Varsity Issue 745

Page 1

Fashion p18-19

Comment p14

Varsity vamps up for All Hallow’s Eve by spotlighting this Fall’s fetish fashion

How TV has been exploiting couch-potatoes everywhere

Friday 28th October 2011

Do we deserve £10 MAs?

The Independent Student Newspaper since 1947

News p3

Issue No 745 | varsity.co.uk CONFERENCE CAMBRIDGE

News p4 The Big College Sell-Out: Cambridge colleges are making as much as 46% of their income from conferences, a Varsity investigation reveals. But what will this commercialisation of Cambridge mean?

JOSEPH SNELLING

No work, all play: Is Oxbridge to blame for Britain’s binge-drinking culture?

Reviews p28 “A strategically placed baguette did not quite cover everything”

Punt touts out

Peter Storey

NEWS CORRESPONDENT

Cambridge City Council is making moves to address the problem of what it calls ‘aggressive’ and ‘intimidating’ punt touting along the river Cam. Punt touts have long been a feature of the historic city centre, but now the council says the large number of touts poses a threat to tourism and an unnecessary irritation for residents. The head of the Council’s customer services, Cllr Neil McGovern, has said he is “very concerned about the negative effect that aggressive punt

touting can have on visitors, residents and businesses, and on students.” He added :‘“I know the colleges are particularly concerned about punt touting, especially on King’s Parade.’’ Another councillor, Kevin Price, recently told a meeting of the Council that this summer had been the worst on record for intrusive punt touting saying – “This behaviour we see is damaging to the reputation of Cambridge as a pleasant place to visit’’. Statistics also revealed that 25% of Cambridge residents and nearly 50% of visitors to the city were approached

four or more times by touts on a single visit to the city centre. The Council’s proposed solution is to require all punt operators to have

£6m Value of punting to local economy official accreditation which would only be endorsed if they agreed to follow a strict code of good conduct. This code would limit the areas

where sales could take place and commit its signatories to providing an improved service for customers. They must be careful however to strike the balance between regulating and inhibiting the companies who are presently worth £6 million per year to the local economy. Speaking to Varsity, Mark from University River Tours expressed his frustration at the severity of the new regulations, saying, “I don’t think they’re regulating it - I think they’re shutting it down completely. I don’t agree with the plans.”

ONLINE SEXUAL HEALTH QUESTIONNAIRE AT VARSITY.CO.UK TAKE THE

Tom Powell on The Orphanarium of Erthing Worthing

Sport p34 Making a splash: Varsity speaks to the University Water Polo Captain Dan Woolcott


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