PROUDLY SPONSORED BY
www.simmons-simmons.com
the bubble issue 41|30.11.09 -13.12.09
intro • ghost of elections past, present and future • union council • the great accommodation rip-off? • get involved
You’ve made it this far! We’re nearing the end of term, and I’m sure it’s been manic (in varying degrees) for everyone. Among other things, Pride Week saw hordes of people turn up for the BDSM workshop, and Sexual Health Awareness Week saw thousands of students get sexual health check-ups. The action isn’t over yet, though: Week 9 is RAG Week! From my totally unbiased opinion as an ex-exec member of RAG, it is one of the most fun weeks of the year, as the campus gets taken over by person-sized animals, Sabbs are auctioned at Top B, and flour and beans fly everywhere - never before has the word ‘gnoming’ been so terrifying! Taking a step back from it all, I think we should all be proud of how this term has gone. An awesome bunch of Freshers, some really good turn-outs for Union democracy, and societies and sports clubs dealing with the credit crunch in their own innovative and inventive ways. Next term: new venue; new themed weeks; new events. If you’re around over Christmas, drop in and say hi to us Sabbs, as otherwise we’ll get lonely! Sami
ghost of elections past, present and future As an organisation, Warwick SU is run by students, for students. We think we’re currently doing a pretty good job - last year we had a 24.9% increase in the number of voters in the Officer Elections, the highest increase of any Students’ Union in the country. The last couple of years have seen a big change. We’ve seen record election turnouts in the past two years. Last year saw some key democratic events: the Emergency General Meeting debating whether to show solidarity with Palestine filled MS.02; last year’s referenda passed key motions on International Integration and a lecture-free Freshers’ Week. Furthermore, the Officer Elections had almost 25% more voters than the previous year. Right now we’ve just gone through a record-breaking set of Autumn Elections, with voter turnout up by 130%. We’ve also just seen the first quorate AGM in recent history, with a controversial motion on fees and an emergency resolution opposing the School of Life Sciences. The rest of the year promises to be one of the most exciting democratic years this Union has ever seen. Elections Group is aiming for over 8,000 votes in the Officer Elections this year, which would be the highest of any Students’ Union in the country. We want Warwick SU to be the most democratic, representative and innovative Students’ Union in the country. For that we need you! Chris Luck: ELECTIONS GROUP CHAIR and Stuart Stanley: RETURNING OFFICER
union council Monday of Week 10 not only means the last Top Banana (sigh…), but also the last Union Council meeting this term. Everyone is welcome to come along and debate the various motions brought forward - pop in to SO.21 from 7pm to take part. You have a say in how your Union is run. Make sure you use it!
the great accommodation rip-off? Do you think that rent-hikes are too high? Do you think you’re being charged too much for what you’re getting? If you’ve got something to say about this issue, then check out www.warwicksu.com/rents to make your voice heard.
get involved One motion has been submitted to this term’s referenda period, entitled: ‘Should this Union disaffiliate from the West Midlands Area National Union of Students (WMANUS)?’ Referenda are the highest decision-making body in the Union, and the important decision of whether we should remain involved with WMANUS lies in your hands! For more information, check out the ‘Have Your Say’ section of the Union website, where you can read the for-and-against arguments. To vote, log onto the Union website from Tuesday until Friday Week 9!
rag week
rag week - week 9 One of the most bizarre weeks of the year is back! RAG is taking over campus for one week - all in the name of charity. Get yourself a pint delivered in lectures, or get your own back on your housemate who hasn’t done their share of the washing up by having them ‘gnomed’! Check out the stall in the entrance to SUHQ and the ‘Warwick RAG Week 2009’ Facebook group.
deliveries & gnomings
who we are
hitches
During RAG Week, a stall in the Union becomes RAG’s temporary base of operations. Drop by to order deliveries and gnomings or to sign up for events.
RAG stands for Raising and Giving. We are a society that raises as much money as we can for charity. How do we do this? Raids, Hitches, the RAG Quiz, Cloakroom, Sweet Stall and, of course, RAG Week are some of the many ways that we raise money for various worthy causes.
How does a weekend in Dublin raising money for charity sound? If you like the idea, then the RAG Hitch is for you. You get sponsored to hitchhike to Dublin, spend a day and a night there, then hitch back home. Perfect for a weekend out of The Bubble!
Every day during RAG Week, for a small fee we’ll deliver pints, shots, roses, chocolates or any other item you give us to a lecture (or lecturer), complete with an appearance of one of the beautiful RAG Animals.
raids Raiding is collecting money for charity on the street. While this doesn’t immediately sound like much fun, it’s a cheap way to get yourself away from campus for a day or two, make new friends, have a laugh and raise tons of money for charity in the process!
If someone’s been naughty rather than nice, gnomings are the way to go. Here we kidnap the specified target at the end of a lecture and cover them in beans, flour and water. If they’ve been really naughty, go for a King Gnoming and we will add shaving foam to the mix while cling-filming them to a tree.
sweets & coats
Perfect revenge if someone keeps setting off the fire alarm after Top B!
RAG runs the cloakroom in The Copper Rooms on Monday and Saturday nights. It’s staffed by volunteers, and the money you pay goes directly to charity. The sweetie stall also sometimes makes an appearance to ensure you get your sugar fix for the night!
delivery price list Here is the price list for all of your RAG Week needs. £3.50 ○○ Carling ○○ Tequila/Vodka Shot £3.50 £3.50 ○○ A Red Rose ○○ Box of Chocolates £5.50 £2.50 ○○ Your own item £5.00 ○○ Gnoming £8.00 ○○ King Gnoming £1 to any item Throning Add ○○ Remember, just pop down to the RAG Week stand in the entrance of SUHQ to place your order.
quiz The RAG pub quiz offers you the chance to pit your wits against other teams in a bid to win CDs, DVDs, sweeties, bottles of wine and a crate of lager. General knowledge not any cop? Doesn’t matter! We also give away prizes for great teamnames, being able to bust a move on the spot, general tomfoolery, and even coming last!
how can I find out more?
○○ Visit the RAG Office in SUHQ ○○ Phone 02476 572764 ○○ E-mail rag@warwickrag.co.uk ○○ Visit us online at www.warwickrag.co.uk
○○ Speak to one of the exec (the
guys running round in the black RAG Week T-Shirts for the whole of Week 9!)
what’s happening in the outlets? • grub club • future excitement • nus extra offers • the boar
what’s happening in the outlets? the dirty duck
○○ Has branched out on Sundays to include an all day breakfast in addition
to the great carvery offer from 12-6pm, with an evening menu till 9pm.
○○ Is featuring rotating daily specials alongside the carvery from Monday-
nhoJ htimS revinU fo ytis iwraW utS kc ’stned noinU
Friday, including scrumptious home-made lasagnes and pies.
○○ Will be launching its Christmas menu from Monday of Week 9, featuring a 1 or 2 course weekday lunchtime Christmas Carvery, with a fantastic new evening and weekend menu.
○○ Will also be offering delicious hot Christmas rolls throughout Weeks 9 & 10. xananas
○○ Will be celebrating St Andrew’s Day with some superb Scottish-themed
nus extra offers this fortnight
○○ Is now taking bookings for its sumptuous Christmas á la carte and table
week 9: the bread oven
specials on 30th November.
d’hôte menus, running from Monday Week 10 through to 18th December. To book, call 02476 572750 or email xananas@warwicksu.com now.
○○ Will be open from 9am till late from Monday-Friday through the vacation, closing for Christmas on 18th December.
the bread oven
○○ Will be offering beautiful baguettes as usual during Weeks 9 and 10
including the cracking christmas combinations Turkey, Cranberry & Stuffing (£3.25) and Sweet Potato, Goat’s Cheese & Cranberry (£3.00).
Free cookie with every meal deal purchased
week 10: the dirty duck Upgrade to a pint of coke, diet coke or lemonade for price of ½ pint
Buy an NUS Extra card today and save money: www.warwicksu.com/nusextra
coming soon... … the fabulous new outlets, including:
○○ Curiositea - a celebration of all that’s wonderful about hot chocolates, teas, coffees and sweet treats.
○○ The Terrace Bar - a stylish, cool, contemporary new socialising space. ○○ The all-new Bread Oven - bigger and better than ever, with friendly, familiar faces in a fantastic new environment.
○○ King Edward’s - a funky spin on the fluffiest baked potatoes. The new building opens on Monday 11th January - we’ll be there, hope you will be too!
grub club How do you like the sound of winning some awesome prizes just for cooking dinner? This year, Warwick SU is bringing you a special Christmas competition. Every year, students cook ‘Mockmas’/‘Fristmas’ (Fake Christmas) meals for their housemates to get into the Christmas spirit before leaving at the end of term. This year, we’re asking you to carry on the tradition - and take pictures of it. The best-looking festive party will win a stack of prizes. The deadline is Friday, Week 10 - check out www.warwicksu.com/grubclub to sign up your house!
GOT NEWS? TELL US. The Boar needs you to help make your student paper as good as it can be. Get involved - if you hear about something you think we should write about, tell us.
○○ Is your society doing something exciting?
○○ Have you been a victim of crime? ○○ Is there a problem on campus? ○○ Did you witness something interesting or frightening?
○○ Do you have inside information about a campus-related issue?
○○ Join our ‘Got News?’ Facebook
group or email news@theboar.org
○○ Want to write for the News section? Send us an email
theboar.org THE UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK STUDENTS’ NEWSPAPER
www.simmons-simmons.com/graduates
JOIN THE LAW FIRM THAT THINKS OTHERWISE... ‌ about law, business and you. We are recognised for the innovative way we provide services to our clients. The same thought has gone into how we structure your training. Through client secondments, international placements and our groundbreaking MBA programme, we give you the opportunity to see things differently. That’s because we work to a simple principle: the more you see and do, the more you learn.
what’s on
what’s on week 9 RAG Week deliveries All week • 9am - 5pm
Come to the stall located in the entrance to SUHQ and order up some entertainment for your lecture.
monday 30th
top banana feat. SABB AUCTION 9pm - 1am £2 NUS / £4 non Room 1
Ever wanted to own a Sabb for a day? Well, now’s your chance - the Sabbatical Officers are offering themselves up for auction, with all proceeds going to charity!
tuesday 1st
RAG Scavenger Hunt 7pm - 10pm £2 per person Meet in the Dirty Duck
Running round campus with a camera for the chance to win a party shopping trolley - sounds like fun to me!
heat 10pm - 2am £4 entry Room 2
Back by popular demand, Warwick’s sizzling international party returns to showcase the best in world music!
wednesday 2nd
POP! TEXT TAG & TRAFFIC LIGHT DISCO 10pm - 2am (circling from 7pm) £3 ENTRY Room 1
Dress accordingly - green if you’re single and looking, orange if you need a little convincing and red if you’re taken. Combine this with Text Tag and tonight might be the night you meet that special someone!
thursday 3rd
wednesday 9th
RAG & RAVESOC present INSOMNIA: UV RAVE
POP! christmas party
9pm - 2am £3 members / £4 NUS / £5 non room 1
RaveSoc and RAG invite you to a full-on rave complete with UV lights, pole dancers, glow sticks, face painting, psychedelic visuals and massive beats!
friday 4th
RAG DELIVERIES: Last day Last chance to order some extra entertainment for your lectures!
Pick & Mix Sports 3:30pm - 5:30pm Free to Warwick Sport mem desso hall
Pick & Mix Sports are having a fencing day for anyone interested in trying out fencing and those with more experience. Come down for an afternoon of fun.
ELECTRIC CITY + CRASH 10pm - 2am £3 NUS / £4 non Rooms 1&2
Tasty indie tunes downstairs in the E.C. living-room, with Crash bringing the noise in Room 2. Anyone for a Conga?
saturday 5th
RAG Bristol Raid 8am Meet on the piazza
Don’t miss your chance for a weekend away in Bristol!
PRESSURE feat. NOISIA, SUBFOCUS + MORE! 10pm - 4am £10 NUS / £12 NON-NUS Room 1
Another colossal line-up of drum’n’bass and dubstep heavyweights lands at The Copper Rooms to mark Pressure’s 13th birthday. Advance tickets essential!
sunday 6th
the COMEDY NETWORK presents STAN STANLEY + DANIELLE WARD 7:30pm - 11pm £4 NUS / £5 non (adv) Room 2
More end-of-week chuckles courtesy of two top UK stand-ups.
what’s on week 10 monday 7th
All’s Well That Ends Well 7:15pm - 9:30pm £5 Chaplaincy
The Shakespeare Society is performing a marvellous piece whose title might just give the game away - get ready to be entertained!
spray tan 10Am - 4pm only £15 SUHQ MR 5
Tired of all the dark, wintery nights? Why not get back that summer glow with a Sienna Spray Tan? Applied by a professional female beautician in complete privacy, this offer is not to be missed. Book an appointment now on 02476 572777.
TOP BANANA 9pm - 1am £2 NUS / £4 non Rooms 1&2
It’s the last Top B of term - come get your holler on to Mr. Brightside and other contemporary favourites!
tuesday 8th
all’s well That Ends Well 3pm - 5:15pm £5 room 1
Don’t miss your last chance to catch The Shakespeare Society’s performance.
ROCKSOC, PUNKSOC & BANDSOC present HELL’S BELLS 8pm - 12am £3 Members / £4 Non-Members Room 2
Top student musical and DJ talent abound as the alternative music societies team up for a night of mayhem!
10pm - 2am (circling from 7pm) £5 ENTRY Room 1
Santa hats and sleigh-bells at the ready - it’s our annual festive bash, complete with Santa’s Grotto, snow, live party band and more!
thursday 10th
warwick atem’s christmas fair 11am - 3:30pm free entry room 1
Warwick Atem invite you to their one stop Christmas shop! Buy all your gifts, cosmetics and clothes whilst supporting Oxfam and Barnados. With live, festive society performances.
BIGGER THAN BARRY 10pm - 3am £8 entry room 1
Skream, Doorly and Jack Beats provide the throb as the Midlands’ fattest rave plonks its flab on your doorstep!
friday 11th
spray tan 10Am - 4pm only £15 SUHQ MR 5
Don’t miss you last chance to give your skin that summer glow before Christmas. It only takes 20 minutes and is an absolute bargain at just £15!
HUSTLE 10pm - 2am £5 NUS / £6 non Rooms 1&2
2Smoove drops the slickest contemporary RnB, Garage, Grime and Hip-Hop tracks once again while Room 2 bumps to the hottest Bhangra, Desi and UK Funky!
Your Club/Society event not listed? Email your events for Term 2, Weeks 1 and 2 to: bubble@warwicksu.com
featured event • don’t miss • merry christmas from warwick su
featured event:
saturday wk 9
don’t miss:
wednesday wk 10
pop! christmas party
THIRTEEN
Oh, I was going to fight the urge to say it, but what’s the use? ‘ - IT’S CHRIIIIIIIIISTMAAAAASSSS…!’
One of the country’s longest-running Drum’n’Bass nights, Pressure enters its terrible teens this year, and we’ve got another storming line-up of DnB/ Dubstep heavyweights dropping in to help us celebrate. Dutch masters NOISIA will be jetting in to join the mighty SUBFOCUS on the decks, with a host of MCs and DJs from SPECTRASOUL to TOTAL SCIENCE fleshing out a bill so filthy it ought to carry a government health warning. Check out the SU website for details of the full line-up, and make sure you bag your tickets in advance to avoid disappointment!
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM wARWICK SU!
It just remains for everyone at the Union to wish you all the best for a Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year. Good tidings to you and yours, lovely people we’ll see you in 2010!
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, why not come celebrate the holidays with us in true Warwick fashion, as Pop! goes all festive during the final week of term. We’ll be hosting a special set of live holiday favourites from party band Jingle Balls, along with the opportunity to visit Santa’s Grotto and pick up some free goodies. Best of all, unlike the Met Office, we can even guarantee snow. Snow! All this plus your favourite cheesy tunes courtesy of Disco Dave. All we want for Christmas, folks, is you!
don’t miss:
thursday wk 10
bigger than barry Bigger Than Barry is the UK’s fattest, HEAVIEST rave-up, dedicated to making the house wobble at venues up and down the country with a scorching roster of alt-dance behemoths. In Week 10, they’ll be touching down at Warwick to give term a good boot up the gluteus, offering DJ sets from SKREAM, DOORLY and JACK BEATS. With more bowel-quaking bass than Lemmy and Flea channelling the brown sound, this is set to be an epic feast of colossal tunes that’s sure to keep the party rocking long into the night!
coming soon:
term 2 • friday wk 1
the launch party Everyone knows that on the 15th of January the rebuild will be officially launched with a massive, insane and FREE party! You are all invited, but only one lucky person will get the chance to officially open the building and have their name engraved on a plaque! If you feel that you could be this person, enter the competition at www.warwicksu.com/thelaunch and tell us exactly why it should be you. The competition is open to everyone*, but make sure you apply quickly as the competition is only open until midnight on Friday Week 9! *terms and conditions apply.
question time
question time: rag auctions Every year, the Sabbatical Officers get auctioned off during RAG Week Top B, and today you have the chance to go and buy your favourite Sabb. There are loads of reasons you might want to bid for one, but read on for those the Sabbs gave when we asked…
alex I can help with all of your physical needs… carrying heavy stuff, a personal training session in the gym or perhaps a lacrosse masterclass. For the more chilled out among you, I can cook a mean Carbonara.
james Because I can make you cheesecake. End of. And for the rare few who haven’t already been convinced, I can train you to be on a society exec. Or write your event’s budget for you. Best of all, I can serenade you with beautiful song while doing all of these things.
I have multiple means of communicating with you. I can connect to you in different languages: English, German, French, Zulu, l’amour, sign language - you name it. And I am like chocolate: dark, rich and sweet.
andrew I make a tasty Green Thai Curry and know how to iron a shirt… actually, my girlfriend may disagree on the second bit, but if you want to be well-fed and don’t mind wearing a wrinkly shirt, buy me!
I’ll be honest and say that my strength is in the things I know. I read a lot and know strange facts about various things. Plus I have my PAIS notes for 2nd and 3rd year still with me…
sami Lots of reasons? I’m an alright copy-editor (so I can go over your essay/CV/whatever), I can make you hummus, and I have been described as ‘huggably softer’ than other people. Oh, and I have a beard. What more could you want?!
Have you seen the competition? C’mon! Seriously though, I just want to be auctioned off for more money than James. I don’t mind doing ANYTHING in order to make this happen...