Issue 26 Wednesday 11.03.09
Politically Correct
L&S Guide to... Travel
Street Fighter 4
Comment & Opinion » p5
Life & Style » p8
Arts & Ents » p11
Students in horrific accident
William Hobson Head of News
A pair of students were rushed to hospital last week following a car accident on Hampshire terrace. At 3:08pm on the 4th of March, 21-year old Richard Bradshaw and an unidentified 20-year old woman were hit by a black Vauxhall Omega at the pedestrian crossing near the Hampshire Boulevard. The woman suffered minor injuries and was taken to a Portsmouth hospital where she was kept for overnight observation. Bradshaw, however, was taken to Southampton’s neural unit via air ambulance from the HMS Temeraire sports fields. After undergoing a full x-ray and CT scan, he was released that night despite initial concerns over more serious injury. It is beleived that Bradshaw was originally admitted to Neurological Intensive Care. “Luckily he got away with just cuts and bruises” said Tom Harrison, Bradshaw’s housemate, who witnessed
the collision and said it was a miracle “Brad” wasn’t seriously injured. “We were walking along and last time we looked back he was waiting at the crossing. We heard the beeping then just a massive bang.” “We saw him flying through the air, at least two metres up” said Tom. “He was practically upside down!” Passers-by helped him administer first aid to his housemate, though he says there was little he could do. “He’d already landed in the recovery position luckily.” Steve Topazio the Education and Representation Officer at the Union was also one of the first first-aiders on the scene after recieivng his first aid training at work only four day earlier. Traffic formed huge queues as busy Hampshire Terrace was blocked off by the emergency services. “We rang the paramedics and they were there in three minutes. But within half an hour there were seven police cars, two ambulances and the paramedic car – and probably more further down the line” said Tom. Last year in a separate incident a 22-year old was knocked down in the
exact same spot. Kyle Tookey died in hospital a week after his accident. The Vauxhall Omega had a “huge hole” in the windscreen and it’s number plate was smashed by the collision. The 34 year old male driver was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm, but was released on bail until May 12th. The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance which carried Bradshaw to hospital is one of the charities that UPSU fund-raising group RAG are sponsoring this year. “This really demonstrates why we should fund them” said Tom. Officers are trying to trace the driver of a silver Vauxhall Vectra privatehire cab who they believe may have seen the collision. PC Neville Johnson, said: ‘We believe the driver of the silver car would have seen the collision. ‘The incident could have been witnessed by many people. We need to speak to anyone who saw it.’ Anyone with information is asked to contact PC Johnson quoting Operation Wisher, on 0845 045 45 45 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
News » University
News » University
News » Local
UPSU Media
Halls in Hot Water
The Sweet Spot
Fair Trade Fun
Want to write for Pugwash News?
William Hobson
William Hobson
Chris Spackman
Nearly 300 students from James Watson halls are demanding compensation from the University’s accommodation services with an online petition - signed by just under half of the building’s 600 tenants. A long list of complaints can be read on the facebook group accompanying the petition, but the most significant issue for all residents was the breakdown of a basic service: hot water. “There were a few problems before Christmas, but since the holidays it’s
Staff of Portsmouth Business School (PBS) raised over £500 this month by appealing to more than just student goodwill – they aimed straight for the sweet tooth. A cake sale organised by the staff of PBS was part of several fund-raisers aimed at students in the Richmond Building on the 27th of February. Staff from the Undergraduate Centre baked a huge variety of cakes to tempt students and faculty off their new year diets. The unusual beetroot cake with cream cheese topping tempted the adventurous and sold out in minutes,
Pugwash News / Purple Wednesdays is the Union’s student newspaper. If you have something to shout about, from burning issues to match reports, comment to features, or you want to photograph, design or help lay it out, get in touch!
continued p4
and was supported by a table full of other offerings. Whether carrot, cherry, chocolate, coconut, coffee or banana, there was a slice on offer for a minimum donation of 50p – as well as muffins, mince pies and almond slices for those with a smaller appetite. Or more willpower. The money was raised for the British Heart Foundation. “We chose this charity to support as my 12 year old son, Alex, underwent major heart surgery just before Christmas” said the manager of the undergraduate centre, Jacqueline Cooper. “But most of us either know or are related to people affected by heart conditions” More information: bhf.org.uk
Fair Trade Fortnight, which ran from 23 February to 8 March, was a record breaking week for the Fairtrade foundation. Students from the Oxfam People and Planet Society took part in a variety activities during this fortnight within the local community to promote the Fairtrade image and trade justice. The Fairtrade Foundation is a charity which aims to improve the position of agricultural workers in the developing world and provide farmers. The foundation achieves this aim by continued p3
For more information, see: upsu.net/p/2166
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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
News
Editors
Pupils from St John’s Cathedral Primary School take part in Banana eating world record attempt
Photo of the Fortnight
Jacob Leverett Editor pugwashnews@upsu.net
Tom West Comment & Opinion Editor comment@upsu.net
Peter Allsop Design Editor paperdesign@upsu.net
Elke Morice-Atkinson Life & Style Editor lifestyle@upsu.net
William Hobson Head of News news@upsu.net
Tallie Kane Arts & Entertainment Editor artsents@upsu.net
Laura ‘JP’ Paige Guest Copy Editor copyeditor@upsu.net
Ben Endley Sports Editor sportnews@upsu.net
Sub Editors News Henry Tipping
Sports Chris Hewett
Life & Style Russell Thomas & Samuel Gbenga Arts & Entertainment Dominique O’Mahoney & Jack Kane
photo: Jacob Leverett
Contributors Alyson Bain, Hannah Barclay, Miranda Blunden, Luke Bogue, Mark Brett, Peter Burjan, Matthew Calmus, Becky Dines, Emma Dines, Luke Donovan-King, Natasha Fish, Sophie Gates, Aaron Gent, Marie Gomes, Lucy Henry, Kate Hyder, Laura Jones, Samantha Jones, Samantha ‘Muddy Fox’ Lednor, Sarah Morcom, Simon Munro, Aakash Naik, Gamel Oki, William Preston, Alison Roff, Christopher Spackman, Elaina Sperring, Nina Tennant, Anna Wardell.
Universities Round Up With thanks to: The Portsmouth Formula Student Team, Tom Worman, Pupils in Years 4 and 5 at St John’s Cathedral Primary School, and The University Timetabling team.
Live Imperial College London
Cherwell Oxford
Mascots for the City and Guilds College Union have been stolen and held to ransom by the college’s RAG team. The mascot of a spanner and a bolt will be auctioned back to the Union at an upcoming awards dinner. Hopefully UPSU’s RAG won’t get caught trying the same idea.
The lead-up to the presidential elections for the Oxford Union has proved controversial after two of the three candidates submitted flawed nomination material. Tom Hartley, the current librarian, turned in his nomination forms without the mandatory fee of £40, whilst James Dray, a member of the standing committee, failed to mark the office he is running for. However, Niall Gallagher, the society’s Returning Officer, has declared both candidates’ nominations valid.
The Journal Edinburgh
Dates for the Diary Candidates Questions Park Building 2.23 6pm 10th-12th March
RAG Fortnight Raising loads of money for charity 26th April - 4th May
Elections Campaign Week More info on upsu.net/elections 23rd - 27th March
Carnival Sports clubs and societies unite 1st May
Elections Voting More info on upsu.net/elections 24th - 27th March
Martial Arts Showcase Try your hand at something new 12th March in the Union
The people of the Gaelic speaking Island of Harris voted in favor of turning the island into a national park last week. In an attempt to combat depopulation of the island, 1,450 votes were cast, resulting in an almost two-to-one win in favour. Islanders are asking ministers to turn their island into Scotland’s third national park. Nouse York A motion to lobby the University for better identity cards for York students has been passed after the last Union General Meeting.The motion criticises the University of York card that shows a duck, currently issued to all students. It claims the lack of an expiry date makes the card an unacceptable form of ID at many places in York, with staff frequently failing to acknowledge it as proof of student identification alone, in addition to students away from York during holidays or sandwich courses.
Epigram Bristol University A student fell from a rooftop at a student house party. The house is commonly referred to as the ‘whitehouse’ saw over 600 people arrive throughout the evening. One student fell from a roof causing an ambulance to be called. London Student Universities of London A full-capacity AGM saw UCL students overthrow last year’s controversial ban of military from Union events. Speaking to the 500 students who attended, medical student Amanda Smith, the motion’s proposer, emphasised the media baggage the previous motion had brought with it: “it’s been a political deadweight around the Union’s neck for a year.
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Produced fortnightly by the University of Portsmouth Students’ Union (UPSU). Printed by Quotemeprint - www. quotemeprint.com, 0845 130 0667, and printed on 100% recycled paper. Pugwash News & Purple Wednesdays bears no allegiance to any political party and discriminates against no-one.
To get in touch with the Pugwash News & Purple Wednesdays team, please visit upsu.net/newsdesk, e-mail us at newsdesk@upsu. net, call us via the Union’s Media & Publications Officer at: 023 9284 3657, or visit us at The Student Centre, Portsmouth Students’ Union, Cambridge Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 2EF.
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popularmechanics.com/ufos/
The fact-finding magazine investigates aliens and UFO’s in America, including a map of all UFO sightings in the states. carloslabs.com/node/16
What would your city look like if it got nuked? terrifying google maps app darwinawards.com
Awards for the people who did the gene pool a favour with their sillyness... layersmagazine.com
If you’re into Adobe’s Photoshop and other digital imaging products, then Layers Magazine will help you with tutorials, reviews, and more. HSX.com
A complex stock market game where you’re not exactly trading stocks, but movies and movie stars—all simulated, so don’t get your hopes up too high.
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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
News
Funding Pit-Stop For Formula Student Matthew Calmus
The Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe vowed to continue land seizures from white farmers at a celebration of his 85th birthday. His supporters raised £176,000 for his celebrations, which was spent on such lavish details as an 85kg birthday cake. The celebrations have been criticised after the events in the country over the past year, which has been plagued by a shattered economy, electoral fraud and a cholera epidemic. The country has asked for over 2 billion dollars in aid to revive its public services, but Mr Mugabe has repeated his rejection of criticism or intervention by outside organisations both regionally and internationally.
The University’s own race team is very much on track for this summer’s worldwide Formula Student races at Silverstone . Portsmouth's entry was confirmed during a recent presentation to parties supporting the project. The Portsmouth Formula Student team, two groups comprising over 30 Mechanical and Design Engineering students, presented their completed designs to sponsors last month. They are now keen for the project’s design phase to give way to actual construction.
“At the moment, we’re not entirely confident that we will attract the funding we need to build the project, but the team are working flat out to get the backing,” team leader Nick Pearson, told Pugwash. The motorsport team are desperately looking for the chance to improve on last year’s respectable sixth place, achieved in the Class Two category races against scores of other vehicles. Nick appealed to any interested local businesses to approach the University for sponsorship. He explained: “Our car will be raced against somewhere in the re-
gion of 120 Universities from around the world. We are looking for support from the community and local companies” Formula Student Portsmouth anticipate competing in two classes – first and third – for the first time, with students racing in class 3 able to return next year for their chance to compete in the top division. He also stated that the team will submit four named drivers for July’s three-day event. The team would very much like to thank their exisitng sponsors and the University Faculty of Technology for the assistance and support granted to the team to date.
A rollerskater in Southport made the headlines last week after being issued with a fine for breaking local by-laws. The 71 year old OAP was told he was a ‘danger to the public’. Prepare for the portable toaster! A korean has invented a device which can toast your bread on the go, but it is limited to toasting one side of bread at a time. The Simpsons has been extended until 2011! This will make it the longest-running prime-time series in the history of the US, and bring it to nearly 500 episodes.
President Obama has announced that most US troops will withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2010. By August of that year, over 90,000 military personnel will leave their current station according to the new president’s plans. However up to 50,000 soldiers will remain until the end of 2011 in ‘advisory’ positions. “Iraq is not yet secure, and there will be difficult days ahead” said Mr Obama. However some democrats are concerned that this falls short of his election pledge of a complete withdrawal within 16 months of assuming the presidency. A new Vatican report says that the number of Catholic priests around the world is slowly increasing. Since 2000 the number has risen from 405,178 priests to 408,024. Numbers had been dropping markedly over the last two decades, but recruitment in Africa and Asia seems to have turned this around. The two continents have seen a rise by 27.6% and 21% respectively. Around 1.147 billion people worldwide identify themselves as Catholic, about 17.3% of the population.
The long-known benefits of the British penchant for a cuppa have been confirmed; scientists claim that three cups of tea day could help prevent cancer.
Doodling doesn’t just kill boredom, it may actually help you remember the dull lectures – at least according to research from Plymouth University.
Clothing for a clean conscience William Hobson
Fairtrade is in fashion among Portsmouth students according to a report from the Union Copyshop. Student response to the new range of fair trade t-shirts and Hoodies has impressed staff, with nearly £700 worth of conscientious clothing sold in just over a month. Nearly half of this was in Fairtrade week alone, with over £280 of sales between the 23rd and 27th of February.
The Fairtrade range of university clothing costs a little more than the standard offering, but comes in a range of new colours suited for the coming summer. From electric pink to ‘kelly green’, the new clothes are supplied with the guarantee of the nowiconic fair trade symbol. Fairtrade products guarantee a minimum price to those supplying the raw materials. The copy shop began to stock fair trade products as a result of a Student Council motion that passed in 2007/2008. The motion specified
that only Fairtrade products should be sold, but this was impossible to implement so a choice has been given instead. The current stock is selling out fast, with some colours completely sold out in a range of sizes. Anyone who wants one is advised to act fast or face disappointment. You can also place a special order for the new range of crested hoodies at the online shop. upsu.net/shop Deliveries can take up to four weeks after order.
The Obama’s have settled on their presidential pooch – a Portugese water dog, a pedigree breed that looks a lot like a poodle. Ryanair is seriously considering charging passengers for toilet use whilst flying. Go before you go if you want to fly for cheap it appears... Anyone shaken by Iggy Pop selling out to Swiftcover insurance should enjoy the irony revealed by The Guardian last week. As a musician, Iggy falls into one of the many categories that can’t take policies out with the company...
News » Local
News » Local
Fair Trade Fun
Theft at Tiger Tiger
continued from front page giving farmers a fair price for their produce and as a result tip the balance of power in favour of the poorest producers. The aim of the Fairtrade fortnight was to make people aware of the objectives of the fairtrade foundation and make consumers aware of the Fairtrade mark. The Oxfam People and Planet society took part in numerous events during Fairtrade fortnight and the events were greatly enjoyed by all involved. The activities which the society were involved in began with the running of a stall in the Cascades. Here Fairtrade literature and information were made availiable and members of the society promoted the events which took part
in the second week of Fairtrade fortnight: The wine tasting event and the Banana eating world record attempt. The Fairtrade wine tasting event, which was organised by the Portsmouth Fairtrade Forum, took place in the recently opened David Sciama Building on Wednesday 4th March. The event proved to be a huge success, attracting 130 people from the city, council, and the University. In addition to the wine tasting, six students from the Oxfam People and Planet society modelled fair trade and organic clothing, provided by a local Fairtrade clothing company. The fortnights events reached its climax with a successful world record attempt for the most fairtrade bananas
eaten in twenty four hours. This was a popular event within Portsmouth, with around 1000 people in the city taking part in this national event. Students from the university helped distribute bananas in the Guildhall Square and this was greatly enjoyed by those involved. Over 350,000 people took part in this event across the country. The Fairtrade foundation wants to double the number of fairtrade bananas avaliable in UK shops by 2012. The most pleasing point of the fortnight came with the announcement by Cadburys that their most popular product, Dairy Milk, would now be manufactured using Fairtrade cocoa beans. Around 300 million bars of Dairy Milk are sold in the UK and
Ireland Every year. by changing its cocoa to Fairtrade it would raise the amount of Fairtrade cocoa from Ghana to 15,000 tonnes a year. the change to Fairtrade by Cadburys is expected to come into effect by the end of the summer this year. Fairtrade products change the lives of the farmers, families, and communities of those involved with the foundation. In this time of economic difficulties Fairtrade is needed more than ever. You can help change the lives of millions by eating, drinking or wearing Fairtrade products.
Emma Dines
For More information on Fairtrade visit: fairtrade.org.uk
If you have any information please call Crime Stoppers on: 0800 555 111
A university lecturer has had his wallet stolen on a night out at the club Tiger Tiger. The animation lecturer joined students on the night and was taken advantage of by a girl who appeared very friendly. “A young lady chatted me up at the end of the evening - I got home to find I couldn’t pay the taxi... I realise attractive girls don’t like old fat blokes, just their wallets” said the lecturer. Only £15 was in the wallet and he cancelled his credit cards before any transactions were made.
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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
News
2002
2004
2005
£1m
2006
2007
£9.4m
King Henry refurbishment
£10m
Dennis Sciama building
£3m
think, I’m paying three grand a year for this and I can’t even sit on a chair – great!’ Despite this, the rise in students has been good news for businesses. Manager of The Registry, Caz, says she’s seen an increase in students coming into the establishment. ‘As a pub we’re in growth. Ignoring the fact we’re in a recession, business is on the increase.’ She added: ‘We’ve noticed it more on a Tuesday night, there’s been a massive rise in people through the door.’ So what changes has the University made to its campus – and at what cost?
Extension to library
£1m
St George’s building
£1.3m
Spinnaker building
£1.6m
£4m
the Dennis Sciama building which cost over £9m. Although the number of applications has rocketed, Professor Craven said the student population would not rise again - last year (for 2008 entry), 1000 more students than normal were let in. Not everyone had such a great experience though. ‘It was insane, people had to sit on the stairways and on the sides because there wasn’t enough room for us to sit down." Said one first year student, who wished to remain anonymous. "People started to get really pissed off at one point, you can’t help but
St Michael’s building
£4.2m
Richmond
£6.5m
Mildam
£12m
William Beatty building
St Pauls sports centre
Sarah Morcom
Anglesea Refurb
The popularity of the University of Portsmouth has soared as a record number of applications were recieved, putting it in the top three peformers in the country. New figures released by UCAS show 23,106 applications were received for courses starting this October. It’s the first time the figure has hit more than 20,000 and is a 25% rise in the number of applicants last year. The rise in the popularity of Portsmouth is three times more than that of other Universities across England
and the Vice Chancellor, Professor John Craven, thinks the improved image of Portsmouth owe’s itself to developments in and around the city. ‘The city has a much higher national profile than 10 years ago, and the developments in the Historic Dockyard and Gunwharf make the city a much more attractive place for students and visitors.’ He added: ‘I am very pleased with both the increase from 2008 and the longer term success of the University. In the last five years £36.2m has been spent on new buildings as well as refurbishing existing ones. The latest development to be unveiled was
Students Centre
Portsmouth more popular than ever
£2.3m
2008
Shoplifter attacks Co-op staff Anna Wardell
An employee at the Co-operative at the Union had to be taken to hospital after confronting a shoplifter early on Thursday morning. The thief was caught trying to steal beer and, upon being stopped, lashed out; hitting the employee with the beer bottles. He escaped, leaving the 22 year old victim with two loose front teeth and a gash to the head. Police are looking for a white male, aged between 18-22. He is described as having short, black hair and being around 6 foot tall and of a slim build. At the time of the assault he was wearing a dark jacket and a dark blue pair of jeans. He was seen before and after with a man dressed in a red jacket and light blue jeans. This second man also had short, dark hair and was five foot ten. Anyone with information has been asked to contact Fratton CID on 0845 045 45 45 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
Halls in Hot Water continued from front page been pretty much constant” said Ash Grant, the student who started the petition. Residents say that for over a month they experienced problems with their supply of hot water – from a total lack to a maximum temperature described as “lukewarm”. Though Ash and at least thirty other students reported the fault with the water supply at the start of term in January, the problem has taken over a month to be resolved. During this time students were told to use nearby Nuffield sports centre for showers, or avoid peak usage. The University stated that supply has been fully restored as of the 14th February, and that no further complaints have been received. Unfortunately the James Watson tenants say the problem goes deeper than just hot water. “When you go down to reception, you’re told that no one else has complained” said Ash. He says that many students feel as though their problems have been disregarded
or discounted by accommodation services and that there has been a serious problem in communication. Other students support his testimony, with several reporting delays in repairing faults from as far back as September. From replacing windows to fixing lights, student’s say that their experience with the maintenance services has been disappointing. One flat had to resort to a formal letter of complaint after being informed that their broken window would not be fixed until summer, and many more say they’ve had no response from other channels. “I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve complained to James Watson reception” said Sophia Asran. “I also complained to the halls manager himself, but I didn’t hear anything back from him”. “When anything goes wrong with the halls, like something damaged or broken in our flats, we receive tons of letters demanding immediate payment. However, when we complain
about something, nothing gets done”
“
At a time when living in Halls should have been a fantastic learning curve, these constant problems are making our Halls experience borderline unbearable
The University has said that it is concerned about the dissatisfaction with the general maintenance of their halls.
News » Local
James Watson is owned by a student accommodation property company named Unite, who’s responsibility it is to maintain the building. A new process to provide a quicker response has been promised by the University, who said that it is working closely with Unite to put this into place. It has also formally apologised for the poor hot water supply and for not keeping students informed of efforts to resolve the situation. “We were working hard throughout the period to rectify the problems,” said Michelle Webster, director of Campus Services. James Watson’s three boilers had been crippled by a series of faults which proved difficult to fix. The university says that difficulties in obtaining vital spare parts led to the delay, but that there should be no more problems with the supply. “We acknowledge that more should have been done to keep students informed and would invite any students who would like to discuss the matter
further to contact our head of residential services, Sheila Daly” said Ms Webster. However the question of compensation has been ruled out. Students on the Facebook group had pointed to a previous incident at Trafalgar, where compensation of £10 a day was received for the disruption of the water services. “In that situation there was no water in the building at all” said a University spokesperson. “Since James Watson building did have water and students were able to cook, the question of compensation does not apply.” In a further complication to the unfortunate tale, it seems that not all of James Watson tenants agree that the hot water problem has been fixed. Though most of the residents say that they've had no problems since the end of February, several others say they're still having intermittent problems with their supply. At least three students have had "freezing showers" in March.
Announcement » Students’ Union
Thousands to be won for the Enterprising Spirit UPSU Announcement Emma Dines
Twelve student entrepreneurs won a share of £5,000 in stage one of the University of Portsmouth’s Enterprise Challenge 2009 and more students are encouraged to take part in stage two of the competition in June. Winners of stage one were announced on 10th February 2009. Leila De Lara, William Stewart and Sam Parham each won £1,000 for creating an innovative business idea relating to the arts, technical and retail sectors. Six other runners up and three highly commended students each won £500 and £250 respectively. Leila De Lara said, “I was so im-
pressed with the Centre of Enterprise at the University, who have given me mentoring sessions allowing me to build up an exciting and feasible business plan. The staff are very friendly and helpful, with a breath of experience behind them to help you overcome any hurdle.” The stakes are raised in stage two with the total prize doubled to about £10,000. Applicants need to create a detailed business plan with help from Business Planning Workshops and dedicated staff. There are three distinct categories for business ideas which are ‘Arts Based Enterprise’, ‘Technology Based Enterprise’ and ‘Service Enterprise’.
If chosen, the candidates will have to present their business plan to judges at the awards ceremony in June. The judges then use a set of criteria to decide on the winners. Applicants not only need to show and tell judges that their plan is realistic but also how it would become commerical a success. The deadline for stage 2 entries is 12pm on 23rd April 2009. All entries must be either posted or delivered by hand to the Portsmouth Centre of Enterprise (PCE) office in Mercantile Building. More details about Enterprise Challenge 2009 can be found at: tinyurl.com/8ndo9l
The following is a statement from the Chief Executive Officer, Rena Ellis: “As you are aware, I have been away from work since November 2008. During this time I have had the opportunity to reassess my priorities and with the support of my family have decided that what I need to do is take on a position that allows me to spend more time doing the things that Michael I want to do. Since 4th October 1999 I have enjoyed the support and camaraderie while working with some of the most amazing staff and officers, here in the Union, the University and the Student movement and this is what I will miss,
however I would like to think that I have also made lifelong friends during my ten years with the Union. I know that I have made the right decision for myself, and that I am leaving the Union as an organisation that will go from strength to strength and wish you all well in the future.” The Union completely understands Rena’s decision, is grateful to her for her service and would like to wish her well for her future endeavours.
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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
Comment & Opinion
The Editor reserves the right to edit and omit contributions. The views expressed are those of the contributors and not of UPSU Media. E-mail to comment@upsu.net I'll try to tell the world about your views!
Politically Correct? Politics, postmen and the past It's certainly a phrase that gets my goat. Political correctness has made its presence increasingly known to us over the last few years, supposedly with the purpose of protecting the vulnerable from any offence that, well, anything at all may cause. However, there are those (including myself) who believe that the entire concept is more of a hindrance than a help and it's nice to have someone of the same opinion for once, such as Martin here... Nearly every day, when I open the newspaper, turn on the TV or radio it seems like there is a new “scandal” that has been dreamt up by some dogooder just waiting to pounce on me. In this case I am talking about statements made by a more or less well known celebrity or some person of supposed notability. Apparently they say things that you just can’t say in Britain any more in this day and age. And it is my duty as a good citizen to be just as enraged about these statements. It’s simply not politically correct! Oh, the horror and outrage! I personally noticed how odd the whole matter had become when seemingly everybody went bananas about Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross. Okay, so what the two babbled onto some old bloke’s answering machine wasn’t in the best of taste, but the amount of phony outrage that was brought forward in the media in response was sickening. After that the media went mediaeval in a 21st century witch-hunt to tar and feather the reputation of anybody they personally deemed to be politically incorrect. Another example of this was when Carol Thatcher got caught in the media’s shit storm when she called a tennis player a golliwog in an *off camera* remark. However, the thing that I can pretty much guarantee you is that the people shouting the loudest are the biggest hypocrites. They might not use the particular term that they publicly abhor, but behind closed doors they will be even bigger bigots and hate mongers than the people they are trying to ostracize. But what really got my blood boiling was the story about Cerrie Burnell, a recently hired CBeebies presenter who was born with only one arm. Some individual managed to write this in a complaint to the BBC: “Is it
just me, or does anyone else think the new woman presenter on CBeebies may scare the kids because of her disability?” And here is another gem: “'I didn't want to let my children watch the filler bits on The Bedtime Hour last night because I know it would have played on my eldest daughter's mind and possibly caused sleep problems." What does this wonderful specimen of humanity propose? Perhaps we should ban Gordon Brown from TV appearances, as he only has one eye? (Damn straight, Jeremy Clarkson didn’t just make the one eyed Scottish idiot comment up.) Or perhaps we should shoot everyone with disabilities, because they might cause our children to think about the world around them and take them out of their comfort zones?
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the new woman presenter on CBeebies may scare the kids because of her disability
I think the prospect of challenging a young person’s mind, with the small chance of disturbing them, a hell of a lot more enticing than breeding another generation of coddled apathetic idiots. This is Britain and we’ve had a long tradition of free speech. If we don’t take a stand now we will all wake up one day and the comedians won’t be funny anymore. Their jokes will suck because before they can tell them they will have had to pass a PC test. People will be too afraid to say anything that might be deemed slightly off the radar out of fear of offending someone. And politicians will be talking in an even more contrived language than they do today (if that is even humanly possible). So here’s to free speech: “Bugger off!” Try and sell your political correctness to someone else, because I don’t bloody want it. Martin Plappert
It's not that I don't understand the politics and what-have-you behind the current economic crisis. It's just that I choose to ignore it to the point of developing what I believe to be that blissful ignorance so many people speak of. However, Henry here (like the alliteration?) does understand and would like to share some of his musings with us... Off with their heads! (Metaphorically) The British government have managed to almost bore us into accepting "our debt", coining in us a mentality close to that of a Grandfather who must hand out a few obligatory pennies of his pension to his grandchildren, "just take it Mr. Brown, but don’t be spending it all at once!". Whilst we slept on January 29th around 2.5 million people took to the streets across France to protest against President Sarkozy’s plans to turn State debt (the credit crunch bail package) onto working people. Bless the French for their natural inclination towards protest and brewing revolution. While in Britain we moped and gawped for a while at the television screens, as Gordon Brown moped and gawped right back at us and muttered a few figures too large for us to really consider being real. The problem was he was rather clever in his deliverance of the
problems, all credit to him I suppose (all debt to us for listening).
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Oliver Besancenot, previously a postman by trade, now the presidential candidate
So after boring us into our neglect of the situation, Brown realised he could stand as the revolutionary one, he raised his fist and struck it down, calling on that British spirit and courage to take this debt lying down! And we felt the tingling sensations of Blitz spirit that permeates various parts of our daily lives, like when you’re standing in a queue at the checkout of a supermarket and, selflessly, you attend that poor soul behind you who can’t even begin to load onto the conveyor without that little sign "next customer", as you make space for them and stretch for the sign, born is a special
kinship, and you remember why this country is great. The French then, have done it properly. The "eclectic postman" is Oliver Besancenot, previously a postman by trade, now the presidential candidate for the New Anti-Capitalist Party. On the 18th February 200 students and supporters of Besancenot occupied the Sorbonne in Paris to show their determination to prevent government plans to burden workers with the massive debts. The significance of this event must not go unrecognised here; it immediately brought to mind the events of May 1968, the revolution that sprang from the Sorbonne and other Academic institutions that led to the fall of General De Gaulle. President Sarkozy was genuinely shaken up and claimed that he too agreed with the revolutionary upheaval, conceding that he intends to "reform" capitalism at April’s G20 summit in London. But this is not enough for the new Green Left which, increasingly, is leaving the fringe and becoming a genuine threat in the mainstream of politics, for they understand that banks cannot be "tamed" and that the economy will not be "reformed" to the extent that the problems existing at the very heart of Capitalism will be eliminated. Henry Tipping
Ongoing nudity Your comments about the cover of the last issue of Pugwash magazine do keep popping up. I overheard a couple of students talking about our girl on the front cover in the Waterhole the other day and swooped in so snatch their thoughts from them before they got swept away like a lonely balloon in a force ten gale...
girl’s tits down their neck, are they? If they see it and they don’t like it why should they try and spoil it for those of us who appreciate the female form? Alex P
If a girl wants to get her knockers out for a magazine then good for her, really! It doesn't matter if it's for art's sake, if it's supposed to be tasteful or not, if it's to prove a point or whatever. The important thing is that she can and no-one's going to take that away from her if she wants to do it. If people don’t get it, then that’s their problem. They don’t have to read it, do they? No-one’s forcing this
If a girl wants to get her knockers out for a magazine then good for her
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Pugwash News and all of our readers would like to hear your opinions on anything and everything: comment@upsu.net
Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
Life & Style
Going on a date? Life & Style Reviews... Natasha Fish
Considering asking a guy or girl out on a date, but don’t know where to go? In my experience you need to go somewhere that has the three key elements. Firstly, a place where you can talk, so not too much noise. Secondly, somewhere that looks good. Thirdly, you need to go somewhere with the right atmosphere. I understand as students when we are going out we want cheap drinks, but on a date, the purse strings need to loosen a little. A date should not be a £1.50 beer or £2 watered down vodka and coke from the nearest Wetherspoons! The date needs take place at somewhere a little more sophisticated, if you have any hope of impressing him or her. So, here are my top three places to go on a date all situated in Gunwharf Quays, and based on my three key elements: 1. Slug & Lettuce – Although the name may not sound appealing, the place itself is. It is quite new to Gunwharf and is the most sophisticated looking of the three. The décor has lots of dark glossy timber giving the bar a relaxed feel, but without being too casual. The dim lighting will put any self-con-
scious male or female at ease. 2. Ha Ha Bar – sophisticated with modern décor, this bar is never too crowded and has some great seating. Either prop yourself up opposite the bar or if you are a romantic, make the most of the seating by the window and use the view as a focal point. Dimly lit with comfortable seating this is an ideal location for a date. 3. Las Iguanas – Still quite new, it has good mood setting lighting and although lively is not too loud. There is bar space which offers all the usual aperitifs as well as a range of cocktails, which is great for something a bit more special. Nicely decorated with good music, this is a good place for those who want somewhere with a bit more background noise. The great thing about all three of these bars/restaurants is that there is an absence of children and young teens. They offer escapism from the bright lighting and noisy background of the usual pubs and restaurants, or the darkness of the cinema. So why not think about one of these places next time you ask someone on a date, and make the most of one of these relaxed and semi-private locations.
Las Iguanas Gunwharf Nina Tennant
A few weeks ago the majority of the Pugwash team decided to have a much needed dinner at Latin American restaurant, Las Iguanas. My eyes lit up as soon as I saw the cocktail menu at the bar and signs advertising their happy hour from 12-9pm. We arrived at 7.30 pm, plenty of time to make use of the 2 for 1 on a large selection of cocktails such as Margaritas, Sangria, Tequila Sunrise and Ipanema Breeze to name a few. Although some chose to drink their two cocktails straight up (or pitchers for some), the rest shared the cost, making the cocktails half price and a cheap night out drinks-wise as a standard cocktail was £4.50 without the offer. It’s best to take full advantage and go on a Sunday or Monday when the offer lasts all day and night. By the time the waitress took our orders I was starving and so decided
The Pub Lunch Samantha Jones
I saw a flyer in the Fleet recently, claiming that it sold the best burgers in town. Being a lover of all things food related, I took it upon myself to test this. I am going to take a gastrotour through the six main haunts for student pub lunch folk: the Union, the Registry, Yate’s, Walkabout, Wetherspoons and finally, the Fleet. I hope to give you a thorough round up of the pros and cons of the menus available and determine who really does the best burger in town. My first stop was the Union. I have only just started to indulge in what the Union has to offer and I must admit the sceptic in me was stunned. The Union offers two types of veggie burger and a good range of baguettes, sides and meaty burgers at a little more cost then the Registry. My plate had onion rings stacked on top a healthy portion of relish and chips and the wondrous offering of light mayonnaise made with free range eggs. The taste was pure genius – I could
to play it safe with the Buenos Aires Burger, an Argentinean beef burger topped with mozzarella and smoked paprika mayonnaise, served with curly fries instead of going for one of the more exotic sounding Argentinean dishes. My food was gorgeous but I could have eaten another plate load. Those around me had gone for Enchiladas and Chimichangas which were laid on a weird looking black bean liquid that looked most unappetizing but I was told was extremely delicious. Although the food was lovely the service was quite poor. Most of the table had to order their drinks at the bar as a waitress coming near our table was a rare sight. Although a lot of the main dishes were quite expensive, averaging at around £13.50, the restaurant has the scope to be a cheap meal out. The lunch and early evening set menu lasts until 7 pm. It consists of seven mains which are all £6.90 each including Hot Wraps, Peri-Peri Asado and Chilli Con Carne. You can add one of the three starters for £1 and you can add your first glass of wine or beer for £1.50 and a mineral drink for £1. If arriving
after 7 pm, definitely take advantage of the 2 for 1 cocktails or £3.50 off certain bottles of wine. You could go for the tapas option which gives you five large plates of tapas for £20 and plenty of food to share between two making your food a very reasonable tenner each. Although a lot of the food on the main menu may seem expensive there are a variety of dishes that average around £7.90-£8.50 such as The Argentinean Burger, Enchiladas, Chimichangas, half a slow roasted chicken and the Puerto Rican paella. If you don’t care so much about the price and want some really interesting Argentinean food, the menu has a whole section dedicated to the art of South American cooking. Dishes include XinXim and Moqueca which are Argentinean types of curry and Pescado con coco which is fresh haddock with mussels served in a saffron sauce. Even though the service was less than desirable I would definitely recommend this place as the food was lovely and the drinks certainly had a few Pugwash members under the table. All in all it served for a great night out!
not have made better chips. I suspect the chips are double fried to get their crispy brown coat. All the food is hot and large enough to fill any hangover sized void in your stomach. I was so impressed that the following Wednesday I tried the £2.50 sausage, beans and chips meal. I was not expecting much for the price so was astonished to find three sausages and a good sized portion of beans and the same gorgeous chips on my plate.
deals and original side dishes such as pesto coleslaw, makes it a tough competitor. The chips: French fries or curly fries are served in a dish (so are kept away from the burger). There is a large range of burgers on offer that are stacked with a large range of ingredients. The ethereal scream burger is top of the class with cheese, bacon, onion rings and pretty much everything else in between. As a massive sauce lover the Registry is in my good books, with its own uniquely made sauces next to the bog standard and the ever important mayonnaise.The rest of the meals sound just as appetizing with scampi and chips to lasagne, the Registry can meet everyone’s taste at a reasonable price. However, the Registry does charge for all the little extras I like to make my meal even tastier: the pineapple rings, French and curly fries and coleslaws all fall into this category making the meal more expensive than I would really like. It’s hard to say if it is good value for money when the sides and extras make the meal the wonder that I claim it to be. But when you consider the friendly staff, music and relaxed atmosphere an extra £1.50 on the bill seems marginal.
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As a massive sauce lover the Registry is in my good books
The relatively expensive menu at the Union is forgotten when you consider the portion size and the chips just make the meal. Starting my quest at the Union means the other pubs have a lot to live up to. The Registry has often been called my home away from home as the service and the food is consistent and good. The amazing beer and burger
Life & Style » Educations
Life & Style
Get An Insight into University Timetabling
New Team
Elke Morice-Atkinson
Its 9 am, you’re cold, you’re probably hung over and you’re sitting in a lecture. You probably say this every week, but “you just hate having to get up for 9 am lectures.” I bet what you don’t think about how complicated and time consuming it must be to timetable for an entire University. Pretty much every other student you see at uni on any given day is going to a studio, seminar, lecture, tutorial, lab session – or something, and they all know where to go and at what time, thanks to the people who work hard to draw up our timetables.
The timetabling cycle starts in March each year, so when we’re happily trucking away with uni work and going out, work has already begun on new timetables. It begins with gathering unit information, checking it, amending it and deleting some of it before the Faculty Timetablers input data given to them by department academics. By June, it’s summer, it’s warm and exams are over but work on timetables is in full flow. While we are having BBQs down the seafront, our timetablers are inside scheduling teaching events for the next academic year! The process can get quite tricky, just as tricky as lighting a disposable BBQ.
All events that involve 60 or more people (mostly lectures) are scheduled separately from all smaller events, and done separately for each department. After all this, draft timetables are sent to all departments for checking – but then the University goes into clearing for second round offers, and that means more people to timetable. Once the timetablers have ensured we each have a chair to sit on, a room to be in and lecturer to teach us, the timetables are checked once last time before being published two weeks before teaching starts. And that is how it’s done. Although, as Jeannie Carter, Office Manager of Space Management said, “the process
sounds straightforward, however as some students know this is not always the case.” But the University is always trying to improve on the service and information to its customers. Jeannie Carter said, “We are looking at creating a team of up to 15 students across the university to be included in a project to advise on problems, perception and expectation for course and student timetables, from a student point of view, working within University agreed policies. We are hoping to meet a couple of times.” If you are interested in joining the team please email jeannie.carter@port.ac.uk or call 023 9284 3781.
The Life and Style team would like to officially welcome its two new subeditors, Russell Thomas and Samuel Gbenga, into the Pugwash team. As some of you may have known, we have been on the hunt for new sub-editors for a little while now and were fortunate enough to find and appoint two great people who will help expand and diversify the Life and Style team. We wanted a team that represented you, the student body, and now we have it. With the new team in place, we hope to bring you much more diverse and varied content in Pugwash News, Pugwash Magazine and Pugwash Online.
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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
Life & Style
Life & Style Guide To... Student Travel Russell Thomas
Student travel. Where to start? There are agencies everywhere: from travel agencies to student specific travel companies not to mention the hundreds, if not thousands of websites that are seemingly popping up all over the place. With so much to choose from, the world turns into an even bigger, daunting, and more exciting place than you thought it was before. So if you are lost among the jumble of self-catering, all inclusive, fly-drive holidays here are some pointers. Before anything, before you start dreaming of penguins in Cape Town and admiring the view from Machu Pichu, you have to think of when. When do you want to go travelling?
There are a lot of contributing factors for this decision. Obviously, the “do you want to go before uni?” question becomes null and void if you happen to be reading this article. The usual situation when considering going after uni for a long stint of travelling is that you have had your three years of partying, you have the world ahead of you – degree in hand, and you think, “Fantastic. Time for a break.” You don’t want to party anymore, you want – to use an overused term – to see the world. This is one answer to the question: go after the whole shebang and appreciate different cultures and landscapes. But you could get the best of both worlds if you go in the middle of your degree. Two years of partying and studying, a year of discovery in exotic coun-
tries, one last year of partying and studying. That can be good for those of you studying for professions, for example, a doctor – think of the experience of pottering around in a different country for, let’s say, a year; this is something you may not have thought about before, and something well worth thinking about. To be even more specific, going, for example, in late spring/early summer time would ensure that all the typical backpacker routes would be busy - so you don’t get lonely. And how long do you want to go for? Well you should go for a minimum of three months, and could go anywhere up to a year – longer if you can handle it; in a lot of places, Australia for example, you could settle down with temporary work if you
decided to stay for longer. You could go on this way, making such cash-raising or work-experience-orientated pit stops like that, for two or three years! For things like that, you may want to consider a working Visa for certain countries. One informant said: “Working and living in one place for a couple of months when you are away is an amazing experience in itself.” Now the preliminaries are out of the way, down to the nitty gritty. I’ve asked a couple of people who have been travelling – could be called seasoned travellers – about how to go around travelling. With students in mind of course. Choosing a place, or places, depends really on what you want to do. Think about whether or not you want something ‘easy’ or ‘more difficult’. Africa would be something ‘more difficult’, because you have to think about the more ambiguous borders and fear of the unknown – it is less trod. South-east Asia, on the other hand, would be easier because in a nutshell it is more... trod upon. This is the less confusing way of looking at it, but if you have an idea of what you want to do while you’re travelling, then obviously you can be more specific. Budgeting. Budgeting. Budgeting. The kryptonite to all us Superstudents. Luckily for all of us, we don’t really have to budget. Of course, we’d want to do things on the cheap, but does this mean we have to limit ourselves? To quote someone who has been travelling: “We just chose the cheapest acceptable hotels and restaurants, with the occasional splurge when it's worth it.” So rather than budgeting, we are what’s known as being ‘thrifty’. It’s less ugly word than ‘budget’, anyway. You can expect to spend, with flights and excursions included, around £1000 a month. If you want a ‘package’ travelling experience, STA has a lot of good choices – from Russia to South America (but these can be more expensive). You can check these out at www.sta. co.uk, or by picking up a brochure in town; there’s an STA on Commercial Road right here in Portsmouth. Flights, independent of package deals, can be quite hard to figure out. There are so many choices. And a lot of the time, it is all about timing – when can you get the cheapest possible flights? Could you plan your holiday without flights and then wait a week before you want to leave and get last minute deals? An obvious purveyor of such gifts is www.lastminute. com. If you don’t want to push the
extremities to just days before you’re supposed to jet away, you can get decent priced flights at www.expedia. co.uk, or www.easyjet.co.uk. There are websites that cater just for students, and are a Google-search away, but again the obvious destination is STA Travel. Even if you don’t book a flight through them they will be perfectly happy to give the budding traveller some advice (all employees have been travelling themselves)– a walk down to STA on Commerical Road wouldn’t go amiss if you’re thinking about travelling sometime soon. We are back to one of the words at the start: daunting. Travelling can be a daunting experience I am sure. Especially if you are travelling alone. Luckily, whether you rough it, or go package, all is not as scary as you thought. It is very easy to meet people. Locals are curious, although, as I’ve been told “not always for the right reasons!” (so there is some need to keep your common sense about you – just because it is a different country, it doesn’t mean nothing bad happens). If travelling alone, having planned to visit well-visited traveller’s destinations, you will be sure to meet other people who are doing something similar to what you are doing, happy to swap experiences and advice. If you have booked a package, and especially if you have booked everything (flights, accommodation, tours, excursions, etc.) through a student travel agency, or the Student Travel Agency, it would be impossible not to meet any people to talk to – this is the best way to meet people. As we close this rudimentary guide to Travelling For Students, there are just a few more pieces of advice that are invaluable to the imminent jetsetter. •
Prior to travelling, ask for advice whenever possible – agencies and people who’ve been travelling before.
•
Get a Lonely Planet guide for each country you plan to visit. These will be your Bibles.
•
Don’t worry! You’ll always “meet friendly people who want to share their travelling experience with you and want you to be a part of theirs.”
•
Phone home and make your family jealous.
Life & Style » Trivia
You Learn Something New Every Fortnight •
It has been scientifically proven that the best way to dip a biscuit is horizontally - with the flat of the biscuit down. This is all due to the structure of the biscuit on a molecular level, and we owe it to some very satisfied scientists.
•
The only place where less than 10% of the population are obese is in sub-Saharan Africa.
•
1 pair of rabbits could breed 464 offspring in a single, extremely busy and extremely productive year.
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The Sahara desert is the size of Brazil, but only has a population
of one person per square mile. •
Celery actually takes more calories to consume than it contains! But I wouldn't recommend it as a form of exercise, you'll get pretty sick of it fast enough.
•
Smokers cost the NHS less than they pay in tax, so it might be time to get off our high horse for a little while.
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The Lion’s costume in the Wizard of Oz was made from actual Lions.
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If an Amish man has a beard it is a sign that he is married.
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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
Elections09 President during different years as a student. In my final year I was elected Chair of the Student Council, a role in which I ensured the sabbatical officers were held to account. This year I have been your Education and Representation Officer and have successfully lobbied the University on many of my manifesto aims, including the reintroduction of the University Bus at weekends during exams, tighter university regulations to improve feedback and Coursework receipts for all students from next year. My main success was the record number of Course Reps recruited and trained this year, which combined with the EED Committee has ensured students are being represented.
Steve Topazio
The 2009 Elections are nearly here! Welcome to the penultimate special pullout for the 2009 Sabbatical Elections. The candidates have been announced and now it is your time to make a real difference and choose who will be leading your Students’ Union in 2009/10. The UPSU elections are held each year to select the six students or graduating students who will be acting as representatives for the student body at the Students’ Union for the next year.
In this issue you can look at the candidates manifestos and make a real decision about the candidates rather than who can shout the loudest during campaign week. It’s set to become a hectic few weeks for our candidates and you can keep up to date with our interactive videos and podcasts on upsu.net/elections. This is your chance to make a difference to get involved and make your vote count.
Got a campus card? Then you can vote... ... even if you’re not in Pompey!*
Hi, I’m Steve “The Big-O” Topazio, and I’m running to be President of your Union. I graduated last year and was elected into the position of Education and Representation Officer for this academic year. Since I joined University I have been heavily involved in the Union, representing Students as Chair of RAG, VIP, Societies and Course Reps
Why me? I am extremely passionate about the Students’ Union and have proved on many occasions I am willing to challenge the University to ensure Students’ rights are not infringed. As a current Sabb I have the experience and knowledge that is essential to the running of the Union. It has been my dream for many years now to be President of UPSU, and if elected I promise to • Continue the Union’s drive to be
inclusive to all students. Restructure the management of the Union. In particular Sport needs a senior manager which combined with increased collaboration with University Sport and Rec will ensure the AU continues to grow and prosper. • Ensure all of our diverse range of students is represented; especially distance learners, postgraduates , international and part-time students. • Restructure the democracy of the Union, including giving more power to individual execs allowing them to make decisions which affect their individual areas. • Introduce termly Union General Meetings whereby the entire student body gets to vote on the direction of the Union. • Continue the fight I started this year for longer library opening hours during exams and campaign against lifting of the cap on tuition fees. So if you want a Union that is inclusive of all students and offers great opportunities then vote for the man with the experience, passion and determination. Vote Steve “The big-O” Topazio #1 for President. •
NOT THE RIGHT CANDIDATES FOR THE JOB? VOTE R.O.N VP Communications senter for 4 years, and have served in the Committee for 2 years. This year I have overseen Pure FM getting played in more places around the University, including Via Lattea, the Surgery, and the Waterhole! I am also creating our new website that, to submit as a Student Radio Award.
Fred Bradley Hello! Students! I believe that I’ve got what it takes to continue the reputation that UPSU Media has, but also to manage the staff and volunteers to make it become the biggest student union media centre in the country. For this reason, I am the right choice for VP Communications. Who am I? I am a final year student, specialising in Web Development, Radio and Multi-Media. I have been a Pure FM pre-
My aims? As the media industry keeps evolving so we have to evolve too. Here are the aims I would like to complete if elected:
Pugwash, Pugwash News & Purple Wednesdays • Increase respect and readership outside of the student world. • To train the editors and writers and aim to put them in contact with industry professionals so THEIR personal aims can be achieved. • Further increase competitions in the publications, and make the read more relevant to students when they wish to read it so the content isn’t out of date.
Pure FM • To make sure Pure FM is getting played in more and more places throughout Portsmouth. • To aim towards purchasing small 2 week FM licenses for special events for the Station, for example Freshers Fortnight and The 24 Hour Broadcast. • Use music or performance based societies to put together “Pure FM in the Park”
UPSU.tv This year was difficult as it was the guinea pig year. Next year I wish to: • Make UPSU.tv more visible. • Invest in training for video production. • Enter all short videos into the ITV Local awards website, so as to help volunteers get noticed, and also increase local respect. • Create video podcasts for each club and society.
upsu.net • Have much more up-to-date news and relevant content for students. • Encourage Sabbs and other staff to blog to prove to the student community what work they are doing.
What now? It makes sense to vote in someone who has the determination, passion, and the ABILITY to take UPSU media forward. Discuss more at Hustings!
Vote me, Fred Bradley for VP Comms 2009-2010
MARCH 23rd: CAMPAIGN WEEK
MARCH 24th: POLLS OPEN
MARCH 27th: RESULTS NIGHT
Candidates recieve their publicity and campaign teams will be mobilised for votes right across the campus
The ballot boxes will open across campus from 9am on Tuesday 24th, closing at 1pm Friday 27th. Locations online
Join us for all the tears and joy, as the candidates find out who will be running the Union next year. Or see them live online
* checkout upsu.net/elections for postal voting!
upsu.net/elections
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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
Elections09 VP Communications
Jacob Leverett I’m Jacob ‘Crackers’ Leverett, and I want to be VP Communications for our Union. In the past few years I’ve been involved with our Union’s media, and know that I can carry on developing our Union. The role of media is to communicate; recently the Union has improved the way it communicates to its students but things can always get better. Over the past two years I’ve been the Editor of Pugwash News, worked with the magazine and website, been a founding member of upsu.tv and worked heavily alongside PureFM. During this time I’ve seen the importance of clear communication between students and our Union, and know how important it is to make this as effective as possible. Moving forwards, our Union needs to listen to what its students want, tell
Luciano Zeraschi Hi, my name is Luciano, I am currently in my second year of a marketing degree, and will be running for vice president of communications, I believe my degree is extremely relevant for this job role as it will require me to communicate with all the unions stakeholders, including you the students. My previous employments range from promotional work for roughhill and comeplay, to events management. They have all involved interaction and required strong communication skills. It has been my responsibility to arrange promote and run certain events, in order to ensure a fun and suitable lifestyle for students ensuring success at these events was my prime concern alongside the enjoyment of all who attend. The main reason for me undertaking the jobs I have done is to be in the
VP Societies the students what it is doing on our behalf, and offer a forum for debate. Our media can achieve all of this by engaging in new ways of communicating and pushing our existing methods forward. Our students run all of our media, and after working first hand with them I’ve seen the dedication, hard work and professionalism they offer. I have also, however, seen the stress they all endure and the hours they put in to reach the high standards we are used to. I think it is essential for our students to be the heart of our communications, but we need the support of the Union; in order to offer this, I will push for our Union to employ a new member of staff to support those that work so hard. As the Union’s photographer, I’ve seen our sports teams compete hard and play harder. As a result our sports are well represented across our media; the success of our teams is known across campus, but we need to get better at shouting about all our successes, not only to students but to the community. To achieve this, I want to use my contacts within local and national media to spread our successes. As your VP Communications I will push for: • More support for our volunteers. • Better space for our media to work more closely together. • A new member of staff to push our media forward. • The use of our media to hold your Union to account more. • UPSU media giving societies similar coverage to sports. Vote Jacob ‘Crackers’ Leverett for VP Communications mix of student life getting to know a variety of different people who come from different backgrounds and allow me to discover a little or a lot about themselves. The ability to solve problems makes me very much suited to the job helping the students alleviate there issues and queries. Being an outgoing person has been beneficial for myself and others around me, and would like to make mine and every other student’s life as pleasurable as possible especially during their University life, and hope to do this through communication and the supplying of information. I believe there are certain sectors and groups of people within the university who have a lack of representation and need to be kept in the loop through as much media as possible; these include mature students, post graduates, and part time students. If I am elected as Vice president of communications, I hope to: • Be as available as possible to all students, helping deal with whatever problem they may have. • Inform all of possible future changes and events occurring throughout the union. • Allow all people to put forward their ideas as an individual and as a group, from as larger audience as possible from all areas of university. All that is required is for you to attend the question time to get a further insight into what I and the other candidates hope to do for you, and I hope to support whoever achieves the roles whether I am working alongside them or not as we are here to help the students. Finally, please vote for me Luciano.
and Planet society, creating a bigger and better developed entity. We now campaign on issues such as climate change, trade justice and health and education for all, together! I have had the pleasure of being Reviews Editor of Pugwash Magazine for two years, and Reviews Editor for Pugwash News last year. This year I’ve been the Marketing and Distribution Manager for Pugwash, making sure there are copies all around campus. I’ve also been a Resident Assistant in James Watson Halls, with the added responsibility of being a halls environmental representative; therefore I’ve had the chance to work for the University itself.
Aakash Naik Hey I’m Aakash, I’m in my final year studying European Studies and International Relations and I’m running to be your new Vice-President Societies. This year, I created the brandnew Oxfam Students society. As the society’s president, utilising the help of some truly amazing people we’ve been able to merge it with the People
Carl Jackson Hello fellow students I am Carl Jackson, I have a dream to represent you as an elected member of the Student Union I am currently reading Clinical Physiologist in Neurology at the University of Portsmouth. I believe the combined power of the student association has a huge potential to deliver a better environment for all 20,000
Tom Harrison Hi! I’m Tom and I want to work at
Why Me? I’ve loved student life, but feel students have not had the opportunity to get involved; I want to make joining a society a feasible option for all students, no matter what their course is. I want those running societies to have the structure and support they need to develop their events. I want to make sure the best ideas are not just kept on paper, but come to life and fully transform our union. I truly believe that this will enhance the student ex-
perience. If elected Your Vice-President Societies I intend to: • Make societies work together, by setting up workshops between committee members to ensure the best ideas are exchanged and mistakes are avoided. • Use the Media to ensure societies are a regular feature in Pugwash, have the opportunity to participate in Pure FM and can be better promoted through UPSU TV and UPSU.net. • Learn from Sports and see which ideas can be transferred to societies. • Increase the frequency of Society general meetings for the purpose of using them as a forum for debate and interaction, making sure views are heard and acted upon.
So What Now? Please come along to the Question Time event, where I’ll be available to answer any questions and discuss my manifesto in more depth. I hope you’ll go to one of the many polling stations and cast your vote for real change, Vote Aakash!
students in this University. What has already been achieved by the current elected Sabbatical Officers has been great giving us a magnificent platform however I intend to take their innovated ideas to the next level. My vision for the University of Portsmouth Student Union (UPSU) is to be a supportive, active union which recognises the diversity of its members that really listens and acts for all university members. As a member of the student Council I believe that the UPSU has to continue connecting with the student body and becoming more accessible and visible. I support clear frequent communication as standard and passionate about raising the profile of UPSU with the encouragement and collaborative efforts of the sabbatical officers, this will provide crucial support and advice while responding visibly to the concerns of all students through campaigns. While I have been a member of Portsmouth University I have help raised many hundreds of pounds for RAG from Skydiving to the PureFM 24 hour broadcast. Have been a member of few societies, and have shown passion in setting up one society this year,
which I’m currently the president of. I also been a member of Sports Clubs including Hockey, Skydiving and represented the University in Orienteering and Modern Pentathlon. As a current member of the Ethics, Equality and Diversity committee I work with UPSU officers to ensure the widest possible support and representation for students and running local, national and international campaigns that give as a diversity of student as one global civilisation. I care about the wellbeing of each of my fellow student ranging from whether it’s they poverty or mental health in which I have such a strong passion for. I believe my life experience will help in giving a good overall standard. Being able to give support in an assortment amount of ways through what I have learnt from my time in the Armed Service, volunteering in Africa and in University.
the Union as the Sabb for Societies, working with an already great group of people and helping them to make Societies better than ever!
the committees directly and through regular societies councils, as well as helping organise the new regular Societies Takeover nights and the Carnival at the Union. I recently ran a very successful trip to Amsterdam (we didn’t lose anyone!) for 75 people from across the University and am looking at taking lots of people to Newquay this summer. These trips are a great way for people from all of the societies to come together and to generate interest from new members, and so I look forward to putting on plenty more!
So Why Me? I am very enthusiastic and passionate about Uni life and getting the most out of it! Since starting last year I’ve been part of 7 different clubs and societies, and this year have taken special interest in the Music society particularly! I’m Social Secretary for the Dramatic and Musical Society, Vice-President of the Music Society and Vice-President and Events Coordinator for the Societies Executive. That’s on top of taking any advantage to get out for a night on the town with my friends! On the Societies Exec I have worked on improving awareness of any events that the societies are putting on through better communication with
VOTE FOR ACTION – VOTE JACKSON FOR VICE PRESIDENT SOCETIES! VOTE JACKSON AS ONE OF YOUR REPRESENATIVES OF YOUR STUDENT UNION
What Will I Do? Societies are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with at the Union, and the work that has been put into improving Societies needs to continue. I want to: • Increase Society membership to 5000 students.
upsu.net/elections
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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
Elections09 VP Education and Representation • • • •
Build on dedicated Society nights and trips Be open and available to support with any issues Take fresh ideas from all areas of the Uni to improve integration Improve communication between
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the Union and Societies Promote diversity without discrimination
What Can You Do? Listen and quiz me at Question Time, hunt me down around the campus,
Societies nights and Purple Wednesdays! Vote for me, Tom Harrison, to be VP of Societies for 09-10.
and Quality Enhancement conference in Dec, 2008
Tom Harrison – Taking Societies to the next level!
VOTING STARTS: 24TH MARCH VOTING CLOSES: 27th MARCH RESULTS NIGHT: FROM 8PM Devinder Signh Sudan
VP Sport
Elaina Sperring G’day! My name is Elaina ‘Sheila’s Wheels’ Sperring and I am a 3rd year geography student and I would like to be your VP Sports Sabbatical for next year. I have been Athletic Union Chair for nearly two years as well as Club Captain and President of the University hockey club and I am already a Student Trustee of the Union which is
a major responsibility that comes with being any Sabbatical Officer. Throughout my three years at University I have dedicated the majority of my time to the AU and sport at the University and I feel that with the experience I already have I could really hit the ground running if elected. Why vote for me? The AU is already a huge part of my life and my dedication to the Union is already a priority to me. For nearly three years I have had the best experience being part of the AU and the Students’ union and I’d love the opportunity to help others gain an experience and feel the same as me. Since becoming AU Chair at the beginning of my second year I have worked extremely closely with the current Sports Officer to drive the AU forward developing new ideas and solving problems. If elected I aim to: • Push for the employment of a sports senior manager within the SU. All other membership areas within the SU have a representative Sabbatical Officer and a senior manager to offer help and guidance. Captain. These roles have involved developing the Swim Team’s Target Sport program; working on raising the performance aspect of the club as well as working on increasing the clubs membership numbers focusing on allowing as many people as possible to participate in swimming while at university.
Rob Knott Hi everyone! My name is Rob Knott, I am a 3rd year student studying Business Economics with Business Law and I am running for the position of Vice President for Sports in the Union elections. During my 3 years at Portsmouth I have been an active member of the University’s Swim Team, this has included being the club’s President and the also the club’s Men’s
Why Vote for me? I am a dedicated individual that is passionate about the University, specifically university sport. For the past year I have been an active member of the Athletic Union’s Executive Committee as the Tour Exec. Although the role has involved me focusing on the AU’s sports tour to Salou, it has also involved me organising the AU’s main RAG event; The Naked Calendar. The role has allowed me to gain a broad understanding as to how our Athletic Union and the Students Union functions as a whole. As an individual I am easily approachable as well as easy to work with, I am equally enthusiastic about every sport at the university whether it involves 3 people or 300 people. If elected as VP Sports I intend to: • Continue raising the profile of sport within the university en-
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As sport is the largest membership area within the SU I believe that this is integral if sport is to progress. Introduce a formal committee take-over procedure to ensure that clubs have consistency, enabling them to move in a positive direction year on year. Make President’s Day more informative within a smaller amount of time by providing AU clubs with informative presentations as well as club information files. Make club budgets available for all to see so that the whole AU can see how the AU budget is divided amongst the clubs. Build on already successful showcase days i.e. Varsity and Navy, in order to raise the profile of sport, encouraging where possible all clubs to compete, regardless of size. Enhance the current relationship with the University in an attempt to make sport more of a focus and improve the sports offer available.
suring all students are aware of the diversity of clubs. Encourage the university to use sport as a way to market Portsmouth to prospective students. Encourage the university to review the capacity of current sports facilities, including campaigning for the university to invest in new facilities to allow levels of participation to continue to increase. Increase awareness of team’s fixtures to increase spectator levels of sport. Work with the Universities Sport & Recreation department to continue to improve performance including encouraging further development of sports scholarships and Target Sports schemes. Finally I would like to look at how sport at Portsmouth is provided and whether the current set up provides the best service to students.
Hi, my name is Devinder Singh. I am a Final Year Mechanical Engineering (MEng) student and I am running for the Position of Vice President Education and Representation. This is my second year at the university. During this period of time, I have been a member of several clubs and societies. I made an entry to the Student Union by creating and later getting elected as the President of the Sikh Society. Due to the success of the Sikh society and involvement with the Student Union, I was awarded a VIP (Volunteer in Portsmouth) Bronze Award in 2008. Seeing my enthusiasm and commitment, I have been given extra responsibilities outside the society including representing the University of Portsmouth at the NUS conference in Nov, 2007 and Department of Curriculum
Oliver Styles Hello, my name is Oliver ‘Papa Smurf’ Styles I’m a final year Sport Science student and I’m running for the position of Vice-President Education and Representation. As a person I am very open and very outgoing, these qualities I think will help me to represent the student population by aiding individuals with issues regarding courses or unfair treatment. I have been a part of the rugby club for three years and this year I was the president. I have used this time to understand what the union is all about and as president of the rugby club this year I have had many responsibilities to aid the development of the club, and I wish to use
Why me? This year, I got elected as the Course Rep Executive for Postgraduate & Masters Courses and Postgraduate Representative in the Student Council which gave me an exposure for this role which means that I will not have to reinvent the wheel. I am also an executive member of EED (Ethics, Equality and Diversity Committee) which has been included in this role for next year. My friends define me as “A Pinch of Purple Die” which can make the things glow brighter. I am the first person in my family who has attended university. This makes me passionate about student life and I personally believe that student life is one of the best things a person can look forward to, as well as look back on in the future. Studying at Portsmouth University has given me lot of exposure both academically and socially and I am passionate about doing something which can bring more fame to this university. My Attitude, Balance in life, Commitment and Dedication are my key strengths to make my dreams come true. So What Now? All you have to do now is go down to the question time, listen to the speeches and make up your mind and any day between Tues 24th of March – Fri 27th of March 2009 go to one of the polling stations and cast your vote. Make a difference, vote “Devinder Singh”.
my determination and passion to help develop the student union, so that it really is a place where student’s voices are heard. If elected for the position of VicePresident Education and Representation I will continue to develop the course representatives and continue the relationship between the post and the University itself to develop each department and course. As well as this I am aiming to improve the association between this post and a greater number of students within the twenty thousand strong student population, by being more approachable for the student’s that feel there voices aren’t heard. As many of you are aware that everyone has issues with courses within the first few months of university, so I will make sure that first year students feel that Gunhouse is a place to come and discuss issues about courses and unfair treatment. The Rugby Club this year was on the wrong end of a disciplinary, and I will use this experience to help develop the disciplinary code, to make sure that the student comes first. One of my main aims is to ensure that the library opening hours are extended in peak times of the year, around dissertation hand in deadline, exam periods, and to also extend the holiday opening hours. Although we hold an impressive library at the university we are behind others that are open twenty four hours a day. Please make sure that you make your vote count and vote for me, Oliver ‘Papa Smurf’ Styles for VP Ed and Rep!
If you like the sound of my ideas for Sport in Portsmouth then Please Vote ROB in the Union Elections!
upsu.net/elections
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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
Elections09 VP Welfare and Volunteering
Beth Sheppard Hi, I’m Beth ‘The Sheep’ Shephard. I’m in my third year studying Sociology and Criminology and I’m running for the position of VP Welfare and Volunteering. I have been actively involved with the Students’ Union throughout my time at University. I have been on the VIP (Volunteering in Portsmouth) committee for the past 3 years and I
am President of VIP this year. I have previously been on the RAG committee and assisted with the Unions’ disciplinary board and student council. I have always been a person who likes to help others and I’m often asked for advice by my peers. I feel very strongly about helping people and would like to have this opportunity to support all students. Volunteering is a real passion of mine, along with being president of VIP, I am a regional co-ordinator for the student volunteer’s network. This has inspired me to make volunteering events as diverse as possible and to try and raise awareness of what volunteers do and how students can get involved. I have also helped to organise and run a national student volunteering conference; this has helped me to gain invaluable skills that I can use in the role of Welfare and Volunteering Officer such as liaising with other volunteering and RAG organisations and running successful events. If elected I aim to: • Introduce a Stress Management campaign throughout exam periods to help students learn ways to relieve stress and how to stay
Laurie Charles
I have put a lot time into the Lacrosse Club, acting as Women’s Team Captain and progressing to Vice-President of the club in my final year. So why Vote Me In? I am a friendly and approachable person who is passionate about students and their welfare. I am hard working and find it easy to work along side people. Uni was the hardest, but most exciting time of my life as home for me is quite a few hours away! I settled in well with a really good set of housemates and friends; however not everyone is as lucky. Therefore I want to be there to support and listen to the students, offer them a shoulder and let them know that they are not alone and that help is available. Uni should be the best time of a person’s life and I want to make sure that every student gets to experience that!
Hey everyone!! My name is Laurie ‘Ched’ Charles and I’m a final year Sports Science student, hoping to become your new Welfare and Volunteering Vice-President. I am very bubbly and socially active around the University. Throughout my time at Portsmouth
So what are my Objectives? • Raise the profile of RAG even more and get more and more students involved. With an ever increasing Union through the Societies and the AU there is a market to make RAG competitive in a healthy way; and get clubs
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healthy, together with many other campaigns during the year such as Sexual Health, Environmental Week and Breast Cancer Awareness. Increase awareness and diversity of RAG and VIP and make RAG week and Student Volunteering Week even bigger and better so that they involve and help more students and people in the community and raise even more money! Promote services available from the University concerning finance, counselling and academic support so that all students are aware of these. Introduce a ‘buddy’ system to help support students who are new to University life. Introduce training for all volunteers. Create a new volunteer award system for RAG and VIP so that volunteers get the recognition they deserve.
I am a passionate, organised and kind person who wants to help all students and make sure they have a great time at University.
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Where and when to vote 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th March 2009 Students’ Union Tuesday ,Wednesday, Thursday Friday Frewen Library Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday Richmond and Park Wednesday Tuesday, Thursday Friday Portland, Anglesea and Eldon Wednesday Tuesday, Thursday Friday
10.00 – 20.00 10.00 – 13.00 10.00 – 16.00 10.00 – 13.00 8.30 – 13.00 8.30 – 16.30 9.30 – 13.00 9.00 – 13.00 9.00 – 16.30 9.00 – 13.00
to put on fund raising that is fun and enjoyable. Spread the word about Volunteering, make it more publicized throughout the Uni and up participation. Volunteering doesn’t have to be hard work, it can be through fun projects and link into a person’s own interests and is very rewarding; therefore I want to make sure that every student has the right opportunities to get involved! Run campaigns that deal with the issues that the students want to hear about, or that can affect a student’s well-being. This will help raise their awareness and get them involved in the university community or help improve their own health and lifestyles.
What now? If you like what you have read and feel that I have what it takes to represent you; then get on down to the Union and have your vote at the Polling stations 24th-27th March and vote for Laurie ‘Ched’ Charles! x x
upsu.net/elections
Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
Life & Style
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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
Arts & Entertainment
Single
Books
Peter Doherty - New Love Grows On Trees
4/5
With The Libertines, Pete Doherty pioneered a revolution in music, forming one of the best indie bands Britain has ever seen. Since their breakup in 2004, Pete has struggled with various drug problems, and his band Babyshambles have been unable to live up to the reputation of his former band. Now we await for the next chapter in Pete’s musical life, with the release of his debut solo album “Grace/Wasteland” next month. The track “New Love Grows On Trees” is the first taste Pugwash has had of the new album, and its a refreshing and impressive start to the next move in Doherty’s career. The new track sounds similar to some of the more melancholy songs that Babyshambles have made including “Lust of The Libertines” and the smash hit “Down in Albion”. Lyrically the song is powerful, and shows a reminiscent and maturer Doherty looking back on his past and trying to build on the future. The song characterises Doherty’s poetic style, and has a similar sound and feel to his popular solo track “For Lovers”. The song ambient sound is very relaxing, chilled and thought provoking. Pete has been renowned for playing acoustic solo gigs throughout his career as a musician, and it is great to see that he has now produced an album, which will surely credit him if all the songs are of this quality. It is often easy to forget what Pete Doherty has brought to us musically, with so much media attention focusing on his struggle with heroin and crack cocaine abuse. Forget the problems pete has, he is a great solo artist, and a musical genius. One man and his guitar can change the world. The album “Grace/Wastelands” is released on 16 March. Lets see what he can do.
Nation Terry Pratchett
William Hobson
Pratchett’s latest book may turn out to be his last, but fittingly its one of his best. A rare departure from the Discworld universe that has proved so successful to the author, long-time readers will be pleased to know Na-
Alyson Bain
Elbow, having finally won a well deserved Nationwide Mercury Prize for their long acclaimed album 'The Seldom Seen Kid', their fourth studio album, greeted a packed out Solent Hall in Bournemouth's BIC. Accompanied by a four piece string section, the first song 'Starlings' was received with massive applause and cheers. Vocalist Guy Garvey explained that the second song 'Mirrorball' was writ-
NME Shockwaves Tour at Pyramids
Alyson Bain
A packed out Portsmouth Pyramids on a rainy night saw the latest NME Shockwaves Tour, a bumper filled night featuring four excellent breaking bands. The impressive line up started with Florence and the Machine. Flower garlands adorned the stage, as a bare foot Florence took to the stage to the delight of the crowd. An active performer, she jumped about the stage sounding great live. Hefty bass lines reverberated around the venue as the crowd warmed up for the next install-
ten shortly after he met the love of his life, and was sung with feeling that reflected just that sentiment. Guy's voice was stunning all night, and the bands performance was tight knit, as you would expect after 20 years together. The band's massive sound filled the hall, and symphonic song after song were enthusiastically met with witty banter from Guy. 'Grounds for Divorce' was simply magnificent and had the crowd singing along and dancing where there was any room to do so! 'Weather to Fly' was beautiful, and of course their memorable track 'One Day Like This' was awesome, it gave me chills down my spine to hear it played so well live, and was met with the rapturous applause it richly deserved.
ment, the White Lies. With their album flying high in the charts, a confident looking and sharp sounding White Lies entertained with tracks from the album, ‘To Loose My Life’. Next to take to the stage were my personal fave of the night, Friendly Fires. The band have enjoyed a fair bit of publicity recently, and their latest self titled album has been well recieved. By now the atmosphere was peaking for the headliners, Glasvegas. Smoke filled the stage as they entered to a massive welcome from the crowd. Tracks from the album, again self titled, went down a storm, as the pace picked up the venue continued jumping to the sound of one of the hottest newcomers to music. As the evening drew to a close the crowd left peacefully and happy that they certainly got value for their money! Its rare to find, and worth every penny when you do!
Held at the Fortune Theatre in the West End of London this play is not to be taken lightly. To say this play, adapted from Susan Hill’s novel is scary, would be a huge understatement. I suppose the word terrifying would be more appropriate. Without wanting to reveal too much of the play’s horrifying plot, Arthur Kipps is a junior solicitor who travels up from London to attend Mrs Alice Drablow’s funeral and sort out all her papers at her abandoned house. With no one wanting to talk
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Quicksand: La Roux We Just can't stop listening to this song.
I Love The Bloody Beetroots: The Bloody Beetroots Lively club tune with a very french sound.
about Mrs Drablow or the house she used to live at, Arthur discovers what everybody else is afraid of ...The Woman In Black. Dressed in a long black dress and bonnet, The Woman In Black makes a number of appear-W ances throughout the play that really do send shivers down your spine. The prices range from £16.50£39.00, lasting approximately 2 hoursi e this play is worth every penny! I’m still having nightmares twoc e weeks on... t i s l L z w D v Not Nineteen Forever: e The Courteeners For all of you that are going to be twen-a ty soon.
Night: Benga & Coki One of the best dubstep tunes out there.
Crack a Bottle: Eminem Slim Shady's new single featuring rap heavyweights Dr. Dre and 50 Cent
Daddy's Gone: Glasvegas Top tune from the best band indie has given us this year.
New Love Grows On Trees: Peter Doherty The first single from Pete's debut solo album.
Bruises: Chairlift Lovely song from the iPod Nano advert.
Dead and Gone T.I. featuring Justin Timberlake Timberlake returns with a catchy chorus.
The Woman in Black
Sophie Gates
Elbow at BIC
thought behind the story of the island boy Mau, the sole survivor of The Nation, and the shipwrecked ‘Ghost Girl’. Thankfully Pratchett has never been one to hide his motifs from the reader. Weighty concepts like patriotism, received wisdom, belief systems and identity are among those explored in an incredibly accessible manner, and its here that you get the impression that this may be his last book. Whilst Discworld books have always had the undercurrent of social commentary to them, Nation feels almost like the summary of Pratchett’s philosophy – an attempt to solidly argue his ideas on human existence, achieved with suitable aplomb.
Theatre
By Jack Kane
Gigs
tion retains all of the author’s insightful, acerbic wit and familiar but eloquent writing. The setting is slightly more conventional. The titular Nation is a small island in a world that is pretty much our own, during the days of the European empires, with a few key differences. These are less significant than the similarities though, and its not until the end of the novel that you really appreciate how they let Pratchett explore his themes much more expansively. Of course the existence of ‘octopus-monkeys’ and a subplot involving the fate of the British Empire helps with the humour and the drama too. But as always with this writer there’s a very intelligent line of
Arts and Ents Stereo
Pure FM Show of the Fortnight: The Hijack with Christian and Joey Wednesdays 8pm - 10pm The Hijack (formally know as the takeover) is presented by Christian Williams and his *cough* attractive co-host Joey Larkin. 8-10pm Wednesday evenings are the perfect time to get warmed up to your night out, with prank calls, stupid dares, and loads of laughs! After prank calling Sarah from the committee, Christian & Joey thought they should see who else they can catch out! Join the fun, get in touch, and have a laugh. What's the worst that could happen!
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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
Arts & Entertainment
Games House of the Dead Overkill
Gamel Oki
The Nintendo Wii has consistently been knocked for not having enough adult titles and missing out on PS3/ XBOX360 exclusives like Devil May Cry and Street Fighter 4. Well as if to answer the naysayers House of the Dead Overkill has arrived exclusively to the Nintendo Wii sporting a nifty 18 certificate and cutting a bloody path of destruction in the sales charts.
Left 4 Dead
William Preston
Zombies; a well used monster in the horror movie genre. Whether there are a crowd of shambling corpses or a gang of sprinting cadavers, horror fans are entertained. But the real focus in most zombie movies is never usually the zombies themselves, but the survival and day to day lives of the heroes depicted. “HalfLife” creators, Valve, have created a zombie game that focuses solely on working together as a team. “Left 4 Dead” features four different survivors, a handful of weapons and an entire horde of screaming, scratching and smelly undead to defend against.
Street Fighter 4
Gamel Oki
If apart from playing the occasional “shoot ‘em up” you use your PS3/Xbox 360 as little more than an expensive DVD player stop here. Street Fighter always was and probably always will be a gamer’s game. If you love games, if you love learning techniques and developing your skills, if you love working out the strengths and weaknesses of characters then this is the game for you! Street Fighter 4 ushers a new age for the popular series, finally finding a way to truly incorporate the lightning quick fighting style with 3D characters. When you consider that every other (successful) Street Fighter game has been a 2D venture, the incorporation of 3D models was a huge risk, one that has ultimatly paid off. You’ll
I of course had to check out what is undoubtedly the most vicious, vulgar, violent and offensive game on Nintendo’s family console. To make it very clear to you, if you’re preference is to play games like Wii Sports you probably want to stay away from House of the Dead. Featuring lines like “I’m going to rip your fucking balls off”, foul language flies as thick and fast as the bullets in this game. As for graphical depictions of violence… today I made a Zombies body explode and then watched its arms and legs roll away from the mess that was left… You take on the role of Detective Isaac Washington and Agent G as you come into the Louisiana bayou in search of the mad scientist Papa Ceaser. Responsible for the devastation caused by the Zombies hordes, Agent Players can choose one of four campaigns, each taking place in different locations. The first campaign has you fighting across a city, through the subway, ending with an epic showdown on a hospital roof. Of course, walking the streets is never easy. Along with the ravenous hordes, you also have to contend against special “boss” zombies with unique abilities. For example, a “Smoker” can constrict and asphyxiate players with a large froglike tongue. Such situations like these call upon your partners in the game to free you from such constraints. Playing online with friends is the preferred method to play this game, as the team work element shines its best this way. Despite a great co operative experience, the game feels a little let down by lack of weapon variety and slightly dated looking graphics. So far that hasn’t stopped me from enjoying the survival experience that all zombie fans have been waiting for.
be amazed as a beautifully rendered 3D models duck, dive, weave and Hadoken their way through fights as smoothly and naturally as their 2D counterparts. Before you rush out to buy it, be warned, this isn’t a pick up and play game. It requires time to learn moves and combos and to get a feel for the characters. The learning curve is pretty steep, dispite this making of the online fights teaches you to fully utilise your chosen fighter by repeatadly getting you arse whooped. Bad for the ego but a great way to see how the pros fight! The biggest weakness of the game is the load time; waiting for 15-20 seconds of loading time before every fight isn’t fun. In retrospect Street Fighter 4 is an astounding fighting game. A perfect example of a seamless transition from 2D to 3D, featuring online play, lots of unlockables and plenty of fighters both new and old. If you’re not a gamer you most likely won’t like it much, but for the rest of you, welcome back callouses and thumb blisters because SF4 has returned to take the throne as the King of Fighters.
G and Detective Washington have to put a stop to Ceaser. Sound corny? It’s meant to be, it’s a very corny game featuring grainy film effects, and levels taken straight out of grind-house Zombie B movies (including my favourite “Papa’s Palace of Pain”). The entire game is a fantastic parody of bad Zombie B movies, with over the top gun action thrown in to boot. House of the Dead Overkill is easy to complete. Featuring the signature on the rails camera from pervious House of the Dead games (House of the Dead being an arcade light-gun classic), the focus is all upon you mowing down the scores of Zombies on screen. This does become progressively harder but it seemingly never gets trickier then knowing when to time your reloads. At least that was my initial opinion, but the real challenge comes from the
score multiplier system. Bonus points are awarded for killing Zombies, in succession without taking a hit or missing a shot, with greater bonus points given for head shots. As you go up the score multiplier the narrator’s voice is heard crying out, “Hardcore Violence, Extreme Violence, Psychotic!” and if you manage to take the multiplier to its limit the cry of “GOREGASM” will be your reward. This is not a “one play” game; I’ve played every single level 5 or more times trying to hit the high score and hold the “GOREGASM” multiplier throughout the entire level. Furthermore the fact you can replay levels with a helping of “EXTRA ZOMBIES”, and the inclusion of the “Editors Cut” mode which gives you harder, faster and more vicious opponents with a
limited number of lifes gives the game a great shelf life. But wait, these are only a few of the reasons to play it again and again and again. I’ve yet to mention about the multiplayer, the gun-shop, the mini-games and the collectable trophies and rewards! Bursting at its decaying zombie seems with playability, humour, style and fun; House of the Dead Overkill is the complete package for the more liberal light gun game fan and an alternative for anyone who’s gotten bored of Mario based titles on the Wii.
Get in touch with the Arts & Entertainments team at: artsents@upsu.net
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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
Sports
Hampshire Cross Country Samantha Lednor & Simon Munro
The athletics team have won their division in this season’s Hampshire Cross Country League. A run of three consecutive wins from the last 3 fixtures out of five put the men’s team miles clear at the top of division 3 and holders of the division 3 winner’s shield. The result has also ensured the team’s promotion to division 2 next season and the task of taking on tougher opposition. At the start of this academic year we had only one week to prepare for Hampshire Cross Country Championship. The first of a series of races was held at Farley Mount just outside of Winchester where athletics and running clubs throughout the county congregated for a gruelling day running in confusing weather situations but nevertheless still very willing to compete. For the first of many competitions of the year, we managed to recruit 2 fresher’s (Tom Bailey and Nick Fairbrass) as well a further line up of 5 existing members. The course proved to be undulating with a mixture of woods, grassland and open country. The race started with over 270 individual runners with Simon Munro, University of Portsmouth President, finishing first out of our 7 coming in 60th, in a time of 34:03 for a 9k. Tom Roberts was the next to cross the line placing 124th, shortly followed by Social Secretary, Liam Davis in 133rd place. Luke Hine finished in a respectable 38:35, pursed by Christoph Kurth who crossed the line 28s after. Tom
Bailey finished admirably in 39:07 and not to forget Nick Fairbrass, who unfortunately suffered a hamstring injury on the 2nd lap. With the fastest 3 runners scoring for the team, UPAC was currently lying 4th in the league tables. The next race of the series was at Goodwood, Chichester where the course was dry on arrival and quickly deteriorated into a mud bath as torrential rain passed through. Men’s field was strongly represented by 11 and UPAC fought through. The first through the finish line for the club was Chris Holmes coming in 40th after picking off Oli Heeks in the last part of the course who finished shortly behind in 56th. Michael Legg stayed true to his current form finishing in 65th, resisting Simon, who hunted him for the race and finished 2 places behind Michael. Tommy Bruce-Eagles, Secretary, finished in a respectable 134th closely followed by Tom Roberts finishing in 144th. Liam, Luke and Christoph finished respectable within 20s of each over. Special mention to another 2 fresher’s (Tom Barrie and Ed Bargent) having competed in their first race for the club bringing up the rear. With a resounding score putting us overall 2nd placing in this race we moved up to 1st in the league table. The 3rd race of the series was held at Overton where the parking was situated a 20 minute walk from the start line. After piling out of the minibus and drudging over muddy fields and secluded country paths we managed to get to the line. This course wasn’t
particularly nice as it was in a middle of a cow field, it didn’t really smell very nice the only thing that was good about it was a bubbly brook. The 4th race of the series was at Prospect Park, Reading where the course was two laps of a mixture of grassy hills and playing fields. Although the weather was sunny, a sheltered part of the course was still frozen after a cold night making conditions hard underfoot. Three runners made the trip; Max Prien, Tom Roberts and Simon Munro. Max started off easy but sped up as the race progressed, overtaking many runners. Simon in his first race back from injury gave a steady performance. Tom Roberts completed the scoring team, ensuring the team gained as many points as possible into the final race. The team score was enough to see 1st place in the league and the point difference between 1st and 2nd greatly extended. The 5th and final race of the league was at Hudson’s Field, Salisbury with Max, Chris, Tom Roberts and Luke making up the team. Max following his recent form was 1st home for the team, in a time of 28:46 and in 25th position overall. Chris Holmes finished next exactly on 30 minutes and another consistent display to end up in 41st position. Luke Hine completed the scoring team, just making the top 100 in 97th position. His time of 34:05 signified his best result of his league races after improving performances in his previous 3 runs. Tom Roberts, who closely pursued Luke, finished in 109th with a time of 34:58.
Hyde Park Relays Samantha Lednor
Hyde Park Relays is an annual event scheduled by Imperial College London. It’s a well known event that has been running for 61 years and has seen the running feet of Lord Sebastion Coe and Maths Lecturer Michael McCabe. It has been tradition for us to take part for over 10 years. The race is so much of tradition that it is now classed as old Boy/Girl’s weekend and is one of the biggest social weekends of the year. This year we entered 3 (‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’) mixed teams which had 6 runners each completing 5.4K each. We also had 2 Old Boy (Pompey Golden Oldies and Pompey Men’s) and 1 Old Girl (Pompey Princesses) team. The teams were led out by Dave Brown, Christoph and Tommy who all set out to be the first to pass over to the next runner. The first being Dave for the ‘A’ team handed over to Simon, who set off to beat his close rival, George Cooke (Pompey Men’s) who followed in hot pursuit. Not far behind Chris-
toph and Tommy handed over to sprinters Andy Waddington and Dave Terry for the ‘B’ and ‘C’ team. After a sprint finish with his rival and falling over the next runner, Simon handed over to Addi Krauze, who set out on a mission. His mission was beating the time of Liam Davis who he was to hand over to. After a solid run, Addi waited for Liam to complete his lap and having only waited for 18.50 minutes, Addi soon realised that he had been beaten. Meanwhile back with the ‘B’ and ‘C’ team the 2 only females, Zoë Boyland and Sarah Marrett had set out to prove that women are just as good. Back with the ‘A’ team, Joe Easterbrook produced a fine run, securing the 2nd fastest time of the day. Finally Michael Legg bringing in the last and fastest leg gave a great performance with a time of 18.07 minutes. Overall the teams exceeded the times set the previous year and also the individual timed legs. Making the results; Pompey Golden Oldies 16th, Pompey Uni ‘A’ team 19th, Pompey Men’s 26th, Pompey Uni ‘B’ 53rd, Pompey Uni ‘C’ 74th.
Portsmouth Tennis The undefeated Portsmouth Men's Second Tennis team travelled to face an undefeated Reading side with both teams knowing that the winner would be clear favourites to win the league and gain the highly sought after promotion. The four singles matches were first to get underway and it was Joseph Villeneau who completed his match the quickest. After a dodgy start for the Portsmouth man he was able to find his rhythm and managed to reel off 12 straight games to win 6-2 6-0 and send Portsmouth into an early lead. Jonathan Miles was next to finish after facing Readings best player on the day. It was a close contest which could of gone either way but unfortunately it was Reading who took this victory to even up the tie at one victory each. It was then left down to Peter Burjan and Jamie White to try and grab the victory knowing that if they both won their matches the doubles would not influence the final result. Both games were tightly fought and it was
Peter Burjan who came out on top of his match with a 6-4 6-3 victory which gave Portsmouth the lead for the second time. Jamie White's battle was even closer and at one point it looked like he would lose the first set. However, a nice comeback saw him take the first set 7-5 and race out into a 5-1 lead in the second. After a couple nervous games from Jamie he managed to close out the match and take the overall win for Portsmouth finishing 7-5, 6-3. Knowing the tie was won, all pressure was off in the doubles. Jospeh Villeneau and Jonathan Miles narrowly lost their match in a tiebreak, whilst Peter Burjan and Jamie White strolled through to win 8-3 to put an extra coat of gloss on the win. The victory means Portsmouth are five points clear at the top of the table with just two games to go. One more victory would ensure them winning the league in their first ever season sending out a clear message to other Universities; Portsmouth University Tennis Club is on the rise.
Sport » Hockey
Sport » Netball
Hockey lose to Chi
Fresher Point of View
Emma Barry
On the 4th March Portsmouth ladies 1st hockey team travelled to Chichester for their penultimate match of the league - a top of the table clash. Unfortunately through various injuries and players being ill we did not have our full team playing but that did not stop our determination to play our best. From the start the Chichester team dominated play, winning numerous short corners but being unable to convert them through some awesome defending, particularly by our left back Lisa Collins who saved many goals from the line.
Portsmouth battled on but were unable to break away from their own half. After defending so well we were unlucky to go 1-0 down. After this goal we then lost our captain due to an injury so had no more substitutes for the rest of the game, which certainly put pressure on those on the pitch. Towards the end of the half we broke away and had a chance to attack and won a short corner, which was unfortuntely saved by Chichester’s goalie. This put a dent of enthusasim going into half time but by the time the team started the second half this had changed. Portsmouth started the second half
with an air of confidence surrounding them however, somehow Chichester still had the majority of the possession. The Portsmouth ladies continued to defend well and thanks to some brilliant saves from Liz, our goalie, the result could have gone either way. As the half went on, Chichester got into their rhythm and started to convert their short corners into points. Portsmouth were unlucky with some of the umpires decisions but never let their heads drop and started to break away more though were unable to score. The final score was 8-0 but it was definitely not a reflection of how well the girls played as a team nor the enthusiasm that they put in.
Becky Dines
I've always been mad about Netball, and I knew before even getting to uni that I was going to join the club. Straight away I went to the Netball stand at the freshers fayre, and instantly I could see everyone was really bubbly. Trials came along and it was really nerve racking, however I overcame this and gained a place on the 2nd team! The social side of netball is amazing. Freshers bar crawl was crazy to say the least! Each fresher was paired with an old girl. Since then the Netball club has attended the Union on a Wednesday dressed up as sailors,
footballers, christmas presents and our latest dress up...aliens! Being part of a club is such a laugh and I have got some really good mates from netball as well as other sports clubs. And I cannot wait for tour! In terms of playing Netball, we train twice a week, once with a qualified England coach and play competitive matches once a week. I've gone to mulitple different universities like Brighton and Kingston. We've also played at Varsity where loads of clubs competed and my team won! It was a great day and everyone supported eachother whenever possible. I really recommend joining any sports club! It's so much fun and you get so much out of it.
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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
Sports
Bring it on - Cheerleading squad win national competition
oContinued from back page... ethe more scenic route, which they apaparently loved. g The competition and the day as a dwhole was amazing, but the organiasation whilst we were there was way ebelow standard. Frustratingly, we dweren't able to leave our seats withdout security guards offering it to other -people, or park the mini buses with,out them being towed, and throughnout the day we kept thinking they had ’been broken into…one such moment ëactually turned out to be Becky not tbeing able to open the mini bus door! s 'Partner Stunt' were on first and -did an incredible job by coming 3rd in gtheir category. Considering they had y d e
never done a run through to music until they were in front of the judges, and had only trained an hour a week for just under 2 months this was quite an achievement. The girls honestly didn’t think they had a chance of winning a thing after three of their best stunts didn’t make it up, so coming 3rd was a surprise to us all and it even made Claudia cry, which was quite funny. We then had a 6 hour wait until all of us could do our category of Cheer. Out of the ten squads we were on last, so we couldn’t watch their routines because we had to warm up and had no idea how they had done or what we were up against.
The routine went better than we could have expected, with all our stunts going up and no one messing up majorly, but not knowing how the other squads did made us pretty nervous for the results. In true cheer fashion, all the squads that competed have to go and sit on the mat to wait for everyone’s results. When it finally came to our category of Senior Cheer Level Two the tension was pretty high. The results were called out from 5th up to 1st and as the trophy’s got handed out, with no mention of us, our hopes were well and truly trampled on. After the 4th and 3rd places had been handed out, we relaxed a bit and accepted we
hadn’t done as well as we had hoped. So with everyone looking a bit sorry for themselves, all we had left to look forward to was getting back to Portsmouth. Until we heard, “And the champions of Senior Cheer Level Two is… Portsmouth Phoenix!”. I don’t think we could have made more of a scene if we tried. Every single one of us were jumping around screaming to each other. Ellie, Becky and Laura went to get our trophy and had a picture, then we continued to scream all the way back to the very top of the centre to get our bags and head back home. Everyone was completely stunned at how we had managed to get first,
seeing as last year we were against some of the same squads and only managed to get 6th place, so we have come a long way. Our next competition is straight after Tour in Easter, where we are entering the same Partner Stunt and Cheer routine with an additional dance category as well. We have the chance of winning another 6 trophy’s if things go well, and have hopefully given the other squads the heebie jeebies on how much we can bring it. So now Fresher’s don’t forget, its 1st place or nothing now. No pressure. Watch the routine at: www.upsu.tv
e o e , y ,
photos: Lucy Henry/ Kate Hyder
Sport » Tennis
Tennis First Team Edge Past Seconds! Peter Burjan
With the second teams ego inflated after their unbeaten season in the league they decided to take on the first team, who were determined to mark their territory! It was a friendly match but a lot of pride was on the line! The four singles matches were first to be played which saw: Joseph Villeneau vs Peter Burjan James Wallis vs Jamie White Pete Robinson vs Matt Ross Andy Trott vs George Calderara The match between Pete Robinson and Matt Ross was first to finish and was a great start for the first team. With powerful serving from Pete he
quickly took the first set 6-1 and carried on his momentum to take the second 6-0. This gave the first team a lead making the task even greater for the seconds! Next to end was James Wallis vs Jamie White. This game was a little closer and some good tennis was played by both players. However, it was James Wallis of the first team who managed to pull away and race to victory giving the first team a commanding 2-0 lead with just two singles still in play! The last two matches were both very close affairs and took considerably longer then the first two. It was Joseph Villeneau and Peter Burjan who were next to finish. With some
clever tennis and consistent play Joe was able to dominate the first set taking it 6-1 whilst Pete struggled. The second set was a complete reversal, it was Pete now who was dominating the game whilst Joe was struggling and hitting too many errors. This meant Pete was able to take the second 6-1 and take the match into the third set giving some hope for the seconds! The third set seemed to come down to fitness levels. The rallies were long and exhausting but it was Pete who managed to just gain an edge at 3-3 where he managed to break away. At 5-4 Pete finally managed to get a match point which he took giving the second team their first win of the day! Joe will not hear the end of it now.
So with the seconds now just 2-1 down all the pressure was on George Calderara to get a win against Andy Trott to tie the game. The first set was close and it was George who managed to take it 6-4 giving the seconds hope they could pull off an unexpected draw against the first team. However, Andy rallied back in the second set and stormed through it 6-2 leading to a tense final set! After a grueling start to the final set George managed to go up 5-4 and on his serve, yet somehow Andy managed to break and make it 5-5! The match continued going to 6-6, 7-7, 8-8! Then Andy finally got the breakthrough and took the match 4-6, 6-2, 10-8 making the first team breathe a
big sigh of relief in an extremely close game! Meanwhile, Nick Ford and Will Calderara were giving a rather harsh lesson to Peter Burjan and Jamie White in how to play doubles! With some powerful serving and great net play they stormed to a 6-1 lead before time ran out! So it was the first team who narrowly came out victorious and maintain bragging rights. However, the second team gave a great account of themselves and really showed everyone they are a strong outfit who should not be taken lightly! I think everyone would agree it was very friendly and one of the most enjoyable matches that either team have had this season.
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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
Sports
Behind the Scenes with the ...
Ski and Snowboard Club Committee Want to see your club committee team here? Email: sportsnews@upsu.net
The biggest sports club in the Union maybe, but this is who runs them.
Name: Andy “Scotty” Berwick Role: President Comment: This mad hatter scots man is the Club’s fearless leader.
Name: “Chicos Malone” Role: Vice - President Comment: The loveable Chicos, backing Scotty up. Oh, we miss his dreads...
Name: Mike “Fresh” Hall Role: Snowboard Captain Comment: Heads up the Snowboard Race team, leading them from victory to victory.
Name: Becky Hyde Role: Ski Captain Comment: Wee Becky is the driving force of the Ski Race team.
Name: Rob “Kenny” Kenefeck Role: Communications Officer Comment: Spams the members with emails and texts and watches over pompeysnow.co.uk.
Name: Mike “LOWRY” Lowry Role: Media and PR
2nd's fall short and half a point Chris Hewett
After the 1st teams emphatic victory just before them at last weeks varsity, the 2nds knew that victory would mean a varsity point on the board courtesy of men's cricket. And so it was with nervous anticipation that they walked into the hall having been asked to field. Chris 'Chewit' Hewett was asked to open the bowling, something which he gladly accepted, though would soon critically regret. His first ball was wide, his second ball was wider, his third ball was a no ball, it got worse from there too. As the entire hall witnessed this usually calm character crumble like a mud hut in an earthquake, there was a realisation that Portsmouth needed to up their game, and fast. It was down to Dan Brooks, Cricket Pres, to steady the ship, and he bowled with aggression and accuracy to give the Southampton batsmen something
to think about. Despite a good over, Pompey could not stop leaking runs and the suicidal skippering decision to give Chewit another over meant that they would certainly be chasing a large total. Despite a good catch from the days calamity bowler who was ever trying to redeem his bowling sins as well as a sharp stumping by Steven Barnes off the bowling of Jack Cronin, Southampton ended the innings on 156. The large total was made worse by the loss of Cronin who had put his tooth through his lip after getting a ball hit extremely hard in his face. At least he stopped the four runs though. Portsmouth padded up and got off to a disastrous start in their reply, losing skipper Ryan Ayling in the first over to a run out. Brooks and Ben Dyson began to put together a partnership before Dyson went for one shot too many and was bowled trying to hit the ball back to Portsmouth. Next came in a very nervous Chewit who
was praying that he didn't crumble with the bat as well as ball! Fortunately he immediately settled in and Brooks and Chewit put on a good partnership before Brooks was automatically retired on 25. Steve Barnes continued the contributions before being run out closely. A controversial dismissal of Cronin who had come out to bat covered in blood, meant that Portsmouth faced a near impossible task to claim victory. The crowd were furious as the ball had clearly gone for six before Jackson was 'run out' while congratulating his partner but the visitors were forced to accept the decision and continue. Going into the last over, Portsmouth needed five sixes and Brooks gave it a good go, hitting two in a row followed by a four before getting out. It was a thoroughly dissappointing end as the seconds knew they had been capable of winning and were it not for a nightmare two overs from a gutted Chewit, the result may have been different.
UPMCC climbing to new heights Mark Brett
You are 200 metres up the wall of a gorge with the wind whipping around you, balancing on the tip of one toe and a single finger hold, an uncomfortably long way above your last point of safety. Every muscle is burning with fatigue and your grip is failing; one slip and you will fall, how far depends on the gear you have placed and your belayer suspended from the rock below you. Your heart beats ever faster, this is the difference between surviving and living; welcome to the climbing club. In truth it doesn’t have to be like this, but this report is about our trip to Cheddar Gorge, where the climbing starts at difficult and gets harder. We set off from the union on Friday afternoon, delighted that the cheerleading club inexplicably needed all the uni minibuses, so we had a much nicer hired in one. Cue the production of MP3 players and the mocking of my erratic taste in music as we headed onto the M275 on our way to Somerset. 3 hours later we are at the campsite, the tents are up, the fire is lit, beer is flowing freely, bets are being placed on when the Presidents minibus will actually turn up and the clubs ex scouts are cheerfully engaged
turning sausages into coal. The fact that it’s raining and looks set to continue doing so somehow doesn’t seem important. Saturday morning and the VP’s melodious tones drift across the campsite, genteelly suggesting that perhaps we might like to rise from peaceful slumber. We are down at the crag by nine and its time to start getting the feel of Somerset rock. A few leads by the most experienced climbers confirmed our belief that this was going to be a heavy weekend, crumbling rock left precious few places for reliable gear, what looked like good holds had a tendency to be loose and the belayers helmets where earning their keep. Eventually good lines where picked, top ropes where rigged and climbing began in earnest. Congratulations are due to our freshers who stuck some routes that the old boys had found tricky and a number of records where set by individuals for the hardest climbs they had ever done. This first day consisted of mostly single pitch climbs on walls with names like, Wrecking Crew, Freak Tier, Acid Rock, Warlord, Space hunter and Ambiguously Straightforward. Despite the action of the first day a dimming in light levels was enough to encourage an immediate departure to the pub and the best and biggest
bacon and egg sandwiches I have ever seen. Closing time bought a departure to the campsite for more liquid refreshments and campfire tales of the sketchiness of the days climbing. Sunday we packed up and headed out to horseshoe bend, above which lies sunset buttress, one of the tallest sport climbing walls in the country. Here the group split, with the bulk going to do some shorter technical climbs on the other side of the road and the president off leading a single pair up an HVS E1 (Hard Very Severe, Extreme 1) traditional climb. Four of us in two pairs where going to do Space Tourist, a 3 pitch 6b+ route that resulted in the story that heads this article. We reached the top after two solid hours of climbing, the abseil back down taking a further 30 minutes. This left a couple of hours of daylight in which to completely write ourselves off for the rest of the week before we piled into the buses and headed home. We had climbed Cheddar Gorge, described in the guidebook as “thronged with people who drive up, look at the climbs, and drive away”. UPMCC. Gravity is a State of Mind. For more information about joining the Mountaineering club, please visit the website at: upmcc.org.uk
Comment: Nicknamed for his Bad Boys namesake, Lowry designs the posters.
Name: Barnaby “Barney” Hatcher Role: Social Secretary
Sport » Gym and Trampolining
Gym and Trampolining Luke Donovan-King
Comment: Rallies the masses from establishment to establishment
Name: Alex “Pickers” Pickering Role: Vice Social Secretary Comment: Picks up the straglers from the floor and puts them back on the stool for the next round.
The University of Portsmouth Trampolining and Gymnastics club recently competed in two trampolining competitions, with everyone in the team performing exceptionally well. The first competition was on the 8th February, a BUCS qualifying competition, held along the coast in Plymouth. Although only a qualifying competition, those competing in the BUCS 5 (novice) category were unable to progress any further as the competition for this category took place on the day. In BUCS 5 women, Bessie Ayres placed 23rd and Georgie Whitely
placed 53rd. In BUCS 5 men; Guy Holmes finished in 2nd place and Luke DonovanKing placed 1st. Progressing further, in BUCS 4 Women, Alison Payne placed 7th, ensuring her progression through to the BUCS finals, to be held on the 22nd March at Bristol University. In BUCS 4 Men, Richard Ripley placed 10th and Sam Middleton placed 9th. Qualifying from this category was Joshua Naden, who finished in 5th place overall. In the final category, BUCS 3 women, Amy Bowditch came in 7th place. Joshua and Alison will be joining Lorna, Matt and Steve in the BUCS finals. The second competition that the
club has competed in recently was held on the 21st February, at Bath University. Again the squad performed really well. In the Novice Men category, Guy Holmes finished in 5th place and Luke Donovan-King finished in 1st place. Alongside this, in the Novice Women category, Eloïse Brodin-Thornhill also finished in 1st place. In the Intermediate Men category, Richard Ripley finished in 2nd place. In the Intermediate women category, Natasha Llewellyn placed 6th and Laura Atkinson placed 2nd. Moving on as the day progressed, Matt Green finished in 3rd place in the Elite Men category and Lorna Kyan finished in 5th in the difficult Elite Women Category.
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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th March 2009
Sports
Roller Hockey Seek Revenge Luke Bogue
After the Roller Hockey first team suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of Southampton on Sunday afternoon, and went down 7-5, it was the Second teams chance to redeem some sense of hockey pride between the two fierce rivals as Monday night saw the second installment of Varsity. This time however the event took place on home soil at the Fareham leisure centre, and the game did not disappoint, the outcome of which was a ten goal thriller that ended five a piece. The encounter lacked the physical intensity of the previous game, but the pace ensured a spectators dream of end to end, flowing hockey. Southampton came out of the first period on top, and two goals to the good, yet again the battling spirit of
the club shone through as the sense of belief amongst the Pompey camp was high. We had suffered a few defensive mistakes and had been punished for not taking the chances we had created, yet there was plenty of encouraging signs to show that we were more than a force for Southampton. The second period started in the best possible fashion with an early goal for Pompey, the net minder made some huge saves to keep the scores tight and a late flurry of three tallys at the end of the second gave us a narrow lead going into the final period of the game. Having stormed the second period 4-1, spirits were high in the camp, but the experienced voices helped to calm the excitement. The final period was a tense affair as the pace of the game maintained end to end hockey. Southampton came out strongest earlier on and managed
to tie the scores, only for our resilience to shine through with a quick response to once again take the lead. The one goal difference forced Pompey to seek another in order to put the game beyond Southampton, and whilst the attack generated chance after chance they could not find the back of the net. Inevitably Southampton piled on the pressure, putting us on the back foot, and a late third period goal changed the game. As the minutes ticked by neither side were able to find the winning goal in what was to be an edgy and nervous finish. It proved to be an entertaining, pacey and goal frenzied game, and was a credit to the development within the roller hockey club, especially to its newest members who collectively had a solid performance thanks to all the hard work done at training. Hats Off.
photos: Peter Allsop
Netball share important point Alison Roff
Pompey Netball put up a great fight at Varsity, almost literally in some cases as at times it felt we were playing the Southampton Netball/Rugby/ Wrestling squad – they haven’t quite yet grasped the concept of Netball as non-contact sport! All odds were against Portsmouth; an epidemic of ankle injuries and high competition from Southampton made for a nervous start. The 1sts, who are having an amazing season, had a tough match against the Southampton 1st’s who are currently in the premiership league. Despite a Southampton win of 44-24, our
1sts had an amazing match, playing their own game and not rising to the rough play of the Southampton players. The 2nds gave all they had and evened the overall score with a close win of 23-21 to Portsmouth. Southampton came back however, with a 53-36 win against the 3rds. It was make or break time. After all of Netball’s achievements this year, we weren’t about to let Southampton have this win. The 4ths went out strong and had an amazing game, beating Southampton 4ths 34-27, a very satisfying defeat, especially after boasts from Southampton that they were going to win! Not to mention warnings to Southampton players for rough play, and swearing at the oppo-
Sport » Squash
Squash ladies away
dMiranda Blunden y yIt seems the first (and last) away ematch for the Women’s squash team .further boosted the already lively monrale, as all four girls played their best othis season. Playing at number 4 was reserve Jo (0-3) who, despite a slight ,tantrum, played brilliantly in her first .match for the University. Sadly, some ,ruthless serves in her direction outdshone the cracking shots and lunges gthat Jo put into her match. Next up nwas Captain Miranda (1-3) who put nup a good fight with some top serves nand drives. - Again, Royal Holloway had the edge over her and finished the match off
with the fourth game. In at number 2 was Lauren (1-3) who played the best we’ve seen her all year! She ran circles around her opponent and put in some great shots, but unfortunately this new-found energy soon wore her out and she finished with just the 1 game in her pocket. Finally, our number 1 girl Fran (0-3) stood up to the mark.... to Oxfordshire’s County Champion! Despite this, Fran didn’t give her an easy match and held her own to take some points from Holloway’s number 1. Sadly, her brilliant shots and strong back-hand weren’t enough and Holloway took the victory once more. Overall, a really good match – and we all know we’re winners...just not victorious!
sition – and it actually did hurt didn’t it Rach!? This settled the overall score to 2-2, resulting in ½ a point for each Uni, a brilliant result for Pompey Netball considering all Southampton teams are at least one league above their Portsmouth rivals. Varsity for the Netball squad was a great success, with of course some DoD’s from 4th’s Faye taking out President Beth who was trying to umpire at the time, 1st’s Lucy mid-match pole dancing and standard Social Secs Niki and Hayley wasted at about 5pm. Well done to the Netball Squad who contributed ½ of the overall 2 points won by Portsmouth as a whole watch out next year Southampton!
It’s the battle of the racket sports, as the lads go head-to-head to get their man points up and crown themselves champions!
Name: Luke Bogue
Name: Ben Endley
Club: Roller Hockey Club
Club: Lacrosse Club
1. What has been your worst sporting moment at university? Erm, probably loosing in the nationals quater-finals to Warwick, or asking my drunken team mates to shave my head, who would have thought it’s so hard.
1. What has been your worst sporting moment at university? Had very few bad ones actually, losing in the final of the Flags tournament was pretty hard to take.
2. When was your last walk of shame? I don’t walk they do. Haha last time I was dressed as a hula girl.
2. When was your last walk of shame? Depressingly long ago.
3. Who is your favourite sporting hero and why? Sean White, achieved so much so young. Incredible.
3. Who is your favourite sporting hero and why? Lance Armstrong.......what a legend, his apperance at the end of Dodgeball sums it up!
4. What was your worst fresher challenge? Drinking sambuca chasers in a snakebite, worst yak ever.
4. What was your worst fresher challenge? Swapping cars in the middle of bath and almost getting left behind when the light turned green
5. What has been your best sporting moment at uni? Road tripping to nationals best 6 hours on a minibus, beating Southampton, whenever, wherever
5. What has been your best sporting moment at uni? Beating Southampton 7-6 at Varsity in front of a couple of hundred people.
6. If you had to marry a famous member of the same sex who would it be and why? No doubt ‘The Rock’, self explanatory really. He’s just the dogs, the peoples champ.
6. If you had to marry a famous member of the same sex who would it be and why? Steven Hawking - Dont ask why
7. If you could be in any other club, which would it be? Ah so many, guess it would be ski/ snowboard or Lacrosse
7. If you could be in any other club, which would it be? I wouldn’t really care... ...as long as its not cricket.
8. Tell us a joke…(but keep it clean!)... Why was the mushroom invited to the party? Because he was a fun guy.
8. Tell us a joke…(but keep it clean!)... What do you get if you divide the circumference of a Halloween lantern by its diameter? Pumpkin Pi!
Basketball into premier league P WDL
photo: Jacob Leverett
Bring it on Cheerleading Squad wins national competition Marie Gomes
The day before heading to Wales we had a pep talk from our coach Ellie, telling us not to get our hopes up because we were against some pretty high standard teams and just to enjoy the day. She even said we shouldn’t expect to get a trophy. Then, sooner than we knew it and a lot sooner than dawn, we got to the union at 4am to start our long journey to Wales with a casual little stop off at 'Maccy D's' for some McMuffins on the way. Everything was going pretty well, there was extra room in the mini buses, everyone arrived with all the important stuff they needed yet typically one of the mini buses got lost and decided to take 17 »
Ben Endley
Despite this being a record breaking year for several university teams, one club has stood out above all others. Following promotion from the second tier last year, the basketball club have dominated in 1A, winning eight and losing only one game all season. An impressive result in itself but fast forward to the end of the season. The ladies first team finished top of the league and progressed past several difficult sides to make it to where they were, one win away from promotion to the premier league. It seems almost poetic then that the team that stood in their way was local rivals Southampton. The Women's Basketball had been one of the few teams to taste victory on varsity day however were unable to prevent Team Portsmouth crashing to a heavy defeat against their rivals. A bumper crowd packed the sidelines inside the Nuffield sports centre and a small crowd of away fans contributed to a lively atmosphere throughout the match. Portsmouth started brightly, win-
ning the jump ball, however it was the away side that first registered on the score sheet, a slick passing move led to an easy lay up for the visitors. This appeared to shock Pompey as what followed were a series of defending errors and a few contraversial refereeing decisions resulting in a series of free shots for Southampton. At this point, it was only the poor ratio with which these chances were converted that prevented Southampton greatly increasing their lead. Soon though, Portsmouth seemed to settle into a rythm. Breaking down Southampton attacks and controlling the ball, throughout the match, highly rated sports scholar Annika Lohneiss was engaged in a captivating battle with the Southampton centre. The first quarter drew to a close with the scores tied at 16-16. The second period saw Pompey become more assertive still as Southampton struggled to keep up with the home side. Points were becoming few and far between for the away side as they were limited to free throws and the occasional break away. Pompey on the other had were converting their
far greater posession into points including a number of impressive three pointers. Southampton were not defeated just yet and repetedly pegged the home side back. At the end of the half, Portsmouth had pulled into a 3427 lead. Following the half time team talks, both sides came out fighting. A rare handling error from Lohneneiss led to a turnover and a Southampton Basket, she made up for this with a series of impressive solo baskets. The thrid quarter saw pompey streach the lead to over ten points as Southampton began to tire. Individual errors and wayward passing punctuated the visitors game as they struggled to resist. Pompey, in contrast seemed to have another gear and as the game drew towards a close, Southampton looked less and less likely to cause an upset despite their best efforts. Jubilant scenes greeted the final whistle with the score at 7160, Pompey can now look forward to playing in the premier league next season as well as holding the honour of the highest ranked side at Portsmouth University.
Rugby Union Women’s 1st Volleyball Women’s 1st Squash Men’s 2nd Netball 4th Hockey Women’s 2nd Netball 1st Hockey Mixed 1s SESSA Golf 1st Hockey Men’s 1st Basketball Women’s 1st Lacrosse Men’s 1st Football Men’s 6th Tennis Men’s 2nd Football Women’s 1st Netball 3rd Squash Men’s 1st Football Men’s 4th Hockey Women’s 1st Football Men’s 1st Football Men’s 2nd Badminton Women’s 1st Netball 5th Hockey Men’s 4th Rugby Union Men’s 2nd Rugby Union 1st Football Men’s 3rd Rugby Union Men’s 3rd Hockey Men’s 3rd Hockey Men’s 2nd Football Men’s 5th Basketball Men’s 1st Netball 2nd Rugby Union Men’s 4th Netball 6th Hockey Women’s 3rd Squash Men’s 3rd Volleyball Men’s 1st Rugby Union Men’s 1st Football Women’s 2nd Badminton Men’s 2nd Hockey Men’s 5th Badminton Men’s 1st Lacrosse 1st Tennis Men’s 1st Basketball Men’s 2nd Fencing Women’s 1st Fencing Men’s 1st
8 8 00 5 5 00 10 9 0 1 9 8 01 9 8 01 13 11 1 1 7 6 01 7 6 01 13 11 0 2 12 10 0 2 9 7 11 17 13 2 2 7 5 11 11 8 1 2 12 9 0 3 12 9 0 3 15 11 0 4 11 8 0 3 13 9 1 3 18 12 1 5 11 7 1 3 9 6 03 9 6 03 14 9 0 5 10 6 1 3 17 10 2 5 12 7 0 5 12 6 3 3 13 7 1 5 13 7 1 5 9 5 04 11 6 0 5 13 7 0 6 10 5 0 5 8 4 04 8 4 04 9 4 05 14 6 0 8 8 3 14 11 3 2 6 7 2 05 11 3 0 8 9 2 16 11 1 1 9 10 1 0 9 7 0 07 7 0 07
The above team rankings are as published on BUCS website: bucs.org.uk
Sport » Octopush
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Pompey take the plunge at the Plymouth Cup.
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Hannah Barclay
Portsmouth Octopush Club played away from home on Valentine's Day and made the epic journey to Devon to take part in an Underwater Hockey tournament called the Plymouth Cup, all this as part of the lead up to the Student National competition taking place later this month. Having trekked down to Plymouth it was time for an early night before the games began on Saturday morning. Although a member of the A team, Ben took himself out of action before he stepped into the water. So a man down, the A team soldiered on. Being pitted against Warwick
, the new kids on the block, first the game could have gone one of two ways. Everyone was a little nervous, but once they got wet their confidence came flooding back and we won with a well deserved 3-1. The team played well together resulting in Dan 'Tug' Morgan getting off to a flying start and scoring all three goals of the game. Next up it was the turn of the Barbarians to take to the water like ducks. Unfortunately they played like ducks and spent more time with their backsides in the air and less time on the bottom of the pool. As a result the Barbarians lost the game to Cardiff's Barbarian team, who had a shark in
red trunks who played the game single handedly. The Barbarians did not show the Plymouth Ladies team any mercy, leaving them baffled in a cloud of bubbles and beating them 6-1. The Barbarians then played our old rivals Plymouth, with a little help from our Plymouth traitors we managed to win 5-2, when Tom 'Harry' Hardwick finally got the puck in the goal after the third attempt. The A Team entered the play-off for 3rd place in high spirits, they then beat Warwick 11-2. Nearly the whole team scored, including a hat-trick from Matt Nunn. All in all it was a great day for everyone from Portsmouth, the Freshers
played extremely well considering it was their first big competition and they had to quickly learn how to adapt to a different pool with a glossy floor. Many people scored goals and everyone worked really well as a team. Both teams were lead by two excellent captains (Tug & Fraggle) who both scored many of the goals. The A Team came 3rd in their division & the Barbarians came 2nd. The tough day in the pool was followed by a great night out on the town with all of the other hardcore octopush players. Find out more about octopush: pompeyocto.co.uk
...and features, and photos, and socials, and anything else you want to tell us about your club! It’s easy to get a mention in PWs - just e-mail everything to sportnews@upsu.net, visit www.upsu.net/newsdesk, or come in to the Sabb Office at the Union and have a chat with us any time! For more information, see: upsu.net/p/2166