gairMonday March 07 2011 | freeword – Est. 1972 | Issue 945

rhydd

Students Go Global

Go Global, the annual festival of diversity and culture, took place across campus at Cardiff University between February 18-27. A Global Village was set up on the final day of the festival, which was the culmina-tion of the week’s events.

This year’s Go Global experienced more events than ever before. There were many stand-out events during the week including, an inter-univer-sity Eisteddfod for Welsh students.

Cardiff University was victorious, with Aberystwyth University fin-ishing as runner-up. A total of £9000 was taken behind the bar during the day.

Refugee Rhythms also saw a mas-sive attendance in CF10, as did the ‘Malaysian society Festival of Diver-sity VIII: Rimbun’ (a musical theatre play).

There was also a Go Global World Cup that had an exciting final be-tween Andorra and Sweden. Sweden eventually won the competition on sudden death penalties.

Seven hundred and seventy people, who were treated to a variety of foods from 15 different countries, attended the final big event of the week, the Global Village. The event itself was successfully streamed to around 600 people around the world.

Societies, Events and Activi-ties Officer, Cosimo Montagu said: “Thanks to everyone who took part and the wonderful people who made it happen, it has been a privilege be-ing involved and working with you all.”

Mr. Montagu also wished to thank

the International Office for help-ing to promote the week’s events. However, he did express the fact that despite a very successful week overall, there is still a little way to go in terms of promoting cross-cul-tural attendance across Go Global’s events.

The main aims of Go Global week are to allow international students to showcase their culture and put on events they would usually enjoy in their home countries. It also aims to encourage a truly international spirit at Cardiff University through-

out the week to make people broaden their horizons.

Certain events during the week attracted some amazing crowds, however it was felt that other events could have done with a better atten-dance.

Mr Montagu stressed the need for bigger audiences at some events in future Go Global weeks, in order to reflect what the actual event is truly about. He feels that there is still a way to go in terms of fostering a truly international atmosphere dur-ing the week.

Ben PriceNews Editor

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A disappointing turnout for the Referendum on the debate of bring-ing further legislative powers to the Welsh Assembly Government has been partly blamed on the lack of understanding of the complex con-stitutional argument it presents.

The average figure of public turnout at the ballot box was around 35.8%, with stronger turnouts tend-ing to be in the West of the country.

Some of the lowest turnouts were in the East, in areas such as Newport, where the figure was be-low average at 27.9%.

Speaking to BBC One Wales on the technical issues in this Referen-dum, Cardiff University’s Dr. Rich-ard Wyn Jones said: “It was never going to be grabbing the attention of people.”

Dr. Wyn Jones explained that in 1997 there was a big, existential question at stake for people to de-cide on which asked ‘Do you want devolution powers in Wales?’

However, this time there is a much narrower question being asked on two types of primary deci-sion-making systems.

The Referendum 2011 in Wales asks people if they want the Welsh Assembly Government to have di-rect law-making powers or devolved policies.

As the first results came in, the Yes campaign was quietly confident that they would be victorious by the

end of the day. First Minister, Carwyn Jones

told S4C that from the initial stages of the results ‘the signs [were] very good for the 'Yes' campaign’.

Back in 1997, the 'Yes' vote on the question of devolution for Wales narrowly scrapped through, in a referendum which also experienced a low turnout.

Some political commentators argue that the low turnout at this Referendum reinforces suggestions made following the 1997 voting turnout, that is, the people of Wales are pretty ambivalent about devoul-tion.

The turnout in Cardiff, has also experienced a relatively disappoint-ing number of people going to the polls, with a 31% turnout. This put it among the lowest five voting turn-outs in Wales.

The people of Cardiff voted with a 61% majority in favour of the Welsh Assembly having further pol-icy-making powers. This is the first time Cardiff has returned a major-ity vote in favour of increasing the Welsh Assembly's political powers.

With the Welsh Assembly elec-tion in May this year, many have suggested that this low turnout in Wales for the Referendum is a clear message to Assembly politicians that they need to engage more with the Welsh public in future cam-paigns.At the time of going to print the

confirmed final result of the Ref-erendum 2011 had not been an-

nounced. However, the outcome looked strongly in favour of the 'Yes' vote. All the information above was correct at the time of print.

grEDITOR

Sarah Powell

CO-ORDINATORElaine Morgan

DEPUTY EDITORDom Kehat

SUB-EDITORSAnna Redbond

Isabelle RobertsHannah Van Den Bergh

NEWSMorgan Applegarth

Miranda AttyPippa Lewis

Ben PriceHannah Pendleton

FEATURESZoe BridgerLaura Brunt

OPINIONHolly Howe

Chris Williams

COLUMNISTGreg Rees

POLITICS

James DunnOliver Smith

SOCIETIES

Bianca London

SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT Tom ClarkeJack Parker

SPORTAlex Bywater Lucy Morgan Alex Winter

CONTRIBUTORSHugh Roger

Hannah DaviesBenji Lamb

Francesca DalyLaura Evans

Catriana CamachoJo Lucas

Astha ModiJoanne Southerd

Adam ClancyGuy Kelly

Emma JonesHarriet Parfitt

Ally RobertsCaleb Woodbridge

PROOFREADERSLaura Evans

Joanne SoutherdPeter Nyby

Hugh RodgerCatriona Camacho

02News Monday March 07 2011 • gair rhydd • news@gairrhydd.com

Disappointing turnout at the ReferendumBen PriceNews Editor

BUCS

Rasta Mouse

EgyptReligionGo GlobalStrikeSport LibyaWomen's Cricket

Survey

NUSExtinction

Cheating

TigersGaddafi

Clwb Ifor Bach

Cardiff

Referendum

Volunteering

In this week's gair rhydd...

Debate

victimisationRugby diversity

chaos

shooting

studentFeminism Muburak

Crime in Cardiffgair rhydd gets your thoughts on how safe you feel in your homes

“I feel safe in my house. I've never had any bad experiences, person-ally, with burglary or crime.

My next door neighbours were bur-gled back in December, which was scary. It really made us aware that we need to be careful when locking up.

We always make sure that we lock-up when leaving the house.

Craiger Solomons4th year Maths

Jonny Powell2nd year Chemistry

“My house is situated a little out of the way in regard to areas con-sidered highly populated with stu-dents, so I feel safe where I am.

I always make sure that I lock the frontdoor and am cautious with my own bedroom door.

My bedroom is the first room after you enter the house, so I make sure it's locked just in case.

“I have never felt unsafe in regard being burgled. In all my time in Cardiff I have never experienced trouble.

I accept that it can be easy to break into a house.

I used to know how to open my friends door without a key, by put-ting my hand through the letter-box.

Mark Isaacs1st year Post-Graduate Chemistry

31% turnout for Cardiff

News03Monday March 07 2011 • gair rhydd • news@gairrhydd.com

Students share Go Global experiences

At Broadway Dance we worked up a real sweat on the Saturday getting our troupe polished and perfected, ready for Go Global. On the Sunday afternoon we had a rehearsal on the stage, and got the chance to have a sneaky peak at what other societ-ies were up to. The performance in the evening was so much fun. For us, it was a fantastic opportu-nity to showcase all our hard work from our Tap, Ballet, Irish and Jazz

classes, ahead of our show in April. It was also great to see what other societies were getting up to; I had no idea there was so much dancing going on in Cardiff !

The Global Village event was hosted by Xpress Radio’s Luke Franks and Ed Griffiths, who had this to say: “It was great to see the amount of effort everyone had put in, and to see so many societies come together to celebrate Car-diff ’s ethnic diversity.

You can listen to the Luke & Ed Show at xpressradio.co.uk on Wednesday afternoons 3-5pm.

Joanne SoutherdNews Reporter

As the culmination of more than a week of events and activities, Global Village was a fitting end to Go Global 2011, with food and en-tertainment provided by dozens of student societies representing numerous countries. It was a great opportunity to get a taste of global culture and it also gave societies a chance to showcase all the talent and hard work of their members.

Act One and Broadway Dance

both offered the audience promis-ing tasters of what is in store in their forthcoming shows.

Other highlights included an impressive, energetic performance from Slash Hip Hop Dance and Asian Society’s diverse medley, which formed the finale of the show.

The consistent popularity of this annual event was clear from the crowds of people packed into the Great Hall, with a large number standing to watch the performanc-es when the chairs were filled.

Laura AmeyNews Reporter

The Pakistani Society’s Jasba Night, featured performances by contemporary Pakistani popular musical acts, Hammad, and the Manchester-based band, Zarb. The numbers were melodic with very soft rock and metal influ-ences.

Introduced by members Saad and Usman, Zarb entertained the crowd with acoustic numbers as a guitar and vocal duo, singing known staples with which the au-dience sang-a-long.

The Dance session was presid-ed over by DJ Tommy, who played Punjabi bhangra and Pakistani pop.

Third-year Medical Engineer-ing Student, Abdullah al-mullah, commented on the night, say-

ing: “The best thing about these nights is the safe space for differ-ent faiths where people can speak freely.”

Claire Travers of Students with Disabilities said: “Cardiff has such a rich variety of reli-gions and the interfaith café gives a chance to bring them together on common ground.”

There was also a Religion Café, held at the University’s Chaplain-cy. Run by a multi-faith commit-tee of students, the event featured lots of refreshments for those in attendance, giving everyone a chance to mix and chat with stu-dents of different faiths.

Reverend Dr Trystan Owen Hughes, Anglican Chaplain to Cardiff University, also com-mented, saying: “It helps promote tolerance and respect which is im-portant in today’s society, which has so much prejudice.”

Jonathon BirdNews Reporter

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Sophie Gale, a third year Cardiff University student, will be living on £1 a day or less for five days in March in order to raise awareness for a new challenge to beat extreme poverty.

The ‘Live Below the Line’ cam-paign will be launched in the UK in May 2011, and will promote the £1 a day for five days challenge as a means of raising money and aware-

ness of those who live ‘below the line’ on less than £1 a day.

Sophie, who plans on completing her campaign on ‘no-frills food’ like rice, couscous and soup, is fundrais-ing for Results UK, a group which is geared towards generating the po-litical pressure needed in order to end world poverty.

Many celebrities and high-pro-file journalists will be promoting the campaign when it actually goes nationwide, completing the same challenge that Sophie will.

She will begin her challenge on March 10, continuing to March 15, and believes it will be very difficult to provide the usual three meals a day for herself, but hopes that other students will be inspired to take part in the campaign when it offi-cially launches: "This campaign is very much in its early phases so I think it would be great if Cardiff University were one of the very first universities to get on board and generate publicity of the event."

The Global Poverty Project web-

site states that "there's not much you can do with £1. In fact, you can't even buy a beer, a burger, or a bus ticket. However, surviving on this small amount each day is the real-ity for the 1.4 billion people current-ly living below the extreme poverty line".

To learn more about the cam-paign itself go to www.livebe-lowtheline.org.uk and to see how Sophie gets on with her challenge see her Twitter at http://twitter.com/Sophie.

04News Monday March 07 2011 • gair rhydd • news@gairrhydd.com Monday March 07 2011 • gair rhydd • news@gairrhydd.com

Plastik Magazine, an arts and cul-ture website, unveiled its latest de-velopment last week - The Plastik Pass.

The Plastik Pass is a deals, dis-counts and offer card for local Car-diff businesses and from March 4 2011, pass holders will discover a whole wealth of offers and deals from independent art centres, ca-fés, bars, galleries and clothes bou-tiques across the city.

Founding editor of Plastik Mag-azine and Cardiff University post-graduate student Marc Thomas has stated: "Inspiration for the Plastik

Pass was a series of conversations with some incredibly creative local people. That, and looking at the way that online magazines and news-papers are starting to engage with their communities.

"The Plastik Pass offers incredible deals to students. You could actu-

ally make the price of the Plastik Pass back in one day. "You could literally save dozens and dozens of pounds each week."

The list of participating busi-nesses in the scheme is constantly growing and users of the pass will be able to view the constant updates and exclusive discounts available to them on the website. In addition, us-ers can even request to have specific shops participate in the scheme.

Marc Thomas explained, "We've got a whole bunch of local busi-nesses on board already. Chapter Arts Centre, The Gate, Ffresh Bar (Millennium Centre), Milkwood Gallery, Hobo's Clothing, Looby Lou's Boutique, Garland's Eatery

and Mad Hatters Cafe. "We're looking to work with cafes,

bars, gig venues, clothing shops, co-operatives - any local business who want to connect with new people.

"The Plastik Pass is a way to really put the interests of South Wales' culture in the public eye and to celebrate diversity and brilliance of independant business. I hope that people are going to respond to the incredible offers well and buy a Plastik Pass, use it and tell their friends".

Costing only £5 and lasting for 6 months, the pass is available from the website www.plastikpass.com along with details on all offers available.

Reporter

Catriona CamachoReporter

Cardiff graduate launches discount scheme

Philip KennyReporter

Cardiff Student to live on just £1 a day

“

The Cardiff Feminist Network is holding a grassroots festival- ‘Breaking the Waves’ to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Interna-tional Women’s Day.

Celebrated by roughly a million women around the world, Interna-tional Women’s Day aims to inspire women and celebrate the achieve-ments of women in improving po-litical and social conditions.

As part of the festival the Cardiff Feminist Network has organized a number of events starting with a life drawing workshop on Tuesday March 8 consisting of an evening of life drawing and debate.

Other events include a ‘Feminism Oral History Night’ on Wednes-day March 9 at which guests are invited to hear feminist histories from Wales with speakers recount-ing their personal experiences of women’s liberation, live music per-formances.

The festival’s main event the “Breaking The Waves” Feminist Conference will be held on Satur-day March 12. The conference aims to give attendees the chance to learn about and discuss issues that affect woman’s lives today.

For more information or to vol-unteer at the even email cardifffem-inists@co.uk.

CFN host 'Breaking the Waves' event

Brand new 'Plastik Pass' helps students to get the latest deals

The Plastik Pass offers great deals to students

Pippa LewisNews Editor

Monday March 07 2011 • gair rhydd • news@gairrhydd.com News05

Cardiff ’s STEPS To Excellence

Course has once again enjoyed

great success, proving popular with

students who have praised its im-

pact on their lives.

Licensed by the Pacific Institute

and provided by the Student Devel-

opment Unit, the course teaches

people to manage change, lead

more effectively, think ethically

and achieve goals.

Established by Training & Devel-

opment Coordinator and PI facilita-

tor John Steele in 1999, the course

was introduced to Cardiff in 2003,

and aims to improve students’ con-

fidence and self-esteem.

Students can use the STEPS

scheme as a tool to enhance their

graduation grades and improve

their employability post-education.

STEPS has been offered to soci-

eties’ executive members as part of

their ongoing training and support

in helping them to have a clearer vi-

sion for the viability and opportu-

nities of their society.

Jenny Alldis, a third year stu-

dent, praised the programme:

"STEPS helps give you guidance on

your strengths and weaknesses and

helps you achieve whatever you set

your mind to.

“The course is for anyone, no

matter what year you are. I can’t

recommend STEPS enough to any-

one who’s feeling unsure about

their future or simply needs a boost

in their confidence” she said.

Brian Dias, a student with Car-

diff Lifelong Learning, shared his

view: “The whole group is an inspi-

ration. There’s a real sense of close

friendship between all of us.

"The course brings out your hid-

den potential and qualities you nev-

er knew you had.”

As the course continues to bring

together students with a diverse

range of needs and cultures, John

Steele said: “I am thrilled to be able

to offer help to students through the

STEPS scheme and it’s wonderful to

see them emerge as more confident,

self-assured people.”

If you would like to know more about how STEPS can benefi t you in the next academic year, or any other personal develop-ments opportunities, contact John at Steelej@cf.ac.uk

STEPS To Excellence proves a successHugh Rodger

Reporter

T: 029 20233 225WWW.PRINTCENTRECARDIFF.COM

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HARD AND SOFTBACK DISSERTATIONS

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Members of Higher Education aca-

demic staff in Cardiff and across

the United Kingdom have called for

employers to join them in talks in

an effort to settle disputes over pay

and pensions for employees or be

faced with industrial strike action.

Cardiff University is one of 67

universities likely to be hit by strike

action taking place over two weeks

commencing on March 21.

The Universities and College

Union (UCU) is the largest of sev-

eral trade unions representing

academics in Higher Education

throughout the United Kingdom.

The UCU’s strike plans come af-

ter the Union’s discussions with the

Universities and Colleges Employ-

ers Association (UCEA) over na-

tional pay claims and pensions.

The UCU members of the Uni-

versities Superannuation Scheme

(USS) pension scheme were bal-

loted for strike action regarding

proposals from university employ-

ers to reduce pension benefits and

increase costs.

Two-thirds (64.55%) of voting

UCU members voted for strike ac-

tion and over four-fifths (82.19%)

voted for action short of a strike.

The final pay offer from UCEA

for employees during the 2010-2011

academic year currently stands at a

0.4% pay increase.

Due to the rise in inflation, the

0.4% increase represents a pay cut.

Additionally, many UCU mem-

bers have been speculating that the

2011-2012 offer will constitute a pay

freeze, in conjunction with other

pay freezes proposed by the govern-

ment.

Strikes have been emphasized as

a last resort, with the UCU calling

for employers to engage in nego-

tiation in an attempt to resolve the

disputes.

If the talks fail, however, two

weeks’ rolling strikes will be imple-

mented, with each UCU member

taking two days of action.

Sally Hunt, the UCU general sec-

retary said: 'Strike action is always

a last resort and we want to avoid

any disruption to our universities

which is why we have engaged in

talks.

“I will go to every length possible

to resolve this dispute and hope the

employers will agree to go the extra

mile too.

"However, UCU members have

made it quite clear that if a settle-

ment is not possible, they are pre-

pared to strike to defend their pen-

sions."

Cardiff Postgraduate student

Edmund Schluessel, a member of

the UCU, commented on the strikes:

"Strike action is never a first choice.

The UCU have been taking part in

negotiations with the employers for

nearly a year, offering concessions

and getting nothing back.

“Action now is a necessity in or-

der to defend quality of education

this year, next year, and into the

future and I hope students will join

lecturers on the picket lines and

stand together against these irre-

sponsible attacks on education and

educators."

UCU strikeMiranda Atty

News Editor

Above: Students successfully complete STEPS course

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As part of the Kremlin’s new anti-alcohol campaign, beer is to have its classifi cation changed from 'foodstuff' to 'actual alcohol.'

Ministry of Health Chief Spe-cialist on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Yevgeny Bryun, hailed the change as 'a step in the right direction,' stating: “Normalising the beer pro-duction market and classifying it as alcohol is totally the right thing to do.

"[It] will boost the health of our population,” he continued.

Yet with vodka remaining the country’s most popular drink,

many regard beer as a soft drink compared to the national tipple.

Sellers could previously avoid re-strictions on drinking but are now limited to selling it during the day.

The sale of beer is also prevent-ed from a specifi ed distance from schools.

A 27-year-old male from Walsall, West Midlands has shocked many after having a skull tattooed on his face.

Unemployed Deon, nicknamed ‘Mad Dog’, paraded his 37th tattoo on national television last month.

The body art fanatic appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show with girl-friend Catherine in a segment titled "How Could My Boyfriend Destroy His Own Face?"

After the talk show host declared

he was ‘puzzled why anyone would want to do such a thing,' Deon re-plied by saying that Kyle should 'look in the mirror at his own face.'

Deon, who got his fi rst tattoo aged 17, admits that he has a tattoo addiction.

“I don’t care what I look like. I am who I am, if people don’t like me for who I am, they can do one,” he said.

‘Mad Dog’ Deon claims his art-work is still not complete and in-tends to have more tattoos on his neck.

Laura EvansReporter

Oscar-worthy performance

Francesca DalyReporter

Bonehead

06World NewsA cross-eyed possum from Ger-many named Heidi has impressed after coming up one pick short of perfectly predicting top awards at last month's Oscars.

The marsupial correctly pre-dicted winners from her enclosure in Leipzig, Germany by placing her paw on an Oscar statuette with the leading actor's photo placed onto it.

However, she fell at the biggest hurdle as she incorrectly tipped 127 Hours to win Best Picture, which instead went to The King's Speech.

A plush toy of the marsupial has now been included in some Oscar

gift bags which are currently avail-able.

Heidi, who follows in the foot-steps of the legendary Paul the Octopus, who predicted results of World Cup football matches last summer, has generated a mass Fa-cebook following of over 800,000.

Catriona CamachoReporter

Purrfect couple

A postman has 'married' his cat after a vet visit confi rmed that she did not have long to live.

Uwe Mitzscherlich and his ‘bride’ Cecilia were married in Possendorf, Germany after spending ten years together.

Because German law does not allow marriage with animals, Mr Mitzscherlich paid an actress to perform the unoffi cial ceremony.

He claims it was ‘love at fi rst sight’ and wanted to declare his feelings during the time they had left.

Win-a-wifeMorgan ApplegarthNews Editor

Peterborough United Football Club have introduced what are claimed to be the world’s most expensive season tickets.

A total of ten “Chairman’s Choice” tickets are available for the 2011-12 season, priced at an extor-tionate £15,000.

The seats allow 'The Posh' fans to watch the League One outfi t from luxury seats located in the Direc-tor’s Box on London Road.

A Posh spokesman said: “We hope people go for it.”

A New Zealand radio station, The Rock FM, has sparked outrage with a ‘win-a-wife’ competition.

The contest, set up by the radio station, offered listeners the chance to fl y to Ukraine to pick their future wife from a bride agency as well as providing spending money of $2,000 and 12 nights accommodation.

Advertising the contest on their website, the radio station mocked those who have criticised the con-troversial prize.

"It's actually going to happen, and oh boy are there going to be some people with their panties in a

twist over this one," the statement reads.

Defending the station, The Rock FM Programme Director, Brad King, told the New Zealand Press Association the competition was ‘a bit of a laugh.'

“At the end of the day, it's up to both people if they decide to get married and return to New Zea-land. We're not actually marrying anyone or bringing women back to New Zealand,” he said.

Despite the controversy, numer-ous men have entered the competi-tion.

Pippa LewisNews Editor

Posh seatsRussia's 'real' beer

Benji LambReporter

If you want to write a piece for You Reply about any Opinion articles you have read, or have any other opinions, email opinion@gairrhydd.com.

Jamaican me smile

Wargwan, ma bredren? Now, you may spot that I just

opened this piece with a bit of per-ceived ‘ghetto speak’. This may be because I am intensely fly, so much so that people have used the word ‘gangster’ to describe me. And once, I even came joint second in a Lil’ Wayne sound-alike competition in my Hampshire village. I know, re-spect.

So it could be that, but I think a more probable explanation for my new found penchant to converse ex-clusively in a thick West Indian ver-nacular is my dubious obsession with Cbeebies’ latest big budget nature documentary, Rastamouse. For people who haven’t seen - which I can only assume is just those who live in bins and perhaps see gair rhydd’s primary function as a free and low-tog duvet – the show follows the entirely plausible adventures of

our eponymous hero, the lead sing-er in a rodent Reggae band (Da Easy Crew) who also works part-time as the prominent, and indeed only de-tective in the whole of Mousetown.

Harmless fun, surely? Heavens no, says The Daily Star, celebrated for its in-depth arts criticism and even-handed account of BBC out-put. According to it, and fellow per-petuators of ignorant disgust, the show is “profoundly racist”. Yes, this from the same newspaper that openly backs the English Defence League. Ever enigmatic with their moral code, it seems The Star will happily advocate violence against innocent Muslim shopkeepers, but simply will not stand for any stereo-typing of fictional ethnic minority rodent musicians. Honestly, some of their best friends are mice.

Most offended, they insist, are ‘mothers’ – a point they back up with a terrific quotation from a real life moron. “The thing that I'm most worried about is my daughter knowing words like ‘Rasta’,” said

the unnamed woman who should never have been permitted to breed. But maybe she’s right. Maybe the greatest threat to our children is the ongoing trend of abbreviating the names of monotheistic reli-gious movements. In fact now she mentions it, I’d far rather leave my younglings locked in the boot of a Volvo V40 with just Ian Huntley and a rabid mountain lion for company, than have a teacher pollute their minds with ‘non-English’ words. And I don’t particularly trust Swed-ish cars.

I would be a liar (and I so fre-quently am) if I were to suggest I was oblivious to the critics’ point, it’s merely that none of the argu-ments have any vestige of sub-stance. The suggestion, for instance, that the show portrays a negative stereotype of black people is en-tirely lunatic; it is a group of mixed gender friends who voluntarily help fight crime in their local com-munity, mostly to aid local orphans. So given that, either I’ve missed

the episode where Zoomer shanks some fool before doing a line of coke off a prostitute’s tiny mouse tits, and President Wensley Dale is a notable absentee from the G20 be-cause he would rather stay in and eat fried chicken... or those people are criticising something they’ve not seen. As for other attacks, well the suggested socio-linguistic im-pact of a popular children’s show using a version of English falling somewhat short of ‘proper’, (what-ever that means) can be easily bat-ted away by the example that if children were that impressionable there would, after the impact of Teletubbies, now be a generation of teenagers speaking only in vowels, and eating worrying amounts of toast, before sloping outside to play with their balls. Actually maybe that was a poor example.

Ultimately, the only criticism of Rastamouse that I am willing to en-tertain for more than four seconds, is that of ‘cheese’ acting as a meta-phor for cannabis, an innuendo ob-

viously designed to go over the chil-dren’s heads. Ok, that is plausible (there is even a type of weed called ‘cheese’) but even if the producers were lying when they vehemently denied the accusation, it hardly mat-ters. I did not come out of watching the Lion King (with its rumoured Nazi themes) and feel empathy for Hitler; nor did I dabble in narcotics during The Magic Roundabout. No, both my fling with fascism and love affair with LSD came much later.

Rastamouse is a programme which celebrates the very multicul-turalism David Cameron thinks has failed. It is a children’s show reflect-ing our changing society, and in do-ing so instilling principles of right and wrong, of 'makin’ a bad ting good', the importance of friendship and the power of music. Thankful-ly, ours is a culture where the pro-motion of those values will always take precedence and be just that, valued. And if that ever changes, well I think I’d rather be in the Vol-vo with Ian.

Guy KellyOpinion Writer

Opinion08

Opinion09Monday March 07 2011 • gair rhydd • opinion@gairrhydd.com

The victimisation of womenHarry Hunt appears to have taken a misguided view of the whole fees debate in his article "To Fee or not to fee?".

Within his article he claimed that "it is profoundly unfair to ex-pect the whole burden of cost to fall upon the taxpayer", an argument I've heard used time and time again. It's the single minded "How do I, as someone not educated at Uni, ben-efit from people going to Uni?".

Well, taxpayers, here's a frighten-ing fact for you: your Doctor, your nurses, your children's teachers and your pychiatrist all went to University.

Without them going there, you'd be left for dead without a doctor, the nurse would be as incompetent as Gadaffi's spin doctor, your children would hardly be learning and your psychiatrist wouldn't have a clue how to treat the fever you caught from believing too much of the Daily Mail.

The whole point of a society is to have well rounded individuals who all fulfill different roles.

You need your doctor to have gone to University as much as you need your bin collector to do their job.

A wide range of people from a wide range of backgrounds need to go to University in order for society to function correctly.

Hunt went even further and claimed that we are "blinded by a concrete figure of debt." Well if you owe someone money, which you don't necessarily have and are ex-pected to pay that money back, you have debt.

That's simple.He then goes on to claim (and

I love this point) that those who "do well out of university will pay more, while those who don't will pay less."

Yes, that's a correct statement - one which is commonly touted by the coalition government.

But here's an important ques-tion: how much less will those who don't "do well out of University" pay? And the answer is £80.

Clegg sold his soul for £80, and we're meant to jump in and claim he's done something good for educa-tion and is aiding those poorest in society?

I put it to you, Harry, that the coalition government has in fact attempted to preserve the "Dick-ensian attitude" of preserving fur-ther education for "those who enjoy playing polo."

Ok, I wouldn't be as crass as to claim that, but I would go so far as to say that the richest in society will be more inclined to go to University and won't be phased by that extra £80 they'd have to pay to go there.

All it would mean is one less Hol-lister hoody, or one less portion of caviar with dinner.

Something which those at the top of society could easily afford to do.

Chris WilliamsOpinion Editor

Raise your voice if you have been a victim of the male gaze.

Coming from a male dominated society I should be used to being a victim of the male gaze. I am from India, a place where women are worshipped in the form of a God-dess, but are simultaneously seen as simply a source of large amounts of dowry. When a girl is born in my country she is raised with the sole aim of getting married one day. Her dreams and ambitions are crushed under a ‘dupatta’ covering her head. When I came to Cardiff to study I thought that this sort of misogyny would be over, but again I felt like

a victim. Even though I was given freedom and independence I still felt like a free soul trapped inside a woman’s body.

Yet when a woman is victimised, why is she the one blamed for her situation? Why isn’t the man dealt with properly? Why aren't we made to understand that these things shouldn't happen? And why can’t the victimisers be blamed?

“Don’t wear such a short skirt and walk on the road late at night?” Women are always told not to act in certain ways in order to avoid vic-timisation. My flatmate must have warned me at least a hundred times. I know he says for my own good, but why should I alter the way I dress up for the fear of wolves roaming

around in the guise of men?In one of the most popular clubs

in Cardiff, Oceana, a drunk man stands behind my friend and qui-etly pinches under her skirt. Yet when she went to the bouncer and complained, all the bouncer could say was “if you can’t handle these things then don’t come to a club.” She cried for a few hours and then the story was over. We should ask why people aren't reprimanded for behaviour like this; if he had been, this man would think more careful-ly before doing something like that in Oceana.

I want to appeal to all the women to stand up for their rights, because we deserve a carefree life as much as men do.

Astha ModiOpinion Writer

“Even though I was given freedom and

independence I still felt like a free soul

trapped inside a woman’s body.

The debate currently circulating my house is that of the value of a science degree versus a degree in the arts. My flatmate, studying Biology, insists that my degree in English Literature is pointless, worthless, easy… and a degree in a science subject is more difficult and regarded more highly. So I decided to do a little research and see what’s what.

But how do we compare the arts and the sciences? The issue has cropped up in Parliament lately, as the Arts Council England (ACE) is having its budget cut by 30% in the government’s spending review. The Arts Council distributes money to hundreds of arts venues, thea-

tre groups and galleries, as well as funding school arts programmes. In addition to this, the cuts in fund-ing to Universities means that arts and humanities departments will suffer, especially as funding to sub-jects such as science, engineering, technology and maths has been pro-tected by the government. Funding for band C and D subjects – arts, so-cial sciences and humanities, will be all but wiped out.

Firstly, I looked at universities, and, taking the example of English Literature and Biology, looked at entry requirements and graduate employment rates. But do these re-ally tell us anything apart from the popularity of the subject? Entrance requirements for English Litera-ture are generally higher, but then it is an incredibly popular course. This would also explain graduate

employment rates from these sub-jects; they are higher for Biology, but this could just be because less people do the subject.

I also looked at reports that in GCSE and A Level examinations, science subjects are more difficult than arts subjects. Durham Univer-sity found there were "substantial differences in the average grades achieved by the same or compara-ble candidates." A-levels in phys-ics, chemistry and biology were marked a grade lower than A-levels in drama, sociology and media stud-ies and three-quarters of a grade harder than English, religious edu-cation and business studies.

And where do other degrees come in on this imaginary scale? Degrees such as LLB (Bachelor of Law), BEd (Bachelor of Education), BEng (Bachelor of Engineering) or

BPharm (Bachelor of Pharmacy). Do these come into the BA vs BSc debate?

So is it possible to judge which degree is better (if we just look at BA vs BSc)? In my opinion, no, be-cause they are so totally different. They require completely different approaches and skills.

More to the point, most of the time, graduates of arts or sciences will not be applying for the same jobs, so will not be pitted against each other in a ‘which-degree-is-better’ standoff. The skills that employers will be looking for will be different. So how can we judge which is better? I don’t think we can, they are just too different.

One thing is for sure though: the arts are in severe danger from gov-ernment cuts, both at University and in the wider world.

Jo LucasOpinion Writer

The Arts vs. Science debate

The owner of AshleyMadison.com has claimed that his unusual busi-ness is the 'next billion dollar com-pany'. Noel Biderman is the owner of the morally dubious website, described as an 'online personals & dating destination for casual en-counters'.

In other words, the website acts as the match.com for people seek-ing to commit adultery.

Biderman has a reason to be opti-mistic about his company. He right-ly suggests that 'infidelity crosses both genders, every socio-economic group and all ethnic groups. It's a worldwide issue.'

Various (and possibly unreliable) statistics suggest that nearly 40% men and 60% women in USA have been in some sort of extra marital affair at some point during their marriage.

If anecdotal evidence is anything to go by then it is rare for a couple not to experience cheating at some point in their relationship.

Celebrity relationships certainly seem to fall prey to the infidelity

curse, Tiger Woods being possibly the most recent and infamous ex-ample.

It is interesting to note the vari-ous 'rules' of cheating that are prevalent in the discourse of re-lationships. Does a kiss count as cheating? Is it better if it is only the one time? What about the world of cyber sex? When Vernon Kay was revealed as having an online and text relationship with various glamour models, many rushed to his defence by suggesting that tech-nically, he wasn't cheating.

Most people however, would see the type of affairs offered my Ash-leyMadison.com as cheating.

What the website is trying to promote is the idea that it isn't undeniably wrong. Although prob-ably purely a marketing technique rather than what the founders of AshleyMadison really believe, the website suggests that having an af-fair might actually improve your relationship.

Biderman suggests that 'many people do pick up and leave, for their own selfish sexual needs. Peo-ple pursuing affairs are trying to stay in their marriages.'

Of course, people who ignore marriage vows and live mutli-

ple lives while continually lying to their partners are improving their relationships. AshleyMadison.com does differ from the types of rela-tionships that acknowledge that need for certain sexual desires and experiences might not be fulfilled by their partner.

Some relationships are open or polygamous, yet trust, arguably the most important aspect of a work-ing relationship, is still present. By having an affair the aspects of a healthy relationship that are so often advocated: trust, communi-cation and honesty, are ignored or forgotten.

Members of AshleyMadison.com are not even people have fallen into affairs by accident. They are not people that made drunken mis-takes, or people that have built up an inconvenient but undeniable attraction with someone else over time; they are people who are ac-tively seeking to have affairs, and it is hard to see how that will end up helping anyone. But I suppose ultimately, the website is only re-acting to the demand for easy affair organisation, and so they are sup-plying. Surely the members are at fault, rather than the creators.

Can cheating improve a relationship?Opinion10 Monday March 07 2011 • gair rhydd • opinion@gairrhydd.com

Holly HoweOpinion Editor

Infamous cheater: Tiger Woods

“

11

The importance of politics

"I need to tell you something"she whispered, scratching her

testicles

Letters To The Editor

In which our readers ask Henry a series of common questions. This week: Politics in your life

Everyone keeps talking about this Welsh Referendum. One vote never makes a difference, so what’s the point in taking part?I used to think the same, until a mis-

take in tactical voting saw Al-Qaeda

win the Reading local election - ex-

ecuting the Mayor of Wokingham,

then failing to deliver on several

basic promises in their manifesto,

like letting women drive cars, or

not bombing Swindon. This is why I

get annoyed when people don’t vote,

because you end up with the politi-

cal equivalent of Joe McElderry;

a set of laws that everyone likes

to start with, but turn out to be so

bland that they're almost entirely

forgotten about by Christmas.

It’s quite cold where I live, and this “global warming” idea sounds like a great solution. How can I increase my carbon footprint?It’s the small changes that really

make a difference. Try leaving all

your appliances on standby, or re-

ducing your need for light-bulbs by

setting fire to large piles of plastic around the house. Make good use of

public transport, like driving your

own bus - and Virgin Atlantic have

recently introduced a “carbon un-

friendly” option onto their website,

where the plane makes ten trips

back and forth between airports

before crash-landing into a wind

turbine.

My flatmates say that illegal downloading is killing the TV industry. Are people losing their jobs?Unfortunately so. My dad used to

be a high-flying screenwriter, but when the industry collapsed he

couldn’t even get basic work as Mi-

chael Barrymore’s pool boy, and had

to take on a degrading part-time job

that no-one else wanted, as head

of the Welsh National Assembly.

Since then he’s resorted to hanging

around service stations, bumming

lorry drivers for loose change - and

though he smiles whenever my sis-

ter and I look over from the back

of the car, you can tell that he’s a

broken man, it’s in his eyes. Still,

as long as you’re getting LOST for

free... that’s the important thing.

I'm sure we'll find something to eat.

Columnist

by Henry Burton

modern thinking has been at the cen-

tre of Welsh culture ever since the

discovery of the wheel, in 1970 - but

as time goes on, I’ve found that people

are starting to rely more and more on

the internet. Nothing sparks debate

quite like replying ‘LOL’ to a YouTube

video about feminism, and you can

wreck havoc on people’s dissertations

by carefully changing political facts

on Wikipedia, then laughing as your

friend’s thesis about the Cwmbran

Missile Crisis fails to scrape them a

decent degree. TV offers many other

avenues for delicate social discus-

sion, like Question Time or The Jer-

emy Kyle Show - but is enough actu-

ally getting done? There seems to be

an undeniable wealth of debate, but

like the Elephant Man wearing a new

tuxedo, I can’t help but wonder if it’s

failing to address the key issues.

Then again, it’s not fair to label all

student politics as inconsequential. In-

deed, last month’s AGM was described

by the CU website as “the pinnacle of

democracy”, and rightly so - as after

a powerful two-hour debate, the Taf

finally agreed to stock beef crisps,

and the union carpets have now been

slightly softened to accommodate peo-

ple with gout. It’s the same kind of no-

holds barred protesting that we saw in

London last November, when students

gathered en masse to deliver a mes-

sage to the coalition, a message that

they weren’t going to back down, at

least until it drizzled. Likewise, 50 stu-

dents recently locked themselves into

the Shandon Lecture Theatre, a stand

against fees which might have worked

had they not opted for an area without

toilets, then had to ask the manage-

ment if they could go home for a bit

because they were all tired of shitting

in bins. It was quietly explained that a

sit-in protest is one of those concepts

which relies on you staying in the

same place, like jail, or being in a car -

and though this can often prove incon-

venient, it wouldn’t have had quite the

same impact if Ghandi had nipped out

for a packet of minstrels during the

middle of his hunger strike.

Still, I can’t fault people for demon-

strating their beliefs. I’m an altogeth-

er more lazy entity, the sort of person

who would have harboured Anne

Frank, but only because I couldn’t be

arsed to go up and turf her out - and

though I won't be up there with you,

throwing bottles of jizz at Nick Clegg,

I probably will still whinge when my

kids have to pay extra fees. I'll just

have the extra £6 I saved on banners.

With student elections

round the corner, it’s

an important time to

consider your stance on

current political issues. Is a valuable

education worth the rise in tuition

fees? And if so, where does this leave

UWIC? Opinions are complex, and

I’m often misunderstood as being

racist, like when I said I like about

75% of Bloc Party, or have trouble

trusting the brownies at McDonalds.

Nonetheless, I still think of myself as

a conscientious person - despite the

attempts I make to avoid eye contact

with charity workers - as along with

my volunteering at the local Breast

Enhancement Clinic, I also campaign

regularly for the Third World, raising

over £4,000 for Zanu PF.

Political discussion is a regular

sight in the corridors of Cardiff, as

'

About Me

I’ve always wanted to run for student

president, ever since I was 21. Chat-

ting to students, improving services -

but there are plenty of good parts as

well, like having your own placards,

or spending half the expense account

on whores. I’ve actually applied for

this role every year, but keep get-

ting beaten by some dickhead called

“RON”, so I’ve had to make several

improvements to my manifesto:

My Pledge

- To make several unreasonable

pledges about things the SU Presi-

dent couldn’t possibly control.

- To rotate the direction of Cardiff to

face constantly towards the sun.

- To reduce tuition fees to just 40p,

paid for by the unceremonious sack-

ing of around 95% of Union staff.

- To spend most of the day sitting in

my office with the door locked, mas-

turbating wildly to the Jurassic Park theme.

- To have a crack at healing lepers.

I’d also like to add that I’m extremely

diverse and caring, as shown by this

photo:

Look at that, priceless. I didn’t even know the cameras were there. I’ve also got one of me visiting some sick children at the local hospital, but ap-parently it’s going to take a few days to photoshop out the dry vomit on my collar, so you’ll have to wait a while for that one. Bit of a waste really.

VOTE NOW, CHEERS

VOTE HENRYFOR SU PRESIDENT

2011 ELECTIONS

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Politics13

I recently had the honor of joining the dedicated, pa-tient and peaceful protes-tors in Tahrir Square, Cairo for the Egyptian revolution of 2011. An experience I will

take with me wherever I go. The whole journey began while I was preparing for a seminar on Sunday night, when I received a text from my mother checking how I was and mentioning that my father (who is Egyptian) was booking tickets to go to Egypt. Being a politics student I could not let this opportunity go without jumping on board.

We left the next day on a com-pletely empty plane and arrived a good few hours later. Jetlagged and tired we headed to our hotel. On our way there, big camouflaged army tanks were casually dotted around the city, some blocking off road ac-cess, others simply protecting state buildings, but wherever they were placed, and no matter how many we saw, we could not believe that these were now stationed in the city we had visited so often in the past. Pictures of the former president Mubarak (who had for thirty years kept a strong hold on the Egyptian people, denying them what was theirs and imprisoning anyone who dared to speak out) were also past-ed on buildings, as if to remind the people that ‘Big Brother’ was ever-present, always watching. We had barely dropped our bags off, when we were straight back out heading towards Tahrir square.

Being half Egyptian I am used to the more laid-back and flexible lifestyle Egypt tended to offer, with the youth commonly being found around shopping malls with noth-ing to do, just plenty of time to waste; men sitting at open-air ca-fes meaninglessly discussing the politics of other nations but never openly their own, and women hap-pily glued to the TV sets engrossed in the latest episodes of the newest soaps. That was the Egypt we knew. That was Egypt before February 2011.

As we neared the square that we had driven through on countless occasions in the past, we saw the barbed wires and tanks blocking all public access. All that was left open was a narrow lane to the left hand side with three organised, separate lines; for men, women, and a line in the opposite direction for the

way out. For a nation that previ-ously could not even agree on who had right of way at a roundabout, this organisation was incredible. Once your ID had been checked, you would move on to the next sta-tion where you would have a quick bag and body check. No matter how many times we went in and out, they always apologised for the in-trusion of privacy, but explained that it was for our own safety. All of us, naturally, happily obliged.

When we walked into the square the scope and range of people was amazing. How could so many peo-ple who all have so many differ-ent approaches to life cooperate so peacefully? Religious preachers, ev-eryday school children, university students, or even some old ladies all supported by tanks. All were there in the hope of change.

Before finding a place to settle we took a turn around the square to see all the different things that were go-ing on. It was incredible to witness how this square had almost turned into a mini-village in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world. They had various stages with microphone systems set up, so that when the sound began to fade from one, you could find another not too far away, a lost and found area with endless amounts of mobile phones, IDs and cash. The mosque within the square had been turned into a mini-hospital, with doctors of all specialties lending a hand. A wom-an I spoke to, told me her fiancé had been caught up in the violence in the days before the riot police withdrew and had to go to this tem-porary clinic. When he later vis-ited a hospital to get the stitching checked, Doctors were astonished that this level of professionalism had been performed on the side of a road, with only donated medical equipment.

There was also a shift system of rubbish cleaners going round. A group of young, well dressed fe-males were gathered around, wear-ing cleaning gloves and holding black bin bags. When I asked them who had instructed them to clean the mess of others, they looked at me slightly confused replying that they simply saw their country was dirty and therefore felt they had to do something about it. So began cleaning up the rubbish. I could only imagine whether this level of civic responsibility could ever be shown to the streets of Cardiff.

Those who couldn’t come down to stand with the people in the square, kindly donated food and blankets as (the piles of blankets were bravely carried on top of people's heads to distribute throughout the area). I witnessed some of the simpler do-nations, such as bread sticks, dates and water. However, the recipients of the food donations passed them around to other people in need. The unity among the people would soft-en any heart.

This care and courtesy of look-ing after strangers had continued for weeks in the square. We had

only been there for three days, when Mubarak finally had the vice-president address the nation and inform them that he had left office. The celebrations had begun. Streets filled with people, all celebrating in their own way. The population of Egypt consists of an impressive 80 million and 6 million of those live within the capital, Cairo. It really felt as if the full 6 million were out on the streets to rejoice. Every car horn honked with joy, young men danced around in circles, others had a party of their own on top of street lamps, and many were praising God

for the victory. But the whole nation was out to celebrate the success of the people and to witness history in the making.

I may have come home a lot prouder and more admiring of my heritage, but the journey for the Egyptians has not yet finished. Some stood up because they didn’t have food, others stood up because they didn’t have a fair vote, and many stood up because they didn’t have opportunity; but they all equally stood up for freedom and won’t stop until they get it com-pletely, entirely and unequivocally.

“Hold your head up high, you're Egyptian”Mariam Nagi tells gair rhydd of the honor of living in Tahrir Square

“

“They stood up

for freedom

and won't

stop until

they get it..

How could so

many people

with so many

differences

cooperate so

peacefully?

14Politics Monday March 07 2011 • gair rhydd • politics@gairrhydd.com • Follow @GairRhyddPol

The marketisation of higher education is still at the forefront of the debates sur-rounding the Gov-ernment education

reforms. The “Neets” figures pub-lished last week, reported that in England, the number of 16 to 24- year-olds not in education, employ-ment or training at the end of last year was at a record high of 15.6%. Demos, the leading independent think tank in British politics, have warned the number of unemployed 16 to 24 year olds is likely to grow to 1.2 million over the next five years. The figure is certainly set to rise with the abolition of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) and the alarming debt facing perspec-tive university students, which will see thousands of young people not risking the harsh reality of student debt, subsequently not entering higher education.

Aaron Porter, the president of the National Union of Students (NUS) announced his resignation, after much criticism and pres-sure from the student movement across Britain; significantly this is only the second time since 1969 that a NUS president will not serve a second term in the role. Mr Por-ter stated that the union needed “a fresh start” and in the past he had admitted to “spineless and dither-ing” leadership skills. Documents recently released in the media pro-vided evidence of his instructions via email to student union officers instructing them to give up the fight over tuition fees, and calling the ed-ucation reforms “progressive”.

Mark Bergfeld, the NUS Execu-tive Officer, Socialist Workers Party Member (SWP) and spokesperson for the Education Activist Network (EAN), visited Cardiff University last month to speak at an anti-cuts

teach-in at the School of Journal-ism, Media and Cultural Studies. Bergfeld presents a passionate view upon free education in a sharp, yet friendly manner. He has a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and a Masters in Sociology from Es-sex University. The 24-year-old from Germany, who lives in London, has announced his intention to run for NUS presidency. Candidates for the position of NUS president include: Liam Burns, Thomas Byrne, and Shane Chowen. Mark Bergfeld is the only candidate standing for free education, but is he ready for the challenge? “I have been a promi-nent activist for a number of years now, in Germany and the UK. I have led campaigns against racism, fas-cism, the war in Iraq and privati-sation on our campuses. Many of them successful. I am committed to helping to run the EAN on a shoe-string budget. My motto is: if you fight, you can win! That’s the spirit I want to carry into NUS.”

Many campuses have returned from the winter break somewhat de-feated by the education reforms, so why is it important to continue the campaign? “The vote to increase tu-ition fees might have gone through parliament. But we have seen how the poll tax was voted through and subsequently mass demonstrations defeated it and brought Thatcher down. Our slogan must be: ‘what parliament can do, the streets can undo!’”

The student movement in Brit-ain, not seen since the 1960s, has witnessed mass demonstrations, university occupations and grass-roots activism on campuses. The NUS have essentially been criti-cised for not providing a strong op-position to the privatisation of edu-cation. Independent organisations such as The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC)

and the Education Activist Net-work (EAN), have reacted to the urgency of the student movement and almost replaced the position of the NUS by calling and mobilising occupations and mass demonstra-tions. The grassroots movement often appeared to be acting in defi-ance of the students official union.

What is the alternative to the marketisation of education? “The recent demonstrations, walk-outs and occupations have shown that alternatives are really needed. We must not only propose an alterna-tive to fees and the marketisation but also to the free market mantra of “there is no alternative” and the cuts. Our struggle over education informs the latter.” The privatisa-tion of our universities is looming, what impact will this have upon universities? “There are two trends. On the one side, we will have insti-tutions, which will become bastions for the rich and powerful in our so-ciety. They will exclude the mass of ordinary people and serve to create the bankers, politicians and bosses of tomorrow. On the other side we will have institutions which will be mere learning factories. They will provide two year degrees and be the only option for people to study if they don’t have the money to afford nine thousand pounds.”

The marketisation of universi-ties have students worried about the possible presence of unethical companies funding our universi-ties: do students have reason to be concerned? “Over the last few days, four vice chancellors accompanied David Cameron on his arms trade tour throughout the Middle East. Gaddafi donated £1.5 million to the London School of Economics just in the last year. We need to call on our governments to divest from these companies as, they don’t only endanger the world with their reck-

less behaviour but also academic freedom, critical learning and teaching.”

The incoming NUS president will face the responsibility of sup-porting the growing and powerful student movement, which will in-evitably lead to personal criticism from the media. Is this a difficult factor? “The fact that I believe that this system cannot just be reformed doesn’t weaken my candidacy or myself. It strengthens it. The fact that they have to attack me is a sign of weakness. These are dark times and any candidate sticking with business as usual will end up like Porter, or not fighting at all.”

Whether Mark will remain in his position of helping to manage the Education Activist Network, or be-come the new president of the NUS, it is obvious that Mark is a passion-ate candidate and a truly commit-ted key player in organizing the ex-isting student fight back. What can we expect to see next from the NUS? “The NUS is supporting the Trades Union Demonstration (TUC) in London, entitled “March for the Al-ternative: Jobs, Growth, Justice” on Saturday March 26 and is expecting to see over half a million students march alongside workers. The demonstration could start to bring everyone together who wants to fight the cuts. We should be saying: if you want to fight the cuts, fight like students! This could be our day of anger. Many students and trade unionists are talking about staying in Trafalgar Square for the night. That would show Cameron who the Big Society really is!” With a past rooted in activism, and a de-termination to succeed, Mark may just have the refreshing outlook required which students need now more than ever for a fighting NUS.

Mark Bergfeld: The right man for the job?

Mark may just have the refreshing outlook required which students need now more than ever for a fighting NUS.

Nicola Driscoll-Davies meets one of the contestants running for the presidency of the NUS

“

Politics15Monday March 07 2011 • gair rhydd • politics@gairrhydd.com • Follow @GairRhyddPol

It's Not Just Mubarak...

The International Society for Human Rights have released posters highlighting the effect internet freedom has in oppresive regimes.

Caleb Woodbridge explores the relationship between Western democracies and authoritarian regimes

Images of cheering pro-testors in Tahrir Square beamed across the world when President Hosni Mubarak announced his resignation. Western politi-

cians were quick to hail the success of the protests in Egypt as a tri-umph for freedom and democracy. But Britain and America supported Mubarak’s regime for 30 years and continue to support many undemo-cratic regimes across the globe.

Western democracies have a long history of supporting authoritarian regimes sympathetic to their inter-ests. Iraq is a classic example: Brit-ain and America famously supplied Saddam Hussein with arms, money and intelligence in the 1980s, turn-ing a blind eye to his dictatorial ac-tivities until his invasion of Kuwait in 1990. But the West’s involvement goes back further. In 1963, America aided the Iraqi coup that brought the Baath party to power, with the backing of Britain and Israel.

Stability?British foreign policy has been

justified in a number of ways. It has been argued that supporting dicta-tors and governments with poor human rights records is necessary for stability. Rapid change often brings about violence and conflict, preventing social and economic development. However, stable dicta-torships tend to benefit only the top tier of society.

“Stability” is often a figleaf to cover Britain’s naked self-interest. The concern for stability is motivat-ed by the desire for access to trade and resources, such as oil, rather than a concern for the well-being of

local populations. BP is the single largest investor in Egypt, and re-sponsible for almost half the coun-try’s oil production. The billions of dollars of revenue from oil funded Mubarak’s government.

The interests of ruling elites and international big business of-ten oppose those of the majority of the population. Lack of democratic freedom prevents the formation of trade unions or the development of environmental opposition to busi-ness interests. In short, democracy and democratic change are bad for business.

The Arms TradeSimilarly, British industry and

trade have a clear interest in selling arms to Middle Eastern nations. On a recent three-day visit to the Gulf, David Cameron defended Britain’s arms trade. Asked in Kuwait how he could promote democracy and reform in the Middle East while travelling with businessmen selling arms to the region, he responded:

“I simply don't understand how you can't understand how democ-racies have a right to defend them-selves. I would have thought this argument is particularly power-ful right here in Kuwait which, 20 years ago, was invaded by a thug-gish bullying neighbour who disre-spected your sovereignty, invaded your country and destroyed parts of your capital city.”

But while there may be a case to be made for the unfortunate neces-sity of selling arms to small demo-cratic nations, Britain has also sold its deadly wares to repressive regimes that are as likely to use their arms against their own popu-

lations.This tension has come under

scrutiny as protests have spread across the Middle East: export li-cences to sell arms to Libya were recently revoked following the vi-cious and deadly response by Colo-nel Gaddafi’s regime to protestors. But given Libya’s record and lack of freedoms, it is strange to act sur-prised now. Britain should not have been selling arms to Gaddafi’s dic-tatorship in the first place.

Britain is also a close ally of Saudi Arabia, linked on the ba-sis of trade and defence, despite Saudi Arabia’s appalling human rights record. The country is ruled by the Saudi Royal Family, with a legal system based on Sharia law. Punishments include amputations, flogging and beheading. The rights of minorities, gays, women and apostates are particularly restrict-ed. Whereas Iran earned a place on George W. Bush’s “axis of evil” for its attempts to develop nuclear weapons, this oppressive theocratic state is a close ally of America.

The Peace ProcessWestern support of Mubarak

was also justified on the basis of the interests of Israel and the Middle East peace process. Israel is keeping a nervous eye on the unrest sweeping the Middle East. Whoever comes to power in Egypt is likely to be far less sympathetic to Israel than Mubarak. Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu told the Knesset on 2nd February that “We support the forces that promote freedom, progress and peace. We oppose the forces that seek to enforce a dark despotism, terrorism and war.”

War in the Middle East would be terrible, but so is propping up oppressive regimes. Britain and America should protect Israel from its neighbours where necessary, as well as protecting its neighbours from Israel where needed. It would be highly ironic to hold Israel up as an example of a functioning democ-racy in the Middle East, and on that basis not to encourage democratic change in Arab countries.

Radical IslamThe spectre of radical Islam

haunts Western fears. But West-ern meddling in the Middle East arguably helped create jihadism. Western rhetoric has often rein-forced the false dilemma of a secu-lar dictatorship on the one hand or radical Islam on the other. Seeing the self-interest and corruption in the West’s partnership with ruling elites, it is sadly unsurprising that many Muslims have preferred the latter. This does not justify or ex-cuse terrorism and extremism, but shows how Western actions are of-ten counterproductive.

"We urge the West to end their promotion and sponsorship of ty-rants whose crimes against human-ity have bred intolerable resentment and anger throughout the Muslim world,” said Massoud Shadjareh, chair of the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), who criticised the half-hearted reaction of Obama and other leaders to Mubarak’s de-parture as “too little, too late”.

There have been concerns that the Muslim Brotherhood would take over in Egypt. It is the largest and oldest Islamist organisation in the country, despite being officially

banned. The Muslim Brotherhood want a democratic state based on Islamic principles, and rejects the use of violence. But a draft political manifesto in 2007 called for all leg-islation to be approved by a council of religious scholars, and for Chris-tians and women to be barred from becoming President or Prime Min-ister, raising concerns about the di-rection it would take Egypt.

But despite these concerns, the protests were not directed by the Muslim Brotherhood, or by more radical elements. The protests saw a unity of Christians and Muslims together in support of democracy. Egypt’s future is as yet unwritten, but the fears of a jihadist takeover seem unfounded.

The alternativesThe continuing struggles in Iraq

and Afghanistan show the problems of military action. For America to become a “benevolent empire” would take a much longer-term in-volvement to foster strong democ-racies, if it could ever be made to work at all. But most likely, we can never impose freedom by force. We must take a strong line against tyr-anny, not by waging war, but refus-ing to sell arms and lend money and legitimacy to those regimes that op-press their peoples.

If democracy is to take root glob-ally, different nations and cultures must make it their own. Democracy must cease to be seen as a Western export. Example and encourage-ment must be the main tools of per-suasion. We must be as true as pos-sible to our beliefs in freedom and democracy, at home and abroad.

We want to hear your stories: anything goes. Just drop us a line on features@gairrhydd.com. This week Hannah Davies discusses her experiences of being a Christian at university.

University can be daunting for every-one; it’s a time of new places, people and studies. It’s also a time for mak-

ing new friends. Being a Christian, I found this frightening.

On my first day, I remember standing outside the Students' Union, looking at the swarm of people rushing around; enrolling, making new friends and navigat-ing their way around the city.

I had no idea what to expect and wondered if I would be accepted like everyone else or be alone for my university years. Although I was excited to start studying again after a wonderful gap year, I dread-ed the feeling of being alone.

Telling people you’ve just met that you’re a Christian usually causes an awkward silence, or kills the conversation altogether. The assumptions people can make about you as a person and what you stand for can be untrue and sometimes hurtful.

I felt like people would decide who I was before even giving me a chance. However, I soon realised that everyone felt self-conscious about starting afresh and having to build relationships with people you have never met before and live in a new city.

Luckily, I am from Cardiff origi-nally, so I had already settled into a great church and got stuck into

youth work and other areas. I also have my family and friends around me, which is great for support.

However, as freshers' week be-gan, I still felt worried. With my suitcases packed, I moved into my flat in the first week and met all my new flatmates which was pretty in-timidating at first. But, I found I was blessed with really accepting and encouraging flatmates, who are now my close friends.

The fact that we are all very dif-ferent has helped me to realise that everyone is unique. Living with people who have different interests and being able to share new expe-riences with them is exciting and has taught me valuable lessons.

Mainly, not to just converse with other Christians and church life, but to broaden my experiences and friendships.

It has made me feel less of an outsider, and helped me get into the flow of university life.

Initially, I thought the new found freedom I experienced at universi-ty would have pulled me away from who I am and more so my faith, but it has given me more independence and I have had to make decisions I wouldn’t have made before.

Being a Christian can some-times make you feel like you have to be a part of a certain group or follow certain rules, but I found throwing myself into other societ-ies has been really beneficial.

17FeaturesYour Space.

I get the chance to hang out with dif-ferent groups of people who I share interests with, and do things I enjoy.

At the freshers' fair I joined many societies ranging from the Fashion society, gair rhydd, Quench and not forgetting Christian Union. These have made me meet people of dif-ferent cultures, fashion and music styles, and beliefs.

It has helped me to understand that there are a lot of very different people of all ages, backgrounds and interests, and I realised that people at university are more open minded and accepting than people in school had been.

If anything, University has helped me to be who I am and to embrace that. Yes, I may change in many ways through the studies and social experiences I come across during my time here, but it doesn’t have to be a change for the worst, and I don’t have to change what I stand for. If anything, it enhances who I am, and I can be who I want to be.

If I could give any advice to some-one who may still feel unsettled or struggling with their faith at univer-sity, it would be to get involved. Seri-ously, throw yourself in there.

A really good place to start is the Christian Union. You get welcomed by friendly faces and a warm cup of hot chocolate now and then! They run weekly hall groups, where you meet up with other Christians to chat and eat some good food (which is great if you are a poor student).

They also provide you with op-portunities to serve in communities with different projects, and help you find a church in the first few weeks. If you are a welsh speaker, then the Welsh Christian Union is on of-fer too, as well as Welsh speaking churches.

Christian Union is a great way to make friends quickly and ask ques-tions to explore your faith further. There can be a lot of stress with work and social pressures which can be difficult to deal with, especially if you are away from home.

But, I have found Christian Union has really helped me not to go off track, and kept me focused and mo-tivated. It also offers a lot of support and encouragement which is a big help!

University shouldn’t be a burden; it should be the best years of your life. You have the opportunity to ad-vance your studies in the subjects you are interested in; make lots of new friends, and embrace new and different experiences you may never get a chance to do again.

In the meantime, University gives you the opportunity to explore who you are as a person. You see how strong you can be, what type of per-son you are and really learn a lot about yourself as you grow and ma-ture.

If anything, I have really learnt a lot about who I am and what I can do, and my faith has grown even stron-ger.

“Telling people you've just met

that you're a Christian

usually causes an awkward

silence

Helping others help youVolunteering is often something many of us aspire to do at some point, but don't quite get around to it. So why not do it now? Committed volunteer Emma Jones tells Features about the invaluable experience of working with Student Volunteering Cardiff.

Graduating with a solid 2:1 is no longer enough to compete in to-day's job market. Between lectures,

placements, sports and socialising (which order you prioritise these will depend entirely on your year of study!) glancing at the press presents us with a bleak picture.

However, there are simple ways to stand out from the ever growing competitive graduate job market. Opportunities like Student Vol-unteering Cardiff (SVC) must be embraced.

The idea of a volunteer often comes with misconceptions and the notion of volunteering is load-ed with stock phrases, such as ‘it looks good on your CV’ and ‘it’s about giving something back to the community’.

But I want to discuss reasons that go beyond the obvious, to delve beneath the rhetoric associ-ated with volunteering and get to the bare bones of just exactly how it can transform not only the lives of others but also yourself.

Student Volunteering Cardiff (SVC) is the largest student vol-unteering organisation in Wales, with 35 different projects in the lo-cal community and over 1000 vol-unteers. These are the facts, but what does it actually mean to be a volunteer with SVC?

To answer this, I have gone back to those students who have worked with SVC and emerged on the other side. I discovered a vast array of people, living anywhere from Wales to Australia, all of whom felt that their lives had been sculptured and sent down an entirely different ca-reer path by SVC.

Take Andy Marsh for example, who is currently a restructuring consultant in London. Andy had a heavy involvement with SVC dur-ing his time at university, with time spent as a project coordina-tor for Wednesday Club (one of our afterschool clubs for children) and Watch (spending time volunteering in a homeless shelter).

In his final year he went on to be-come a part of the executive body in the post of Communications Officer. Andy feels that SVC definitely gave him the edge in the tough rounds of his employers’ graduate scheme.

It showed his future bosses "that even at a young age I had the abil-ity to lead a team and that I had the drive and determination to do

something with my spare time that was challenging and meaningful." Andy successfully went on to win a place on this graduate scheme.

Another SVC face from the past who feels that they have hugely benefited from their experiences in SVC is Matt Joyce, who is currently an Acceptance Testing Manager in Reading.

Matt feels that SVC gave him that extra confidence boost and gave him exposure to a whole variety people and how to adapt to each person’s needs. He feels that this was crucial in a job where you are leading a team.

For Matt, one of the biggest ad-vantages he gained from his expe-rience with SVC was the ability to stand out in the exercises at an as-sessment centre.

For anyone who is yet to experi-ence a graduate assessment day, it is all about team work, people skills and being able to give examples of scenarios where you have shown the key skills required for the job.

Matt feels that SVC set him apart. His experiences as Chair of SVC en-abled him to give numerous exam-ples of where he had shown strong leadership, the ability to be part of a team and to go above and beyond what was required of him.

It is not just in the job market that SVC can be of benefit to you; some former members of SVC have had their academic interests sculp-tured by their experiences in volun-teering.

Martin Engel is one such individ-ual, who is privileged enough to be residing in the beautiful Australia,

while studying for a PhD in neuro-science.

For Martin the high quantity and quality of his extracurricular ac-tivities with SVC meant he had the edge over other candidates for his successful scholarship application.

His experiences with SVC also led him to continue his volunteer-ing work for the duration of his stay in New South Wales. The Cen-tre for Student Engagement was so impressed with his past SVC cre-dentials they offered him a job as a Team Leader - without interview-ing any other candidates.

For Rhiannon Fyfield, her time spent with SVC has shaped her whole professional life. Rhiannon’s experiences in SVC sparked an in-terest in autism, an interest which led her to America where she spent the summer working as a council-lor with children with autism.

This has finally led her to a fund-ed Developmental Psychopathol-ogy PhD with Cardiff University, of

which she is currently in her first year, again focusing on her special interest in autism and teaching first year seminars.

The individuals mentioned are just the tip of iceberg. The skills and experiences gained through SVC can transform your life both personally and professionally. For me particularly, the skills gained gave me the courage to stand up in front of 300 hungover freshers and tell them about the volunteering fayre.

What it does for you aside, it is important not to forget those we help; often the people we help are invisible and neglected in normal society.

It is not until you take part in something like SVC that you realise just how many people desperately and silently need charitable help.

By helping others you are help-ing yourself.

Features18

“SVC can change your life both professionallyand personally

Science20

Siberian tiger on the decline

Monday March 07 2011 • gair rhydd • science@gairrhydd.com

Scientists fear that time is running out to save the critically endan-gered Amur tiger.

More commonly known as the Siberian tiger, approximately 500 individuals survive in the wild at present. However, a recent study has revealed that the effective pop-ulation of the species is now just 14 animals. Effective population is a measure of genetic diversity. A more genetically diverse popu-

lation has a higher chance of sur-vival.

Very low genetic diversity, as is the case for the Amur tiger, re-sults in increased vulnerability to disease. It also increases the like-lihood of genetic disorders being passed on to the next generation. Such rare genetic disorders are often caused by recessive alleles, which would likely be dominated by healthy genes in a population with high genetic diversity. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the Amur tiger.

In the past, the Siberian tiger in-

habited a huge area including east-ern Russia, northern China and the Korean peninsula, even spreading as far east as Alaska during pre-historic times. Today, its habitat is solely confined to the Amur-Ussuri region of eastern Siberia.

Scientists in Russia, Spain and Germany worked collaboratively in the study.

Blood samples were taken from fifteen wild Amur tigers in the Rus-sian Far East, and their DNA codes were analysed.

The results, published in the scientific journal Mammalian Bi-

ology, revealed a recent “genetic bottleneck” for the species: a dra-matic reduction in the number of genes available for inheritance by the next generation.

The world’s biggest cat was al-most driven to extinction in the 1940s, when a mere 20 to 30 indi-vidual Amur tigers survived in the wild. This resulted in a critical fall in breeding population, utterly de-stroying the once wide Amur tiger gene pool.

Sadly, it seems that human inter-ference is mostly to blame. Causes of the threatening decline in num-

bers include poaching and loss of habitat due to expansion of human settlements.

The Siberian tiger population is now just 10% of what it once was, and experts fear that the species may never recover.

"The worryingly low effective population size challenges the optimism for the recovery of the huge Siberian cat,” the research-ers wrote. The last century has already witnessed the extinction of the Bali tiger and the Caspian tiger, and the Siberian tiger may be next.

Joanne SoutherdScience Writer

As all ten-year-old boys know, the word 'chaos' is an awesome one. To some, chaos is just a word to describe things that are confusing and convoluted. To mathemati-cians, it refers to some maths thing about initial conditions, and to me it is Garland’s final form in Final Fantasy One. But to scientists, it’s something… weird.

Admittedly we change the word and call it entropy (much lamer I know, blame the Germans) and it’s a way of measuring disorder. If you have a jigsaw in a box, then the

pieces can be in virtually any place; it’s more chaotic, but if you do the jigsaw (warning: do not attempt – is dangerously boring) then each piece must be in a certain space, there are less options and it's less chaotic.

As scientists, we tend to look at atoms and molecules instead of jig-saws, but the same concept applies – when something can be in lots of places it is chaotic, when it can be in less states, it’s less chaotic. The odd thing is, nothing ever gets less chaotic. Ever. It’s something called the second law of thermodynam-ics (d∆S/dt≥0) and pretty much all modern science is built around this assumption.

Unfortunately, this is not a valid scientific principle for not tidying your room (which could be seen to be violating the law by going from chaotic to ordered), as the tidying would involve you getting off your ass and moving, giving off chaotic heat. The heat you give off will always put more chaos into the universe than the tidy room takes away.

On that note, all you anti-evolu-tionists please pay attention. Stop using the second law of thermo-dynamics as an argument against evolution. You’re wrong. For any-one oblivious to what all that was about, some people who disagree

with evolution ask “as the second law says nothing can get more or-dered, how can a living being come from a less complex one”? Well, evo-lution is based on chemical steps which obey the second law, and al-though the species is more ordered after evolution the universe will be more chaotic because of the sheer number of reactions and processes involved.

Science: 1, Anti-evolutionists: 0.Sorry. Now that’s out of my sys-

tem, where was I? Ah yes, heat. Heat can be thought of as pure chaos – there is nothing more disordered. If you have ever wondered how the world might end, I really can’t help

you (I suppose I’d guess eaten by a rapidly expanding sun) but the sec-ond law can indicate what happens at the end of the universe. As ev-erything is trying to become more disordered and the most disordered thing is heat, it follows that every-thing will end up as heat. Even at-oms can fall apart to release heat (see Hiroshima circa 1945) so even-tually the universe will be an ever expanding wasteland filled with nothing but thinly spread heat.

So if you were hoping for the dis-covery of immortality, I hate to be the one to break it to you but, you know, sorry mate.

The Chaotic world around usAdam ClancyScience Writer

Above: The rapidly disappearing Siberian Tiger

Project: Impossible?Science21Monday March 07 2011 • gair rhydd • science@gairrhydd.com

Science Editor and fourth year chemist Tom Clarke takes a look at project work, the pitfalls to avoid and how to get the most from your research

The end is nigh! Across campus final year science students are getting their teeth into their research projects. That’s what

you call a dissertation, those of you who make up the unwashed rabble of the humanities.

With no lab book to hold your hand, you're facing down a new un-charted landscape of science that no man has looked upon before. Splitting un-split infinitives, tam-ing the tangled jungle of knowl-edge for the good of all mankind, or at least that 2:1 you’ve been chasing all these years.

I find myself in a slightly prefer-able position. The MChem course saddles you with a yearlong proj-ect. 60 credits of research to take on and take out. The extra term of work does mean there’s a greater amount of work to do but a longer period in which to acclimatise. With you unlucky souls working towards your BSc you’re going to be thrown right in at the deep end. Don’t be daunted.

My project is looking at the oxi-dation of Carbon Monoxide using mixed metal oxide catalysts pre-pared via a homogeneous method. Quite a mouthful and certainly not the most hip conversation starter at dinner parties. But it’s easily simplified.

In layman’s terms, it’s the chang-ing of Carbon Monoxide to Carbon Dioxide using mixed oxides of more than one metal that’s been made by grinding the two together. I’ve found thinking of my project in those terms has helped.

Working in an active research lab is a thrill like no other to me. I'm lucky in that I spent last sum-mer working in the Cardiff Cataly-sis Institute. This really prepared me for what this year would be like in terms of working in a laboratory setting. For some of you, however, working in the lab can and will be a stressful experience.

The trick is not to worry, just re-lax. All the PhD students working alongside you know what you’ve been through; they themselves are only a few years passed their undergrad project. Unless you're stuck in a lab full of tools then they'll point you in the direction of the glassware and materials.

It's a daunting task to produce a document the size of a project re-port, let alone do all the research required to finish such a biblical piece of work. The fear of gaps in my work keeps me awake some nights... Break the project down into manageable chunks. List your contents first, before you even start the lab graft.

Once you’ve got the contents it's like the skeleton of your project. You then can go about collecting the muscle of the beast (or back-ground if you'll permit me to run with this metaphor) followed by the vital organs of data and finally top it off with the skin of your con-clusions.

It seems silly to set in stone your work before you’ve even done it, but trust me it will help you de-cide on your direction. If you need to change emphasis at any point that’s fine, the best-laid plans often evolve and the rogue data point is often the one worth looking into rather than the results that per-form as you expect.

Don’t forget your literature work. Every project gives a gener-ous number of marks for a review of the subject you're looking into. It's best to get this done as quickly as possible. It’s not fun staying in the Julian Hodge until 4am for weeks on end near deadline day because you can't use SciFinder at home, trust me.

And thus the Good Lord said: do not worry about failed experi-ments. All data is good data, if you can explain why your hypothesis is not true then it’s a good piece of work, regardless of your outcome. My supervisor told me that nine of every ten PhD experiments fail and for undergrad projects almost all of them do.

Remember your project isn’t the search for an undiscovered theo-rem or new wonder drug. It's a test of your scientific method, how well you work individually and your ability to keep the balls in the air long enough that they don’t crash on top of your head.

Best of luck to you all, I know I’m certainly going to need it.

Above: Sounds obvious, but the introduction isnt always the place to start...

Three Steps for Success

1. Have a Plan Use your time wisely, there's less than you think

2. Know your stuffKnowledge is power, espe-cially for pesky progress meetings

3. Dont PanicThink, Evaluate then Execute. There's always a calm way out of every corner

Taf-od23

Want to write?Come to our meetings on Monday

at 5pm on the fourth floor of the Students' Union

Agorodd Clwb Ifor Bach ei drysau ‘nôl ym 1983 gyda’r bwriad, ymysg pethau eraill, o ddarparu cerddori-aeth Gymraeg i Gymry Caerdydd. Yn fy mlwyddyn gyntaf, roedd Clwb Ifor yn achlysur wythnosol yn nyd-diaduron cymdeithasol y mwyafrif ohonom, a tra bod Clwb yn parhau i ddenu rhai myfyrwyr Cymraeg ar Sadyrnau, mae’r rhan helaeth bel-lach yn heidio drwy ddrws cul yr adeilad gyferbyn - i’r Beach Club. Ond pam?

Nid ymdrechu i godi gwrychyn ydw i ond yn hytrach adleisio pry-

deron nifer o fy nghyd-fyfyrwyr. Mae’r myfyrwyr a oedd yn arfer bod yn ymwelwyr selog i Clwb ar nos Sadwrn bellach yn cael eu hatynnu i’r clwb nos Hawaian ei naws sydd dros y ffordd. Yn anffodus, er fy mod innau hefyd yn ddafad ymh-lith yr haid, mae myfyrwyr yn cael eu gyrru yno am nad yw Clwb Ifor Bach bellach yn cael ei weld fel lle sy’n rhoi digon o flaenoriaeth i fan-diau Cymraeg.

Waeth i ni heb a thwyllo’n hun-ain chwaith, yr hyn sydd yn gyrru ni’r myfyrwyr i Beach ydi’r diody-dd rhad, y mynediad am ddim, a’r ffaith nad oes raid ciwio am chwart-er awr tu allan dim ond i ddargan-

fod fod y lle yn chwarter llawn fel sy’n digwydd yn amlach na pheidio yn Clwb. Mae mwy a mwy o Gymry Cymraeg yn peidio mynd i Clwb bob penwythnos, ac mae’n rhaid i Clwb ei denu yn ôl rhywsut.

Mae Clwb Ifor Bach yn parhau i fod yn fagwrfa i fandiau newydd yn ogystal ag artistiaid sefydledig y ‘Sîn Roc Gymraeg’, ond mae hefyd yn apelio at lawer o bobl yn ystod yr wythnos. Llwyddai nosweithiau fel C-Y-N-T a Just Dance i ddenu am-rywiaeth eang o fyfyrwyr ledled y brifddinas, ond mae’n rhaid i Glwb Ifor lwyddo i ffeindio’r balans rh-wng plesio’r di-Gymraeg a’r Cymry Cymraeg. Wrth i’r undeb myfyrwyr

barhau i fod mor wrth-Gymreig ag erioed, teimlaf fod dyletswydd gan Clwb i gynnal nosweithiau Cym-reig ei naws i fyfyrwyr. Pam y dylid cyfyngu cerddoriaeth Gymraeg i un llawr ac i un noson yr wythnos yn unig?

Ar nosweithiau Sadwrn, lle cyn-helir y mwyafrif o’r gigs, mae’r brif act yn dechrau gan amlaf tua 10pm, ac mae hyn yn anog y mwya-frif i gyrraedd jesd mewn pryd i’w gweld. O safbwynt yr artistiaid “cynorthwyol”, maent yn gorfod chwarae o flaen cynulleidfa siome-dig gan fod myfyrwyr ar y cyfan ddim yn mentro i ganol y dref tan yn weddol hwyr.

Does dim angen gwedd-newidi-ad anferth ar Glwb Ifor Bach, ond mae’n rhaid i Clwb ail-gydio yn nychymyg y genhedlaeth Gymraeg nesaf, neu bydd hyd yn oed gigs ar Sadyrnau mewn perygl o ddiflannu oddi ar ein amserlen cymdeithasol. Fel unrhyw fudiad newydd yn codi stêm, roedd pawb fel haid o ddefaid yn dilyn ei gilydd ar y dechrau, gyda’r si ar led mai Beach Club oedd y lle i fod. Ond does gen i ddim amheuaeth y bydd Clwb Ifor yn ad-ennill ei statws fel ‘y lle i fod’ ymysg y Cymry Cymraeg cyn bo hir. Ond mae’n rhaid gweithredu cyn ei bod hi’n rhy hwyr.

Caio Iwan

Taf-Od

Clwb Ifor Bach vs. Beach Club

Yr wythnos diwethaf, cyhoeddodd Cymdeithas Pêl-Droed Cymru ei bod wedi gwerthu'r 59,000 o dicedi oedd ar werth i gefnogwyr Cymru yn y gêm hir ddisgwyliedig yn er-byn Lloegr ar Fawrth 26. Daeth hyn fel sioc i nifer o gefnogwyr ag i’r Gymdeithas Bêl-Droed ei hunain, a oedd yn ofni y buasai’r stadiwm yn hanner llawn ar gyfer y gêm, yn di-lyn y dorf siomedig a welodd y gêm yn erbyn Bwlgaria’n fis Hydref - 14,000. Mae Jonathon Ford, prif weithredwr y Gymdeithas wedi bod yn llwyddiannus iawn drwy farch-

nata ar gyfer y gêm, ac mae ei gynl-lun ticedi ar gyfer cefnogwyr Cym-ru, nid yn unig ar gyfer gêm Lloegr, ond yn gyffredinol, yn profi’n bob-logaidd gyda’r cefnogwyr.

Er bod hyn yn newyddion da iawn i’r Gymdeithas Bêl-Droed, mae nifer o gefnogwyr Cymru (yn cynnwys fi) yn feirniadol ac yn gofyn pwy ydi’r 45,000 ychwanegol yma fydd yn gêm Lloegr, a lle oedd y cefnogwyr yma yn y gêm yn erbyn Bwlgaria? Hon oedd yr ail gêm yn y gr_p, y gyntaf i Brian Flynn fel rhe-olwr, gêm a oedd yn hynod bwysig i gefnogi Flynn, ond yn bwysicach fyth i gael tri phwynt ar y bwrdd ar ôl gêm gyntaf siomedig yn y ben-

campwriaeth yn erbyn Motenegro. Yn Saesneg mae’r cefnogwyr yma yn cael ei hadnabod fel “glory hunt-ers”, cefnogwyr sy’n dewis cefnogi eu gwlad pan mae yna gêm fawr, neu pan mae’r tîm yn gwneud yn dda.

Dim ond chwe blynedd yn ôl, yn ystod pencampwriaeth 2004 o dan arweinyddiaeth Mark Hughes, Cymru oedd y wlad a oedd yn cael ei chefnogi orau yn Ewrop, gyda 70,000 yn heidio’n ddi-ffael i bob gem gartref, ac yn cael ei dilyn gan filoedd oddi cartref, gyda gêm Yr Eidal yn sefyll allan pan deithiodd bron i 8,000 i weld y tîm yn 2003.

Y peth sy’n denu cefnogwyr y dy-

ddiau yma heb os nac oni bai, ydi llwyddiant. Yn 2004, roedd Cymru’n llwyddiannus, yn methu allan ar y bencampwriaeth drwy golli i Rw-sia yn y gemau ail gyfle. Ers hynny mae’r dorf wedi disgyn yn aruthrol. O’i gymharu â phencampwriaeth 2004, pan oedd Stadiwm y Mileni-wm yn llawn pob gem, yn ystod pen-campwriaeth Cwpan y Byd yn 2010, ar gyfartaledd, dim ond 18,000 oedd i bob gem gartref.

Dydi prisiau tocynnau ddim yn esgus - roedd hi’n bosib cael tocyn i gêm Lloegr am £15 i weld rhai o chwaraewyr gorau’r byd yn chwarae - pris rhesymol iawn y dyd-diau yma o ystyried fod ticed i gêm

yn yr Uwch Gynghrair yn Lloegr ar gyfartaledd tua £35.

Mae Cymru angen yr un gefno-gaeth os ydan ni’n chwarae Azerbai-jan neu Loegr, er bod buddugoliaeth dros y Saeson yn fwy arwyddocaol, tri phwynt sydd ar gael pwy bynnag ydi’r gwrthwynebwyr. Mae angen fwy o deyrngarwch gan gefnogwyr Cymru.

Mae angen cefnogaeth ar Gymru ym mhob gêm, dim yn unig y gemau mawr. Fel Arthur Picton, mi fyswn i’n disgrifio’r 45,000 ychwanegol sydd i gêm Lloegr fel ‘cefnogwyr pot jam’.

Pennant Jones

Taf-Od

‘Cefnogwyr pot – jam’?

Puzzles

crossword.

Across6. Put to death (7)7. German submarine (5)9. Survey (4)10. Ceremony (10)11. Something of sentimental value (8)13. Free (6)15. Coke or Pepsi (4)17. Damp (5)18. Twaddle (British) (4)19. Speaks (6)20. Curse (8)23. An order of nuns (10)26. Vipers (4)27. Gray sea eagles (5)28. Trespasser (7)

Down1. Plastic wrap (10)2. Goddess of the dawn (6)3. Earl Grey and orange pekoe (4)4. Without restrictions (8)5. Fizzy drink (4)6. Overact (5)8. Plan of action (7) 12. Banish (5)14. Subsequently (10)16. Synopsis (7)17. An adulterous woman (8)21. Escarole (6)22. Become narrower (5)24. Zingy taste (4)25. Cleveland's state (4)

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competition.On Saturday 12th March, Cardiff will be treated to a guest lecture by the political activist Noam Chomsky. The event has received profound in-terest, with all 2000 seats at Saint David's Hall selling out in less than 24 hours. His talk, titled 'The Current Crises in the Middle East' is due to start at 11am and will be followed by questions. This week's competition is to pen the most inter-esting question to be asked to Noam Chomsky. The entries will be judged by the event organis-ers and the lucky winner will not only receive two free tickets to the event (and good seats right near the front too), but will also have their ques-tion asked to Chomsky on the day! Tickets are of-fered courtesy of Cardiff University Green Party. To enter, send your questions to jackparker1991@aol.com. There is a maximum of three entry ques-tions per person.

Monday7th March

Students’ Union, Park Place, 02920 814456 www.cardiffstu-dents.com ◆ IV Lounge, Neuadd Meirionydd, Heath Park 02920 744948 ◆ Clwb Ifor Bach, 11 Womanby Street 02920 232199 www.clwb.net ◆ Metros, Bakers Row www.clubmetropolitan.com ◆ CAI, Park Place 02920 412190 ◆ Buffalo Bar, 11 Windsor Place www.myspace.com/wearebuffa-lobar ◆ Chapter Arts Centre, Market Road, Canton 02920 304400 www.chapter.org ◆ Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay 0870 0402000 www.wmc.org.uk ◆ The New Theatre, Park Place 02920 878889 www.newthe-atrecardiff.co.uk ◆ The Sher-man Theatre, Senghennydd Road 02920 646900 www.sher-mantheatre.co.uk ◆ Cardiff International Arena, Mary Ann Street 02920 224488 ◆

THE LASH, Solus, £3.50, 9.30pmThe Lash promises all the best in chart and cheese, which doesn't really sound all that tempting to be honest. But if you're a sport-ing LAD then it's most definitely the place to be. This week, the theme is Tight and Bright UV. Sounds great, no?

LISTEN UP, Clwb, £3, 9pmListen Up has become an institution within an institution. Everybody loves Clwb. Ev-erybody loves Listen Up. Playing a mix of motown, funk, indie and pop among three floors of cheap bars and trendy kids, this is the place to be every Wednesday.

JAZZ AT DEMPSEYS, Dempseys, £5, 9pmMusic ranges from piano or guitar trio, saxo-phone or trumpet quartet, quartet with vocals to big band. Hear jazz standards made famous by the likes of Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, and Nina Simone, as well as original tunes.

Wednesday9th March

Friday11th March

Saturday12th March

Sunday13th March

Thursday10th March

Venues

Tuesday8th March

FUN FACT TREE, Solus, FREE, 9pmFun Factory is an institution among Cardiff students and you simply must check it out. Playing the very best alternative music, and with various cheap drinks promotions, you're sure to have the best night of the week here - and I'm not even biased. It's a staple. If you like it alternative, if you like it rocking, and most of all, if you like it loud then there is only thing for it . Courtesy of the Live Music Society, the bands this week are: John Q Public, Detached, Rayguns.

LATE NIGHT LIVE, 10 Feet Tall, FREE, 8pmLive music, acts, comedy and DJs upstairs, new music & party tunes in the bar. Plus the added bonus of two for one cocktails between 5pm and 9pm.

PENGUINS KILL POLAR BEARS, Buffalo, £5.50, 8pmWow, how can you resist this gig? That band name is utterly spectacular, really.

JUST DANCE, Clwb, £3, 10pmJust Dance returns every Tuesday night at Clwb Ifor Bach with one simple mission...to get you dancing all night long. A mixture of modern day pop, rock and R&B thrown to-gether with some cracking blasts from the past...cheap entry, cheap drinks prices and great, GREAT tunes.

10 FEET LIVE, 10 Feet Tall, TBC, 8pmLive music, singer songwriters, bands and acoustic acts upstairs, new music & party tunes in the bar. Plus, there's the added bonus of two for one cocktails from 5pm until 9pm.

FAT TUESDAY, CAI, £5 on the door, 9pmA carnival themed night! There will be a fire breather performing outstanding shows throughout the night, Circus Acts (such as jugglers) adding to the Carnival at-mosphere and music being played all night long by guest DJ's. You will have the chance to come dressed as CREATIVE as you like and make use of the dance floor, chillout on the comfy seating area and enjoy the nights proceedings!AND it's for charity..

LIVE MUSIC, The Taf, FREE, 8pmPretty much what it says on the tin really. Live music. In the Taf. They had a pretty good line-up last week, so expect great things from this night.

BOUNCE, Walkabout, £4, 9pmIf you really, honestly, have nothing better to do... actually, no, even that isn't a valid excuse. If you have any personal morals, that is.

C.Y.N.T, Clwb, £4, 10pmThis is the only legitimate thing to do on your Thursday night.

EXAMPLE, Cardiff SU, £14, 7pmExample's lyrics are a new take on the issues that are faced in contemporary society with a humorous and imaginative twist and the songs often feature samples in a similar way to The Streets and Eminem. We've been listening to his song, 'You can't rap' in the office all afternoon and it has changed my life.

BOOMBOX, Solus, £3, 10pmPlaying an eclectic mix of electro, funk, drum 'n' bass, hip hop, dubstep and breaks with a turntablist twist. Featuring dance classics, chart remixes and old school classics. Expect to hear Pendulum, Calvin Harris, Dr Dre, David Guetta, Major Lazor, A Skillz, High Contrast, Prodigy and much more. To be fair, it's the cheapest Friday night this side of the bridge, fulfilling all your student needs and perfect for bringing those visiting mates too. Plus, there's the added bonus of our best Xpress DJ's spinning some great tunes at the silent disco. Go ahead kids, BOOM YOUR BOX.

PÉCHÉS MIGNONS PRESENTS ASM (A STATE OF MIND) + SKUNKADELIC (STARVING ARTISTS), Gwdihw Cafe Bar, £4, 9pmPéchés Mignons is honoured this month to present ASM (A State of Mind) on the Cardiff leg of their UK Tour and Skunkadelic of the Starving Artists Cardiff based label to the intimate surroundings of Gwdihw.

COME PLAY, Solus, £3, 10pmA safe bet for a Saturday night. If none of the other events do it for you, head to the Union for guaranteed good music and cheap drinks. Not the most imaginative of nights out, but you'll be sure to have a good time. And who said that being able to predict the playlist down to the very last minute was a bad thing?

BEATBOX BALLROOM, Buffalo, Free before 11pm, 8pm"Booty-busting breaks, pimped out soul & clock-stopping rhythms." Apparently.

WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME? TOUR: BEARDYMAN, Millennium Music Hall, £11, 9pmMouth-play from human beatbox extraordi-naire. According to the BBC, he's the "King of Sound and Ruler of Beats". This gig has been rescheduled from 15th October, 2010. Original tickets remain valid. Ticket hold-ers who can't make the new date can con-tact their point of purchase for a refund.

10 FEET TALL SUNDAY SOCIAL, 10 Feet Tall, FREE, 8pmIf you have nothing better to do on a Sun-day night and fancy heading out for two-for-one cocktails, perhaps give this a go.

THE BIG SUNDAY RECOVERY PROJ-ECT, CAI, FREE, 12pmWhat’s the Sunday project ? It’s a regular’s social gathering to end the week. You get together over a late Sunday Roast or just laze around with fellow hung-over friends on the sofas. Enjoy a Sunday ‘Institution’, weekly - Squeaky Hill Pub Quiz are back.The only quiz that provides you with a general all-round work out, utilising the physical, mental and creative parts of your brain that other pub quizzes just can’t reach! It's free to play, and there's loads of exciting prizes to be won.

HAVE A SUNDAY ROASTGather all of your housemates together and cook a Sunday roast. Or, if you can't be arsed, why not head to the Taf or CAI for a dinner that will rival your mum's.

Listings26

Societies27

If you would like to join a Society, or see a full list of opportunities, visit: http://groups.cardiffstudents.com/societies/home

UNICEF football fundraiserUNICEF and Cardiff Enterprise are collaborating to host a five-a-side charity football tournament.

The children’s charitable organi-sation UNICEF is teaming up with Cardiff Enterprise to host the 3rd rendition of the UNICEF football cup and cross bar challenge contest as part of a two week fundraising effort.

The event coincides with 'Car-diff Enterprise Week' which will now be held in week nine of term and coincides with the official UNI-CEF ‘Put it Right Week.’ Alongside football, there will be a full week of fundraising activities culminat-ing in a concert on Saturday March 11. There will also be the opportu-nity for new committee members to champion themselves for the up-coming elections.

Nick Madina, one of the key or-ganisers of the tournament spoke

about the event: “It’s going to be our biggest event of the year and should raise close to £1000 for UNICEF.’’

He also added: “I'm very pleased to say we've had sponsorship from lots of local companies in the form of donations, prizes, trophies, and equipment. We are also very thank-ful to the Gol Centre for a reduced rate of hire. It’s the third time UNI-CEF on Campus Cardiff have or-ganised this event and it’s always a really fun and active afternoon.”

UNICEF Cardiff has been going

strong since it was founded in June 2010 by Sarah and Adair Cameron.The philanthropic charity does in-credible work by raising money and awareness about serious global is-sues such as starvation, child pov-erty and abuse, both at home and in developing countries.

The five-a-side football tourna-ment is to be held on the March 6 at the Gol Centre in Leckwith. The entry fee is £25 per squad and any-one can enter regardless of their football ability.

There will be prizes, games and certificates and it is a great and en-ergetic day out all in the name of a terrific cause.

For more information please visit http://www.justgiving.com/nickmadani/

If you are interested in fundrais-ing activities around campus take a look at UNICEF'S website http://unicefcardiff.org.uk/

Good luck to all the participating football teams, we hope you have a fun and successful day on the pitch.

Jamie EvansReporter

Above:MSSCF Festival of Diversity

Monday March 07

Wednesday March 09

CHAOS: CPD Exhibition-Location TBC, 5pm Timothy Bible Study Group: Bible Study-Beverton Lecture Theatre, 7pm Arch Soc: Research Seminar-Room 4.45, Humanities, 5.10pm

TRF: Weekly Meeting-Nelson Mandela Room, 7pm

Asian Society: Bollywood Dance Classes-Rona Griffiths Room, 7pm

Pole Dance Society: Social-Fat Cats Bar, 9pm Harry Potter Soc: Parody Night-Bar 33, 1pm

Art Soc: Canvas Session-Rona Griffiths Room, 7pm

Pole Dancing: Flexibility Class-Aneurin Bevan Room, 6pm

To feature an event or article email societies @gairrhydd.com

Cardiff's very own Malaysian So-ciety (MSSCF) held their annual Festival of Diversity on Saturday February 26.

The society’s annual cultural event has been awarded the Best Cultural Award by the Students’ Union for two years running and the society are hoping for an award hatrick.

The event showcased Malay-sia’s rich tapestry of culture and tradition in the National Museum of Cardiff. Guests enjoyed a pre-show light buffet followed by an extravagant musical. This year, the society used the power of theatre to shed a light on East Malaysia, which makes up almost a third of Borneo Island. Committee member Amir Hazizi spoke of the event:

“Our musical depicted a warrior's struggle to protect her motherland from the unwelcome blitzkrieg of development, which threatens the traditions and home she holds close to her heart.”

The story unfolded as the society took the audience through East Ma-laysia’s fascinating indigenous cul-tures and wildlife, regaling them with a tale set in the epoch of Impe-rial Britain and the ensuing spread of influences over Sarawak. “We hoped to showcase a different side of Malaysia that is often overshad-

owed by the Peninsular. This year we proudly presented the Festival of Diversity VIII : Rimbun which was a huge success” Amir said.

“As a fellow Bornean, I was over-whelmed with gratitude for all of the committee's hard work and ef-fort in successfully highlighting and sharing the cultures of East Malaysia. This festival was, for me, the spirit of Malaysia!” said society member, Sandra Anak Abi, follow-ing the event.

MSSCF currently have more than 200 members of various na-tionalities and ethnic backgrounds. “Our mission is to look after the welfare of our members and other Malaysian students of Cardiff Uni-versity whilst promoting the rich and diverse Malaysian cultures to the local community” says Presi-dent Andre Lim.

Bianca LondonSocieties Editor

Saturday March 11

Harry Potter Society: Pancake Day-Location online, 7.30pm

D of E: Training and climbing-Room 1.25, Main Building, 7.30pm

Tuesday March 08

Pole Dancing: Conditioning Class-Aneurin Bevan Room, 6pm

Timothy Bible Study Group: Bible Study-Beverton Lecture Theatre, 7pm

Thursday March 10

Green Party: Noam Chomsky Talk-St David's Hall, 11am Green Party: Noam Chomsky Afterparty-Cardiff Arts Institute, 2pm

Green Party: Jody McIntyre Talk-Venue TBC, 12pm

Sunday March 12

Festival of diversity

“The event has been awarded the Best Cultural Award for two years running

Comments from the week’s news, opinion, features and sport at www.gairrhydd.com

Will Britain ever buy into the Big Society?

Shirley Burnham ---

Your mostly thoughtful article seemed to trip up in its final para-graph where you herald the Big So-ciety as a “noble concept”, without exploring why there are those who believe that its cloak of respect-ability misleads. For example, did you analyse this article of Spend Matters UK/Europe : 21st February David Cameron says ‘we want lots more procurement’ or even raise one eyebrow over a Guardian report that David Cameron has appointed a new Head of Policy Development, one David Kirby of KPMG to “wid-en” the services shakeup : http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/feb/21/david-cameron-public-services-shakeup Then you might also have noticed a report from the USA where similar shrinking of the state is under way and decide whether that should be emulated here, viz : http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-libraries-morecuts-20110226,0,7403398.story Without wishing to over-egg the cake, may I also draw your atten-tion to an article in the Indepen-dent on Sunday of 20th Febru-

ary, which raised the question of whether this shrinking of the state by means of the Big Society is fine and dandy unless it causes a little local embarrassment : Nimby? Cameron Accused After his Coun-cil Halts Library Closures : http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nimby-cameron-accused-after-his-council-halts-library-clos-ures-2220128.html Mr Cameron can-not ensure, in your words, that the Big Society plans and spending cuts are kept separate; the baby is a sia-mese twin and, with all the nobility in the world, few will agree to adopt the poor thing.

Hugh---

Hello Shirley, thank you for your feedback. With all due respect, all of the articles you have listed were published well after I’d submitted the article, which was the Satur-day night on the 19th of February. I don’t mean to use that as a cheap excuse (you can ask the politics editor to verify that), as these are definitely interesting articles and thank you for showing them to me, but in your own words, you’re over-egging it a bit here, and I can’t use points from articles that didn’t even exist when I was writing this

piece, can I? There’s only so much I can say in 700 words. I do however agree with your last point that big society plans and spending cuts are a bit of a siamese twin and separat-ing them is very difficult and could have gone into more depth explor-ing why people distrust its noble guise. Since this is my first politics article I’ll take your critiques on board for next time. Thanks.

Anon---

Shirley Burnham? The library campaigner from Swindon? I see you tweeted this article – try not to round up too many friends to gang up on the guy. He’s only a student, not Richard Littlejohn.

Also, why would you post that article from the Sun-Sentinel? It was published on the 26th of Febru-ary – when Gair Rhydd is basically printed for the next week, and I can’t blame him for missing it even if it was written before because it affects an area in Florida of all places. Can you really expect a stu-dent in Cardiff to take much notice of that?

Hugh---

Hi Anon,

If Shirley has tweeted the ar-ticle, then I think that’s great. The point of writing an opinion piece, and journalism overall, is to attract comments and start a discussion, and I’m grateful that she’s posted this article on her Twitter feed to attract more comments and feed-back. As Shirley seems to be a cam-paigner for local libraries, she is clearly quite passionate about this topic (and certainly far more re-searched on the subject than I am), and I’m glad she has taken notice of my article.

While the Sun Sentinel argu-ment may not seem relevant first, it provides some important informa-tion on how the US is cutting back on public services and how the UK can take example from it.

The Referendum: Power to the People?

Hicks---

“The health service in Wales is even worse than in England and education standards have fallen. In this context, what must be asked is: can the Assembly be trusted to make laws exclusively, without Westminster deciding to give them

that power?”- A point or two worth noting…

Firstly, health and education levels have been below English standards for a VERY long time. Reversing this will take a lot longer than 12 years, even with the Assembly’s direction. Secondly, to be pedantic, Westminster doesn’t decide to give the Assembly that power, the As-sembly already has them. All West-minster does is check to see that any proposed laws fall under the 20 devolved areas WAG has power for. Quite why anyone would vote against ridding the system of such a silly step, one which is embarras-ingly unique throughout the world, is odd.

Sion Jones--

The referendum is simply about whether the voters think Wales is mature enough as a nation to make it own decisions (as Scotland and NI are), without having to run back to Mam to ask permission every time!

Voting NO suggests that you think that the Welsh are in some way inferior.

Letters28

Robin McBryde is urging Wales to continue to work for a complete performance ahead of the visit of Ireland this weekend.

Wales’ forwards coach is hoping his team can put together a full 80 minute display and defeat Ireland for only the second time in Cardiff in a quarter of a century.

"The Six Nations is all about keeping your mind, keeping your compsure and being able to make the right decisions," said McBryde.

"They're constant areas for us to work on. We've got to keep striving for the complete performance."

Having bounced back from an opening defeat to England, Wales responded with victories in Scot-land and Italy and McBryde is hop-ing they can use this momentum to push tournament favourite's Eng-land all the way.

"It’s certainly a different world when you’re winning.

"We’re still a bit disappointed with the first defeat against Eng-land, so we’ve got work to do to make up for that loss, said McBryde."

"But we’ll try and focus on what we can control and just look to build

on that momentum."Having had two wins the confi-

dence is a bit higher."Wales need England to slip up

in their two remaining matches to have a chance of winning the Six Nations.

Second place would be a major achievement in a World Cup year and McBryde sees the visit of Ire-land as the defining match in their tournament.

"Ireland are up there with some of the best teams in the world, as are France. You always want to test yourself against the best," he said.

"If we do get the victory we can look forward to a big game in Par-is."

Wales will take confidence from Ireland's struggles this season. Beaten at home by France, they narrowly overcame Scotland in Ed-inburgh.

But they needed Ronan O'Gara's last-gasp drop goal to prevent a shock opening defeat in Rome.

"It was interesting to hear O’Gara after the Italy game talking about inches - that’s all the difference is. Small little things," said McBryde.

"We’ve found that out ourselves. It’s all about being able to perform to the best of our ability under pres-sure."

Ireland have struggled with their set piece, being put under pres-sure particularly by Scotland, and Mcbryde hopes Wales can target that area at the Millennium Sta-dium.

"The set piece is an area where we’ve tried to up our game. We’ll try and build on our last performance.

"We know it’s a bigger challenge against Ireland. They’ve got Paul O’Connell pulling the strings and Donncha O'Callaghan is not the smallest of guys either in the front row.

"Ireland will be focussing on that area; on putting right the wrongs of their last game. It’ll make our challenge a little bit tougher," said McBryde.

"It’s a different game with dif-ferent challenges. It’ll be a good test for us and hopefully we’ll come through it."

McBryde was impressed with Wales' forwards in the 24-16 victory

in Rome and in particular, the per-formance of Craig Mitchell.

Having only come into the Wales team as a replacement for the in-jured Adam Jones, 24-year-old Mitchell has siezed his chance.

"It’s been down to injury that some players have had the opportu-nity and it’s all down to being ready for that opportunity.

"Craig has been in the wings for a while. I’ve always known he’s had the potential, but to have the poten-tial and to perform are two differ-ent things, so to have done it back to back as well is very impressive," said McBryde.

The forwards' coach said Italy would have targeted Mitchell after analysing his first performances.

"I thought Italy was a big step forward for him. He put a few big tackles in and had a couple of good carries - you can't ask a lot more of him at the moment. He’s doing ev-erything.

"But he’s still learning, he’s still got to make the odd mistake, have the odd bad scrum but it’s all down to experience," said McBryde.

"He’s a young man and he’s been able to back up his experiences week in week out. He’s gone from strength to strength, not just in his set piece work but round the field."

McBryde said it was Mitchell's efforts that helped create a turning point in Rome. Italy won a scrum on the Wales five metre line but the Welsh pack responded and pushed the Italians back.

Another feature of the victory in Rome was the use of only one sub-stitute. McBryde says this is testa-mont to the hunger his squad has for starting places.

"Everyone is fighting to get a starting place. They fact that we made only one substitution against Italy shows we’re not here to give away caps lightly - you’ve got to earn your place.

"The players who haven’t been involved in either Italy or Scotland have gone back to the regions. They were granted starts so they can stake a claim for selection for the next game and as a player that’s all you can ask for - an an opportu-nity to show what you can do," said McBryde.

"They are all going to come back hungry and hopefully we’ll see that in some good performances."

McBryde says Wales are creating a healthy environment.

"Everyone is itching to get on the park and create competition for places."

Wales have recovered from de-feat against England and have a buoyant camp. But they have a mis-erable record against the Irish in Cardiff, having only won once since 1983. McBryde is all too aware of the troubles.

"It’s only one of those things; you can’t read to much into it.

"You’ve got to forget the past, all we can control is the present, the

hear and now," he said. "Come the game we’ve got to fo-

cus on keeping our compsure and taking the opportunities when they do come, making sure that we don’t put ourselves under pressure.

"We know pretty much what game Ireland are going to bring, ir-respective who’s going to be playing at fly half.

"We know we’ll be under pres-sure at times, we got to deal with it and work through it and win the inches."

Wales v. Ireland, Saturday March 12, Millennium Stadium, 17.00

Sport29

Wales working to win the InchesWith the camp bouyant after two victories, Wales still have second place in their sights, says Robin McBryde

Alex WinterSports Editor

Above: McBryde hopeful

Above: Craig Mitchell has impressed in the front row

Sport30 Monday March 07 2011 • gair rhydd • sport@gairrhydd.com

The rising Llanelli starlet

Jonathan Davies is fast becoming one of Welsh Rugby’s rising stars. The 22 year old – dubbed the next Scott Gibbs by Wales Coach War-ren Gatland – has risen through the ranks at the Llanelli Scarlets and is quickly making his mark on the in-ternational stage.

Having missed the Autumn In-ternationals with an ankle injury, Davies has undoubtedly marked his return to international rugby on a positive note in this year's Six Na-tions and was one of just a handful of Welsh players to impress in their opening defeat to England.

However, the centre was injured in the game against Scotland which forced him to miss Wales’ 24-16 vic-tory over the Italians last weekend.

His absence proved pivotal in se-lection for that game forcing James Hook to cover at centre and allow-ing Stephen Jones to return at fly-half.

His injury, however, looks to be on the mend and the Scarlet is tak-ing his time to ensure he can return to full fitness in time for the Ireland game on Saturday.

“There’s still no need to rush

back. I’ve got an extra week of re-covery just to make sure it’s right.”

Davies’ imminent return to the field has yet again sparked the on-going debate in Wales over who should play at fly-half with both Stephen Jones and James Hook vy-ing for selection.

Davies however isn’t worried about who he plays alongside: “I’ve got no problems who plays at 10. Steve’s a great controller of the game.

"I’ve played a lot with him at club level. James does very well in attack and he’s very creative. They both bring similar things”

It’s not just at fly-half though where players are battling for selec-tion. Davies’ own position at centre also faces increased competition. However, instead of causing him concern, Davies believes that the competition does in fact work in the squad’s favour: “It’s good for the squad. With places up for competi-tion, everybody’s working really hard.

"Everybody obviously wants to start. You’ve just got to do your best in training and hopefully I’ll get the nod”

If Davies is selected to face Ire-land this weekend, he is likely to be picked alongside another of Wales’

star centres, Cardiff student Jamie Roberts. Over the past year, Davies and Roberts have been building a strong centre partnership which they are keen to develop. “I think we are gaining an understanding of each other and what each other brings to the game” said Davies. “It’s a work in progress but I think we’re moving in the right direction. We get on pretty well off the field too and we’re working on the part-nership."

He went on to add, “We’ve got similar traits but I think what Jamie brings and what I bring is something totally different and we suit each other quite well.

"A lot of people say we’re the same but I wouldn’t say that at all. Jamie’s a very strong ball carrier but I’ve worked hard in my game to be able to link with the outside backs and try and put them into space. We accommodate each other in the moves.”

If the pair are selected for the Ire-land game they will be up against two of the most experienced cen-tres in International rugby – Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy.

The challenge this brings is something which Davies is eager-ly anticipating. “I played against them last year in the Heineken Cup.

They’re both very good players and I’ve got a huge amount of respect for what they’ve achieved. It’s going to be a difficult task but something I’m looking forward to.”

Wales will be going into the Ire-land game with renewed confidence after a run of victories away to both Scotland and Italy.

They are however aware of the threat Ireland potentially pose. “They’re a strong team with a huge amount of experience," admitted Davies.

Wales will have the added home advantage but their statistics against Ireland aren’t particularly encouraging - having only beaten the Irish just once at home since 1983. Davies was quick to brush this off though. “These stats are there to be broken. We just want to put a good performance in. We’re mov-ing in the right direction as a team and a couple of wins now has given us a bit of momentum We’re just looking forward to putting a good performance in and getting a good result.”

Davies was also clearly looking forward to the prospect of running out on the Millennium Stadium pitch again: “I can’t wait. It was a great buzz running out against England. Hopefully I’ll get the nod

in selection and be in the 22. That crowd is almost like a drug. You just want to play in front of it more and more.”

On the subject of the Stadium, Davies also gave some advice to Cardiff University’s rugby squad as they prepare to take on Swansea at the Millennium Stadium in Varsity at the end of the month: “I would say just enjoy it. It’s not something many people get to do. I’m lucky enough to have done that so I would say just take the experience and en-joy it.”

There is no doubt that Davies is enjoying his rugby at the moment and despite a number of Welsh play-ers - such as Lee Byrne and James Hook - heading over to France next season, the Scarlet is more than happy to remain in Wales for the near future at least: “I’m happy with the Llanelli Scarlets. There’s a good bunch of boys there. I’ve come through the ranks with a lot of those players and I thoroughly en-joy my time training with them. I’m happy where I am at the moment.”

Davies clearly has all the attri-butes for a succesful career and whether or not he is selected this weekend he is sure to have a bright future ahead of him.

Lucy MorganSports Editor

With the Six Nations well under way, gair rhydd Sport spoke to Wales and Scarlets Centre Jonathan Davies about Wales' progress in the run up to their match against Ireland in Cardiff

Sport31Monday March 07 2011 • gair rhydd • sport@gairrhydd.com

Cardiff shooters secure BUCS success

Cardiff 3Southampton 2

Cardiff Men’s A squash team made history after reaching the finals of the BUCS cup - the first time the team has ever been this far in their entire history.

They put in an inspired team performance to overcome South-ampton by three sets to two in a closely fought semi-final.

Cardiff entered the match as un-derdogs having lost to Southamp-ton in their league match last term. However, Cardiff were keen to con-tinue their fantastic cup run after the league competition recently came to an end.

Jay Bumpstead was first on for Cardiff.

After two tightly contested games the score was level at 1–1. Both players were hitting the ball well and finding a good length but Bumpstead’s opponent found an

extra gear towards the end of the match and pulled through by three sets to one.

Cardiff ’s number three, Simon Goddard, was next on court and was eager to level the score and get Cardiff back into the match. God-dard was taken by surprise in the first set narrowly losing 11–9 but

stepped up his game in the second taking it 11–5. The game went the distance with the scores level at 2 –2. In a tense final set, Goddard out-played his opponent to take the final game by eleven points to seven.

Joe Broad continued his fine run of form at number two. His confi-dence was high as he put in another

solid performance winning compre-hensively 11-7, 11-5 and 13-11.

Adam Crozier then followed with a thrilling match that again went to five games.

Neither player left anything on the court but unfortunately Cro-zier 3was edged out 11-9 in the final game.

With the scores level at 2-2, the pressure was on captain Ally Rob-erts in the final match as he looked to secure victory for Cardiff and a place in the final.

Both players produced some good squash in the first game and neither player was able to establish a lead with the score levelled at 9–9.

Nerves were high but Ally man-aged to gain some momentum and superbly pulled through 11-9, 11-4 and 11-7.

This completed a superb 3-2 vic-tory for Cardiff.

The squash club will now have to travel to Birmingham next Sun-day for the final and will be eager to bring the cup to Cardiff for the first time.

Cardiff University's Clay shooting club is only in it’s fourth official year as an affiliated member of the Athletic Union, but it’s not one to sit in the background and follow the lead of those who have a more established reputation.

In fact, in previous years the club has successfully gone to the annual BUCS competition and won medals. This year was no different.

For Cardiff, the competition be-gan at 9am which meant an early start from the hotel. Sadly, the weather wasn’t on their side. Cold rain and cloudy conditions were not the perfect conditions in which to shoot.

The arrival at West Midlands Shooting ground saw Cardiff split into their respective squads and make their way to one of the 14 stands to start the 100 clay shoot.

The difficulty of the shoot was instantly apparent as the targets that had been experienced in previ-ous years were made considerably more challenging and awkward.

The hours flew by, the rain came down and the number of clays left to shoot tumbled, till all that was left to do was wait for the all im-portant scores. Cardiff's aim was to match but ideally improve on last years results of Bronze for the

men's and ladies' teams and an indi-vidual Bronze for the ladies'.

The results eventually trickled in and the prizes were announced much to Cardiff's delight.

David Kidner secured individual Gold with a massive score of 92. The Men’s team finished in joint second place with a total score of 325. This included David Kidner’s 92, Mark Hampton with 81, Tasker Rufus Thomas with 77 and Henry Bales with 75.

The Men’s team missed out on gold by just four clays losing out to Harper Adams. The Ladies' team also won Silver medals, again los-ing out by the same number of clays to Harper Adams. Despite just miss-ing out on victory, the Ladies' still achieved a massive score of 231.

Nat Davies scored 74, Harriet Parfitt with 59, Lissy Elis with 49 and Georgie Handasyde-Dick also with 49 were the main contribu-tors.

Club President Ryan Luffman says “It’s such an achievement for the club, some of our members only started shooting in October, and are putting in competitive scores.”

Cardiff enjoyed a hugely suc-cessful event and managed to domi-nate the score boards for the fifth year running. The club now plan to build on this success and hope to continue their winning streak into next year as well.

Harriet ParfittClay Shooting

Men's squash reach BUCS final

Above: Joe Broad in action for Cardiff Men's A

Ally RobertsBUCS Squash

“The pressure was on as Cardiff looked to secure victory

Cardiff University Ladies Cricket

Club became BUCS indoor champi-

ons with victory at the Swalec Sta-

dium on February 26.

The familiar territory of So-

phia Gardens was the venue for

the National Indoor BUCS Finals.

Cardiff were delighted to welcome

back England star Heather Knight

from international duty. Knight

had missed the regional qualifiers,

so Cardiff had a full strength squad

to pick from.

The first game was against the

biggest threat in the group - Dur-

ham who boast their own England

star in Holly Colvin.

Cardiff lost wickets at regular

intervals and could only post 63

with number four Caitlin Brown

top scoring with 15.

The Durham openers got off to a

cautious start thanks to excellent,

tight bowling from Katherine Tay-

lor (three, overs one-for-five) but

kept up with the required rate and

kept wickets in hand to look favou-

rites to win.

But a number of run outs from

wicketkeeper Knight and two wick-

ets from Cappy Smaill (two overs,

two-for-14) shifted the pressure on

the Durham lower order.

A faultless last over from Taylor

meant Cardiff held on to secure a

two run victory.

The second group game was

against Brighton who needed a win

to stay in the competition.

Invited to bowl first, Cardiff

failed to contain the Brighton bats-

men. Missed opportunities com-

bined with some loose bowling al-

lowed Brighton to score in excess of

100 in their 12 overs, setting Cardiff

108 to win.

Needing a positive start, Car-

diff ’s openers obliged with both

Knight and Kathryn Hudson retir-

ing on 26. The remainder of the

batsmen finished the job and Car-

diff were sitting pretty at the top of

their group.

The final group match was

against Sheffield Hallam. Cardiff

opted to bat first, knowing victory

would guarantee a place in the fi-

nal. Picking up where they left off

in the last game, Knight (46) and

Hudson (27) both retired again, pro-

viding the ideal platform for the big

hits and smart running the lower

order could provide.

Cardiff set Sheffield 149 to win

from 12 overs and more impressive

bowling and wickets from Smaill

(three overs, two-for-22) combined

with four run outs meant Sheffield

fell nine runs short and Cardiff

progressed.

The opposition in the final was

Loughborough, who had progressed

easily from their group, scoring in

excess of 140 in each game, with a

top score of 175.

Cardiff lost the toss and faced

the daunting task of containing the

Loughborough batsmen.

After a bright start, taking pace

off the ball seemed to strangle the

scoring rate so captain Paula Mat-

thews gave six overs to spinners

Smaill (two-for-20) and Brown.

(one-for-20) Both bowled well with

Knight busy behind the stumps tak-

ing a series of catches and a stump-

ing. Loughborough set Cardiff 108

to win and they got off to the worst

start possible with opener Hudson

caught behind for a golden duck.

Number three Smaill came to the

crease and looked assured from the

start, playing sensible cricket and

taking easy singles to keep up with

the required rate.

Support from Knight (10) and

Brown (11) allowed Smaill (39) to

retire but she was soon required

once more and she combined with

captain Matthews (6*) to see Car-

diff home with three balls to spare

to secure the title for Cardiff.

Captain Matthews received the

trophy and said, "In my three years

playing for Cardiff this was the

year I knew we could win the cham-

pionship.

"Every single player excelled

with the bat and ball and our excep-

tional team spirit really stood out

from the rest.”

SportMcBryde and Davies

on the Six Nations

<< Inside

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Kathryn Hudson

Cricket

Above: Player of the match Cappy Smaill

National Champions

(l-r) Top: Heather Knight, Caitlin Brown, Kath Taylor. Bottom: Cappy Smaill,

Paula Matthews (Capt) and Kathryn Hudson

Above: Cardiff captain Paula Matthews with the Championship trophy

Indoor Tournament Results

Group BCardiff 63 beat Durham 61

Cardiff 109-2 beat Brighton 108-4

Cardiff 148-3 beat Sheffield Hal-lam 139

FinalLoughborough 107 lost to Cardiff 108-4 (11.4 overs)