Accommodation

Lock it or lose it asstudent crime rises

Crime figures released byHampshire Police have once againshown a rise in thefts and burglariesfrom student properties, with arecent statement issued by the con-stabulary claiming one in three stu-dents is the victim of crime, prompt-ing the force to issue a warning toPortsmouth students to make suretheir possessions are securely lockedup and insured against theft.

More information, includinginformation on how to report acrime - vital if you need to make aninsurance claim - is available online.

Full details: www.upsu.net/p/2251

pugwash newsFREE

Portsmouth’s official student newspaper

Issue 2Wednesday 17.10.07

upsu.net/news

Calling all students!

Want to write foryour newspaper?

Pugwash News & Purple Wednesdays isthe Union’s student newspaper. If youhave something to shout about, fromburning issues to match reports, com-ment to features, or you want to photo-graph, design or help lay the paper up,get in touch!

More info: www.upsu.net/p/2166

Freshers’ 2007

Freshers’ Ball 2007:bhangra meets glam

A Scissor Sisters tribute act and arock covers band in one room, aBhangra night in another with DJNash, and a thirty-piece big band ina third room... It can only be theUnion’s Freshers’ Ball 2007, takingplace this Saturday 20th October atthe Union.

This year’s line-up is one of themost eclectic ever seen, with a hugerange of musical styles to suit every-one’s tastes, and the Union’s teamhas gone all out to make it an extra-special night, with a smoothie bar,plus Pimms and cocktails on the ter-race. Get your tickets now fromUnion reception for only £15 each.

Calling all students!

Want to write foryour newspaper?

Health

University issuesmeningitis warning

Pugwash News & Purple Wednesdays isthe Union’s student newspaper. If youhave something to shout about, fromburning issues to match reports, com-ment to features, or you want to photo-graph, design or help lay the paper up,get in touch!

More info: www.upsu.net/p/2166

CheckUP, the University’s healthadvisory service, is reminding allnew and returning students to makesure they have been vaccinatedagainst meningitis. They also recom-mend that students ensure they alsohave measles, mumps and rubella(MMR), tetanus and diphtheria vac-cinations. For more information,visit the University’s health pages,where a complete list of doctors anddentists can be found. Alternatively,students can visit the NuffieldCentre, opposite the Union, for moreinformation and advice.

More info: www.port.ac.uk/health

Inside...02 coming up at the

Union + sudoku

04 win Alton Towerstickets

06 club posters

08 features:orwell’s google

09 reviews: amywinehouse, jackpenate + more,plus the pure fmplaylist comes topugwash news

12 purple wednesdays:boxing victory, auchair feature, busaaward for unionstaff member,branding the au,fixtures and results

Democracy

Halls Exec Councilelections 18th Oct

Do you fancy spending some of theUniversity’s money to help makeyour halls of residence a better placeto live?

Each halls of residence has a HallsExec Council, or HEC, made up ofstudents elected by halls residents tohelp improve halls life, with a budg-et to spend on improvements. In thepast, these have included everythingfrom security peep-holes to socialevents and even a PlayStation!

If you’re interested, the electionsare on Thursday, so hurry up and getin touch to find out more!

More info: karen.murphy@port.ac.uk

Freshers’ Fayre 2007: the Union’s biggest and busiest yet, with thousands of students visiting and over 150clubs and societies on show. Above: UoP Sport & Recreation department perform to the crowd Photos: Tom Worman/AH

Above: Extreme Sports Night organiser Pete Williams and friend pose with a giantlollipop stick, while above, right: Paul Oakenfold plays to a packed Orange Fridays

ExtremeSuccessNightThe Extreme Sports Night hosted bythe ski and snowboard club at theUnion was a resounding success,with over 800 students turning outfor the event. The night played hostto bands, DJs and stage shows fromthe Union’s own break-dance anddance clubs, and the dance floorremained packed right through tothe 2am finish.

The night was supported by notonly the ski and snowboard club buta multitude of others, including sky-diving, sailing, surfing, and moun-tain biking clubs. Highlights of thenight included the DJs and MCs onstage, and the array of live music.The success continued with threesnowboards and a pair of skis allbeing given away in prize draws.Somehow though, the free place ona trip to Val Thorens wentunclaimed, so the club are still look-ing for a way to give this prize away- keep your eyes open!

The incredible success of thisnight is mainly down to weeks ofhard work by the club's hyperactivecommittee and thanks are due forthat work, as the results were wellworth it. The night also showed agreat deal of unity between clubswith representatives of more than16 clubs joining together to enjoy athoroughly successful night.

An element of competition hasalso begun to spread with fellowclubs wanting to arrange their ownnights. However, the Extreme SportsNight of 2007 will be the benchmarkall those that follow will be com-pared to.

Clubs and societies interested inholding an event at the Unionshould come and speak to the sportsofficer Simon Leach, or the studentactivities officer Ben Norman, in theSabb Office at the Union.

See the photos: tinyurl.com/2wxked

2Inbox

Pugwash news Wednesday 17th October 2007

What’s happening at the Union? www.upsu.net/diary

Contributors

Thanks for this issue go to: Jacob“slave-in-chief” Leverett, Hannah“I’m gonna stitch you up” Perkins,Ben Norman, Andrew Machin, ClaraHeard, Simon Leach, Tiffany Lee,Pure FM, Brian Fichardo, the UPSUDance Club, Jon Goddard, EwanEyre, Tom Worman, Polo Club’sLauren (giggidy), and anyone elsewe’ve forgotten.

Mini-editorial: thanks for all thehelp and contributions this week -keep them coming. Extra-specialthanks to Hannah Perkins for keep-ing me on my toes during proof-reading...

Contacting us

To get in touch with the PugwashNews & Purple Wednesdays team,please visit www.upsu.net/news-desk, e-mail us atnewsdesk@upsu.net, call us via theUnion’s Media & PublicationsOfficer at 023 9284 3657, or visit usat The Student Centre, PortsmouthStudents’ Union, Cambridge Road,Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 2EF.

Errors & omissions: while wetake every care to verify our content,we may occasionally make mistakes.Please contact us using the detailsabove to report any inaccuracies ormistakes.

Pugwash news & Purple Wednesdays

“Small print”

www.upsu.net/diary

Don’t forget...

Produced fortnightly by theUniversity of Portsmouth Students’Union. (UPSU).

Printed by Quotemeprint -www.quotemeprint.com, 0845 1300667, and now printed on 100%recycled paper - Swampy, rejoice!

Pugwash News & PurpleWednesdays bears no allegiance toany political party and discriminatesagainst no-one.

Oops: apologies to Union photogra-pher chap Tom Worman of SouthernDesigns, whose photos we stole andused without accreditation in thefirst issue. Sorry!

Get your NUS card at the Union to getthe most out of your Union membership

Every member of the University isentitled to an NUS card, with achoice of either the NUS Democracycard which entitles students tomembership of the Union and theNational Union of Students, and theNUS Extra card, which offers the agreat range of local, national andinternational discounts and is alsoan ISIC card recognised the worldover.

NUS cards entitle holders to par-ticipate in all student activities,including sports clubs and societiesat the Union.

Benefits of the NUS Extra cardinclude discounts at McDonalds,

Amazon.com, Dominos, Subway,Ticketmaster, JJB, Superdrug,Matalan, Moss Bros, Virgin, BT,Endsleigh, Topman, STA Travel,NME, French Connection, and manymore.

More info: www.upsu.net/registration

v

V

A

A

v

j

Timewasting...

Sudoku... because there wasn’t anything better to put on this page at 4am in themorning before we’re supposed to send the paper off to be printed!

Easy:

Definitely not easy:

2 7 3 1

7 9 4 5 6

5

6 5 7 2 8

3 1 2 7 92 8 3 4 6

4

9 1 3 5

1 2 8 4 7

7 9 8

9 5 4

8 7 3

6 5

4 3 1 2

6 22 3 9

8 9 3

2 6 4

NewsPugwash news Wednesday 17th October 2007 3

Student hacks

National Studentwants your words

Do you fancy yourself as a bit of awriter? The National Student news-paper is looking for writers andreporters. With 100,000 copies amonth country-wide, the paperreaches students all over the coun-try. To get involved, simply contacttheir editor on 01522 521 521 oreditor@national-student.co.uk

However, if you're more interest-ed in being a part of Portsmouth’snewest and best student newspaper,come and write for Pugwash News!E-mail: mediaofficer@upsu.net ordrop us a line: 023 9284 3657.

* Other student newspapers are available...

Democracy

Find your voice:register to vote

Gordon Brown may not be offeringup the chance to vote him in or outof Number 10 just yet, but the elec-toral commission and the NUS areurging students to register to vote tomake sure they can have their say.

The commission claims in arecent press release that up to one infive students have not registered tovote. “Politics affects every aspect ofyour life” says Electoral Campaignshead Nina Ziaullah. “Unless you reg-ister to vote, you won’t be able tomake you voice heard on the issuesthat matter to you”.

More info: www.aboutmyvote.co.uk

On at the Union

Malibu Soundclashlands this Friday

Just in case you missed our featurelast issue, the Malibu Soundclash,featuring the best anthems of thesummer’s festivals head-to-headwith the dirtiest hip-hop and RnBflavas, will be invading the Unionthis Orange Friday, October 19th.

DJs Rob Breezy and DJ Dub willbe battling it out on stage to win theloudest crowd reactions, with MCsKosher and Serocee working thecrowd, and the Malibu team onhand giving out loads of free giftsand free music downloads through-out the night. Don’t miss it!

More info: www.upsu.net/sociallife

Club news

Do a little dance,raise a bit of cash...

The sporto dance-off is back, so it’stime to get your club or societyinvolved! Get adopted by two danceclub members to choreograph ashort and easy routine (comedyencouraged!) for select club mem-bers. Then on the 5th December atPWs, with the help of a little Dutchcourage, get up on stage and shake itwhilst competing against the otherclubs to see who will be the best.Entry is only £1 per person, so youhave no excuse not to get involved.To sign up, join them on Facebook.Let the banter begin!

Join up online: tinyurl.com/yvfygh

Are you smarterthan a 10-year-old?

What is the past-tense form of theword “drink”? This is just one of themany questions that will be luringthe students of Portsmouth into red-faced embarrassment at the Unionon Sunday 21st October, as Sky’s“Are You Smarter Than A Ten Year-old” quiz drops in to the Union.

First prize on the night will be aSky box with a year’s subscription tothe service, so maybe it’s best if youdon’t enter if you’re worried youmay never leave the sofa again dur-ing your degree...

p.s. The answer is “drank”.

More info: www.upsu.net/sociallife

UPSU JobShop:

Recruitment fairWed 17th OctLooking for a part-time job, or somevolunteering experience? The UnionJobShop is holding a recruitmentfair in the Union for all studentstoday, with companies attending todiscuss their Employment andVolunteering opportunities.

More info: www.upsu.net/jobshop

New to UPSU:

Amnesty societyThe Union's newest society has beencreated. The Amnesty Society, a partof the Amnesty organisation,worksto protect human rights world wide.The first meeting was held thisweek, with further meetingsplanned throughout the comingyear. Amnesty's aim is to reach apoint where all individuals enjoytheir universal human rights usingresearch and action to end violationsof these rights. For more informationon the Amnesty Society, contact theActivities and Development Officer,Ben Norman, on 023 9284 3659 orstudentsupportofficer@upsu.net

Facebookwatch:

Giant telco seeksuni for giant gigvia giant website...Telecoms giant O2 has unveiled anovel spin on advertising, creatingthe Facebook group “The battle forthe UK’s favourite university” to findthe best UK university. Studentsacross the country are being asked tojoin the group - the more students inthe group from a University, themore points the Uni gets. The prizefor the favourite Uni is a huge end-of-term party, paid for by O2.

We all know Portsmouth Uni isthe best in the UK for too many rea-sons to list, so join up to the groupby November 11st and show yoursupport (and make sure you’re in theUni. Portsmouth network to makeyour vote count!).

More info: tinyurl.com/ys23vg

Only 1 in 4landlords havesigned up to thetenancy depositscheme:

“figures show thatthe majority of

landlords arestill unwilling to

actfairly or professionallyAdam Sampson, Shelter: page 4

4News

Pugwash news Wednesday 17th October 2007

One in fourlandlords stillavoidingdepositprotectionschemeDespite being launched more thansix months ago, the NationalLandlords Association has releasedfigures which show that three out offour landlords still have not signedup to the scheme, which provides anindependent arbitrator to fairlyresolve tenancy deposit disputes.

The NUS website claims that, inthe last year, more than 75% of ten-ants who had money witheld bylandlords felt their money was with-eld unfairly. Housing charity Shelterhas urged students to insist on theirlandlords protecting students’deposits using the tenancy depositprotection scheme, which costsnothing to sign up to.

Students can find a detailed guideto their rights as tenants on theShelter website, atshelter.org.uk/knowyourrights.

“Whilst the TDP has providedthousands of tenants with peace ofmind that their cash is protected, theNLA figures show that the majorityof landlords are still unwilling to actfairly or professionally.” said AdamSampson of Shelter in an interviewwith the NUS.

“Shelter is urging all students tobe aware of their rights and insist ontheir landlords protecting deposits ina TDP scheme.”

With an estimated 1.25 millionstudents living in private sector rent-ed accommodation, over £250 mil-lion in deposits is estimated to be atrisk of unfair treatment.

The scheme’s introduction sixmonths ago was hailed as a break-through for tenants and landlordsalike, with widespread reports pre-dicting the majority of depositswould soon be protected.

No clear answers have beenoffered to explain why so manylandlords have failed to sign up tothe scheme.

Society spotlight

Student Law society

Random world

Liars caught out going backwardsin £136,000 University study

Researchers at the University ofPortsmouth have apparently foundthat liars are much more likely tomake mistakes when telling a fabri-cated story backwards.

Working on the assumption that ittakes more effort to make up a storythan to recount from memory, 255test subjects were interviewed by290 police officers, with someinstructed to lie and others instruct-ed to tell the truth. Interviews wereconducted using traditional policeinterview methods, and in caseswhere the subject was lying, policedetected more liars from their mis-takes made when telling a story

backwards than when the policeofficers used standard police inter-view methods.

The “reverse order tactic”, alsoknown as a “cognitive load inter-view”, is expected to provide a newweapon in the fight against serialcriminals adept in dodging tradition-al police interview tricks.

Techniques for analysing bodylanguage were also criticised: studyresearcher Professor Aldert Vrijnoted that officers using traditionaltechniques to identify liars were“significantly worse” at spottingfrauds than officers using thereverse order tactic.

Win a pair oftickets toAltonTowers’extremenightsAlton Towers is closing its seasonwith a bang. Adrenaline Week, run-ning between the 5th and 11th ofNovember, is designed to add a newtwist to your favourite exhilaratingrides - the early winter darkness(well, Winter has to be good forsomething...).

Don't bother with the kiddie rides:try out the drop of Oblivion or theincredible acceleration of Rita in thedark.

In celebration of adrenaline weekand the final end to the summer,Alton Towers are offering PugwashNews readers the chance to win apair of tickets to the theme park dur-ing Adrenaline Week.

We have one pair of tickets to giveaway, but you're going have to dosome work to win them!

Your mission: take a copy ofPugwash News, take a camera, takea friend. We want a picture of youwith your Pugwash News in thestrangest, most obscure place.

Once you've got it, send it in to ushere at Pugwash News before Friday26th October and the most obscure,weird and just down right odd getsthe tickets.

E-mail your photo, name, contactdetails a brief description of howand why you got the photo tonewsdesk@upsu.net before the cut-off date, and we will select theweirdest, most obscure photo we’resent!

Small print: please don't endangeryourself or others to get your photo -there's no point winning tickets to AltonTowers if you're stuck in a plaster castfrom head-to-foot...! Also, we’d like toprint the best photos we're sent, so pleasedon't send us photos of naked bodies orDirty Sanchez-style stunts.

Tickets also available online @ £14.

More info: www.altontowers.com

Earn tendegreecredits forsaying whatyou see

For our first society spotlight, thestudent law society tell us whatthey’re planning this year, and what“mooting” is. The society isn't justfor law students, but those with aninterest in law as well. The societyalso covers areas such as humanrights, politics and current affairs.

"We are organising trips to theHouses of Parliament as well as theRoyal Courts of Justice to see thegoings on of the Court of Appeal oneof the highest courts in the country.People will also be able to see theinside of the Houses of Parliamentand how MP’S make decision. Weare also arranging trips to the local

law courts and hopefully to KingstonPrison!

"We are also setting up severaldebates: the first two will be on thetopics of human rights and the EUconstitution.

"Our main focus this academicyear is on mock trials and mooting."

According to the OxfordUniversity press, Mooting is “theoral presentation of a legal issue orproblem. It is perhaps the closestexperience that a student can havewhilst at university to appearing incourt”.

"Mooting is beneficial not only tolaw students wishing to practice as

barristers and solicitors, but also tothose people who wish to improvetheir public speaking skills and con-fidence.

"Mock trials, on the other hand,usually include witnesses, barristersand judges and are less formal andless likely to be based on complexpoints of law.

"We are having our first social onthe 16th of October at Tiger Tiger -anyone is free to join us.

"Most importantly, we need yourviews on what you want us to do!"

To get in touch, contact:studentactivitiesofficer@upsu.net

Tom LewisUniversity Equality & Diversity Unit

Fancy getting ten credits towardsyour course AND helping yourself tosome tasty CV-boosting experiencethis year? The University is runninga project called Equality ImpactAssessment and they need the likesof you to be part of it.

In a nutshell, the project aims tocheck that the University’s policiesdon’t adversely affect any particulargroup and that, if possible, theyactually enhance equality of oppor-tunity. A rather grand aim you maythink, but with your help it’s anachievable one.

Whether being a mature studentgives you a different perspective onstudent life, or as a carer you’d like abit of help. Whatever you can offer -and even being the average Britishundergraduate is a totally validstandpoint – we’d like to hear fromyou. All it takes is for you to commityourself to undertake at least fourtwo-hour sessions per year.

Eight hours a year: hardly a lot, isit? Especially with the warm glowand good karma you’ll get from hav-ing been a part of something trulyworthwhile. Oh, and of coursethere’s those ten course credits -check the website (link below) orchat to your lecturers for more infoon those.

So if you fancy making your CVstand out from the crowd, the possi-bility of getting credits towards yourcourse, and helping make yourUniversity a better place there’s real-ly only one choice. You know whatto do. For further information con-tact the Impact Assessment Co-ordi-nator, Tom Lewis ontom.lewis@port.ac.uk.

More info: tinyurl.com/2268t2

Newssnippets

Obscure odds-and-ends we’ve foundout this fortnight...*

Everybody in the world is fasci-nated by the Uni’s study on breasts,,apparently - tinyurl.com/2h8vcb forproof. // We’re told that Audition,a computer game where you makean on-screen character dance usingyour arrow keys, has more usersthan MySpace and has been a hugehit in Korea. More info: www.goaudi-tion.co.uk. // The Union’s StudentActivities Officer Ben Norman istechnically a refugee of his nativeGuernsey. Or Jersey - we can’tremember which... // Newspaperstake a LONG time to put together.Next week, we’ll be trialling thefavourite trick of the coursework-shystudent: bigger text. // Someorganism with a silly name, in apond somewhere, has gone 80 mil-lion years without sex (if you canthink of a punchline to this, let usknow...). More info:tinyurl.com/2cz6ml // Mulletwatchreports that mullets still aren’t backin fashion. Shame... // The freepizza given out at Freshers’ Fayrecan’t be stockpiled until Christmas.It just doesn’t work... // You canspell Bhangra with or without the‘h’. // ... but there’s no “I” in “team”.What-everr... // Free Maoam ismuch more popular than free giantdrumsticks, according to our com-pletely non-scientific survey involv-ing a tub of each in the Sabb office.// Is the plural of sudoku,“sudoku” or “sudokus”? // No-onespotted the words “lust money”hidden in a photo in issue 1... //Woohoo! Fraggy is back in thebuilding (after claiming he’d nevercome back). // Next issue: hellhath no fury like a woman scorned:true or false?

* Or they’re completely fabricatedto fill some space. One or the other...

What’sthis?

Find out on page 7...

NewsPugwash news Wednesday 17th October 2007 5

Mini review

“A Lifetime ofSecrets”Author: Frank Warren

Like the sound of the book,but too broke after Freshers’Fortnight to afford it?

We’ve got one slightly-thumbedreview copy of A Lifetime Of Secretsto give away to the first person whowants it.

To be in with a chance of blaggingour copy, all you need to do is e-mailthe News Desk atnewsdesk@upsu.net with “A LifetimeOf Secrets” in the subject line (so weknow what you’re on about) andyour contact telephone number (incase we can’t be bothered to typeout an e-mail - yes, we’re really thatlazy at Pugwash towers... ;o).

Random is good

Random cat of theweek...

Jacob Leverett

The stigma surrounding depression,and simply feeling depressed, canmake it almost impossible for suffer-ers to seek help when they need it.In addition to the University's coun-selling services, there are a numberof websites available offering adviceand support.

Students Against Depression isone of these websites, providinghelp and guidance for students suf-fering from all forms of depressionas well as providing information forfriends of students who are con-cerned about their friends' welfare.

Here, a Portsmouth student writesabout their experiences during theirfirst weeks of university:

“Was it really a year ago? Was Ione of those scared bleary eyed penni-less freshers wandering around withno idea what was going on or whoanyone was? Contrary to what Ithought at the time I wasn't alone. It’sgenerally accepted that the periodafter the initial buzz of freshers fort-night is one of the most depressingand lonely. You're feeling lost in a seaof faces, lecturers are telling you thattheir job isn't to cuddle you and it allseems too much.

“Well there are a number of waysin which I sought help. The first waspossibly the worst, the second betterand the third has me back in a happyworld. The thing I thought wouldanswer all my problems would be todrink more, go out more and partymore.

“Oh my God how wrong was I: nowI just had additional problems, nomoney, work deadlines looming and acracking headache. I decided to turnto one of my tutors as he was a niceguy. He had said that he was there tohelp, and as my depression was nowaffecting my work he took the time fora coffee and a cosy chat in his officedespite being three times busier than I

was!“Up until this point I had always

shied away from asking to talk aboutstuff with people because it just neverseemed right; I'd just go to the pubwith my mates and bitch aboutschool, girls and getting my ass kickedat football. So my tutor was telling meto go and make an appointment to seea counsellor - errrrrr not likely!

“Firstly I tried a support websitewhich seemed less invasive, and a lit-tle bit of fun. The site, studentdepres-sion.org, has just been relaunchedand shows people ways to help them-selves, as well as guiding peoplethrough ways to help someone theyare worried about.

“The website made me realise thatI really wanted to speak to someonewho could understand me and takethe time to listen. I was surprised torealise how many people were there tohelp - I hadn't realised that theUniversity has its own counsellors andchaplains, people with whom I couldtalk through my problems, and realisethat things are a little stressful, a lit-tle daunting but with the right atti-tude and a little help from the rightpeople, everything can get better.”

For more advice online, visitw w w. s t u d e n t d e p r e s s i o n . o r g .Alternatively, you can book a coun-sellor in confidence on 023 92843157 or free from your halls on3157. The University's Chaplaincyteam are also available, and can becontacted on 023 3284 3030.Finally, for 24 hour help and advice,the Samaritans are available on08457 909090.

Student depressionhighest at start ofacademic year

“...the period afterthe initial buzz

offreshers fortnight

is one of the mostdepressing and lonely...

Review: Jacob Leverett

“A Lifetime of Secrets” is a strangeforum for a collection of secrets.People from throughout the worldsend Frank Warren secrets scrawledupon a postcard, which are thencompiled into his web-site or this,his fourth book.

The secrets include the bizarre,the scandalous and tragedies, all ofwhich make for an addictive if notvoyeuristic book. There is somethingabout reading anonymous confes-sions that feels like being acceptedinto this secret world, a form of ther-apy also arises - hunting throughout

the book to find a confession similarto the one burning away inside eachand everyone of us.

These confessions of infidelity,past events or burning desires turneach of these simple cards into apoignant reminder of the worldbeing a collection of individuals allholding a small secret.

A Lifetime of Secrets is availablenow from all good bookshops, andprobably quite a few not-so-goodones, too. If you don’t blag our copy(see right), grab yours from Amazon:tinyurl.com/2wyafl

More: postsecret.blogspot.com

Win this book!

WHO:The UPSU Bike Club

WHEN:Rides every Wednesday andSunday

WHAT:Cross-country, trials, downhill,free-ride and BMX

ridepompey.co.uk

WHO:The UPSU Trampolining & Gymnastics Club

WHAT:Trampolining and gymnastics, obviously!

upsu.net/clubs/trampandgym

Image (c) Tom Worman, Southern Designs

8Features and comment

Pugwash news Wednesday 17th October 2007

Googling OrwellBen Normanasks whethersearch giants’censorshippolicies are a signof the world’sdescent intosomething wemay have readabout before...

According to the adverts recently runby AOL, ’Orwell was wrong’. Theinternet has apparently ushered inan epoch where free speech is unre-stricted like never before. Its globalnature leaves governments power-less against it. We are told that at last’The power is in the hands of thepeople’, so lets all calm down, sootheour fears and whilst we’re at it pur-chase AOL’s new software (RRP$19.99, available in all good comput-er shops, and some rubbish ones.)Simultaneously with these adverts ,Microsoft’s bi-spectacled billionaireboss Bill Gates stated that in his eyesOrwell’s dystopic vision ’didn’t cometrue, and I don't believe it will’,which is comforting coming from aman who last year had a net worth of$50 Billion dollars — more than theGNP of Chilli or Egypt and twice thatof Guatemala.

To say that Orwell was completelywrong and that 40 years after hisdeath we’ve managed to create asociety free of Orwellian terror is anexercise which at best is wishfulthinking, At worst, it’s apathyinduced naivety. To say that theinternet is a safe haven for freespeech and liberated from stateinterference is to forget the recentrestrictions that China placed onGoogle searches, where typing theword ‘democracy’ can result in a one-way ticket to prison. An example ofthis is the case of “political subver-sive” Kong Youping who was sen-tenced to 15 years imprisonment in2003 for posting articles on theInternet calling for a reassessment ofthe 1989 pro-democracy movement.

The Chinese government have beenattempting to block and monitorinternet users with varied successand how has Google responded tothis? Did they cry out in the name offree speech? Did they use their greattool of communication to bypass thegovernment and reach the people?No. Instead Google offered to createa new site, Google.cn which wouldbe self regulating and thus panderedto a government which has beendenounced by Amnesty Internationalas being one of the worst humanrights offenders. If any proof of thedeplorable, wanton disregard forhuman right is needed look no fur-ther then a BBC report from Aprilthis year which claimed that prison-ers were being selected for executionso that their organs could be harvest-ed to sell for transplants.

How can a company whose selfproclaimed motto is “don’t be evil”actively cooperate with such aregime? The answer quite simply isprofit. When Google was first found-

ed by .com entrepreneurs SergeyBrin and Larry Page in 1998 it was asmall operation which attempted tolay claim to the internet’s moral highground. Today however Google is amultinational company which is val-ued on Wall Street at over $100bn,and generates annual profits of$2bn. In order to compete with inter-net arch-rivals Yahoo who have nosuch moral scruples, securing theChinese market is a necessity and todo it Google seem willing to sell anyof their moral pretences. Googlespokesman Andrew McLaughlin stat-ed that creating Google.cn is “thebest thing for the principles we’retrying to uphold” and that the com-pany was attempting to provide a“Meaningful disclosure” for Chineseusers. The only disclosure thatGoogle is providing for the internetusers not only in China but acrossthe globe is that the company is will-ing to place profits before principles.

Human rights violations in Chinahave been well documented andcampaigned against by groups suchas Amnesty for decades however itmust be realised it is not only the farflung foreign governments whichwill use the internet in such aMachiavellian way. The same is truein the United States the home of AOLand Bill Gates who publicly rejoice atthe freedom they claim the internethas bestowed upon the world.However it is in the United Stateswhere vast government owned com-puters sift though millions of e-mailssearching for phrase which willresult in some spotty teenager fromWyoming getting a knock on the

door from the FBI. In 2003 JohnMclean received a visit from the FBIJoint Terrorist task force for askingquestions about the structure ofChesapeake Bay Bridge, questionswhich the FBI believed were of dan-ger to national security. The sinisterside of this incident is brought tolight when it is realised that JohnMclean is in fact 12 years old andwas researching a school project. Notonly was the Mclean householdsearched and computers analysedbut the FBI also thought it wise tosearch the school which had theaudacity to give out projects whichthreaten national security.

It could be argued that China andthe USA are unique cases. Chinesehuman rights violations are nothingnew and the USA remains in the gripof post 9/11 paranoia. It must beremembered however that theInternet is global and any dangers itposes to users in America or Chinacould also be posed closer to home.We may not have reached a bigbrother state just yet, but are we oncruising down the information superhighway towards it? It would be wisenot to heed optimistic claims thatOrwell was wrong, It stands to rea-son that internet provider AOL andMicrosoft Chief Gates are nevergoing to throw their hands up in theair in dismay and regret shouting‘look what we’ve created’, they’re fartoo busy profiting from it.

Ben Norman is always available forchats about the evil of largecorporations...ben.norman@upsu.net

Clara Heardrecommends afew ways ofkeeping theremains of yourstudent loangoing until theChristmas casharrives from therelatives...

Getting your money’s worthIt’s that time of year again. Fresher’sweek is over and hundreds of youare already well into your studentloans. Feeling a little guilty are we?Well, here are a few tips to helpmake your remaining pennies stretchthat little bit further.

Rent is likely to be the biggestdent to your budget, and if you’re liv-ing in halls it’s unlikely that you willbe able to negotiate. However, thereare a few things that can be done tokeep down the costs. Make your ownlunch, entertain at home and useprice comparison sites such asmoneysupermarket.com to find thecheapest providers of gas, electricityand entertainment packages.

Purchases such as books areunavoidable and regardless of yourcourse, you are sure to find there aresome books you really have to buy.The average book list can add up toaround £150 a year if bought new, soit’s worth hunting around for somebargains. Recent graduates are aparticularly good source, as isBlackwells, the university book shop,which houses a selection of secondhand books from a wide range ofcourses.

Most student-rented accommoda-tion is furnished, however it doesn’tmean that the landlords provideeverything a student needs. Items

such as desks, chairs or wardrobescan take a huge chunk out of yourstudent budget so stick to the cheapand cheerful IKEA. However, if youlike your items with a bit of charac-ter, take a visit to a second-hand fur-niture shop (many of which can befound around the Southsea area).After a quick clean and a coverthrown over them, they can look asgood as new - with the added bonusthat you didn’t have to assemblethem yourself!

Commuters and members of theoff-campus Langstone StudentVillage will know that lectures aremore than just a short walk away.When the free bus does not run atweekends, trips into the city can getpretty expensive.

Cycling is by far the cheapest (andfastest) way to get around the city asthere are plenty of flat cycle routes.Alternatively, there is public trans-port and like most things, this worksout cheaper if brought in weekly ormonthly bus passes, rather thandaily tickets.

When you’re really scraping thebarrel, clean out your sofa and takerandom coins to change-convertingmachines like Coinstar (often foundin supermarkets). This is a conven-ient way to obtain some money offyour shopping.

Staying busy distracts us fromfeeling the need to spend. Gettinginvolved with a society, playing sportor getting a part-time job meansyou’re less likely to steer towardsboredom expenses such as snackfood or DVD rentals. It’s also good toremember that extra-curricular activ-ities could someday help you obtaina higher-paying job – another steptowards achieving financial stability!

Students are prime targets for bur-glars, with one in every three endingup a victim of crime each year. Afour-bed student house often con-tains four times the loot, with TV’s,laptops, games consoles and MP3Players. You don’t want to be payingfor new gear, so it’s worth gettingcontents insurance for your expen-sive belongings and backing up allyour work on a hard drive. Some ofyou may be covered by your parents'existing policy, but it is definitelyworth checking the small print.

And finally, visit supermarkets atthe end of the day for marked-downfresh food, NEVER shop an emptystomach, and always ask for a stu-dent discount.

For more help and informationfrom the University, visitwww.port.ac.uk/moneydoctors

Clara Heard

“The average booklist can cost up to

£150 a year ifbought new, so

it’s worth huntingaround for some

bargains...

“How can acompany

whose selfpro-

claimedmotto is “don’t be evil”actively cooperate with

such a regime?

ReviewsPugwash news Wednesday 17th October 2007 9

Pure FM’splaylistEvery week Pure FM gives you thenewest and hottest music and to letyou know what's in, a fancy newplaylists has been made.

The A-list features tracks thatyour Uni life would not be the samewithout, while the B-list is a little bitmore low key. The C-list is full ofdiverse and underground artists whoare starting to make their mark onthe music industry.

Finally, Track of the Week is thesong that has grabbed Pure FM'sattention and so this lovely radio sta-tion tries their hardest to let it getyou too. For changes in the Chartand Playlist updates check outwww.purefm.com

On the A-list... Baby Shambles - Delivery Biffy Clyro - Machines Booty Love – Don’t Mess With MyManFoo Fighters – The PretenderJust Jack – No TimeKate Nash – Mouthwash Mutya Buena – Just A Little Bit Orson – Ain't No Party Robyn - Handle MeScouting for Girls – She’s So Lovely The Enemy – You’re Not AloneThe Fray – All At OnceThe Hives - Tick Tick Boom BoomThe Hossiers – Goodbye Mr. ATravis – My Eyes Will.i.am – I Got It From My Mama

On the B-List...Arcade Fire – Intervention Artic Monkeys – FluorescentAdolescent Keane - Night Sky Kelly Rowland – Like ThisLinkin Park – Bleed It Out Mark Ronson (ft. Bob Dylan) – MostLikely You will Go Your Way….Stereophonics – Bank HolidayMondayTerra Noimi – Not SorryThe Chemical Brothers – the SalmonDance The Coral – Jacqueline The Maccabees – Toothpaste Kisses The Wombats – Lets Listen To JoyDivision

On the C-list...Amy Macdonald – L.A.Ash – End of The WorldAvril Lavigne – Hot Bobby ft Timberland – Anonymous Cherry Ghost – 4A.MDamien Rice – Dogs Gallows – In The Belly Of A SharkIan Brown – Illegal Attacks LCD Sound System – Someone GreatMicheal Grey – Somewhere Beyond Ne-Yo – Because of YouStephen Fretwell - Scar The Bravery - Time Wont Let Me Go

Track Of TheWeek:The Parlotones - Dragonflies andAstronauts

Listen online: www.purefm.com

Music‘Valerie’Mark Ronson ft. AmyWinehouse (Single)

Rating: * * Tiffany Lee

Mark Ronson returns with thisadaptation of Zuton’s 2006 hit, thistime with Amy Winehouse as hisselling point. Having experimentedvery little with the track, if you likethe original don’t feel in any rush tocheck out this version. The synthe-sised drum beat is extremely over-used and dull and the pace seems farbeyond Amy’s comfort zone. As aresult Amy’s involvement seems tomock her conscious endeavour toplace herself on the popular musicspectrum by avoiding this kind ofconformity. To me it seems like so farMark Ronson’s quest to becomeauteur is a little too comparable toHugh Grant’s film history; eachproduct being mildly entertaining,marginally different to the last andmade far more interesting with theaddition of the star. On Amy’s parthowever, this is a respectable coveras her mesmerising talent, intention-ally ignoring all tabloid fuss, neverdisappoints. Although after therelease of the Radio One’s LiveLounge album that exhausted theidea of unexpected covers, I don’tthink I’ll be excited by another coveruntil Slipknot tackle Leonia Lewis’ ‘AMoment like This’.

‘Dark on Fire’Turin Brakes (Album)

Rating: * * * * Tiffany Lee

Quite simply, this album is stunning. The emotive texture in the vocals byboth band members Olly Knightsand Gale Paridjanian are beautifuland completely captivating. If thepassionate slur of Ray LaMontagne(who shares producer Ethan Jones)and David Gray lights your candlesthen you will be an instant fan. Atfirst glance, the majority of songs onthis album do seem similar but asNME magazine boldly stated whenthey emerged back in 2001 withtheir debut album ‘The Optimist LP’(nominated for the Mercury Prize)“give them the devotion theydeserve”. Every song is a heart melt-ing masterpiece; carefully handcrafted by a band with so muchexperience they can seduce the spot-light away from any up and cominggroup that have half as much talentand twice as many marketing strate-gies, with delicate ease. Althoughthough it’s not all twinkles andtears. ‘Stalker’, the first single to bereleased off this record is an exam-ple of how the band has adaptedtheir sound for the constantly evolv-ing demands of popular music. Thissingle is dark and truly haunting andperhaps a snippet of social commen-tary as it reminds us of the age ofsurveillance in which we live in. Thisalbum will leave you wonderingwhere you were for the last sevenyears of their career.

‘Can’t Get AlongWithout You’Hard-Fi (Single)

Rating: *Tiffany Lee

With this second release off their lat-est album ‘Once Upon a Time in theWest’ Hard-Fi are pumping outanother bouncy, rock-pop tune asdependably samey as the dress upthemes at the union. With the vocalssounding like they might be farmore at home on the Shrek sound-track than a popular, fast-sellingalbum, front man Richard Archertries extremely hard to bring atti-tude and flare to the band by spit-ting out these lyrics about pickingfights and sleeping rough. But at themost, it’s comical and you can’t pos-sibly take him seriously with thelight hearted “woo-woo” that fol-lows. This song is further evidencethat the band really don’t have any-thing interesting to say, a pointproved in the debut album ‘Stars ofCCTV’ that was one off candy to ourears with songs about cash machinesand, hardly a ground breaking ideafor a song, ‘Living for the Weekend’.All ego aside, it’s probably best todiscard this track as easy listeningfrom a band that will float aroundfor a while, but you can bet goodmoney that we won’t be wearingtheir faded t-shirts in thirty yearstime.

‘No More RunningAway’Air Traffic (Single)

Rating: * * *Tiffany Lee

Being another soft and wimpy actfrom Bournemouth, it’s a far tooeasy to liken this band, and their sin-gle, to southern neighbours Athleteand Keane. But with the clappingdrums and inventive lyrics of thistrack, Air Traffic have defiantlyachieved a sound far more bearablethan most of the forgettable back-ground buzz of similar bands.Defiantly worth a second glance.

‘No Conversation’Boy Kill Boy (Single)

Rating: * * Tiffany Lee

‘No Conversation’ is the first singlefrom the bands upcoming album‘Stars and the Sea’. Following theirhit album ‘Civilian’ that saw theband rocking out of the East Londonindie scene and onto our shelves in2006, they have now hit theinevitable task of breaking out oftheir own shadow. Although from aband that you can usually rely on forproviding the token ‘hands in the air’chorus, this song doesn’t quite liveup to its high expectations. Thevocals are lacking that distinct ener-gy so well achieved in previous hitssuch as their intoxicating single‘Suzie’ that had you chanting thechorus well into the morning-after.Unfortunately, the guitar riffs arealso lacking the creativity of previ-ous tracks and the sound of theeighties synthesisers becomesextremely repetitive. Fans will defi-

antly appreciate this single on theback of this bands reputable discog-raphy, but without knowledge ofthat, this track will probably be oneof those moments that encourageyou to go to the bar and get anotherdrink.

‘He Said He LovedMe’Reverend and the Makers(single)

Rating: * * *Tiffany Lee

This follow up to their debut hit‘Heavyweight Champion of theWorld’ Reverend and the Makershave hit back with another funkyand charismatic hit, co-written byarctic monkey, Alex Turner. Washedin venomous cockney chanting, thistrack is screaming with attitude andelectro flavour; a definite club clas-sic for this upcoming season. Butcareful because it’s going to becomeoverplayed and irritating… verysoon.

‘Machines’Biffy Clyro (Single)

Rating: * * Tiffany Lee

With this final track on their firstcommercially successful album‘Puzzle’, Biffy are offering fans aninsight into the sensitive side of theirScottish souls. Although, the hypethat surrounded this band breakingout onto mainstream airwaves does-n’t seem as applicable to this song.It’s a strange choice for a single con-sidering their much heavier reputa-tion in their pre-groupie days andsits, with much content, somewherebetween breath-taking and boring.

EventsHadouken!On Friday the 5th of October thePyramids centre played host to theever popular Hadouken, a band whoformed in the summer of 2006 andhave rapidly accumulated a loyal fanbase. Being a leisure centre thePyramids does not have greatacoustics which sometimes meansthat performances can lack the inti-macy that smaller venues possess.

However, Hadouken over camethis possible obstacle to a good showinstantly by opening with "thebounce" which was the ideal way to

begin their energetic set with.Although the Hadouken are yet torelease an album, the relativelyyouthful crowd knew the words tomost of the bands songs and sangalong to future album tracks causingsome lively dancing in the centre ofthe hall, much to the pleasure andsurprise of lead singer James, whocommented that that kind of thingdidnët usually happen at their gigs.Hadouken closed their relativelyshort set by performing their debutsingle "that boy that girl", andalthough there was no encore, thetrack was a fitting end to the gig asit summed up the overall sarcasmand wit which the band exude.

Jack PenateEwan Eyre

The last time I saw Jack Penate, Iwas stood in the middle of a packedout tent at Reading Festival, anddespite him having lost his voice, myonly reaction afterwards was amaze-ment as to how interesting and funhe is to watch. He brings across thatfeeling of something new and fresh.

My perception of him was onlyenhanced when he came toPortsmouth.

With his voice in full flow there isno other current performer that canboast such a distinctive style. Theway he moves around the stage withhis trademark dance whilst launch-ing out to the crowd some of themost catchy, feel-good songs aroundis something rarely seen amongstsome of today’s solo artists. It is justplain to see that he is enjoying everysecond of being on stage and hischarisma clearly rubs off onto every-one watching.

His music really does seem sonew and individual, whereas in real-ity it is just another collection ofindie-pop songs. It is just the way heperforms them that makes JackPenate who he is.

There are clear signals that hewill soon enough be as mainstreamas they come. The rows and rows ofscreaming girls in the Pyramids cen-tre did something to suggest that noteveryone was there to admire hismusic, but to admire him. Seeing ashis album is out this week, I’m surethis will now be the case at themajority of his performances, withobservers now able to sing along tothe catchy tunes, rather than justscreaming.

Overall, Jack Penate is well worthgoing to watch, and I for one will bebuying the album. Anyone with anyinterest in music would be able toappreciate his talent. Is it just a mat-ter of time before everyone is doingthat dance of his?

.. in association with

Jack Penate: heading for the mainstream? Picture: Andy Donohoe

10 Pugwash news Wednesday 17th October 2007

Education & Representation Officer

Right, so now that you’ve all settledinto University life, realised that youonly have to go to 6 hours lectures togo to a week and have suddenlybecome the biggest Jeremy Kyle andNeighbours fan going, it is time todecide if you want to make a differ-ence.

Course Rep training started thisMonday (15th) and seems to begoing really well. The re-structureappears to have done wonders forcourse reps, with higher numbers ofstudents being trained than everbefore!

Several new Course Rep positionshave been created this year and ifyou choose to stand for them willmake you stand out as a studentwho cares and also look brilliant ona C.V.

The first Course Rep ExecutiveMeeting, where these positions willbe elected will take place on the 1stNovember, in Function Room 2 inthe Union at 4pm.

So if you want to make a differ-ence this year, stand for one of theseprestigious positions and show whatyou can do.

edandrepofficer@upsu.net

SabbcornerJust to make sure you know theUnion’s elected officers - who repre-sent all students at Portsmouth - areworking hard for you, they’ve all gota column in the paper to let youknow what they’ve been up to, andwhat they’re doing for you.

There are six Sabbs - or SabbaticalOfficers - at the Union, and they willall be writing here from time to timethroughout the year.

You can find out more about each ofthe Sabbs, including what their rolescover and how you can speak tothem, on the UPSU website...

www.upsu.net/sabbs

AndrewMachin

Sports Officer

Onwards and upwards!Well what a week. Probably one

of the most hectic all sports clubswill ever have, so much to do, lots oforganising, but I wouldn’t change itfor the world, the buzz of excitementis obvious right across the AU.

One of the main aims for this yearis to make people sit up and takenote of how amazing we sportos areand it’s working - people notinvolved with sport are commentingon the positive atmosphere and theprofessionalism being shown by allclubs.

Fresher’s fair was a huge success,luckily the weather helped an amaz-ing amount, the atmosphere waselectric and all clubs were on topform giving it all the gab they couldmuster to entice new members. As asports officer my main aim is to getmore people playing sport. Troughthe attitude of all clubs we have arecord amount of people joining theAU. Sports such as netball, rugbyand hockey amongst others areshowing all time high membershiprates, absolutely amazing! As aresult the intra-mural programmehas to be further enhanced.

Also loving the banter, socially theclubs have been out in force and it’snice to see that everyone is gettingon. I have encouraged the clubs toshow more togetherness - lets keepthe inter club banter but lets keep itfriendly, as long as the support isthere when needed long may it con-tinue.

I have been impressed with all theclubs; if this continues I have nodoubt this will be our most success-ful year to date. Please keep it up:I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again;we have so much potential here atPompey, lets show them what we aremade of!

sportsofficer@upsu.net

SimonLeach

Media Officer andGaffer Tape Expert

Right, well it looks like I’ve got a lit-tle bit of extra space here this week,thanks to some poor editorial-relat-ed-planning on my part, so I’m goingto ramble on a bit about what I’vebeen up to. To be honest, you mightas well turn over the page and lookat the colourful photos on the back -much more interesting than me...;o)

I’ve been in office as a Sabb forabout ten weeks now, and in thattime a lot has changed at the Onion:office moves, new toys, a new publi-cation, and loads more studentsinvolved already than ever before. Ialso think I may have nearly givennervous breakdowns to several long-suffering members of Union staff(sorry!).

The last two weeks for me havebeen dominated by the first issue ofthe newspaper and the Freshers’Fayre. I couldn’t have imagined justhow much work would be requiredto produce Pugwash News when weagreed to create it, and that’s with-out having to write the contentmyself! I’m really pleased with theresults so far though, and now I’mlooking forward to getting a solidteam of students to take charge ofthe paper’s development for the next12 months.

Right now, I’m writing this at 8amon Monday morning after two soliddays of laying up the paper with thehelp of a couple of dedicated souls -this issue of the newspaper has to beat the printer’s in less than twohours, and I haven’t been to bed yet,so apologies for the many mistakes,errors and space fillers in the paper.

Tonight is the First Big Meetingfor Pugwash, with anyone andeveryone who’s interested in writ-ing, designing, photographing,reporting, or laying-up the newspa-per and magazine invited to attend.I’ve got a list of around 300 people

spread across my address book andour two Facebook media groups, soI’m hoping and praying that loads ofpeople are going to turn up tonight,and a great editorial team will beelected for the paper and magazinefor the coming year.

Once the team is elected and I fig-ure out how newspapers are sup-posed to work, we’re going to needas much content from every studentas possible, from news and reviews,match reports and sporto tests, tofeature ideas, more reviews, andanything and everything else thatmight interest students. We’ve hadshed-loads of content submitted forthe first two issues of the paper,despite the first issue being createdoutside term-time, and things areshowing no signs of slowing downyet so I’m confident this year isgoing to be a record-breaker forPortsmouth student media. At least,I hope it will be!

If you’re even vaguely interestedin contributing a few words or a fewhours to Pugwash this year, drop mea line and tell me what interests you- my e-mail address is at the bottomof this column.

Away from print, a thankyoushould also go to Pure FM’s commit-tee, who have also been workingtheir socks off throughout the lastfew weeks with a re-brand and apresence at loads of Freshers’Fortnight events including theFreshers’ Fayre - well done!

The last few weeks have beenreally hard work, but really goodfun, and I wouldn’t change most ofit for the world (apart from theFreshers’ Flu...). The Freshers’ Ball,this Saturday, should be a very ran-dom end to the freshers weeks, andI’m definitely looking forward to it -see you there!

mediaofficer@upsu.net

AlexHarries

Just to make sure you know theUnion’s elected officers - who repre-sent all students at Portsmouth - areworking hard for you, they’ve all gota column in the paper to let youknow what they’ve been up to, andwhat they’re doing for you.

There are six Sabbs - or SabbaticalOfficers - at the Union, and they willall be writing here from time to timethroughout the year.

You can find out more about each ofthe Sabbs, including what their rolescover and how you can speak tothem, on the UPSU website...

www.upsu.net/sabbs

Yeah,veryfunny...Freshers’ Fayre:take one mediaofficer, addseveral metres ofgaffer tape, acamera, and alight sprinkling ofevil gits...(Revenge is already being planned...)

See the full set online:tinyurl.com/yq55by Annual gaffer-taping of the MAPO: Graeme Hope, Darby, Gamel Oki, Andrew Machin, Fraggy, and Jacob Leverett. And me...

Sports news

Purple Wednesdays Wednesday 17th October 2007 11

Do you take part in any of the sportslisted above, or the sports below, at acompetitive level? Would you likethe chance to get funding to repre-sent the University of Portsmouth? Ifso, we want you to get in touch withus!

In addition to the sports clubs list-ed above, we may also be able tohelp you with funding for the follow-ing activities: archery, diving, orien-teering, clay pigeon shooting, modernbiathlon, rifle, snooker, and triathlon.

To find out more, contact theSports Officer - Simon Leach - atsportsofficer@upsu.net, or call him on023 9284 3663.

Sport development

Get funding torepresent your Uni

AthleticUnion SportsClubs 2007

Fancy watching a bit of sport on yourafternoon off? Come and supportyour Pompey sportos and see whatall the excitement is all about. Its theopening day of the season andLangstone particularly will bepacked with 12 fixtures. It is like thismost weeks so jump on theUniversity free bus and have a goodafternoon. Darby’s tip of the week isfor men’s hockey 1's to thumpBrighton and for the men’s rugby 1'sto have a good close game againstMiddlesex. Netball girls should alsodo well with football not letting usdown. Women’s squash and basket-ball also look tasty. See you there.

Athletic Union

Show your support

... because no-one’s been in touchasking to do one!

Purple Wednesdays is still thesporto’s newsletter, except it’s anewspaper, but we still want to hearfrom sports clubs (and societies!)who’d like to see one of their mem-bers exposed on these pages for allto see (but no nakedness - Darby’smum reads this paper...).

To organise a Sporto Test or OnThe Spot, get in touch with theSports Officer and he’ll do all thehard work for you...!

E-mail: sportsofficer@upsu.netTelephone: 023 9284 3663

Missing things...

Why no Sporto Testor On The Spot?

What can we say - there seems to be some similarity between our sports offi-cer and someone in the movies. Judge for yourselves (and send yours in tonewsdesk@upsu.net!)

Separated at birth

Shock news: Sabbatical Officer’sbit-part in the movies...

American football AthleticsBadmintonBasketballBoxingCanoeCheerleadingCricket (both sexes)DanceFencingFootball (both sexes)GolfHockey (both sexes)JitsuKarateLacrosseMoutainbikeMountaineeringNetballOctopushOffshore sailingPaintballPoloPUDRidingRoller hockeyRowingRugby union (both sexes)SailingSki and snowboardSkydivingSoftballSquashSub aquaSurfSwimmingTable tennisTaekwondoTennisTen pin bowlingTramp and gymnasticsUltimate FrisbeeVolley ballWakeboardWaterpoloWindsurfingWushu

For more information about theseclubs and to join up, visit theAthletic Union website (link below)or pop into the Sabb office in theUnion and speak to the SportsOfficer, Simon “Darby” Leach.

www.upsu.net/ausportsofficer@upsu.net

institution.Sport runs differently at Pompey:

the AU is entirely run through theUnion, where other institutions runsport through the actual University.This tends to bring us a little moresuccess through higher funding, butby working in partnership with ourUniversity and relevant externalbodies we can achieve the same thatother universities do but in a differ-ent way, making Pompey a successstory.

At the first AU council, after agree-ing to go down the branding route,suggestions included the PortsmouthTridents and Portsmouth Lanterns.The AU exec will be working on ideasto bring forward at the next councilmeeting - if you have any thoughts,send them in. Generic kit is some-thing that goes hand in hand with thebranding; the best way to raise theprofile of sport is get everybody in thesame kit. I know clubs want to main-tain their individuality, but this can stillbe achieved by having the name ofyour club on the kit which everybodycan see.

Generic kit also has a financialimplication: if we put out a tenderwith all the pieces of kit we requireand find one supplier to do all, the costis driven right down. This works verywell at the two Leeds Universities:they have a deal with Kukri, in whichthey receive free playing kit every sea-son in return for social kit orders.Kukri also provides general AU kit,which Leeds sell in the same way wesell the University of Portsmouthhoodies. This will provide quite a sub-stantial income which then can beinvested back into the AU.

I have said before that the AU hasbecome a little stale and has settled forthings running smoothly rather thanbeing dynamic and embracing change.What are we scared of? The things Iam proposing work very well at otherUniversities, so let's embrace thechange and put Pompey back on themap where it belongs.

Join the debate: www.upsu.net/p/2253

Brandingthe AUContinued from page 12

Left: Simon “Darby” Leach - right: Falcor from The Never Ending Story...

Fixtures &results

Fixtures at home,17th OctoberBadminton Men's 2nds v. Sussex Uni 1stat home in St Paul's Sports Hall, 2:00 PM,Badminton Women's 1sts v. MiddlesexUni at home at St Paul's Sports Hall BUSA2:00 PM, Basketball women's 1stsQueen Mary at home at Nuffield sportshall 4:00 PM, Football men's 1sts Essexat home at Langstone campus 2:00 PM,Football men's 4ths Kingston 2nd athome at Langstone campus 2:00 PM,Football men's 5ths Brighton Uni athome at Langstone campus 2:00 PM,Hockey men's 1sts Brighton Uni at homeat Langstone Astro 1:00 PM, Hockeymen's 3rds Portsmouth 2nd at home atLangstone Astro 2:30 PM, Hockey men's4ths St Georges Hospital 2nd at home atLangstone Astro 4:00 PM, Netball 2ndsKingston 1st at home at LangstoneCampus 2:00 PM, Netball 3rds BucksChilterns 1st at home at LangstoneCampus 3:30 PM, Netball 4ths St Mary's3rd at home at Langstone Campus 3:30PM, Netball 5ths London Southbank Uni2nd at home at Langstone Campus 2:00PM, Rugby men's 1sts Middlesex Uni athome at Langstone Campus 2:00 PM,Rugby men's 3rds Imperial 2nd at homeat Portsmouth Rugby Club 2:00 PM,Rugby women's 1sts Brighton Uni athome at Langstone campus 2:00 PM,Squash men's 1sts Surrey University athome at Nuffield Squash Courts 2:00 PM,Squash men's 2nds Royall Holloway athome at Nuffield Squash Courts 2:00 PM,Table-tennis men's 1sts Reading Uni athome at John Pounds Centre 2:00 PM,Tennis men's 1sts London Metropolitan2nd at home at Tennis Dome 1:00 PM,Volleyball men's 1sts ChichesterUniversity at home at Nuffield Sports Hall8:00 PM, Volleyball women's 1stsReading Uni at home at Nuffield SportsHall 6:00 PM

ResultsRugby 1’s 13 - 15 Royal Free Medics1’s. Rugby 2’s 10 - 12 RoyalHolloway 2’s. Badminton 2’s 8 – 0Surrey 2’s

Well done the badders, commis-erations for rugby, two veryclose games unlucky in both.

Roller Hockey oldboys thrashed 12-5 by young guns

On Saturday 6th October, UoP RollerHockey hosted their annual 'OldBoys' game against graduated play-ers. The game and following drink-up was a great success.

The 'Old Boys', consisting of alarge number of the players thatbrought Portsmouth Uni four con-secutive national championships,took an early 5-1 lead, but showedtheir age as the young guns ralliedback to a 12-5 win!

With impressive performancesfrom player and coach Louie Bailey,returning scoring machine and DeanGaffney-impersonator Laurie Hodge,and 1st year goalie Elliot Staker, thecurrent team exhibited the qualitiesof a team capable of a return togreatness this season.

Profile:AU Chair

Name: Elaina (Sheila) SperringClub: Hockey

Although my chosen subject ofGeography should be my first priori-ty at uni, the world of AU sport hasthis year completely taken over mylife. After working hard over thesummer to re-establish women’shockey, I found myself still wantingto give more to the AU. This is mymain reason for wanting the role ofAU chair.

This year I think we will all seethe AU move dramatically forwardin every aspect and it is going to bemy privilege to be at the forefront ofthis. Already this year we have seena dramatic increase in participationwithin most of the AU sports clubsand this is an excellent steppingstone to base the foundations for anexcellent year.

This year we want to focus onbringing the AU clubs closer togeth-er and in order to do so we want tostart thinking about branding thewhole AU. Ideas are underway andwe will have more to tell very soon,very exciting.

As AU chair it is my duty to ensurethe AU is run as democratically andfair as possible as it is student runand is student led, this year is aboutgiving the AU clubs more ownershipof its direction, its your AU, youshould have a say on what happens.Thank you to everyone who attend-ed the first AU council meeting onThursday, keep the attendance upand this will ensure that all clubs areinvolved with everything we do thisyear.

Lots of love, Elaina x x x

PURPLE WEDNESDAYS

FREE

Issue 2Wednesday 17.10.07

upsu.net/news

Olympics Coaching BUSA Sports science

Sports Officer onPodium for 2012

UPSU Sports Officer Simon “Darby”Leach this week announced hisinvolvement in the 2012 Olympics,outlining his part in the StudentAction Group of an organisationcalled 'Podium' .

Podium are the Further andHigher Education Unit for the 2012games and are responsible for max-imising the benefits of the games onall elements of student sport.

Darby expressed his excitementabout being selected for this role,saying he is “looking forward to theopportunity to promote theUniversity of Portsmouth on anational level”.

UP for Sport tohold coaching day

The Uni's UP for Sport department isholding an induction day for anyoneinterested in coaching this year, withreps for paid and unpaid coachingplacements at the event for you tomeet. The day will also includeworkshops run by coaching profes-sionals to give you some new ideas.Camps International will also bepresent, running a presentationabout their plan to organise a trip toKenya to develop sport in some ofthe country's most deprived areasfor a month during summer 2008.For more information, e-mail charlotte.doyle@port.ac.uk or onFacebook at tinyurl.com/36ztpx.

Sports coordinatorwins BUSA award

Graeme Hope, The Union’s SportDevelopment and Safety Co-ordina-tor, was over the summer awardedthe title of BUSA Administrator ofthe Year. The award, presented byTV personality and President ofBUSA John Inverdale, is a first forPortsmouth. Graeme, whose role notonly requires him to ensure the safe-ty of all university sports but also toact as a link between the Universityand the Union on matters relating tosport, was chosen from over 150competitors to be honoured withthis prestigious title. "It's quite anhonour to be told you’re the best"said a very happy Graeme.

Sports sciencesupport for clubs

We have a thriving sports sciencedepartment at Pompey, but untilrecently no one had created a linkbetween them and the AU! After onemeeting, we now have free sportsscience testing, and strength & con-ditioning for 12 lucky teams: men’shockey, women’s hockey, boxing,netball, lacrosse, men’s football,women’s football, cheerleading,men’s rugby, American football,swimming and rowing. Such was theinterest by sports science that all 12clubs that applied for it were suc-cessful - thank you sports science,particularly Nick Ball.

Simon “Darby” Leach

Write for PWs

PWs needs yourclub news!

... and features, and photos, andsocials, and anything else you wantto tell us about your club! It’s easy toget a mention in PWs - just e-maileverything to newsdesk@upsu.net,visit www.upsu.net/newsdesk, orcome in to the Sabb Office at theUnion and have a chat with us anytime!

Dave HickeyUniversity of Portsmouth Boxing Club

University Boxing Club welter-weight Mark "adamantium"Adams triumphs against theBelgrave Amateur boxing clubin his first match of the sea-son.

The atmosphere was electric andMark was prepared, but the crowdwere against him. Whilst enteringthe main hall the crowd booedPortsmouth’s team and then cheeredon their own local boxer favorite.Not that it mattered: Mark was feed-ing off the crowd, laughing and stay-ing focused on the task ahead.Stepping through the ropes hecaught sight of the opposition: fourinches taller with a serious reachadvantage, and knew this was goingto be hard night.

Round 1As soon as the bell sounded both

boxers tried to control centre ring,forcing a stand off as the two wenttoe-to-toe and shot-for-shot from thefirst seconds. Mark came out on topwith the harder punches giving himring control. Landing lightning fastcombinations, Mark forced his oppo-nent to start using his obvious reachadvantage. Soon the punches wereraining down from a distance andthe fight changed again, the homefavorite was pushing him back andmovement was of the essence asMark went on the defensive, duck-ing, weaving and moving as hebroke inside to steal some points.

Round 2The second round began with

Marks opponent coming forwardwith three and four punch combina-tions forcing Mark to back away,costing him a valuable three or fourpoints over the round. This was nota good round for Mark and returnedto his corner slightly disheartened.

Round 3The tension was unbelievable; no-

one in the crowd knew what wascoming next as the seconds slowlyticked down, and the bell rang.

Immediately the long shots wereraining down again, but everythingchanged as all of a sudden Mark'slong right hand landed and was fol-lowed with a damaging left hook,them another, then another: he wastaking damage, sacrificing point forpoint as the fight went down to thewire, but he was landing thosepunches. The crowd picked up as thefinal seconds came and neitherboxer would back down, roaringwith appreciation for both theirhome favorite and Mark Adams.Both boxers were gaving it every-thing, and the crowd knew it.

No-one knew who was going towin in such a close contest whilewaiting for the results from thejudges, so as the MC declared Markthe winner, the crowd erupted inappreciation while Mark smiledknowing he had just won his firstever boxing match.

Want more info on the boxing team?uniboxingcoach@hotmail.co.uk

Boxing battle towin first bout of2007 season

Freshers’ Fayre: (clockwise from top)Polo club girls, karate club (we think...?),boxing club’s Mark Adams, magic levitat-ing pole-dancer, and swim team’s drinkingproblem... Pics: Tom Worman/UK

Simon “Darby” LeachUPSU Sports Officer

At Presidents' day, all clubs agreedthat raising the profile of sportacross the campus and city was intheir best interests. By raising theprofile of sport, reputations areenhanced and people want to getinvolved, therefore participationrates are increased and it makes uslook more professional. All of thismakes for a better and stronger AUwith a greater opportunity for fur-ther investment and partnerships.All clubs can play their part: got anynews? Send it in, and lets get it pub-lished. By looking professional andorganised, people will naturally takenotice, which enhances our profile.

“...the best way toraise the profile

of sport is geteverybody in the

same kitThroughout the summer I have

visited many universities, observinghow they run sport. I noticed thatmany institutions brand their AU,and this proves to be very successful.Bath have ‘Team Bath’, Soton have‘Sport Southampton’, and Brightonare known as the ‘BrightonPanthers’, and their branding coverseverybody involved with sport at the

Brandingthe AU toraise theprofile ofsport

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