 Glenfinlas Street, 1295, 2, PG Z, 0844 635 9308 Royal Crescent, 1200, 3, 3D G Z, 0844 635 4820 Scotland Street, 1200, 2, 1S 2D G Z, 0844 635 4820 Great King Street, 1100, 1, 1D G, 0844 635 4820 Huntingdon Place, 1000, 2, 2D G CG P, 0844 635 6872 St Stephen Street, 950, 3, 1S 2D, 0844 635 3700 Dundas Street, 950, 2, 2D G Z, 0844 635 4820 Brunswick Street, 930, 3, 3D, 0844 635 9316 Eyre Crescent, 925, 3, 1S 2D G CG Z, 0844 635 4820 Calton Hill, 900, 3, 1S 2D G Z, 0844 635 4820 Dundas Street, 850, 2, Z, 0844 635 9308 Huntingdon Place, 825, 2, 2D G P, 0844 635 4820 Bellevue Street, 760, 2, CG O, 0844 635 9352 Barony Street, 720, 2, 2D G CG Z, 0844 635 9688 East London Street, 550, 1, E CG Z, 0844 635 6872 Barony Street, 450, 1, 1D W CG Z, 0844 635 9688 St Vincent Street Garage, 150, 1, P, 0844 635 6450

Newington South Clerk Street, 1875, 5, 5D Z, 0844 635 9314 East Preston Street, 1750, 5, 5D Z, 0844 635 9314 South Clerk Street, 1750, 5, 5D G CG O, 0844 635 9679 East Preston Street, 1650, 5, 5D G CG O, 0844 635 9679 South Clerk Street, 1600, 5, 5D, 0844 635 3700 East Preston Street, 1575, 5, 5D, 0844 635 3700 East Preston Street, 1500, 5, 5D Z, 0844 635 9314 Dryden Place, 1500, 4, 1S 3D, 0844 635 9316 Clerk Street, 1400, 4, 4D G CG Z, 0844 635 2287 East Suffolk Park, 1400, 3, 1S 2D G CG P, 0844 635 4820

Mayfield Terrace, 1375, 3, 1S 2D G PG P, 0844 635 6872 Upper Gray Street, 750, 2, 1S 1D G P, 0844 635 4820 Upper Gray Street, 725, 2, 2D G P, 0844 635 4820 Bernard Terrace, 700, 2, 2D Z, 0844 635 9314 Minto Street, 700, 2, 2D G P, 0844 635 9592 Dalkeith Road, 650, 2, 2D G CG, 0844 635 9245 Parkside Terrace, 600, 2, 1S 1D E P, 0844 635 9320 Causewayside, 575, 2, 1S 1D, 0844 635 9245 Nicolson Street, 550, 1, 1D G, 0844 635 9488 Parkside Terrace, 535, 1, 1D W O, 0844 635 9320 Moncrieff Terrace, 500, 1, 1D E CG Z, 0844 635 2287 Buccleuch Street Edinburgh, 495, 1, , 0844 635 2414

Old Town Ramsay Garden, 2000, 4, CG Z, 0844 635 9308 George Street, 1400, 3, Z, 0844 635 9308 High Street, 1150, 2, 2D G, 0844 635 4820 High Street, 1150, 2, 2D G, 0844 635 4820 West Port, 725, 2, 2D G Z, 0844 635 9578 Canongate, 595, 1, , 0844 635 9338 Mound Apartments, 525, 1, Z, 0844 635 9320 Lady Stairs Close, 480, 1, 1D E Z, 0844 635 9314

Polwarth Polwarth Gardens, 1995, 5, 5D G CG Z, 0844 635 9320 Hermand Terrace, 1700, 5, 5D G CG, 0844 635 9679 Hermand Terrace, 1400, 5, 5D, 0844 635 3700 Polwarth Gardens, 1300, 5, 5D, 0844 635 3700 Harrison Road, 1200, 4, 2S 2D, 0844 635 2418 Polwarth Gardens, 975, 4, CG O, 0844 635 9308 Slateford Road, 875, 3, 3D G CG O, 0844 635 9679 Polwarth Gardens, 800, 2, 2D G Z, 0844 635 4820 Watson Crescent, 795, 2, 2D G P, 0844 635 2418 Ardmillan Place, 725, 2, G CG P, 0844 635 4475 Bryson Road, 650, 2, 2D G CG Z, 0844 635 4820 Tay Street, 650, 2, 2D 1B Z, 0844 635 4820 Temple Park Crescent, 650, 2, 1S 1D E Z, 0844 635 4820 Watson Crescent, 600, 1, 1D G P, 0844 635 2418 Polwarth Crescent, 550, 1, , 0844 635 4644 Watson Crescent, 450, 1, 1D G, 0844 635 9318

Portobello Mount Lodge Place, 845, 3, 3D G CG O, 0844 635 9679 Portobello High Street, 675, 3, , 0844 635 9338 Arthur View Crescent, 650, 3, G CG O, 0844 635 1876 Bellfield Lane, 600, 2, 2D G, 0844 635 9326 Ramsay Place, 440, 1, 1D W O, 0844 635 9560

Slateford Slateford Road, 750, 2, 2D G, 0844 635 9446 Robertson Gait, 700, 2, 2D G CG P, 0844 635 4820 Slateford Road, 700, 2, 2D G CG O, 0844 635 7774

Slateford Road, 695, 3, 1S 2D G PG P, 0844 635 9234 Angle Park Terrace, 625, 1, 1D G, 0844 635 6450 Moat Street, 495, 1, 1D G CG O, 0844 635 9334 Moat Terrace, 475, 1, 1D W CG O, 0844 635 3768

Stockbridge Gloucester Place, 1250, 3, PG Z, 0844 635 9308 India Street, 1250, 2, Z, 0844 635 9308 Atholl Place, 1200, 2, Z, 0844 635 9308 St Bernards Crescent, 1200, 2, 2D G CG Z, 0844 635 4820 St. Stephen Street, 1000, 3, 3D G CG O, 0844 635 9238 Dean Park Mews, 900, 2, 1S 1D E P, 0844 635 4820 Leslie Place, 895, 2, CG Z, 0844 635 9308 Comely Bank Road, 775, 2, 2D G CG Z, 0844 635 4820 Comely Bank Road, 750, 2, 2D G CG Z, 0844 635 9446 West Silvermills Lane, 720, 2, 2D E P, 0844 635 9302 Clarence Street, 720, 1, 1D G Z, 0844 635 4820 Leslie Place, 700, 2, 2D G CG Z, 0844 635 9464 Avondale Place, 680, 1, 1D G PG Z, 0844 635 9362 Clarence Street, 625, 1, , 0844 635 4475 St. Stephen Place, 625, 1, 1D G O, 0844 635 6450 Comely Bank Row, 600, 1, 1D G CG Z, 0844 635 4820 Glenogle Road, 580, 1, 1D G CG P, 0844 635 3780 Danube Street, 570, 1, 1D G Z, 0844 635 9362 Jamaica Mews, 560, 1, , 0844 635 9308 St Stephen Street, 475, 1, , 0844 635 9338

Tollcross Gilmore Place, 1300, 3, 1S 2D G, 0844 635 9318 Lothian Road, 1100, 4, 4D, 0844 635 3700 Lochrin Place, 950, 2, 2D G P, 0844 635 4820 Valleyfield Street, 895, 2, 2D G PG P, 0844 635 3782 Grindlay Street, 850, 2, 2D, 0844 635 3700 Lauriston Place, 720, 2, 2D G Z, 0844 635 9560 Spittal Street, 695, 2, Z, 0844 635 9308 Tarvit Street, 660, 2, 2D G CG Z, 0844 635 9302 Brougham Street, 500, 1, 1D E, 0844 635 3780

Trinity Wardie Steps, 925, 3, 3D G, 0844 635 9362 Darnell Road, 795, 2, , 0844 635 9338 New Cut Rigg, 775, 2, CG P, 0844 635 9308 Rosebank Grove, 650, 1, 2D G CG O, 0844 635 9320 Bonnington Avenue, 585, 2, CG O, 0844 635 9308 Lower Granton Road, 450, 1, 1D G CG O, 0844 635 9234

West End West End, 2500, 3, Z, 0844 635 9308 Alva Street, 1950, 5, 1S 4D G Z, 0844 635 9326 Cambridge Street, 1450, 3, 3D G Z, 0844 635 4820 Rothesay Terrace, 1350, 2, CG Z, 0844 635 9308 Morrison Street, 1340, 4, 4D Z, 0844 635 9314 West Maitland Street, 1300, 4, 1S 3D, 0844 635 3700 Dean Park Crescent, 1295, 4, 1S 3D G Z, 0844 635 9422

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Down the Foxhole The Liam Fox debacle has shown the need for stricter enforcement of the Ministerial Code STEVE PUNTER

Jon Baldie Deputy editor (Comment & Features) "OUR NEW GOVERNMENT has a particular and historic responsibility: to rebuild confidence in our political system. After the scandals of recent years, people have lost faith in politics and politicians. It is our duty to restore their trust."

David Cameron's foreword in the 2010 Ministerial Code document is put into an ironic light by the recent events at the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The recent report from the cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell's inquiry into Liam Fox's relationship with Scottish lobbyist Adam Werritty showed that the latter was present at a staggering 40 of Dr Fox's official MoD meetings, more than half of the total 70 during his time in office.

Importantly, the damning report from Sir Gus' inquiry found that Fox's disclosure of his diary details to Werritty caused a “risk” to his own security and that of his MoD colleagues. It's an embarrassing situation for Fox but also the coalition government, after its republishing of a new ministerial code last year. The scandal over former treasury minister David Laws was shrugged off as a mere blip in a new age of trustworthy government. The Fox-Werritty scandal has proved otherwise.

It's key to analyse the specific

Fox's scandal has unearthed an uncomfortable truth about lobbying at the heart of British politics reasons for the anger over what happened at the MoD. As a mere friend of the former minister, Werritty had not been officially vetted.

It was inappropriate therefore for Fox to disclose details about his engagements, as there was no telling of Werritty's allegiances to the

Crown or otherwise. In a hypothetically damning example, Werritty could have had links with terrorist networks.

The report also showed that Fox ignored concerns from Ursula Brennan, his permanent secretary at the MoD. "The risks of Dr Fox's

association with Mr Werritty were raised with Dr Fox by both his private office and the permanent secretary. Dr Fox took action in respect of business cards but clearly made a judgment that his contact with Mr Werritty should continue." Such a blatant disregard for the opinion

of even his permanent secretary is concerning, and suggests that Fox's resignation was only spurred on by public knowledge.

Furthermore, we see that Fox wrongly let Werritty attend a meeting in September 2010 with Matthew Gould, then the British ambassador designate to Israel. "As a private citizen, it was not appropriate for Mr Werritty to have attended this meeting. Dr Fox has since acknowledged this. This highlights the blurring of lines between Dr Fox's private and official responsibilities."

An ongoing concern at the centre of the scandal was whether ministers intended to profit from Mr Werritty's extensive business links.

Stephen Crouch, a defence industry lobbyist, said he paid Werritty to set up high-powered meetings for him. Crouch, who secretly donated £20,000 to support Werritty, runs an organisation that has been identified as one of six organisations that paid money into Pargav Ltd, a company set up as a 'slush fund' to pay for Werritty's first-class flights to meet up with Fox at exotic locations across the globe.

Dr Fox's breaches of the lax ministerial code suggest that tighter restrictions are needed, with heavier vetting on personnel. Sir Gus' report recommends that “departments should clarify who is, and who is not, a member of a ministerial visit overseas.” Well, crikey, wouldn't that be a good start.

Jon Baldie is The Journal's deputy editor for Comment & Features,

A very private privatisation plan Edinburgh City Council intend to privatise key public services. This must not be allowed to happen

Andrew Burns Labour councillor BACK IN FEBRUARY 2009, nearly two years after they took control of the local Council, the SNP/LibDem Coalition that runs Edinburgh approved a budget that included the decision to look at the potential privatisation of essential front-line services.

The main opposition group on the Council, Labour, opposed that budget, and have continued to oppose the privatisation plans ever since.

The Green Party representatives on the Council have done likewise.

Sadly, from my perspective, the SNP and the Lib-Dems (with Conservative support) have pursued these proposals for over two years now, spending some £3.6 million in the process.

The scale of the proposals is breathtaking – some 20 Council Services, aggregated into three groups, covering almost 4,000 Council Staff - all to be outsourced to the private

sector. Large swathes of the City of Edinburgh Council were basically being put up for sale.

The private firms bidding to run these services will look to profit by streamlining them and finding efficiencies. That’s code for putting employees out of work.

Parallel to consultation with private companies, the council has been tasked with looking at an in-house alternative achieving improvements with less funding; making efficiency savings as well as thoroughly shaking up staff and departments.

Nowhere near £3.6m has been spent on this side of the equation and it was obvious to anyone who cared to look what the preferred outcome was.

But frankly, I doubt if anyone outside the Council in Edinburgh knows that their Local Authority might be about to privatise nearly a quarter of its public services, as there has been virtually zero consultation with Edinburgh residents.

In a last-gasp attempt to rectify this appaling omission, the council commissioned an Ipsos-Mori poll of Edinburgh opinion on the proposals in August, but to date neither the

questions nor the answers have been published in full.

For me, it’s a disgrace that the SNP/Lib Dem Council hasn’t properly consulted on these proposals - proposals that could have a fundamental impact on the day-to-day services on which we all depend.

And worse than their lack of proper consultation is the fact that they are now trying to ram these decisions through a Council with only 6-months left until the next Local Government elections.

The contracts are a minimum of seven years in length and would bind the whole five-year life of the next Council, never mind the remaining six months of this one.

The first of the three groups, Environmental Services, was up before the main Council for decision on Thursday 27 October 2011, with Facilities Management Services to be decided upon in November 2011, and Corporate and Transactional Services being decided upon in December 2011.

Thankfully, in no small part due to a truly excellent campaign led by ‘Unison Edinburgh’, the SNP/LibDem Coalition took cold feet on 27

SECRETLONDON

Privatisation would be a disaster, says one Labour councillor October and delayed a final decision on Environmental Services until the November meeting.

Labour remain resolutely opposed to these plans and we’ll do our best to vote them down again in November. If just one of the local SNP/Lib-Dem Coalition Groups

joined us, the drive to privatise our vital public services would be dead in the water.

Andrew Burns is Labour Councillor for the Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart Ward, and leader of the Edinburgh City Council Labour Group.

14 Comment

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Mistakes and libel We are still some way off from untangling the judicial mess that is British libel law, says a law professor PEN

Perry Keller King's College, London FOR THE THIRD time, Britain’s highest court is considering one of the principal questions affecting the media under England’s notorious defamation laws.

In Flood v Times Newspapers, the Supreme Court has been asked once again to decide when the media should be permitted to escape liability for publishing a false defamatory allegation. In this case, The Times published allegations of corruption against a police officer relying on the facts of an Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation, but without any serious inquiry of its own. The IPCC subsequently exonerated the officer.

On a deeper level, this case asks when our vital democratic need for robust scrutiny of public affairs should override the rights of individuals not to have their reputations publicly ruined.

The Court (at that time the House of Lords) first tackled the problem of mistaken defamatory publications in 1994 in a case concerning alleged corruption by the former Taoiseach of Ireland, Albert Reynolds. It concluded that where a story concerns a matter

Defamation laws must be carefully considered so that they do not strangle responsible journalism of public interest and the journalists and editors concerned behaved responsibly, the publisher may avoid liability for defamation. To make that more certain, the judges endorsed ten indicative factors, including the circumstances and urgency of the publication and whether the person defamed was contacted.

That undoubtedly sounds like a sensible solution. It contains,

however, a basic problem that has defied any definitive resolution. To ask whether a journalist has acted responsibly is entirely unlike asking whether a doctor or engineer has acted in accordance with their professional standards, which have no equivalent in the more looselygoverned world of journalism. The responsible journalism test therefore leaves a wide margin of discretion to

be resolved by the courts.

In the United States, the answer has been that the state, in the form of judges, should not be determining standards of journalism, setting a precedent that has excited the envy of journalists here and everywhere.

Under the US constitutional right to free speech, American courts have concluded that any person broadly described as a public figure can only

succeed in a defamation action if he or she can prove that the publisher of the defamatory allegation was motivated by actual malice. In short, it is virtually impossible for a public figure to win a defamation case in the United States.

The European Court of Human Rights has however gradually distanced itself from these American principles. It has instead decided that the right to personal reputation is rooted in the fundamental right to respect for private life. As a result, under the Human Rights Act, British courts must give reputation the same weight as freedom of expression where a defamatory allegation harms an individual’s personal integrity.

Without a renunciation of the European Convention on Human Rights, Parliament must work within those same constraints. Indeed, the defamation reform bill currently before Parliament does no more than attempt to clarify the existing rules on mistakes and responsible journalism. And for the wider British public, the most basic protections of reputation remain out of reach as the ruinous costs of these complex actions can only be borne by those who have access to deep pockets.

Perry Keller is professor of law at King’s College London and author of European and International Media Law (OUP 2011).

Tax avoidance must no longer be seen as a legitimate activity We must close the tax loopholes which allow the wealthy to avoid paying their fair share

Chris Jordan ActionAid WHILE MANY OF the Occupy movements around the world have refused to be defined by a narrow set of policy demands, calls for tax justice have been heard from many protestors.

In many ways, tax justice is an extremely moderate proposal. Ensuring that governments have enough revenue to fund basic public services through a fair, progressive system of taxation is hardly the stuff of hard core ‘anti-capitalism’.

However, the reasonable calls for multinational companies to pay the right amount of tax in the place they do business has been met with consternation and counter lobbying from many within the sector. For too long, they’ve seen tax avoidance as a legitimate activity for hordes of accountants and lawyers.

ActionAid has recently published new research, revealing that 98 of the UK’s biggest companies listed on the FTSE 100 are using tax havens.

Almost 40 per cent of all their overseas

subsidiary companies are located in tax havens, with our high street banks making up the heaviest users.

Tax dodging isn’t just something that impacts rich countries like the UK. It hits developing countries hard too, keeping them dependent on international aid and unable to employ the doctors and teachers needed to escape from poverty. Economists at the OECD estimate that developing countries lose three times more to tax havens than they receive in aid each year.

While UK Uncut’s protests have done much to highlight tax dodging here, the same issues have been highlighted in mass protests in India about ‘black money’; in a growing campaign in the USA against corporate lobbying for tax breaks and amongst civil society in Africa, fighting for the continent to realise the benefits of its vast mineral wealth.

Closer to home ActionAid student group ‘Bollocks to Poverty Edinburgh’ have been championing the campaign across campus. Already this term they’ve collected hundreds of photo messages of support for governments to close the tax loopholes. Dressed as businessmen, with bowlers and moustaches to match, they show that students in Edinburgh want tax justice too.

It’s not just campaigners who are taking up the call for tax justice.

Increasingly in international forums like the G20, it is the government of developing countries spearheading the demands for change. The South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordham has complained, “Aggressive tax avoidance is a serious cancer eating into the fiscal base of many countries”. His Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee is pressing for concerted international action, arguing, “There should be transparency. Particularly the tax havens should cooperate with countries to unearth the ill-gotten resources which are being deposited there.”

Global demands for tax justice are growing louder by the day – and not before time. All countries are in need of additional revenues to support public spending or to deal with deficits, but the question is who bears the burden?

Unless we close the tax loopholes that make it easy for multinational companies to squirrel their wealth into tax havens, the answer is that ordinary people will end up paying more.

Chris Jordan is a campaigns officer at ActionAid, an international antipoverty NGO

Government must take action to combat tax avoidance 38 DEGREES

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Feature 15

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Protests, text talk and the unstoppable power of social media From Silicon Valley to the Nile Delta, social media is unquestionably changing the world ROWAN EL SHIMI

Social media played a crucial role in enabling the protest movements which eventually toppled a wave of oppressive regimes in the Arab world this year

Daniel Keller and Emma Elliott-Walker

W

E ARE A generation associated with apathy, obesity and an inability to communicate effectively without the intermediary of an electronic device. We stand accused of degenerating the English language, breaking down conventional concepts of privacy, and creating a world in which human beings no longer have the capacity to interact personally. A generation of hoodies, hoodlums and text-talk, our weapons of choice are social networking sites, blogs and visual media feeds. Yet the events of the past year, in both the Middle East and here at home, have led many to reconsider this view, as Facebook and other websites become increasingly valuable tools of self expression and communication.

The role played by websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in the events of the Arab Spring has been widely debated by both journalists and academics. Though it is commonly acknowledged that they were a contributory factor, many have contended the ‘cyber-utopic’ view that the role of the internet was crucial.

In his book The Net Delusion, Evgeny Morozov criticises the view that ‘tweets were sent and dictators fell’, writing that the internet is only a tool of self-expression and organisation.

But surely this is the whole point.

Whilst there have been successful revolutions in the past, even the most hardened skeptic must admit that the internet allows communication on an immediate and accurate level that previous generations of revolutionaries could have only dreamed of.

Though it did not conjure the public feelings behind the Arab Spring from out of the ether, neither was it the sole mode of communication used during the revolutions - but it did allow millions to be informed and inspired on a daily basis. The internet cannot be censored in the same way as other forms of media and communication. True, a government can control it to an extent, by shutting it down and limiting direct access, such as was the case in Syria and other Arab states. However, short of a complete shut-down, the use of proxies will usually ensure that most material can be uploaded and made available to anyone with a computer and an internet connection.

The danger of the ‘cyber-utopian’ point of view is its presumption that the internet is a lone-standing entity, responsible for mass rallies such as the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement. It must be remembered that behind every tweet or blog there is a human being. Revolutionary activity wouldn’t cease to exist if the internet disappeared. The ousting of Mubarak in Egypt is a case in point: the internet was shut down, but the revolution continued regardless.

The internet’s part should not be overstated in such instances, but neither should its role be overlooked as it continues to alter the way our societies function. Social networking is today a global phenomenon, because it is easy to use, and easy to connect to.

It is also non-discriminatory. Once you are connected, you become part of a network, which spans almost every country, religion, race and class in the world. Thus, people who may never have been able to come into contact are able to communicate with one another. One of the most interesting features of movements, such as the Arab Spring and Occupy, is the diversity in political opinion and socio-economic background of the participants. These are not the narrow, politically introverted revolutions of the past, but truly mass movements on a global scale. Occupy has occurred almost simultaneously in over 80 countries around the world.

The Arab Spring has seen three established military dictatorships overthrown in the space of three months, and a further fifteen countries affected by a range of protests. Without an online presence during these international events, their debates and consequences would never have gone global.

But for every positive thing achieved by the internet, there must be a negative. Social networking as a means of communication and organisation has been implicated in both

the London riots and this summer’s Oslo and Utøya attacks. In both cases, as with Occupy and in the Middle East, social networking was merely a tool, and cannot be held responsible as a cause or starting point.

However, it is important to recall the negative aspect of this debate.

The internet itself contains as much violent, prejudiced and inflammatory material as you could care to access - sites like YouTube contain videos of everything from rape and mutilation to criminal activity, and a swift Google search of the British National Party (BNP) will give you the top 10 racist groups in your area. The inevitable result of this is increased monitoring and censorship in many countries.

European law dictates that any social media behavior that incites violence is enough to warrant a trial.

This issue has attracted a great deal of attention recently, due to ongoing court action against youths involved in the London riots. Facebook messages sent by youths encouraging rioting and looting were used as evidence, and some received prison sentences. Although few would disagree with the looters’ punishment, one can imagine the public outcry had the Tunisian revolution failed, and trials been held for those who used Facebook to send messages encouraging protest and violence.

Context is key when considering these issues, but it is always hard to draw a clear line (especially in a democratic state) between a government

proactively preventing criminal activity and a state disregarding freedom of expression. Should governments have the right to censor potentially dangerous or inflammatory material on the web? If so, which definitions of those words will be used? Or, should the internet be a place of complete freedom - in which case we carry the risk of it being used to express and organise extremism.

The former approach has already been implemented by some countries. The US government has already invested heavily in internet monitoring technology in a bid to stop terrorism; China has a ruthless system of censorship; and many of the regimes still standing in the Arab world have imposed strict restrictions on which services that can be accessed.

At the time being, the internet is being censored and controlled to various degrees, but the debate is still so fresh that there has been little time to develop a clear road map for dealing with the rights and wrongs within its realm. Nonetheless, it is a vital issue to consider. How the internet has been used and the role it can play in the provision of liberty will define its use in the future.

Emma Elliott-Walker is comment editor at The Journal. Daniel Keller is features editor.

16 Arts & Entertainment

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The Journal Wednesday 2 November 2011

Music

The Stone Roses: The Third Coming As the initial furore dies down, The Journal debates just how good an idea the return of The Stone Roses is FOOTFOOT

Sean Gibson

AS YOU MAY have heard recently, The Stone Roses are back together. The news prompted an avalanche of ‘resurrection’ puns, joyful tears from has-been music writers and general hysteria on the part of the British music world. Pooh-poohed as widely as it has been welcomed, the band’s comeback has only enjoyed further promotion due to all the subsequent bickering. One weekend in Manchester next June will be truly profound – whether we witness the painful demise or the glorious resurrection of one of the most inspiring musical acts Britain has ever produced.

After the brief honeymoon period of rekindled friendships and renewed creativity, the hard work begins.

It is a long way back after all this time, and the band are staring at one almighty obstacle course. Even The Stone Roses, with all their old boldness, may struggle beneath the weight of expectation.

Not to forget that Roses' fans are some of the most burned in the business. To call the band’s initial split ‘acrimonious’ does not do it

justice. The drummer Reni left in 1995 and the guitarist John Squire quit by phone call to singer Ian Brown in 1996. All before the infamous and much-maligned fiasco that was their final performance at Reading festival that summer. And add to that the five-year wait for 1994’s The Second Coming, merely compounded by the album's lacklustre reception by critics.

The press have wearily compared this comeback to those of Pulp and Blur, focusing too closely on irrelevant musical similarities.

However, there is still value in considering a recent example.

When American rock giants Rage Against the Machine (RATM) reunited in 2007, the idea of new material was barely even discussed.

So great is their live reputation and so consistent is their back-catalogue that the comeback revolved around giving a younger generation of fans an experience of which they had been deprived.

We certainly cannot pretend that The Stone Roses never left us.

220,000 people are at least curious enough to shell-out nearly £60 per ticket for those Heaton Park gigs next summer. Never mind that the Roses are famously shambolic live; it isn’t simply the performance on stage but the whole experience which creates gigs of Spike Island’s greatness.

As far as new material goes, unlike RATM, there is the lingering feeling that The Stone Roses never peaked; that the band’s full

potential was never unlocked. It seemed we would have to be content with the few precious gems they fashioned before implosion.

This would suggest that a full and complete Stone Roses’ reunion is a fantastic idea. With the band members' problems resolved, nothing could stop them.

Nothing, perhaps, except time.

All these assertions would have been spot-on were we still living in the twentieth century. Time doesn’t just play a cameo in this story; it is a colossus whose shadow looms over all other characters. It is 22 years since that eponymous debut album and by the time of June’s homecoming gigs it will be close to 16 years since the Roses split. All four members are now in their late forties; their first-wave fans not far behind.

The band’s legacy might have persisted and permeated the culture of a new generation, so in a sense the fans can be seen as replaceable. However, the four Mancunians on stage are definitely not. It is on this point which the comeback will revolve.

“We are going to rule the world again” says Ian Brown. While the expectation might be huge, the attitude is as confident as ever.

If the band can hunker down and enjoy a positive creative process, then shaky live performances and the sneers of the critics will mean very little in the long-run. For now, we should savour this exciting and unlikely turn of events.

Film

POM Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold Morgan Spurlock returns with an ironic exposé of advertising in film

Steven Campbell-Harris

MORGAN SPURLOCK’S LATEST documentary is a playfully ironic exposé of advertising in film intended to be, in the words of the film’s promoter, "pleasingly circular." POM Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold follows Spurlock as he tries to secure funds for his new documentary by offering on-screen advertising spots. However, it soon transpires that the film he wishes to make is actually the film we are watching; that is, a film about the process of acquiring funds for a film through advertising. What follows is a series of torturously tongue-incheek promotions of Spurlock’s sponsors interspersed with the odd remark (from Spurlock and some notable interviewees) to highlight the film’s

subversive, self-referential character.

For Spurlock, it seems, if you are conscious of ‘selling out’ then you aren’t actually selling out. All in all, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold makes for a terrific high-concept documentary.

By juxtaposing what goes on both on and off the screen, Spurlock has created a film which is simultaneously entertaining and thought-provoking.

Nevertheless, the cynical viewer can be forgiven for perceiving further layers of irony in the film. Advertising executives in the film are keen to point out that ‘Morgan Spurlock’ is itself a ‘brand’ generating publicity (‘brand awareness’) and devotion (‘brand loyalty’) from consumers. Perhaps, then, the film’s most effective promotion is not of a product but of the filmmaker himself. Indeed, judging by the film’s critical success, this is one brand that isn’t going away soon.

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Arts & Entertainment 17

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Theatre

Slava's Snowshow Creative comedy that contains both grand spectacles and subtle delights

Anna Hafsteinsson

SLAVA, A BURLY and bearded Russian man, is the creator of this worldwide phenomenon of a show. It could be described as a clowning act, but this production is so much more than that and deserves to be recognised as such. In Slava’s own words it is "a theatre of hopes and dreams, suffused with solitude and longing, premonitions and disillusions between art and life, tragedy and comedy, absurdity and naivety, cruelty and tenderness."

Slava’s Snowshow is a true feast for the senses. He presents us with a kaleidoscopic world where adults

become children again, a bed transforms into a mythic boat, multicoloured bubbles drift loftily around the theatre, and the rules of reality are quite forgotten.

Perhaps this show’s title is a little deceptive. Snow is, indeed, very much involved in the production and it often helps to create moments of pure spectacle and extravagance. A mighty blizzard, for example, is blown across the audience in the midst of an almost blinding white light. That said, the magic that truly lies in this very special production is in the intricacies of movement and expression. Slava draws on influences from the roots of clowning, pantomime and comedy and also, of course, observations of the world around him.

Although these figures in front of you bear resemblance to the conventional clown, there is a depth and a lyricism to each character that pushes them beyond the realm of mere entertainment and into a world of theatre that is able to evoke true emotion in its audience. It is the movement of a hand, the lift of an intricately painted brow or the minutest of changes in voice pitch that can have such an impact.

The attention to detail within this production shines through and that, it seems, is what draws in the crowds again and again. A rare treat for adults and children alike, Slava’s Snowshow will no doubt continue to mesmerize and enchant audiences worldwide for many years to come.

LEE GWYN

Music

Patrick Wolf

Ugly Clean Up An unsightly representation of an ugly world

Musical alchemist Patrick Wolf creates a frenzy as the crowd melt into his fantastical dream world

Georgina Bolton

AN ANXIOUS CROWD await the presence of self-confessed ‘libertine’ Patrick Wolf, the wayward musical genius that for the previous decade stunned the world with melodramatic edgypop. The crowd seems pensive, awaiting the shifting guttural melodies characteristic of his latest album, and hopeful for the pulsing optimism and musical exuberance that Wolf’s in-flux sound promises.

The stage backdrop presents a utopian landscape of black and white skyscrapers, whilst on the floor an

Art

Delphine Tomes

array of fantastical instruments is perched; including a half-size electric harp and a baritone ukulele.

Waltzing on stage in a striking red military jacket and sporting an eccentric quiff, Wolf dominates the space.

His dynamic opening vocals make the audience melt into space, while sombre lyrics and whirling melodies wrap themselves around band and crowd, orchestrating an invitation into his musical dreamscape.

‘Gypsy King’ meticulously fuses rhythmic ease with a jewel-like exuberance that has the crowd in raptures. Wolf’s compositions are those that get you in the gut. The lush poppy pulses of ‘House’ and ‘The City’ boast

a beguiling beauty and flimsy poetry that soar through your body, imbuing you with a sense of oscillating excitement. Wolf’s exuberant avant-garde persona overflows as he lurches around stage, adding eccentric ‘props’ to his attire. Necessary sparkle, feathers, and an elaborate neckpiece satisfy our desires to experience this musician’s illustrious, oddball eccentricity.

The only criticism of the night would be that the other band-members somewhat lack in charisma, leaving the job entirely to Wolf (although he is more than capable of filling the stage). As Wolf builds his ephemeral city of sound, we all have but no choice but to populate it.

AT A TIME in art when beauty is venerated at the expense of the ugly, it seems apt that ugliness be given its own little space to exist. Global protests are only one of a myriad of examples demonstrating existing social ugliness, and it appears that the artists presented at Embassy’s Ugly Clean Up seek to express such unsightliness using equally unpleasant material.

There is nothing pretty about John Russell’s 2010 film, Vermillion Vortex.

Infinite, immediate, ecstatic, perhaps: he integrates these adjectives into the film through the presence of bulging and fluorescent pop-typeface of an adolescent. Flashing red imagery goes alongside Christ on the crucifix, which is all set to an unsettling cacophony of unnerving voices and interrupted music that infiltrates beyond the small cinema into the rest of the Embassy space. It is, to use Jonathan Jones’s description, an ‘hyperbolic overactive pop monstrosity’.

Alexis Milne tackles the topical the riots. Protestors in his video Deep Undercover (2011) display signs stating that ‘underneath every policeman lies an activist’ – a reference to his performance pieces (Arbitrary Kettle, 2011) in which activists sported cardboard

masks of policemen and police dogs.

Such re-enactment engages with the intimidation and, frankly, ugliness encountered on our streets.

These artists consider ugliness far more relevant than the seemingly natural affirmation of beauty, and their materials reiterate this. Hasty compositions, glue marks on the walls and unsteady hands bear no reference to high art. These works are as transient and corroding as the society they object

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Ooh Fashion Cami Ryder

AS THE RUNWAY shows in New York, Paris, Milan and London have come to a close, Ooh Fashion celebrated fall fashion and local Edinburgh designers last week. The annual autumn/ winter runway show was on Tuesday 18th October and “A Fair of Fashion” on 22nd October. After Tuesday’s jampacked A/W show, which featured 15 collections and 170 outfits, Ooh Fashion held the fair and pop-up shop at No.12 Picardy Place. Both events benefited the Royal Hospital’s Sick Kids Friends Foundation, as a percentage of proceeds went to supporting the foundation.

From vintage wares to custommade designs, the fair shop featured items from over 10 local boutiques and vintage shops, such as Those Were The Days, Lilies and Dreams, Pyschomoda Clothing, NutMeg Couture and Sister Vintage. Shoppers had access to beautiful vintage items and custommade dresses and jewellery – all at discounted prices. The fair also featured designs from local millinery Karen Reid Designs, reworked clothing from Nayane Fashion, tango dresses from Yosoy, as well as designs from nicci.n., Elle Diva, and Cotton Fields.

Ooh Fashion’s creative director Gary Anderson began the fashion network group in 2010, starting with a spring/summer show in March 2010.

Since then, Ooh Fashion’s shows have gotten bigger and better, featuring more independent designers, makeup artists and hairdressers. “[We] try to add to each season [and] make it a bigger venue,” Anderson said. With this year’s fair, they hoped to attract more people and attention to Edinburgh style and fashion.

Though Edinburgh has a “mind for fashion,” Anderson noted how it has not been highlighted here as it is in Glasgow. Anderson, a student at Napier University, started Ooh Fashion as a networking resource for those interested in the fashion industry and fashion event planning. His ultimate goal? “To help establish an Edinburgh Fashion Week.” This might not be too far in the future, given the incredible amount of people who attended this Tuesday’s show. “[People] definitely have an interest in fashion in Edinburgh,” Anderson said, noting that the line for Tuesday’s show was so long, they had to unfortunately turn some people away. By adding Saturday’s “A Fair of Fashion,” attendees had the chance to view pieces featured in the show, as well as connect with independent designers and boutiques.

Up next for Ooh Fashion is their Spring/Summer 2012 show, which Anderson says will be on an even bigger scale than this past show.

A&E 19

Bedbug Cabaret Voltaire

Fashion

Bedbug at their best with Ace of Bass, Shy FX and Stamina MC

Clubs

Ooh Fashion, a runway success in Edinburgh

SUBCATEGORY

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Fred Fergus

IT IS A truth universally acknowledged that sometimes there is nothing better than being physically restrained against a subwoofer in a sweaty basement. Tonight is one of those times. Bedbug has proved night after night that it has the pulling power to bring the biggest names in drum and bass, techno and dubstep to our fair city. Shy FX was always going to draw in the punters and despite its

diminuitive crowd capacity, the Cab proved once again that size does not matter when it comes to putting on a riotous party.

The rumble of the bass, the noise of the crowd and the sweat dripping from the walls can only give a modest indication of how good this night was.

With the crowd packed into the club, sharing the good times (and bodily fluids), you feel like you’d never need to leave, not with music this good. If there were two things people could not help doing, it was dancing and smiling. There were beats to jump to,

raggae to skank to and even an occasional wobble to guiltily get down to. The latter harkens to a penchant of dubstep for sometimes being the drop-fuelled elephant in the recording studio (see Britney Spears' ‘Freakshow’ for a case in point).

So, once again, well done to all involved. The words ‘best night of the year’ were not lightly thrown around as people emerged slowly back into cold, dark reality. Now all we need to do is get licensing laws to allow ‘proper sick nights’ like this to finish when the people are ready; not before.

Stay tuned with upcoming events on Ooh Fashion’s page: http://www.facebook.com/oohfashion.edinburgh.

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Edinburgh Firsts fend off Glasgow Edinburgh University rocket to the top of their BUCS class as Glasgow struggle to regain control of the match

FOOTBALL BUCS Scottish Conference Men’s 1A P W D L F A GD Pts 2 2 0 0 8 1

7

6

Heriot-Watt 1st 2 2 0 0 6 1

5

6

Glasgow 1st Stirling 2nd

3 2 0 1 6 2

4

6

Edinburgh 1st

3 1 0 2 4 6 -2

3

Edinburgh 2nd

4 0 0 4 2 16 -14 0

RUGBY BUCS Men's Premier North B P WDL F Edinburgh 1st

A

3 3 0 0 52 20

GD Pts 32 9*

Birmingham 1st 3 2 0 1 120 49 Loughborough 3 2 0 1 87 59 2nd 3 2 0 1 66 42 Durham 2nd

24

6

Manchester 1st 3 2 0 1 74 63

11

6

Nottingham 1st

71

6

28

6

3 1 0 2 41 58 -17 3

HOCKEY BUCS Scottish Conference Men’s 1A P W D L F A GD Pts Edinburgh 1st

4 2 1 1 9 11 -2

7

Glasgow 1st

3 2 0 1 14 5

9

6

Edinburgh 2nd

3 1 1 1 5 10 -5

4

St Andrews 1st

3 1 0 2 10 8

2

3

Strathclyde 1st

3 1 0 2 5 9 -4

3

BUCS Scottish Conference Women’s 1A P W D L F A GD Pts Dundee 1st

3 3 0 0 13 1 12

9

Edinburgh 1st

3 2 1 0 10 2

8

7

Strathclyde 1st

3 1 1 1 3 6 -3

4

Glasgow 1st

3 0 1 2 3 10 -7

1

Heriot-Watt 1st

4 0 1 3 2 12 -10 1

* = points deducted/awarded

ANDREW GASS

Gareth Llewellyn

EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY MEN’S 1st stormed to the top of their BUCS table with a 2-1 win over Glasgow University Men’s 1st in a thrilling contest at Garscube Sports Complex.

Edinburgh took the lead on 11 minutes when a Mark Gair corner to the edge of the box again found James Craigen in acres of space, and he hammered the ball low to keeper Jamie MacFarlane’s right.

Glasgow rallied back immediately, and were unlucky not to grab an immediate equaliser as Edinburgh stopper Craig Bald stretched low to his right to keep out Calum Leitch’s 25-yard shot. From the resulting corner Calum Tevendale got the better of Dan Ward, but his header sailed over the bar.

With the game becoming more end-toend, Mike Gray wasted three opportunities for Edinburgh before Glasgow almost equalised, but Aaron Scoular failed to trouble Bald from close range after good wide play from McLaughlin.

Edinburgh finally made their pressure count eight minutes before half time as Beacher got between Tevendale and Ferguson to head a Moosavi cross beyond McFarlane to double their lead.

It could have been worse for the hosts as Edinburgh continued to make ground down the flanks, but their defence held firm to go in just 2-0 down at the break.

Glasgow regrouped at the interval, and looked more assured in the second half, but were guilty of wasting glorious chances to get back into the game. Five minutes in, Adam El-Mansi powered past Edinburgh full-back Stefan Ross, but his shot from

eight yards was charged down by Shawn McMaster.

As the hosts ramped up the pressure, Edinburgh buckled slightly, and appeared to lose their heads, contending decisions heatedly with the officials. However they did enough at the back to prevent Glasgow from pulling a goal back until 72 minutes gone.

Coming in from the left, Ferguson pounced to rifle the ball low to Bald’s right after Edinburgh failed to deal with Leitch’s

ball across goal, much to the delight of the Glasgow contingent behind the goal.

Despite pushing for an equaliser, Glasgow were almost put out of sight on 78 minutes by two Edinburgh second-half substitutes when Roy Chatterjee’s fierce drive from the edge of the area was spilled

by MacFarlane, and Calum Frain’s followup was charged down by Ferguson.

Both side had half chances in the final ten minutes, but with the defences on top Edinburgh held on to a famous win at

Garscube to propel them to the top of the league with two wins in their opening two games.

Speaking to The Journal after the game, Edinburgh Uni captain Gair said: “It was a fantastic win, we were missing four or five players who are currently away on placement, so we can only get stronger as the season progresses. I think we have sent out the message from the start that we are Scottish Champions and have no intention of giving away that status lightly!”

Edinburgh swimmers power past Strathclyde University maintains dominance in the pool as Glasgow rivals fail to make a splash

Sally Abernethy

EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY’S FIRSTTEAM swimmers last week secured a staggering 171-77 triumph over Strathclyde at St Leonard’s pool. The team extended their run of good form in some style, bettering the victory over Aberdeen of a fortnight previous.

Edinburgh had on their game faces from the get-go. The women’s team kicked off the with the 4x50m medley relay, beating Strathclyde by a whole length of the pool. This strong start was followed-up with a series of strong swims from the Edinburgh girls in the 100-metre events; Sarah Eaglesham placed first in the freestyle with an impressive time of 59.50 seconds, whilst in the breaststroke Emma Bird and Andrea Strachan tore ahead of the Strathclyde girls to claim first and second place respectively.

Strachan then won the 100m individual medley in a rapid time of 1 minute, 12.15 seconds, with Iona Campbell a

comfortable second.

Emma Bird and Ishbel Rodger had the unenviable task of swimming the longest event - 200m free - but the Edinburgh ladies rose to the challenge and produced seemingly effortless swims, taking first and second respectively.

In the 50 metre events Edinburgh denied Strathclyde any first or second places. The 50m fly was close, however, with Jenn Davis clinching second ahead of the Strathclyde swimmer by just 0.06 seconds, having chased her down in the last 15 metres; Eilidh Kirkwood took first by 0.38 seconds.

The 50m backstroke was dominated by the Edinburgh girls, with Rachel Smithers and Amy Parsons battling it out for first and second – Parsons edging it by 0.31 seconds. The 4x50m freestyle relay saw another comfortable win for Edinburgh; with the Strathclyde team tiring, consistently strong swims saw the gap increase with each leg.

The men’s team were also a force to be reckoned with, contending more with each other than with Strathclyde.

The 200 free saw Edinburgh ahead of

Strathclyde’s leading swimmer by a substantial 34 seconds, leaving Captain Craig Meek and Cameron Smith to battle between themselves for first and second place; Smith clinched it with 2:03.15, compared to Meek’s close effort of 2:04.04.

Like the women, the men didn’t give Strathclyde a look-in at the 50m events.

Stuart Conley put a solid effort into the ‘fly, finishing with a time of 27.63 to take first place with ease.The breaststroke was close, with Jack Holroyd pulling away from his opponent in the last few strokes to claim second, as James Thomson took an impressive first in 31.91.

The guys showed no mercy in the 100m events either. European Short Course contender, Nicholas Quinn, claimed first place in the 100m ‘fly, but was closely followed

by Stuart Conley. Orion Young dominated the 100m free with a time of 56.20, comfortably taking first place.

The scoreline was just reward for Edinburgh’s competitive spirit, keeping the pace up and producing some excellent swims and exciting battles even as Strathclyde began to flag.

ANDREW GASS

The Journal Wednesday 2 November 2011

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Sport 21

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Edinburgh Hoping for Heineken Cup High After an indifferent start to their campaign Edinburgh look for some European respite

CRAIG MARREN

Jamie Timson Sport editor ITS NOT BEEN a great start to the season for the Capital’s rugby outfit. A poor run of away form has found them lying 11th in the RaboDirect Pro 12 the new name for the Celtic league competition.

This poor form was compounded by a home loss to Leinster last Friday, but all hopes now turn to their next home match which signals the beginning of the Heineken cup campaign at Murrayfield. Edinburgh kick-off their Heineken Cup challenge against London Irish at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday, 12 November, bidding to reach the knock-out stages for only the second time and end a seven-year wait to make the last eight again.

It is the home support which Edinburgh coach Michael Bradley hopes will make all the difference, describing the crowd as “immense” it appears the new pitchside standing area at Murrayfield has made a real difference to the team. Supporters are now able to get as close to the action as physically possible, whilst still enjoying the amenities of the burger vans, which are now located within the stadium itself.

The festival atmosphere is completed by the array of student ticket offers available, which has really bolstered the crowd numbers for recent matches.

For the team itself, indiscipline at crucial times has often cost them this season. Leinster’s Jonny Sexton kicked 23 points in their 36-28

win, and many of those penalties could have been avoided. Bradley agrees, but is remaining upbeat “There are a lot of positives in how our game is developing, but for it to change in terms of the results we are talking to the boys about accuracy and discipline.” The Heineken cup it seems provides the perfect fresh start for the team. The 18th of November brings the French side Racing Metro to Murrayfield and the mouth-watering clash should serve up a treat as Tim Visser Edinburgh’s Flying Dutchman takes on Mirco Bergamasco the Italian superstar on the wing. Visser’s performances this season have been typically superb. The soon to be Scotsman struck in each half against Leinster to take his career total to 29 tries, one more than wing colleague Simon Webster, while he now has five for the season to stand at the top of the current Celtic charts.

The re-introduction of the Scotland World Cup players has also provided fresh impetus and it will be the loose work of Hooker Ross Ford that will be relied upon. Ford showed his abilities with a timely break up the wing against Leinster but it was his impressive handling skills that stood out. Edinburgh will be hoping they can avenge their opening day loss to the Cardiff Blues when they welcome them to Murrayfield on the 16th of December. Bradley and the team will be eager to garner as much home support as possible to enable the Heineken Cup to be Edinburgh’s surprise Friday night hot spot.

The Magnificent Sevens William Gael Pakianathan

THE ALL BLACKS are world champions. Unbeaten throughout the six-week competition, they faced a French side that many felt did not deserve to be there in the final.

Surprisingly, the All Blacks never looked as beatable as they did in that game, winning by the narrowest of margins after defending for much of the second-half; an eventful end to an eventful World Cup. It was a tournament where the fly-halves, usually the stars, struggled either with injury or poor form. Wayward goal-kicking was a recurring feature, as an average of just three and a half penalties were scored per match, the lowest ever in the competition. The only number 10 who really made a mark in this tournament was the young Rhys Priestland. Confident in attack as well a reliable goal-kicker, he was the revelation of the World Cup

before injury ruled him out of the semi-final against France.

Inevitably, as the fly-halves floundered, so did their backlines, with Quade Cooper in particular failing to provide the spark to ignite the underperforming Wallabies backs. Tries became increasingly rare, defence became the key to victory as winning margins narrowed, pushing the open-side flankers into the spotlight.

Flinging themselves into tackles and disrupting rucks, they stole the show through their tireless work in defence. McCaw, Dusautoir, Warburton and Pocock were all excellent, unyielding colossuses at the breakdown, scrapping for every inch, scrabbling for every loose ball. They were well assisted by their fellow loose forwards, except for Pocock, whose teammates simply could not keep up with him.

Left to hunt alone, he still managed to dominate against South Africa, although the lack of support made him ineffective against the ruthless

All Black triumvirate of McCaw, Kaino and Read.

Warburton was outstanding as well, though his World Cup was unfortunately cut short by a red card, a victim of the inconsistent refereeing which continues to blight rugby union. While it was undoubtedly the correct decision according to the laws of the game, the fact that the laws are so inconsistently applied meant that Warburton had every right to feel outraged. In the France-Tonga game two notable spear tackles were made, but Steve Walsh deemed a yellow card was enough for each offender. Inconsistency marred the final as well, with a number of decisions going against France, including a couple of high tackles missed by Craig Joubert. His lax policing of the breakdown, drastically different from that of many other referees, was also criticised, with French scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili declaring that "he did not want us to win”.

Yet in the end, the key to the All Blacks’ success in this World Cup was their capacity to adapt. For so long the proponents of free-flowing, running rugby, they abandoned that approach in the final, playing an uncharacteristic conservative game plan. In the dying minutes, they mounted a series of aimless pick-and-drives: a final concession to pragmatism as they wound the clock down.

Twenty-four years after winning the World Cup despite losing their captain Anthony Dalton to injury, the All Blacks were able to shrug off the loss of talismanic fly-half Dan Carter, for so long the lynchpin of the team. Stephen Donald, fourth-choice number 10 and muchmaligned All Black, kicked the penalty to win the Rugby World Cup final. Succeeding where Mehrtens, Spencer and even Carter could not, Donald proved that he was good enough to be an All Black, finally ending twenty-four years of World Cup failure.

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As New Zealand finally lift the curse, The Journal looks back at a World Cup for the forwards

Splitting the Old Firm Another year, another chance to break the Glasgow monopoly?

22 Sport

Class Act

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The Journal Wednesday 2 November 2011

Motor racing rocked by successive tragedies Deaths of Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli in the space of a week have brought fresh scrutiny of motor sport safety protocols

David Freese St Louis Cardinals

IMAGENATION

Sean Gibson Sean Gibson Sport editor THE ST LOUIS Cardinals' 10-9 victory over the Texas Rangers, in Game 6 of Baseball’s ironically named World Series, ended with Third Baseman David Freese scoring a game winning home run. The remarkable nature of this game was apparent, in backto-back innings, the ninth and the tenth, St. Louis was down to its last strike, yet pulled it back from the brink twice with Freese at the helm.= The Texas Rangers entered the bottom of the ninth with a 7-5 lead and their specialist pitcher at the mound. With runners on first and second and two outs, the St. Louis season came down to Freese. If Freese failed to score, the Texas Rangers would win Baseball’s top prize and St Louis would have nothing for their efforts. The Pitcher threw what is known in Baseball jargon as a “heater” - his fastest delivery - Freese swung his bat at it, the connection was sweet but the deep dimensions of the baseball field wouldn’t allow the ball to clear the outfield. Indeed Freese himself, commented afterwards that he thought the fielder was going to catch it.

However, the fielder mistimed his run and as he reached out to catch the ball, he couldn’t make it, both runs were scored and the game was tied.

Not content with his efforts, Freese stepped up to the plate in the 11th knowing that a run would win the contest and force a 7th and final game in the series. Once again Freese left it to the final pitch possible before launching a slower pitch deep into the sky. His shot landed in a patch of grass just beyond the centre field fence. Freese’s nerves had held. He was a hero, a truly class act.

St Louis Cardinals went on to defeat the Rangers in the final game of the World Series to take the crown.

David Freese: class act

Sport editor IN THE SPACE of a week, two horrifying incidents have shaken the world of motor sport. First, a pile-up at the Indy 300 in Las Vegas claimed the life of British driver Dan Wheldon; the following Sunday, Italy’s Marco Simoncelli died in MotoGP’s Malaysian Grand Prix after being run over by two other bikes.

There have been moving tributes to both men in the subsequent days. As the shock has begun to dissipate, though, inquiries have begun.

Simoncelli’s fatal crash involved seasoned riders Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi, the former suffering a broken arm. Edwards has already broken his collarbone this season, as has Dani Pedrosa – in a crash which saw Simoncelli himself reprimanded for a dangerous manoeuvre.

But for all the frequency of such injuries, riders more often emerge unscathed from spectacular crashes thanks to the rigorous safety measures of MotoGP. Double World Superbike champion James Toseland has called the Simoncelli crash “a freak accident”, pointing out that there is not a great deal more that can be done to make motorcycle racing safer.

The greater storm has broken over the IndyCar series. Certain nuances have been distorted in the aftermath of the incident, as the sport has had to defend itself, and the very concept of oval-racing, from mainstream media criticism. Many talk nonsensically as though IndyCar racing has never developed any safety measures at all. Deaths are very rare these days and that is no accident.

The main issue is the pack racing which was witnessed in Las Vegas, which allowed the mistake of one driver to embroil so many more in a serious incident. On a (relatively short) 1.5-mile oval, with particularly steep banking, that hadn’t held an IndyCar race for 11 years, an unusually high number of cars – 34 – contested the opening laps in one mass, with little or no field spread.

This was an anomaly, one which the sports authorities are already working hard to learn from. Next year’s chassis will feature closed rear wheels, to help prevent cars riding up and going airborne

in collisions, as well as increased internal protection of the cockpit. Other changes advocated in the wake of Las Vegas include improved catch-fencing and the reduction of downforce on the cars, which would prevent them from racing so closely in the corners.

British driver Justin Wilson is adamant: “We can race on ovals again.” 1979 Formula 1 world champion Jody Scheckter may have criticised the sport – stating a desire for his son, Thomas, to retire – but a large section of his argument is levelled against the downforce levels which the sport looks set to address.

The deaths of both Wheldon and Simoncelli must serve as a warning against complacency. It will always be a tricky balancing act, as safety measures attempt to keep pace with and cater to ceaseless technical innovation, but it is one which is acknowledged by a responsible racing community.

Motor sport is dangerous; it always will be. The men and women who participate all know and understand this from the outset, and those who have perished would surely not want their deaths to precipitate a fundamental change in the nature of the sport they held dear.

Introducing... Aussie Rules The Journal offers a brief primer in the rough and tumble of Aussie Rules Football

Ruth Jeffery

AUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL has its origins in the Gaelic Games, but has moved back to this side of the world with a growing Scottish league. Once seen as violent and aggressive, the game has enjoyed a rise in popularity as its image has shifted. Now pioneered as a family game, the Scottish Australian Rules Football League (SARFL) is one of the busiest in Europe.

Teams in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen make up the SARFL, and play in both the league and the Haggis Cup, a competition involving clubs from across Europe. This year eight teams from five different countries competed in the Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow, with the Glasgow Sharks winning the competition for the first time after eight prior attempts.

AFL Board Member Douglas Hunter of Glasgow was there. He said, "The competition was fierce, fair and played with great sportsmanship. We are very

pleased to see the obvious commitment and passion for the sport from all teams and support volunteers."

The sport has grown rapidly in Scotland over the past 10 years. Glasgow Sharks’ senior coach, Stephen Connor, explains: "When I first began here in 1991 … there were only four or five of us and we had to travel to the London Area if we wanted to get involved in matches."

From 2004, the Glasgow Sharks and Edinburgh Bloods played against each other in the then-new SARFL, with Aberdeen joining with the Aberdeen Dingoes in 2008. Smaller university teams have since been set up, with the aim of creating a multi-league system.

A friendly match between Europe and Australia Youth in April this year successfully promoted the game in the UK, with the visitors coming out on top.

Last month’s Euro Cup in Belfast saw 18 teams from 17 countries compete, with Ireland the winner of both men’s and women’s titles.

Using tournaments like these as building blocks, the SARFL is trying to

change the reputation of the game. Connor has seen this shift in attitudes.

"In the mid-80s, Channel 4 used the aggressive and physical side of the sport to try and ‘sell’ it to the public, highlighting the violence and fights that were a more common part of the sport then. They used all the clichés of ‘Aussie NO Rules’." This, he says, is not

the case anymore.

"The sport itself has changed a lot, becoming much more athletic, and several rules have been brought in to encourage teams not to fight."

This productive outlook, international fixtures and a growing fan base ensure that this is a sport moving firmly forwards.

TIM BAYMAN

The Journal Wednesday 2 November 2011

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Sport 23

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'The modern game' How pundits, ‘purists’ and purse strings have destroyed the art of tackling in football Sean Gibson Sport editor THE ART OF tackling is dying on its arse. This isn’t so much a creeping realisation as it is a bald truth that has only been reinforced by the latest in a long line of high-profile incidents. Jack Rodwell’s red card in the recent Merseyside derby was followed up two weeks ago by Aston Villa full-back Alan Hutton’s tackle on West Brom’s centre-forward Shane Long.

For this, we can blame the astronomical sums of money around which football revolves. The clubs take such high-stakes gambles in

the transfer market nowadays that distortions of the rulebook are an essential means of insurance.

In this the media are complicit; they couldn’t siphon anywhere near the same amount of money from football if the sport’s greatest assets were out injured for weeks at a time.

No, the nice-little-earners must be protected. Hence we treat the likes of Fernando Torres as though they were crafted of fine-boned china.

“We all wanna see talent like that in the Premier League,” we are told by some friendly-faced former West Ham player on Sky Sports News.

Amid the round of condemnation of Hutton’s tackle on Match of the Day that night, Alan Hansen actually

BUCS football season taking shape

All Rhodes lead to Brazil 2014 FOLLOWING THE DISAPPOINTMENT of Scotland’s failure to qualify for Euro 2012, Craig Levein has looked to the future with his squad announcement on Tuesday. Huddersfield Town striker Jordan Rhodes will earn his first full Scotland call-up. Rhodes has scored 11 goals to help Huddersfield to second in League One and has also hit five

McIlroy scoops Golf’s richest prize US OPEN CHAMPION Rory McIlroy beat American Anthony Kim in a play-off to win the Shanghai Masters. McIlroy gave up an initial three-shot lead before rallying on the back nine to finish level with Kim at 18-under. The Shanghai Masters has the biggest first prize in golf of $2m (£1.24m), with the runner-up receiving $750,000 (£465,000), from a total prize pot of $5m (£3.1m). The young Northern Irishman recently shocked the golfing world by switching management away from boyhood mentor Andrew Chandler and perhaps will vindicated by this win.“Unfortunately we, the Moderate students, miss a bid to improve the Swedish higher eduction.

“If we want Sweden to be continuously competitive in a globalised world more has to be invested into the higher education system to ensure its quality.”

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THE HERIOT-WATT AND Edinburgh university first-teams have kept pace with one another at the top of the Men’s Scottish Conference 1A, making it two wins in two games so far this season. While Edinburgh were beating Glasgow 2-1 away, Heriot-Watt were taking the Edinburgh second-team apart at Peffermill – 4-1 the final scoreline. Edinburgh’s seconds have lost all four of their matches this season and sit rooted to the foot of the table.

Meanwhile, in the Men’s 2A, Edinburgh Napier firsts have won one and lost one in an evenly matched division. In the Women’s Scottish Conference 1A, Edinburgh still sit in second having lost 4-2 last week at home to leaders Robert Gordon.

goals in his last two games for Scotland Under-21s. Oldham-born 21-year-old Rhodes qualifies for Scotland because he attended school in the country for more than five years while his English father, Andy, played in Scottish football.

Levein will be hoping that his introduction will provide a boost in the build-up to the World Cup in Brazil in 2014. Scotland face Cyprus in a friendly in Larnaca on Friday 11 November.

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spoke the words: “Well, he’s played the ball, but...” But what? Hansen broke off that particularly dangerous train of thought. Far too great an implication that the tackle might actually have been fair.

Former referee Dermot Gallagher told Sky Sports News that: “Once you leave the ground, you lose all control over your body.” Now, not to get caught up in semantics, but that’s bollocks. Leaving the ground does not constitute a foul in itself. The player has only ‘lost control’ if the referee deems it so, but here we have a problem.

Rodwell’s red card is a prime example of the depths of ineptitude to which pressure can drive a

fully-qualified professional referee.

The consequences of a mistaken red card are nothing next to the potential reputation damage of letting a leg-breaker go unpunished.

We see it each week, up and down the leagues – it’s filtering down into grassroots football – and yet we just shrug our shoulders and go along with it. Football is infinitely less dirty than it was in the past. And don’t give me that guff about ‘the increased pace of the game’ either.

The faster tackles may look more spectacular, but the worst damage is done when boots are planted in the turf.

You may think him an arsehole; you may think that getting the ball

was an afterthought; you might be foaming at the mouth, demanding swift revenge be exacted – but if it was a fair tackle it doesn’t matter how hard-done-to you feel. Football is not particularly hazardous, as contact sports go. True purists recognise this, savouring the strong tackle and stout defence as much as the nutmeg and the one-touch passing.

We need to stop listening to and parroting the media sycophants.

Even beneath their carpet-bombing we can preserve the core values of our game. Football is a contact sport; people will get hurt, and it is nobody’s duty to provide you with entertainment.

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