Vision issue 230

THE UK’S MOST AWARDED STUDENT NEWSPAPER

YORK VISION Tuesday January 15, 2013

Issue 230

vision@yusu.org

PORN ON CAMPUS -PAGE 3-

WWW.YORKVISION.CO.UK

FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND Spotlight

Lifestyle MOCHINO’S SIXTIES SPRING

MEGAN STAMMERS AND GLAMOURIZED CRIME Features

LANDLORD AND STUDENTS INVOLVED IN BITTER DISPUTE

MATCH MADE IN HELL

BY ALEX FINNIS THE LANDLORD and student tenants of a property in York have become embroiled in a bitter dispute this term concerning uninhabitable rooms, damage to the property, rent arrears and personal abuse.

An anonymous resident of the house came to Vision to speak about his term from hell, claiming that the landlord left the five bedroom property

with just “one habitable bedroom,” sent abusive text messages, allowed a downstairs street-facing window to remain smashed and unprotected for two nights and took tenants’ personal property into the garden.

However, the landlord has also voiced his grievances over the behaviour of the tenants and their treatment of the house. He told Vision that he disagrees “strongly” with their claims, and that there was “damage caused by the tenants to the front and rear of the property, living room, bedrooms, firedoors.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

NEWS

SEXUAL HARASSMENT ON CAMPUS PG 7

COMMENT

UNI SERVICES NEED TO STEP UP PG 11

FEATURES

INTERVIEW WITH BECKY BEAUMONT PG 15

LIFESTYLE SPRING INTO STYLE PG 19

20 QUESTIONS

INTERVIEW WITH THE BLACKOUT SCENE BACK PAGE

2

YORK VISION

NEWS

Tuesday January 15, 2013

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!

BY SARAH LANE AFTER A four year battle with the University, students will be pleased to see that a cash point has been installed on Heslington East.

The cash point, located at the Glasshouse near Langwith College, is expected to be working soon.

YOURWEEK

Photo: Jack Bradshaw

?

Good Week for... Kallum Taylor - 94% of freshers EVENT S U P recognised him after their first three weeks on campus.

N M I A C T WHICH D THE HIGHES NS’ All those Facebook friend adds are paying off.

TE SIO WAS RA FIRST IMPRES ‘ Bad Week for... The library. Exams are over and everyYUSU’S RVEY? SU one’s in Willow. Boo hoo.

1,476

Number of times students watched porn on average per day last term.

29%

Percentage of students who responded “No way, they can’t even look after the students already here, let alone more’’ to our poll on the proposed College 9.

Photo of the Week: Five geese swim along amidst yesterday’s blizzard Photo: Jack Bradshaw

Got an opinion? Get involved at www.yorkvision.co.uk

YUSU President, Kallum Taylor, told Vision: “Even though it’s not before time, it’s good to see that the elusive cash machine is now on Hes East. With this, and the temporary shop now over there, hopefully the campus will be a slightly more convenient and homely place to live.

Fair play to the University for getting on the case and listening to the students!”

YORKVISION The UK’s most awarded student newspaper

Editors: Alex Finnis Georgina Strapp

Deputy Editors: Jack Bradshaw Sarah Cattle

Scene Editors: Jo Barrow Niamh Connolly

Managing Director: Oliver Todd

Advertising Editors: Ben Huckle Ali Thurold

Online Editors: Fred Nathan Harry Pick

News Editors: Bethany Porter Joe Softley

Features Editors: Philip Watson Zena Jarjis

Sports Editors: Dave Washington Michael Thurloway

Deputy News: Aggie Chambre Jordan Connell

Deputy Features: Patrick Greenfield Zoe Biles

Deputy Sports: Nick Burke Jess Paisley

Comment Editors: Nina Pullman Olivia Head

Lifestyle Editors: Poppy Danby Francesca Martin

Chief Sub-Editors: Jess Paisley James Scott

Deputy Comment: Oscar Pearson Sam Earle

Deputy Lifestyle: Chantelle Coussey Jasmine Conroy

Photo Editors: David Hoffmann Jack Western

Scene Editorial list in pullout Opinions expressed in York 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, 2013.

Printed by Mortons of Horncastle.

YORK VISION

NEWS

3

FEELING PORNY?

Tuesday January 15, 2013

BY OLIVER TODD

NEW DATA has revealed the extent of porn watching habits on campus. The figures, provided to Vision by the University under the Freedom of Information Act, show a staggering number of visits to some of the world’s most popular porn sites.

In the Autumn term, people on campus visited the top 20 free porn sites 1,476 a day, on average, with an estimated total of 103,320 views in the term. The most popular site was ‘RedTube’ which racked up an average of 606 views each day whilst ‘XHamster’ and ‘WankTube’ were also popular. Bullporn. com only managed 39 views.

were made to these sites each day – although the figures also show that more people were checking out YorkVision.co.uk.

Meanwhile, Freshers Week saw just 435 views each day with students more focused upon going out and hangovers.

The figures include any views made on the University networks – including in lecture theatres and the library – a habit that has

already been speculated about on the ‘Spotted: University of York Library’ Facebook page which recently drew criticism for voicing sexist comments. Any viewings made by staff of the University are also included.

One first-year Derwent student, who chose not to be named, told Vision: “I’m surprised it’s so low to be honest – I must be racking up a good three or four views a

PORN SITES VIEWED 103,320 TIMES ON CAMPUS All views were either made on campus desktop computers or mobile devices connected to the eduroam WiFi network.

With York students only having 4.06 sexual partners whilst at University according to the StudentBeans’ 2012 Sex Survey, this data perhaps indicates we are spending our time in other ways.

The peak time for views was in week 6, an essay deadline week for many students, where 1,844 visits

day on my own!”

One second-year student from Langwith meanwhile said: “I can’t believe the figures are so high! It just goes to show that people are trying to spice up the odd boring History lecture. Personally, I think it’s disgusting - I mean ‘XHamster’ and ‘Bullporn’? I don’t even want to think about what these sites entail....”

York’s viewing figures engulf

those of Nottingham University, where paper The Tab Nottingham, claimed “Randy uni staff surfed porn 200 times a day while you were on holiday” in October. Data for other universities has not been published.

YORK BEATS NOTTINGHAM York’s true figures could potentially be even higher, as Vision’s investigation only covered the most popular free porn websites on the worldwide web.

With dissertation deadlines and a more hectic schedule coming up, it remains to be seen how many views York will manage this Spring term...

Top 10 Most Viewed Sites: 1. RedTube.com 2. XVideos.com 3. XHamster.com 4. PornHub.com 5. XNXX.com 6. YouJizz.com 7. YouPorn.com 8. Freeones.co.uk 9. TubeGalore.com 10. BullPorn.com

Photo: Jack Western

LIBRARY WHINES

ing a £2 per item per day fine.

Florence-Anne Stratton, a third RECENT FIGURES released year English student, explains her to Vision by the University re- annoyance at the policy, “I had veal that the amount of money to go home early this term and earned by the library through all of the books I had taken out fines has risen by approximate- were requested when I got home. ly £30,000 in the past three I emailed the library telling them my situation and they said they years.

The library has tried to amend would waive my fine, however this by introducing modifications when I came back to university, to their loan system at the begin- all of the fines were still on my ning of the academic year, fol- card. This meant I couldn’t get lowing unsatisfactory levels in a any more books out before giving student experience survey. A third the others back, which hugely imyear Politics and Economics stu- pacted the work I could do on my dent who wished to remain anon- essays.”

She continues to complain: “It ymous said: “I’m not surprised library fines have gone up each just doesn’t make sense to me that year. What I want to know is how if you get a book out before someelse, you then have to the university have spent all this one give it to them, surely it extra money?” should just be that This information is in light of you can’t rising frustration amongst York renew it students at the existing long once it has been loan system, which has Which University sports team requested.” yet to be amended by missed their game after The Library the university. With their bus got a puncture? is currently the current system, stulooking in to subdents away from York for the sidising postage costs, holidays have to post back their which are a further borrowed books that have been reinconvenience for stuquested by others, otherwise fac-

BY SARAH CATTLE

dents studying at home over the holidays.

Second year History student, Freya Sydney-Smith, laments: “Students staying in York have a definite advantage. They can request books whenever, whereas students at home have to spend time and money returning books by post, at the disposal of others.”

Other modifications to the loan system have been on the whole positive, working on the basis of reducing unnecessary costs for those who have borrowed books by making sure no fines are given, unless others are inconvenienced by late return of a requested item.

The University registrar David Duncan commented: “The only change in the fines system is the overall reduction in fines levied on students - down 40% so far this year. The fines for people who do not return books requested by others haven’t changed. All the feedback we have received from student reps suggests that these fines are necessary to allow fair access to materials.” He also adds recent student feedback has been “very positive” since the changes were implemented.

Photo: Jack Bradshaw

4 NEWS

BY AGGIE CHAMBRE

YORK VISION

Tuesday January 15, 2013

MARATHON COMES TO YORK

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS are thrilled after the City announced the first ever Plusnet Marathon is to be held in York on October 20th.

The announcement last week that the race will begin and end at our very own University has been met with huge enthusiasm from students. Francis Nacgillivray, a second year psychology student, explained, “It is great for students to have a goal like this. My friend has already bought some trainers in preparation for the marathon and we are very excited about it.”

A marathon spokesman told Vision that “It’s not only the University who are thrilled” but “the whole of Yorkshire, and beyond, has got behind the Marathon – from runners, to the local authorities, the University of York right down to shopkeepers who have pledged to help support our athletes en route.”

The Marathon has been set up by the family of Jane Tomlinson

and hopes to raise money for her appeal. Following her diagnosis with terminal cancer, Jane managed to raise almost two million pounds for charity by undertaking incredible sporting challenges, such as running marathons and cycling across Europe. The family has announced that they would like to raise another £5 million for the charity.

Over the last week, achieving that target is looking increasingly likely. The marathon quickly sold its 5,500 places and is now thinking about extending the capacity.

Mike Tomlinson, Jane’s hus-

5,500 PLACES FILLED band, told Vision, ”The buzz about the Marathon has taken us by suprise. We could not have dreamt of this reaction, it has been astonishing.”

Jane was born in Yorkshire and is said to have loved the city so the marathon being held here is the perfect choice. Mike boasted

that the event “is well on the way to making it the biggest marathon in the North.”

It has been predicted by the tourist officials within Visit York, that the marathon could lead to £1.5 million in extra spending over the event weekend.

Alex Whitehand, captain of the Lacrosse first team, told Vision, “it is so nice to be recognized as a City that is worthy of holding a marathon. This is a really worthwhile cause.”

Yorkshire celebrities, such as sporting legends Dickie Bird and Chris Kamara launched the 26mile race last week.

The route will pass Betty’s, the York Minster and spend time in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside.

Professor Colin Mellors, ProVice-Chancellor for Business and Community at York University spoke about the impact the event would have on the City. “The benefits will be more widely shared by many deserving causes reaping direct financial benefit from

the event. Less measurable is the broader impact and legacy of such events. Spirits can be lifted alongside a real sense of pride, commitment and motivation.”

Although the marathon is now sold out, the organizers are still in

TAYLOR SATISFIES FRESHERS

BY BETHANY PORTER

THE RESULTS of YUSU’s ‘First Impressions’ survey, released exclusively to Vision last week, reveals a marked improvement in Fresher satisfaction compared to previous years.

The survey, carried out in weeks 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Autumn Term was completed by 564 of the approximately 3,500 new students York welcomed last year and looked at reasons for choosing York, satisfaction with Fresher’s Week events and YUSU awareness.

40 PER CENT RATED YUSU ‘EXCELLENT’ When asked to rate their overall satisfaction with YUSU in their first few weeks, over 80 per cent of students judged the union to be ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. 40 per cent rated the SU as ‘excellent’ compared to just under 20 per cent last year.

Awareness of YUSU has improved considerably compared to last year. Though only 64.8 per cent of respondents were aware that they were a member of YUSU, awareness of who the individual YUSU sabbs were topped 85 per cent in each case. Over 94 per cent of freshers knew who Kallum Taylor was compared to the 86 per cent that knew who Tim Ellis was at the same point last year. Graeme Osborn was the least identifiable officer, with only 62 per cent being fully aware of who he is and what his role within YUSU entailed.

Fresher’s week events were viewed positively, though Live and Loud received mixed reviews. Student satisfaction with the ‘minifestival’ did increase by 13 points compared to last years bash, but the event still received the highest dissatisfaction rating, with 22.3 per cent of students reporting feeling somewhat or very dissatisfied.

Open comments showed that students felt that the event was poor value for money and that entertainment outside of the main

stage was limited. One student who wished to remain anonymous told Vision: “Live and Loud was amazing, as long as you were drunk, b u t drinks were really expensive.

T h e y should have been included!”

The Freshers’ fair was the most successful event with a 90 per cent satisfaction rate, though some students did complain that it was overcrowded.

Viking Raid was also rated very positively with less than 5 per cent of students claiming they were dissatisfied.

Many students, particularly international and mature students, said they’d like to see more non-alcoholic events in the future.

However, YUSU’s flagship nonalcoholic event - Comedy Night was attended by only 21 per cent of the sample. Those that did attend largely enjoyed the event.

94 PER CENT RECOGNISE TAYLOR Vision spoke to YUSU President Kallum Taylor about the survey results.

“The results from our First Impressions Survey are quite encouraging, and show some clear signs of improvement across sev-

eral areas which definitely needed work.

“Big things worth celebrating are how students are more a w a r e of their elected reps and the work they do for them and they reco gnised the improvement of Live and Loud (though there is still room).

“Further, on the Live and Loud feedback I take that completely on board! Yes, it was a success and achieved its aims in allowing everyone to see all of the acts, and utilising campus much better; but there’s definitely some things which have been highlighted which YUSU will no doubt look to address next time.

“There’s definitely a lot of work to do still, and we’re only scratching the surface of our potential - but it has been a very good opening term for YUSU. We’ve been bigger and better on the events side of things, and we’ve really done our best to stand up for students, celebrate our victories, on and off campus, and help the University improve York’s Student Experience.”

Which Campus Media Don has been spotted in the Yoga studio practicing his downward facing dog?

discussions to extend the race’s capacity.

If you want to get involved and run York’s first Plusnet Marathon, sign up for the waiting list at: www.theyorkshiremarathon. com

E:VISION DOWN

BY JAMES SCOTT STUDENTS WERE left perplexed when e:Vision was taken down for maintenance the week before exams began, leaving them without their primary means of accessing the examination timetable. The shutdown also forced the application deadline for the ‘International Students Abroad’ scheme to be put back.

The downtime occurred between the 3rd and the 7th of January and was due to routine twiceyearly maintenance.

Some students felt that the dates were ill-chosen as it clashed with the start of the exam period, depriving them of their timetable informing them of when and where the exams were amongst other potentially crucial information. Former Langwith Chair Jack Baker tweeted about the issue: “Why @UoYitServices would plan to do a update to e:Vision up until the first day of exams I have no idea, I’ll guess where my exams are.”

Moreover, the downtime resulted in the deadline for the study abroad scheme being extended to the 11th, and meant that students were left with only 4 days to complete the application.

The University was keen to emphasise that the timetable was available elsewhere. Cathy Collness, Business and Development Manager for Student Systems stated that “There is never a good time for e:Vision to be taken down. We look for times that are out of term and try to find dates that minimise disruption for staff and students.

Inevitably downtime does cause inconvenience and we apologise for that.”

YORK VISION

NEWS

Tuesday January 15, 2013

5

LANDLORD AND TENANTS EMBROILED IN INTENSE DISPUTE

STUDENT-LANDLORD HOUSING NIGHTMARE

BY ALEX FINNIS [continued from front] THE ANONYMOUS student claims that the only damage caused to the property was “a nail in the wall,” however, the landlord has provided Vision with photo evidence of the state of the house, including smashed locks, a broken stair rail and the lighting in the living room being removed and replaced with a “UV lighting effect for parties.”

The house was originally let to five students, however one moved out during the autumn term after leaving the University. The resident claims that “the remaining four tenants agreed that the landlord could undertake renovation work in one of the bedrooms so long as it was finished before the Christmas holidays,” however, they returned to find work being done in two of the bedrooms, with another two being used for storage, leaving just one habitable bedroom.

Tenants were forced to sleep on the floor in the living room because of the state of the bedrooms.

“My room, as well as other rooms, was full of furniture from other rooms in the house,” the student told Vision. “I didn’t have a bed, so he just threw a base and a mattress in there.”

The landlord has also begun work in the living room. “In the last few days he’s come in and refloored the lounge with no consent,” he said.

However, the landlord claims that the work he is doing on the house is agreed work, which took place out of term time.

“The work stated was agreed, in writing, in advance, outside term time,” he told Vision. “The agreement was that if the tenants vacated over term time the outstanding arrears would be written off. The tenants returned early and partied in the living room with work going on around them.

[The anonymous student’s] room is in the state it is in because of him, no one else.

“I have had to get my family into the property to clean the kitchen over two days, over christmas, because it was so foul.”

Vision spoke to the landlord of the house which was let by the student and his co-tenants during the 2011-12 academic year, who described them as “the worst nightmare of any students I’ve had; absolutely horrendous.

“Doors were knocked off and I had to have a new bathroom put in because of the state of the tiles,” he said. “There was human excrement on the walls.

Images of the work being done on the house provided by tenant “I am still trying to put the house right now. It all started from day one.

“The tenancy finished on the 1st August and I didn’t get [the student’s] rent until the 7th. It should have been paid three months prior.”

The student responded via email: “The door of the old house came of on the second day we moved in, it was lose and he came aqnd replaced it willingly and put a lighter more suited door on, it was comming off when we moved in and he new this and did not complane at the time. and we are still trying to get depposit back from that house, there was no mentiron of human wast on the walls when he wrote to me and he is complanning about the mold on the tiles, wich was thereas he did not put an exstrackter fan in wich he promised. The old house did not have a fence in the back garden, despite constant promises from the landors to put one up, we where l;eft completerly oped to the nabures and they too complaned to the old landlord about it, The old rent was only a month, he was informed it would eb late and didnt mind at the time.” (sic).

The tenants have been in contact with Adam Bennett, the cam-

pus based letting agent through which they rented the house, the City of York Council and the Police about their issues with the property and the landlord, but the student does not feel the complaints have been taken seriously enough.

“We feel abandoned by the police,” he told Vision, “we were left with a smashed window for two nights, it wasn’t a secure property at all.”

The problems started arising at the beginning of this term: “After Christmas it started escalating extremely fast,” said the resident; “we had to go to the police as we were getting quite concerned about his behaviour.”

He went on to make further claims about the experiences of him and his house mates at the property. On January 5; “there was an argument between the landlord and my house mate,” he said. “My house mate was taking photos of the uninhabitable rooms on his phone and the landlord stole his phone and ran down the street with it. My house mate started chasing him and the landlord’s mum, who was also there, was shouting at him to give back the phone.”

He also told Vision how: “I was

Images of the damage to the house provided by the landlord in the library for one hour and I had loads of missed calls from him,” whilst he has also received several personally abusive texts.

These texts include: “Answer the phone you dick,” “I hate you cun” (sic), and “Stop taking drugs, pay your rent and don’t destroy other people’s property,” whilst another refers to a housemate as “that Canadian fuck.”

The student continued: “he’ll be really calm and then completely and utterly crazy. He told my friend ‘you personally smell’ and you’re the worst person ever’.”

He went on to describe how on both January 12 and 13: “I got back to the house and found my bike had been moved out of the cupboard and chucked in the garden. It’s not at all secure out there.

It’s not acceptable that he can just throw personal belongings outside.”

Landlords must be vetted by the council and go through CRB and fit and proper person checks to secure a licence for a three storey property such as this one. The house appears on the council’s website as a licenced property.

YUSU Welfare Officer Bob Hughes said on the matter: “If any student has any complaint similar to this, or even just about the conduct of their landlord, we would encourage them to speak to YUSU and the University’s support services to get advice about how to proceed as these can be incredibly tricky situations.

“The Citizen’s Advice Bureau are also good sources of advice.”

6 NEWS

YORK VISION

Tuesday January 15, 2013

EXAM DÉJÀ VU BULLIED STAFF LEAVE UNI

BY GEORGINA STRAPP

WHEN ALMOST 80 second years left the Systems and Compilers (SYAC) module exam of their Computer Science course last week, they were not discussing how they had answered the questions, but whether or not they had previously seen the answers to them.

The exam is made up of three questions, two of which the student must answer. However, two of these were identical to the questions from a past paper of two years ago, model examples for which were available to anyone who could find them on the VLE. One unhappy student told Vision: “This is not the sort of inconsistency you expect. It’s bad enough for us, but all the years after us are paying £9,000 a year, if this was to happen to them it would be totally unacceptable.”

Because even students who had seen the papers had no idea that they were the ones that would be used, Dr. Paul Cairns (Chair of the Board of Studies) argues that there was no unfairness: “Students were only advantaged by being particularly diligent [in finding the past papers] and I would hope that diligence would be of advantage .”

The course reps for Compu-

ter Science left a message in the Facebook group giving Cairns’ response to the student’s outrage.

Students were told on behalf of Cairns that they were not disadvantaged as with two more papers for this module “everything will average out” and that finding the past paper in question would have been merely the equivalent of “finding a good textbook”.

The department admitted that this repetition of questions was not in line with the guidance tutors are given when setting questions. The closest thing to an apology the students got was being told via the course reps on behalf of the department that Dr Jeremy Jacob, who taught half the module and set the repeated questions “had been a bit careless”. Cairns though emphasises to Vision that the repetition “was a pragmatic decision in the circumstances in which the exam was set”.

Nothing will be done to amend this disparity in the immediate future, yet Cairns explains to Vision that there will be a “Part A examiners board (in about a month) at which point we will have the results of several assessments...

The matter is not being brushed under the carpet but will be addressed through the processes of the department that are already in place”

BY JACK BRADSHAW

FIGURES OBTAINED by York Vision suggest that bullying and harassment incidents involving university staff members are increasing.

During the academic year 201112, ten staff members left the university citing bullying or harassment as one of the reasons behind their decision. The respective figures for 2009-10 and 2010-11 were six and seven.

In addition, a total of 14 staff members asked for support or advice as a result of such incidences, which also represents the highest level for three years. It is

not known which departments the staff were from, or the exact working relationship between the staff members.

However, the University say that no formal investigations were carried out last academic year despite the apparent increase in bullying and harassment.

A University spokesperson said: “Issues of conflict - including allegations of bullying and harassment, when they occur - are usually resolved before they cause major difficulties for the individuals involved.

“We have well-established procedures in place - staff are invited to raise concerns with their

line managers or with alternative managers where this is not possible. We also have trained contacts across the institution, as well as a full-time team in the Equality and Diversity Office whom people can speak to. I am not aware of any implications for students.”

Back in 2004, bullying and intimidation incidents were exposed in the University of York’s management team, as a survey revealed 75 per cent of staff felt they were no longer valued by the institution.

Meanwhile a third of security staff experienced “a high incidence of bullying” with a further 44 per cent suffering from violence and aggression.

sities, with one-in-five firms having scaled back funding for their graduate recruitment programmes compared with last year.

The news will come as a major blow to the University, with traditional problems regarding employability rearing their head again, despite assurances that the situation was improving YUSU Academic Officer Graeme Osborn told Vision: “It is disappointing to see that York is not on the list, especially as it contains

virtually all of the institutions regarded as our competitors by both students and the university.

“There are, however, some other notable exceptions, such as St. Andrews. The university needs to continue the work it has done to raise its profile (such as joining the Russell Group), improve relations with major employers and ensure that York graduates have all the skills and knowledge that graduate employers expect coupled with the ability to articulate them.”

FEELING LEFT OUT

BY JOE SOFTLEY

THE UK’s top 100 graduate employers are set to focus their search for graduate recruits on a small handful of Universities, with York not making the top 20.

The study, carried out by High Flier Research, shows how the country’s top investment banks, law firms and consultancies will target their recruitment efforts on a more selected group of univer-

YORK VISION

NEWS

Tuesday January 15, 2013

YUSU WELFARE SURVEY REVEALS SHOCKING STATISTICS

72% SEXUALLY HARASSED

BY BETHANY PORTER

A SURVEY commissioned by YUSU has revealed that 72 per cent of York students that responded had experienced sexual harassment whilst at University. Vision can exclusively reveal that of these incidents, a shocking 97.5 per cent went unreported.

The ‘Zero Tolerance’ survey was carried out by YUSU Welfare in conjunction with the YUSU Women’s Officers to explore student awareness of sexual harassment. It was completed by over 200 students.

The survey revealed that women at York were more likely to be a victim of sexual harassment, with 75 per cent of female students reporting experiencing one or more

types of harassment.

Surprisingly, 65 per cent of male students also reported being sexually harassed.

Certain types of harassment were disproportionately experienced by women, for instance few men had experienced wolf-whistling or catcalling compared to over half of female respondents.

LGBTQ students were also 12 per cent more likely to have experienced sexual harassment, encountering inappropriate questions about their sexuality and sex life far more often than non-LGBTQ respondents. One student, who wished to remain anonymous, told Vision, “It happens to me a lot. I think because I’m bisexual people see me as an easy target, particularly when they’re drunk.”

58 per cent of respondents who had experienced harassment

Incidents of sexual harassment that students have experienced during their time at the University of York.

Tweets of the Week 7 Jan

Overheard @OverheardYork

JB Morrell: The sound of a man literally typing on a laptop in a toilet cubicle #stressay Parody account

You can tell people dressed up for the library because of @SpottedYork. It’s changed me, as well. I showered before coming.

Archaeology student

Alice Melly @AliceMelly

14 Jan

Snow isn’t helping my motivation to leave home & go to this lecture, but it’s a dissertation one so I really should. #firstworldproblems English Literature student

9 Jan

Marian Lally @marianlalalally

I can’t help but panic. Procedural essays are the ones that don’t count, formative do, right? If I’m wrong, I’ve 6 hours of hell ahead of me Halifax College President

David Levene @dtlevene

11 Jan

Was wondering what all the funny looks were about on way to and from shop. Then realised: wearing my #Willow tshirt Labour Councillor for Heslington

97.5 PER CENT INCIDENTS UNREPORTED tors in 15 per cent of cases.

When asked why they hadn’t reported the incidents, the majority of victims said that they didn’t know how to report or didn’t trust the process and that they didn’t feel that there would be any point.

Students who knew the perpetrators feared they wouldn’t be believed or that it would happen again.

Women’s Officer Millie Perkins told Vision that the results were upsetting, but not surprising. She was startled that so many students did not report their ordeal.

“This report shows we have a lot of work to do in educating students on what constitutes sexual harassment. The reporting process needs to be made easier and more accessible in order to increase the reporting rate which would allow the issue to be targeted more effectively. We will be planning campaigns throughout the term in order to address this problem and raise the profile of the zero tolerance policy.”

The largest part of the survey was dedicated to uncovering the views of students on what constituted sexual harassment.

Respondents were presented with several different scenarios

and asked to interpret whether sexual harassment had or had not taken place.

Co-Women’s Officer Millie Perkins and Bob Hughes

Interestingly in light of the fact that 42 per cent of surveyed victims knew their harasser, respondents were much more likely to say incidents were sexual harassment if the victim did not know the other person.

Where alcohol was involved there was a distinct difference in attitudes between respondents, with one stating that “It depends on how drunk they are”, and another saying that “Drink doesn’t excuse people - [they] didn’t consent.”

PRIORITY CAMPAIGN YUSU Welfare Officer Bob Hughes expressed great concern with the survey’s results.

“I think the results unfortunately prove what we anecdotally knew to be the case. This is one of my priority campaigns for this year, and so these results serve as a foundation for a dedicated campaign to tackling and challenging sexual harassment in around campus.”

24HR PORTERS

BY JOE SOFTLEY 6 Jan

Lois Stone @kow_le

didn’t know the perpetrator. Unknown offenders were split roughly equally between being unknown students and locals. Harassers were most often male (80 per cent) though women were the perpetra-

YUSU ARE due to begin a campaign to increase the number of college staff and their working hours.

The move comes after the referendum motion “YUSU should support 24 hour staffing in every college” was overwhelmingly passed last November.

“STUDENT BODY DEMANDS IMPROVEMENTS” YUSU President Kallum Taylor told Vision, “As expected, students’ dissatisfaction on college staffing provision has come back onto the agenda, and the high interest and weight of support which the referendum on the matter received suggests that the student body demands improvements.”

“It’s important that we don’t

obsess over the ‘P’ word, however, Porters, Lights On Staff, FRA’s, Spaghetti Monsters, whatever they’re called, it’s about what the staff in college lodges are trained to do, and allowed to do, as well as how long those services operate on a daily basis.”

“The status quo isn’t good enough; and it needs taking seriously. We want a workable solution that doesn’t pitch our members against university staff; but one that seriously values the needs of our members; the people who actually live here; the students.”

Taylor was openly critical of the “Skeletal” portering provision over the Christmas break, and promised to “hit the university hard” in order to get “decent staffing in colleges.”

It would seem the situation is already improving, with YUSU lobbying resulting in next year’s standard portering rota being maintained up until Christmas Eve.

7

Vision's Joe Softley rounds up the highlights of student news from across the country

student press

THE BEGINNING of a new term can mean a few things for different people, but for most it will probably involve a protracted train journey laden with too much to carry, and awkward semi-looks at the nut job who inevitably has the seat next to you.

Nevertheless, you’ve still got to feel for Exeter Fresher Tom Sully, who, after losing in the Hockey club’s annual 5s competition, was made to complete a 16 hour round trip to Edinburgh in one day.

The unfortunate soul left Exeter’s main station at 08.23 in the morning and didn’t arrive in the Scottish capital until 16:05.

However, the trip wasn’t all doom and gloom for young Sully, with members of Edinburgh Uni Hockey team waiting for him on the platform after hearing the story on Twitter.

They presented the intrepid traveller with a bottle of wine, chocolates and a bunch of flowers, proving sports clubs from around the country will always unite in the pursuit of top chat.

Meanwhile, in St Andrews students have reminded us that the class war is still going strong by inevitably taking the whole ‘milking’ thing too far.

Not content with watching people empty milk cartons or port bottles over their heads, some rather ill-advised souls decided to replace the white stuff with champagne.

Cue Internet outrage, with The Tab running with the headline “Champagne Douchebags” and labelling it “violently offensive” for the “quantity of red trousers and the dodgy sound track” along with “the senseless waste of France’s finest export.”

It seems like the abuse might have got to them, as the jesters took the video in question down after only a few short hours, followed swiftly by a grovelling apology to both the SU President and the student paper. They insisted they only intended it to be a “harmless joke”.

It also seems the Internet shitstorm ‘Spotted’ continues to fester in universities across the land despite its untimely demise in York.

Exeter students have decided to take the Facebook page to the next level, with one poster suggesting “New game. See how long you can have your balls out before someone notices...”

And finally, at Southampton University, it seems that the stresses and strains of the exam period have simply got too much for some.

Eight police officers were required to stop a full on brawl at the library after university security failed to quell the ruckus, with one blood thirsty onlooker celebrating the fact they “had front row seats of the action in the Reserve Collection!”

8 NEWS

YORK VISION Tuesday January 15, 2013

YORK VISION

2012 COLLEGE JCRC REVIEW York Vision look back at the College Chairs of 2012 and assess to what extent they kept the promises they made at the start of their tenure...

ALCUIN

2012 College Chair: Pascal Dubois Key objectives:

- Increase team spirit and college rivalry - Make Alcuin ‘Green College’ of the year - Make Alcuin’s freshers’ week the best in the university

Vision says:

The past twelve months have seen Alcuin College progress dramatically under Dubois’ leadership, with a greater sense of community and a series of successful events held throughout the year. The college which has in the past been labelled the “boring college”, has made things more light hearted and enjoyable, receiving the plaudits of students.

Freshers’ Week was a resounding success with STYC’s and students alike having a brilliant time as Alcuin’s events, most notably AnimAL, and they were bigger and better than ever before. Fresher Luke Sheard described it as a “frantic blur of fun,” and feedback was in most

HALIFAX

JAMES

2012 College Chair: George Offer

2012 College Chair: Laura Watson Key objectives:

Key objectives: - Revitalise JJs as a common room/social hub - Extend opening hours of the college’s Costcutter to 8pm each night - Create a college mascot - Encourage second and third years to get involved - Give more funding to international integration

- Retain the RAG Cup - Claim the College Volunteering Cup for James -Improve communication and organisation

Vision says:

Vision says: Outgoing President George Offer has been very popular with ‘Faxers this year, with one third year student describing him as “the best Chair Halifax has ever had.”

He’s made a real attempt to fulfil his promises. His major success has been relaunch of the ‘Xtra’ brand, which when speaking to Vision, Offer described as one of his “highlights of the year.” The Halifax club night has been a wild success, with themes such as Space and Jungle attracting many Halifax students to JJs, with all year groups getting more involved.

JJs itself is used much more frequent-

cases overwhelmingly positive.

In sporting terms Dubois has led by example, captaining the volleyball team as Alcuin aimed to return to the top of the college sport pedestal. That wasn’t achieved, but more people seemed to take part in college sport which was an extremely encouraging sign.

His Environment and Ethics team did an excellent job in collecting spare food and kitchen utensils at the end of term which would have otherwise gone to waste, but overall energy consumption figures have not been fed down to the colleges. Overall it has been a successful twelve months, and the outgoing chair can be proud of his achievements and will leave the next chair with a much improved college.

ly for events than previously, and can truly be described as a ‘social hub’.

Halifax also created a mascot, and ‘Faxy the Lion’ is regularly present on Halifax nights out and at college sports matches.

Clearly, Offer tried hard to meet his policy commitments, but despite his efforts he did not manage to achieve them all. The Halifax Costcutter is only open until 7pm during term time currently.

Proud of his contribution to Halifax life. George Offer enthused about his time as President, telling Vision: “It’s been an amazing year and an awesome team.”

2012 was undoubtedly a fantastic year for James College, thanks in large part to the leadership and organisation of Laura Watson. She tells Vision: “I have absolutely adored my time as Chair; every term is different and you get to learn so many things. Freshers’ Week was a huge success and, overall, attendance at our various events has been good.

“For example, in the Autumn Term we had 300 people come along to the Halloween bar crawl. And also, we’ve focused on internationalisation which has been a unique part of the college.”

James also had a successful year, in claim-

ing the RAG Cup, one of Watson’s key objectives as College Chair, and organising a hugely enjoyable Collingwood Cup tournament against Durham. Co-operation has also been a common theme under Watson, with the RAG team working with Alcuin to organise the spooning contest in October.

Watson says there are a couple of things which could be improved in 2013, namely “improving our publicity and building up the hype to make sure our events are even more successful,” something she says new Chair Dexter Clarke will hopefully be able to succeed in.

YORK VISION

NEWS

Tuesday January 15, 2013

DERWENT

GOODRICKE

2012 College Chair: Francesca Knight Key objectives:

- Promote RAG, particularly RAG week - Foster a more accessible JCRC - Fight for survival of events in D-Bar - Make STYC training more intense, and the role more important

Vision says:

The last year has seen some controversial and significant changes to Derwent College, from it being one of the smallest colleges known for its tight-knit community it has become one of the largest and Knight has seen it through these difficult changes.

A keen member of the college netball team, Knight ensured that she remained a familiar and approachable face to all the members of her college.

The fact that Derwent had a record number of people voting in its recent elections is testament to the affection its members hold for it.

When it comes to RAG, Derwent made up for its small size by winning the RAG Week prize. The survival of events in DBar has been a very big part of the year

for Knight and the JCRC, she affirms that “D-Bar is our bar, and it remained so.”

With the purchase of equipment to make Club-Ds and other events cheaper, it does seem that a more secure future for D-Bar is a legacy that Knight and her team can be proud of.

Despite the college being twice the size this academic year, and so worries there would not be enough STYCs, Knight’s implementation of longer STYC training, contracts and daily contact with head STYCs seems to have paid off. A Derwent fresher tells Vision: “Personally I felt the STYCs were very organised…There was a lot of them and everyone felt at home straight away.”

Her hard work appears to have left Derwent’s sociable, welcoming status intact.

2012 College Chair: Emily Miller Key objectives:

- Improve the ‘Goodricke experience’ - Work with Langwith JCRC to create inter-college events on Hes East - Improve welfare provision so that welfare issues can be resolved ‘in college’

Vision says:

Emily Miller may have accepted defeat in some aspects of her term as Goodricke College Chair, admitting that she “quickly learnt that not everything [she] had planned was realistically achievable.”

Despite this she does seem to have achieved her aim of improving the welfare provisions of the college, which recently was joined by Langwith over in the Hes East part of campus.

Not least of these welfare aims was the achievement of Miller and her team in running successful and free events such as GoodFest in the summer term. These events were inclusive to everyone, drawing the college together and ensuring that the JCRC were well-known and approachable figures.

Whilst the inter-college events may not have picked up as much momentum as

LANGWITH

hoped, the combining of the Rugby team with that from Langwith College, on top of all the other events and activities within the college, has ensured a lot more opportunities and incentives for students to play an active role within their college.

Miller emphasises that there has been a noticeable improvement in the working relationship between College Chairs than in previous years, which has become apparent in many respects, most notably the combined sports teams as mentioned above. This improved inter-Chair working relationship can also be seen in the referendums, such as the campaign for 24-hour portering, which was an all round success.

VANBRUGH

2012 College Chair: Jack Baker

2012 College Chair: Matt Stephenson

Key objectives:

Key objectives:

- Reform STYC system - Hassle free move to Hes East - Make sport more accessible - Celebrate Langwith spirit - Maintain relationships between colleges

- Re-open 24-hour portering - Improve college security - Promote college sports societies - Ensure V-Bar becomes a successful college hub - Promote music societies

Vision says:

Vision says:

It’s been an unprecedented year for Langwith with the move over to Heslington East finally completed. However, the question was whether the JCRC could successfully address not just the practicalities of the move but whether they would be able to transfer college spirit over to the new campus.

Jack Baker’s pledge to dramatically improve sport were seen through, with “sign-ups being made available during Fresher’s Week and uptake being particularly good.”

Langwith spirit is at an all time high, with event attendance on the up, with the college taking over 200 students to Leeds

Whilst the gain of 24-hour portering for Vanbrugh College may seem a bit of an easy achievement considering it was a University–wide referendum to get 24-hour portering in all colleges, there is no denying that Stephenson lived up to his promise to campaign tirelessly for the matter. He told Vision that; “Security and welfare in colleges is an issue I really care about” and he definitely appears to have been true to his word.

Stephenson also played a significant role in securing funding for the refurbishment of V-Bar, and thanks to that support alongside the hard work of

on a bar crawl. The college also managed to attract a huge number to the Langwith Christmas ball, with over 200 attending again, a college record.

Despite initially hoping to reform the STYC system, it seems Baker was unable to push through any genuine change. However, speaking to Vision he maintained that he is “immensely proud of all the work that the 2012 JCRC achieved. All of my campaign points were met through a combination of work with the JCRC, YUSU and the other colleges. All that has been accomplished leaves the new committee in good stead to further Langwith’s growing success.”

9

the bar team and music reps, V-Bar has become a genuine social hub for the College and University, making good use of its central position on campus. The widely acknowledged success of the Battle of the Bands events are testament to the success of Stephenson and his whole team, which he increased by one music rep to aid organisation.

He has also focussed on increasing sports funding for Vanbrugh teams, to help them become as successful as they can be. Whilst in the rankings Vanbrugh may still have a way to go, Stephenson is confident that he has left them with “the best foundations to build on.”

10ADVERTISEMENT

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COMMENT

Tuesday January 15, 2013

COMMENT STUDENT SERVICES ARE A WASH OUT

11

www.yorkvision.co.uk/comment comment@yorkvision.co.uk

THE UNIVERSITY NEEDS TO SPEND MONEY ON BETTER STUDENT SERVICES

TOM DAVIES

I

s it acceptable of all things considered to call Circuit Managed Laundry Systems, the company with a monopoly on the university laundrettes in halls, a bunch of Fascists? Maybe not, but they aren’t far off.

The charge sheet is endless. Not having a normal coin operated system like every other launderette on the planet, designing a card system which requires you to journey to Costcutter and use the least user-friendly machine in the world to buy your card.

Not giving change, so you have to make sure you have a five pound note, or better still coins, because it wouldn’t take the five pound note I gave it. Not actually washing your clothes properly, in some cases failing to get them vaguely damp. The dryers taking fifty minutes and not really drying your clothes. And the online top up system is about as convenient as being kidnapped

by Somali pirates. I rang them about this and sat in a queue for twenty minutes before giving up and going for a cigarette.

Circuit’s next piece of audacity has actually irritated me to the point it gets its own paragraph. When you pay five pounds for the card, you only get three pounds fifty credit. That is daylight robbery on Circuit’s part. It may only be one fifty, but it’s one fifty for a flimsy piece of plastic which they virtually force you to buy, assuming, of course, you don’t want to be confused for a homeless man or chased out of your lectures for smelling like an open sewer in a South American slum.

This is Circuit consciously abusing their monopoly with extoritionate rates. This isn’t Communist China; we don’t allow monopolies in our society so companies can’t just, to use a phrase, “mug everybody off.”

When I apply for a debit card, they don’t dare try and charge me for the card itself for one simple reason; that they set to gain from me choosing them as my card provider. If they try and charge me for a piece of plastic then I’ll just go somewhere else. It’s their loss. With Circuit you don’t get a choice.

So what can the University do about all this? Well the University either needs to step in and make sure that Circuit provide a competent service and a fair deal for students or allow other laundry companies to provide alternatives to Circuit on campus.

But there are also things we can do as stu-

dents, like wash all of our clothes in our sinks. Which is free and probably washes them better than the Circuit machines anyway. Or alternatively just refuse to wash at all and stand outside of Heslington Hall until the smell becomes unbearable and

Does the University think just because they’ve outsourced the laundry to a private company they can make like Pontius Pilate and wash their hands of the whole crime? the University administration caves in.

Obviously we are now paying three times more to the University than last year’s intake, which should have given the University a considerable cash boost. Now I’m not one of those anti cuts militants, this isn’t about the fees themselves but rather how the University is spending them. So where has the money gone Brian? Most of this extra money is allegedly supposed to have gone into student services. Do York University think that just because they’ve outsourced the laundry to a private company they can make like Pontius Pilate and wash

their hands of the whole crime? The University is obligated to make sure that students have at very least an acceptable service and it’s clear we are simply not getting one.

The laundry service is by no means the only issue. Take for example the Hes East debacle. YUSU has allegedly won some sort of big victory recently in regards to the buses; I don’t profess to know the ins and outs of it. But still Hes East has been lacking a working cashpoint or a permanent shop.

Rumour has it they’re now using chicken bones for currency over there, which is pointless because they still have to go to Costcutter on Hes West to buy the chicken.

What the hell is the deal here? Why does it seem that time and time again the University is somehow rendered unable to do anything about these issues? Whilst all the time the plans continue to go ahead for a new ninth College. Once again I’m not a property developer but surely that isn’t cheap?

Until the problems with student services have been fixed for existing students the University cannot even think about spending an extortionate sum on providing facilities for theoretical students. It’s about time the University showed us where our money is going, because I think most students would agree that at the moment, the answer would be, not where we’d like it to.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT IS NO JOKE

OLYMPIA SHIPLEY

O

THE DELHI RAPE CASE SHOULD MAKE US THINK TWICE ABOUT THE OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN

ver the Christmas holidays the story of a single rape in Delhi has led to much debate in the world media, as well as a social uprising brought by the citizens of India themselves.

Rape, though, is not something that can be confined to a few countries. As Libby Brooks identified, this is a “global crisis” in which no country can claim to be civilised, least of all the UK. But the topic of global rape is too huge to be addressed in this single article and examining the treatment of rape in the justice systems of the world is already under intense inspection in light of the case. What I want to tell you is that this is a news story that affects us all on this campus. Considering the fact that the victim was a medical student (though rape and sexual harassment have never been solely aimed at a single group), let’s ask how this case affects us: students.

Britain is a country that, like the rest of the world, likes to ‘victim blame’ when it comes to sexual harassment. The first criticism this statement might bring is that

‘sexual harassment’ is too broad a term - it can mean wolf-whistling to one person and groping to the next. Nevertheless, sexual harassment is continued and unwanted attention that is never asked for, much as we like to think that it is. To say that a woman has had her behind pinched because she looks “hot” is much easier to say than stating that she exists in a false society where she is considered free but in fact does not possess the rights over her own body. By this I mean that, when a woman is dressed in any fashion (not necessarily tight-fitting), she loses the right to express herself for her own pleasure in favour of the world stepping in to have a grope. We all know this is false: women and men should be able to dress however they please without being told that they look in some way daring or promiscuous. Besides, people don’t get sexually harassed for the way they are dressed, as the website Everyday Sexism proves. It is filled with stories of women harassed while going about their ‘Everyday’ lives, and if you don’t believe me, read it.

The idea that people are harassed for expressing their sexuality in attitude and appearance is ridiculously false. It is also just as wrong to say that, if a person is violated when tipsy, drunk or worse, it is their own fault because they did not take due care over their own alcohol consumption. A drunk person in a vulnerable situa-

tion is not a joke, and if you think so, then consider the drinking habits of students generally. If you consider that there is a risk you will be sexually assaulted when you are busy socialising, does that curb your drinking? No, and neither should it, because it is considered your right to be sociable and to be able to let your hair down.

To say that a woman has had her behind pinched because she looks “hot” is much easier to say than stating that she exists in a false society where she is considered free but in fact does not possess the rights over her own body.

Another person has no right to infringe on that because you‘ve been drinking. This is a problem for young people across the Western World and was recently highlighted in a case in Steubenville, Ohio, where a 16 year old girl was originally blamed for her own rape after drinking. The fact that she was “dragged, drunk and unresponsive, from party to party, [to be] sexually abused” (The Guardian) was seemingly irrelevant.

If this seems quite distant from the case I started to talk about, then let’s bring it back. Seemingly “petty” comments and groping on nights out do turn students into nothing more than objects, in the same way that a person is turned into an object when they are raped. You cannot divide women into stereotypes of those who “had it coming” and those “innocent victims,” because nobody deserves their rape.

I have concentrated a lot on women’s issues of sexual harassment in this article, but I wanted to finish by saying that global rape can never just be considered a crime committed solely against women, as men too are victims. Rape is a sexual pleasure derived from forcing yourself onto another in a way that is not consented, and it happens to both men and women. Our idea in the UK of laughing off sexual harassment against women is perverse because in doing so you class women as nothing more than objects and men as nothing more than owners: it’s wrong for both genders.

If you’ve reached the final paragraph then I hope you agree that no one, male or female, deserves to be defined by their gender. But then we should ask: why does sexual harassment and rape happen in Britain, America, India, the world? It happens because it is allowed, because you are supposed to be nothing more than an object. Hardly fair, is it?

12 COMMENT

YORK VISION Tuesday January 15, 2013

THERE’S A MAP FOR THAT ARE THE IMPROVEMENTS IN TECHNOLOGY GOOD FOR

THE VOICE OF

YORK VISION

W

Vision Says...

hilst it is easy for us to focus our attention on extreme cases, the frictions present in a landlord/ student-tenant relationship on however small a level cannot be ignored.

Being a student-tenant, rather than one likely to hold the property as their main address, gives the main source of insecurity for the landlord. With a tenant in constant flux, physically and financially, it is hardly surprising that often landlords fail to make the necessary effort required to foster a good tenant-landlord relationship.

Yet when landlords do make this effort the result is clear, they will often avoid readvertising as the friends of previous tenants will hear about the house before they need to, and the building will more often than not be cared for properly, as small issues can be flagged up before they become serious due to better communication.

It is small issues that often go ignored by both students and landlords with short student tenancies. After all, spending just one year with walls that haven’t been painted in years and have a coating of mould on isn’t too bad is it? And if students find the house in a mess they’ll just be happy they can just leave their mess behind as well...

K

AGGIE CHAMBRE

A

s 2012 drew to a close, we celebrated all that had been achieved; the Olympics, the world not ending and Obama being elected over Romney. These momentous occasions were celebrated all over the world, but these events are not all that was accomplished over the last year. The iPhone 5 (the lightest, fastest phone yet), the Kindle Fire, and the iPad mini just to name a few.

All of these amazing technological developments have been unveiled to high praise and rapturous applause.

However, is all of this technology good for us? Or is it just making us lazier and slowly but surely making us totally socially incapable? It struck me on my train up to York at the start of term. I was sitting in a carriage and noticed that no one was talking, not even a whisper. I concluded that this must be the silent carriage. One where any noise would warrant an angry look from the northern businessmen sitting all around the overcrowded northern express. But no, I looked up and discovered the reason that no sound was emanating from carriage C from Kings Cross to York station: every single person was on his or her smart phone. My neighbour was checking Facebook, others were on Twitter, some were watching programmes and a few were even doing work.

I cling onto the vain hope that I am not

Thumbs down to...

he Computer Science department, for somehow setting the same questions in an exam as two years ago. Students, preparing for the exam revising old exam questions, must have experienced a sense of deja vu during the assessment. Many other students are angry that others were given an unfair advantage, having already seen the questions on the VLE. Just how hard can it be, for an exam with just three questions, to find different questions to those posed in previous years? Such complacency is frankly inexcusable, especially during the £9,000 era when students demand, and expect, more than ever before.

coming across as an exaggerated character from Grumpy Old Men talking about how much I miss the ‘golden years’. However I do have to say, I do miss the way people used to say hello, or vaguely nod their head when they passed one another in a corridor. Now there is no need, because you are consumed by your iPod or your conversation on the phone. Stopping a stranger in the street to ask for directions is now an incredibly archaic idea. A Sat Nav needs only a postcode, and on foot you can always use Google maps.

There is less and less reason for people to interact.

I cling onto the vain hopes that I am not coming across as an exaggerated character from Grumpy Old Men talking about how much I miss the ‘golden years’.

So as genuine relations become less common, as does the chance of meeting that special someone. The rise in Internet dating is merely a symptom of our automated generation. In the USA, 40 million people have tried Internet dating. When speaking to people who have tried the phenomenon, successfully or otherwise, they explained that it had become difficult to meet people in real life.

With the percentage of single and married people decreasing as time goes on, it is easy to assume that this must be to do with less

interaction between people. This is not only sanctioned but encouraged by our modern world.

In the olden days I have been told that people would arrange to meet at a specific place at a certain time. This bred a generation of punctuality and reliability. While I still view these as revered, important qualities, they are becoming far more rare as time goes on. It is so common nowadays to delay a meeting with a single text or make the appointment entirely redundant with an extended mobile phone conversation or email exchange.

Were you aware that there is an app on the iPhone called ‘find my phone?’ If you ever lose your phone, you can get a signal that will send a message to whoever finds it. These days, you can even find your car keys with a bleeper. You can put an alert on your purse for those days that you have put it down and “just can’t find it anywhere.” Sony has just brought out a waterproof phone.

Dropping it in the bath couldn’t even stop you. This makes organization redundant, it used to be critical for our existence and now it is far easier to rely on your electronic items.

Our mobile phones are getting smarter, faster and more powerful by the day. At this stage, you will never have to turn the paper page of a book again, the Kindle has seen to that. The way things are going, if I were to do produce this article in a year’s time, I would be dictating instead of typing. This will be viewed as progress for mankind, but I for one, will miss the good old-fashioned writing.

OF PRICE AND MEN MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE TO ENCOURAGE WHITE WORKING-CLASS

Thumbs up to...

allum Taylor, for an excellent first term as YUSU President. The man also known as ‘Special K’ has already achieved a huge amount related to the new Heslington East campus, securing a more frequent Uni Bus service as well as a cash machine for Langwith and Goodricke students. Recently, Taylor has been campaigning hard for 24-hour college staffing as a result of last term’s referendum result, an overdue requirement for our campus.

What’s more, Taylor led the line for York at last term’s National Student Demo, being realistic about his aims and condemning the comments of Vicki Baars. But it’s not just this which makes Kallum a special President. He always keeps us in touch via his regular YUSU blog (always accompanied by some classic music) as well as through his Facebook page. Student’s Union presidents across the country can, and should, learn much from Taylor’s example.

T

US OR ARE THEY MAKING US LAZY?

MALES TO APPLY TO UNIVERSITY DESPITE FEES HIKE

ALEX FINNIS

R

ecent figures show that university applications have fallen further as a result of the rise in fees commanded by the government which came into effect last year.

There has been a drop in applications of more than six per cent, with less than a month to go until the deadline for 2013, suggesting that we are set to see a second sizeable fall in applications since the introduction of £9,000-a-year fees.

Whilst the fee hike is clearly having an effect on prospective students across the board, perhaps most worrying is the number of white working-class males who are applying to university. UCAS figures for last autumn show a drop of 22,000 applications from this category, whilst the decrease in entry rate for men in general was four times larger than that of women.

This is a difficult statistic to believe, but unfortunately, it is the truth. Money is putting men off higher education and forcing them down a different path, and with a U-turn on higher fees simply not an option, it is clear that something must be done to counter this sharp fall.

All the statistics show that girls tend to fare better than boys in education, but that the gap closes as we grow older. Uni-

versity is a time at which men should come into their own in terms of education – the more independent approach suits us more than the spoon-feeding methods you get in schools, yet so many clearly now feel that they are not being given the chance to experience this.

Even in today’s world, there is still pressure on men to earn more money than women. Whilst the stereotype of a stay-at-home mum cooking and cleaning as her husband goes to work to earn the cash is no longer the norm, and women are embarking upon the careers they should there is still huge

Britain has always been a country which has been built on the back of its working-class men pressure on men to be breadwinners and provide for a family. This is the case even from a young age; it is part of a man’s thinking long before this family even exists.

The first thing that must be addressed is the way many people see student debt. It is not debt in the traditional sense and does not hang over you in the same way. A better way to see it is as a tax, a small monthly fee that you pay for the heightened opportunities a university degree buys you, and one that you do not begin to pay until you are earning decent money. Whilst the idea of having close to £30,000 of tuition fees alone to repay is a daunting one for any prospec-

tive student, it is an investment in your future, one that, with the right attitude, will pay off.

Since the government made the decision to raise fees, it is their responsibility that young people are properly informed about how they will pay for university. The true nature of a student loan, all the ins and outs, should be taught to and understood by every applicant without fail.

Secondly, the benefit of going to university is something that should be taught in all schools, and there must also be increased university representation within schools. Better bonds must be built between secondary and higher education; we need stronger partnerships so that university feels more like a natural progression than a drastic change.

Thirdly, schools need more male teachers – boys feel that female teachers will mark them more harshly and this takes effect on their effort levels. We all know that a pupil’s attitude to education is something that is very dependent on their teachers, and if boys have teachers they can connect with they are more likely to enjoy, and therefore want to pursue education.

Universities meanwhile need to be more open about who and what they want, and more places must be provided to give people the opportunity to study.

There is no simple answer to this issue, but Britain has always been a country which has been built on the back of its working class men, we cannot let this rise in fees exclude them from our future.

YORK VISION

COMMENT

Tuesday January 15, 2013

13

Patrick Greenfield

FOR GOD’S SAKE CHRIS ALLEN

T The removal of ‘Spotted: University of York’ is having serious effects on students’ emotional stability

ARE INTERVIEWS A VALID ASSESSMENT FOR A UNIVERSITY APPLICATION?

YES

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OLIVIA HEAD

hy do I believe interviews are a valid way of evaluating university applications? Two words: personal statements. That is why.

Some of you out there will be thinking, “What is she talking about? Personal statements are an essential part of an application, eradicating the need for time consuming, costly interviews. Mine gave me the chance to express my passion for my subject and gave the university a chance to see beyond my grades, to what I was really like as a person.” Others of you out there know exactly what it is I’m talking about and will be thinking to yourselves: “Say no more. There is no way of establishing an argument in favour of interviews better than the reminder of personal statements.” I would love to say no more and leave those two

NO

I

OSCAR PEARSON

t’s a brutally expensive process, favours private-school students and ultimately widens the gap between the privileged and disadvantaged: interviewing to determine whether to make students an offer of a place at university is just fundamentally wrong.

The typical format of these interviews - where candidates are grilled by a panel of academics - undoubtedly gives an advantage to confident and eloquent pupils who have been coached in how to respond. The process just allows those who are educationally advantaged to excel: at my state school we had absolutely no interview practice throughout our entire two years of A-Levels; yet down the road Exeter public school students were at it for a whole week, with profes-

words do the talking. It would be like the girl at my school (or was it at yours?) who opened her Philosophy A-Level exam paper and saw the word “Why”, to which she replied “Because”.

However, I’m not just going to leave things there because there is something important to be said in favour of interviews and, more importantly, as an argument against the personal statement.

Cast your mind back to yours. No doubt you remember exactly how it started, I mean you did agonise over it for weeks. You probably couldn’t forget it even if you really wanted to (I’ve tried).

An Oscar Wilde quote, a rhetorical question: “My experience of [insert subject] at A-Level has really opened my eyes?”

Starting to cringe a little at its pretentiousness/over-enthusiasm/boringness?

If you’re anything like me, all three. Did it give a real sense of why you wanted to study at whichever university you were applying to? Did it actually sound anything like you at all? I mean, I can’t speak a word of French, but for some reason I opened mine with the words “Rien de Nouveau”.

I’m not being funny but if universities actually wanted a real impression of what their future students were like, why would they torment them by giving them only 4,000 characters and freak them out with all their advice on how to write a ‘good’ statement; do not, under any circumstances, use words such as “passionate” or sentences like “I have always wanted to be a…?” Thanks UCAS, UBITCH. Sure, for students there would be many downsides to interviews, like having to take time off school, buy smart new clothes and meet other hopeful applicants… But for universities there’s no doubt it would be a better way of finding out a bit about students and gauging whether they were right for the course and the university.

Sadly though, I think the notion that universities actually care about our personalities and interests is just something we’re tricked into believing so we don’t feel so powerless in the whole rigmarole of university applications. As long as you get your five A*s they don’t give one solitary shit.

sional opportunities left right and centre to rehearse techniques and familiarise themselves with high level discussion.

Besides, research has consistently shown that the typical interview is pretty unreliable. They do not by any means ensure that the ‘best’ candidate is successful.

Under the traditional interview system, candidates answer questions about their exam results; work experience; hobbies and their reasons for wanting to study their chosen discipline. Really, though, all this has already been covered in students’ personal statements and some universities have even admitted these interviews are not what they seem.

Rather, it looks like an interview, feels like an interview, but actually doesn’t make the slightest bit of difference to an application. The university has already decided to make an offer and the interview is merely a clever way of encouraging the student to accept it. If you, for instance, travel half way across the country, answer some challenging questions and then receive an offer, it makes

you feel good. About yourself, yes, but also about the university. Hence, you are much more likely to accept that offer in favour of one which just popped up on UCAS. Universities claim then, if anything, interviews give students a feel for the department and life at that particular institution. Yet, the chance is there during open days, which ultimately provide more in terms of opportunities to speak to academics and see what you like, at your own pace.

Right across the spectrum – be it jobs or university – interviews don’t allow great insight as to what candidates are really like: they’re on best behaviour from minute one and try to say all the right things instead of being absolutely truthful. Besides, there’s the commonly held belief that job interviewers have already made up their mind within a few seconds as first impressions are that important.

In truth, interviews are a waste of time and do more to hinder the application process rather than help it.

ensions between secular liberals and Christian apologists are once again bubbling over.

Recent developments (or lack thereof) in the Church of England have brought impassioned supporters from both sides of the argument out into the open to, again, don gloves and scrap for public support. The Church’s recent rejection of the proposal to allow women to become bishops, combined with its feeble concession to gay men that they can be bishops if they are in a civil partnership, as long as they promise not to express their love for each other even in the privacy of their own homes, offers further insight, if any more were necessary, that the Church of England’s core principles are completely at odds with the values we today cherish and send people to die in defence of. Now, while the Church has every right to defend its beliefs , just as the rest of us do, it is surely clear that support for the disestablishment of the Church of England and denying it exemption from equalities legislation is the only conceivable option for anyone of an egalitarian and progressive disposition.

I would like you to take a moment just to think about the absurdity of the grand status that the Church of England has in society. It alone, of our official state bodies, does not have to abide by equalities and employment legislation, freely allowing it to discriminate on the grounds of gender.

The Church of England, then, is essentially one of the last examples in the UK of the dusty, squalid, smoky gentlemen’s clubs that encapsulate every-

One can no longer justify having an established Church that is not subordinate to Parliament nor bound by its legislation.

thing regrettable about our Age of Empire. If the Church of England were nothing more than this, one could almost forgive them of that slight idiosyncrasy. But can you imagine how you would react to new legislation that stated that 26 places in the House of Lords should be reserved for Bertie Wooster and his coves down at the Drones Club, or that the manager of a gentlemen’s club is entitled to found a primary school in which he tells the children that it is impossible to be a moral human being without being a member of, or the wife/property of a member of, his particular club? Laughable, right?

But this is exactly the privilege that is awarded to the Church of England, all because of its unfalsifiable and irrational claims that not only does God exist (a belief I do not share but could never hope to disprove), but, as luck would have it, the god they have been brought up to believe in is the ‘correct’ one and that this god will judge you based on which orifices you derive your sexual pleasures from. Are we not mature enough to say that such extraordinary dogma has no right to be granted special dispensation without any evidence to justify it? With an ever-secularising population, one can no longer defend having an established Church that is not subordinate to Parliament nor bound by its legislation. By all means, believe whatever you like; just don’t expect your government-sanctioned misogyny and homophobia to triumph over freedom, democracy and the rule of law for much longer.

14 COMMENT

2012 YEAR OF THE SEX TAPE GEORGINA STRAPP

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hen I heard that during Freshers’ Week 2012, 2,378 people clicked on to the porn site Redtube using University wifi, I was shocked. The traditional view we have is that students, especially during our Freshers’ Week, are socialising and drunkenly creating some (horrific) memories of our first taste of independence (#noparents #nobedtimes). It’s not like students don’t have the chance to be doing all of the above, so what makes us choose to sit in our rooms watching people on the internet exhibition themselves instead? It’s not like we’d enjoy looking at half the images or videos we see online in real life (Hulk Hogan having sex anyone...? Thought not).

I considered this whilst watching the nuns across the road from my bedroom window have a cheeky flirt with the white van man that had parked in their yard, and began to think about how much of our culture is made up of watching other people, whether attractive or not, in various stages of intimacy. I’m sure the nuns aren’t meant to look at dirty pictures, yet this has lost its taboo so much I’m sure even they have had a peek at some misbehaving monks at some stage, just to see what all the fuss was about.

Prince Harry’s leaked photos playing strip-billiards have just added to the popularity of the Monarchy. Far from the majority thinking he is a disgrace, Harry is now the man that every girl wants to be with and the guys want to be. I’m not suggesting that letting naked pictures of yourself end up online is an advisable way to get the whole country to want to have sex with you. But who’s going to argue with a prince?

Harry naked is a pretty healthy obsession for the country to have and in my view, the priorities of our media are definitely improving. We all know we have no money and that our politicians are making it up as they go along so Harry is a much more sensible focus. But we have managed to get a bit weirder in our prying tendencies. I’m not even going to go into some of the wonders online - nugget porn or pterodactyl porn to name a few (I’m no psychiatrist) and yet the celebrity sex-tape craze seems to really have taken off. And not all because of how hot it is. Tulisa was awarded FHM’s sexiest woman in the world award despite her being nothing special (just saying what everyone is thinking…) pretty much based on the publicity her sex tape got. Yet this was no great sex tape, no one who has seen it has had any reaction to it other than confusion as to how bad she was. So maybe she won the FHM award on the basis that she reassured the population that we must be better in bed than her? I like to think so at least.

This is not to say that if someone leaked a sex tape of me onto the internet and sent it around York, I wouldn’t be angry as long as it was a good one. But maybe after 3,000 years we should just get over the fact that people have sex. Yes, it will be a bit awkward meeting someone that has already seen you naked - but at least there won’t be any surprises on the third date.

YORK VISION Tuesday January 15, 2013

THE BIG OPINIONS

SHOULD ‘SPOTTED:YORK’ HAVE BEEN TAKEN DOWN? TOM A-C DERWENT FIRST YEAR The University of York appears to be a breeding ground for those who cry sexual harassment at everything. Having worked in ‘the real world’ for four years I can say that it isn’t nice. I wouldn’t repeat some of the things I have heard in the workplace, as it was horrible. You simply cannot close everything down that causes offence to someone in society. We will end up with nothing at all. Loads of universities have accounts with far more offensive material but they don’t get closed, this is probably because the ones who would get offended just don’t read it.

NICK DUNN-MCAFEE VANBRUGH THIRD YEAR You have the right to say what you want, but not anonymously. A gaggle of pseudo-politicos seem to be throwing dummies out of prams and screaming “FREE SPEECH” like it actually has relevance. So if you want to tell the girl reading Tolkein that you want to “wear her like a ring”, go for it. In a free society, you’ve got a right to say what you want but you also have to live with the consequences. If you can’t deal with these, then, like your sexual fantasy involving that flirty PhD tutor dressed as a young Margaret Thatcher, keep it in your head.

ANMOLI SODHA DERWENT CHAIR

MILLIE PERKINS WOMEN’S OFFICER Sexual harassment is prevalent amongst students, as shown in the recent survey, and as such we have a zero tolerance approach to sexual harassment. ‘Spotted’ may have had good intentions however without proper moderation the comments had become awash with bodyshaming and unsolicited sexual propositions. Every student has the right to work in peace without the worry of being publicly and anonymously judged on their appearance. I welcome the mature response shown by the moderators and feel it was the right thing for them to do.

Like many others I found it an irresistible source of procrastination. Many posts were lighthearted and well intended but some were unnecessarily harsh and it made me think twice about the way I looked in my library sit-ins. People are stressed over exams, they don’t need to be made to feel self-conscious in a communal study area. Laughing at other people’s expense is inappropriate. The situation however called for moderation, not shutdown. The owners of the page responded maturely to criticism, and I look forward to seeing the original site revived with more appropriate self-vetting of posts.

#MORALLYOUTRAGED OLIVER TODD

WE ARE PART OF AN INCREASING CULTURE OF MORAL OUTRAGE

The short-lived demise of ‘Spotted: University of York Library’ is just the latest of moral outrage sagas within the York bubble. 2012 saw students moaning about the library cafe opening hours, March’s Derwent JCRC ‘Nicked’ campaign, and timetable changes, in amongst a host of other menial issues.

Facebook seems to be filled with their ‘#outrage’ of others eating in the library, others talking in the library, and others taking up seats in the library. The comment that perhaps best summed it all up on the Vision website was that of ‘Crying Girl’: “I wish we could all get along like we used to in middle school…”

This is not just a problem that exists in York though. From the nationwide moral crusade against Channel 4’s ‘Big Fat Quiz of the Year’ to complaints about footballers who have dropped the odd borderline swearword on Twitter: we’re becoming an easily-offended and humourless nation – and to think that the British are famed for our sense of humour. Unfortunately this does not quite come hand-in-hand with our thirst for morality in every walk of life. Moral outrage spreads across social networks within seconds – got something to moan about? You have a voice to any-

one who is not so sick of it that they have blocked your posts, yet.

People often talk about their love for this university and its community atmosphere: you can barely walk across campus without bumping into someone you know or someone you would rather avoid – but it has its own negatives. Every other university out there seems to manage to run pages similar to ‘Spotted’ without causing mass controversy.

A quick private message voicing your concerns could do the same trick that vomiting your outrage all over campus and social networks does Unfortunately in York it seems the banter always goes a step too far for some, on both sides of the coin. We seem pretty docile otherwise: York rarely sees too much excitement and furore over big events and hasn’t even elected a pirate as Union President since 1998 (look it up). That is until we stray into the territory of anything that we can take any kind of offence to. Is this some kind of procrastination from essays, a ridiculous ego trip that spans a small campus or something else?

Just because we all have a publishable voice now, and student life may not be for

you what it was made out to be, does not mean that you need to be perennially moaning, and a quick private message voicing your concerns could do the same trick that vomiting your outrage all over campus and social networks does – without punishing the innocent bystanders who are just looking for a more laid back time away from the normal stresses of work.

Personally, I am all for putting up a fight when necessary, and equally I am not one for sexist, racist or other offensive comments or actions, but neither am I in favour of the moral crusaders surrounding minor topics. We have all got a pretty good life going – with lukewarm student homes, running water and Domino’s Pizza available until 5am – but this does not mean we should be spouting the ‘M’ word all over the place.

The articles on this topic from Nouse and Vision have already received over 70 comments between them. Why are we copying the explosive reactions over minor events that we currently see in the national media as well as across social media? York’s bubble has developed a reflective layer of knee-jerk reactions that we could really do without.

So ultimately, to those airing the views that are riling everyone up – please stop, and to those moaning about it – please also cease. In reality, we can probably count the days until the next ‘big’ thing that people want to air an opinion about. Quite frankly, I wish we could all get along like we used to in middle school…

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FEATURES

YORK VISION Tuesday January 15, 2013

FEATURES

www.yorkvision.co.uk/features features@yorkvision.co.uk

LIFE AFTER STROKE PATRICK GREENFIELD speaks exclusively to Becky Beaumont, a 22-year-old stroke survivor...

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hen Becky Beaumont went to bed after returning home from a pub quiz in October 2011, awaking to find the left side of her body in complete paralysis was the last thing she expected.

“I woke up listening to my dad go to work. I didn’t have any aches or pains but I had a bit of a headache. Then I tried to reach for my phone and my left arm would not lift. I thought I had pins and needles so I tried to lift it again but I still couldn’t do it. I lifted my left leg up and that didn’t work. Nothing was connecting so I started to panic and I called my mum.”

I asked Becky if the paralysis had affected her speech.

“No, thank God it didn’t affect my mind! When my mum came in I could see something was wrong.

What I did not realise at the time was that my face had dropped. So she had obviously seen that and called an ambulance. Paramedics arrived in less than five minutes and despite the droop, they kept saying that they were not jumping to conclusions. It might have been an infection in the brain or it could have been a problem with my nerves.

“Luckily, I live next to a hospital so I was rushed in with my mum, who was crying her eyes out. I didn’t really know what was going on but I knew it was bad.

The doctors were waiting for me at the door who then rushed me into resus. I saw about six doctors and they kept checking if any movement was coming back but nothing was changing. The droop, thank God, settled after four hours or so. Then I just remember one

Bouncing back: Becky is taking a leading role in the fight for young patients’ rights doctor saying, “We think you’ve had a stroke.’”

After rigorous testing, Becky discovered that a large hole in her heart had allowed a clot into her vascular system that blocked the oxygen supply to the right side of her brain. The ensuing paralysis has left Becky with several disabilities but she remains inspiringly defiant.

“Rehabilitation started almost immediately. After a day or two the paralysis eased but I was left with massive weaknesses. I could lift my leg, but it was like moving through treacle. Your brain wants you to do it but it is struggling. I was in hospital for two weeks but I forced them to let me leave on the

Becky was hospitalised after a stroke in 2011

condition that I kept going with the physiotherapy. I had to have my house adjusted, too. There is now a handrail on the stairs and a seat in the bath because of my balance. I still have awful balance.

14 months on I can walk but I have a limp and I suffer from fatigue. It was my sister’s 18th last Sunday, for example. I spent the Saturday baking and getting things ready for her but when it came to the party, I was so tired that I had to go for a nap in the middle of the event.”

Strokes are becoming more common in young people. A recent American study highlighted a substantial increase in the proportion of patients who have had a stroke between the ages of 20 and 54. In 1994, 13 per cent of sufferers were younger than 55 but in 2005 that figure had risen to 19 per cent.

My conversation with Becky turned to plans for the future.

“Well I am getting married.

Chris [Becky’s childhood sweetheart] popped the question in July but we are not getting married until 2015. I will not walk down the aisle with a limp! I don’t know if I will go back to hairdressing because of the fatigue and the weakness in my hands. I have been blogging a lot. It helps me stay positive. I am only 22 so I don’t see the point in dwelling on it. I would rather use my writing skills to tell people what happened instead of wallowing. Writing keeps me busy because my days are long and boring as I can’t do much.”

Becky has become a notable force on Twitter since the crea-

tion of her blog, Eva Longoria, David Hasselhoff, Sugar Ray Leonard, Jessica Alba and Jessie J are among the many celebrities who have tweeted about Becky’s work.

Indeed, Jessie J herself had a stroke aged 18 after an exhaustion related breakdown. Her optimism has also helped her preserve important relationships.

“Luckily, key relationships have not changed that much. My family and friends have certainly become more paranoid but they are all incredibly loving. Maintaining relationships has been easy because I am so open about what happened. People who don’t know me are more complicated.

We went to TGI Fridays a few months after the stroke with friends and a waiter asked me why I was limping. When I told

me through my blog. I love being ambassador for them. There is still not much support for young people who’ve had strokes because most patients are elderly. Saying that, they have really invested in my ideas and I would like to think I have become role model for young patients. I get frustrated with people who are so down after a stroke.

It is fine for a couple of months but when you are in your 20s or 30s you need some get up and go.

Get on with it! People need tough love. You have not died so make the most of what you have!”

Becky began to talk about the challenges of having a stroke so young.

“They don’t get that I am disabled. I can’t stand around for ages.

If you knock me, I will go flying.

When we park in a disabled area we get dirty looks. I think it is because I try not to act like I have a problem. You can’t stop your life!

We used to go out every week but we can’t go out as much now.

“I get more drunk now because of the medication and because I don’t go out as often. I can’t wear high heels or go on the dance floor so I will dance in a booth with my friends.”

Despite her inspirational stand, some Twitter trolls have targeted Becky’s Twitter profile.

“Luckily, I haven’t had too many experiences but I have some messages. I don’t keep quiet about it. A few months ago someone sent me a message saying “Happy dribbles.” That was from an old couple in their 30s! I am made of strong stuff and Twitter trolls are cowards, I have no problem in retweeting what they say.”

When speaking to Becky, it was often hard to remember how ill

I have a duty to be strong about it for my family and friends.

They have had to go through it too! him that I had a stroke he was so shocked and embarrassed! Instead of me feeling bad, I feel bad for other people! Sometimes I lie and say I have a bad back. I have a duty to be strong about it for my family and friends. They have had to go through it too!”

Becky recently became an ambassador for the Stroke Association in an attempt to generate investment in support for young people who have had a stroke.

“The Stroke Association found

she had been. Her stirring work has made her an important voice in her continuing recovery.

“The doctors said there is a really good chance of getting better.

However, there is no timeframe; everything with a stroke is slow.”

If you want to know more about Becky and her work with the Stroke Association then follow her on Twitter, at @Beckybeau8.

You can also check out her insightful blog at luckygirlbec.blogspot. co.uk.

16 FEATURES

YORK VISION Tuesday January 15, 2013

KILLER SEX

ZOE BILES evaluates the ethics of modern day media and the glamorising and mar

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he tension in the courtroom vibrates as defence and prosecution deliver their long, dramatic monologues, the suspect cowering in her chair. In five minutes, claims of abuse, betrayal, promiscuity and blackmail are being hurled across the room by lawyers and witnesses. In one night, at least five people in this room have made millions, whilst the country sits at home glued to their TV screens, eating popcorn and gossiping about who’s guilty and who’s not. This is not last week’s episode of CSI, this is our legal system.

The impact of the media on today’s culture and society cannot be underestimated. Simply refer to Watergate, Murdoch or even Princess Diana to understand the wide ranging and hugely determinant ripple effect that follows our need for and addiction to the news, the truth. Although technology and the media have allowed huge advances in our knowledge and awareness of what’s going on in the world, the impact of news coverage online, in print and on television has often been a source of moral and ethical debate.

One of the ways the media has often abused its position within society is by exploiting, often in a sexual way, criminal cases and trials.

It is both terrifying and fascinating to step back and consider the incentives and morals behind the reason such a fraction of criminal cases surface on our TV screens.

Even more frightening to consider is the possibility that the media has turned our legal system into a reality TV show.

When 15-year-old Megan Stammers ran away from her home in Sussex to Bordeaux with her maths teacher in September 2012, a media frenzy broke out across Britain.

Hundreds of thousands of people followed her parents, Martin Stammers and Danielle Wilson on Twit-

ter as they kept an ongoing feed following news of their daughter.

Every news station, network and radio broadcaster commented almost hourly during the period of her disappearance. Ultimately, the country was entranced by the search for this teenage girl, so much so that this almost obsessive media coverage resulted in the location and return of Stammers only nine days after her departure. However, was our obsession with this case for ethical reasons? And if we can directly link media attention with Stammers being brought home safely, why isn’t the same media attention being used to help find the children who go missing at a rate of one every three minutes in the UK? When unravelling this mystery, a number of startling facts begin to surface, namely the soap operaesque nature of that case. Megan Stammers’ young age immediately created a scandal, as she was not yet legally able to have sex. Add to this the maths teacher, the illicit lover who was old enough to be her father, and multiply this with her being whisked away to France and BANG, you have your typical Eastenders storyline. I am absolutely not belittling the danger, worry and torment that was felt during her disappearance, to do so would be extremely insensitive. However, were we, the public, caught up in the danger or in the scandal? And is it a coincidence that the story line mechanics of this case ‘mysteriously’ pushed it into the media spotlight? I believe this to be thoroughly untrue. And I also believe it is time to lift the lid on media politics, to expose and examine the way in which the media and the public glamourise crime.

It would be naive to expect all criminal cases to be given the same level of media scrutiny. We are talking about a country where 9.1 million crimes were reported in the

The Megan Stammers case provided perfect conditions for a media frenzy

Time Magazine dubbed the Anthony Casey case the “social media past year, 532 of which were child abduction cases. However, it is interesting to see how the cases that are picked up on by national newspapers and broadcasters affect our perception of crime, and furthermore, how influential the news can be in shaping public opinion and understanding.

In May 2011, America was hooked by the six-week Casey Anthony trial that was covered to the point of over-exposure by thousands of media outlets across the nation. Mother Casey was being tried with the abduction of her two-year-old daughter Caylee Anthony after she had been missing for 31 days without police notification. When Caylee’s skeletal remains were discovered buried in a nearby forest, the media spotlight hit the Anthony family full force.

Although in 2011 nearly 800,000 children under the age of 18 went missing in the US, 200,000 of those children believed to have been abducted by family members, it was this particular case which would then go on to be dubbed the ‘social media trial of the century’ by Time Magazine.

Why this case? Why this woman? You do not have to look hard into the Anthony family background to decipher why they were such a target for the media. The

mother, Casey, was believed by the defence to have been sexually and physically abused by her father George Anthony, possibly mentally scarring and affecting her judgement as a mother. She was also only 22 years old, a young mother who had been pregnant as a teenager, immediately bringing forward the question of whether or not young women today are mentally prepared for motherhood. As well as this, she was living with her par-

cases due to their ‘marketability’ or ‘sell-ability’. It was not long before Casey Anthony became a household name in America, with the New York Post naming it the nation’s “macabre tourist attraction” as hundreds of people camped outside the courtroom attempting to secure seats. However, as the case continued, it seemed to get more and more bizarre. People were struck by the complete lack of evidence both prosecution and defence

Before the judge and jury have reached the verdict, the audience have already made up their mind... This is no longer a court case.

This is Jeremy Kyle meets Law and Order. ents, a middle to working-class family. However the prosecution determined her not being able to provide for her daughter as the main motive for her murder. The cherry on top of the homicide cake was that Casey was an alleged alcoholic and drug abuser. Voila! This cocktail of dysfunctional social attributes had the public hooked.

My focus with this case is a way of examining how easily the public become obsessed with court cases like these, and the frightening way in which the media exploits these

had on Casey. Legal agenda became known as ‘circumstantial’ or ‘fantasy forensics’, meaning that neither side had plausible or sufficient evidence to prove their arguments.

This led to Casey being found not guilty, a shock result which created uproar throughout America.

UCLA forensic psychiatrist Dr. Carole Lieberman stated: “The main reason why people are reacting so strongly is because the media convicted Casey before the jury decided on the verdict”. This proved what had been previously written

YORK VISION

FEATURES

Tuesday January 15, 2013

17

X APPEAL

rketing of crime for television...

trial of the century” in 2011

by The New York Times: that the American legal system had been turned into “trial by television”. A very clear and shocking example of this was TV news anchor Nancy Grace’s coverage of the trial, cited

by Anthony’s defence attorney Cheney Mason as having “almost single-handedly inflated the Anthony case from a routine local murder into a national obsession”. By breaking down the set up of show’s coverage, it is easy to see how Nancy Grace did her absolute best to sway public opinion about the case.

By calling Casey the “tot-mother”, Nancy Grace defined Casey not by her name or profession, simply by the fact she was the mother of a murdered toddler. By carefully placing images of Caylee as a baby on screen constantly, the thought of the beautiful, tiny child would never be far from the audience’s mind. By selecting angry looking or particularly unattractive images of Casey to be repeatedly exhibited on screen, Mason made sure that the audience automatically saw the mother as the delinquent, the moody, disgusting woman who must have murdered her child because no one beautiful, manicured or happy could have committed such a heinous crime. Before the judge and jury have reached the verdict, the audience have already

made up their mind about who is guilty. And yes, I am purposefully using the word ‘audience’. This is no longer a court case, this is Jeremy Kyle meets Law and Order.

What this tells us in retrospect is that perhaps what really draws media and public attention to court cases is malleability. Without sufficient evidence, the media were able to massively sway and determine public opinion; public interest equals more views, which equals money for the network.

Evidence of this is not hard to come by, as within the first week of the trial, Casey Anthony had made a staggering $275,000 by selling home videos of the family to three major news networks. ABC News alone had paid $200,000. And so this case continually revolved less and less around legal justice and more around how much the public would pay for entertainment.

At this point, law had transcended right and wrong, prosecution and defence. Law became a way for the public to judge for themselves ordinary people who had been caught up in a disgusting tragedy. Newser Statistics reported that on the day the verdict was given, posts on Facebook were coming in “too fast for Facebook to even count them, meaning at least ten per second”.

Defence attorney Jose Baez, who

allegedly made more than $300,000 during the trial, had become somewhat of a celebrity and this media frenzy was bought to a staggering climax when parents of Casey, George and Cindy Anthony, appeared on daytime TV talk show Dr Phil in September 2011. This case had bought a following of a Hollywood blockbuster, turning what should have been the sensitive treatment of a tragic crime within a respectable court of law into another celebrity circus.

The treatment of such criminal cases are arguably treated much more delicately in the UK. News cameras are not allowed inside law courts, unlike in the US where proceedings are filmed and aired to millions of viewers across many news networks. Indeed, the only visual representation we are given are the often comically caricaturelike sketches provided by artists inside the courtroom. The debate about whether this should change seems to be constantly in motion, with media tycoons such as James Murdoch and Sky News associate editor Simon Bucks greatly in favour of turning a “shaft of sunlight” on what actually happens inside courtrooms. Despite the obvious financial incentive news broadcasters have in this motion, Bucks goes as far to claim that: “It’s about democracy and being able to report the only part of the democratic system that remains closed to television”. Is it the right of the public to be allowed access into the court proceedings that their taxes are paying for? And when does public interest become motivated by the wrong interests?

The public should still have the right to the facts, to truth and information, and from that they should be free to determine for themselves

the guilt of the defence in question.

The problem is that when cameras are involved, facts and the truth are more than likely to be exaggerated or dramatised. The presence of cameras within the court undoubtedly alters the dimension and feel of the proceedings. There is now an actor-audience dynamic between those involved in a court case and those following it in the media.

tensively debating whether or not Casey Anthony was a fit mother, why not spend a year publicising and examining as many of these tragic cases as possible, perhaps spend even a few minutes questioning the flaws in our legal system and why so many thousands of perpetrators go unpunished? And as for the money, Nancy Grace had its all-time network high of 5.2 million

Why isn’t the same media attention being used to help find the children who go missing at the rate of one every three minutes in the UK? Mark Thomson of Atkins Thomson states that “appellants will be fine, but some witnesses – and even some lawyers – might play up to the cameras”, and just like the fact that we are no longer impartial, we are part of a pre-determined script, which aims to emotionally blackmail the public.

Bob Satchwell, executive director of the Society of Editors, a newspaper industry body, said to The Guardian in 2011 that “if anyone thinks this is about making money – about being commercial – they should get real” and that “it’s very sad some people view the public as a load of morons who are interested in cases which are ‘sensational’. What is meant by ‘sensational’ cases are the ones the public are most interested in. The public is entitled to be interested”. As true as this might be, I would argue that the public are interested in missing children, full stop. In what is being done to stop child abduction, murder, fraud and crime in general.

Instead of spending six weeks ex-

viewers in the hour that the Casey Anthony verdict was given, meaning advertising revenue of close to $50 million.

The law, just like every establishment, is a business. It requires money and it creates money. Law students do not spend seven years studying at a high ranking university to take a poorly paid job.

Ultimately, the legal system is not without its moral or ethical flaws, but by giving the media the access they have when it comes to exposing and exploiting criminal trials we are fighting fire with fire. Yes to freedom of information, yes to unbiased, impartial examination of the facts, and yes to faith in the legal system, in justice and in fit punishment for inexcusable crimes.

However, we need to stop and reexamine our obsession with sexualising crime, with discriminating and providing damning, unfounded evidence that ultimately wrecks people’s reputation or dignity. CSI makes for better entertainment anyway... CSI: New York, not Miami

The public deserve a right to the facts, but sometimes media coverage distorts the picture

18 FEATURES

YORK VISION

THE IRISH EXODUS

Tuesday January 15, 2013

NINA PULLMAN investigates the alarming trend of Irish students emigrating after graduation...

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niversity is, for most of us, a time to start planning where our next steps will take us. Perhaps you will head to London, along with hundreds of others, in order to seek that elusive fortune or bag yourself a grad scheme. Or perhaps you will head home to save some money whilst building up a CV. Regardless, it is likely that most of us will be able to stay within the boundaries of our native country, with the biggest decision being which city to pick. Even if working abroad is for you, at least this will be a choice, not the only option available. But for Irish graduates, this is simply not the case.

Economic recession has triggered a new, monumental surge of emigration from Ireland, similar to that which the country saw in the wake of such natural disasters such as the potato famine in the 1840s and after the Troubles in the 1980s. When it comes to the Irish, we are not just talking about a few individuals upping sticks for a new life in the sun. Far from it in fact, as 2010 saw more than 100 Irish people leaving every day.

Imagine every single one of your close family and friends leaving the country on one day, to start a new, permanent life abroad, and that’s about the right number.

Reports have documented how some Irish Facebook statuses from back home are inundated with people leaving tomorrow/the day after/next week. Meanwhile, events pages are littered with invites to countless farewell parties. This is not just a few people emigrating; this seems to be a tradition of leaving at the heart of Irish culture.

Although this phenomenon is affecting all sectors of the Irish community, recent studies show one in five Irish graduates are now having to consider emigration as their next move, in a revelation that characterises this current emigrational phase as unique even for Ireland.

‘Generation Emigration’ is a new blog on the Irish Times website, set up by Ciara Kenny. The name points to the potential removal of an entire generation, and indeed this does not seem to be far wrong, although the ethos on the site has a surprisingly positive feel. “Generation Emigration was set up to give this generation of mobile Irish citizens a forum to share their experiences,” states Kenny, who since the site was set up, has been “overwhelmed with the response to the project so far.”

She continued: “We have received close to a hundred emails from people offering to share their story on the site, and many have said they have been waiting for such an opportunity for a long time.” She goes on to stress that “the issue is multi-faceted, and every emigrants experience is different. Many of the young people who are leaving Ireland today would have done so in search of adventure or better job prospects overseas regardless of whether there was a recession in Ireland or not. But they are the lucky ones.

Others, facing unemployment and unpayable bills, have had little choice but to uproot themselves and sometimes, their families too from the place they call home, in order to search for work abroad.”

The picture which Kenny paints is bleak, and it is incredible to think that the issue has escaped the media’s notice. Thus we remain, for the most part, in ignorance of the life-changing decisions faced by our student peers across the (Irish) pond.

Imagine receiving that hardearned reward and pathway into the world of work that is your degree certificate, and then having it overshadowed by the knowledge that to use this degree you are going to have to move out of your own culture, leave family and friends far behind and start a life abroad. It is not what the current Irish graduates ex-

The Union of Students in Ireland protested in September over the emigration crisis engulfing the country pected, as the Irish economy has improved so much since the dark days of the 1980s. A degree is supposed to be a ticket to more choice, not less, and at the moment this is tragically not the case.

Enda Delaney, a historian from Edinburgh University, has written extensively on the topic of Irish emigration throughout history, and suggests: “It is directly related to economic conditions.

You can’t stop people leaving nor would you want to. What is required is an economic climate that ensures people don’t have to leave in the first place. So essentially my point is that economic crisis has caused mass emigration, and there is a very interesting debate going on in Ireland about the causes/origins of that crisis.”

So is this just another depressing consequence of the on-going global torment that is the recession? Not quite. Delaney also suggests a much more interesting

Dublin International Airport is the main gateway for young people to leave Ireland

reason for Irish emigration; what he calls the “Irish tradition of going away.” Another reason why many Irish people’s moves are difficult to define, is in part due to the countless contacts Irish people have around the world, as a result of previous generations moving away and laying down roots. Much more subtle and tricky to define.

It is fair to say that an Irish Christmas card destination list is prob-

the culture of her country is compelling and offers an optimistic glimmer of hope that the youth of Ireland, like her, might one day recognise this and return to offer their skills to their native country. However, for many the move home is simply not financially viable, nor personally desirable, and before we can expect a generation to immigrate back home and not emigrate abroad, some-

A degree is supposed to be a ticket to more choice, not less, and at the moment this is tragically not the case ably a lot more exotic than mine or yours. So perhaps having examples of people who have already moved before you, and the prospect of perhaps a relative or two nearby, makes emigration look like slightly less of a big deal. Or there is just the fact that everyone else you know seems to be doing it.

Occasionally, emigration stories with a slightly happier ending filter through. Sarah Lennon, Communications Studies graduate from Dublin City University, has returned home to Ireland after two years of travelling and working abroad. She was offered her dream job whilst working in Toronto, Canada, but turned it down to return to her home country.

“I would hope that my choice to return to Ireland is the start of what could be a new trend plainly for the fact that I feel Ireland has so much to offer in terms of our culture, our people and our country. This is why I returned. There is no place like it in the world and having travelled extensively I can say that in pure confidence.”

As Lennon says, her “story of returning home is uncommon right now” and looking at it from the outside it is clear why. But her confidence in the allure of

thing drastic in the Irish economy and mind-set needs to change.

Sarah Lennon’s story is unusual. Sadly the far more common tale is a one way flight with no definite return date, as what should be exceptional circumstances has become an everyday story for too many people. Mass emigration is something which has troubled Irish society time and time again and no one seems to be able to offer a way out. It is important not to let it become an accepted norm that people have to move away, which is why blogs such as ‘Generation Emigration’ are crucial as a way of keeping the issue high on the list of public discourse and awareness, in the hope that, one day, things will change for the better.

For those Irish students graduating this summer, their choice remains either to follow the crowds and emigrate to another country, or else perhaps have the courage to step outside the vicious circle in order to help their own country become somewhere people are able to, and are proud to settle and create a life.

With thanks to Ciara Kenny, Enda Delaney and Sarah Lennon

YORK VISION

LIFESTYLE

Tuesday January 15, 2013

LIFESTYLE Emilio Pucci, Prada and Lanvin all looked to the Orient for inspiration this season. Look out for features such as obi belts, kimono styles and origami folds, teamed with lavish dragon embroidery and vivid prints.

Topshop, £55

G R A P H I C

19

T-shirt, £18 Trousers, £42 Topshop

M&S, £29.50

Miss Selfridge, £tbc

From monochrome stripes at Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors, to checker board prints at Louis Vuitton and Emporio Armani. Designers were thinking graphic this season with squares and plaid.

ORIENTAL

Spring into Style Poppy Danby brings you the lowdown on the top runway trends of Spring 2013...

S T R I P E S

Simple but chic, Lacoste and Gucci embrace primary colours for this season. Shake off the dark winter days with a pop of colour, guaranteed to brighten up any withering wardrobe and keep you bang on trend.

River Island, £17

Topman, £100

ASOS, £75

Cassio, £20 Stripes were everywhere on the runways of Tommy Hilfiger and Dolce & Gabbana for S/S ’13. Easily adaptable for any situation, update your outfit with the help of just one staple striped piece, like a cosy sweater.

PRIMARY SHADES

20 LIFESTYLE

YORK VISION

Tuesday January 15, 2012

MOSCHINO MOD Francesca Martin updates your makeup routine with a glamorous sixties look...

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om Pecheux, Estee Lauder Creative Make-up Director, described the sixties style of Moschino Spring collection as: “Glam, all out, fantasy beauty.”

So update your Spring make-up look with our edit of key MAC Cosmetics products to achieve bright, soft coral lips and unique retro-style eyes, step by step.

1. THE SKIN Massage Prep & Prime Moisture Infusion into the skin to soothe, revive, and instantly replenish your skin. Apply Select Moisture Cover to the corners of your eyes, nose and mouth.

2. THE EYES Outline your eyes in white matte Fascinating Eye Kohl Pencil and set it with Gesso Eye Shadow. Apply fake eye lashes on top and bottom lids. Tom Pecheux used MAC number 35 on the top lid and MAC number 33 on the bottom lid. Coat mascara on top of the lashes for extra volume.

3. THE EYEBROWS Bold brows are still big news for next season. Fill in yours with powder using an angled brush.

Pro Palette Eye Shadow x2,£6.50 Select Moisturecover, £14.50 Lipstick, £14 Fascinating Eye Kohl, £14

4. THE LIPS MAC’s Morange lipstick is our new favourite ‘youthful and fun’ coral colour for Spring. Seal it with a clear lip gloss.

Bedroom Burnout

Jess Nelson shows us how to circuit train in comfort....

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very January, one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions is to exercise or lose weight. However, with as little as 8% of people actually keeping their resolutions for the entire year, you need not let the price of gyms and fitness videos put you off.

I have created a quick, easy and convenient circuit to complete in the comfort of your own student bedroom – no equipment required.

As every good gym instructor will tell you, it is extremely important to warm-up before any workout. Dynamic stretches (ie moving whilst stretching) are the most effective way to start your routine. The workouts range from “Bronze” (easy) to “Gold” (hard) so you can find the routine that’s perfect for you. So, when you’re starting to feel warm it’s time to begin...

1. Hill climbers – 30 seconds

2. Press ups – 20 reps

3. Squat thrusts – 30 seconds

4. Crunches – 20 reps

Bronze – Stepping hill climbers. Step between each leg for 30 seconds. Keep your steps fast and consistent for the best results.

Bronze – Press ups on your knees are the best way to build up to the real thing. Keep your bum down and your back straight.

Bronze – Jump from a plank position to a squat position towards your chest, keeping your bottom high. Jump back to a plank position.

Bronze – Keep your legs bent at 90 degrees and your eyes on the ceiling with your fingertips behind your ears to reduce the risk of straining your neck.

Silver – Hill climbers. To increase the difficulty, jump between each leg and keep going for the whole 30 seconds as fast as you can.

Silver – Full press ups. Try and keep each press up as deep and strong as you can and your core tight.

Silver – Start in a plank position as before, but this time press up first then squat thrust.

Silver – Cycle your legs as you move your elbow to the opposite knee. The slower you do it and the straighter and lower you can get your other leg, the harder it is.

Gold – Side to side press ups. Start with one hand in the centre and the other to one side, complete a press up then walk your outside hand into the centre, and the centre hand to the other side.

Gold – Start standing, go down to a squat thrust position then jump back to a plank position. Press up then perform a squat thrust. Jump back in, stand and repeat.

Gold – Lengthen the length of time to 1 minute to really get your heart rate up.

Gold – Work your core to the max with advanced crunches. Try and extend to just a couple of inches off the floor for maximum difficulty.

LIFESTYLE

YORK VISION

Tuesday January 15, 2013

Just Another January?

21

Ella Boner restores our faith in 2013 with a few reminders why January isn’t so bad...

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he dreaded month of January is upon us. Christmas has been and gone, New Year’s resolutions have most likely been broken by now and the cold weather isn’t showing any signs of budging. For students, coming back to university after the holidays means exams are just around the corner, essays are due, and, to top it all off, January is statistically one of the most depressing months of the year. Are there any redeeming factors about this month of academic deadlines, cold and broken resolutions?

Yes there are. The first thing to be enjoyed - primarily by females - is the post-Christmas sales. High street shops up and down the country knock down their prices, to the joy of us students. Shopping “just because I can” isn’t something your average student has the luxury of doing often, but suddenly Christmas money from aunties and uncles is being exchanged for now not-so-overpriced Topshop shoes and Urban Outfitters blouses.

Let’s not forget all the muscle toning you’ll be doing by lugging round your shopping bags, too. However, if the chaos of the crowds in town is too off-putting, the sales can still be a perk of January from the comfort of your own home. What better way to procrastinate from revising than effortlessly clicking “add to basket” on your favourite retail websites?

I should highlight that I’m not encouraging the reckless spending of all your Christmas money on a few items of clothing in the sales - after all, you’ll need to set aside some money to pump into those post-exam Willow nights. Although January comes with exams, it also comes with the collective sigh of relief across campus when they pass and the many, many tequila shots which follow. I know where I’ll be showing off my new bargain buys.

Unfortunately, the hype of the inevitably blurry celebrations will always be paired with the morning-after self-loathing, headaches and absent memories. When we’re waking up to greasy Oki’s takeaway containers next to us in bed - although some of us may be waking up to worse - it’s no wonder January is the most depressing month of the year. All is not lost, though. January 2013 is bringing with it a whole host of new films, including comedy Movie 43, dramas Broken City and The End of Love and action film Gangster Squad. If cinema is your thing and your hangover needs a quick fix, January is promising several cinema gems to get out and enjoy. I’d also like to point out (for no particular reason, at all, whatsoever...) that some of the starring roles in these films are played by Ryan Gosling, Gerard Butler and Emma Stone. See you all there.

released at the end of the month - which blesses the rockers amongst us with some new tunes to take into February.

Last, but by no means least - in fact, this may be my favourite aspect of the month - January 21st is known as National Hugging Day. Although not technically registered as a holiday in the UK, National Hugging Day exists around the world and floods the Internet each year. If trending on Twitter isn’t enough, why not spread the love with a hug on the 21st? A word of warning though - the National Hugging Day website advocates that permission is sought before inflicting your enthusiastic embrace upon someone. You never know, you could just hug one of the many grouchy, hungover students who will inevitably have spent all their Christmas money on the night before.

All-in-all, even though most of us are dreading what January has to bring, it may actually hold some promise.

Sales, movies, hugs and shots are what await us in Week 2 and beyond.

Thank you very much, I’ll be around for hugs on the 21st.

Furthermore, on the music scene, Biffy Clyro’s latest album Opposites is due to be

FAST FRESH FOOD Dave Washington serves up Spring recipes made to make your mouth water...

Chicken, Pineapple and Spinach Salad (Serves 3, Total Cost £7)

Fusilli alla Verdura (Serves 4, Total Cost £2.85)

Baked Haddock with Samphire and New Potatoes (Serves 3, Total Cost £7.10)

With lovely fresh flavours and inviting colours, this unusual dish is quick and easy to make as well as being extremely healthy. This light meal is a tasty alternative option and is affordable on a student budget.

Perfect for vegetarians, this dish has lots of flavour and uses lovely fresh ingredients making it both healthy and tasty.

A delicious dish, this once more uses fresh ingredients and provides you with an excellent balance of nutrients to support a healthy diet. This dish works with other types of fish if you don’t like Haddock, and although Samphire may be an unusual accompaniment, I believe it works excellently with fish dishes.

300g Chicken Breast (£4) 200g Bag of Spinach (£1) A Pineapple (£1) A Red Pepper (80p) Olive Oil Lemon Juice (20p) Salt

1) Chop the pepper into slices and the pineapple into cubes.

2) Grill the chicken as instructed on packet, making sure that it is cooked through 3) Put some salted water on to boil, and heat a tiny bit of olive oil in a pan.

4) Gently fry the pepper and after a couple of minutes add the pineapple to heat through and develop the flavour.

Meanwhile boil the spinach for 3-5 minutes. (Alternatively the spinach can be served uncooked if crunchy texture is preferred).

5) Slice the chicken. Place the spinach on the plate, and top with the sliced chicken, pepper and pineapple. Sprinkle over a little lemon juice and serve.

300g Fusilli (30p) 400g Can of Chopped Tomatoes (68p) 1 Onion (19p) 100g Mushrooms (30p) 1 Pepper (80p) 1 Carrot (9p) 1 Chilli Pepper (30p) 50g Frozen Sweetcorn (15p) Olive Oil Herbs + Garlic 1) Boil some lightly salted water in one saucepan, and add a drop of oil to a frying pan and heat.

2) Chop up the mushrooms, onion, pepper and chilli. Make sure that the chilli is very finely chopped.

3) Grate the carrot, weigh out 50g sweetcorn and open the can of chopped tomatoes.

4) Lightly fry your onions, and then add the pepper, mushrooms, sweet corn and chill. Continue to fry for a minute.

5) When you add other vegetables to the onion, put the pasta into the boiling water, and boil for 10 to 12 minutes.

6) Reduce the heat and add the Chopped tomatoes and grated carrot. Season with any herbs of your choice, and then simmer slowly on a low heat until the pasta is ready.

7) Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce. Stir together and serve hot.

400g Haddock Fillets (£4.70) 100g Samphire (£1.50) 400g New Potatoes (40p) 20g Cheddar Cheese (optional) (40p) Lemon Juice (20p) Salt and Pepper Herbs 1)Preheat the oven to gas mark 4, 180 Degrees Celsius.

2)Boil some lightly salted water in two different saucepans.

3) Place each Haddock fillet in a piece of foil, sprinkle with lemon juice, season with salt and pepper and add herbs of choice.

4) Wrap the foil around the prepared fillet and place on a baking tray, and bake for 15-20 minutes.

5) Chop the potatoes, and boil them in one of the pans for 10-15 minutes.

6) Boil the samphire in the other pan for 2-3 minutes.

7) Unwrap the fish from the soil and serve with the samphire and potatoes. Grate the cheese over the potatoes.

22 LIFESTYLE How on earth are we going to find men after university?

Kealey's...

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YORK VISION Tuesday January 15, 2013

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ion s s e f on

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like to think I’m a stable human being. But in reality, I’m not always. During exam season I can usually be found under my bed writing ‘failure, failure, failure’ over everything I can get my hands on. But for most of the year, I’m pretty together. However, it recently occurred to me that for me, in a few months time, THERE WILL BE NO MEN. Let me explain: right now, this teeny tiny campus is a supermarket of men. You can’t move for the attractive, single, under 25s who have been specially and helpfully selected by the University of York for enjoying thinking, and were then put onto a small campus containing lots of gyms. Unless you study History of Art (where you might only ever meet four men... and they’re gay) you will spend three years swimming in an educational soup of virile sausages with barely any constraints on their time and with nothing better to do, if the moment strikes you both, then to have a gentle prod (if that’s what you want. No generalisations here). Best of all, because York is so small, all you have to do when you meet a new man, is ask someone, anyone, and chances are they’ll know his sexual credit rating, a concise list of his previous partners, and the consensus on performance quality. Three years at York are basically the best ‘compare the pecs’ service ever. Not that that’s particularly healthy.

Now, fortunately, many people would never dream of worrying about this, and would rather be getting on with their lives thank you very much than talk about men. And I’m almost with them. But I might just possibly, at some point in the very, VERY distant future, want someone to help me wrestle my children into the awesome Pokémon outfits I’ve bought them, and compliment me on my morning breath. So I guess, after this year, if something horrible and unfortunate happens to our current boyfriends (by this I mean a break up, not death), our choices are to either handle the stress and embarrassment of an office romance (scary, scary) or to start assaulting good looking strangers in the street - and in all events to trust in a life that functions outside of the Willow Toilet Knowledge Database of All Information on All Men. Alternatively, there is always the option of following in the footsteps of one of my more manic friends who wrote a list entitled, “The friends I’ll think about marrying if I never find love again, in the order of not terrible, to fairly terrible”, which, worryingly, culminated with her cousin.

BLIND DATE Tom Armston-Clarke flutters in with his bow and arrow to matchmake...

History student Simon and Archaeology student Lois!

So here we are in January, and it is up to me to become a post-mistletoe matchmaker. When I think of the words ‘Blind Date’ I think of watching Cilla Black on a Saturday night with my parents and not truly understanding many of the euphemisms. However, there was a little twist in this date. For the first part, my two participants were both going to be blindfolded. This way, it is their conversation rather than their looks which creates their first impressions. This was harder than I first thought for many reasons. One was the fact that the girls I asked to participate assumed the date was going to be with me, which made them run a mile. Secondly, explaining that they would both be blind folded unnerved them even more. But, after much searching, I did finally get two willing volunteers to sign up to this: known womanizer Simon Varley (a 2nd year History student) and Lois Stone (a 3rd year Archaeology student). From the concerned looks of the other diners in the pub I can only assume that it was the first time two people have been sat over dinner at the Rose and Crown with scarves tied over their eyes. I even overheard “Well blow me, that’s not something you see every day!” I made them keep their eyes covered for the first 15 minutes. Simon even proclaimed that it was the weirdest thing he had ever done, and coming from him, that says a hell of a lot.

Simon on Lois...

What did you chat about?

Flip-flops, town planning and thanksgiving.

Marks out of 10?

Well I feel it would have been a 7, but then after the ‘letting agent’ conversation it dropped to a 6 only to be restored fantastically by the marshmallow meal which shot her up to an 8.

Her best feature?

She plays the ‘Hammered Dulcimer’ – who knew that was even an instrument and not a Viking Warlord?

Her worst feature?

She is of Irish-Scottish decent – but on the plus side, she did admit this.

How did you part?

A cheeky under the chin tickle then a joint rendition of ‘The Elephant Love song Medley’ from Moulin Rouge.

Do you think she would be good in bed?

I don’t even understand what this means.

Did you suspect that the other person wasn’t wearing underwear?

Most certainly.

Would you meet her again?

Most likely, York is a small place.

Lois on Simon...

What did you chat about?

Our conversation was all over the spectrum. We talked about sports teams and where we’ve been and loads of other topics that are all escaping me right now.

How did you part?

We walked home from the pub and then hugged and wished each other luck on our exams (which we both had the next day).

Marks out of 10?

Am I marking him or the date? Or a primary school quiz? Satisfaction with this module maybe? I guess I’ll say an 8 and you can decide which one I’m marking.

Do you think he would be good in bed?

I don’t see why not. Or does he have a deformed wang or something?

Missing a testicle? Is there something I’m not being told? Actually Lance Armstrong was with Sheryl Crow for AGES so who’s to say you can’t be good in bed with only one testicle. I really shouldn’t judge.

His best feature?

He was definitely up for a laugh, which was great for when you’re first meeting someone.

Did you suspect that the other person wasn’t wearing underwear?

Nope. So if he was going commando, he did so with ease.

His worst feature?

He didn’t hold the door open at the end. I wasn’t supposed to write that, but it’s too late now. You all know. Sorry, Simon.

Would you meet him again?

I had a good time, don’t see any reason not to.

"Blind Date" is kindly sponsored by

The Rose & Crown Pub and Restaurant on Lawrence Street.

If you or a friend would like to participate, enjoy a free meal and the chance to find true love, please email your name, year of study and course to Lifestyle@yorkvision.co.uk

YORK VISION

LIFESTYLE

Tuesday January 15, 2013

23

Textual Healing Tom Davies debates whether we should be into HeTexted.com...

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s a man known to occasionally pursue some of the darker corners of the internet, I can tell you it’s a real minefield out there; all weird conspiracy theories and people dubiously claiming to be Nigerian royalty. However, every so often a real gem bursts forth from the mire. An idea born out of the natural human desire to give a platform to nutjobs and get a chance to remark on whatever weird stuff they come out with. We had Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo answers, Tumblr and now we have HeTexted.com.

Now, I simply cannot decide whether this website is the best or the worst thing on the

internet. For that reason this article is going to take a certain schizophrenic tone.

HeTexted is basically a website where exasperated/mental women send in texts from potential suitors and ask the age old question “is he or is he not into me?” There is then the opportunity for any person who happens to stumble across the website to vote yes or no, as well as a comments page in which a wealth of advice from what appears to be either a series of flamboyant, homosexual men or sassy, middle a g e d

women is available, exclaiming things along the lines of “girl, you need to ditch that scrub asap.”

My key point is I don’t actually have the slightest clue as to what the website is trying to achieve. Is it a place to go to have a quick laugh at amusing, but most likely fictional, situations? Is it a venting outlet for insane bunny boilers? Or is it a genuine dating advice site? I suppose the answer is probably a little bit of each.

As with so many things online, this website is, in theory, a good and potentially useful idea. I for one regularly obsess over the subtle inferences or messages behind texts from women. In fact, I think the fact the website is called HeTexted is nothing if not downright sexist! But I digress; the website has an opportunity to sort situations by most commented, from this an emerging pattern becomes clear.

The ones at the top are hysterical and almost definitely made up and the ones at the bottom are boring and actually true.

As a man, I clearly preferred the former and got bored and stopped reading

after only a few of the ones not written as jokes or by lunatics.

On a serious note, would you really want to essentially invite a load of strangers to speculate on your love life? Is the information to be gleamed from such a site actually of any merit? Again the answer is, probably both yes and no. The users of the site, as far as I can see, seem to have some valid points to make, but the internet as we know is to be treated in the same way as a medieval king treated foreign mercenaries - as incredibly useful but never to be completely trusted.

If you’re really desperate to know what that guy you’ve got a soft spot for means in a text (and you literally haven’t got any friends to talk to about it to) maybe try out HeTexted.com. But to be honest I would more recommend the site to anyone looking for a cheap laugh on a slow Wednesday afternoon. On a different, side note, I’ve also devised an alternative site which I’m going to set up, called ‘SheTexted.com’.

Here men get to speculate on whether their other halves are angry at them when they send texts like: “No it’s fine Tom, you go to D-Bar with your friends, I’m SO over it.”

Objects of Desire

Zena Jarjis takes a look at some boundary breaking relationships...

I

f you find yourself without a date this Valentine’s Day, don’t despair!

Human relationships are no longer the only option. Men and women around the world are choosing increasingly bizarre significant others. From tourist attractions to farmyard animals, it seems nothing can be ruled out as a potential life partner...

In Japan, a few men have pursued relationships with dakimakura, or love pillows. These are giant pillows with lifesize pictures of anime characters on them, and their human partners are referred to as ‘otaku’, which roughly translates to ‘obsessive nerd’. 28 year-old Lee JinGyu married his love pillow in a special ceremony in front of a local priest. Lee had his dakimura, who was based on a character from an anime series called Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, fitted with a wedding dress and apparently regularly takes it out for meals, buying it its own dinner.

Erica La Tour Eiffel, a 37 year-old American woman with a fetish for inanimate objects, has an interesting romantic history.

Following a relationship with a bow which she names Lance, La Tour Eiffel has married the French landmark and has legally changed her name to reflect this

commitment. This is apparently an open marriage, as she also claims to be dating several other objects, amongst which is a piece of fence which she keeps in her room.

Another object fetishist, a Swedish woman named Eija-Riitta Berliner-Mauer, married the Berlin Wall in 1979, telling the press that “the Great Wall of China’s attractive, but he’s too thick - my husband is sexier.” The 54 year-old, whose surname means ‘Berlin Wall’ in German, became obsessed with the wall when she saw it on television and started saving up for a visit. This marriage fell apart when the wall was torn down in 1989 and Mrs Berliner-Mauer has since started seeing a garden fence.

Charles Tombe, a South Sudanese man, was forced to marry a goat when he was found having sex with it. When the owner of the goat caught the two in the act, he took Tombe to a council of village elders

who decided that the perpetrator should pay a marriage dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dollars because he “used the goat as his wife”. The goat, named Rose, tragically passed away in 2007 after choking on a plastic bag, leaving behind a four-monthold baby goat.

When Amy Wolfe, a 33 year-old woman from Pennsylvania, was a teenager, she found herself “instantly attracted sexually and mentally” to a fairground ride at Knoebels Amusement Park. Ten years later, she travelled 160 miles to visit 1001 Nachts, the 80 foot gondola ride, and declared her love to it.

Now she sleeps with a picture of it and carries parts of it around with her. Wolfe says that she does not get jealous when others ride the gondola, claiming to have a unique spiritual relationship with it. The two are now engaged and Wolfe plans to change her surname to Weber,

after the manufacturer of the fairground ride, following the wedding.

Defying the stereotype of the mad cat woman, a German postal worker became a mad cat man when he married his terminally ill cat, Cecilia. When Uwe Mitzscherlich was told that Cecilia didn’t have much time left, he dressed the feline all in white and hired an actress to play the registrar when shocked officials refused to take part in the ceremony.

Even more bizarrely, some people have started marrying themselves. This trend began in 2003 when a Dutch artist married herself in a large ceremony on her 30th birthday. In 2007, a Chinese man named Liu Ye wed a cardboard cutout of himself, and, after facing pressure to settle down and marry, Chen Wei Yih from Taiwan became her own wife.

While most of these marriages are purely ceremonial, the relationships seem to be real and people really are settling down with animals, rides and even themselves.

So next time you find yourself cringing over a drunk hook up, remember it could have been worse - you could have gone home with a Japanese love pillow.

24 LIFESTYLE

YORK VISION Tuesday January 15, 2013

Has the Intern-ship sailed ?

Tina Anstead discusses the downsides to interning in the big city...

I

t’s not hard to see why students love London – bright lights, big city, all the promises of an exciting well-paid career ahead of you – and interning is usually the best way to get there. Interning is one of the most effective ways to enhance your CV (and get your foot in the door), but paid internships are decreasing at an alarming rate and it’s getting harder for students to support themselves.

In the arts sector, almost 90% of government-sponsored internship programmes were unpaid – with 75% of fashion and PR companies posting opportunities with absolutely no financial gain. Out of all the advertisements on the website 49% were paid and 33% offered expense schemes. It doesn’t look great on the companies, and it looks absolutely dreadful for the coalition’s internship drive as part of their ‘Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers’ strategy for in-

creased-social mobility. Either way, if you don’t live in London and you can’t afford to put yourself up, you’re at a significant disadvantage.

Vision have spoken to a few students who have struggled to pay the bills of interning in London, either out of their own savings or with the aid of parents, or extended family. One third-year interned at charity project READ International for six-weeks this summer, which fell into the official category that requires an organisation to pay minimum wage.

Fortunately, I have family in London and I don’t have to pay for my transport, so I was really lucky as they expected me to travel around a lot. But there’s absolutely no way I would have been able to do it otherwise. In terms of a social life, it’s quite easy to get on guest-lists and things in London clubs

but I understand how it would be really hard if you weren’t living in central London.

What they ended up paying me was enough to travel outside of London, to eat and maintain a social life but I wouldn’t have been able to support myself.

Undoubtedly though, it’s the arts students who suffer the most – one of York’s hopeful journalists has undertaken work experience programmes at some of the top media companies in the country, and has never seen a penny for their efforts. It’s unquestionably easier if you live in London, and two of the five students interviewed interned within PR and government schemes received expenses, but when you’re commuting from elsewhere in the UK and looking at £40- upwards for a 3* hotel – the prospect of interning almost doesn’t seem

worth it.

However, even expenses don’t always run smoothly. One student who interned with White Smoke Communications was promised to have their expenses paid, yet at the end of their time there still had a bank balance of £0. Whilst still being denied their rightful money, the student quit. In hindsight, though, the student came to the conclusion that the experience that they gathered at the company was worth more to them than what they gained in companies where they were actually paid. This leaves us in the dilemma of whether we can actually afford to get the experience we need.

So, being students money is tight and so having an internship in London can be high risk. And so we must always bare in mind the experience gained is something that can’t be bought.

Snow Fest Alex Cochrane-Dyet slaloms us through student friendly ski festivals...

Snowbombing

BUSC Main Event

The British Snow Tour (BRITS)

SnowBoxx

When: April 1st to 16th

When: March 16th to 30th

When: March 23rd to 30th

When: March 22nd to 28th

Where: Mayrhofen, Austria – situated in the Ziller Valley, Mayrhofen has 157 kms of piste suitable for all levels of ability.

Where: Alpe D’Huez, France – a central alpine resort. The views are spectacular and Alpe d’Huez has ‘La Sarenne’, the longest black run in Europe. Despite this, Alpe d’Huez is well suited for beginner and intermediate skiers.

Where: Tignes, France – a high altitude resort in the heart of the French alps, Tignes is one of the best all-year round resorts that caters for skiers/boarders of every style and ability.

Where: Arinsal, Andorra – a picturesque mountain village with a small, varied, wooded ski area.

Who plays: With Kasabian headlining and various international artists on display, including Katy B, The Cuban Brothers and Dub Pistols, Snowbombing has the best music line up without doubt.

The cost: Six-night packages from £413 for self-catered apartments, to £627 for 4* hotels.

Why go?

This hedonistic party at the top of the mountain has been growing in size and popularity for over decade. But with 19 hours of non-stop action every day, this is not a festival for the fainthearted. It relishes mayhem with fancy dress encoura g ed and kooky venues such as a 200-man igloo and an ice-cave.

The best festival to go to if partying is your priority.

Who plays: BUSC is heavy on club music with a mix of up-and-coming DJs such a Chris Moro The Cost: For £359 you can get a one-week lift pass, accommodation, return coach transport, festival wrist band and an event Tshirt thrown in for good measure.

Why go? Starting as a student snow sports championship with inter-university ski and snowboard showdowns but eventually became a festival in its own right. Incredibly cheap student offers include 60 free pints for every 60 people booked from one university. If you’re looking to have sex in the snow and enjoy uni banter this will be your best bet, but if downing pint for fun isn’t your cup of tea it’s best avoided.

Who plays: Renowned for its mix of live bands and DJs the BRITS will feature The Nextmen ft. MC Wrec, the Lazy Habit and ASBO disco this year.

The cost: Packages from £279 include 7 nights accommodation, 6-day Tignes lift pass, event pack and festival wristband.

Why go: Described as ‘Glastonbury meets the FA Cup on snow’

by Ski Sunday presenter Ed Leigh, this winter sports festival is the favourite festival for top snowboarders, mixing serious competition with alpine festivities. If you’re looking to push yourself during the day, whilst still enjoying the nightlife, this is your best option.

Who plays: There are no acts announced yet for 2013, expect a line-up of headline DJs and grassroots UK and Balearic talent.

The cost: £250 will get you accommodation, the lift pass for the week, and the Snowboxx wristband which will give you access to all the events.

Why go: With a more relaxed vibe than some of the other ski festivals, SnowBoxx is all about skii n g during the day and heading out to the terraces for your après until the sun goes down. There are plenty of large clubs and bars and a famous Panoramic Bar on the mountain side that stays open until midnight. With an unrivalled price and a great atmosphere, SkiBoxx would be a great festival to head to with a bunch of mates.

SPORT

YORK VISION Tuesday January 15, 2012

sport

25

www.yorkvision.co.uk/sport sport@yorkvision.co.uk

MATCH DEBATING

TOO MANY STRINGS UNATTACHED

BY JACK BRADSHAW

2012 was a decent year for British tennis, wasn’t it? We had our first male Grand Slam winner since 1936, as Andy Murray claimed the US Open after a truly epic match against Novak Djokovic. The same man also won gold in the London Olympics, as well as a silver medal with partner Laura Robson in the mixed doubles.

To add to that Jonny Marray was a Wimbledon men’s doubles champion earlier in the summer, whilst the women’s game appears to have undergone a revival too. Both Heather Watson and Robson are ranked inside the world’s top 50 players - the first time such a feat has been achieved since 1987 - with the latter rising a remarkable 81 places during 2012.

Watson also won the first British women’s singles title since 1988, when she claimed victory in October in the Japan Open after defeating Chang Kai-Chen in the final. Robson, who reached the US Open fourth round last year, is widely tipped to follow in her footsteps, after coming so close in Guangzhou during September.

Clearly, there is much to look forward to in 2013. Murray kicks off his campaign for another Grand Slam title today, with his Australian Open first round match against Robin Haase.

But lurking underneath this surface of outstanding success lies a growing crisis in British tennis. Here’s an example; while Andy Murray was celebrating his success in America, Andrew Fitzpatrick, the British number 11, was competing over in Vietnam in a desperate attempt to rake in some much needed ranking points and cash for his return flight. Here we have one of the finest talents in our country struggling to make ends meet and sustain his career.

I’m often surprised by how few people turn up to my local tennis court to play this beautiful game, especially considering the facilities are pretty good for a rural area. But a quick dig through the statistics sounds the shrill alarm bells. For instance, the number of people playing tennis each

year in Britain has slumped by 40,000 since 2008 to just over 445,000 which represents something of an embarrassment. There doesn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel, unfortunately, as the LTA’s grassroots funding has recently been slashed

by Sport England from £17.4 million to just £10.4 million, hitting those talented youngsters.

In fact, the whole of the Lawn Tennis Association is in great need of reform. It was revealed in December how the current LTA chief, Roger Draper, earns a whopping £640,000, while a further £13.2 million in salaries is splashed out on just over 300 employees. That wage bill is more than the entire amount allocated to grassroots tennis! Evidently, we have some serious issues.

Tennis retains a stigma for being a

sport for the middle and upper classes, and this won’t go away until there is dramatic change. Too much money goes to the elite end of tennis, as Draper’s appointment of elite coaches such as Paul Annacone, Brad Gilbert and Peter Lungren epitomised back in 2006. Schemes such as tennis for free, greater investment in grassroots tennis, and stronger links with schools are vital if British tennis is to perform strongly not just in 2013, but for years to come.

So while Andy Murray, Laura Robson and the rest of our British stars are enjoying the glorious sunshine on one of the world’s finest stages in the Australian Open, tennis back home continues to flounder. In short, tennis in this country can be summed up by the phrase: “All the gear, no idea”. And that’s no exaggeration.

by designated ‘home’ teams in each fixture, and assigned to a neutral game. Often players are forced to stand in at the last minute when the allocated official is absent. This was the case in at least two games I covered last term. While I am not criticising all referees (as many did a fine job), for the university’s premier college sport, “good in patches” is not good enough.

My suggestion, for college football to be taken seriously, is for referees to be provided for all first team games. This is not unrealistic. College rugby, netball and hockey

all have referees provided, often taken from the ranks of university teams. This model should be emulated for football 1sts.

In an ideal world, linesmen would be provided too, though at the moment this can be nothing more than a dream. Regardless of the issue of linesmen, college football refereeing must be addressed. The burden should no longer fall on captains to organise reluctant referees who may not be up to standard, who will be more susceptible to influence and whose decisions can be so easily questioned.

RED CARD TO SUB-STANDARD REFEREES

BY MICHAEL THURLOWAY I EXPECT few would disagree that college football is the biggest college sport. While competitors for this title, like netball, see colleges struggle to put out two teams at most, football sees colleges easily field three teams and some have as many as five. Yet the legitimacy of football as a competitive college sport continues to be harmed by the state of refereeing.

In college football, referees are provided

SEXIST SHAM

BY DAVE WASHINGTON £65,000 a week is an outrageous wage for anyone to earn. That’s the figure that QPR’s unwanted right-back Jose “I don’t want to sit on the bench” Bosingwa gets paid, and his wages don’t even compare to the game’s top earners.

Rachael Yankey may not be a household name to football fans around the globe, but to amass 121 career caps for England is an incredible achievement, which is rivalled by very few of her male counterparts. Kelly Smith is widely regarded as one of the stars in women’s football, and is the national side’s record goalscorer with a total of 45 England goals. These two along with each of their England counterparts are on central contracts which pay a paltry £16,000 a year.

The offer has now been increased by the overly generous Football Association to a whopping £18,000, but under advice from the PFA the side have rejected the dismal proposal. Of course the top female players are nowhere near the standards of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Wayne Rooney, but to be paid such a minimal wage for fantastic service to their country is derogatory and insulting to say the least.

To make matters worse, club wages are capped at £20,000 per year for all but four players a squad, so on that logic some of the top English players will be able to earn a maximum of £38,000 each year. A good wage you might argue, but when you consider that the top male players earn more that in a day, then the sexist gulf which exists in football is apparent. Indeed the majority of players hold another job as well, as they juggle work and footballing commitments.

Indeed, in the 2007 Women’s World Cup many players were forced to take unpaid leave from their jobs, and were handed only £40 per day by the FA. In comparison the men’s team were rumoured to be handed a six figure bonus for simply failing to qualify for Euro 2008. The wage gulf is simply ridiculous, and casts shame upon the sexist approach of the FA with regard to their comparative funding of men’s and women’s football in this country.

Poor Jose Bosingwa was fined £130,000 for his antics, but don’t worry - he only earns £3.38 million per year. I’m sure his bank account will be cringing at the fine. So whilst many of the women footballers are struggling to earn a living, the likes of Bosingwa drive around in their Ferraris with money dropping out of their pocket. So fair!

PS: WHOEVER INVENTED exam week?

The deficiency of any University sport casts a dark shadow over the sporting spectrum of campus. My dreams of becoming a professional sportsman have been crushed because I’ve been cooped up in a lecture theatre sitting exams. Oh well, at least in week two I can plot my way back to sporting stardom.

26 SPORT YES/NO: THE FUNDING CHOP

VISION DEBATES WHETHER UK SPORT WERE RIGHT TO CUT ALL OLYMPIC FUNDING FOR FOUR SPORTS

DAVE WASHINGTON

YES

CUTTING ALL funding for handball, basketball, table-tennis and wrestling may seem harsh and wrong on the surface, hindering the future development of such sports, but in reality UK Sport’s motives are understandable.

The primary aim of Olympic funding is to deliver medals, and it’d be fair to say that the prospects of the previously mentioned sports returning from Rio 2016 with medals, regardless of how much money was invested would be highly unlikely.

Handball may have been an Olympic success story, but in reality, we’re not very good at it. Team GB lost all of their group matches, and only participated as we were hosts. In Rio, Team GB wouldn’t be afforded such a luxury, and would have to qualify on merit, a challenging task since the team have only won one competitive fixture since they were reformed in 2008.

The same applies for basketball, whilst in table-tennis and wrestling the prospect of medals would be minimal. Instead the funds have been invested in sports such as rowing and cycling, which have proved they can regularly deliver medals.

The decision may not be universally popular, but whether it was right will ultimately be judged on how Team GB fare in 2016. Results will speak for themselves.

GEORGINA STRAPP

NO

MAKING RUTHLESS cuts to sports with less medal-winning potential in Rio totally undermines the ‘legacy’ of London 2012. Basketball, sold out of tickets in London 2012 and the second most popular sport in the world, will not see a GB team in Rio after all its funding was totally removed.

This makes no sense when the 2012 Olympics was placed in Stratford in order to gain the imagination and interest of those from less prosperous areas that have been hit hard in the last few years by the credit crunch and riots. It achieved this with 750,000 more people now taking part in sports once a week than in 2011.

These achievements will be undone purely so that we can dominate in a few sports regardless of the wider effect. Basketball has become a huge part of the lives of many but along with handball, table tennis and wrestling will no longer have the chance of representing Great Britain on the biggest stage possible.

This will severely reduce the profile of these sports and therefore public interest in them. As a result the increased fitness of the UK this year is unlikely to be the start of a long-term pattern.

YORK VISION Tuesday January 15, 2013

CHUCKED IN THE DEEP END

ALEX FINNIS FINDS OUT “WHAT HAPPENS UNDERWATER, STAYS UNDERWATER“ WITH YORK’S WATER POLO TEAM MY EYEBALLS feel like someone has been scraping at them with wire wool, my nose is running with a current worthy of most rivers and I think I have half the elements of the periodic table gurgling around inside my stomach.

I thought trying out water polo would be a bit of a laugh; a chance to chuck a ball around for a while whilst getting to try out the new York Sport Village pool for the first time. I also thought I’d be pretty good at it – I can throw, I can swim, how hard can it be?

Turns out very – this sport is pretty brutal, and that’s coming from someone who’s being playing rugby for the last 10 years.

Contrary to what I thought beforehand, water polo is much more than swimming and throwing a ball about. It is not a sport you can try once and have any real success with, but with the club in full training for their first BUCS match of term coming up in a few weeks’ time they had no choice but to literally throw me in at the deep end.

Within an hour, I was involved in a fullblown training match, and found myself standing in goal with 12 men in silly hats and tight speedos swimming very fast towards me. Me in my flowery swim shorts looking like I was off for a casual day trip to Scarborough. I felt like I was starring in some pathetically tame and yet equally scarring remake of Piranha 3D, and I didn’t even have Kelly Brook there to comfort me.

So far I’ve made water polo out to be an altogether horrific and unwelcome experience. This isn’t actually the case however – I did enjoy my hour and a half ’s time with the club, and my only regret is chowing down on a pretty hefty chicken stir-fry so soon before making the splash.

We started off with a few gentle lengths, which reminded me how long it had been since I’d actually gone for a proper swim outside of the standard frolicking about in the pool on holiday. Fitness on land and in the water are two quite different things, and whilst I’m normally very active and go to the gym five or six times a week, when the pace got cranked up I found it tough to keep up.

After half an hour of lengths I couldn’t wait to get out of the pool and have a bit of a rest, but no, rest for this club constitutes treading water in the deep end and practicing ‘eggbeater’. This basically consists of kicking each leg individually in a breast-

Photo: Jack Western

stroke style in order to keep yourself level in the water, rather than bobbing up and down like a fishing float or an apple at Halloween.

I found the whole movement to be quite unnatural, and still hadn’t really got the hang of it by the end of the session.

We then went on to a drill of which the aim was to beat your marker and allow yourself to swim free into some space to receive a pass. I was paired with the team captain who, like the rest of the club, was extremely friendly and did his best to try and help me fit in. Meanwhile, I did my best to avoid looking like a tit. For the record, he was far more successful than I was.

He taught me the importance of keeping your body as flat as possible on the water, as this gives you the strongest possible body position in water polo when grappling an opponent. Once I had learnt how to spin round my opposite man, my next task was to receive a pass in front of goal and try and score. Every time I went to catch the ball however, I either slapped in pathetically just in front of my own nose or started sinking and missed the ball all together.

Clearly then, I was ready to play a match… I started out in goal, thankfully in the shallow end, and only had one save to make in my 10 minutes between the sticks. A shot came pretty much straight at me from a few yards out, and I palmed it expertly into my own net to allow the opposing team to score.

I was even less successful when I moved out into the open pool. Apart from making a few passes, I was pretty much clueless. With so much going on it’s very difficult to keep track of your marker, and I was definitely at fault for a couple of goals. My crowning moment however, came in a literal sense, when, as I was swimming up pitch, the ball cannoned off the back of my head and out of play, much to the amusement of everyone else.

Whilst I found water polo difficult and I was unashamedly pretty rubbish at it, it is definitely a great sport to get involved with.

You have to appreciate the fitness of these guys who play week in week out, and the one piece of advice I would give to anyone thinking about going along to give it a try is this: bring goggles!

FIGHTING TALK FROM MMA CLUB

BY JACK BRADSHAW YORK’S MIXED Martial Arts club is gearing up for an exciting programme this term, as two fights have been announced.

Speaking at the club’s first training session of the year, President Herbert van Listenburg told Vision: “We’ve got Varsity in February, which was a great success last year and this time we have about 50 fighters.

Everyone is motivated and determined to do well. We’ve grown so much over the last year, that I don’t see us losing.

“Then in March, we’re taking part in a kick-boxing event in Bradford, which involves around 20 universities.”

Van Listenburg also spoke of the improvements the club have made over the past 12 months, and how more new events could appear in future.

He commented: “We’ve doubled the membership, mainly thanks to the new termly payment which is financially easier. We’ve also stimulated the training for women.

“The grant from YUSU has been a great help as it’s allowed us to hire better equip-

Photo: Jack Bradshaw

ment and organise seminars.

“We are also hoping to be part of the British Universities Mixed Martial Arts competition next year, fighting teams all over the country.”

Anyone interested in joining the club is invited to come along to the training sessions on Monday, 10am-12pm, Tuesday, 7:00pm-8:30pm, Friday 6:00pm-7:30pm and Saturday 3:00pm-5:00pm.

SPORT

YORK VISION

Tuesday January 15, 2013

BIG INTERVIEW: FREDDIE BURNS THE

TOM ARMSTON-CLARKE TALKS TO THE GLOUCESTER AND ENGLAND RUGBY STAR ABOUT HIS FORM, DEBUTS AND WATCHING WILKO

27

TIPSTER

THE TIPSTER IS BACK; LEANER AND MEANER THAN EVER BEFORE

sure thing MESSI TO WIN THE BALLON D’OR FOR A FIFTH TIME

To the surprise of no one, bar perhaps a perennially gutted Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi picked up an historic fourth Ballon d’Or last week, casting out any lingering doubt that we are witnessing unequalled genius on a football pitch.

In a way it was quite cute the other two even bothered turning up. Forget all the naysayers claiming he “hasn’t done it at a World Cup” and “the game is easier for attackers than in our day.” The magician from Rosario continues to redefine greatness, breaking Gerd Mueller’s 40-year old record of 85 goals for club and country in a calendar year, a feat most thought would never be achieved. The only way he won’t win the iconic ball of gold next year is if someone takes his legs, and even then he’ll probably come second.

TIPSTER'S ODDS:

1/5

long shot WITH ONLY five days before Christmas, I headed down to my old school where I spent seven years of my life. This time I wasn’t there to see my old teachers, or how the school has changed; I was there to see the biggest rugby match of the school year, the 1st XV against the staff and ex-pupils. And of both teams I was there to see one man, Gloucester and England fly-half Freddie Burns.

The opportunity to speak to a young sportsman at the top of his game and with the rugby world at his feet was an opportunity I was not about to pass on. For someone who won Aviva Player of the Month in November 2012 and has been referred to as “someone who’s on top of his game at the moment,” by Nigel Davies, Gloucester’s Director of Rugby, his modesty is something commendable.

Burns started playing rugby aged five at Avon Rugby Club, whom he is still in contact with, and he has come a long way in the 17 years since then. I ask him about his debut against New Zealand in which he added six points towards England’s victory. He told me: “It has always been a dream since I first started playing aged five, I wanted to represent my country.”

He talks about watching the World Cup final, when Johnny Wilkinson drop kicked the crucial three points to win the game, and how as a result his hunger grew intensely.

Burns goes on to explain how his international debut came about sooner than he expected, before adding: “I feel my form over the last six months has been the best it has ever been. It’s always nice to get called up when your confidence is high!”

The victory over New Zealand was a major success for English rugby, the first time they have beaten the All Blacks in nine years, and only their seventh in history. The BBC described it as “one of the great victories in their history.” I asked Burns how he felt about this, and he responded: “It’s very surreal. For a debut I couldn’t ask for any-

more. This England squad is on a journey to the Rugby World Cup 2015 and I’m just happy to be on board. Hopefully I can stay on board until the World Cup.” He is keen to ensure that it was not a one off, and such determination stands him in good stead.

Freddie Burns is a highly talked-about rugby player, with over 15,000 followers on Twitter, and a story about him in a national paper every other day. Many people would find the pressure too much to handle, but he seems to effortlessly cope with the burden of expectation. He commented: “I think you can do one of two things when playing in front of big crowds. The first is to close it out, fear the pressure but back your ability and technique to pull through. Or the second (which I try to do), is to embrace it, soak it up, thrive off of the energy that the crowd and occasion supply. It’s then about channelling that energy into positive outcomes on the field.” It appears to be working, as he is at the time of writing the top points scorer in the Aviva premiership.

Just as Burns looked up to New Zealand fly-half Carlos Spencer, others do and will continue to be looking up to Burns himself.

I asked him what advice he would give and he replied: “Just never question your ability.

The higher you go the more widespread the doubts about your ability are. But when others doubt you, then you must never doubt yourself.” He speaks with such calmness and maturity that few athletes of his age possess, adding: “Always keep the faith in your ability and strive for perfection”.

It is less than a thousand days until England welcomes the best rugby players from all over the world. Burns informs me that he has his eyes on a medal during the World Cup, whilst another of his goals is “to have won the premiership with Gloucester within the next five years”. However, he may not be the only member of the Burns family with such ambitions, since Freddie is not the only family member to hold a passion for rugby. His older brother Sam

represents RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, the eldest Jack plays with Oldfield Old Boys, but it is the youngest brother who is hot on Freddie’s heels. Billy Burns is a member of the Gloucester Rugby Academy, and has represented England Under 18s.

I asked him how he felt about Billy competing for his place at the Cherry Whites. He responded he is very proud of his younger brother and talks with genuine compassion: ”I’ll do all I can to help him become the best player he can and if that means taking my place then that’s the nature of the game so I will have no complaints. I’ll cross that bridge when it comes to it”. At the moment though he hasn’t any worries; Burns is playing fantastic rugby and is a pleasure to watch at any level, Gloucester, England or even a school XV versus ex-pupils.

He is at the top of his game at the moment but as we all know, there must have been times of doubt. I asked him whether he ever thought about quitting. His response was: “When it comes to doubting yourself, if you ever want to play at the top I believe you can never doubt yourself, let others doubt you but always believe in yourself and your abilities”. This shows in the way he is both on and off the pitch; confident and assured. The 22-year-old with the world at his feet added: “Sometimes a bit of arrogance on the pitch isn’t a bad thing, just ensure you remain humble off the pitch.”

Athletes of all abilities and sports sometimes have special routines or superstitions but Burns holds no such beliefs. He reinforces his family values by explaining that “he likes to know where his family are in the stadium, and giving them a wave before the game on entering the pitch.” As a true west country boy he jokes with me, and says that he likes to enjoy a cider or two if the team wins. “You have to be realistic, and after games you have to realise why certain things happened and you must learn from them.” It truly is an attitude which will help him progress a long way in the rugby world.

ENGLAND TO WIN SIX NATIONS GRAND SLAM

Every so often there’s a sporting moment that genuinely takes everybody by surprise. One such moment took place at Twickenham last December, when Stuart Lancaster’s England team beat the seemingly indestructible All Blacks 38-21, prompting euphoria and optimism not seen for many a year. Now all eyes turn to the upcoming Six Nations, where English chances look significantly improved. Last year’s champions, Wales, are on a poor run of form, losing all four autumn internationals including defeats to both Argentina and Samoa. Ireland and France have been similarly indifferent recently, meaning the men of the Red Rose have a decent chance of claiming the title for themselves.

TIPSTER'S ODDS:

6/1

absolute madness ANDY MURRAY TO WIN ALL FOUR GRAND SLAMS IN 2013 The start of the Grand Slam tennis season is here once more, with the upcoming Australian Open reminding us that Scottish people aren’t really that bad after all. The summer has been eventful for everyone’s favourite misery-boots, what with the US Open title, gold medals and crying he’s been up to. The upcoming run of tournaments has the potential to take Murray from his current status as a Slam winner, onto the next level of worldwide adulation, undoubtedly ending with a sun-drenched moment of glory on the hallowed lawns of SW19. Having already successfully retained his Brisbane International title, beating Grigor Dimitrov in the final, the stage is set for the Dunblane Destroyer to go on a run that would see him emulate Rod Laver’s feat in 1962. Or he might just start shouting again.

TIPSTER'S ODDS:

200/1

28 SPORT

YORKSHIRE LEAGUE HOCKEY

York Women’s 1sts

0

Harrogate 2nds

1

BY JACK BRADSHAW YORK SUFFERED an unfortunate defeat in their opening Yorkshire Hockey League match of the term, in a game which they dominated for long spells.

Harrogate scored a controversial winner against the run of play when Sally Dolton was adjudged to have prevented a goal-scoring opportunity and the Harrogate forward scored the resulting penalty flick.

York will be irritated that such a harsh decision was made, given that the Harrogate player appeared to go down with minimal contact, and the challenge did not deny a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

The home side began the match confidently as Hermione Warmington dragged a shot narrowly wide within two mintues, before Izzy Hutchinson saw a vicious drive beaten away by the Harrogate ‘keeper.

Harrogate were being overrun in midfield thanks to York’s tenacity, denying their opponents time and space.

But towards the end of the half, the away side did exert some pressure as ‘keeper Laura Porter was forced into a save, with the rebound being brilliantly cleared off

the line by Sally Warrington in what represented the game’s best chance.

Early in the second half, York thought they had taken the lead. Jill Mercer delivered a short corner to Joely Hartley, who slammed home emphatically. The goal however was disallowed, since Hartley was ruled to be outside of the D. York continued to dominate as Vaila Ormiston befuddled the opposition with her dribbling skills, and Katie Penrose saw a shot flash just wide.

But out of nothing Harrogate took the lead with 10 minutes left. A rare Harrogate attack resulted in the winger making a run down the left, but she tumbled to the ground as Dolton closed her down. The umpire immediately gave a penalty flick, to the amazement of the York players, and the ball was stroked home.

York tried to press for a late equaliser, but Harrogate’s defence remained firm in the closing stages.

Afterwards, captain Dolton told Vision: “It’s incredibly unlucky that we lost to a penalty that should never have been given.”

0 4

Harrogate 3rds

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4

Otliensians 1sts

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BY DAVE WASHINGTON

Photo: Jack Western

YORK BOUNCED back from Saturday’s defeat by producing one of their best displays of the season, as a sublime performance by Katie Penrose, who bagged a brilliant hat-trick, helped York to saunter to a crucial 4-1 victory against bottom club Otliensians 1sts.

Indeed it was Penrose who opened the scoring after only five minutes, with a superb individual goal, surging forward past two players and unleashing a pinpoint shot into the bottom corner of the net to give York the perfect start.

York produced some of their most precise hockey of the season, and when a York shot was blocked on the line by an Otliensians body, York were handed a penalty flick and a perfect chance to double their advantage. Izi Hutchinson stepped up and coolly beat the keeper, placing her flick into the bottom right hand corner.

York pushed for a third with both Hutchinson and Hermione Warmington threatening, but against the run of play, the visitors grabbed a life line on the stroke of

A DOMINANT performance saw York men’s 2nds record a comfortable 4-1 victory over Harrogate 3rds in Yorkshire League, and in turn consolidate their position in second in the table. The victory was York’s eighth of the season, and takes them a step closer to promotion.

Goals from Fred Isaac, Rob Smith, Leo Watton and Chris Butterworth sealed a comfortable victory which saw the side’s excel-

lent Yorkshire League form from 2012 continue into 2013. After 15 minutes York opened the scoring as Kris Siva saw his lobbed effort blocked on the line, but Fred Isaac was on hand to turn home the rebound.

On 45 minutes York doubled their advantage. Sam Richardson unleashed a powerful reverse shot from the top of the D which was well saved, but Rob Smith slotted home the rebound from two yards out.

After a remarkable reflex save by the Harrogate ‘keeper from Danny Williams, the

BY DAVE WASHINGTON

York Men’s 2nds

York Women’s 1sts

YORK VISION

Tuesday January 15, 2013

half-time, as their best move of the game resulted in a cross being expertly turned in at the back post.

The second half saw vast periods of York dominance, as twice Joely Hartley was denied from short corners, whilst the Otliensians ‘keeper was in excellent form to deny Hutchinson. However Penrose’s second of the game and York’s third restored the two goal cushion, as she rounded off a flowing move.

At the other end Sally Warrington and captain Sally Dolton were in fine form, whilst ‘keeper Laura Porter made a superb double save to deny the visitors a second goal. Penrose then completed her hat-trick in the closing stages by capitalising on a loose ball from a short corner, and her fine display warranted all of the plaudits that she received.

The win was York’s third of the season, moving them onto ten points and closing the gap to the teams above. More performances of the same calibre will be required over the remainder of the season, to help the side avoid relegation.

Photo: Emilien Tortel

vistors clawed their way back into the game as a shot from the top of the D cannoned into the York goal.

McKinnon then denied Harrogate an equaliser with a sprawling save, and on the counter Leo Watton restored York’s advantage with a superb solo goal, driving 35 yards before firing a reverse shot home.

Watton’s then beat two and pulled the ball back to Chris Butterworth who slotted home after surging into space, rounding off the victory.

‘SOME TEAM’ WINS ‘YINDOORS’

BY MICHAEL THURLOWAY

YORK’S SIGNATURE event in Ultimate, known as ‘Yindoors’, took place over the weekend, with teams from across the north of England travelling to compete. The tournament has been held for a number of years, but the turnout this time was particularly impressive.

The open event was won by Some Team, while Dazed & Confused took the women’s title. York entered three teams in the open event, and one in the women’s, putting in respectable performances with developmental teams.

As a newcomer to the sport, I didn’t really know what to expect from Ultimate, but the experience was most definitely enjoyable. Clearly, players require good fitness to compete at a high level, but the sport is also noted for not taking itself too seriously.

When entering the sports tent during the two-day tournament, one was immediately struck by the loud and eclectic music, from ‘Bohemain Rhapsody’ to ‘Mr Boombastic’, ‘Barbie Girl’ to ‘Forget You’. This gave the tournament a laid-back feel, but it would be wrong not to think that at the top level this is extremely competitive stuff.

The team names themselves ranged from the obvious to the obscure. Our own team, York Ultimate, was probably amongst the least creative. Hull University sent Hull-

timate, while Lancaster University sent Fish.

But it is also a friendly sport. There are no referees; contentious moments are left to the teams to debate and decide what to do.

Disputes are kept to a minimum.

There were also awards for the teams who best encompassed the spirit of the event, as voted for by their opponents.

Dazed & Confused completed the double by winning the spirit award for the women’s, as well as the tournament as a whole. In the open event, Manor, a team made predominantly of early teenagers, won the award.

My first impression of Ultimate was that it was like a cross between netball and American football. Players can only go as far as their momentum takes them when they receive the frisbee, and have only ten seconds to pass it on. Points are scored for getting the frisbee into the end zone.

This leads to different philosophies of play. There was the short passing teams, those who relied on quick counter attacks, and the long pass (which came particularly to the fore at the frantic finales to the matches).

The open event final was a credit to the tournament and the sport. It was a competitive tournament throughout, with former winners and much fancied YOpen, a local team, finishing only 12th. The final was a close affair with Some Team, made up of

Photo: Emilien Tortel

alumni from Lancaster University, defeating Dazed & Confused, a club team from Manchester, 6-5.

Dazed & Confused capped off a good weekend with victory in the women’s final over Legs 11, a team made up (by definition) only of tall players.

York 1 finished 13th in the open event, beating Roses rivals Lancaster along the way, whilst York 3 overcame the odds to fin-

ish 17th, one place above York 2. The women’s team came 10th, but the tournament provided good experience and development for teams made up predominantly of beginners.

York Ultimate team captain Jamie Smith told Vision: “The event was really good this year, the quality of the teams has improved immensely since last year. Our team looks good, it’s really exciting.”

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YORK VISION

Tuesday January 15, 2013

29

VISION’S SPORTING HIGHLIGHTS OF 2012 ROSES 2012: THE MEMORIES

CENTURIONS OFF TO A FLIER

DAVE WASHINGTON

YORK MAY have succumbed to defeat against Lancaster in Roses 2012, but it still undoubtedly remained one of the highlights of the sporting year for everyone involved from both sides.

A fantastic three days of sporting action saw York’s teams produce some memorable performances, whilst others suffered the agony and heartbreak of defeat.

The atmosphere at the men’s darts was a moment I’ll never forget, as York resisted a fearsome Lancaster comeback with Chris Hilliam securing the crucial victory in hostile conditions, by checking out with a double 16.

The following evening, the men’s water polo provided the entertainm e n t , a s 12 Patterson

OSCAR PEARSON

goals helped York to a momentous 15-12 victory sparking wild celebrations.

The 1st XV Rugby secured a 22-6 victory, to help the club to a Roses whitewash, whilst in hockey a dramatic last minute equaliser from Laurie Torrington earned York Men’s 1sts a share of the spoils, and sparked a pitch invasion from York’s jubilant fans, The list of incredible performances could go on, but York were still defeated with the final score 131.5-158.5 points in Lancaster’s favour.

Despite this it was still a fantastic three days, which highlighted the sporting talent on display from both universities. The memories of Roses 2012, whether it be cheering on in the darts or water polo, watching on anxiously on the astro or trying to sleep on a rock hard floor in a Lancaster lecture theatre with Oliver Todd’s incessant snoring will live with me forever.

HOCKEY HEROICS

flurry of Bradford touchdowns.

But with just two minutes to go in

VARSITY VICTORY

SALLY DOLTON

MY PERSONAL highlight came early on in the year.

The hockey club had never reached the quarter final of the cup before, and the 1st team played in the semi-final in March this year. Despite losing to eventual winners Durham 2nds it was a victory all the same.

The cup run did start in 2011 but it was the last three matches, played in 2012 which were the most amazing games to be a part of.

The last 16 draw against Durham 3rds was always going to be tricky. However, a stunning goal from Jill Mercer and an early goal from Durham meant it came down to penalty flicks. This is as nerve wracking and as tense as it can get in hockey, and to top it off, it came down to the last flick.

Captain Hannah Gage needed to score and she didn’t let her team down, scoring with a beautiful push.

The quarter final match was a 3-1 win against Sheffield Hallam 2nds, having already knocked out t h e i r 1sts, the team w a s conf i dent but victory w a s still celebrated with as much jubilation.

It is a memory I look back on with a smile and, for me, it was the pinnacle of 2012. Screw the Olympics! Our hockey run beats it hands down.

IN A pulsating encounter, York Centurions powered their way to victory in Bradford as they triumphed in their first ever BUCS clash. It was a mammoth battle that lasted over 210 minutes, ebbing and flowing as both sides flirted with victory.

York raced into a 12-point lead but fell 2618 behind in the third quarter after a

JACK BRADSHAW

WITH A final score of 61.5-21.5 in York’s favour, Varsity 2012 was not quite as close as York Sport President Sam Asfahani promised. Nevertheless, there were still some top matches which will live long in the memory.

Oh yes, there were plenty of thrashings - remember the women’s badminton 1sts? Well, they trounced their opponents 8-0 in arguably their performance of the season.

The men’s 2nds also won 7-0. The netballers also had a fine afternoon, as three of the four York teams claimed victory.

Although it came sparingly, we also witnessed some tense, dramatic matches including a 5-4 Ultimate victory, after the York team were 4-0 down, whilst the women’s football match ended in a tight 1-0 victory for York.

Arguably the highlight came in Hendrix Hall, which hosted the famous MMA match - the first ever between two universities. Although York led 4-2 at one stage, Hull roared back with two late victories to snatch a 4-4 draw.

The atmosphere there was certainly the best I had savoured in 2012; the deafening atmosphere and commitment from both players made it something quite remarkable.

Photo: Vivan Jayant

the match, the Centurions pushed the game into overtime.

It was almost dark when York’s Matt Freeman passed superbly to Sam Parke before the Bears failed to convert their twopointer, leaving the away side celebrating a truly sensational comeback.

The whole event proved to be one of the most memorable days of the year with everyone’s emotions oscillating from hope to despondency. The importance of the contest mixed with the hype, expectations and setting foot on new ground would have kept this day in the minds of many sporting students no matter the result. The fact that the Centurions emerged triumphant, that they had to do it in lastminute, fairy-tale fashion, made the fascinating and unpredictable world of university sport even more special.

COLLEGE CUP ALEX FINNIS

THIS YEAR’S College Cup sprung a surprise as Vanbrugh 1sts secured the trophy by beating reigning champions Halifax 1sts in the final.

All the talk throughout the tournament’s early stages had been about James 1sts. They were dispatching the lesser teams with ease, racking up cricket scores week-in weekout, and star striker Tom Clarke was in siz- zling form. Whilst the UYAFC man notoriously flopped in the 2011 tournament, he was unstoppable this time around, a n d his unavailability for their semifinal clash with Halifax almost certainly played a part in his side’s early exit from the cup.

He provided what was arguably the highlight of the tournament during James’ 4-1 win over Halifax 4ths, as he smashed a superb hattrick, including an overhead kick from outside the area, despite having drunk four pints before the match.

It was Vanbrugh, though, who were to have the tournament’s last laugh.

Before the final it is fair to say that most fancied Halifax, but the game turned out to be somewhat of a stalemate. To be perfectly honest, the first half was one of the most boring halves of football of the entire tournament, but the sides exchanged blows in the second half a n d the game finished 1-1. Penalties it w a s , and Vanbrugh were faultless.

T h e y slotted all five, Kieran O’Dwyer coolly finishing the job to cue champagne fuelled celebrations and a new chapter in College Cup history.

30 SPORT

YORK VISION

Tuesday January 15, 2013

PROMOTION PUSH

BY DAVE WASHINGTON YORK’S NETBALLERS restart their BUCS campaign tomorrow, as the 1sts make the trip to second placed Leeds Met 4ths. York themselves sit fourth in the table, but due to the tight nature of the league with only three points separating top from bottom, the side still have every chance of promotion.

Captain Nina Pullman told Vision: “With such a tight league this half of the season is set to be incredibly exciting. Obviously we will put all our efforts into keeping promotion in sight, this would be an absolutely amazing result for us!” Despite being only fourth, York have the best goal difference in the league having recorded commanding victories over Sheffield and Hull, but suffering agonising away defeats against Northumbria and Sunderland, by one and three goals respectively.

Asked how her side would prevent a third narrow away defeat, Pullman replied: “concentration will be key in getting on top of Leeds this Wednesday, we’ve had a good history with playing away against them and in the past we have been evenly matched. The most important thing is to make an impact immediately after the first whistle goes.”

She added: “I want the girls to get a goal, get an interception, anything to put Leeds on the defensive in the first minute so we set an assertive standard for the rest of the game.”

Pullman herself however will be a mere spectator as a ligament injury heals. Currently six weeks into a three month recovery period, the inspirational captain is hoping that she’ll be fit to return for Varsity in just under five weeks. The rest of the squad fortunately remains largely injury free, and Pullman remarked: “All three teams are treating these first two weeks of term as if it was another pre-season, we have all had extra fitness sessions and boot camps and fitness is well on its way to 100%.”

Such commitment should help the side to brush away any post-Christmas cobwebs, as they go in search of a win which would lift them to the top of the table, since York have a game in hand on everyone bar Leeds Met, with this fixture being the only one taking place tomorrow.

Pullman finished by saying: “Keep an eye on the netball BUCS league tables for York, and the UYNC Twitter account, as there should be some exciting scores coming in during the next few weeks!” Indeed it is exciting times as the teams aims to achieve the elusive promotion.

Photo: Ian Packard

LORD TARGETS FLYI

BY JACK BRADSHAW

Photo: Jack Western

FEW TEAMS in York performed as well as the men’s rugby 1st XV last term. The side collected 18 points from a possible 21 and propelled themselves to the top of the Northern 1A table thanks to a 13-6 victory over rivals Sheffield 1sts in December.

With a five-point gap at the summit, York will be looking to maintain their momentum tomorrow afternoon against Bishop Burton 1sts on 22 Acres. With six games remaining, this is the first of four home matches, some-

thing the team will be looking to capitalise on.

On paper, the match certainly appears winnable, but Bishop Burton remain the only side to inflict defeat on York back in October, and Captain Sam Lord is wary not to make the same mistakes again.

Lord told Vision: “Bishop Burton are the only team to have beaten us so far this season but it was very early on last term and we have improved massively since then. Our challenge will be to match their physicality, keep as much possession as possible by dominating the set piece and then doing what we do best:

TEEING-UP FOR SHOT AT TOP TWO BIG DOUB

BY JACK BRADSHAW

Photo: David Hoffman

THE MEN’S football 2nds travel to Teesside tomorrow afternoon in search of their second league win of the season.

Teesside 3rds are bottom of the table with three defeats from three games and a goal difference of minus 16. Although York must not entertain any thoughts of complacency, six points are perfectly attainable from the two games against them.

The midfield engine in Josh Spurling [pictured left] needs to be in top gear to allow the likes of Phil Taylor, Elliot Ross and Jamie Trant to flourish going forward.

The team’s last match at home to Sunderland 2nds was a tense affair, as York made hard work of a 1-1 draw.

Indeed, at times York’s attacking threat has been rather muted, as the side have scored only six goals. However, the fact four of these have been notched away from the 3G will give hope to the squad.

Captain Matthew Bainbridge told Vision: “The upcoming Teesside game is massive for us; one we need to win if we are to achieve our aim of a top two finish this season.

“We finished the end of last term well in both the league and North Riding FA Challenge Cup and we will be looking to take this into the game, continuing to play attractive, possession football – albeit on a disgusting Teesside ‘pitch’.”

Sitting on four points at the half-way point of the season, York are unlikely to be either relegated or promoted this year.

BY MICHAEL THURLOWAY

AFTER AN impressive first term, both men’s and women’s lacrosse 1sts enter this term with realistic chances of promotion.

For the men, this week sees a grudge match against Durham 2nds. Both teams are currently undefeated in Northern 2B, with York sitting top by virtue of having played an extra game.

Men’s 1sts vice-captain Joe Tebbutt told Vision: “The players will have something to prove after last year’s defeat against Durham in the Cup final and it’s definitely a result to watch out for.” The team were on the wrong end of a 13-3 defeat to Durham in that final, but their form so far this year suggests they are in with a good chance of avenging that defeat. The teams

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YORK VISION

Tuesday January 15, 2013

31

SURVIVAL SCRUM

BY DAVE WASHINGTON

AFTER EARNING promotion to Division Northern 1A last year, the women’s 1sts rugby side have had a more challenging campaign, and currently sit in the relegation places as we move into the second half of the season.

However it’s not really the second half of the season for York, who only played three league matches before Christmas, suffering thumping defeats by extremely strong outfits in the shape of Manchester 1sts and Sheffield Hallam 1sts. However victory before Christmas against Liverpool John Moores who sit bottom of the table on minus six points, was a massive boost to their side, and they’ll be looking to build on that this term.

Their match tomorrow has been cancelled, but on Saturday they make the daunting trip to second placed Northumbria 1sts.

On the fixture Captain Lucy Davies commented: “We know the top of the league teams are very tough. We will go in to the match aggressively. The aim is to keep the

ING START TO 2013 attacking fast and skillfully.”

Lord also says that the Christmas break has provided a useful breather for his key players as the team look to kick on in the Spring Term: “The good thing about the holidays is that it gives a chance for injuries to heal. It also gives guys like Adam Gaskell, Will Sharp and Tristan Burd - who are really important players for us and who never miss a minute of training or games - to rest and recharge.

“Our preparations have been hindered to a certain extent by exams during this first week back, but our guys have reached such good

standards in terms of their professionalism and general attitude that academic work won’t be a problem.”

The team are currently on a five-match winning streak in the league, scoring a total of 118 points and conceding just 63.

Despite this impressive vein of form, Lord will be reminding his players that there is still plenty of work left: “We’re only halfway through the season and, whether we win or lose on Wednesday, nothing is even close to being decided with so many games to go in a league as tough as ours.”

will meet again next month in the quarterfinals of this year’s Northern Conference Cup. Of last term’s impressive performances, he especially picked out a commanding cup win against a strong Bangor side. Tebbutt added: “Over the next term, the real challenge will be holding onto the position we have built ourselves and to continue to progress in the cup, despite the loss of a key defender. The team will be gunning for a hard earned promotion to League 1.”

The women’s 1sts also boast a strong record, with only one defeat so far this year, and that at the hands of league leaders and promotion rivals, Northumbria 1sts. They host a strong Liverpool 1sts team side on Wednesday in the Northern Conference Cup having managed three dominating victories so far, with another

close fought victory over rivals Durham 3rds.

Their defeat against Northumbria was another close one, 14-11, and that defeat sees them sit behind Northumbria in the Northern 2B table. But this week, all eyes are on the cup. Liverpool travel to York boasting an undefeated record this year and a +67 goal difference from three matches. The big match will take place at 2pm on 22 Acres.

Captain Alex Whitehand told Vision: “I was very pleased with our performance last term.

We looked very comfortable against the majority of competition. This term then we just hope to build upon last terms performance and continue to win matches and gain promotion.”

With high aspirations for both 1sts teams in league and cup, it promises to be an exciting term for UYLC.

BLE-HEADER FOR UYLC

defence tight. In attack, we have some very good ball carriers. We need to be confident and back ourselves. I think the best way to tackle them is by playing the game in their half. Territory will be very important!”

The squad possesses a perfect blend of freshers and more experienced heads, and back row Izzy Welby has particularly impressed with her aggression and leadership skills. Captain Davies told Vision: “The team are becoming more gelled and the confidence is growing”, highlighting this as a reason for the improved performances.

Davies added: “We had a big challenge this year after gaining promotion in to the Northern 1A league, so we set out to retain our position in the league along with playing better quality rugby while keeping the enjoyment and team spirit up!”

With two or three games in hand on everyone else the aim of avoiding relegation is more than achievable for the side, which have progressed substantially in recent years. The battle for survival will continue, and the side have every chance of succeeding, with the talent in the side.

Photo: Oliver Todd

ADVANTAGE YORK?

BY DAVE WASHINGTON

YORK’S TENNIS teams are in action tomorrow, as the men’s 1sts look to move up the table, whilst the women’s 1sts go in search of their first win of the season in a crucial relegation clash.

The men’s 1sts sit fifth their table with mixed results, and tomorrow they host Durham 3rds, who sit in alongside them in mid table.

The season started well for the York, with an excellent 8-4 victory over Sheffield Hallam, followed by two draws, but the

Photo: David Hoffman

last two matches saw York suffer two catastrophic 12-0 defeats.

Meanwhile the women’s 1sts have only played one league and one cup game to date, both of which have ended in 12-0 whitewash defeats, signalling worrying times for the team.

Tomorrow they host local rivals York St John. Their record is the same, having also suffered two 12-0 losses.

It will undoubtedly be a key clash for both sides in their battle to avoid relegation, whilst the men will be looking to embark on a run which will push them up the table.

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V

BIG INTERVIEW: FREDDIE BURNS

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2012: THE BEST BITS

BUCS PREVIEW

P29

P30-31

BOUNCING BACK

BY DAVE WASHINGTON A CRUCIAL weekend of Yorkshire League fixtures saw the women’s 1sts hockey suffer an agonising and unfortunate 1-0 defeat on Saturday, with a controversial goal condemning York to defeat.

But they bounced back with a terrific performance against bottom club Otliensians 1sts on Sunday, to seal a crucial 4-1 victory which aids their quest to avoid relegation.

A marvellous Katie Penrose [pictured] hat-trick helped York to a stunning victory, as Sally Dolton’s side produced some of their most pleasing hockey of the season.

They still remain in the relegation zone in their league after being promoted last year, but the weekend’s performances suggest the side have the ability to beat the drop.

The men’s 2nds and 3rds were also in action, and had contrasting fortunes. The 2nds continued their promotion push with a comfortable 4-1 win over Harrogate 3rds, which leaves them second in their division at the midway point of the season.

However the University 3rds suffered a 4-0 defeat against local rivals, City of York 6ths. The loss leaves Declan Hall’s side rooted to the foot of the table with only two points, as their miserable run continues.

Reports on page 28

> CONTROVERSIAL GOAL CONDEMNS WOMEN’S 1STS TO DEFEAT ON SATURDAY > BUT THEY FIGHT BACK ON SUNDAY WITH A KATIE PENROSE HAT-TRICK SECURING VICTORY Photo: Emilien Tortel

Issue 230

Tuesday January 15th, 2013

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8 pages of sport