The Ripple issue 5

www.the-ripple.co.uk ripple@le.ac.uk @uolripple www.facebook.com/therippleleicester Issue Five

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Semester One

28th October - 3rd November

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In this issue...

In this issue...

News News

Union Council Elections Results

Culture Features Features

A Guide to Diwali

Culture

Lifestyle

Lifestyle

Emily Barker Get Spooky Interview

Sport Sport A Round-up of the Week

NEWS

2

Edited by Sarah O’Rourke

Election results announced

by Christopher Everett

seats.

Just three years ago, Union Council was seen by many as being largely politically Conservative. But this year, we have taken a sharp left turn, after a slate of 22 candidates supported by Socialist Students and Labour Students snapped up around one third of available

The record 1,300 vote turnout is the Union’s highest in recent years. However, with that figure only representing approximately 13% of the on-campus population, it remains plainly obvious that most students remain disengaged from Union decision making.

Michael Rubin and the newly-elected Postgraduate Officer, Ares Navarro

by Samuel Osborne Editor-In-Chief Up for debate Last week The Ripple featured an excellent debate between Laura Muse and Sarah O’Rourke, who disagreed on the issue of women’s liberation officers.

Response to this debate seemed overwhelmingly positive, and it would be great to have more debates of this nature in future. If any of the readers of this paper should wish to put their views forward within these pages, please don’t hesitate to contact one of the editors.

Scary special With the run up to Halloween, our Lifestyle section features some excellent articles, which should give some ideas for places to shop for costumes, as well as a great recipe for Pumpkin Soup! This year I’m completely unsure of what to dress up as for Halloween. For the previous two years, I’ve stuck by my tried and tested Zombie costume.

It has also been suggested that the sheer number of elections taking place may have put many voters off, which is something that Sean Kelly-Walsh, Engagement Officer, believes will be changed next year.

The autumn elections, often seen as a rite of passage for the new Engagement Officer, tend to be a watermark for future success in the office. The turnout increase of nearly 30% would boost support for any second term bid from Kelly-Walsh in next year’s Sabb elections.

This election has proved the power of student groups in swinging results. Labour Students won 16 out of 17 backed candidates. Brad Marshall, the Chair of the Labour Society, masterminded a campaign for the Postgraduate position, which will now be seen as Labour’s most successful yet.

Marshall joins Sabbs Sean Kelly-Walsh and Michael Rubin in a trio of influetial Labour leaders on campus who have taken an increasingly involved

Newly-elected Liberation Officers

Editor’s note

It has been suggested that part of the problem this year has been financing the elections; running voting stalls, managing publicity and sheer work hours runs up a weighty cost, but provides only a limited scope to attract turnout.

Perhaps this year, in keeping with my role as Editor, I’ll have to go as Rupert Murdoch...

Mixed media What ever is an Editor’s column for if it can’t be used for self promotion? Next Monday (4th), The Ripple will be joining LUSH, LUST and the Media and Communications society, for a Mixed Media Bar Crawl.

We’ll be visiting some of Leicester’s greatest bars, and aim to finish the night in Republic.

In keeping with the week’s costume bonanza, The Ripple will be attending dressed as sailors.

Make sure you keep an eye out for us next Monday night!

This Week’s Team Editor & Designer: Emily Gussin eg155@le.ac.uk News & Opinion Editor: Sarah O’Rourke sor3@le.ac.uk

Write for us...

If you have an idea for an article or would just like to be assigned articles, please email the section editor relevant to your idea or tastes.

For general enquiries email: ripple@le.ac.uk Executives Editor-in-Chief: Samuel Osborne so104@le.ac.uk Deputy Editor: Alexander French ajwf1@le.ac.uk Operations Team

Features: Karina Maduro akm38@le.ac.uk

President: Christopher Everett ce70@le.ac.uk

What’s On: Nikki Skinner ns317@le.ac.uk

Secretary: Mel Agnew

Culture: Emily Boneham eb190@le.ac.uk Lifestyle: Katie Masters kmm36@le.ac.uk Sport: Conor Wickham cw274@le.ac.uk

Advertising and Marketing: Lauren Swain Print and Distribution: Hollie Brookes Online Development: Vicki Clarke Events: Olivia Milizia

Some of the students elected to the Society and Community Zone, with Union President, Dan Flatt

approach within the Students’ Union.

Labour is joined by another big winner this election: Socialist Students.

Under the auspices of the recently returned President Dan Fahey, Socialist Students backed six candidates across Union Council, winning in each election.

Speaking to The Ripple, Fahey confirmed that they would be “looking to work with Labour Party members.” He later added, “We’re not partisan, and I actually believe in debate, with reason, evidence and compassion.”

Fahey claimed that a party line would be used only on a case by case basis “if it’s tactically useful; when we’re fighting for ordinary students’ interests.”

Fahey has been careful to remove Socialist Students from the previous stigma that would see them shunned as immoderate: “We don’t in anyway way want to be seen as a separate, hostile grouping though, as we believe our ideas will bring on some really productive debate.”

Brad Marshall told The Ripple that Labour would not be “in the business of creating a Union Council Bloc,” stating that it would be up to individual members to decide whether or not they support or oppose pro-

posals.

“I don’t want a partisan council where people don’t think they can work with particular factions! I for one am willing to work with anyone from Trotskyites to Tories to ensure the best possible policies for students.”

When asked whether Labour would be pushing a party line, Mr Marshall stated “We won’t be pushing a party line on anything.”

The Ripple contacted Conservative Future, but at the time of print had not received a reply.

My night at the Highcross Student Takeover

by Liu Jiao Highcross was full to the brim with students last Tuesday, with a whole heap of discounts, entertainment and pizzas. Several students, especially the international students, eagerly anticipated the Takeover so that they could stock up on woolies and warm clothing for the coming winter. Student Wei Meng, who has only been in Leicester for one month, coming all the way from China, told me she was incredibly excited for the night to begin. “I cannot wait to buy a pair of UGGs,” she said!

Highcross staff were very welcoming to students and rushed off their feet by the crowd attracted that night – though most of the students were only there for the free samples!

By eight o’clock, there were about 100 people queuing outside, and even though it was cold, the line kept on growing.

But not everyone was happy.

Two students complained, “So many people are crowded here.

I am tired of waiting and the music is too loud.”

Lots of the stores had DJs playing music and the body-popping music blasted from all over Highcross. The music was enjoyed by many, and lots of students danced along whilst shopping.

As promised, most of the stores offered the discounts for students, including some food stores. “I cannot believe Super Dry also has discounts,” said one student, looking very excited.

But not all stores were so generous. “We never have any discounts,” said a staff member at Zara.

The event lasted for more than three hours and all the stores closed down around midnight.

I surveyed some students who attended the event to gauge their thoughts about the night.

Forty percent of students considered this event was interesting and wanted to take part in it

next time. But they were in the minority! Another forty percent of students thought the shopping experience was terrible, and the remaining twenty percent of students thought it was boring.

A massive ninety percent of students that I surveyed were not satisfied with the discounts.

They wanted bigger discounts, and some even wanted the Takeover to last longer. “If it lasted longer, I could buy more stuff,” said Jomploy, a Thai student.

The questionnaire also displayed the shopping motivation of students; eighty percent of students admitted that they were shopping only because the discounts.

Despite this, I had a brilliant time. Even though the Student Takeover only happens once a year, I know that my friends and I will be talking about it for a long time to come!

OPINION

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Edited by Sarah O’Rourke

Are we gingerly accepting the future of liberation?

by Harry Wells This week I sat down this week with Alistair Robinson, who is currently applying to the Union to create his new society, the GRSBAT, or Ginger, Redhead, Strawberry Blonde & Tangerine Association: a liberation group for gingers.

Although when I first learned of his plans I reacted with a degree of disbelief, some thought on the matter has shown it to be a far more interesting and thoughtful idea than meets the eye. Alistair says that “The GRSBAT is a society that wants to do two things; firstly to make it clear that discrimination or bullying isn’t OK no matter what group you are part of, even if it is socially ‘acceptable’ to bully a certain group and secondly, to encourage members to not set themselves apart from society in a position which draws more abuse than otherwise. This year, we’d like to become a formal association, gain in numbers and have fun.”

Clearly redheads on campus do not suffer from systematic oppression in the ways that, for example, LGBTQ students do; particularly bearing in mind that nearly all of them will be

white, there is a dimension of this movement which seems more like parody than reality. Alistair acknowledges that “from an ‘on-campus’ perspective we have to be aware of how distant such things [ginger liberation] can seem in different minorities of our society.”

However, he wouldn’t call the issues gingers face particularly trivial. “The bullying of ginger people is primarily a very British problem, or rather an English problem (of course being ginger in Scotland, Ireland and even Wales isn’t considered particularly abnormal). Whether you believe it’s rooted historically in anti-Celtic sentiment or not, for some reason, the English have always had ‘a problem’ with redheads. Why? A group of us were talking to a Canadian friend who was shocked to hear that British ‘politeness’ is often not indicative of acceptance, but simply a refusal to break taboo out loud. Thoughts don’t matter to us, and as long as you have some friends who you can trust not to ‘tell’, your backward views and jokes are of no concern. Is it that bullying ginger people isn’t seen as taboo, and is just an outlet for the racism and discrimination we feel about others on a daily basis? If white people in

the UK can’t even stop being racist to themselves, what hope is there for genuine attitude changes towards other groups?”

This is where its importance lies; as a perfect example of the dangers of selective liberation.

As a very new concept, the idea of campaigning to “protect” gingers, particularly when they are used so much in mainstream comedy, seems almost laughable in itself to most people upon first learning of it, and I was certainly close to chuckling. Even Alastair had to acknowledge that in terms of jokes, he “found the colour orange very useful in organising the society!”

What is to say, though, that this reaction was not exactly the same as the reaction that gay liberation groups thirty years ago, or black liberation groups before that, or women’s liberation groups before that were met with? We consider ourselves, in the United Kingdom, to be at the cutting edge of progressive thought; many people are proud to call themselves feminists, to vote for equal marriage and to adopt diversity policies, because we have been brought up around these liberation campaigns. When a totally new subset of liberation begins

to coalesce in front of us, if we react with nothing but derision and mirth, are we not acting in the exact same way that people before us did? People we call “backwards”, “bigoted”, and “on the wrong side of history”?

This isn’t to suggest that all the shades of orange on campus should take to the streets and protest, or attempt to equivocate the issues they face with those that other liberation groups face; but this isn’t Alistair’s goal.

He wants to challenge the idea of gingers as comedy, saying that “jokes shouldn’t be obsessed over at all because the hair shouldn’t be looked at as a weakness, much like with other liberation movements and their defining characteristics”; and simultaneously show that this can be done in a way that doesn’t damage a group’s relationship with wider society. “Redheads have quite a lot to offer really, in that we’ve always sought integration. People know us, we’re everywhere and our integration and avoidance of each other is a behavioural mechanism learnt from early on precisely to avoid the jokes, etc.”

“We don’t want to self-alienate and appear hostile,” says Alistair, “but integrate in a

Alistair Robinson, founder of GRSBAT

positive way which doesn’t rely on ridiculous myths and tired jokes. Therefore, the GRSBAT doesn’t discriminate against its members, all are welcome and we are against censorship.”

His intention is to inform, educate, and hopefully provoke thought and debate. And as a journalist, I can only call that a noble goal.

Why should we support staff strikes?

by Alistair Robinson On October 31st, University staff will strike as part of a dispute over pay. But why should we as students and the Students’ Union support our staff in their strikes?

These strikes aim to bring the UCEA quickly back to the table, and with our support that can happen with a minimum of disruption. UCEA, a company hired by universities to manage the pay-scheme for all staff below on the pay-scale and including lecturers, walked out of negotiations, forcing the unions to take industrial action. In the national negotiations, negotiators for UCEA walked-out very early into talks when UCU revealed the results of a Freedom of Information request, showing that senior management had awarded themselves an average annual increase of 2.5% whilst other staff pay had been near-frozen at 0.5%.

This industrial-action sees three unions, the UCU (University and College Union), Unite and Unison trade-unions, working together for maximum bargain-

ing power. Unless employers make a better offer, this autumn and winter could be dominated by a long campaign of escalating action. Balloting may also open again on October 31st for another round of strikes a week later, the indication is that that this strike is only the beginning.

Actions short of a strike will also begin on November 1st.

The strikes are not just about lecturers’ pay, but about every pay-grade in UK universities below the lecturers too, i.e. all support staff, catering staff, porters, security, cleaners, lab technicians and admin workers.

In fact, all the staff who interact with us students on a daily basis and who work hard to ensure that our university maintains an excellent standard. With the introduction of £9000 tuition fees, and the much higher fees for international students, we should be concerned that there has been a 13% cut into the pay of our teaching and support staff.

Ultimately, it effects the quality of our degrees and the overall performance of the university. With the university already shown to be performing excellently, investment into the staff would propel us further. We pay

for the best and should expect the best. Instead of taking the somewhat limited view of The Tab poster Chloe Maycock that strikes will be “striking fear into students’ hearts” we should see this as an opportunity to rally with our staff and help improve both our university and ourselves.

Universities can afford it!

The UCEA and the university management have justified the higher increases to upper management by arguing that it is more important to retain top-level staff than those lower down. Staff representatives, however, counter that it is the staff lower down that have more interaction with the students, and note that the Vice Chancellor received a £7000 pay rise in 2011/12, and received a similar increase this year despite his imminent retirement. The UCEA claim that universities cannot currently afford a fairer pay-scheme is at odds with the recent findings that UK universities have reached a £1 billion surplus this past year, and in the case of Leicester that there is enough funding for vanity projects such as statues, the re-paving outside of the Fielding

Johnson Building and the multi-million pound renovation of the previously derelict College Hall on Knighton Road.

A list of institutional values the University has published online includes a commitment to providing a ‘personal, supportive experience’ for students. The Living Wage has been proven in studies to decrease staff turnover by up to 25%. With increased staff retention, surely a more personal experience would be had, with campus celebrities such as Geoff, a Head-Porter at Beaumont Hall becoming more common an occurrence.

The Students’ Union policy has supported strike action in a pay-dispute for University of Leicester staff previously in 2010, but this year the Students’ Union Executives are too worried of treading on the University’s toes to take a pro-strike stance. Officially, the reasoning behind not supporting the strike is that “the Students’ Union will not support any action which will harm the education or experience of our students”.

The Union warns that action could rumble on and escalate

to marking-boycotts unless the UCEA returns to talks with a better offer, and so the Students’ Union’s interpretation policy could lead to prolonged disruption to education.

Harry Wells, Distance Learning Officer, said “This is essentially going to be shutting the barn door after the cows have gone; the policy is poorly worded and needs amending.”

With the NUS supporting the strikes nationally, our Students’ Union’s position is looking even more absurd. If students rally behind staff in their strike action, standards will be driven higher long-term and there will be less disruption to education.

It is down to us and the newly-elected Union Council to rally in an effort to stop the horses bolting from the barn too.

FEATURES

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Edited by Karina Maduro

The Festival of Lights With the biggest celebrations outside India taking place here at Leicester, get to know a bit more about Diwali

by Riti Desai Diwali (also known as Deepavali, which translates literally to ‘a row of lights’) is one of the most eagerly awaited festivals celebrated by millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains worldwide.

The word ‘light’ itself reflects the joy and delight associated with this celebration. In the spiritual sense, this refers to looking inwards and lighting the lamps within, in order to get rid of the ignorance and darkness that lies inside of us. Many identify with the rituals of lighting divas (candles), letting off fireworks, indulging in lots of delicious food and distributing gifts as part of the occasion. Sounds a bit like Christmas doesn’t it?

Well for Hindus (Sikhs and Jains), it pretty much is, but without Santa Claus of course!

How is it celebrated?

There is no one way that Diwali is celebrated but it is common practice to start the day by visiting the temple or doing puja at home, to receive blessings from God. The rest of the day is spent cooking (and eating) delicious food, cleaning and decorating the home, visiting family and friends, and exchanging gifts.

Devotees dress up in their finest attire, often going out especially to buy new clothes. Intricately designed divas are placed in every corner of the house, so not one spot in the home is left in darkness. At the front door, a rangoli pattern is crafted using coloured rice and powder (if you happen to visit Belgrave road in Leicester, you will see many houses with these patterns at the doorsills). In the evenings, people tell the whole world they are celebrating Diwali by putting on the loudest

firework display. The day after Diwali marks the Hindu New Year. On this day, worshippers visit the temple to thank God and pray that the upcoming year is a positive one. In many temples an Annakut (Anna - food, Kut - mountain) is offered, which is a grand array of vegetarian food arranged in an aesthetically-pleasing manner in front of the Lord. The Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden, London boasts over 1000 specialties, which after being offered to God, are distributed among the devotees as prashad.

A rangoli pattern

The origins In Hinduism, Diwali is celebrated primarily to mark the triumph of good over evil. There are several origins behind this one teaching - the most well known story is the return of Lord Ram to his kingdom Ayodhya, after being exiled into the forest for 14 years by his step-mother Kaikeyi. The return of Lord Ram and his wife Sita to Ayodhya was on a dark, moonless night and their people lit divas to guide them in the right direction. The celebration not only honours the return of the rightful king back to his throne, but also the defeat of the demon Ravan by Lord Ram. Another story behind Diwali is the slaughter of the demon Nar-

HELP! I have gotten myself into trouble with the law while travelling abroad!

by Krina Merchant Pro Bono Chief Officer

akaasura by Shri Krishna.

For Jains, Diwali acknowledges the attainment of Nirvana (Moksh) by Lord Mahavira, the last Tirthankar or leader.

Diwali is also celebrated by Sikhs but is known as Bandi Chhor Divas (translating to ‘prisoners’ release day’) and marks the release from prison of the sixth Guru (Guru Hargobind) and 52 other kings and princes in the year 1619.

Outside India The festival of Diwali is not only celebrated in India, but by millions all across the world, where those who observe the auspicious festival reside. The grandest celebration outside India is in Leicester itself, which boasts one of the largest Indian populations in the UK, with over 28% of its residents being of British Indian origin. On this day, the entire ‘Golden Mile’ in Leicester is closed off to experience cultural entertainment, Indian food and fireworks.

As Hindu students at university, it can sometimes be difficult to celebrate the event, especially when you are away from your loved ones. Every year, the Leicester Hindu Society tries to make it as homely as possible with a special Diwali aarti and a trip down to Belgrave road to mark the occasion. This is not just for Hindus but for everyone and anyone who wants to experience Diwali!

The Diwali lights switch-on took place on October 20th at Belgrave Road. Diwali Day takes place on November 3rd.

Times are changing The way Diwali is celebrated appears to be changing, primarily for the better. One of the messages that appears to be predominant is celebrating Diwali ‘without crackers’. Many cities, especially in India, are promoting the idea of enjoying Diwali devoid of fireworks due to the pollution and health hazards it possesses. Furthermore, with conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease being most prevalent in South Asian population, many are opting for the ‘sugar-free Diwali’, although we all know that Indians can’t resist a good laddoo!

Breast cancer awareness charity CoppaFeel! have recruited student volunteers to head up teams across the country.

Known as Uni Boob Team, student volunteers will be promoting the CoppaFeel! SMS reminder service which sends the recipient a free text reminder to check themselves each month.

CoppaFeel! is a breast cancer awareness charity that educates young people on the importance of checking regularly and

Foreign travel is exciting and a time to explore. It is, however, not a time to break local laws.

When considering travelling to any foreign nation, it is imperative that you make yourself familiar with the customs and norms of that culture. Educating yourself is the first step to avoiding unintentional conflicts. A simple web search should reveal some basic laws travellers should abide by. While it is not possible to know every law of a foreign country, ignorance will not suffice as a valid excuse. Exercise reasonable caution and certainly do not commit any acts that would be considered criminal in your home country.

If you find yourself getting arrested while abroad, the first thing you should do is contact your consulate office. Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Regulations, which most nations have signed, your consul should be notified immediately upon your arrest. Ensure that they have been notified, as they will provide you with available options, as well as connecting you with a lawyer. If you cannot afford a lawyer or there is no legal support system available for your nationality, the consul can connect you with charities that may provide financial aid.

The consul is also able to provide an interpreter, and connect you to family and friends if you require. It is important to keep in mind that embassies will not provide legal assistance, immunity or evacuation simply because someone is in trouble with the law.

If you are convicted of a crime abroad, the most obvious impact will be on your status in that country and possible deportation. Deportation is generally carried out in very serious crimes and economic offenses, and minor crimes usually result in short sentences and community service requirements. If you are imprisoned abroad, there are options to request a transfer to a prison in your home country. This is normally only possible if there is a prison swapping agreement between your home country and the country you are imprisoned in.

Every year, a large number of travellers get in trouble with foreign laws due to varying drug laws. Here are some tips to avoid getting in trouble with drugs overseas: - Obey the law! Do not take purchase, take or travel with drugs - Lock your bag - Do not leave baggage unattended or in the care of a stranger - Never carry anything into or out of the country for someone else - Ensure prescription medicine is properly labelled and in original packaging - Ensure your medication is not considered illegal in the country you are travelling It is a traveller’s worst nightmare to be stranded or imprisoned while abroad. Stay smart and exercise common sense when planning activities, otherwise that great flight and hotel deal will turn into a prison cot!

Safe travels everyone!

Belgrave Road during Diwali

As Breast Cancer Awareness Month draws to a close, we’re here to remind you to keep checking all year round. knowing the signs and symptoms of breast cancer. It is a breast cancer charity that specifically targets young people.

Founded in October 2009 by Kristin Hallenga, who was misdiagnosed twice at age 23 and now lives with secondary breast cancer, CoppaFeel!’s mission is to ensure that breast cancer is diagnosed at the earliest stage possible. If diagnosed early, treatments are more effective and survival rates higher; the best way of doing that is to get everyone, including students, around the country checking

Free Legal Advice This week: Travel Trouble

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

by Alice Tuckley

PRO BONO

soldiers each month to CoppaFeel! your boobs. Early detection saves lives.” regularly.

Each year CoppaFeel! instigates a new campaign; this year it is all about signing up your fingers (aka your ‘little soldiers’) to check your boobs. Themed around the army, students will be invited to go to recruitment stations, manned by the team, to receive enrolment cards and medals for enlisting their fingers to CoppaFeel!.

Campaign founder, Kristin Hallenga, said, “You have an army at your fingertips. Use your little

By cultivating a strong student presence, CoppaFeel! wants to eradicate the taboos and common misconceptions around checking from a young age.

CoppaFeel!’s goal is to make you, and the people around you, realise that the sooner you start checking in life the more comfortable you will be knowing what is normal. CoppaFeel! also aims to stamp out late detection and misdiagnosis of breast cancer. This will be achieved by ensuring that people know the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, know what their

breasts normally look and feel like, check regularly throughout their lifetimes and have the confidence to seek medical referral when they detect abnormalities.

Transferring this habit into later life could one day save lives.

CoppaFeel!’s aim is to be at every University in the UK. This year the campaign is being supported by boohoo.com who have equipped teams with lots of merchandise and are offering a 20% discount at boohoo.com for every student who enlists their little soldiers! This will further help the teams promote CoppaFeel!’s important message: knowing your boobs could save your life.

We will be hosting a whole range of activities. To join the

team contact your Uni Boob Team Leader, Alice Tuckley, via tweeting @UBTleicester.

Also, like the ‘Coppafeel Leicester Uni Boob Team’ Facebook group to find out about what’s going on, when to enrol your little soldiers and receive your 20% discount for boohoo.com.

Twitter: @uniboobteam Website: www.uniboobteam.com For more information contact Sarah Magee: sarah@coppafeel. org or 02034 404 395

WHAT’S ON

5

Edited by Nikki Skinner

Pick of the Week

Leicester’s Top Ten Student Eats

Monday 28th October to Sunday 3rd November

by Mona O’Brien

loves glowsticks)!

By Rohini Jhally

With many schools and colleges off on their mid-term breaks this week, many of us might be feeling a tad jealous! So it’s a good thing that there’s a lot going on this week to make us happy to be here at Uni. Whether you’re looking for laughs or a good scare Leicester’s got it all!

Saturday 2nd November For those interested in the spoken word and literature there’s a Creative Salon with Jean Binta Breeze & Guests featuring presentations, live readings and performances at Embrace Arts, 6pm.

Tired of the classic student diet of pasta, cheese toasties and microwavable pizzas, and looking for a place to get some decent and filling food? Then look no further than our definitive top ten, guiding you to all the restaurants you’ll need to get you through a semester of hangovers, exam stress, or when you simply can’t be bothered to cook… without breaking your budget.

Monday 28th October Are you brave enough to enter the eerie basement of the Abbey Pumping Station and hear the tragic tale of the Ghostly Engineer – Robert Richardson? If you are then get your winter woollies and some sensible shoes on get to the Abbey Pumping station for 7:00pm for a tour you’re unlikely to forget in a hurry. (£3 entry.)

If you’re more musically minded then you could check out Woolf Alice who are playing in The Scholar. Or why not come and listen in on the Education Zone in the ARC at 6:30pm where the union council officers will discuss the ideas that were submitted via Change It or Explain It survey. This evening Amnesty are also screening the film Girl Rising in the Attenborough Film theatre.

Tuesday 29th October The Students’ Union Annual Member Meeting will take place in the Rattray Lecture Theatre from 6.30pm, the annual report and accounts will be presented by the Executive Team as well as discussing future plans with members. Everyone is encouraged to attend, engage and question.

Or if you’re after some music

The Feeling are playing in the O2 Academy.

Wednesday 30th October As part of Leicester’s Diwali celebrations Daljit Nagra’s telling of the Ramayana will take place in Leicester Central Library.

This powerful and ancient epic tells of Rama’s quest to rescue his wife, Sita, from the Lord of the Underworld. Booking is essential though the event is free, contact central-library@leicester.gov.uk.

Starting today the Continental Market will be setting up shop, until Sunday, with all kinds of delights on offer in the city centre, and you don’t even have to trick or treat for them!

After dark it’s time to get spooky, kicking off the Leicester Uni Halloween Festival, with the Halloween Bar Crawl invading three venues and ending up at Red Leicester. Be sure to get creative with the costumes; humans won’t be getting entry!

The Union Council officers will also be back in the ARC with the Student Life Zone and the Society & Community Zone.

Amnesty International Screens GIRLRISING

By Mel Agnew On October 28th, the Amnesty International Society is hosting a private screening of the award-winning GIRLRISING. The film is the culmination of six years of work. The team set out to investigate how to end global poverty and what we discovered was a simple, yet elegant truth: that educating girls is the highest-return investment you can make in breaking cycles of poverty. The desire to spread that truth led them to make this film.

For the music lovers there’s Oxjam @ The Y Theatre with local bands doing it for a good cause (£8 in advance or £10 on the door) or the Queen Extravaganza at the O2 Academy to get you bopping away to Queen’s greatest hits!

Thursday 31st October HALLOWEEN The Halloween Festival continues with Sosho’s Dead #Famous so it’s time to get dressed up as your favourite departed celebrity. There will be prizes on the night!

Finally, for the artists and crafters amongst you all there’s Diwali Delights; go try out some Diwali crafts such as rangoli at the Newark Houses Museum (£2.50 for activities).

Sunday 3rd November

However, if you’d rather scream with laughter then why not go see Ed Byrne’s ‘Roaring Forties’ at De Montfort Hall, 8pm. A self-confessed “miserable old git” since the ancient age of 23, Ed will ensure you get around that mid-life crisis – so take notes for later!

Friday 1st November If you’ve not overdone it on the sweets yet then see Halloween out in delicious style with the Baking Society’s Halloween Tea Party in the Common Room from 6-8pm. Don’t forget to bring along some of your own lovely concoctions!

If you’re not dead yet then get down like a monster at SHABANG! Monster Mash!

Tonight promises a Halloween stage show with zombie dancers and free glowsticks (everybody

By Nirmalsaradha

Today is Diwali Day and for the biggest celebrations outside of India go to Cossington Street Recreation Ground for fireworks and a whole host of events on stage!

Or if you’re in need of some retail therapy after a long week then why not take a peek in at the Vintage Fair at Just the Tonic and see if you can spot a bargain.

SOCIETIES? SPORTS GROUPS? EVENTS? GIRLRISING tells the stories of many girls’ struggles to be educated. These stories intend to bridge the gap between us and them, and the film seeks to demonstrate that everywhere in the world, what all young girls want is an opportunity to be young and a chance to learn.

The film is dispatched by 10 x10, an organisation that fights for educational equality for underprivileged girls. Narrated by some of the most recognizable female voices of today, join Amnesty International and support The Girl. We are GIRLRISING!

Buy this space from

£20

Email ripple@le.ac.uk

1. Jones (Queens Road) Famous amongst students being ideally located in the centre of Queens Road, this small yet extremely comfortable little bistro is quite simply amazing. Serving up their famous full English breakfast (perfect to combat a hangover) as well as lots of other delicious dishes available, this classy yet fair priced bistro with its generally relaxed vibe is definitely one worth a visit.

2. Zucchero World Buffet (Charles Street) If you’re feeling like you haven’t eaten properly in days, then this world buffet is just for you. Offering a very generous mixture of world cuisine such as Indian, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Mexican, this all you can eat buffet charges only £8 if you finish before 7pm. Serving you up with at least 12 starters, 30 main courses and ten dessert options, this place is ideal for the malnourished student to fill up on their main food groups.

3. Bar Dos Hermanos (Queens Road) This 1940’s Cuban American bar is perfect if you’re looking for a more exotic night out.

Our Ripple favourite has to be their Roasted Red Pepper tapas, but don’t stop there as there are loads more to choose from all at very reasonable prices of £1.65 each or four for £5.75.

4. The Old Horse (London Road) If you’re hankering after some good ol’ pub grub to fill you up, then The Old Horse is exactly what you’re looking for.

This traditional pub is perfect with its warm and welcoming atmosphere, generous portions and friendly staff. Our Ripple pick has to be the classic bangers ‘n’ mash but there’s tons more on offer too; be sure not to miss out on their Sunday carvery!

5. Real China (Highcross) Being right in the centre of the main shopping hub, this oriental buffet restaurant is ideal for a mid-shopping break or after a trip to the cinema. With its authentic Chinese decor, this elegant restaurant offers starters, a sushi bar, grill, main courses

and desserts all in one fixed price of £6.95 for lunch and £12.95 for diner.

6. 1923 (University of Leicester Students’ Union) How could we make a list of top student eats without including our very own 1923? This extremely popular restaurant right in the heart of our buzzing Students Union is one of the highlights on campus, especially at lunch and peak times, when it’s almost impossible to get a table! Meeting the needs of hundreds of hungry students every day, the very friendly and helpful staff always manage it with a smile, providing you with an informal and relaxed cafe atmosphere as well as great prices.

7. Handmade Burger Company (Highcross) Boasting a selection of over 40 handmade burgers to chose from, with both meat and vegetarian options available, a choice of stuffed burgers, sliders and rare-breed Farm Burgers, this restaurant really does cater for everyone.

With burgers starting £6, and a 15% discount for students, this makes a great choice for hungry students on a budget!

8. Agra (London Road) What restaurant list in Leicester would be complete without a curry house? This restaurant, ideally located near the train station, is a curry house favourite amongst students with their cheap prices and welcoming atmosphere, its perfect for both intimate dining or big groups offering traditional Bangladeshi, Halal and Indian food. Their extensive menu has something for everyone!

9. The Dry Dock (Putney Road East) A definite student favourite, it’s our beloved Dry Dock, offering food, drinks, pool tables, TVs and just about everything else a student needs to get through the week, and being a part of the yellow card scheme makes it all the more satisfying. This boat shaped pub offers traditional pub food with amazing deals like ‘2 for 1’ on desserts all day every day and two meals for £7, they really do cater to the student cliental. Just make sure you have ID! 10. Las Iguanas (Belvoir Street) Serving food cooked with ‘Latin love’, this Mexican restaurant is another choice favourite if you’re looking for a more exotic evening out. Offering a selection of tapas, food to share along with other South American cuisine all at decent prices, this restaurant will definitely show you a fun nights dining!

Our Ripple favourite has to be the Taco Sharing Tray.

CULTURE

6

Edited by Emily Boneham

Babyshambles: Does the A Film for Le Week-End ‘Albion’ Sail on Course?

by Oliver Wright

Some promising elements amongst a ramshackle, slightly depressing set from the troubled Peter Doherty and Babyshambles.

Babyshambles: O2 Academy Leicester, 15th October.

by Conor Heslin

The first time I encountered Pete Doherty live was just over three years ago. He was leading his first, and best loved band, The Libertines, in a triumphant main stage comeback set at Reading Festival 2010, and the performance remains one of the greatest I’ve ever seen any band produce. Pete and The Libertines were musically tight, looked healthy and seemed coherent, and songs like ‘Up the Bracket’ and ‘What Became of the Likely Lads’ sounded as vital and as wonderful as ever; a celebration of British music, and all it can achieve, at its absolute best. This was a long, long way from the experience of watching Pete play live in 2013.

With rumours circulating from early afternoon that Pete was too drunk to come out and meet

the fans who were waiting for a glimpse of their idol, with other band members announcing he was having a ‘creative moment’ and even more disturbingly that things were getting ‘a bit cracky’ (yes, that sort of crack) on the tour bus. It was this worrying thought which stayed with me as the clock crept slowly past 9pm, with no sign of Pete or any of the other band members.

But then, a mere twenty minutes late, the ‘Shambles stride on stage and dive straight into ‘Delivery’, from 2007’s Shotter’s Nation, and for a while, all seems well; Pete looks confident, sober, and sounds like himself. The greater role given to Mik Whitnall and Drew McConnell on new album Sequel to the Prequel is apparent on songs like ‘Nothing Comes to Nothing’ and ‘Farmers Daughter’ which sound well-constructed and cleaner than most of the older songs live, but the crowd still only really go wild for old favourites like ‘Pipedown’ and ‘Killamangiro’.

As the gig goes on, it becomes painfully apparent that all is not well in the strange world of Pete Doherty; he’s drinking heavily and its showing. He spends much of the latter half of the show slurring, throwing booze at fans, and even lying down on the stage for a while. Audience and band members alike share awkward glances, and although there are still moments of charming, spontaneous playful-

ness, like the random interludes of ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’ between songs, but you’d struggle to talk about the evening without mentioning the spectacle that Doherty makes of himself for much of it.

This being said, the evening is not a complete disaster, due simply to the fact that Doherty is still a hugely charismatic and talented songwriter and performer; the undoubted high points of the set come in the form of a ramshackle, raucous version of the Libertines flagship song ‘Time for Heroes’, which remains of the greatest pieces of British songwriting of the last twenty years, and a beautiful version of Doherty’s anthem to a mythical England, ‘Albion’.

These songs should be held up an as an example of exactly what Doherty can do when he isn’t dependant on intoxicants.

Based on what I’ve seen in Leicester this week, the future of the Babyshambles, and of Pete Doherty, is still hugely uncertain, but if he can just keep himself healthy and clean long enough to write another song as perfect as ‘Albion’, he can prove all those who think of him as a waste of space drug addict that he’s capable of being much, much more. The ‘Albion’ doesn’t exactly sail on course as it once did, but it wouldn’t take all that much to bring it safely home.

Bill Bailey: Qualmpeddler Bill Bailey: De Montfort Hall, 14th/15th October.

by Beth Calder

on the issues facing us all using a mixture of audience participation, musical interludes and bizarre video segments.

A veteran of the circuit, Bill Bailey has delighted audiences with his alternative comedy for almost three decades – a testament to his phenomenal talent and range of skills.

With regular appearances on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, QI and various other panel shows, as well as his role in the cult classic Black Books, Bailey has remained popular, and indeed relevant throughout the years.

His current tour, Qualmpeddler, is the culmination of all of those years of experience. Never one for run of the mill jokes, Bailey prefers to challenge his audience with an intelligently critical, albeit surreal, commentary

Image by Flickr user Nic Redhead

Sailing close to the wind with his opening satirical ‘tribute’ to the late Margaret Thatcher, Bailey immediately sets a slightly darker tone than fans may be used to. He goes on to call David Cameron a ‘man ferret’ and derides the coalition as a sham.

Such criticisms are peppered with lively musical intervals such as the oddly satisfying reggae remix of the Downton Abbey theme, and a manic rendition of classic pop hits played with an array of horns.

It could never be said that Bailey lacks enthusiasm and as he bounds across the stage, it is obvious that he is genuinely enjoying himself - his genial attitude is infectious. As an old hand in the comedy game, it’s clear he knows where his strengths lie and he sticks to them, showing newcomers how it’s done.

Qualmpeddler is paradoxically whimsical yet fiercely intelligent; Bailey never stoops to the crude levels of some of his contemporaries to get a laugh.

This is alternative comedy at its finest.

Le Week-End is a film that shows off what we Brits do best: wit and realism. The film is based around a married couple who travel to Paris for a weekend break to celebrate their 30-year anniversary. However, we soon realise that this weekend get-away is not to be filled with the passionate romance that Paris promises, but will instead prove a severe test of the strength of their relationship.

From the start frostiness seems to hang in the air as the couple barely acknowledge each other while sat together on the Eurostar. If they do exchange a few words, it is only when necessity forces it upon them such as when Nick (Jim Broadbent) awkwardly squeezes past Meg

(Lindsay Duncan) to use the facilities. Okay, so to a young person this distinct lack of intimacy might seem typical behaviour for a married couple (after 30 years surely you’ve exhausted every possible topic of conversation) yet these initial signs of a tension serve as a prelude of things to come.

As soon as they arrive in Paris it becomes apparent that Nick has made a terrible mistake; he’s gone and booked one of the shabbiest hotels around.

Naturally, Meg is unimpressed to say the least. But as the film goes on such ‘falling outs’ between the two become more serious and we begin to realise that this is a couple who have hit rock bottom. This is brought off by a few confessions. Firstly Nick, a lecturer, admits that he has lost his job and Meg, for her part, confesses that she has lately considered splitting up with Nick having questioned what there is to stay together for now the kids have left home. All this pent up discontent coming to the surface at once makes for some pretty vehement arguments between the two which

ultimately brings their marriage to the brink.

So it’s safe to say that this film needs some comical moments to prevent the mood becoming too dark and it does. In fact, Hanif Kureishi intersperses moments of comedy in between the couple’s spats so brilliantly that we often forget that we are potentially watching a marriage crumble before our eyes.

Some might find the drama in this film a bit too low-key. This is not a film intended to horrify, shock or in any way get the heart racing. It is nonetheless a very touching film that combines witty banter with a touch of frivolity and bucket loads of deep-felt emotional moments.

If this quintessentially British approach is what tickles your fancy then Le Week-End will be right for you.

Le Week-End will be at Phoenix until 31st October.

Reviewed thanks to Phoenix Cinema: www.phoenix.org.uk

Bastille Storm the O2 Academy Bastille: O2 Academy Leicester, 17th October.

by Jack Sadler “I am the worst dancer in the world,” confesses Dan Smith, Bastille’s shy frontman. But really, it doesn’t matter. What he lacks in rhythmic capability, he more than makes up for in getting the crowd to do plenty of dancing of their own. If anything, his rather low-key presence parallels the band’s minimalistic set up; the stage is sparsely dressed (save for a large drum which causes the members to look elated when it’s their turn to hit it) and is punctuated with enigmatic shots of running wolves and speeding cars.

Walking out to the Twin Peaks theme, with its mysterious chords, and dressed entirely in black, Bastille themselves follow this look. Smith then says a quick “Hello” before the band proceeds into the title track of their debut album, ‘Bad Blood’.

This occasionally brooding brand of synth-pop has proved to be very popular, which was clearly evident during an energetic rendition of recent single, ‘Things We Lost in the Fire’.

Plenty of jumping and drum thumping created an exceptionally memorable performance of what is a fairly repetitive song.

The band also introduced three new songs throughout the night. The first, ‘Campus’, is a Vampire Weekend-like track

that sounds refreshingly summery. The other two, ‘Blame’ and ‘The Draw’, are more guitar-oriented but they produce a promising sound.

Between these new songs were excellent performances of album highlights, ‘Weight of Living, Pt. II’ and ‘These Streets’.

An interesting moment arrived when the group inexplicably broke out into a cover of City High’s 2001 hit ‘What Would You Do?’ It’s an odd choice for a cover but it seemed to wor

talking about a song that “appeared on a mixtape” – it was, of course, current single, ‘Of the Night’, an interesting interpretation of two 90s dance classics.

It’s a great song and went down a treat. The night came to a close with the track that put the group on this road, ‘Pompeii’. Its infectious vocal refrain makes it perfect for a closer, one that saw everyone chanting along, including support act, To Kill A King, who joined the group for one big final performance.

Image by Wiki user Cecil

As the set was beginning to draw to a close, Smith donned a grey hoodie and climbed on to the balcony during the brilliant breakthrough single, ‘Flaws’, his hood protecting his wildly coiffed hair. Singing through the crowd, Smith then returned to the stage for the explosive finale, before they all left to the sound of everyone cheering riotously.

Bastille resurfaced a minute later and courted excitement by

Bastille’s set was mainly a selection of the most memorable and upbeat songs from Bad Blood that proved that despite their music occasionally evoking the darker side of synthpop, they could still provide the bright fervour to get the crowd moving. Although they’ve been around a relatively short time – and although the album is a somewhat mixed bag – Bastille’s enthusiasm shows they’re in it for the long run.

An interview with Emily Barker

7

The Australian folk singer speaks to The Ripple about home, touring and ‘going electric’.

by Alexander French

Opening Ceremony.

This month, Emily returned to Leicester to play a packed out show at the Musician. Donning an electric guitar throughout much of the set, Emily showcased songs from her rock-influenced new album, Dear River, alongside her more traditional early compositions. We chatted to Emily before her performance. Here’s what she had to say…

On her sound:

Image by Tom Morris

Over the past decade, Australian-born singer-songwriter Emily Barker has built up a cult following in the UK with her intricate, emotive folk songs.

Backed by multi-instrumental trio The Red Clay Halo, Emily has toured with artists including The Waifs and Frank Turner, and performed with the latter at last year’s Olympics

“I’m a singer-songwriter writing in a folk/country/rock style. Neil Young is a big influence on my music. I grew up listening to his records as well as other 60s/70s folk revival singer-songwriters such as Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. When I was a teenager I discovered Aretha Franklin and soul music and she, along with Koko Taylor, Betty Lavette [and] Billie Holiday, inspired me to sing.”

On her roots: “I’m from a little country town

in Western Australia called Bridgetown. I first came over the UK in 2000, and suddenly ten years went by! I started out backpacking and doing a few open-mic nights and one thing lead to another. It seemed that there were more opportunities for my music here than in Australia at the time. I’d love to gig more and have a bigger profile in my home country though.

I’ll be heading over a few times next year to try to get things off the ground a bit more there.”

On The Red Clay Halo: “I met Gill Sandell at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2002 when we were both guesting with The Broken Family Band.

Gill plays accordion, piano, flute, guitar and does backing vocals. I then met Jo Silverston at a gig in London and loved her cello playing so asked if she would be up for coming down to the Brixton recording studio where I was working on debut solo record Photos.Fires.

Fables (2006). Thankfully she said yes, and when I asked her if she knew a great violinist, she

A High Speed Experiment: Snowpiercer

by Richard Fallon Although still awaiting a release in the UK, this latest film of Bong Joon-ho (The Host, Mother) is far from obscure.

It broke records for the number of admissions in its first week in its native South Korea.

It’s based on a popular French comic (Jean-Marc Rochette’s Le Transperceneige). Its cast is, almost without-exception, non-Korean. The story is set in a frozen apocalypse where all the human survivors travel endlessly on a colossal train, the poor at one end and the rich at the other. A revolt begins and travels along the train in the hopes of discovering its secrets and righting its wrongs, but dangers await in every carriage.

The central characters on the train

Image by Flickr user cine-asie

Interestingly, Elysium, Neill Blomkamp’s recent social commentary that ran on similar tracks, was also heavily promoted in Korean – far more than the rest of Asia in general.

Whereas Elysium saw criticism for a fairly shallow and basic

portrayal of social segregation in the future, Snowpiercer does things a whole lot better. The premise is hardly cerebral but it’s the execution that makes the film a far more entertaining watch than the summer’s Hollywood disappointments. Bong’s stylishness – a stylishness which has come to be associated with South Korean cinema in general but in fact can be attributed to a small circle of directors – allows the film to embrace its comic book origins without ever resorting to self-parody, the fate of so much many such films.

Chris Ryan is the staunch protagonist, Curtis, and the sagely John Hurt plays his mentor Gilliam. These characters oppose Tilda Swinton’s tyrannical Mason, who is in charge of keeping the train’s proletariat down.

Swinton more than anyone acts as if she’s in a comic book movie, and the result is that she walks the aforementioned line of self-parody very dangerously. Her performance is hypnotic and the exaggeration is more credible in the delirious macrocosm that is train’s world, where all worship The Sacred Engine.

The only Korean faces are those of Song Kang-ho, perhaps most familiar for his work in The Host and The Good, The Bad, The Weird, here playing a genius drug addict, and Go Ah-sung as his resourceful daughter.

Nearly all the film is in Eng-

lish, and the scenes that aren’t are subtitled (even in Korean cinemas) or dealt with via the wink-and-a-nod plot device of a universal translator. And yet, despite its easy accessibility and the strong reputation of a certain kind of South Korean film abroad, Snowpiecer looks to suffer an awful fate: The Weinstein Company currently plans to cut around 20 minutes from the film’s foreign release, a decision which infuriates Bong.

The film in fact was already be tightly-cut and well-paced, something which can’t be said for many recent blockbusters – a certain Le Hobbit comes to mind – and the film can only suffer from such tampering.

Worse is the implication that Western audiences still can’t handle what is, in actuality, some of the best that South Korean cinema has to offer.

recommended Anna Jenkins. I write the songs on my own and once I’m happy with them, I bring them to the group and we arrange the parts together.”

On working with Frank Turner: “Frank first saw us at a gig in Brixton, a venue called The Windmill. He really liked our music and invited me out on the road back in 2008 to support him on a headline tour. Since then, the girls and I have played on his records, toured extensively with him both as support and backing band and shared his biggest moments including the Olympics Opening Ceremony and Wembley Arena. We will most definitely collaborate in the future together.”

On playing to bigger crowds: “I actually don’t find it too difficult to create intimacy in larger venues. It certainly can be helped with the right lighting and sound, and definitely banter in between songs is important to give things a personal touch.”

Image by Georges Biard

“The album is all about ‘home’.

It’s my personal story: growing up in the South West of Australia, travelling the world, and then settling in the UK. But along the way, I tell the story of others and cover sub-texts and themes of emigration, exile, colonialism, Indigenous Australian politics, etc. [The rockier sound] was partly a response to playing in larger venues, also touring with rock and punk bands [and] also

wanting to keep things fresh and challenging.”

On Leicester: “I lived in Leicester for a year and a half, so it holds a special place in my heart. We seem to have a strong fan-base there, so it’s good to come back and visit!”

Dear River is available now via Linn Records.

Milton Jones: King of One-Liners, but No One-Trick Pony Milton Jones: De Montfort Hall, 19th October.

by Mattie Allen “My name is Milton Jones and it’s Saturday Night in Leicester.

Who will join me in the afterlife?”

ture. It’s always a worry when a comic is seen on television as a one-trick pony, but Jones has refined his art to such an extent that he could spew observations for eternity whilst holding a captive audience. Or perhaps an audience captive.

Delivering a lightning-quick, laugh-a-second show, Milton Jones is well and truly on top form. With support provided by his own ‘grandfather’ (Jones on a scooter wearing RAF goggles) and the hilarious and surely headline-worthy but unfortunately-named Chris Martin, the night begins as it continues: raucously.

Martin muses upon several topics in his slot, reserving particular hatred for baths, which he sees as the ultimate invitation for a burglar, commenting that you’re “naked, too slippery to escape” in that situation. It is Jones however, as expected, who outshines his extremely different support act, delivering one liner after one liner in a relentless assault on the ribcages of all in attendance.

Director Bong Joon-ho

On latest album, Dear River:

The loud-shirted, messy haired Jones’ one-liners are anything but grating, and actually follow a surprisingly cohesive struc-

Milton Jones

Image by Flickr user drewm

Another surprise is his audience interaction; a woman leaving the room is berated by Jones, who quips “I thought she’d never go! I can do the clever stuff now”. He wryly smiles as he asks a woman doing an Events Management degree what she’s going to do with it. His observations are just as slick as ever, with such gems as “I hear we have a group from the camouflage society... well done!”

Out of his comfort zone is where Jones shines in this show

though – the man is actually far more versatile than you might think. In his stint playing his grandfather, there is a segment that can only be accurately described as an octogenarian rap breakdown. This musical interlude is not the only peculiar feature in his show though, since as well as audio effects, Jones makes use of visuals in the form of a projector throughout his show, with home-made slides and anachronistic gags such as the “buffering” icon appearing again, and again, and again, and again...

Whether asking the questions that nobody wants to know the answers to, such as “Have you noticed how all the pine forests smell of air freshener?” stating that “Missiles don’t even sound accurate”, or noting that “The obese agoraphobic is very much the elephant in the room,” Jones is never afraid to stretch the boundaries of what is acceptable to the nth degree, and it is this, as well as his sharp delivery and expert timing that establishes him as one of the premier comedians in Britain at the moment. If you can, check him out, because it’ll be one hell of a night.

LIFESTYLE

8

Glamour Ghoul

by Hannah Philips There will always be something magical about Halloween, but more often than not this magic gets left at home instead of being channelled into a fantastical costume. Throughout my childhood I spent many a Halloween dressed as something ridiculous and then spent most of my teens as some overly sexed up ghoulish creature. Yawn. If there’s any variety to be found in costumes, turn to Leicester’s magnificent range of vintage shops that lurk hidden in the streets surrounding Highcross. Dare to be different this year and use Halloween as an excuse to find a plethora of new treasures for your winter wardrobe.

Only a stone’s throw away from Leicester market, Cank Street plays host to Dollymix Vintage and Pink Pigeon: a double whammy for vintage lovers, as the two stores come together giving us lucky shoppers a vast amount of 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s clothes to through which to rummage. Falling magically in line with this season’s trend of velour comes the costume idea of the French clown. Most 60s dresses and blouses I found in these two stores had an undeniably Pierrot vibe to them.

Pierrot is a stereotypical character of pantomime and Commedia dell’Arte whose iconic look is often replicated as a costume idea. It’s easy for even the vintage baby to do: take any high

neck 60s shift and add some white ruffle or a bold white collar; paint your face the iconic white with a little black eye make up and there you have it.

C’est facile!

I was further inspired by the array of glamorous little black dresses I came across. Any vintage-loving girl will have a cocktail dress inspired by the 1920’s and the ease of transforming this into a costume is unbelievable. Grab some white tights, white gloves, a string of pearls and get ready to paint yourself grey. Go one step further if you can and add a teeny blackboard to scribble your silent dialogue on. The great thing about this costume is the effortless sophistication it exudes: you look classy yet kooky and have created a costume out of almost nothing. If you’re not the proud owner of a cocktail dress, (I personally think every girl should be), both The Wardrobe and Gladragz Boutique down on Church Gate are currently stocking some incredibly glitzy glam cocktail dresses that will make a wonderfully timeless addition to your look.

Edited by Katie Masters

yourself up in your ‘costume’.

At the moment I’m really into Victorian fashion: think dresses with tiny waists, huge skirts and high necklines, which would be a fantastic costume. Whilst trawling through the rails at The Vintage Room on East Bond St. I came across several wonderful dresses suited for a Victorian look which were all priced below £30. It really isn’t that difficult to add a new dress to your wardrobe, and for a fantastical Halloween costume you shouldn’t really need to think twice. If you don’t think its costumed enough just add an umbrella, a spoonful of sugar and bam: you’re Mary Poppins!

This Halloween, take the opportunity to divert your path away from the yellow brick road that leads to Highcross and spend some time cross country, exploring the wonders that hide behind the high street. Even if when it comes to the 31st you decide not to dress up, not to trick or treat and not to freeze yourself silly on the bar crawl, you can treat yourself to a vintage masterpiece and the trick’s on the rest of Leicester.

For the hardcore vintage dresser, Halloween is hardly fancy dress. More often than not, people give you funny looks on the street wondering why on earth you’ve decided to spend your Wednesday dressed as Dita Von Teese. Embrace this, ladies! Sod the funny looks, go all out for Halloween and ghoul

Frightening Food Jess Buckley cooks up perilous pumpkin soup and vodka jelly shots The party season is officially underway: it’s Halloween! Some might see Halloween as an excuse to dress up, go out and overdose on sugar (from sweets, and in the case of a student, alcohol). But not many people associate this time of year with any particular foods of substance: at Christmas there’s turkey and eggnog, the sale of apples over Bonfire Night most probably doubles, not to mention the fact that we have a whole day dedicated to pancakes (sort of). Of course, every Halloween we buy pumpkins and carve them, but why is it that we don’t all eat them? As Halloween draws ever-closer, I’m going to show you how to carve your pumpkin and then eat it by making a tasty, thick, autumnal pumpkin soup.

What you need: 1 pumpkin (a 3kg, medium sized, pumpkin serves approximately 4-6 people) 1 onion 2 cloves of garlic 2 tsps cinnamon 700ml vegetable or chicken stock 125ml double cream Salt Pepper How to convince everyone you are actually Jamie Oliver:

It’s Halloween Y’all!

Imogen Butler experiences Halloween in the USA

There is a saying that ‘everything is bigger and better in America’, and for Halloween Americans go all-out to make this a reality. By now, most UK students are contemplating outfits whilst being bombarded by advertisements for various club events and bar crawls, but other than a big night out or watching a scary movie with the flat mates, there’s nothing else spooky in which to participate. Particularly as anyone planning to go trick or treating over the age of twelve is viewed with suspicion, extra police are at the ready to stem any Halloween tricksters regardless of whether they’re operating under the influence of alcohol or a sugar-rush.

However, in an American college Halloween is not just a onenight event. Here, the countdown for Halloween starts at the beginning of October, at the latest. Not having door decorations, a six foot inflatable, or at least a plastic pumpkin outside the door, will gain you a reputation as a spoil sport. Events are varied and not restricted to campus though do expect to see ominous messages from Halls staff inviting students to the basement on Halloween.

Before this, the local Corn Maze will open on the first of October with discounted rates for students. An English maze is normally about the size of half a football field and generally no taller than the average

15-year-old and in urban areas they are pretty much non-existent. American Corn Mazes are everywhere with an open space and the designs are also very intricate, with the one in Utah being based on two horses nuzzling encased by the usual circular labyrinth of misleading dead-ends. This renders its level of difficulty fourfold, making it necessary to go early as it has been known to take up to four hours to navigate a way out. At weekends, locals intensify the experience by adding an additional dimension to the decorated maze: they install actors dressed as ghosts and zombies who primarily follow and occasionally barricade half of the group into a wall of the Maze refusing to release them from their grip.

If this experience isn’t claustrophobic enough, why not try getting buried alive? For most people this is a fear that they’d prefer not to live out, but in America for a small fee of $8 this emotional torture can be experienced. Start the adventure by climbing into a coffin

with a friend or partner and feel yourself go six feet under, accompanied by creepy crawlies or a live rodent. After a few

minutes the coffin will tip and the chase to escape will begin.

The only places I’ve seen something similar in England is in the big theme parks, and even then the rodents were definitely not real. A lot of the events are family-run experiences that will have been going for decades, so expect to constantly have to reassure locals that being buried alive or chased for hours is a lifelong dream, otherwise the look of disappointment in their eyes will be more haunting than the ghost girl that’s been stand-

1. Roughly chop your onion and garlic and put in a pan with a splash of oil.

2. Hollow out your pumpkin.

This involves cutting a circle out of the top of your pumpkin and scraping out all of the seeds, as you usually would (don’t throw the seeds away; you can roast or fry them later and serve them with your soup, or eat with another dish - chicken or fish work best). Then hollow out your pumpkin. I made the mistake of trying to cut out chunks using a knife but its curved body makes this almost impossible without cutting all the way through the pumpkin. In the end, I found scraping at the insides, rather violently, with a spoon worked best.

3. Once you’ve hollowed out your pumpkin as much as you can, cook the onions and garlic on the hob for about five minutes, until they start turning golden brown.

4. Add a dash of salt, pepper and one teaspoon of cinnamon and stir well.

5. Add the pumpkin and cook on a low heat for 10-12 minutes, adding one more tsp of cinnamon.

6. Then add in your vegetable or chicken stock, bring to the boil and leave to simmer for a further 10 minutes.

7. Stir in the double cream and check for any additional seasoning.

8. Take the broth off the heat and blend. (A hand blender will do. They cost less than £5 and really do become a student kitchen essential.) ing in the corner for the last hour.

Residential Halls will not hold back either. In Utah, the university staff organise a campus-wide event where students who register are provided with Nerf guns to protect themselves

from the randomly selected zombies. Imagine the Attenborough Tower being used as a fortress from which to shoot your enemy down whilst riding up and down the paternoster, watching friends being turned into zombies. It would definitely be an experience that would be prioritised over lectures, that much is certain.

There is one thing though that Utah can’t compare on and that is the grand finale. The Leicester

9. Serve with a drizzle of double cream.

Not only is this recipe surprisingly easy – making your own soup always seemed like a daunting task to me – but you also still have your pumpkin ready to carve for Halloween.

So after a cold, wet day you can treat yourself and your mates to a warming soup before you don some ridiculous outfits and the rest of your Halloween becomes a blur. And what better way to help you in your quest for ultimate hedonism than Halloween themed drinks in the form of Black Magic Jelly shots. They’re incredibly easy to make, but should probably come with a warning, so here it is: Warning! The following recipe will cause extreme euphoria, loss of control and possible alcohol induced trauma.

1. Melt one packet of blackurrant jelly cubes in a measuring jug and fill to 650ml with fresh summer fruits, red currant or blackcurrant juice.

2. Fill to one pint with vodka and stir.

3. Pour the mixture into individual shot glasses and put in the fridge to set for about 4 hours.

So, there you have it. Pumpkin soup for six and enough jelly shots for 30 – seems proportionate, right? Happy Halloween!

Halloween bar crawl is always a night to remember whether it is Leicester vs. DMU as it was two years ago, or separate university bar crawls like last year.

Nothing can compare to getting dressed up and taking on the city, often in negative temperatures doused in fake blood, with oddly coloured cocktails or other lethal alcoholic concoctions. The rose tinted hair and mild hypothermia that will be around on campus for the next few weeks will serve a reminder of the epic night and the fancy dress photos will resurface as profile pictures for the next few years to come.

Unfortunately with Utah being a dry campus, which means that no alcohol can be consumed, makes ‘club-nights’ a huge let down in comparison and although they attempt to compete with ‘dry-club nights’ it really doesn’t compare to the Leicester experience. Overall Halloween in America, particularly at a university, is fantastic, but be willing to release the child inside or else events might fall short of expectations, particularly if residing on a dry campus or being under the age of 21.

Dress to Impress this Halloween

By Laura Sampson

Halloween is fast approaching and is by far one of the biggest events on the university calendar. So, it’s of paramount importance that you look great. I always find that Halloween is one of those events where you buy a great fancy dress outfit and then it ends up stuffed in a ball at the bottom of your wardrobe, never to grace the light of day again. However, there are many great outfits on the high-street that are completely versatile and, with the right accessories, can be made into a bewitching Halloween look but would also not look out of place on the dance floor of Shabang or Republic.

Gorgeous Vampire Fancy dress doesn’t always have to be full-on. Make a statement with this gorgeous form-fitting red dress with embellished lace collar.

on trend, and gives it a gothic, vampy look. Just add fierce talons, heels, blood red lipstick and a cape, the latter which can be purchased from Claire’s accessories. Or, for a cheaper alternative try Leicester Market: they have loads of material stalls selling plain black material that can easily be made into a fabulous and dramatic cape.

Wednesday Addams Wednesday Adams is the stylishly spooky poster girl of our generation. Grab a black Peter Pan collar dress with white contrasting detail, add striped black tights, DMs and a cross and chain and the compulsory centre parted plaits, and you’ll be good to go. This swing dress

by Pop Boutique is ideal for the Wednesday Addams look.

Again, the contrasting black

fined look.

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differently: think ripped tights and fierce make up.

To really achieve the zombie

Bewitched PVC is a huge trend this Autumn/winter, and Halloween is a great opportunity to both experiment with new materials and textures and buy that PVC skirt that you’ve been lusting after. This black PVC skirt from Topshop would be ideal for a witch costume.

Accessorise with a witch’s hat,

£17.99 New Look

look, you need to use a very light powder to the face and neck. Use some fake blood where you feel appropriate, and try to achieve a smudgy, smoky eye to make your eyes look hollow.

£38 Topshop

from the Haymarket’s Top Girl, and killer talons and heels, and you’ll be ready for the haunting hours. Make sure your make up is bold. Try a plumb couloured lipstick, and a dark smokey eye, buy some false eyelashes to enhance your appearance and give yourself long, beautiful lashes.

SOCIETIES? SPORTS GROUPS? EVENTS?

Zombie School girl £30 asos

£19.99 www.daisystreet.co.uk

It would be perfect for a night out in the union, but could easily be accessorised, making it the perfect purchase for your Halloween party. The red and black monochrome look is bang

and white makes it bang on trend, and the simple look of the dress means it is a great day-to-night piece that could be dressed down for a lecture.

Make sure you keep your makeup to a minimum: add a small amount of talcum powder on top of your foundation, to make you look eerily pale and mysterious. Also, pay greater attention to your brows: use eyebrow pencil to give them a more de-

Dressing like a schoolgirl is a bit of a ‘thang’ this season, so take it one step further for a spooky yet stylish Halloween outfit. Channel Cher from Clueless and wear a flirty tartan mini skirt with a crisp white shirt, overknee socks and a black choker necklace. Not only will you look bang on trend with your cute little tartan skirt, but you’ll also look frightfully scary. To save money, re-use your outfit that you wore to the Freshers’ school disco night and just accessorise

Buy this space from £20 Email ripple@le.ac.uk The Ripple has teamed up with Rockstar Promotions - the guys behind Friday’s biggest night out, Shabang - to help all you students in search of the perfect hangover cure.

All you have to do is send us a picture of your hangover cure, and explain to us what it is.

We’ll then print the winning cure in the Ripple.

The winner will not only get the fame and thanks of every suffering student, but also 2 free tickets to Shabang.

Send in your cures to ripple@le.ac.uk. Please provide a telephone number to contact you on if successful.

Last weeks winner:

“Popcorn is fantastic as a pick-me-up the morning/afternoon after a heavy night out.

I don’t know whether it’s the salt, the iron or the fact that I love it that makes me feel better, but whatever it is - it works!”

SPORT

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Edited by Conor Wickham

Northampton Nick It Northampton 17 Leicester 14 University of Leicester Men’s Rugby Union 3rd team travelled to Northampton after their disappointing opening day defeat to Nottingham. This week the side was skippered by centre Sam Shorten and featured a number of new talent including Angus Littleford in the second row, Jack Todd at outside centre and Martyn Steel at full-back.

The game began encouragingly and the scores were level at halftime after some gritty defence from Leicester. Northampton 2s were camped in their half for much of the first half. Despite lack of ball and a struggling set-piece the back three looked strong. Isaac Turner was able

to break through tackles almost at will, Duleep Vasudevan had enormous pace and Martyn Steel displayed exceptional hands. Things were looking good elsewhere on the pitch too. The back-row of number eight, Jamie Crook, and flankers, Harry Tillyer and Dominic Hawkins were very effective.

There was pace in abundance in the half-backs too as scrumhalf, Joe Thomas and fly-half, Callum Jamieson picked holes in Northampton’s weak defence almost at will. Jack Todd scored an impressive opening try for this mainly Freshers XV. The pressure on Leicester continued in the second half though and they found themselves under their posts again.

Two Northampton tries brought

The State of Sport

by Conor Wickham A few weeks into the BUCS season and Team University of Leicester currently sit 59th in the BUCS league. That’s up an encouraging 5 places from their position at the end of last year and shows promise for a top 50th finish. It should be duly noted that De Montfort University sit an appalling 84th sandwiched between Edinburgh Napier University and Aston.

Leicester currently sit on 301 points, level with the University of East Anglia, and only 38 points of the University of Sussex in 50th position. Leicester is, however, a whopping 1187 points off first-placed Loughborough. The biggest contributors so far this year have been Lacrosse (38), Rugby Union (37) and Basketball (35). Men’s Lacrosse 1s are the biggest single contributory team with 22 BUCS points despite losing both of their games this season including a 19-2 defeat to Nottingham Trent.

Fencing, last year’s biggest contributor and arguably the most successful team of the 20122013 BUCS season, have managed to amass 21 points so far despite losing both games in fairly narrow affairs to Warwick 1s and Cambridge 2s. The Men’s Fencing first team currently find themselves bottom of Midlands 1A after 2 games. It should be noted, however, that they are one of the few Leicester teams to be competing at the 1A standard.

After this week, a number of

Team University of Leicester teams remain unbeaten including Women’s Basketball 1s who defeated Nottingham away from home.

This Wednesday saw some impressive results. Men’s Tennis

racked up a 10-2 victory against East Anglia to keep their 100% record while Men’s Football 2s sneaked an away win against Bedfordshire allowing them to get their first points of the season on the board in Midlands 5B. Also in football, the men’s 3rd team dispatched Harper Adams with a remarkable 5-1 away win to follow up last week’s draw. This means they sit in second in Midlands 5B – unbeaten and ahead of their 2nd team rivals. There was also an impressive victory for the Netball 3rd team away to Northampton. They currently sit atop of Midlands 6B with an impressive points difference of 72. There

was joy also for women’s badminton who completed an 8-0 thrashing over Newman College in response to last week’s opening defeat to Coventry. In rugby league, Leicester annihilated Nottingham 2s with a 46-0 score line. Following their

42-4 win over Birmingham last week, this means they are at the peak of Midlands 2A with two wins and an incredible 84 point difference.

In Hockey, Leicester Women’s 2nd team beat their Lincoln opponents by scoring 5 and keeping a clean sheet. Following last week’s 3-0 demolition of Worcester, they are currently unbeaten and sit 3rd in Midlands 4B. The Men’s 1st team also recorded an away victory over Birmingham City by scoring 5 goals of their own. They currently top Midlands 3B with 2 wins from 2. An all-Leicester hockey affair ended with a 7-0

victory for the Men’s 2nd team over the 3s. The result of the day certainly game in a two o’clock fixture at Stoughton Playing Fields as Leicester Men’s Rugby Union 2nd team beat De Montfort 1st team by 22 point to 18.

This was enough to lift them off the bottom of the table and repair some of the damage from last week’s defeat to Derby.

There was also disappointment as golf failed to record their first win losing at home to East Anglia. Women’s tennis also failed to follow up last weeks close loss to DMU with a win as they suffered defeat at home to Nottingham Trent in Midlands 2B. Leicester football 4th team were able to get their first points of the season on board as well with a 3-3 draw away to DMU. Elsewhere, Leicester Men’s Rugby Union 1s suffered their first defeat with an agonising 27-24 loss to Nottingham. Netball 2s suffered a heart-wrenching defeat against Anglia Ruskin. Men’s Football 1st team could not follow last week’s remarkable away victory over DMU with a win as they lost 6-2 also at home to Anglia Ruskin. Women’s football opened their campaign with a good 0-0 home draw with Oxford 1s in Midlands 2A. It certainly seems that Leicester are poised to push hard for a top 50 finish this year.

the score to 17-5 and Leicester looked out of it. However, they decided to turn to their bench.

Patrick Roberts and Conor Wickham both entered the fray whilst Dan Ashton and Jack Griffths returned from shoulder injuries earlier in the game to complete the comprehensive changes. Suddenly, Leicester had a new spark about them.

The scrum was holding up better and the backs were getting better ball. Northampton then had a man put in the bin for repeat offences at the breakdown.

Martyn Steel was then able to cross the line about excellent hands from the backs and break from Roberts. Steel ran an excellent line and Roberts was able to toss the ball over a few Northampton players to find his team mate. Steel was then able to run

it in under the posts and Jamieson duly converted to leave the score at 17-14 to Northampton.

Leicester now had all the momentum and remained camped in Northampton’s half but were unable to score. The closest they came was from a number 8 pick from a scrum but Jamie Crook was unlucky to see the referee’s decision go against him.

It was a valiant effort from this young squad and a much-improved performance from last week. The man-of-the-match plaudits were shared between half-backs Callum Jamieson and Joe Thomas.

The team is away (again) against Coventry next week and do not play at home until late in November.

Northampton Netball have Nothing on Leicester Northampton Leicester

28 48

by Cat Wood University of Leicester Netball 3rd team travelled to Northampton to attempt to continue their fine start to the season.

Things went pretty much to plan as Leicester recorded a victory by a 20 point margin.

The first quarter started well for Leicester as they had the 1st centre and scored straight off it.

Their dominance became clearer as the game went on as they started to turn balls over. The quarter ended with Leicester leading 12-5.

quarter the score was 36-20 to Leicester who had opened up an impressive 16 point lead.

The 4th quarter was a chance for Leicester to make a few changes as Northampton begun to tire.

It was impressive that substitutes could fit in so easily to the team without affecting the play.

Leicester ran riot and ended with a 20 point victory, 48-28.

Team: Lauren Brain Courtney Billings Grace Haspel Becky Hayward Grace Brady Cat Woods (c) Efua Obetoh Mads Edwards

The second quarter began in much the same vein. The standard of Leicester’s play slipped slightly and their passing began to get scrappy but they were able to maintain their lead. At the half-way stage, Leicester’s lead remained 7 as the scores were 20-13.

Leicester’s team discussions at the break obviously made a difference in the second-half as their play improved. They certainly were not going to settle for a simple and easy victory.

One member of the team described it as: “getting their mojo back”. At the end of the third

Image by Keith Tonks

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Club Captain Chat Kathryn Hanna - Rowing President Kathryn, a final-year student of International Relations from Grayshott coxed at school after she tore almost all the ligaments in my ankle playing hockey. Despite this non-traditional way of taking up the sport she promised me she enjoyed it saying: “I like rowing because I am really competitive and it’s a really competitive sport”. Perhaps her darkest secret is that Leicester was not her first-choice and she ended up going through clearing. She seems fairly happy with the result though saying: “It’s turned out pretty well.”

In first year, Hanna admitted that she wanted to be in John Foster Hall (who wouldn’t really) but eventually she ended up residing in Lasdun, about which she says: “I was actually happy about in the end because I reckon I had a lot more fun”. Kathryn did have one complaint

though as she remarked: “The food was grim in halls though”.

Returning to Rowing she says: “We haven’t had any competitions yet but so far things have gone well”. ULBC remains one of the biggest sports clubs at our university at this year seems no different. They’ve got about 70 new members this year so participation continues to be big.

There have been a few setbacks however: “The university have messed us around a bit and taken away half of our facilities because they are apparently too

expensive and need repairing,” Katryn remarks. The struggles do not end there though as she continues: “Rowing is an expensive sport and really we need an injection of money in order to start being successful all round.”

The next big event for rowing is BUCS Indoors (competition

on rowing machines), which is 16th November and then 4’s Head of the River (on the Thames) on the 30th November.

Socials have apparently been very successful so far. Kathryn is full of praise: “Kyfer, one of our social secs, is doing an amazing job. The first few were messy and last week we won free entry so a cheap social this week!” There’s no denying that Rowing is a sport that requires dedication. For the Seniors, training is almost every day and then there are water outings in Nottingham at the weekend.

The Novices do land training about 3 times a week and then have outings either at the weekend or on a Wednesday in Leicester. Fitness is also a massive part of the sport as Kathryn notes: “We have our own circuits twice a week, which are really good and great for getting fit”.

Kathryn is apprehensive about the year ahead saying: “Plans for the season are a bit up in the air until we find out what happens with our facilities. We hope to get some good publicity for the club through Alumni, Varsity and charity events to generate some funding and be more successful”. The Boat Club Ball on the 23rd November, which includes Alumni, is the next big social event and Kathryn is keen to stress that: “anyone is welcome to come”.

The ARC Team and Andy will win the Leicester Run on 16th November!

Men’s 1st Team Basketball Comes Close Leicester Coventry

52 63

by Michael Gambe Our second game wasn’t going to be any easier than our first as we were playing against ex division one team, Coventry. The team was without guards James Dyde (Captain) and Dominic McDonaugh due to injury.

BUCS Results and Fixtures

We started off slow, offensively we just were not clicking. Again turnovers were a problem but this time around it was our lack of free throw conversion that arguably cost us the game. The same as in our first game we trailed from the start but it was late in the fourth quarter where Leicester suddenly had a burst of life supplied by the youth of the team which led us to reduce the deficit to only six points with only 2 and half minutes left

on the clock. We did our best to close the gap but a flurry of (justifiable) fouls and efficient free throw shooting from Coventry saw us lose the game 52-63.

It was a positive show from the team and a marked improvement. We are definitely getting close to that first win and next week at our home game we hope to finally gain a victory by defeating 4th placed University of Bedfordshire.