Issue 121

Vision

York Student

THE CLUB ONLY STUDENTS CAN JOIN

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TOFF OFF POSSIBLE BOYCOTT OF YORK CLUB BY STUDENT

SEVERE CRITICISM of Toffs nightclub by students has forced the SU to consider an official student boycott of the York nightspot.

A steady flow of complaints has reached the SU throughout the year, casting a shadow over Toffs’ “100% Student Friendly” image. At an SU Executive meeting last week concerns were raised that the club’s student nights, which claim to be for students only, have recently been overrun with aggressive non-students.

The most serious incident occurred during the autumn term when Matthew Maddocks, then the Langwith JCR ViceChair, was assaulted by four men outside the club. When his friend, Vicki Carver, asked the bouncers at Toffs to phone for help they refused. They even refused the pair access to the payphone.

In defence of their doorstaff the club management said afterwards that they had decided after looking at Mr Maddocks that ‘he was not too badly beaten up’. The Langwith JCR made a formal complaint and subsequently boycotted Toffs, with the full support of the SU. However despite lengthy discussions in Exec Committee meetings, the SU never officially boycotted the club.

More recently SU officers have received complaints that Toffs are letting in fewer students than other members of the public on their student nights. On Tuesday of Week Three, for example, students were harassed outside the club in the taxi queue by a large group of men who had spent the day at York Races.

Aidhean Campbell, Deputy President Services, told Vision: “It’s getting out of hand – they [Toffs] won’t accept student cards as proof of age on student nights but they will let in loads of guys who don’t have Mondex cards.”

Problems arise from the fact that Toffs have a sponsorship deal with the SU. But the Aidhean Campbell admits: “Although the money Northern Leisure [Toffs’ parent company] give to the SU is important, it is not worth the price of student security.”

An official letter of complaint from the SU Women’s Officer, Becky Wright, records another recent incident. “On Tuesday 6th June in Toffs the disc jockey, trying to ‘entertain’ the students there,

encouraged a girl to kiss an unknown man in front of the assembled dance floor.

“While this was in progress, those on the dance floor were asked to shout various names at the girl that included ‘slag’, ‘slapper’ and ‘whore’ etc. After this was finished the disc jockey inquired as to whether there was a ‘girl’ that would be willing to take part in kissing the woman on stage. When the participant refused, she was branded ‘frigid.’” Speaking to the Exec Committee, Becky Wright suggested a women’s protest outside the club and stated, “I will even occupy Toffs!”

Sophie Jewitt, next year’s RAG Officer, complained that bouncers even refused her access to the women’s toilets!

This was not connected to the smell recently detected on the dance floor at Toffs caused by a build-up of sewage underneath the club. Helen Woolnough, SU President, said of Toffs, “The place smells and quite apart from that makes no effort to be student friendly except in their publicity.” In a rare moment of anger, York’s figurehead added, “They tried to kick me out recently just because I wasn’t wearing any shoes!”

However once again, despite extensive discussion within Exec, there has yet to be a motion put into a UGM proposing a boycott. Aidhean Campbell and Helen Woolnough both agreed, “If someone were to put a motion in we’d support it.”

Until this happens it seems unlikely that any action against Toffs will be taken on an official basis.

Aidhean Campbell told Vision that he was planning a meeting with Toffs management, intending to discuss several issues. These were to include the smell, the cost, access to the toilets, accepted forms of identification on the door and the regular admission of so many non-students on student nights. He explained to Vision: “I’ve always found their management good to work with they’ve always answered the problems we’ve addressed to them. But if they’re not going to answer them any more, I’m happy for there to be a boycott. If the club isn’t willing to look after students on student nights then we shouldn’t be going there.”

Toffs nightclub were not available for comment at the time of going to press.

Ben Hulme-Cross

“ I REALLY LIKE

CORGIS

too

“

SU President, Helen Woolnough, larging it in Toffs. But for how many more times?

“ Woodstock probably boasts a better line up than V2000 “

See page 3 for students’ reactions to the rumours that royalty might be here next year

York Student Vision

Photo: Tim Burroughs

See page 9 for an exclusive preview

“ we’re so smart “ ...or so they think. See page 23 for an interview with The Dandy Warhols

23rd June, 2000 Issue 121

2 NEWS York Student Vision

News in Brief BUDGET SCANDAL The latest Students’ Union budget, first submitted to the Week Six UGM, has shocked many with its content. The total budget is for £530,000, an increase of almost £8,000 from the previous year, yet many students have been surprised that some campus institutions have had their budget drastically slashed. Worst hit have been the JCRs, whose combined budget has been reduced from £20,000 to £12,375. Commenting to Vision, Goodricke JCRC Chair, Rory Dennis, said: “Most of our budget goes on Freshers’ Week and other welfare provisions. The reduction in our budget will affect our level of provision.” Also badly hit was the SU Minibus service, whose budget has almost been cut in half, down from £14,148 to £7,710.

SPOIL SPORTS The Women’s Officers, Becky Wright and Leyla Ozcan are trying to prevent the JCRs from showing the forthcoming Mike Tyson fight on Saturday, the 24th June. In an e-mail to all JCR chairs they have threatened to “Hold a petition against anyone who is showing it and maybe hold some direct action.” Speaking to Vision, Alcuin JCRC Chair, Nick Church, stated, “Personally I’d like to show it. Tyson has been punished and it is not for the Women’s Officers to judge him. It’s a perfectly legitimate fight that JCRs should be able to show.”

DIRTY IMAGINATION

ARTS SOCIETIES across campus united in Week Seven to promote Imagine Week. Their objective was to encourage the participation in all areas of the arts, and dispel the notion that the arts are elitist.

Jacob Hope, event organiser said: “I wanted a chance too express what art was really about; the English department here have very elitist views of what literature is. Also I know that several arts societies have problems with appearing exclusive.”

Many events were held throughout out the week as people expressed their creativity in a variety of forms. The creative writing group held a free meeting to explore the inspiration of favourite poets and writers. The dance society reduced rates on their Latin, Jazz and Irish dancing classes.

Most noticeable were the array of exhibitions around campus. Kate Carpenter, Langwith JCR Chair co-ordinated an exhibition of students’ work in

Langwith dining hall, whilst Point Shirley exhibited the entries to their photographic competition in the Physics concourse.

Kate Carpenter commented: “The exhibition of Langwith students’ artwork was of a very high standard and the vibrancy of colour, inventiveness and evident technical skills involved were the most striking features.”

There was also a mural painted on the walkway outside of Langwith which caused much discussion between those who were impressed by the creativity and those who thought it was little more than notebook doodling. Kate added, “The final mural on the walkway was a happy but surreal picture combining images of eyes, fish, punk-hippies, flowers, orchids, palm trees and escaping hand prints. It was a fantastic weird and wonderful creation for people to look at.”

The second half of the week focused on the musical talent in York with performances from the Gilbert and Sullivan Society, and York Glee Singers on Friday.

Heroic Trio and The Fugee Tips concluded Photo: Tom Smithard

VISION THANKS Vision would like to say an extra special thanks to Wesley Johnson for devoting himself to Vision and making it the success it is. Wes, you went above and beyond the call of duty, and truly are a wizard. We’d also like to thank Kate Wallis and Paul Wrigglesworth for helping to make Music and Sport great. We’re also saying goodbye to a lot of ex-Vision people, and we’d like to wish them luck Reg, Amanda, Greg, Linus, Chris, Toby, Olivia and of course Claire. Sorry to anyone we’ve left out, and a general thanks and good luck from us all at Vision to everyone leaving the green fields and grey concrete of our beloved university for the big wide world of real life. Also thanks to Westcountry Print and Design. The last Vision meeting of the year takes place in D/130, Monday Week Nine, at 7:30pm.

All welcome. See you in October...

the week at ‘Wenty Unplugged’.

Central to the week’s programme was a talk on nudity by Vincent Benthnell.

Jacob said: “It was certainly the most interesting event of the week. It challenged people’s views on what art is, and what it is to be human and alive, and that’s exactly what the week aimed to do.”

He added: “I think it has been fairly successful, in fact any problems that have

Labour’s Simon Ware and the Tories’ Gareth Knight get close

LABOUR LANDSLIDE the big match THEY MAY not be the fittest members of the University, they may possess no skill at all, but by God, the Tories and Labour can play a good game of football.

The annual battle of egos, reputations and personalities, true power politics, took place during Week Five, and featured some of the true behemoths of the York political scene, including Gareth “Controversial” Knight and John “Nobble Them” Naylor for the Tories, and Toby “Weird Hair” James and Simon “Be” Ware for Labour.

The match itself was a hotch-potch of failings, foulings and throw-ins, with the Labour Club dominating early on, bombing a barrage of goals past Tory keeper (and Captain) Naylor, leading at half time by seven goals to nil. After regrouping, the Tories had a stronger second half, with some inspired subbing in and out of the new blood Steve Fearnley, Duncan Flynn and Nick Toms, and managed to

pull the score back to a ‘respectable’ nine three drubbing.

Matt Maher, inspired central midfielder and the co-Internal Secretary of the Labour Club stated that “This result shows that the Labour Club are clearly the best. The Tory tactics on the pitch, as in life in general, reflect the fact that they have no clue.”

However, Vision has since been informed that the Labour Club cheated, fielding players that are not members of the society. Commenting on this, Labour Events Co-ordinator, Ffion Evans told Vision: “I do think we played fairly, and anyway, the Tories cheated the year before. It’s horses for courses.”

Stuart Lennon, Chair of the Campus Conservative Association, disagreed.

“It’s typical of Labour to enlist the help of other people to do the job because they can’t do it themselves, but it’s exactly the same with their government. It’s typical they had to cheat, it’s petty, and it’s something the Tories would never do.”

Tom Smithard

Three dicks in Vanbrugh

occurred have been due to University administration, for example they washed away our mural even though we had full permission to do it.”

Kate Carpenter said: “I think the whole festival has done a wonderful job getting so many societies and individuals involved, and all the feedback from students in Langwith has been positive.”

Claire New

FIRST ORDERS ONCE AGAIN the issue of a central bar and venue confronts York students. However after years of speculation and disappointment it appears positive action may now be imminent.

RETRACTION Vision would like to apologise to the ‘Ye Olde Starre Inn’ whom we misquoted in our Euro 2000 special on page 27 of our last issue. The ‘Ye Olde Starre Inn’ would like to reiterate that it is a student friendly pub, and is in fact a great place to drink and watch Euro 2000, and is certainly not ‘one to miss’.

Photo: Alex Cooley

As it stands the plans for the central venue involve the levelling of Goodricke dining area and bar as well as the SU Centre. They will be replaced by a single complex that will be divided into two.

Half the venue will be a catering facility and half a bar and night-club. Plans are for the venue to have a minimum capacity of one thousand. The University wants the building not only to appeal to students, but also to meet the needs as a conference venue.

Although tendering for the project has yet to take place, existing plans are for building work to begin at the end of next year, with the expectation that the venue will be completed by July 2002. A bar for James College will then be the next priority for University refurbishment, while the SU offices will be moved to Grimston House.

The SU’s hope is that the venue will be run by an independent company, half of whose composition will be drawn from the student body and the other half from University administration. A venue manager will be employed to take care of the day-to-day running of events.

The most immediate problem faced by the SU is that they need their plans to be passed by a UGM, as current policy is only to support a central venue that would be attached to Central Hall.

However, the concern of some students is that the central venue will detract

from the college system. Derwent College student Mark Lemetti said “Whilst the idea of a central venue sounds good, it might take away from the collegiate spirit that exists at York.”

Meanwhile SU President Helen Woolnough does acknowledge that “Bigger events like Club Derwent will be taken away from JCRCs....the role of JCRCs in terms of events would change.”

Yet reflecting back on the progress made over the last year, Ms Woolnough is justifiably proud. “At this time last year

“We are tantilisingly close” Aidhean Campbell SU DPS

we had just completed our initial business plan, but now we have a definite plan, and now that both we and the University are happy with the compromise we have reached, we’ll be able to progress quickly.

We haven’t reached a full solution but what we will have is better than what has ever been here before.”

Deputy President Services, Aidhean Campbell, agrees. “Everyone has put a lot of effort into seeing this succeed.

Everything feels positive, with the exception of facilities for James, although that’s only a couple of years down the line. We are tantalisingly close.”

Tim Dean

YORK STUDENT VISION www.yorkvision.co.uk

Editors: Ben Hulme-Cross, Alex Watson  Deputy Editor: Tim Burroughs, Vicky Kennedy  Managing Editor: Gareth Walker  News Editor: Tom Smithard Deputy News Editors: Tim Dean, Brendan Spencelayh  Politics Editor: Danny Goldup  Deputy Politics Editor: Fraser Kennedy  Features Editor: Ann Smith Deputy Features Editors: Victoria Cole-Jones, Barbara Stainer  Books Editor: Kasia Brzozowska  Wired Editors: Ste Curran, Mark Kember Arts Editor: Sarah Mort  Deputy Arts Editor: Matt Goddard  Films Editor: Philip Diamond  Deputy Films Editor: Christian Bunyan Music Editor: Tom Nall  Deputy Music Editor: Kate Wallis  Sports Editors: Adam Curran, Sam Macrory  Photo Editor: Alex Cooley Deputy Photo Editor: Post Open  Sub Editors: Natalie Brabin, Lisa Forrest  Artist: Helen Dempsey Webmaster: Jonathan Carr  Deputy Webmaster: Post Open  Advertising Manager: Becca Smith Grimston House, Room V/X/009, University of York,Heslington, York, YO10 5DD. Tel/Fax: 01904 43 3720 Email: vision@york.ac.uk Opinions expressed in Vision are not necessarily those of the Editors, Senior Editorial Team, membership or advertisers. Every effort is made to ensure all articles are as factually correct as possible at the time of going to press, given the information available. Copyright Vision Newspapers, 2000

York Student Vision

23rd June, 2000 Issue 121

York Student Vision NEWS 3

ALCUIN PRINCESS RUMOURS ABOUND that Zara Phillips, daughter of the Princess Royal, will be entering Alcuin College this October. Nineteen year-old Zara, who is tenth in line to the throne, has taken the last year out of education after completing her A-levels at Gordounston School in 1999.

Said to be predominantly a scientist,

From Gordounston...

it was thought that she would go on to study osteopathy but her mother’s visit to the University of York Biology department over the Easter break could suggest otherwise.

Buckingham Palace was unable to elaborate on these reports. “I am afraid we don’t have any information on that”, Vision was told. “The Princess Royal considers her children’s lives to be totally private and so we don’t know whether or not Zara plans to enter tertiary education.” The University claims to be equally in the dark over the matter.

“That’s the first I’ve heard it”, said Schools Liaison Officer Connie Cullen.

“But it sounds fascinating. Let me know if you hear anything more.”

Student responses to the rumour have been largely sceptical. Speaking to Vision, Alcuin JCRC Chair Nick Church said: “All I heard was a rumour, and not from a JCRC member. We haven’t discussed it either as a JCR or with University

Administration.”

As to why Zara should be placed in Alcuin, of all places, it is generally agreed to be in the interests of security. The college’s distance from central campus venues can be seen as a useful safety measure while the recently built en-suite accommodation blocks offer some of the best door security available to students.

This view is echoed by Students’ Union President Helen Woolnough: “If I wanted to be cynical, I would say that Alcuin was chosen because it has the newest accommodation.”

This brings into focus the issue of preferential treatment and whether it is justifiable in the case of one individual, regardless of their status. “Inevitably there would be difficulties as to how she would be perceived by people, but essentially she is an ordinary student and should be treated as such,” said Helen Woolnough. “Every student is equally important and should have the same treatment. It would not be fair to treat a particular student differently from others.”

Alcuin JCRC Welfare Officer Toby Steedman is adamant that should Zara come to York, she would not be seen as a special case as this may see her excluded from normal student life. “My treatment of her would be no different to that of any other student”, he told Vision. “I would try to ensure that she was happy, fitting in well, and making friends. Of course, if she had any problems I would be always

MP SLAMMED

JOHN GROGAN, the MP for the University, has come under fire from students after he changed his stance on tuition fees, without informing students directly. As a result, Labour students are threatening not to campaign for him at the next General Election.

Grogan’s failure to support the majority of the 8,000 students in his constituency has led to calls for a cross-party alliance on campus to campaign against Grogan at the next election. Many nonpolitical students campaign tirelessly for the abolition of tuition fees. With only a 3,836 majority, University students could hold the balance of Grogan keeping his seat for the next Parliament.

During the 1997 General Election campaign, Grogan produced a pamphlet, delivered by willing Labour students, declaring that New Labour is opposed to Tuition Fees or any form of fee at entry level. Students claim Grogan has gone back on his word by backing the government on the issue.

Students are displeased at the fact that Grogan didn’t back the government on air traffic privatisation but voted for tuition fees, a politically sensitive issue for many of his constituents.

York Students’ Union Campaigns Officer Ffion Evans believes Grogan has been nothing but careerist in his actions.

“He backed down after The Dearing Report believing public opinion supported tuition fees. This simply isn’t the case.” She went on to say: “Students are no longer willing to forget this stab in the back.”

Grogan was given the opportunity to speak to students during Hardship Week during Week Three. But, according to Students’ Union officers at York, his sec-

be available to discuss them with her and find some kind of solution.” But Toby doesn’t think she would have any difficulty settling into Alcuin: “The rents are going to be so high next year that anyone who wants to live in college will have to be very rich.”

Whilst having a member of the Royal Family studying at York would do no harm to the University’s public profile, students are hopeful that it would result in improvements to the facilities. “If she did come here it might make the University pull its finger out and do something about the place,” suggested an Alcuin student.

“Let’s face it, the University is an ugly concrete jungle. And can you imagine a member of the Royal Family eating Campus Fayre?”

Responses have ranged from the extreme to the bizarre: “I’d like to think that York’s large pool of young and attractive men was of key importance in her deciding to come here,” claimed a firstyear student. “I would make every effort to ensure she enjoyed herself – whether it is a nice quiet meal at one of York’s fine eateries, or something more formal where her family was involved.” Another student was keen to find things in common with Zara: “I really like corgis, too. I hope she would bring up a couple from home as it could be the start of a beautiful friendship.”

Tim Burroughs

24 HR PORTERING TO FINALLY GO?

THE CONTINUED security of students has come under threat as the University administration once again prepare to start an attack on the future of 24 hour portering.

Dr Andy Macdonald, Director of Facilities Management and reputed to be one of the most powerful people in the University, has prepared a highly controversial and wide ranging paper that has vast and wide ranging implications for the future of accommodation prices (see page four), the central bar and venue (see page two) and 24 hour portering.

“We will do everything in our power to prevent this being implemented” Helen Woolnough SU President

University MP John Grogan: can we trust this man? retary telephoned to say that he would only speak to Union officers and not ordinary students. SU President Helen Woolnough claimed: “He’s certainly backtracked on his word. It’s a start that he’s talking to the officers, but it isn’t enough.”

Aggrieved Labour students have been increasingly incensed because they delivered the literature to people’s doors in 1997. One such student, Michael Terwey, who now sits on Labour Students Executive Committee vividly remembers

York Student Vision

the campaigning. “He ruled out the idea of tuition fees or graduation tax at a meeting in Derwent College. The leaflets were put out by his Youth Co-ordinator.”

Matt Maher, Labour Club Internal Officer, and one of two undergraduates who work for John Grogan, said: “I’m in a very difficult position. John has lost the support of many of his members and should address that problem straight away.”

Ryan Sabey

...To York?

The report, which had no student input and has been utterly condemned by the Students’ Union, states that if nighttime portering was abolished, and students had telephones in their rooms, “Response in the event of an emergency need not be an issue and would better any response that would be forthcoming from the emergency services to private sector accommodation.”

The report alludes to porters as little more than receptionists, and states that they are unsuitable for their welfare role as they are ‘neither trained nor selected’.

The report then goes onto to list the

‘number of advantages’ that the ‘cessation of out-of-hours portering’ would bring the University.

The Students’ Union has been quick to take the offensive. According to President, Helen Woolnough, “Previously, our knowledge of the University’s desire to end 24 hour portering had only been based on rumour, but this document is tangible proof. Now that we have concrete evidence of the University’s desire to do away with 24 hour portering we can really start to campaign against any changes. We will do everything in our power to prevent this being implemented.”

So far the SU have sent letters to important members of the University and local community, and have had pledges of support from, amongst others, provosts, AUT and UNISON reps, and local MP John Grogan, who has stated: “A small group of University managers seem determined to get rid of 24 hour portering… I would strongly urge the University to kick the proposal to cut 24 hour portering far into touch.”

Derwent porter and UNISON Manual Services Rep, Lyndon Taylor, told Vision: “We were disappointed that we read that the University were prepared to change porters’ contracts in the local press rather than through consultation with us. We hope that Dr Macdonald will provide us with an adequate explanation of what is likely to be our future.”

As Ffion Evans, SU Campaigns Officer said, “One of the strongest points of the University is its enclosed and secure campus. An end to 24 hour portering will entirely undermine the atmosphere of the campus. Abolishing 24 hour portering will be the University’s gain and the students’ loss.”

Tom Smithard

23rd June, 2000 Issue 121

4 NEWS York Student Vision

UNIVERSITY RENT RIP-OFF DIFFERENTIAL RENTS are threatening to “ruin college spirit” across campus.

A report by the University’s Facilities

Department, leaked to Vision, raised their introduction as a possible option for the future.

According to the report’s author, Dr Andy Macdonald, Director of Facilities Management, “With the present lack of meaningful differentials in rents on or off campus, students are prevented from exercising choice in a free market, and there are signs that the present arrangements are increasingly unacceptable to the paying customer.

“The present rental structure was a response to student representatives, not the paying customer.” If the situation remains as it is, it added, “The standard room occupant will be significantly disadvantaged.”

Ffion Evans, Students’ Union Campaigns Officer, told Vision that Andy Macdonald’s paper is important because it proves what they’ve always believed: “That the University is run for accountants, not students.

“This is a big problem that the SU has to be active on. I’m horrified that the University is willing to put in differential rents through the back door without telling anyone.”

Helen Woolnough, SU President, added: “There’s a big problem with this document. Allegedly it is fair, but students have no input and there’s no consultation.

“What is indicated in this paper is the direction in which the University wants to go in. The SU, however, wants it to go in totally the opposite direction. Every student should have the same level of service. God damn it, it isn’t fair.”

Glen Dewsbury, University Facilities

Liaison Officer, said: “The paper is just an outline of the problems which the University is faced with, and a runthrough and outline of possible solutions and options to generate guidance which the University Executive would need. We are not putting the cart before the horse.”

Matt Maher, Internal Secretary of the University Labour Club, which has just started to campaign against differential rents, stated: “Differential rents are very unfair. There would be huge rivalries between colleges about how much money you had and it would not be healthy competition.”

The Labour Club campaign highlighted figures of up to £75 for an en-suite room in James College, although the figures used were deliberately inaccurate.

The campaign against differential rates has struck a chord with many students. Anna Cheshire, a second year psychology student, said: “It’d be horrible to

have a rich college.

“Whichever college you’re in shouldn’t be based on how much money you or your parents have. When we started everybody was equal, and this would make it as though that wasn’t the case.”

Bethan King, a second year chemistry student, added: “People already think James College is exclusive, and it would make the matter worse. Some people might even be embarrassed to admit which college they came from.”

However David Maughan, University Accommodation Officer, stated to Vision that “At the moment the rent in college for next year, for a term-time room, would be £46.90 for a new entrant, a 10% increase on the current £42.63.

“It is unlikely that differential rents will be being brought in for the next aca-

Wesley Johnson

Photo: TIm Dean

From 3rd July to 29th September, the Library will only be open from 9 am to 5.15 pm on weekdays and will not open at all on weekends. The only exception to this is Thursdays, when it will open from 9 am until 9 pm. Students who work a normal 9-5 day during the holidays will, therefore, only be able to use the library for four hours a week.

The Library’s opening times were similar last summer, and attracted criticism from students. Many have expressed their disappointment that the University has not made any changes this summer given the problems they experienced last year and over Easter, when there was some protest about the inaccessibility of the Library at particular times. One second year who is staying in York over the summer commented to Vision, “The opening times are ridiculous. Like last year, I have to work all day during the summer and I’ll hardly be able to use the Library. It’s as if the University doesn’t want us to use it at all.”

Educational Campaigns Officer Nick Toms told Vision, “We will try and convince the Library to open for longer. I would imagine that after the bad press they received and all the comeback over Easter opening hours, they might be a little less quick to dismiss student concerns

Looking good, but should students be paying more?

Adam Biles

YORK HAS come out ‘smelling of roses’ after a report praised the University’s admission policy.

Nottingham have been criticised for low admissions levels from the state sector.

Of the top thirteen universities only two have exceeded the expected state intake –Warwick, and refreshingly, York.

York Schools’ Liaison Officer, Connie Cullen believes that the Government does not fully appreciate how competitive the admissions process for top universities can be. She told Vision, “As there is a rising proportion of people participating in higher education, competition will increase and inevitably bright students will be rejected.”

She is proud of the fact that York seems to have a “Diverse social mix of students through she believes an equitable admissions policy by departments and not through “social engineering” by having quotas of state school pupils to be admitted. She acknowledges that York needs to keep appealing to people from all backgrounds and is not complacent despite the good results attained so far.

Despite Colin Lucas, Oxford’s ViceChancellor’s claim that “Oxford seeks out the most able, whatever school they have been to,” it does appear that it is still neglecting some of the brightest state school talent. This can only benefit institutions such as York where the class barriers seem more fluid and snobbery is not too apparent. This is despite Gordon Brown and others attacks on the “forces of conservatism” which can only be counter productive.

The JB Morrell Library, under fire again this time. I will personally lobby both Wayne Connolly and Elizabeth Heaps, the two most senior library officials.”

However, the Librarian, Elizabeth Heaps, told Vision, “The Library’s opening hours for the summer are the same as last year’s and for many previous years.

“Considerably fewer people use the Library to work in during the summer vacation. In the major library survey we ran last year, vacation opening hours did not emerge as a major problem. We have to set priorities in balancing provision, as longer opening hours might mean fewer books.”

She also said that she was unaware of any protest about the planned opening hours. “We have not received any com-

“One of the main factors for the decrease is the increased provision of en-suite accommodation on campus, which is proving very popular with students.” He cites the long waiting lists for James and Alcuin colleges “Where there is substantial amount of en-suite accommodation” as an explanation for the 71% drop in applications for PRS over two years.

Pete Campion-Smith, SU Deputy President Welfare and Academic Affairs, however, believes Mr Maughan’s argument to be incorrect and suggested that “One key factor, is the increase in rent” and the lack of the fuel rebate which many students viewed as a “nice bonus” at the end of their residence. He pointed out that “rents have rocketed”, up almost 65% over five years, leading to the cost of living in a privately rented house, despite also significantly increasing, being almost as low as PRS or on-campus accommodation. He believes these factors, coupled with the “bad press” PRS has received of late to be the most likely reasons for the drop in applications.

When asked how the SU was representing students with regards to this issue, Pete emphasised the SU information campaign, the aim of which is to heighten awareness of “All the options that are available to students.” He is also eager to publicise the fact that “The SU will represent any student who has problems with their landlord, whether the landlord is the University or otherwise.”

With the University increasing rents on and off campus, there is little to suggest that the downward spiral facing PRS is likely to stop unless the University takes steps to make living in PRS as attractive or economically viable as private housing or college accommodation.

Do students still want to live in older accommodation?

Photo: TIm Dean

York Student Vision

Student dissatisfaction has been reflected in the number of students tempted to apply. There were 177 applications this year for PRS housing, compared to 248 last year, and 600 the year before.

Lack of applications this year has led to the University being unable to find tenants for many of the houses.

The University Accommodation Officer, David Maughan, suggested that Photo: TIm Dean

BOOKED UP

STUDENTS STAYING in York over the Summer Holidays will again be faced with limited library opening times.

HUNDREDS OF students have turned their backs on University owned PRS housing for a second year. The Property Rental Scheme, in which the University acts as the landlord in small, offcampus houses, has come under severe criticism recently for the increased rent and the removal of the fuel rebate if residents use below average electricity and gas.

plaints this year. We do intend to continue to monitor our opening hours, as we are always concerned to improve our service.”

Deputy President Welfare and Academic Affairs, Pete Campion-Smith, told Vision that term-time opening hours were the main area of concern. “Our priority is mainly extending term-time opening hours. We constantly lobby the librarians over the issue of summer opening, but we do recognise the problems they have with balancing resources. There were some complaints over Easter and so we speak to the Librarians about this as often as we can.”

Simon Keal

ADMISSIONS PRAISED

This report comes after the government’s decision to take up the case of Laura Spence and other state school pupils who are allegedly being discriminated against by universities because of their backgrounds.

This report has been criticised by the Conservatives as re-igniting “a class-war” in British society. Stuart Lennon, Chairman of the Campus Conservatives at York, speaking to Vision said, “This is a simple case of Labour opportunism.

Gordon Brown did not check his facts.

The government is showing its outdated prejudices and they don’t understand that the class war is over.”

William Hague has also criticised the Brown speech claiming that the government finds success in public schools “deeply offensive.”

However SU Campaigns Officer, Ffion Evans welcomed Brown`s intervention. “This is something which has been swept under the carpet for too long,” she told Vision. “Gordon Brown is arguing for something which students’ unions have been campaigning on for years. We must rid universities of elitism.”

It’s not only Oxbridge colleges, which have under 50% of students from state schools, which have been labelled “elitist” by Government ministers. Other eminent academic institutions such as Bristol, Durham, Edinburgh and

Duncan Flynn

23rd June, 2000 Issue 121

York Student Vision NEWS 5

Vision

York Student

Editorial

WHEN I came to University I was so sick of all the clichés my family had been hurling at me about truly finding myself at University that I set about truly losing myself as quickly as possible.

The huge variety of wealth, class, culture, race, politics, alcoholic beverages and other pollutants made this easy. As a result, sickeningly, I began truly finding myself, or learning a lot at any rate – far more than I have ever learned in a library or a lecture.

What made this possible was the fact that I was not classified, tagged, packaged in a tidy box and thrown in with all the most similar boxes available. I arrived at York and lived with so many different people from such different backgrounds that I believe I became a better person, more valuable (or less useless) to society.

All that sounds corny but most of us would agree that we learn as much from the social experience of University as the academic experience – and are grateful for it.

It has emerged recently that the University plans to introduce differential rents in the very near future, citing a number of very noble-sounding principles for this inversion of variety within equality. The University believes it will create a fairer environment where people have more right to choose. Andy MacDonald, Director of Facilities Management, wrote in a report that he would welcome comment and guidance on the subject so here we go…

Wentworth will be a graduate college so fewer undergraduates will meet postgraduates. Alcuin and Goodricke will have expensive ensuite rooms only while Vanbrugh, Derwent, Langwith and Halifax Court will have few if any ensuite rooms and will therefore provide cheaper accommodation to less privileged students. As a result rich and poor students will be segregated, as will older and younger students.

Increasingly, students will come to this University and will only meet their own kind, thoroughly devaluing their time at York. Public schoolboys will remain as arrogant, rugby players as homophobic and poor students will remain as resentful as the day they arrived.

Students will benefit in fewer ways from their experience at York. Any move to introduce substantial differences in the rents people pay in different colleges will make York a considerably worse university to study at.

Ben Hulme-Cross

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POUNDING THE STREETS THE CAMPUS Conservative Party were present in Parliament Street, York, stopping shoppers to sign a Keep The Pound Commitment Card, during Saturday Week Six, as part of a national Conservative theme day.

Stuart Lennon, Chairman of the campus Tories said: “We’ve had a very good response. Over a thousand people have signed the Commitment Card.”

It was presumed that only stereotypical, hard-core Tories would join the campaign to stop the government from signing up to the euro. Lennon added: “We thought that only old ladies would join us but we’ve had people with varying ages and many young people have signed up.”

In York, Ann Widdecombe, Shadow Home Secretary, campaigned for 45 minutes in the City Centre. Widdecombe believed the issue wouldn’t hijack the General Election campaign. Speaking exclusively to Vision she said: “Keeping the pound is an important issue. We’re not afraid to raise it.”

She wasn’t surprised that a recent government report suggested the pound was ripe for coupling with the euro. “The government has made preparations. They can’t deny that.”

The campaign is seen by many as ‘spinning’ an issue to gain media coverage. Widdecombe doesn’t agree. “People have been fed up with spin for a very long time. We aim to get our message across

Stuart Lennon, Steve Fearnley, Nick Toms and Nicola Bates of the campus Conservative Association with Ann Widdecombe

without ‘spin’.”

Keep The Pound is seen as part of the Tory strategy to close the gap in the opinion polls between them and Labour.

Originally at 18% shortly after the 1997 General Election, a recent MORI poll for

FROM NEXT year there will be two progressive new political societies at York. Charter Students and the Liberal Democrats will soon be gracing Freshers’ Fair along with the more established political parties and pressure groups including the Campus Conservatives, Labour Club, and Socialist Workers Students Society.

Charter Students will be particularly high profile as it will be an organisation that will take on the role of national student body of the pressure group Charter 88, run by students in York.

According to organiser and Chair of the national group, Toby James, “We aim to further the aims of the Charter by cam-

paigning for constitutional reform so that we have a truer system of democracy.

This includes campaigning for a 100% elected parliament, a proportional voting system and devolved power away from central government to local and regional assemblies.

“The Charter Students Society now exists and we have recently held a successful debate with the Labour and Conservative clubs. At the start of next term we will try to become ratified by the SU and will be part of the umbrella organisation which we, ourselves are founding. We will have massive socials, debates and campaigns ongoing throughout the term.

“In the meantime our priority is encouraging everyone in this University to sign Charter 88. We are putting flyers under every door in campus and sheets to

What’s bugging YOU?

York Student Vision

Ryan Sabey

POLITICAL LIBERATION

AS THIS is the final edition of Vision for this term, we would like to thank all of the students of York University who made our ‘Society’ nights so successful.

If on a Thursday night you feel like you need a break from the monotony of campus, please feel free to use your admission paid pass attached to the bottom of this editorial.

You will be pleased to hear that the drinks prices at Ikon & Diva have not changed. Drinks still start from 70p, and VK Black and Melon are still only £1.

In addition if you bring this editorial with you to Ikon & Diva any Thursday before the end of term you will receive Dear Editor, Dear Editor, PRE-PAID ADMISSION. With reference to your headline story I am writing to you regarding the standard The free return bus service is still running. It picks up at “Free Drugs” (2/6/00), I feel it is inappro- of your recent publications compared to priate for a student newspaper to be seen to those of nouse. I feel that Vision has great the bridge by the Library at the following times: 21.50, be endorsing such ‘activities’. Is it really potential but it may be worth following the 22.30, 23.10, returning from Ikon &Diva every 15 minutes necessary to have a photo of one of your trends set by your competitor. I rarely read editors smoking on the front page, looking the campus media but the last front cover from 01.15. oh so smarmy? Your coverage lends its of nouse just jumped out at me, demanding It’s sure to be a good night and a great way to finish the hand to trivialising a complex issue. to be read.

Perhaps if you concentrate on the real In my opinion, their photographer year in a haze. See you next year!!!

Pre-Paid admissionGet into SOCIETY free with this editorial

the Daily Mail suggested the gap had closed to 3%. Widdecombe added: “We’ve seen a sea change in our fortunes particularly over the past two weeks.”

issues behind this story rather than using it as an exercise in propaganda and boosting the image of certain members of your editorial team, then your paper might be worth reading.

Yours, Toby Shaw

sign it on in every kitchen.”

Next term will also see the re-launch of the Liberal Democrat Society.

Organisers Carey Chambers and Nick Franklin are currently searching for both new members and those prepared to take on an organisational role.

According to Carey Chambers, “It is a great misfortune that there is no Lib Dem society at this University. In the face of a vocal and radical Labour group and a frequently smug and self-satisfied Tory society, a group to represent students with politically moderate views as a Lib Dem society would be able to do, seems essential.”

For more information on Charter Students, e-mail info@charter-students. com, and for the Liberal Democrats, cjc112.

Tom Smithard

Letters To The Editor

should be singled out for particular praise.

The articles themselves exuded freshness, originality and attention to detail - if it had not been for nouse’s centre-spread, Euro 2000 would have passed me by unnoticed.

They have a large and talented news team who write with touching sensitivity whilst never being afraid to express themselves in higher forms, as shown by their perceptive use of expletives. I especially

like their revolutionary decision to take the news out of a ‘news’paper, and I think you should seriously consider following their example and reduce your news section to three and a half pages as well.

With such high quality journalism it is hardly surprising that so many companies want to advertise with them (please note their page twenty four).

As I said, perhaps you should start following their lead. Fin!

Yours sincerely, Concerned of Goodricke Please

send all

correspondence to

York Student Vision Grimston House

e-mail:

vision@york.ac.uk

23rd June, 2000 Issue 121

6 York Student Vision

POLITICS

THE HONEYMOON’S OVER Labour is being forced to confront its sliding popularity amongst age-old supporters, which is only too justified given their betrayal of them and Hague’s more popular policies which appeal to Middle England LABOUR IS surely suffering from mid-term blues. After all, it has little to be happy about at the moment. After the humiliating heckling of Tony Blair by the Women’s Institute came a Mori opinion poll which placed Labour’s support at only three points higher than the Conservatives’.

Think back to May 1997, the country warmly embracing its new Prime Minister who walked confidently up Downing Street, a wide smirk on his face, shaking hands with adoring fans.

The nation had disposed of a weak, scandal-ridden government of 18 years and looked confidently to the future.

Things have changed dramatically since that sunny spring day. Labour is battling to keep its grassroots supporters from defecting to Hague.

This is proving to be no easy job, since the government has managed to alienate many of their most traditional supporters.

A constant headache to David Blunkett, students are still fighting Labour on tuition fees. It was never thought that the party that put education as its priority would scrap free higher education and abolish grants.

Pensioners feel that they have been fobbed off with half-measures to ease their financial difficulties. While Labour are

promising free TV licences to the elderly, William Hague is appealing to their votes by promising to raise the basic pension.

‘[Tony Blair] lacks conviction, he is all spin and presentation’ - internal Labour Party memo Middle England is also turning its back on Blair, as reflected by the disastrous speech given at the Women’s Institute earlier this month. A traditionally respectable and polite audience turned nasty, heckling the Prime Minister who was preaching ‘traditional values’ from England.

The debacle over asylum seekers plays a large part in the shires’ antagonism towards Labour. William Hague’s right wing policy to keep emigrants in ‘prison camps’ while their applications are assessed may have shocked some.

Hague - once shrugged off as a weak and dull leader is gaining credibility with the media and voters

It has demonstrated to the electorate, however, that the Tories are in touch with public feeling, and are not afraid to ‘get

tough’ on issues while Labour shy away from them.

It seems that New Labour are finally emerging from their confident, even arrogant, view that a second term in office is guaranteed.

They are realising that William Hague- once shrugged off as a weak and dull leader- is gaining credibility with the media and voters.

Through his criticism of the Tony Martin case (the Norfolk antiques dealer convicted of killing an intruder), his ‘hard hitting’ asylum policy and opposition to the Euro, the Conservative leader has tuned in to popular feeling in Britain.

This is a deadly blow to Tony Blair when you consider that the Prime Minister has been extremely successful in maintaining media support. Hardly surprising given the number of spin-doctors employed by Downing Street to keep the roses smelling fresh.

Labour’s polling guru Philip Gould recently admitted that the nation perceives Blair as being ‘obsessed with spin’. He added the Prime Minister ‘lacks conviction, he is all spin and presentation’.

The damage this memo could have done was limited, however, by Labour’s spin machine rubbishing the reports and claiming that ‘This government is obsessed with job provisions and better hospitals’.

Those working in the NHS may not agree with this statement. Hospitals are suffering from longer waiting lists and less

An unhappy reception: the Prime Minister comes under fire from the Women’s Institute earlier this month hospital beds, which has been blamed on a lack of government funding and an inefficient bureaucracy.

To make matters worse, Labour has been blaming the doctors for these problems. A recent report claimed that surgeons had been performing private operations in time earmarked for NHS work.

These criticisms will no doubt anger a profession that feels insufficient funding and incompetent bureaucracy is halting their efforts to improve the service.

The government is finally waking up to its problems, realising that its chances of winning the next election are being dented by the Conservatives’ popular policies and growing credibility of William Hague as party leader, and even future prime minister.

Unless Labour win back their grassroots support they may find themselves sitting on the other side of the House of

Daniel Goldup

A CLICK AWAY FROM THE PARTY

Can’t decide which party best represents you? Did you vote according to your beliefs or were you taken in by the spin? Have no fear, the internet is here to help you get it right next time. Rajini Vaidyanathan gets surfing on the web.

HOW DID you decide that you were Labour, Tory, Lib Dem or an abstainer? What was the decisive factor that led to you putting a cross next to the Labour candidate over the Conservative one?

Was it the local hospital closing, the abolition of a student grant, or , as is the case with many, the fact that mummy and daddy like the Tories so one ought to too?

Despite the fact most political parties are eager to lure us young voters into the polling booth, it is easy to think that many of their promises and pledges are not directed at us.

The state of the economy matters more to someone with a job and a mortgage than to a student. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t vote with a concern for others, but in the advent of a politics driven by selling and marketing policies, its difficult to assess what goods to put in our trolley, when there’s nothing you’ve gone in to buy.

You could pick up a few manifestos, write notes and see which party suits you best. Or assess which personalities are most likely to fulfil their election promises.

I avidly watched the party political

Can’t figure it out for yourself? Let HAL tell you how to vote! broadcasts and read bits of the manifestos when deciding which box to cross in the 1997 election.

But there are other ways. With the growth of the internet, you can now visit various web sites to determine what your political colours are.

As with all ‘personality tests’ which simply involve checking off a few boxes to reveal what you are really like, most of the results are a load of bull.

Nevertheless I ventured onto the

York Student Vision

With the internet you can visit various web sites to determine your political colours worldwide web to see if it could direct me better than the newspapers, and politicians who confused me could. www.YouGov. com is a great political website - packed with opinions on politics from commenta-

tors such as John Humphreys and Fay Weldon.

It is here you can also test your political colours, and ascertain whether you are libertarian or authoritarian. I answered the questions, and although you try and be as unbiased as you can, you can’t help but answer some of the questions so you come out the way you want to - because if you are definitely NOT a Tory, the last thing you want is to come out as one in a quiz.

Incidentally, I came out as 50% Lib Dem, 38%, Labour, and the rest Tory, and although that wasn’t the party I voted for at the last election, it’s a fair assessment.

Not content with the score here, I thought I would visit some other such web sites to see whether I should in fact be voting Lib Dem in next years general election. www.cjnetworks.com/~cubfans/ libtest.html has an American test to see whether you are a liberal or Conservative.

The test is ridiculous, I came out as a Liberal, but some of the possible responses to the questions are so downright stupid- smoking Marlboro is a good way to support US tobacco farmers- that you’ve got a limited choice.

Moving swiftly on I then ventured to http://www.self-gov.org/quiz.html which claim to be the worlds smallest, and best

political quiz.

Although this quiz is American, it’s very easy to do , and has very detailed analysis.

On this I came out as a left-liberal, and was described as someone who prefers self-government in personal matters and central decision-making on economics and wants government to serve the disadvantaged in the name of fairness.

Fairly accurate I guess. By now I’ve given up on these on-line quizzes, but they have all scored my in the same vague area of the political spectrum. If you’re on a tie-breaker between two parties it’s worth having a go at these - more can be found by doing a search under ‘political quizzes’.

For more info visit these sites: www.cjnetworks. com/~cubfans/libbtest. html www.self-gov.org/quiz. html

23rd June, 2000 Issue 121

York Student Vision POLITICS 7

‘IS IT BECAUSE I IS POOR?’ Oxbridge has been accused of elitism, and, with Gordon Brown attacking the institution, all sights are set on Britain’s top universities

SO WHAT? So what if a pupil has been rejected from Oxford? Why on earth is Laura Spence’s rejection from Oxford still making the headlines?

Get over it; she was rejected because there happened to be students who Oxford professors deemed were more suitable – Miss Spence just happened to come from a state school.

But the story, according to the millions of people out there who are chirping up with opinions, is far from over.

According to the latest articles, her story has “lessons for the wider world as well.”

This is the view of Paul Kelley, Laura’s headteacher at Monkseaton High School in Newcastle. He believes that, by

completing her education in America, Laura will be contributing to the “brain drain” on Britain. He suggests, with or without offers from Oxford, many students are realising that “education linked to travel is a better option [with better value for money] than education at home.”

It seems to me, though, that the argu-

She was rejected because there were students that Oxford deemed more suitable ment that started this debate of wider

Living the high life: Oxbridge has been accused of elitism

issues is a non-story in itself. There was uproar that this young lady, who was accepted by Harvard, could be rejected by a leading British institution.

But what I found most astonishing was the way in which ministers like Gordon Brown felt they had to have their say and expose the “scandal” that this was.

Whether this was an example of the government attempting to return to a populist agenda, or whether it was just a mistake, Brown’s onslaught was staggering in its complete pointlessness.

His speech asserted that, “David Blunkett and I both take the same view that it is scandalous that someone with the best qualifications and who wants to be a doctor, should be turned down by Oxford University using an interview system more reminiscent of the old school network and the old school tie than justice.”

Even the Prime Minister has joined in with this story, firstly offering Downing Street’s “full endorsement” and then commenting that he wanted universities to “open their doors to people from all parts of society.”

But perhaps they should be looking at their own cabinet first: containing just 5 women out of 21, and not a single person from an ethnic minority, their commitment to open “doors to women and people from all backgrounds” has to be questioned.

Dr Colin Lucas, vice-chancellor of Magdalene College – from which Miss Spence was rejected – has spoke out to defend his institution.

“We are constantly seeking out the most able students to come and study with

us – whatever school they have been to, whatever their background, whatever their accent. This year we have made 53 per cent of offers to UK students from the state sector.”

But Miss Spence has welcomed the Chancellor’s intervention, saying: “I think it is wonderful that he has decided to stand up for people who would not normally go to Oxford. I think there has been a need or a case like mine to bring about a change in attitudes.”

With the continued interest contributing to the whole ‘she got rejected because she came from a state school philosophy’, the fact that the college’s eight places for medical students were divided equally between applicants from state and independent schools doesn’t seem to have been dwelled upon.

Further, though, no-one seems to have noticed that behind the gates at her current

school, Monkseaton High is no ‘ordinary’ state school.According to its head, “it’s a state-funded school of 850 students. Over the past seven years it has sent 12 students to American universities – two of them to Harvard.”

“Monkseaton has, in turn, attracted students from other countries, including Germany and Latvia (and for that matter, America).

“Monkseaton now almost routinely receives inquiries from students in Eastern European countries.”

How many other state-funded schools in Newcastle can boast this?

More important than this, though, is that you have to question quite how committed to being a doctor Miss Spence was.

Instead of studying to fulfil her ambition at one of the universities of Newcastle, Edinburgh and Nottingham – all of which gave her offers – she’ll be reading for a much broader based science degree at Harvard, the only university to which she applied which doesn’t offer a medicine course. In this case, were Oxford that wrong in rejecting her?

At the end of the day, everyone, even the government, must surely be glad once this issue finally blows over…until next year.

Wesley Johnson

Vision is looking for politics writers to inform and entertain the masses: for further info contact: vision@york.ac.uk

CROSSWORD #3 in association with

Vision has teamed up with The Times and STA Travel, to bring you The Times Student Crossword competition.

The Times holds the reputation for the most challenging crossword of any national broadsheet paper.

So put your IQ to the test: complete the crossword to have the chance of winning a ticket to anywhere in the world.

STA Travel specialise in student and young independent travel with 40 offices in the UK and 250

worldwide. For bookings and enquiries call 0870 160 6070 or visit www.statravel.co.uk Send your completed entry to: The Times Student Crossword Competition, 5 Shepherd’s Place, Upper Brook Street, London, WIY 3RU. Include your name, home address, email, phone number and NUS number.

The winner and answers to this crossword will be printed in our first issue next term. The closing date of entry is 7th July, 2000.

Competition Rules THE WINNER will be drawn from all cor- of the terms and conditions. Incomplete, illegible or late entries will not be accepted. No photocopies will rect eligible entries.

No purchase is necessary. The winner will be notified by post within 28 days from receipt of entry. You can obtain the name of the winner by sending a SAE to 5 Shepherds Place, Upper Brook Street, London, W1Y 3RU. Only one entry per person. Competition open to all undergraduates aged 18 and over. Employees of Orange Personal Communication Services Limited and its agents or their families and any company associated with this competition are not eligible to enter.

By entering all entrants will be deemed to have accepted these rules. All entry instructions form a part

be accepted. The promoter accepts no responsibility for entries lost, damaged or delayed in the post. Proof of posting is not proof of delivery. No cash alternative will be offered.

Inclusive talk time includes Orange to Orange calls and Standard rated calls include most UK National and local calls. Off peak is 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday, weekends and English bank Holidays. Calls to Wildfire, text message and non standard rated calls and calls made outside the inclusive minutes will be made payable by the winner. Promoter is Orange Personal Communications Services Limited, PO Box 10, Patchway, Bristol, BS02 4BQ. Usual Vision competition rules also apply.

York Student Vision

ACROSS

7 Brooch; hold tight (5) 8 Glazed porcelain (7) 9 Turning over; rich (7) 10 Artificial warterway (5) 11 Thread; story (4) 12 Get lighter; sounds like “south coast resort (8) 15 Natural illumination (8) 16 Remove eg. hat (4) 19 Loop of thread in lace (5) 21 Operation in 1946 to supply 6 (7) 22 Reparation, remedy (7) 23 Fabric wrap (5)

DOWN

1 Lack of vitamin C disease (6) 2 Witches pot (8) 3 T.S. Eliot’s “cruellest” month (5) 4 Chest bone structure (7) 5 Soon; by unknown hand (4) 6 Irving ---, song writer (6) 8 Powerless leaders (11) 13 Of the equatorial zone (8) 14 Grand National racecourse (7) 15 Grand; excellent (6) 17 Condition, usually “fine” (6) 18 Corn; anything useful to mill (5) 20 Secret writing system (4)

23rd June, 2000 Issue 121

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York Student Vision FEATURES 9

HIPPY HIPPY SHAKE Claire New takes a Trip to Woodstock with psychadelic photograher, Alex Cooley

WOODSTOCK RETURNS on Saturday week eight as RAG’s highest profile event of the year.

Weather permitting, crowds of hundreds of students will flood Vanbrugh to enjoy the line up but also to help raise money for RAG. Woodstock is held outside in Vanbrugh Bowl, and features a great lineup of locally based musical talent.

Ange Davidson RAG president said “we are hoping to just beat last year’s total. We’ll have volunteers there collecting money which will then go straight into the main RAG fund. 5p from every drink sold from Vanbrugh bar on the night is also going into the fund. It’s a very expensive event which is financed entirely by RAG but it’s certainly worth it.”

So, what can you expect from the bands at York University’s very own free festival? Vision gives you the low-down on who, where, and when.

PillowTalk are an easy listening beat combo featuring James Jirgens. They’re opening at Woodstock, offering alternative renditions of your favourite tunes

with a small spoon of tongue-in-cheek humour.

This is their biggest gig yet, and it follows recent appearances at Derwent poetry evenings and Fibbers for the band.

Dave Cheeseman of the band said: “We feel we add a bit of diversity to the line up with our easy listening style. We were only really interested in opening.

Asked why they’ve been selected to play Cheesman replied that “Jirgens is one of the world’s top ten guitarists. We sold forty million copies of our debut album ‘Purely Platonic’ - in the first two weeks of release. “In For A Penny, In For A Pound”, “Amsterdam Nites”, and “Star Wars (nothing but)” are already massive hits. James Jirgens is also the tallest Latvian rapper on campus.” Mmm. Tung are Woodstock’s headliners, but they’re seasoned veterans of the live music scene following their extensive live appearances. That, coupled with their unique brand of heavy hip hop means that they’re sure to provide a ‘barn-storming’ finale. They’re hoping to soon cliche that always elusive record deal Dromedary are a band who are

impossble to pigeon hole (not that we’d want to - it might be quite painful for them). Possibly the most versatile band on campus, they draw on a diverse range of influences, creating a truly original sound.

Powerful vocals ensured that they won Battle of the Bands back in 1999.

Although they’re due to support The Lightening Seeds at the Grad Ball, this may be their last ever gig...

Beyond Redemption are the current Battle of the Band champions, and are hoping to spread some good old fashioned metal cheer at Woodstock, with cheery originals such as ‘World of Pain’ and their cover of the Eurythmics ‘Sweet Dreams’.

Heads down for a good mosh!

BR themsevles are looking forward to playing to the Uni crowd: “We haven’t played on campus (or anywhere) for a while because we’ve been recording an EP (‘Injury Time’) at the Old Dairy studios (using our Battle of the Bands prize).”

“The EP is finished and will be available next week. Also, we have a good following round here and really enjoy playing to the campus crowd (we even got Derwent moshing at the BoB final!)

“And despite being the oldest campus band (older than Sevenball, Anyhow and anyone else!) we’ve neverplayed Woodstock before. There’s always a lack of metal acts at every Woodstock I’ve been to so we want to liven it up a bit!”

Woodstock also sees the return of dance trio E-Bru. They’ve been a bit quiet since this time last year because they’ve been busy in their studio completing their debut EP. Last year’s Woodstock performance drew the biggest crowd and boasted a superb light show, so this year should be something specail, too.

SevenBall are hardy veterans by now - they released their debut CD on Translution records this time last year.

Imagine Jeff Buckley crossed with Pearl Jam and the result is SevenBall.

Emotional stuff!

Heroic Trio promise dark folk rock.

James Taylor this is not - the Trio combine Nirvana and Beth Orton. They narrowly missed out on winning Battle Of The Bands, despite being a brand new band, and they haven’t stopped gigging since.

Twin vocal harmonies from the girls who

brought you the song about sex and death (although I’m not sure in what order!? Ed) Finally, The Hitchers. A melodic punk, ska and rockabilly outfit. Although this probably won’t be ex-members of Madness with spiky hair chewing corn.

Still, they do boast short, tuneful bursts of catchy punk-rock anthems. They sing about the monotony of everyday life, their failings as teenagers and things that annoy them.

Having said this, they deny they’re as miserable as Muse and insist they are still fun - “if you like your music catchy, danceable and with a sense of humour, then put us on your must see list!”

Although they’ve only been gigging for a year, they’ve already been played on John Peel’s evening session, and been dubbed ‘one of the finest live acts’ by the Evening Gazette.

Overall, Woodstock probably boasts a better line up than V2000, it’s free, and takes place on your doorstep. And it’s all in the name of charity. What more could you want from what promises to be one of the highlights of York’s summer events?

FEATURES ONE LAST LOOK BACK

York Student Vision

WOMEN IN THE MEDIA ...page 12

PLUS AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS ...Centre-Spread

...page 10

23rd June, 2000 Issue 121

10 FEATURES York Student Vision

...we hear Rajini Vaidyanathan say as she prepares to leave those endless days of ducks, the Gallery and the comfy confines of James for the Brave New World of real work I REMEMBER my first day at university. Crying as my mum left me, yelping as I saw my ‘hotelesque’ room in James; my first visit to the Charles. It all seemed so overwhelming then.

I’d never cooked for myself before or had to manage my finances so carefully.

As I sat in my kitchen on that first Sunday I thought three years would be ages.

I wanted to get out into the real world, get a job, earn money, not spend years doing a degree in subjects I’d not studied before. As my mum left me in tears I sat alone in my room reflecting on what lay ahead.

At first it was weird constantly introducing yourself to people, establishing what your interests at university would be, who your friends would be...everything seemed so big and scary.

My first visit to the campus led me to believe that it was huge and that I’d get lost - my first visit to Toffs led to me believe it was a good club. But impressions change, don’t they?

Now I’m familiar with my surroundings here at York and have to up and leave.

Living back on campus with freshers has sometimes led me to revisit my first year - the traumas of finding somewhere to live, choosing degree modules, making friends.

The first years I live with will soon be embarking on their second years - what many cite as the most difficult year of the three. Your degree counts, you’re living away from many of your friends, and its simply a chore to be on campus a lot of the time.

My second year was strange - I enjoyed it, but it was difficult. Living in a house, being off campus and spending more money because of that.

But it still flew by. Just like that, in a puff of smoke, and three years are gone.

Last week I had an induction for my new job, and it really hit me that I’d be leaving.

I was sitting in a board meeting in an Oxford St hotel with people at least twice my age; who don’t listen to Radio One.

Soon a mortgage and marriage will be second nature, and we’ll be looking at ‘stoodents’ bemoaning the fact they have all day to watch Richard and Judy and go to the pub, whilst we have to earn a crust...

Or know what ‘Wenty’ is.

These people are the Radio Four, wine drinkers who don’t even know who Toadfish from Neighbours is, or what’s happened to Luke in Hollyoaks. All I could think was how long it would be till I became a fully paid up member of this club. I’d be kidding myself to think I won’t join.

I was thinking about what I’d miss most about being a student and couldn’t specify one thing. I’ll miss it all. Waking up at midday and having one lecture to go to, and then missing it, going out and seeing so many people I know in one place, and still having change from a tenner for a

round of drinks.

Sitting in the kitchen until 6am drinking tea and munching on toast, working on Vision, presenting a show on URY and knowing even if I was rubbish, it didn’t matter.

Being a student is far more than being in a microcosm of the real world. It’s about, excuse the cliché, ‘making your world’. Here at York I’ve made friends for life, used the campus media to gain practice and confidence in journalism directing me to such a career, learnt how to cook and still not learnt how to wake up early.

Oh, and learnt about PPE. It’s easy to forget that a degree is why you’re here.

If you’re a graduate reading this, try and remember yourself on your first day at university and thinking of how you’ve shaped your life since.

Maybe you’ve met your life partner, found a vocation or acquired a taste for bitter; whatever it is, try not to well up in tears, but remember that now you can move on with those things, and into the real world.

Most of us about to graduate reside in a no-man’s land, where the thought of having to deal with such a transition isn’t quite real.

Soon the idea of a mortgage, working, and marriage will be second nature to us, and we’ll be the ones looking at ‘stoodents’ in scorn, bemoaning the fact they have all day to watch Richard and Judy and drink in the pub, whilst we have to earn a crust. After three years, hands up who would still crave such a lifestyle?

Thought so - I don’t want to leave either.

Jonathan Isaby, one year on into life after university, reflects back on his time in York I GRADUATED on July 9th last year, and began a new job on July 12th, for which I count myself very lucky.

But, after a year in the real world, sitting in an office in London all day, I still get a tingle as the GNER train pulls into York station.

And coming back to Heslington, to see friends about to graduate as part of the Class of 2000, is not as strange to see as you might think. Very little appears to have changed.

I still see panicked SU hacks putting up posters to try and get a Union General Meeting quorate in order to pass their budget. There are still frenzied queues of people outside computer rooms quietly cursing others who are sending gratuitous emails around the world, whilst they

York Student Vision

await the opportunity to hurriedly finish the dissertation they’ve had the last year to write.

I still go into a friend’s room and have difficulty trying to see a bit of carpet. Campus Fayre is still... well, the same, and there are still (how could I write about York without mentioning them) the ducks. I had forgotten the joy that is wandering around campus having to watch your step, in order to avoid the mess.

Only a couple of things that seem different now: one is that virtually everyone has a mobile phone: I remember when I bought one at the end of 1997, and my parents wondered why a student needed with a mobile, whilst the general attitude from my peers was ‘you poncy ****’. How things change...

The other thing that has struck me is

that the students are just so young. I guess that’s rather sad coming from an old man of 22 - but it is noticeable.

Looking back, you really do a lot of growing up in the three or four years that you are here, although you probably don’t realise it at the time. And you also gain experiences in so many different ways here that will have an impact upon you, many of which will stay with you for the rest of your life.

There are so many opportunities to take advantage of while you’re here - I grabbed as many as I could and have no regrets. And it was certainly all worth doing, because, speaking from out here in the real world, very little of the education you get at university is done in lecture theatres.

23rd June, 2000 Issue 121

PUNCH UP Pokemon Power?

ATTACK DEFENCE POKEMON IS taking over the world - and I don’t like it. I could appreciate turtle mania, WWF and tamogotchis - but Pokemon?

Perhaps at the age of twenty-one I’m getting old, but pokemon just does nothing for me. The pokemon bandwagon has been rolling now for five years, picking up oodles of money on the way.

As some bright-eyed naive little pokemon-kid hands over their hard-saved pocket money, it goes straight from their grubby little hands into the pockets of the Nintendo moguls.

But what is Pokemon? Does anyone

It should carry a government warning: ‘Danger!

Pokemon will eat up all your cash’

over the age of ten actually know? No doubt some postgraduate is slaving over a thesis on the philosophy of Pokemon at this very moment. There’s the Nintendo game, the cartoon, trading cards, endless merchandise, and wait for it - a forthcoming film, just in time for the school holidays. Great, I can hardly contain myself.

The aim of the game appears to be to collect as many cretinous monsters as you can, and the sillier their names, the better.

If anything, Pokemon has resulted in greater violence, the ability to part with cash very easily, and the dumbing down of the nations’ youngsters.

It should carry a government warning: ‘Danger! Pokemon will eat up all your money and can seriously damage your health’. In 1997, 700 children had to be hospitalised after they were affected by flashing pictures during a cartoon.

There is also something seriously amiss when children are being held up at knife point for valuable Pokemon game cards: where will it all end?

Only one thing is certain - give it a couple of years and Pokemon will have vanished - but only to be replaced by a new money-grabbing craze.

Amy Brooker

I DON’T understand Pokemon, I certainly don’t like it. For reasons which escape me I agreed to take a younger relation to ‘Pokemon, the First Movie’. The experience was about as entertaining as playing rugby with a colostomy bag.

The cartoon seems purposefully designed to induce epileptic fits, the cloying lyrics of the theme tune would make Tim Rice blush with shame, and ‘Picachu’ is about as cute and endearing as a hefty kick in the crotch.

However, just because I would happily toss over the nearest bridge anyone who attempted to discuss the relative merits of a ‘Brocanitus’ defence in the face of a ‘Picasorus’ attack: doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the awesome and awful beauty of Pokemon.

Without doubt Pokemon is the fascistically-perfect children’s game for the 21st century.

After a savage Darwinian struggle for survival fought down the generations: Pokemon is the sleek, strong victor stood defiantly upon the piled and bloody corpses of all other toys.

Those who whinge about the exploitative character of the game; the way its very structure is designed to wring the last pennies out of children (or, rather, their parents) miss the whole point.

Down through the years parents have been able to deceive themselves that if they buy little Johnny his He-Man then have a quick play-along with them on Christmas day: this counts as some sort of genuine interaction.

Pokemeon shows all too clearly what rubbish that is. For anyone over the age of twelve it is incomprehensible and the parent-child relationship is exposed as what it always was. The parent supplies the money, the child gets the toy, and in return the parent gets some peace and quiet.

If Pokemon is a monster, then it is one we deserve. All we can do is accept it, learn to love it, and - above all - celebrate the heart-warming, glow of madness it brings to a young child’s eyes.

York Student Vision FEATURES 11

FOCUS ON...

Toronto Amy Brooker dicovers there is more to Canada than Due South, Northern Exposure, Mounties, Jim Carey, Bryan Adams, oh yeah and er... Moose.

When you think of Toronto - most likely you think of skyscrapers and the CN tower - and you would be right - except for the fact that there is a lot more to this cosmopolitan city than meets the eye.

Canada is often forgotten in favour of the USA - but really there is no excuse not to visit their northern neighbours - especially if you are looking for something a little bit different.

Growing competition between airlines has pushed flight prices down and a return flight to Pearson International can be as little as £150, but the average price is around the £250 mark.

The lively city of Toronto has plenty to offer both day and night - and anyone would be forgiven for thinking that this

another ‘must-see’ with large collections on the history of mankind.

The sightly more obscure Bata Shoe Museum (designed to look like a shoe box) is also well worth a visit - whether you are a shoe fetishist or not.

The Art Gallery of Ontario is also one of the best galleries in Canada - including an extensive Henry Moore sculpture collection. Casa Loma, a mansion designed to look like a medieval castle, is also an

as in any city care must be taken. You could even go for a stroll along the 18km Yonge Street - the longest street in the world happens to run through Toronto.

The nightlife is also plentiful and there is a large choice of restaurants and bars.

Niagara Falls are also only a couple of hours away by bus which also gives you the chance to travel on the famous Greyhound line. The Canadian Horseshoe

interesting site.

Built by the eccentric Sir Henry Pellat, this building provides a stunning visual change to the modern financial sector.

Hit Eaton’s department store for some serious shopping, although do not forget to add on the sales tax.

It is very easy to travel around Toronto whether by bus, street car or subway - however it is more fun to walk around and take in the magnificence of the skyscrapers which are truly awe-inspiring.

This is possible particularly as downtown Toronto is reasonably safe, although

Falls are said to be more impressive than the falls on the US side.

The falls themselves are breathtaking and for those of a daring nature - the boat the Maid of the Mist provides a fun, if wet, way of seeing the falls closeup.

In a city where anything goes, savour the atmosphere for as long as possible and you will never forget the buzz.

In a city where anything goes, savour the atmosphere for as long as possible and you will never forget the buzz

was the capital - rather than the more placid Ottawa.

Catering for every taste - there is almost too much to see. Vibrancy and diversity are the keywords here and Toronto is very proud of its ethnic diversity.

In terms of tourist attractions, the CN tower - the highest free standing structure in the world - cannot be missed, particularly as it dominates the Toronto skyline.

However, make sure you save it for a clear day to ensure panoramic views of the city.

Next door is the Skydome - another experience not to be missed. Although you can go on the ‘Skydome tour’, a cheaper and more fun way to see it is to experience what it was made for - baseball.

Soak up the atmosphere as you watch the Blue Jays play at home. In terms of culture, the Royal Ontario Museum is

Focus-On is Sponsored by InterRail and UsitCampus.

Gareth Walker

Anna Giokas tries to contact us, but finds there’s no one in...maybe phones really have fried our brains...

MOBILE PHONES are technology’s latest twisted offering. And we are hooked. If you don’t already feel that you can’t live without one, you soon will.

It is inevitable; mobiles have managed

to buzz, beep and vibrate their way into every corner of every life. But I plan to hold out for as long as I can.

Why? Because I am frightened. Their radiation waves don’t bother me. If my brain isn’t cooked by a mobile it will go mushy with BSE or it will be newked by altzimers. No. Brain death is inevitable. It is what mobiles do to our lives here and now that scares me.

York Student Vision

My main problem is privacy. Mobiles have destroyed privacy in a way that no other technological innovation has even attempted.

Everyone can now be contacted wherever they are and whatever they are doing.

Whatever! Picture it. You are snuggling up to your beloved with that twinkle in your eye and that smile on your lips, when the peeping of a demented version of ‘Count down races’ breaks in and tears you away.

Of course, people say that you can just switch them off. And, as I understand it they do have an ‘off’ switch, but does anyone ever use it?

Not in the library , not even when they

can see people are revising. Nor do they use it at the pub, or Ziggys, or the bar or on a date or on a walk or going to the shops.

It seems that people would rather speak to their friends who are absent than to the people they have made an effort to go out with.

That is what really drives me mad. I can’t understand why people feel the need to be constantly connected to everyone they know.

Rome was built without mobiles; Alexander the Great got by without a Vodafone; what spectacular things are we doing that we can’t live without them?

But it isn’t just about staying in touch.

I realise that. It is about being seen to stay

in touch. It is about having the newest gadget (if you have seen people talking to the air, they are probably wired up to the latest pocket mikes) and most importantly, about making sure that every one knows about the people who want to speak to you.

That is why they are here to stay. They appeal to our vanity. They make us safe because they allow us to say, ‘Hold on a second, I have a call’.

They give us one up on whoever we are with because as soon as we get a call that person becomes secondary, silent, insignificant. I know they are here to stay; but I am going to be that silent insignificant bystander for as long as I can.

23rd June, 2000 Issue 121

12 FEATURES York Student Vision

CHARACTER NOT CLEAVAGE Ben Hulme-Cross assesses the current vogue in the media for the super-thin female and in the face of the blonde and the beautiful decides that what our role models need is more character and less cleavage...

WOMEN SHOULD be thin, very thin. This we know because the message is drilled home by every advert, every chat-show, every vast media money-spinner that sells diets by example. Just ask Ulrika Johnson and Kirsty Young.

Women on TV are unnaturally thin, according to a report by the B r i t i s h Medical

Lock, Stock, the TV bastard child of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, a performance that she herself describes as ‘mediocre.’

As far as the image that she presents to teenagers is concerned, Lisa is completely unapologetic. “Yeah, I’m blonde, I’m a woman and I’m on TV. What can I do? TV is a visual medium, you have to be pretty. This doesn’t apply to men, you fancy them for different reasons.”

WHAAHH?? Women don’t fancy blokes for their looks? Oh Please! There are plenty of men on TV whose success is partly due to looks, it’s just that there are also plenty who can get on fine on the strength of acting or entertaining talent

Association, and this has contributed to the position that family doctors now find themselves in, each treating an average of twenty patients for anorexia or bulimia.

Research has shown that women generally are getting larger while women on TV are generally getting thinner. “What we need,” say the doctors, “is for the media to show us more realistic body shapes.”

While we all know that this is true, nothing ever seems to be done about it.

The list of super-thin TV presenters and actresses continues to grow exponentially – not just the Calista Flockharts and Sarah Jessica Parkers of this world, but even newsreaders!

You’d think there’d be a few more moralistic women who dislike dieting permanently

A realistic role-model?

Kirsty Young’s voice glides glibly from a statuesquely thin, blonde form that earns her more money than every other female journalist in the country. Of course you get the odd inspired reactionary like Jo Brand but who’s really going to aspire to that instead?

There was a time when little girls dreamed of growing up to be ballerinas or actresses but these days TV presenting is the ultimate goal, second perhaps to winning the lottery.

One such presenterette on the edge of proper Ulrika status is Lisa Rogers, host of the gameshow, Grudge Match. A tentative sortie into acting, off the back of a degree in drama from Loughborough, sees Lisa as a lap-dancer in

alone.

Why can’t the same be true of women?

Of course producers want the odd pretty face to sell and fair enough, if you’ve got it then flaunt it, but you’d think there’d be a few more conscientious producers and a few more moralistic women in the media who dislike having to diet permanently to stay three sizes smaller than they naturally are.

Funnily enough there are a couple – just not very many. Everyone know of Julia Sawalha, though most of us don’t realise it. She left her permanent mark on our minds as the frigid, bespectacled, pale-faced, cardigan wearing, all-enduring daughter Saffy in Absolutely Fabulous.

Since then various parts have taken her through to her next film, ‘Final Conflict’, in which she co-stars with Peter O’Toole. She speaks with a barbed tongue about her costume-fitting for the film.

“They only had size 10s. I’m not a size 10, I’m a 12 and I refuse to conform, to starve myself and I’m sure I have lost work because of it.”

Now that’s what we need a bit more

Julia Sawalha of. Kate Winslet refuses to lose weight for parts these days but only since becoming one of the most bankable stars in the industry.

Unless more follow Sawalha’s example, women in TV will continue to get thinner, and, in real life, will get increasingly paranoid and eating disorders will become more widespread.

We don’t have to stop putting sexy, attractive women on TV but why can’t

there be more variety, more real life?

The occasional apology from Channel 4 in the impressive form of Lisa Tarbuck is totally inadequate. If ever there was a role model on TV whose example it would be genuinely beneficial for young people to follow, Julia Sawalha is it.

Ulrika and her following really aren’t worth aspiring to – they have blondeness and cleavage and pretty smiles – a bit of jealousy for their looks is understandable.

TRAVELLING STYLE THE ISLE OF ARRAN IT’S NOT a difficult journey from Glasgow to Arran. The train grinds across the Clyde, and on through the grim industry of the Southern suburbs to Paisley, Johnstone and Lochwinnoch.

It’s hard to keep the holiday mood as local teenagers with white trainers and chip shop fringes slouch on and off the train at a string of toytown commuter stations.

You spot the sea around Saltcoats, distanced by train windows, and the flat scrub and endless golf courses of this stretch of the coast. As you crawl into Ardrossan Harbour the sea disappears, and, dragging your bags toward the ferry terminal, you feel as firmly tied to the dry land as you did in the centre of Glasgow, a feeling that persists even as you step on to the ferry with its mingled smells of diesel fumes and sausages.

It’s a feeling you forget as soon as the boat moves and you breathe the first hint of the clean, sour smell of the sea.

York Student Vision

The forty-five minute crossing is just time enough to adjust to the swell of the waves and the seaweed-laden air, which stays with you as you stumble down the sandy ramp and on to the island.

Arran’s small size, ten miles wide and twenty miles long, means you’re never far from a burn, a lochan, a rain-filled corrie or the ever-present sea.

One of the island’s two roads skims the coast, hugging the salt-licked perimeter from the broad, seal-populated beaches of the South, through the bustling tourist port of Brodick, and veering across the up-anddown moorlands, home to Scotland’s newest distillery (and a remarkably fine malt).

As the bus swings round the rocky and dramatic north coast to bucket its way down the west of the island, the views to Bute and Islay are magnificent, reminding you of Arran’s position in the long chain of islands scattered along Scotland’s west coast.

Here in the north you feel yourself already in the highlands, far more than two hours journey from the shops, the café-bars and the noise of cosmopolitan Glasgow.

WINNING ENTRY HELEN SMITH

Vision would like to congratulate Helen Smith for her winning entry to the Inter Rail Usit Campus travel writing competition. Helen has won a month’s pass all-zones Interrail ticket around Europe.

The entries were judged by the University’s Writer-in-Residence, Emma Donoghue (interview on page 18). Out of the 25 entries received, all at a remarkable standard, Donoghue believed Helen’s piece stood out from the rest, “‘The Isle of Arran’ is a simple piece about somewhere that’s not very far away at all, but it stands out for the precision of its language. With its vivid verbs and distinctive smells, it takes you there, which is what distinguishes travel writing from tourist brouchures.”

23rd June, 2000 Issue 121

York Student Vision

ACTIVATE FEATURE 13

GET YOUR CAREER ON-LINE WITH Along with our exclusive CD, Vision takes a tour of an Internet site which aims to take the stress out of job-seeking GET BORN, get older, get a few A-levels, get to a University, get drunk, get laid, get through finals, get a degree… yup, sorted. But - get a job?

Now that is scary.

Do you feel left behind already in the scramble to the top of the ladder? Are you lost in a blizzard of glossy brochures and application forms; are you confronted with C.Vs which stubbornly refuse to shine?

Do you wake-up in the dark of night in a cold sweat: frightened of stalling the puttering scooter of your career in the dead-end street that is an unrewarding, unfulfilling job?

Well, be brave yet gentle reader. This, lest we forget, is the post-modern world. We have the technology and it is there not to hinder but to aid those (and only those) who are suitably plugged-in, turned-on and generally, well, ‘withit’.

So if the inexcusable envelope-licking, tongue-cracking tedium of a thousand weary applications is not for you, give our little disc a spin. Those jolly nice people from Activate.co.uk are here to do their damnedest to help even the most churlish of students into the wonderful and well-paid world of work.

York Student Vision

The exclusive careers partner of the NUS since the beginning of this year, from September this year anyone with a student union card will become an automatic member of the Activate site - bringing it an estimated 3.2 million registered users.

Activate are obviously on a mission to fulfil their claim to be the definitive student careers

“Activate.co.uk are obviously on a mission to fulfil their claim to be the definitive studentcareers internet portal” internet-portal. What’s more, having taken our own little wander around their elegant corner of cyberspace, they may very well be right!

The site itself is clearly laid-out, well presented and ridiculously easy to navigate.

What’s more, for a pleasant change unlike so many others it doesn’t stagger along at the speed of tortoise with haemorrhoids under the weight of a thousand irrelevant ‘pop-ups’ and adverts.

There shouldn’t be any problems then, quickly accessing Activate’s vast range of full,

part-time and vacation job opportunites from a comprehensive variety of different companies.

Constant updates of the site ensure that it remains continuously relevant while the searh engine easily allows you to seek out that ideal job according to your interests, your qualifications and the area of the country you want to be working in.

Activate promises more than just to point you in the right direction for a job, however: they obviously want to gently guide you along the way as well.

Also available at the site, for instance, are comprehensive guides to constructing the perfect C.V. and handling interviews successfully, as well as step-by-step advice for stress-busting, revision and exam technique.

And, if all that just wasn’t enough, Activate. com also do a neat little side-line in show-biz gossip; windows wallpaper, free software to down-load and even midi-music files.

A site that lets you seek out your perfect career, helps to show you how to get it, and at the same time allows you to pick-up a plinkysnythesiser version of the Battlestar Galactica theme-tune?

There’s got to be only one answer (gently)

23rd June, 2000 Issue 121

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N O W YOU see me, now you don’t. No matter how you try and interpret them, one night flings are just that.

The Vision Features Team, with all their romantic know-how, brings you a topical, witty foray into the pros and cons of the romantic do’s and dont’s for your summer of luurrvve. Yet, as expert as we are, we can’t decide whether or not sleeping with your best/house mate is a good idea or whether or not a long distance relationship will expire long before you have to renew your railcard. Ho hum...Perhaps the best thing really is to go on holiday, get burnt, get lashed, and pull a local...but again, is it? This is the kind of moral conundrum your devoted Features Team have been gagging to sink their teeth into. You come to university to learn how to make decisions; to stand on your own two feet and face the consequences of your actions. These are real-life situations, people. You may have already faced these dilemmas in your own small way. But, Vision, being the morally upright paper that it is, couldn’t let the summer holidays draw ever closer and not alert you to these seroious issues. So, pull up a pew, and cogitate on what you should do if you are privileged enough to be allowed to take part in this year’s summer lovin’.

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ring ef side as w lationsh students y the flatte keep the re munication how many to m g n n co si o ti ri . d enhanced b rp ip an tionsh nistic listening ason it is su ) in the rela ake a hedo e relaemotional For this re

er or (mistrust e freedom within th ds and fors th d o st o u e e tr th th e at th le e g st ss n ic re you re o ra d w h v st ic ad a a to h s h pared ple bring ip wit eople w hard as peo istance also do things and meet p a relationsh ty D r as ri t fo

cu o n le se y e is st th life And it u had You can lephone. ire to if yo to tionship. end of a te u believe. s never des h is so ic ap is very easy h h w er It p d . rl h ld o it u o w o y w a w e s g in av in h ra n ed th o ld wou to do our ad tion ca e we liv object of y before hav A conversa of a partner you you if the Never nication. d as u n u m o ss m le ar g co n in o h it ean going obsessed w ontaneous and as m to what is sp Although me insular o ce. n ec ta b ; is g d n still be as make of it. li g n u ai o si m y is ek at , h in . g w h it in it portant messag standing onship is tion is w would like ssing the ise how im ones, textcampus or tance relati al h cu is d p re is n -d d u e u g r t o il o n b y fo ar se o lo s g o e, M cuse n A ou lov walkin ple wh o better ex ody else ca e it whilst w of a cou e person y there are n tionship time TV, b I even kno ou miss th n why nob y la ar ay ’. d re le p f o r d o h ei S an es th p ti u o yo keep in ‘T triviali they are to ing room in order to in a chang one system ents. h a e.

-p e ar eo p av h id m v co up a s also two contin nce couple antic alive over Long dista more rom e b

to tendency

Hours, or minutes of pleasure, and very often not that, they pander to nothing more than desperation.

Sleeping with someone you’ve met in a club hours earlier is hardly the basis for intimacy . Who enjoy’s waking the next morning to discover the partner who said how great you were has upped and left, without as much as a goodbye.

S e x s h o u l d m e a n feeling special and comfortable.

There’s also the issues of safety at stake here too.

Indulging in casual sex puts you at risk of catching STDs, and of being labelled a slapper.

And, if you become accustomed to getting your sexual fix from the first person you stumble upon at 2am in the Gallery then sex is no longer the special, enjoyable experience it should be.

I don’t want to sound prude, you don’t

need to have a band of gold and a wedding cake on order to sleep with someone, but to just hop into bed with a

r a n d o m person, under the guise of a ‘fling’ isn’t just

morally dubious, it’s sad.

Sure, we’re all humans with basic needs to satisfy, but only a weird nymphomania c would disagree with me when I say that letting some stranger have a no holds barred access to your body is not fun or clever, it’s just plain silly. Sex is real when there are feelings between the two, whether they have developed over years, weeks or days, but letting beer goggles dictate you isn’t the best way to conduct yourself.

Once when quizzing a friend on the concept of a one night stand I asked him what happened if he changed his mind once they reached his bedroom. “ if that’s the case then we just have non penetrative sex and she leaves early”.

My point - you can’t judge whether its right or not to sleep with someone after a night in the Gallery, but once you have you can’t reverse it. Why have sex without affection with just plain lust, which in the cold light of day means absolutely nothing. There are better options.

As they say, why have cotton when you can have silk.

‘SH V broo all. As fa ALENTI I R L E Y Y e t don’ ding Sta r as lus NE’ said when ting vros i t C t. goes a sunni in lands - if i fter a roma ’mon, of er cli with nce’, n m w doub moro you the v t, W hole alphab es, we go n c i o c e u r a l y I fail nd iro d for th e e’re e nic if n’t get mo words to a e ithe t, A-Z an d t

r lust d then hat, c ssoc ays r you t in ried. e paradox ‘holiday an oc in sunny C iate ten really opulating g after th in reverse ical, C a c l y l a e . o w prus me a sion tal n as B ambitious ith fellow locals or of cynic xyo ut if - both , but failin Par stalgia - sentimenBrits s t g . h o e berin abroa And adise Los it’s a myth g tho local lot d and t mo why . h u a g splas r ht. F i if re li oh h irstly o does it , the the V of Ouzo, a why, aft ke. for y o e engab r r u s e ound a oys down lationship , then her -t sun-t e’s wa w an do and a sp rack of a r i nothe rds as lon ill always a n we kle Unco g r spira p a s l vered suddenly of a t renow ne l h ’? behav n for -load of ere is alwa

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i g ys t ) l u ike a l B l Goin F i r b a i t l e (w n ext Juan iling that ish girls ampl g abroa ra fro arrivi e’re in yo , just d is ificat m ‘Ib u ng. i r ion o n j p l u o ict iza st an sto cal ba f th T got li ck in ure ol’ D accel Wham newash he ste ke, re at time la on B e d l ratio e O r st w ally conti 1982 an nims, m ightly, cla f cou eotyping i every drunk a eekend w n and n d d u e r s l d s n l he so ay fli e there e, if tal ch nd h body on lo t circa whos copped en you in the ngs, then y you are p for a reas arm. s e off w e nam s that o a o ‘A’. ith e beg B first place u could ju rticularly n.

P an w . susce ut alw st not ith ARE m A R T N E R S w h o pti comi bothe plants, uch lik ng b ays rem r goin ble to hol they th barely w e potembe ack Span convers ig abr a r it w iv r s i s e i ation an for the oad - you h str th m on atten

ink to the othe s a o o d w c r m B t e o d io a ry on y brero u donk b r unatte n, be start to our ey av than tha ld be ... nded fo ybio. Leave on fo t ec droop. e or re she’s making th train ticket r too lo You ng and romantic see, as much things hea Yup, the sceptic me moves? a d, but w ay well distance as great as myse s it pains a be rea lf to adm re stronger. hilst willpower is strong ring its ugly it, long least suc lationships are Blame it one of ro cessful a ll o n Eve if , hormones are en mance’s in conce often you will, pt, but in deavours. Com mendable but temp practice?

Afte always ta r a few m a tr icky on tion’s on and eve especiall e n longer ths of long train to a y if you journeys phone b left smil r one sa void, is a coup ills, the ing is B ving gra le of hundre only on .T, an ce Contributors: feel in th This, of e course, w d miles away. e abscen d the emptiness ce of yo il y n Vee Cole-Jones o l a u in soon riv s ty mess ev ur loved alled on of jealo itably lead to a one is ly by th abrupt p u Frances Lecky s y

, at of you ho mistrust So you s and one of y ne calls, at the tand doo r bank balance.

Victoria Kennedy o e u n broken. d of wh med from But absc three litt has the courage ic the start, trains go le words to utter th h Ann Smith broke an Well now ence makes the in .. . ose d

Y ‘t if o h fe u is d heart re heart gro re is n I’ there’s a n a t m li ’t d s ir n w e e e o c it w th rk ti h Tom Smithard o a b fo e in t n r u nder. Rig g.’ s, but so b jaded, n not only

And Abscenc ble I can burst. ht? do your if not ev or bitter, just pra do your lives. P e makes Barbara Stainer en Bill a oetic, hu c the heart dilemas what? O nd Anne tical. h? grow fon between f whom Rebecca Sweeny c o d E u er o there’s n rinsboro ? You? ugh and ld stand the dista ot much Or the fl f little m Dorba, w nce hope fo there?

Rajini Vaidyanathan irty inx in r ell, then u s mere stilletos, mortals, Gareth Walker is

Alex Watson

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York Student Vision 17

BOOKS

ON THE BEACH From hardbacks for the heatwave to paperbacks for the plane, Kasia Brzozowska reviews the best of summer reading

WITH THE days longer, the lake full of fluffy funny-looking goslings and half naked students exhibiting themselves at the hint of sunshine, it is obvious that summer holidays are just round the campus corner.

However nice this year has been, the thought of a sunny break must excite everyone.

Three months of hiking across Thailand, ecstatic boozing in Ibiza or just beaching in Scarborough it will be nice to take it easy for a while.

And just the perfect time to dip into the coolest bestsellers out at the moment. Whatever you are looking for it is out there.

F o r t h o s e adventurers who are itching to explore their preplanned route of a foreign country I would advise ‘less is more’.

Being a keen traveller I have finally come to the conclusion that the extra bricks in the rucksack are completely unnecessary. The same goes for the supplementary travel

guides.

If you are still trying to find the most appropriate student guide to travelling then I suggest the ‘Lonely Planet’ series (£12.99).

Wr i t t e n by two explorers on a budget it is full of useful and honest student friendly information. Each page suggests a number of the most inexpensive hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops, while promoting the major attractions. The book is

writers are the well-known Bill Bryson and Tony Hawks.

‘Notes from a Small Island’ (£6.99) is Bryson’s account of the island’s idiosyncrasy; it is a cocktail of Marks & Spencer, cups of tea, obscure bus timetables and that British ‘je ne sais quoi’.

H a w k s ’ s ‘Round

Ireland With a Fridge’ (£6.99) depicts the story of a man who, for a bet,

It is a light romance, which deals with a woman’s changing perception of love and dating. Written with great compassion and observation each chapter deals with a different aspect of love.

Clever and witty it reveals the problem of searching for the perfect partner.

In my opinion, it’s the perfect beach read.

But what can one read if the fantasised holiday is

drowned by rain? With the film attracting mixed reviews, ‘The Beach’ (£6.99), on

And for those left back home? Lonely Planet has published a collection of true short stories where their writers describe their most horrifying experiences. Floods, hurricanes and painfully sounding allergic reactions are just a fewof the phenomena that are described... small, concise and reasonably priced for all the information you get.

However, if you enjoy the thought of travelling but your budget restricts you then why not resort to the world of fantasy?

Travel fiction has grown in popularity over the last few years and its pioneering

has to trek across Ireland with a fridge.

Both of these depict the complex personality of Great Britain with dexterous and witty humour.

If the very thought of moving tires you out and you are planning on spending the summer on a scorching beach then I suggest a quick read such as ‘The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing’ (£6.99)

by Melissa Bank.

the other hand, has been praised as having ‘all the makings of a cult classic’.

The adventure plot sends a group of friends with a map in search of Eden.

They land on the white sand of the legendary Beach where they are confronted by the terrors of nature and each other.

Garland writes an absorbingly gripping adventure tale of passion and horror.

And for those left back home? Lonely

MASTER MINDS The Big Con David Maurer Arrow, £6.99



THE BIG CON, David Maurer’s study into the world of American con men in the 20s and 30s, evokes a mysterious world of highly amoral and avaricious gentlemen.

Such con-men used every trick in the book to extract money unlawfully, aiming to get rich quick on the back of numerous complicated schemes and stories.

Originally published in 1940, the

The author displays an admiration for the con men he studies in such detail, implying that victims bring these situations upon themselves through their desire to profit from illegal systems book has just been made available in paperback, and remains fresh and informative despite its age. Its factual tone is still highly illustrative of the complex

machinations and motivations of the con man, providing insight into a world shrouded in myth and protected by corrupt authorities.

The book derived from Maurer’s earlier linguistical study into underworld vernacular, and is concurrently a combination of linguistics, criminology, folklore and social history as well as “a robust and spring-heeled piece of literature” according to Luc Sante, who provides a concise introduction to the history of the book.

There were fat targets everywhere in America, and grifters, the con men, took them down through informing them of schemes supposedly involving fixed horse races, fixed prizefights or inside stock tips – all of which ended, of course, by going bad for the victims, known as marks. The prerequisites to any of these cons were that the mark had plenty of money, and aimed to make more – and be willing to cheat.

Nearly all the ruses employed a big store, or fake betting house. In such places highly complex and personalised schemes were put into action to convince the mark he was guaranteed a huge profit on his money if he made use of his privileged inside information.

These big stores were painstaking

recreations of real betting shops, with up to several dozen actors masquerading as affluent gamblers carelessly placing bets of tens of thousands of dollars to increase the victim’s lust for similar riches.

Carefully orchestrated by the inside man running the show and the roper who brought in the mark, it was a playhouse, a theatre, a world of make-believe – to everyone but the mark.

Maurer displays an admiration for the con men he studies in such detail, implying that victims bring these situations upon themselves through their desire to profit from illegal systems.

The Big Con employs the distinct vocabulary of the con men which can make reading somewhat hard-going, but a comprehensive glossary is included to ensure the reader is not entirely lost in this unknown but fascinating world - long since vanished.

You wouldn’t believe

Anne Hurst

Planet has published a collection of short stories written by the writers of the series who describe their most horrifying experiences. Floods, hurricanes and painfully sounding allergic reactions are just a few of the ensuing incidents.

The stories interweave feelings of dismay, anger, fear and finally relief. The book ‘Lonely Planet: Unpacked’ (£6.99) describes the problems faced by back packers; it is hard not to laugh. This is the best way to connect with those friends who, leaving you at home, are travelling through India on a rhinoceros.

These are just a few titles I would recommend for the summer but there plenty more new titles to chose from.

However, you can always resort to the good old classics. Ernest Hemingway and Graham Greene are a splendid, if somewhat a heavier read.

Otherwise, I would of course recomend Jerome’s brilliant Three Men in a Boat. It tells a story of three hypochondriacs’ desire to escape from the world of work.

But whatever you do this summer, a book will definitely help you make the

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BLACKWELL’S Book of the month

HEADLONG Michael Frayn

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Whitbread Novel Award, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

In a tale of historical investigation and comic invention Martin Clay, a young, would-be art historian, is invited to assess some old paintings, and is convinced that one of them is a lost work by Breughel.

the lies he tells

BOOK REVIEWS in association with BLACKWELL’S

UNIVERSITY BOOKSHOP, UNIVERSITY OF YORK, UNIVERSITY ROAD, HESLINGTON, YORK, Y010 5DU (TEL: 01904 432715)

York Student Vision

23rd June, 2000 Issue 121

18 York Student Vision

ARTS

Sponsored by YORK THEATRE ROYAL

WHATS ON!

FESTIVALS LONDON City of London Festival until 13 July (020 7377 0540) BBC Proms 14 July - 9 Sept (020 7765 5575)

EDINBURGH International Festival 13 Aug - 4 Sept (0131 473 2099)

YORK Early Music Festival 7 - 16 July (01904 658338) Festival of Food and Drink 22 sept- 1 Oct

SHEFFIELD Children’s Festival 24 June - 15 July (0114 281 4049)

HARROGATE International Festival 20 July - 5 Aug (01423 521264)

YORK’S LAUREATE One of Ireland’s leading female writers Emma Donoghue speaks to Claire New about the trials of confused teenage years in Ireland and her quest to put women back on centre stage.

EMMA HAS written plays, poems, fiction, historical literature and biographies, and now she has been invited to pass her wealth of experience on to the students of York.

Emma was invited to be York’s writer in residence for the summer term. She has spent her time teaching and advising students on their works of creative writing.

“It’s a very intense but well planned scheme, I was amazed by the level of enthusiasm, and there’s a lot of talent out there.”

“There is also very little arrogance amongst the students, I was always very arrogant, so I always assume all students to be, but there really care about improving their style, rather than just being published quickly.”

A common theme among much of her work is the thoughts and feelings of and between women. She often verges on the taboo, and exposes emotions that many readers are unfamiliar and maybe even uncomfortable with. “We have a lot of catching up to do, for many centuries women have been ignored by literature.

There are so many periods in which we have no idea about how women’s lives were. There is such a huge amount to be said, about what for many is so unfamiliar” “When I came out to my Mother, she like many people, still cared very much about me but was terrified and completely ignorant of the lesbian community. I think for many it is like another planet, there is something very strange about the scary and unknown.”

Emma grew up in Ireland before moving to Cambridge to complete her Phd. Despite having spent the last three years in Canada, her strong Irish accent and Gaelic origins remain at the heart of Emma’s character and her work. “Being a teenager in Ireland during the eighties was certainly not ideal. Most of Ireland was community of white Catholics, so it was quite a relief to come to Cambridge, where despite its snobbish reputation the mix of cultures

Emma Donoghue and backgrounds made the town really quite normal. Ireland though has witnessed huge changes during the nineties and is very different now. I still go back there a lot, and fear the day my accent begins to fade.”

Like most novelists success did not fall in her lap.”I had a lot of trouble selling my first novel and was becoming very gloomy about it, then my agent suggested

writing another, and it was not long after that, Penguin offered a two book deal. I had become a real writer. It was then that I realised that I could write full time, which I would never have believed.”

“Writing was my second dream closely behind being a Ballerina, but I thought I would probably be an academia, and only write part time. As a student I had quite a dim view of literary careers, think-

and props fairly simple they allowed the true talent of the cast to shine through.

Maria played by Alice Danes although initially overpowered by the twenty-five piece orchestra, soon gained confidence and proved her immense singing ability.

All the cast seemed deeply immersed in their respective characters, with Ruth Davies as Kurt portraying the mannerisms of the young cheeky boy with excellent precision.

As the story gathered pace, the cast seemed to gain in confidence until at the end of their finale rendition of ‘Climb every Mountain’ they were appreciated by a standing ovation and screams of encore.

Genuinely surprised by the audience

reaction the orchestra and cast returned tentatively to stage with little idea of what to do next.

They managed to perform ‘The Lonely Goatherd’ amongst laughter and embarrassment from of those cast mem-

ing that I would have to die young for someone to discover the true value of my poetry!”

However Emma’s first novel ‘Hood’ won the American Library Association Gay, Lesbian, and bisexual book award in 1997. ‘Hood’ explores the grief and nostalgia of losing a loved one with a powerful and passionate tone. She manages to reach inside the characters capturing the true essence of their emotions.

Emma has proved her ability to diversify with her next novel ‘Slammerkin’. It is about an eighteenth century murder, with no female imagery or contemplation at all. “The writing industry is very fluid, most writers don’t describe themselves as poets, novelists, or playwrights anymore.

The only sector that remains hard for the dabbler to dabble in is the film industry.

So much money is involved and lots of technical skills are needed from the writer.”

With several successful projects all happening at once, it is difficult for emma to identify the most prominent highlight of her career. “They are two very different pleasures. My novels are all mine and I have complete control; plays however are a collaboration but the thrill of an audience is a much sharper pleasure.”

Emma has decided to try and take that leap into the film industry whilst still keeping up with her novel writing. “My second novel is on the verge of being taken up by an Irish film company, and I begin the publicity for my next novel “Slammerkin”, I also have the basis of the next novel after that in the pipeline too.

That one is about contemporary long term relationships, and unusually for me it actually has a happy ending!”

“Kissing the Witch has recently opened at the Majic Theatre in San Fransisco, and Emma begins her publicity for Slammerkin at Libertass on Gillygate in York on 11th July. After that she will return to Toronto to continue work on her next novel.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE

SIR JACK Lyons hall came alive with the sound of music, as an excellently cast team performed the Broadway classic, writes Claire New. Originally a biography, ‘The Sound of Music’ has been recreated as two very successful films and a huge Broadway hit, selling more than 3 million cast albums.

On Friday week six, Conor Mitchell (Director) and Lucy Guillard (producer) entertained a conservatively sized audience with their version.

Armed with a very tight budget the production crew showed great ingenuity and innovation. By keeping the costumes

York Student Vision

The performance exemplified what the university arts arena is capable of

bers unfamiliar with the yodelling chorus.

However the improvisation and enjoyment of the cast and crew added to the fun, which the audience thoroughly enjoyed.

Eamonn O’Dwyer who played the

regimental Captain von Trapp with professionalism and confidence said: “We weren’t expecting it to be such a big success, we were really surprised by the audience enthusiasm, and by how much they enjoyed it.”

The success of the first night drew in a much bigger audience to the second performance “by which time we had prepared and practised an encore”.

The performance really exemplified what the university arts arena is capable of, and will be a difficult act to follow for future productions, putting even some professional performances to shame.

23rd June, 2000 Issue 121

York Student Vision ARTS 19

TATE THAT AND ARTY When the new Tate Modern opened in London last month, it was instantly set apart from the other London millennium projects... it’s good.

AMID THE failure of London Millennium projects, such as the ill-fated grossly over-expensive Dome, the London Eye which took two months to start turning and the Millennium bridge which finally opened and promptly closed again last week, one Lottery-funded project has quietly broken with precedent.

By staying within its budget of a mod-

erate 134 million, opening on time and consequently welcoming an unceasing flood of visitors the new Tate Modern is unique of its kind.

Its opening in May heralded a major development in establishing London as a respected centre of modern art, and proved that not all our Lottery cash is going to waste.

Originally conceived over 10

years ago by Nicholas Serota, director of the original Tate gallery, the aim of Tate Modern was to provide alternative display space for the thousands of Tate works which had remained in storage, unable to be shown. It would also serve to set up London as a rival for other culturally thriving cities such as New York and Bilbao with their hugely successful Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim Museum.

A disused power station in Bankside was chosen as the ideal space within which a vast array of works from the Tate’s collection of international modern art from 1900 to the present day, including Bacon, Daly, Picasso, Matisse, Rothko and Warhol as well as contemporary work by artists such a s Rebecca Horn, Steve McQueen and Gillian Wearing, could be displayed.

The building is a remarkable combination of the old and the new, with the basic shell of the power station retained but covered over internally with modern clean, basic, minimalist fittings.

In a radical break from the tradition of exhibiting works chronologically and by school, Tate Modern will show the Tate Collection of modern art from 1900 onwards in four themed groups each of which span the century. This scheme has aroused much controversy in artistic and critical circles, with many claims that this style fragments the works and disrupts any sense of continuity. However, radical as the scheme is, it is also rooted in tradition.

Collection 2000, currently on show, takes as its basis the major subject categories, or genres, of art that were established by the French Academy in the Seventeenth century, namely landscape, still life, the nude and history painting. It traces both the ways in which these genres have survived and been radically transformed through the twentieth century.

Despite the controversy over its daring progressive methods, Tate Modern has proved to be a success with the general public, with visitor numbers in less than a month equalling those of the Dome in six - a telling figure.

Salvador Dali, Lobster Telephone, 1936

Anne Hurst Steve McQueen, Bear, 1993, Video

ANYTHING BUT A NOVICE Vision looks at ‘The Novice’ the adaptation of Sartre’s play ‘Les Mains Sales’’ PRIOR TO seeing ‘The Novice’ at the London Almeida, I had only ever read a few of Sartre’s plays.

And I must admit that I wasn’t a big fan of them. Whilst the range and depth of his contribution to French intellectual life cannot be questioned, I found this range as much of an obstacle as an enlightenment.

He produced some great story lines but the political comment that lay behind, and often inspired them, seemed to threaten their plausibility. In short, I closed the book thinking ‘Yeah that was great – but why did it have to be so overtly political?

Why couldn’t there have been more of a balance?’ Call me hard to please, but yes, I wanted the best of both worlds. And this was before I’d even seen one of his plays in performance!

‘The Novice’, Richard Eyre’s adaptation of Sartre’s ‘Les Mains Sales’, was not top of my list of plays I wanted to see, despite taking the number one slot in ‘Time Out’. It came down to a choice between standing for a two-hour performance at the Donmar Warehouse or going to see some Sartre. But after a day walking round the Tate Modern, my legs overruled the rest of my body and Sartre it was.

The play is based around the relationship between a young man named Hugo and his political enemy (and hero), Hoederer, whom he has been ordered to

York Student Vision

assassinate. Entwined within this are Hugo’s young wife and his ‘almost girlfriend’, a political revolutionary. Hence conflicting loyalties and ideologies dominate ‘The Novice’. Does Hoederer’s ideology make him a hero or a villain? Should Hugo’s loyalties lie with his wife or the political aspirations represented by the ‘almost girlfriend’? It all comes down to one decision; to kill or not to kill? And precisely what for? This decision comes to embody a young man’s search for identity in a culture of political and moral uncertainty.

‘The Novice’ opens into an atmosphere of incredible tension subsequent to Hugo’s decision. The accentuated perspective of the room serves to create a sense of disorder while the stark spotlight focused down upon the table adds to the intensity of the discussions that ensue.

The intrigue created by the discussion of events that have happened yet have not been seen draws the audience in and then suddenly the actors are talking directly to us, as we are taken back to a time before the decision was made. Impressive as it may sound, I found it incredibly offputting as it destroyed the flow of the play and the sudden jump in time just didn’t seem believable.

Once established in the past though, the play was absolutely gripping and this was due in no small part to some highquality acting. As Hoederer, Kenneth Cranham was in complete control of proceedings as he portrayed the dynamic and

forward-thinking political leader. Yet through varying his pace and tone, particularly at times of great intensity, he conveyed an underlying humanity to the diehard politician and a personal affection for Hugo that transcended his beliefs. This control was effectively contrasted by the emotional turmoil of Jamie Glover’s Hugo. The poignancy of the character’s naiveté as he is torn between political poles is truly moving and serves to express Sartre’s view of politics as an all-consuming force.

In a role that could have been limiting, Natasha Little was a very impressive Jessica, arousing the audience’s affection and contempt in equal amounts as the manipulative yet protective wife.

The chemistry between these three characters drove the play onwards towards a conclusion with such a twist that everything that had been established was turned completely on its head. However, once these events had run their course, we returned to the time period in which the play began. For me, this amounted to another disruption to something that had been given a tremendous build-up. It was a necessary movement in so far as it served to hammer home the political truth behind the play. Yes, the irony that politics will deceive you no matter what decision you take was biting – but did he have to make it bite so hard?

23rd June, 2000 Issue 121

20 York Student Vision

WIRED ...sexually walking through the digital age...

THE BOY DONE GOOD RONALDO V-FOOTBALL (PSX) Price: £29.99 Released: Out Now

SO, ANOTHER football game is released; but this one, the first from French publisher Infogrames, carries the weighty endorsement of double world Footballer of the Year - Ronaldo.

But how does the game compare to the man on the cover? Is it the mighty figure of pace, skill, and power that Italian fans have dubbed ‘Il Fenomeno’ (The Phenomenon), or is it the recent Ronaldo, wracked by injuries and unable to play?

immediate red cards, and the marking was horrible due to a tendency for the automatic player selector to switch almost at random.

I persevered, and realised that for something I thought I was hating, I was actually having quite a lot of fun. Then came the moment of recognition, when the game suddenly moved to a new level as I discovered the intricacies of the through-ball, the one-two, and the chip over the goalie. I started playing football, not just passing from player to player.

I did have s o m e prob-

Is the game like the mighty figure of pace, skill, and power - ‘The Phenomenon’ - or is it the recent Ronaldo, wracked by injuries and unable to play?

The defending was shocking, with my first two sliding tackles both earning immediate red cards, and my marking was horrible...

It is indeed just like watching Brazil: some defensive frailties but a grasp of attacking play that is both sublime and innovative.

To start off with, this game was a bit of both: going forward with the ball, crossing and passing made attacking not only simple but fun as well, with the ability to create genuine scoring opportunities from the most rudimentary knowledge of the controls.

However, the defending was shocking, with my first two sliding tackles both earning

Ronaldo really looks forward to a night at Toffs

HIP TO BE SQUARE OVER THE next month, Squaresoft, the producers of the magisterial ‘Final Fantasy’ series, will be releasing two more games to tempt those barren student wallets over the summer.

WEB-OMATIC

The first is ‘Vagrant Story’, an action RPG that takes you into the role of Ashley Riot, who is taking part in a hostage situation in the city of Lea Monde. He is then framed, and has to delve deeper into the city in order to clear his name and find out what devilish plot is behind it all.

Boasting stunning

lems with the game: the commentary from Barry Davis is fine, but is supplemented by some comical lines from another, unnamed person. Passes sometimes don’t reach their intended target, instead drifting out of touch or into an incoming opponent. There was some occasional lag between executing a command and seeing the result.

But again, the magical feeling of going forward with the ball, floating a weighted through-ball down the channels for a forward to run onto and volley past the keeper means that this game succeeds over these niggling problems, leaving a recreation of the beautiful game that is both accurate and fun.

graphics and a fighting system that is both well thought-out and deeper than an oceanic trench, this game looks to be one of the best the Playstation has ever seen. It is released on June 21st.

Also released over summer is the robot strategy game ‘Front Mission 3’.

Featuring tactical combat and big robot suits called ‘Wanzers’, this game is all about fighting other large robots in order to get to the bottom of a military conspiracy.

This all takes place against a background of a near-future world where corporate companies now run the world and from them you can buy all kinds of equipment - guns, arms, legs, and other add-ons for your robot.

You can customise to your heart’s content, even down to the paint job.

If you like the sound of giant mech’s with even bigger armaments, it’s out on the Playstation in early July.

IT USED to be that there was no competition between the computers and consoles people had at home and the machines at the local arcade: the home market was graphically and musically pitiful compared to the machine in the local chip shop, let alone the monsters of the pier and amusement arcade.

But now with the power of consoles like the PlayStation and the sheer visual wizardry of high end PC’s available to all, how is the humbled arcade game going to divest you of your cash? Simple: bigger screens and accessories. Here are two of the latest to have big lumps of plastic attached to them that you just can’t get at home....

Silent Scope 2 (Arcade):

Once again, the arcade is where the latest in murder simulators is to be found, this time with its very own sniper rifle attached to the cabinet. Peering through the digital scope enables you to zoom in on your terrorist targets without them

even knowing you are there.

This includes a section where you shoot out the lights and you have to rely on the x-ray vision provided by the view finder. Points are given for the different kills you can perform from the lowly shot in the leg to the mighty, and loudlyannounced, ‘Head Shot!’

The most fun I’ve had with a piece of plastic in my hands for ages.

Crisis Zone (Arcade):

From the makers of Time Crisis and Point Blank comes the latest in gun games, Crisis Zone. It places you in an elite anti-terrorist squad responsible for going into hostile situations and rescuing hostages.

This game features the ducking away from fire then coming back out to shoot action foot pedal of Time Crisis, but instead of the tiny six shooter of Richard Miller, this game gives you a big metal shield to hide behind and a semi-automatic pistol to shoot the bad guys with. Forty rounds instead of six? Nice, even if the game does resort to cheap shots.

Graphics: 8/10 Sound: 7/10 Gameplay: 8/10 Overall: 8 / 10

Mark Kember

DAYS OF ALUNDRA

ALUNDRA 2 (PSX) Price: £29.99 Released: Out Now

MY GIRLFRIEND collects things that don’t make sense. Japanese pencil cases, badly translated letterheads, copies of Nouse - if it’s vaguely illiterate and unintentionally amusing, she’ll add it to her hoard of oddities.

Unfortunately, computer games have to be excluded from any similar collection purely because of the wealth of weirdness on offer. Unfortunately, that is, for Alundra 2, as its understated weirdness is the only justification I can think of for owning it.

If you’ve ever played an RPG before you’ll recognise the fantasy-by-numbers plot. In the blue corner, Flint, a young pirate hunter - his mother was killed by pirates, y’see - who must join forces with Alexia, who is very proud and very stern - a stereotypical princess.

Why? To avert an unspecified tragedy, of course, that looms in the distance as all good tragedies must.

... www.explodingdog.com... brilliant pictures based on sentences you submit... www.bubblegun.com... pop culture in bite sized, uh, bites... www.disappointment.com... angry humour - submit your own playground definitions... www.ntk.net... a weeks gossip and news emailed direct... www.stinkingminger.com... the derwent burger, defiled, digitised, and displayed... www.theforce.net... christopher lee in episode 2? joy... www.redmeat.com... comic strip oddity, featuring the wonderful milkman dan... www.imdb.com... comprehensive film site, now with added pictures... www.lik-sang.com... buy your gaming hardware direct from japan... www.dailyradar.co.uk... soon-to-be-launched uk gaming site... www.wsc.co.uk... intelligent football writingand humour... www.pocketpig.com... palm pilot sketches of one girl’s food experiences. crazysexual.

York Student Vision

ARCADIANS

And in the red corner, Mephisto, a Yoda-a-like who wields strange and, funnily enough, mysterious powers. Let’s get ready to... wield mighty swords and inflict major geekoriffic hit point damage.

Combat is simple and played out in arcade form, rather than ‘Final Fantasy’ style turn based action. Fans of ‘Zelda’ will find it familiar, as they will the healing and power up systems, the random chests strewn across the landscape, and the twee cut scenes.

But rather than being inspired by the SNES classic, it feels like a washedout photocopy.

Where ‘Zelda’ has inventive brilliance, ‘Alundra 2’ has jagged 3D graphics. Where ‘Zelda’s plot races, ‘Alundra’s drags. ‘Zelda’ made you obsess, but ‘Alundra’ never sucks you in.

Whilst there are no absolutely fatal design flaws, it lacks passion, power, and imagination. Fans of the original will find

it hollow and unsatisfying, and despite the obscene level of difficulty on Normal mode, it lacks the depth required for a recommendation to serious RPG fans. It lies in no-mans (no-elves? no-orcs?) land; not bad, not good, not anything.

And that’s the really disappointing thing about ‘Alundra 2’. Even when it does weird, it does it averagely. With the wealth of RPGs the aged Playstation has to offer, and more to come, the one thing Flint takes that isn’t needed a hack at is mediocrity mediocrity like this.

Graphics: 6/10 Sound: 5/10 Gameplay: 4/10 Overall: 4 / 10

Ste Curran

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23rd June, 2000 Issue 121

York Student Vision 21

FILMS

SUMMER SCREENINGS Philip Diamond is left hot and cold by the best and the worst of this summer’s crop of blockbuster films

THE SUMMER is nearly upon us, the work all but done and now we can look upon months of blissful free time to waste.

We can afford more than ever to kill time in the cinema halls on pointless summer blockbusters. So really there is no need to do this summer preview, even if the film is rubbish, what is two wasted hours in the grand perspective of things?

Well of course as we all know this is a load of old rubbish. We’re students and therefore by definition the only work we’ll do all year is in the summer where the consequences of our alcohol fuelled life style forces us to the dreaded summer jobs.

In those dreary days spent serving ungrateful customers for unsatisfactory pay tension builds up. The evenings become sacred and the post-work pint cherished. Two hours spent in the cinema are two hours not spent in the pub with mates.

We’ve all made the mistake in past years of going to see the rubbish forced upon us under the name of ‘Summer Blockbusters’. How many times have we walked out of films such as ‘Wild Wild West’ or ‘Godzilla’ thinking ‘why oh why did I go see this?’

Well don’t do it this year, make a stand against the summer blockbuster and save your money and time. For weeks now I’ve scoured all sources for information on the summer releases and even got to see a few of them. This is as close to an insiders guide as you’ll get from a student perspective, so read on as I attempt to preview a summer of films.

Where better to start than ‘Mission Impossible 2’. This is the one that the publicity machine has been hyping as the big one. Directed by John Woo (a god of action films), and staring Tom Cruise (an $80 million earner from the film), it’s the one I expect everyone will see over the summer.

Having had my chance to see it, I can say that if it’s action you want than you won’t find better this summer. If, however, the idea of long protracted fight scenes at the cost of all else, including plot, doesn’t appeal than stay away.

For me its John Woo directing at its best, certainly not plausible but highly exciting with enough explosions, car chases and fights to outdo any film I’ve seen. More of a Mission Entirely Impossible but don’t let that distract from its great Friday night viewing status, it’s certainly ‘Mission Enjoyable’.

Next up is ‘The Patriot’ staring Mel Gibson. It’s basically a retelling of American’s fight against British rule. All those I’ve talked to have described it favourably; ‘A beautiful recreation of the fight of Freedom against Tyranny’, ‘the best film of the year’ and so forth.

Yet I for one remain sceptical. ‘The Patriot’ is brought to us courtesy of the Director who created ‘Independence Day’, ‘Stargate’ and ‘Godzilla’. Not exactly what I would call an illustrious career. All three were truly terrible films overflowing with American stereotypes. In ‘The Patriot’ I’m basically expecting fat, arrogant Brits sipping tea and mouthing idiocies in the vein of ‘Jolly good old chap’ opposing the proud and strong Americans. Not recommended.

‘High Fidelity’ is a better prospect and if John Cusack can capture the essence of Nick Hornby’s book it should be amazing. Besides with a cast of Tim Robbins, Catherine Zeta-Jones and John Cusack it should be pretty good anyway.

Also out in July is ‘The Perfect Storm’ where George Clooney and Mark Walhberg get caught in a 120 foot high wave as three separate weather systems converge. I’m cheering for the wave. Finally there’s ‘Titan AE’, which boasts some of the best animation I’ve ever seen but is let down by the fact that it’s lead looks like David Beckham.

On to August where the big opener is ‘Gone In 60 Seconds’ which is basically another dose of Bruckheimer’s typical explosive action films. A retired car thief (Nicolas Cage), has to steal enough sports cars in a night to pay off the debt on his brothers head or get him back in a body-bag. That’s basically it, so expect the opening car chase from ‘The Rock’ spread over two hours and you probably won’t be far wrong.

Look out for Vinnie Jones in his usual hardman role and Angelina Jolie as the obligatory sexy woman.

Let’s not forget ‘X-Men’ which is definitely one to avoid. If you don’t know by now that comic books don’t convert to screen then just rent out ‘Tank Girl’, ‘Batman and Robin’ or ‘Spawn’. If you still feel like going to the cinema after that then good luck to you.

September is the month where all the best films are arriving. Jim Carrey’s ‘Me, Myself and Irene’ should be a classic as long as like me you thought ‘There’s Something About Mary’ was hilarious. Yet no matter how good it is, it’s sure to pale in comparison to ‘Snatch’.

Guy Ritchie’s back and his second outing is meant to be even better than ‘Lock, stock’. Brad Pitt accepted a huge pay cut to work with the director, and ‘Lock, Stock’ veterans Vinnie Jones and Jason Statham needed no persuasion to join in. Only Schwarzenegger refused a cameo, afraid that the film would send him up.

It’s got an American budget but remains a typically English film. Go see it and wipe your memory of two years of substandard ‘Lock, Stock’ rip-offs (Honest anyone). A fitting end to any summer.

As for Sandra Bullock’s ‘Gun Shy’, Eddie Murphy’s ‘Nutty Professor II’ and John Travolta’s ‘Numbers’ give them a ten mile birth. Watching tired, finished actors try to re-float their sunken careers is depressing. Someone needs to tell them; Bullock you shouldn’t have done ‘Speed 2’, Murphy hasn’t had a hit in years and Travolta is fat and old; both should just give up.

WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT: Barbados : ***** Tenerife : **** Ibiza : *** Blackpool : ** Toffs :* July 7: Mission Impossible 2 - Cruise and John Woo team up in the most anticipated movie of the year: ***** “Oh my god!” Terrible Hollywood blockbusters July 14: coming straight for us! 1) The Patriot - American War of Independence revisited by Mel Gibson: * 2) High Fidelity - John Cusack in a film of Nick Hornby’s book: **** July 28: 1) The Perfect Storm - Clooney and Wahlberg meet up again post Three Kings: ** 2) Titan AE - The best animated film since Akira, or so they say: **

August 11: Loser - Pie fancier Jason Biggs is back with hot property Mena Suvari in this year’s American pie: ***** August 14: 1) The X-Men - Stupid Comic adapted with a load of actors no-one’s ever heard of: ** 2) Gone In 60 seconds - Nicolas Cage headlines Jerry Bruckheimer’s new film: **** A pause for thought in a Farrelly bros movie? Can’t be.

September 22: 1) Me, Myself And Irene - The only real comedy of the summer with the Farrelly brothers hoping to recreate the success of ‘There’s something about Mary’, staring Jim Carrey): **** 2) Snatch - The sequel to Lock Stock; need I say more? My choice for the summer : **** 3) Hollow Man - Paul Verhoeven directs the tale of a homicidal invisible man : ** Post-Summer comedown: 1) Gun Shy - Neeson and Bullock in a comedy : ** 2) Nutty Professor II - Eddie Murphy’s last attempt to save his rapidly sinking career : * 3) Numbers - Travolta and Kudrow in a sweet romance tale... The anticipation is... er, non-existent * 4) Shaft Returns - Samuel L. Jackson in action gangster film... now there’s a shocker! **

Philip Diamond

York Student Vision

23rd June, 2000 Issue 121