Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Film p. 16 • Foulkes pushes for Pleasance eatre refurbishment SINCE 1887 THE UK’S OLDEST STUDENT NEWSPAPER FEATURES PAGES 14-15 LIFESTYE PAGES 24-25 Brown’s Boys Dan Hope examines Gordon Brown’s political dream team. Educational Ethics Scottish Government faces backlash over interference in syllabus OO the Top Rope Aronofsky’s e Wrestler turns out to be the surprise hit of the season www.studentnewspaper.org Week 2 20.01.2009 Neil Pooran [email protected] Calum Toogood
Citation preview
THE CONTEST for the position of University of Edinburgh Rector heated up this week in the wake of outspoken MP George Galloway an-nouncing his decision to run, while the other candidates’ campaigns gathered pace.
The MP for Bethnal Green and Bow said he would be speci� cally running against Labour MSP George Foulkes, who he has challenged to debate in ‘every lecture hall, canteen and coffee bar in the university.’
Galloway is known for his vehemently left wing and anti-war views, as well as his bombastic style.
He stated that his election would ‘bring excitement’ to the University, but also attempted to dispel fears he would fail to take up the duties associated with the role, which involves chairing the University’s court, saying: “I will not be a token candidate… I will be here regularly.”
Speaking in Old College last Saturday, he expressed fears that universities were being ‘downgraded into commercial organisations’, saying: “we are beginning to lose sight of the value of education.”
Galloway also stated that the exclusive image of Edinburgh University was in some ways detrimental to attracting students from poorer backgrounds into higher education.
The three candidates are due to release manifestos in the coming weeks, with voting to take place on February 11-12.
Galloway says he hopes to be ‘up to speed’ on issues around the university as the campaign progresses.
Prominent journalist Iain
Macwhirter’s campaign received a major boost after several of the university’s political societies joined forces to back him.
Edinburgh University’s Liberal Democrats, Greens, Conservatives and Scottish Nationalists issued a joint statement saying: “Following the close of nominations it is apparent that Iain MacWhirter is the only credible candidate for Rector.”
“He is the one candidate standing in this election willing to set aside petty party politics and deliver for both students and staff. He has spoken out passionately, time and time again, on issues that really matter to students such as ID cards, top up fees and student funding.”
“He will ensure that our university and students get a better deal and that our voice is heard.”
“Only by challenging all politicians to deliver for students can we secure the funding higher education needs and deserves, particularly during this period of � nancial uncertainty.”
“With Iain as Rector we can all be con� dent that our future is in safe hands. We might not always agree with Iain on the issues or indeed each other for that matter but what we can agree on is that Iain is the best man for the job”
George Foulkes’ campaign told Student that they would be ready to face Galloway’s ‘bluff and bluster’, as he threw his support behind a bid to refurbish the Pleasance theatre.
The little-used theatre has a substantial seating capacity but fails to draw in crowds due to its outdated equipment and furnishings.
The refurbishment costs will be at least £150, 000, and Foulkes will attempt to raise the money through the Scottish Arts Council.
• University political societies rally behind Iain Macwhirter
Student SINCE 1887 - THE UK’S OLDEST STUDENT NEWSPAPER
Neil Pooran
Rectorial race is on as Galloway launches his campaign
O� the Top RopeAronofsky’s � e Wrestler turns out to be the surprise hit of the season
Brown’s BoysDan Hope examines Gordon Brown’s political dream team.
Film p. 16
Comment p. 8
FEATURES PAGES 14-15
How safe is Edinburgh?Jen Bowden looks at what is being done to combat crime in the capital
www.studentnewspaper.org
Week 2 20.01.2009
Educational EthicsScottish Government faces backlash over interference in syllabus
News p. 4
Crop tops? Really?Just as the noughties enter their fi nal year, the nine-ties come back into fashion. Lifestyle investigates.
LIFESTYE PAGES 24-25>> >>
Calum Toogood
• Foulkes pushes for Pleasance � eatre refurbishment
2009 is set to be a difficult year for graduates, after a survey of 100 leading graduate employers re-vealed that top companies are set to slash their graduate intake by 17 percent.
The report by market research company High Fliers Research has confirmed the fears of many final year students facing a job market shrunk by the effects of the current economic turmoil.
Companies ranked in the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers, in-cluding Morgan stanley, Marks and spencer and British Airways detailed their plans to cut back recruitment targets for the next twelve months.
in most cases, this was a continu-ation of a policy they had followed in 2008.
in all, 7,000 of the 40,000 placements previously on offer for 2008/2009 have been subsequently withdrawn.
London is the worst affected, re-porting 47 percent fewer entry-level jobs in investment banking.
The downturn has also severely
On the job hunthit retail, accountancy and the engi-neering and industrial sectors.
The survey suggests that most of the employers were still actively re-cruiting at between 15 and 20 uni-versities across the UK.
However, in a recent investiga-
tion by The Guardian, Malcolm Grant, head of the Russell Group of 20 leading universities, claimed many companies had cut back re-cruitment at all but five universi-ties - Oxford, Cambridge and three London institutions,
The report ranks the University of Edinburgh as the twelfth most-targeted university by graduate recruiters, down from eighth the
“This is shaping up to be one of the worst years of last two decades to be graduating from university”Martin Birchall, Managing Di-rector, High Fliers Research
20/01/09www.studentnewspaper.org2 News
previous year, in a table topped by Manchester, London and Warwick.
These results have justified the general feeling of pessimism among final years nationwide, reported in an additional survey conducted in December of last year.
Only 13 percent of the 1,000 students questioned believed that they would obtain their desired job, with half concerned over cancella-tions of offers and three quarters fearing the threat of redundancy in their first year of work.
Nevertheless, the results are not all bad news.
some employment areas are still recruiting heavily. Top of the list is the public sector, with an increase of 51 percent in their graduate in-take in the last two years, followed by the armed forces with a 17 per-cent rise.
Of the graduate vacancies avail-able this year, 20.1 percent are in accountancy, by far the largest seg-ment, followed by 13.5 percent in the public sector and 11.4 percent in the armed forces.
For the lucky few that land their dream job, the average starting sala-ry is set to be £27,000, a £1,500 in-
• Crisis looms for final-year students as one in six graduate vacancies are slashedRachel Hunt 13%
of students are confident of getting their desired job
1,000number of applications for a graduate job at Aldi
£27kaverage starting graduate salary
crease on their 2008 counterparts.Aldi, a discount chain currently
riding high on increased demand for low cost food, continues to lure graduates. A trainee area manager can expect a £40,000 salary and Audi A4 company car. The compa-ny receieves around 1,000 applica-tions for every graduate place.
Overall however the view for many graduates remains grim. The managing director of Hign Fliers Research, Martin Birchall, believes that the majority of students have a “slim” chance of landing a graduate level job.
Commenting on the report’s find-ings, he said: “Not only have vacan-cies been reduced substantially for those finishing university in 2009, but it is now clear that many of last-year’s entry-level jobs did not mate-rialise either - leaving many gradu-ates from the ‘Class of 2008’ out of work too.”
“There is understandable panic on campuses that this is shaping up to be one of the worst years of the last two decades to be graduating from university.”
She went on to add that the new measures would “benefit part-time
students at all levels.”The current recession is pre-
dicted to hit part-time postgraduate studies as businesses are expected
It is proposed that these funds will now be made available across a much wider spectrum of courses.
The scheme is part of an attempt to help soften the impact of the cur-rent economic downturn for those in higher education. Funding will be given to those involved in sub-jects that are part of the Scottish Government’s economic priority sectors, which include energy, finan-cial and business services, creative industries and education.
In unveiling the plans, Fiona Hys-lop MSP, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Education, stated, “The Scottish Government recognises the finan-cial pressures faced by learners dur-ing the current economic climate.”
price of a monthly student pass rise to £35.
In a statement on the company’s website, Managing Director Ian Craig stated that: “The operation of bus ser-vices is labour-intensive and the cost of staff salaries is our largest single cost.”
He added that the company aims to keep labour costs “stable and pre-dictable well into 2010”, and that the price rise could help to ensure stabil-ity during the current economic tur-moil.
Lothian Buses have also cited the rising price of energy as a contribut-
PuBLIC TranSPorT in Edinburgh has become more expensive follow-ing decisions this week by two major Edinburgh bus companies to revise their fares, raising the price of a sin-gle journey to £1.20.
Lothian Buses, the main compa-ny providing services within the city, has reacted to rising fuel prices and pressure to protect their staff’s liveli-hoods by increasing their fares for the second time in under ten months.
The increases, which came into effect on Sunday, will also see the
Cost of city transport set to rise
Contact [email protected]
YOU WAIT FOREVER FOR A FARE INCREASE AND THEN...: Lothian Buses have brought in the second price rise since last April.
ing factor in the latest revision of their fares. The company buys over 20 mil-lion litres of diesel each year. unlike airlines, bus companies cannot levy a fuel surcharge on their tickets and so have to absorb the costs of the vio-lently fluctuating oil markets.
The basic fare was last raised in april 2008, when the price rose to £1.10, having previously stood at £1 since March 2000.
Since Sunday a single adult ticket costs £1.20 and an all-day Dayrider pass costs £3.00. The company’s ri-dacard season pass, which is especial-ly popular among students, will now
20/01/09 www.studentnewspaper.org News 3
Harriet Kay
• Leading bus companies aiming to protect staff salaries and compensate for fuel prices
37%of Edinburgh University’s postgraduates study part-time
cost students £35 per month or £456 annually. Furthermore, the airlink, the popular airport shuttle service vital for Edinburgh’s tourism indus-try, has not escaped the fare rises and now costs £6 for a return ticket.
FirstGroup, which provides ser-vices linking Edinburgh to towns and villages in the Borders, has also put up fares on its South East and Central Scotland services to match their com-petitor with £1.20 single tickets.
Paul Thomas, Managing Director of First Scotland East, commented that: “With the cost of running a car outstripping the rate of inflation by
Calum Toogood
34 per cent over the last decade, I have complete confidence that, tak-ing these fare changes into account, First continues to offer extremely competitive fares and value for mon-ey services.”
“Decisions to revise fares are not taken lightly and I am confident that we have done all we can to keep fare increases to a minimum while con-tinuing to provide a quality bus ser-vice in Edinburgh and the Lothians.”
Many ParT-TIME students could soon be entitled to extra funding, it emerged after the Scottish Govern-ment announced a program of new financial benefits, which for the first time is extended to postgraduates.
Funding that is currently lim-ited to those on full postgraduate courses will now be available to part-time students on a pilot basis scheme, with an estimated 150 stu-dents to benefit during 2009-10.
Part-time undergraduate stu-dents will also benefit from an ex-pansion of the ILa500 scheme that was introduced last September, which offers grants of up to £500.
to cut back on further training and education for employees. However there has been a noted upsurge in people enrolling in part-time post-graduate studies, financed personal-ly in order to enhance their chances in an increasingly bleak employ-ment market.
The total proportion of students within the university of Edinburgh’s student population that are part-time is around 15 percent, with 37 percent of all postgraduates at the university studying on a part-time basis. robert Lawrie, head of the university’s Scholarships & Student Finance Department told Student, “any additional options of funding, especially during these difficult fi-
nancial times is very welcome.” He also added that “We look forward to learning more about the pilot scheme, which I very much hope will include Edinburgh university.”
It is expected that the full details of the pilot plans will be announced over the coming weeks. The pro-posals will only be applicable to Scottish students in Scotland. Bill rammell, uK Higher Education Minister, said in october 2008 that he would consider part-time students in a review of education funding due to be carried out early this year.
More cash for part-time students Jordan Campbell
Contact [email protected]
Commenting on the proposals, Prime Minister Gordon Brown
said: “During this global economic downturn we must continue to in-vest in people so they have a fair
AlleGAtions thAt the scottish Government is pressuring leading universities, including edinburgh, to change the content of their courses have provoked widespread anger among leading figures in scottish higher education.
A letter to the chairman of the scottish Funding Council from education secretary Fiona hyslop seems to advocate tailoring course content to the state of the scottish economy.
in the letter, hyslop writes: “i expect the council to work with the sectors to ensure that...provision is capable of meeting both the short-
Uni anger at Government meddling
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER: Holyrood and lecture theatres alike have been rocked by claims of government interference in course content
Debt is barrier to medical study
term skills needs of the economy and changing demands in the con-text of a future economic recovery.”
hyslop added that: “our key am-bitions will be to better develop en-trepreneurial capacity and graduate employability, to work actively with employers to ensure skills learned during courses at college or univer-sity can be utilised to best effect in the workplace.”
While no current university prin-cipals have spoken publicly about the plans as yet, there is understood to be widespread anger among lead-ing figures in scottish higher educa-tion anxious about the implications for academic freedom.
tony Axon, speaking on behalf
20/01/09www.studentnewspaper.org4 NewsGovernment backing for Fulbright schemethe sCottish Government has given £180,000 to the Us-UK Fulbright scheme, which provides scholarships to enable postgradu-ate students and academics to study in Britain and America with the aim of fostering cultural under-standing.
Penny egan, executive Direc-tor of the Fulbright Commission, said: “We are so pleased, in our 60th anniversary year, to be work-ing moreclosely with the scottish Government to strengthen the op-portunitiesfor academic exchange with the UsA.”
Famous alumni of the Fulbright programme have included the au-thor of “Catch 22”, Joseph heller, the poet sylvia Plath, and action movie star Dolph lundgren, who quit after two weeks to concentrate on acting. JE
Fatal shooting in Edinburgh
Grant awarded to improve ‘town and gown’ relations
the City of edinburgh coun-cil has donated a £5, 000 grant to students Association external Convener thomas Graham to fund research into relations between edinburgh students and the city’s permanent residents.
An independent company will look into what perceptions lo-cal residents have of students in the city, as well as students’ roles in their local neighbours, as part of a drive to build good relations between ‘town and gown’ commu-nities. eUsA intends to publish a ‘Community Guide’ for students by the end of the academic year which will contain advice on how students can maintain good rela-tionships with their neighbours.
NP
A MUrDer inquiry has been launched after a 26-year-old man was found with serious gunshot in-juries in hazelwood Grove in the inch area of the city.
the man was found at approxi-mately 6am on saturday and suc-cumbed to his injuries on saturday night.
the dead man is described as be-ing 5ft 9ins tall and stocky with dark hair. on the night of the shooting, he was wearing a grey hooded nike top with the words ‘Just Do it’ in pink let-tering on the front, black nike track-suit trousers, and white nike trainers.
Anyone with any information is urged to contact lothian and Borders Police on 0131 311 3131. An incident room has been set up in leith. JE
James Ellingworth
• Claims that the Scottish Government is ‘telling universities what to teach’
“Talented indi-viduals from lower socio-economic backgrounds will be discouraged or simply unable to pursue a career in medicine.”Louise McMenemy, British Medical Association
the British Medical Association (BMA) has warned that increasing levels of student debt could scup-per government attempts to make the medical profession accessible to people of different social back-grounds.
the BMA’s comments were in response to the government’s re-cently published ‘new opportuni-ties White Paper’, which outlines plans to boost career prospects and social mobility.
the paper suggests methods for supporting child development, schools, those year olds in the transition period between educa-tion and work, those who are eco-nomically active and families.
of lecturers’ union UCU scotland, said: “We would be very concerned if the funding council started dictat-ing provision, particularly based on economic goals.”
“tailoring courses to suit the needs of the economy is dangerous because it is so a fickle. six months ago, training people to work in fi-nancial services would have seemed like a good idea.”
University of edinburgh rectorial candidate and journalist iain Mc-whirter told student: “the Govern-ment can’t dictate what’s taught in universities. this amounts to an at-tack on academic freedom.”
the relationship between the scottish Government and universi-
ties has remained tense since no-vember 2007, when a high-profile dispute followed universities being granted an increase of £30m in bud-get funding, instead of the £168m they had asked for.
speaking on Monday, hyslop de-fended her proposal, saying that, as recepients of public funding univer-sities should be “working together [with government] for the common good.”
she added: “taxpayers would not expect us to provide a blank cheque to universities without universities contributing to the national goals of the country.”
Hannah Carr chance to achieve their potential.”the government will also create
the Panel on Fair Access to Profes-sions, whose aim is to make sure that social background does not impact on one’s chance of entering their chosen career.
however, medical student lead-ers have said that the government must aim to decrease rising levels of student debt in order to increase social mobility.
According to louise McMen-emy, who is on the BMA’s Medical students’ Committee (MsC), “the spectre of debt hangs over the government’s entire social mobil-ity agenda.
“At present medical graduates leave university with £21,000 worth of debt on average, a figure
that could rise as high as £37,0001 in the next few years now that vari-able top up fees have been intro-duced.”
McMenemy added that, “in view of this worrying situation the BMA remains concerned that talented individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds will either be discouraged or simply unable to pursue a career in medi-cine because of the spiralling debt burden.
A 2004 study by the Board of Medical education, found that of those applying to dental and medi-cal school in 2003, only 41% were not from professional or manage-rial backgrounds.
Flickr: freefotouk
Hundreds unite for campus Gaza protests
A candle-lit vigil for the casualties of the recent Gaza clashes takes place at St John’s Church, Princes Street, hours after the protest, pictured right.
Anna MacSwan
20/01/09 www.studentnewspaper.org News 5
• News of last weekend’s ceasefire agreements will be welcomed by university’s anti-war groups
UNIVERSITY OF Edinburgh stu-dents gathered in force last Thurs-day to protest against the violence in Gaza.
Over 200 students, led by the Edinburgh University Palestine Soli-darity Society (EUPSS), took the op-portunity to express their contempt towards the recent ground invasion of Gaza.
The protest began at 1:30pm in Bristo Square, before taking a tour around the George Square campus. The event was followed up with representatives from EUPSS, Peo-ple and Planet and the university’s Stop the War Coalition presenting an open letter, signed by students, to
the Scottish Parliament.Demonstrators displayed anti-war
signs and chanted “End the siege in Gaza. Ceasefire now!” as they called for an end to the bloodshed with an immediate withdrawal of Israeli military from Gaza. Ceasefires have since been declared by both Israel and Hamas and, as Student went to press, reports were emerging of Is-raeli troops gradually pulling out of the conflict zone.
Shabana Basheer, president of EUPSS and one of the main organis-ers of the events, was amazed with the amount of student support. She said, “I think there were a lot of people who wouldn’t normally be moved to protest, but the level of feeling against the war in Gaza is so high that they wanted to make their
voices heard.”Although the protest remained
peaceful, some of those attending told Student that they felt the po-lice presence to be excessive, with around 20 police officers attending the protest equipped with video cameras and batons. Many students said they felt ‘intimidated’ by the police.
Humphrey Wood, a representative from People and Planet, said “police intervention prevented the protest from marching through Edinburgh and appearing in front of the Scot-tish Government. In this light the police presence was extremely nega-tive and lessened the impact of the protest on the general public and the Scottish parliament itself.”
Edinburgh’s Women in Black
Julia Sanches
group also staged a female-only si-lent protest in the square on Wednes-day afternoon. Women in Black is an international women’s group that is opposed to war and violence. It orig-inated in 1988 when Israeli and Pal-estinian women held a vigil together in Jerusalem in an attempt to end the Israeli occupation of Gaza.
Hilary Cornish, organiser of the silent protest, said: “The repeated call for peace is very powerful. Wom-en in Black are trying to prevent the build up of a militaristic, hyper-mas-culine society”. Commenting on the unusual method of protest, she add-ed, “Silent protests allow people to come to their own conclusions and can be very moving.”
Before news broke of last week-end’s ceasefire, EUPSS had declared
plans to continue with their ac-tion by holding both the Women in Black vigil and student protest every Wednesday and Thursday until such an agreement had been reached. Basheer stated that “we need to keep asking the Scottish Parliament to put more pressure on Westminster to do everything in its power to en-sure an immediate ceasefire is put in place.”
For Barack Obama’s inauguration EUPSS, along with other human rights groups in Scotland, will also be performing a candlelight vigil that will commence at Bristo Square, finishing with a protest outside the US Consulate.
Julia Sanches
• Thursday event among best-attended Edinburgh campus demos in recent years
Universities ‘neglect teaching for research’
THE RECTORS of several of Scot-land’s anicent universities have claimed that the focus on research at leading universities is leading to a decline in teaching standards.
Mark Ballard, Rector of the Uni-versity of Edinburgh, questioned the value of the Research Assess-ment Exercise as a method of as-sessing universities.
He said: “If you set people a hurdle, they will spend all their time focusing on what they need to do to jump over that hurdle, rather
than proper research or proper teaching.
“Universities should be actually supporting good research, which informs lectures and articles, as an end in itself rather than looking at it as magic money or ‘points’.”
Scottish universities performed strongly in the last Research As-sessment Exercise, with Edinburgh performing particularly well across a wide range of subject areas.
Craig Murray of Dundee Uni-versity added that research had led to teaching being relegated to the level of a “secondary concern” at Scottish universities.
He said: “Of course, research is fundamentally important but the primary role of universities is to turn out well-educated graduates.”
Talking about how academics are commonly assessed on the ba-sis of their research contributions, as opposed to their performance in teaching, Murray added: “They could be the best teacher in the world and it really does them no good.
“There is undoubtedly a percep-tion that teaching of students is a secondary consideration and there is a real danger universities neglect teaching students in a bid to source
money.”Charles Kennedy, former lead-
er of the Liberal Democrats and now Rector of the University of Glasgow, also expressed reserva-tions about a bias towards research in Scottish universities.
Kennedy said: “The research function of universities is critical, but teaching is equally critical and we want proper provision being made for both.
“There is an underlying worry that the whole thrust of Holyrood policy is more research-orientated than focused on teaching,”
He added that some subject
areas that were inherently less research-focused, such as the hu-manities, could be being punished under the current model.
EUSA recently launched and awards scheme to highlight good-quality teaching, in which students can nominate their preferred mem-bers of staff on the organisation’s website.
The awards are open until March, and have so far received over 600 nominations, mostly for academics in the College of Humanities and Social Science.
Anna MacSwan
James Ellingworth and Les McNulty
• Rectors of ‘ancient’ universities claim focus on research damages the quality of teaching
Extravagant memorial for legendary mutt
6 News www.studentnewspaper.org 20/01/09
Florence Enock
As the crowd fell silent and Pipe Major Robert Anderson played a la-ment composed especially for the occasion, a skye terrier called Blue helped to lay a wreath on Greyfriars Bobby’s memorial stone.
Last Wednesday marked the 137th anniversary of the death of Greyfriars Bobby, the edinburgh skye terrier who became famous for his incredible loyalty and devotion to his master, John Gray.
According to local legend, when Gray died in 1858, a bereaved Bobby kept constant guard over his master’s grave for 14 years, leaving only for meals, until his own death in 1872.
A short ceremony was held on Wednesday by the One o’clock Gun Association in Greyfriars Kirkyard in order to remember Bobby and what he meant to those who knew him.
the association’s chairman stu-
art Wilson said, “Greyfriars Bobby himself put a smile on people’s faces during a very, very dark period of edinburgh’s history”.
the successful ceremony will be-come an annual event to commemo-rate the historic hound’s tale of un-wavering love and dedication.
the inscription on Bobby’s head-stone reads, “Let his loyalty and de-votion be a lesson to us all.”
Despite the popularity of the tale, several sources in the city (including certain official tours of the grave-yard in which the terrier’s memorial stone is laid) relate a slightly less sentimental explanation for Bobby’s loyalty.
Many cynics have pointed out that one of the buildings back-ing onto the land once housed a butcher’s shop, which is rumoured to have thrown scraps and offal to local strays.
Josh King
U of E at heart of ‘Green Revolution’£1.1 BILLION of funding for research into renewable energy has been re-leased by the energy technologies Institute (etI), and the University of edinburgh is one of four universities that will benefit.
scottish institutes are to play a prominent role in this new initiative, with the University of edinburgh, the University of strathclyde, and the european Marine energy Centre (eMeC) in Orkney all to receive sub-stantial funding.
the proposal was made by the etI on January 13, and the funding will be spread across four projects aimed at providing the public with affordable, low carbon power.
the first four projects announced by the etI - Projects Now, helm Wind, Deepwater turbine and ReDAPt - will receive funding totalling approxi-mately £20 million.
Welcoming the news of the scot-tish involvement in the projects, First Minister Alex salmond said: “this is fantastic news for the world class re-search and development in our uni-versities.
the Universities of strathclyde, edinburgh, and the european Marine energy Centre will be at the heart of building cutting edge, sustainable tech-nologies for a clean energy future.”
the government has set a target of 80 percent reduction in carbon emis-
sions by 2050, and to that end is aim-ing for 15 percent of the UK’s power to come from renewable sources by 2020.
Of the four projects announced, three will focus on developing new technology for offshore wind turbines - specifically improving reliability and improving maintenance access.
the fourth project, in which edin-burgh University will play a crucial role, will seek to develop tidal turbine technology to a commercial level.
Project ReDAPt is a UK-based consortium led by Rolls-Royce for which, along with the likes of eDF en-ergy and e.ON, the University of ed-inburgh will help to install and test a 1 mega-watt tidal turbine at the eMeC in Orkney.
science and Innovation Minister Lord Drayson said: “the Government has put record investment into science, including our funding of the etI. their work is crucial to achieving a green revolution in Britain and we’ll be sup-porting those growth industries and next-generation technologies where we have a clear global impact.”
the etI represents a unique ex-ample of cooperation between global corporations and the UK government - a model that many believe is the most viable option for long term and commercially viable eco-friendly de-velopment.
Julia Sanches
University reaches for the stars20/01/09 www.studentnewspaper.org News 7
Anger over NUS reforms
A seven-yeAr-old edinburgh boy has never eaten a meal in his life, leaving doctors baffled.
Tyler Mills has been fed through a tube since birth, and has never eaten more than a few mouthfuls of food.
doctors have been unable to find anything physically wrong with Ty-ler, and have agreed his condition is purely psychological.
His mum Arlene told reporters: “As a baby he used to scream and scream but it wasn’t because he wanted his bottle - it was because he didn’t.
“I always thought he would just snap out of it and eat, but he never has.
“There’s no problem with the swallowing mechanism, it’s all in his head.” JE
Award-winning academic in seventh heaven
James Ellingworth
reseArcHers froM the Univer-sity of edinburgh are to participate in a project aiming to curb global warming by means of satellites mea-suring carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere.
Known as the orbiting car-bon observatory (oco) and the Greenhouse Gases observing sat-ellite (GosAT), the instruments are to be launched by nAsA and the Japanese Aerospace explora-tion Agency over the course of the next two months.
The repeated global coverage enabled by oco and GosAT will for the first time provide regional accounts of carbon emissions and absorption, including for remote regions such as the Amazon basin and African forests, which have long been of key interest and ac-counted for large gaps in scien-tific understanding of the carbon cycle.
such data could potentially be of immense importance in tackling climate change, not least in that identification of environmental conditions which encourage the absorption of carbon dioxide, such as forests or oceans, also known as carbon sinks, could help to re-duce emissions by preservation or recreation of such conditions natu-rally or artificially.
speaking to Student, Paul Palm-er, lecturer in remote sensing & Modelling at the school of Geosci-ences, said: “certainly for the land [email protected]
Anna MacSwan
ProPosed reforMs to the way the national Union of students (nUs) is run have caused contro-versy, with prominent black public figures arguing that the measures will reduce black students’ repre-sentation.
supporters of the new constitu-tion say it are aimed at making the nUs more efficient, as well as im-proving representation for postgrad-uate and part-time students.
The reforms will be put the vote again at an extraordinary confer-ence to be held on Tuesday, after having failed to pass at the 2008 an-nual meeting.
Black students’ representatives have been among the most promi-nent opponents of the reforms, arguing that minority groups’ con-cerns would be sidelined by the new system.
representatives for female and disabled students have pledged to support the reforms.
Black students’ representatives have drafted in figures including doreen lawrence, mother of mur-dered teenager stephen lawrence, and the poet Benjamin Zephaniah, to campaign for the suspension of any vote on the reforms until an exhaustive equality assessment is complete.
Zepeniah said: “It saddens and disappoints me to see that, instead of encouraging representation, they are sidelining the black students of-ficer.”
nUs President Wes streeting has hit back at critics, describing the call for an equality report as “a cyncial political ploy” to block necessary changes.
The reforms have also been criti-cised as undemocratic, with claims that the proposed system of form-ing policy in locally elected ‘zones’ distances ordinary students from the process.
OUT OF THIS WORLD: University of Edinburgh researchers will be using satellites to measure carbon dioxide levels
A lecTUrer from the University of edinburgh’s school of divinity was recently named as one of 12 young academics to win an award recognising the most promising young theology academics world-wide.
dr Paul nimmo, an edinburgh native who became a lecturer at the university in June, will receive the $10,000 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise in recognition of his research on swiss theologian Karl Barth.
on top of the prize money, The John Templton foundation will also give dr nimmo a further $10,000 to enable him to give lectures in institu-tions across the world.
The award, first presented in 2005, will be presented to dr. nimmo in Germany in May. LB
based sinks, we do not know where they all are and how they will re-spond to changes in climate.
“To put it into context, we can-not account for an annual sink of carbon equivalent to six times the weight of the human population.”
“Because the overlying atmo-spheric concentration of carbon
dioxide is so large and uniform, it is a genuine engineering feat to be able to measure carbon dioxide from space to a precision neces-sary to observe the small changes due to surface sources and sinks.”
Given that the new data pro-duced by these satellites will also help to identify regions responsi-
ble for the highest levels of carbon emission and to quantify the out-puts of individual countries, it is hoped that in the longer term the project will enable development of a better accounting system for in-ternational carbon trading.
JUMPING FOR JOY: Simon Burrow of the Edinburgh Footlights musical theatre group promotes their new show “The Pajama Game”, which aims to boost awareness of sexually transmitted infections.
Mystery of Edinburgh boy who has never eaten a meal
Charles Lee
IT HAs emerged that £170,000 has been spent in attempts to prosecute a stripper for impersonating a police officer.
stuart Kennedy, who took up the job to pay off his university fees, has repeatedly been arrested for his act, in which he performs under the name sergeant eros.
The latest case against him col-lapsed this week after prosecutors reassessed the evidence, and there is growing anger at mounting police and court costs.
sergeant eros has on occasion had his fake police uniform confis-cated by Grampian Police for being ‘highly realistic’, and has also been investigated for possession of an offensive weapon - an imitation ba-ton. JE
‘Ello, ‘ello, ‘ello...
Cast your minds back to the distant summer of 2008; a floundering
Gordon Brown was struggling to maintain the leadership of a tired and divided Labour party, opin-ion polls indicated an unassailable tory lead, many commentators predicted a swift and painful fall from grace, there was even talk of the ‘death of New Labour’.
Now, however, it is inconceiv-able that anybody but Brown should lead Labour into the next election, and what’s more, there is still a chance that he could bring about an unprecedented fourth term of Labour government as the gap between the parties diminishes. It is tempting to attribute this tentative career recovery solely to the current financial situation and the public perception that Brown is probably well equipped to see us through a recession. However, something has happened within the party too that serves to strengthen the leadership and Brown’s job security; namely, the recent recruitment of distinctly Blairite politicians to high profile
positions within the government. Former number 10 spin doctor turned novelist alistair Campbell has returned to the fold in an in-formal, but influential advisory position, Peter Mandelson is back as business secretary, although his influence undoubtedly stretches beyond the remit of his depart-ment and most recently, alan Milburn, previously a thorn in the PM’s side, has accepted a signifi-cant role heading up the commis-sion on social mobility.
By making these appointments, Brown has gone some way to pre-venting the schism that might have occurred had he continued to sur-round himself exclusively with po-litical friends and allies. there is no more talk of a leadership chal-lenge, no more inter-party briefings and counter briefings; the Labour party, for the moment, looks to be presenting a united front which it is essential to maintain from now until the next general election, whether it be later this year or next spring. Electoral success is far more attainable if members of the party seeking it appear to be on
the same wavelength, an impres-sion which last year, Labour was unable to achieve.
It would be cynical to suggest, however, that Brown’s hand of rec-onciliation is offered only in the hope that it might save him from destruction by his own party. It could be that we are finally seeing the ‘government of all the talents’ that was promised when Brown ini-tially took the reins as Prime Min-ister. after all, few can argue that Mandelson lacks the experience to fulfil his current post or even that alistair Campbell, like him or loathe him, isn’t a very useful op-erator to have behind the scenes. It could simply be that Brown is assembling his strongest team with which to beat David Cameron’s Conservative party. If so, what will the tory response be? Is the pres-sure now on to assemble an equally potent team and perhaps reinstate some of the party’s big hitters? there has been recent specula-tion that veterans Ken Clarke and David Davis might make returns to the shadow cabinet, although there remains strong objection to
Clarke within the party due to his sympathetic stance on Europe and Davis is considered somewhat of a maverick after temporarily re-signing his seat in objection to the government’s 90 day terrorist de-tention proposals which many in his party supported.
Perhaps, though, by dismissing two such experienced, driven and generally well-liked politicians, Cameron’s tories are liable to fall into the trap that Brown has now demonstrated he is at pains to avoid. Perhaps Cameron should take note of how the Labour party has strengthened since their leader decided to eschew tribal tenden-cies and open the door to former foes and critics. Cameron’s youth-ful, privately educated clique may begin to look a little underwhelm-ing in the face of the new, all in-clusive governing party; after all, there is no doubting who came out worse when shadow chancel-lor George osborne got entangled with Mandelson following their summer exploits in Corfu.
If, as Milburn’s appointment would suggest, Brown is willing to
20/01/09www.studentnewspaper.org8 Comment
Comment
In with the oldAs Gordon Brown surrounds himself with familiar faces Dan Hope examines what the return of political heavyweights may mean for the next general election.
Comment is
looking for
illustrators for our
weekly section!
Contact us at:
let go of the (recent) past and look to rebuild the New Labour project with the aid of all the talent he has at his disposal, Cameron may have to look at what options he has to provide a similar balance and, importantly, a similar level of ex-perience within his own party. If Brown’s new political partnerships prove fruitful, we may see a closer election fight than was forecast just a few months ago.
Anam Soomro
20/01/08 www.studentnewspaper.org Comment 9
The whiTe working class has been under the media spotlight quite a bit recently,
focussing on their supposed alien-ation from society in the face of immigration. enough Daily Mail hysteria has even led to some gov-ernment ministers ominously and disturbingly starting to refer to the ‘indigenous population of this country’.
Little surprise then, that when some ‘government research’ ap-peared, claiming to show this alienation, it was picked up across the media spectrum. except one small detail was missed – the study was utter rubbish.
Turns out this ‘research’ was the product of interviews with a total 43 people living on certain housing estates in carefully chosen parts of the country, making any results utterly worthless. it’s hardly surprising that the government got the sound bite research they needed after spending enough time finding people to tell them what they wanted to hear.
Presenting the thoughts of a hand-picked selection of residents of Runcorn, Thetford and widnes as valid research borders on fraud. it is precisely this sort of manipu-lation of information that feeds cynical and dismissive attitudes - as happens when each party seems to have its own set of crime sta-tistics.
it isn’t hard to find more exam-ples of this twisting of data. Some recent proposals on social mobil-ity were backed up by the fact that 90% of senior army officers were privately educated. Fine, except that most senior officers are fairly elderly men, so the data is really a comment on the education system of anything up to 50 years ago.
in edinburgh, the council have been advertising that complaints about youth behaviour fell by 40% last year. The problem is that this figure was simply reached by com-paring April’s numbers with those for August, when the police are out in force to cover the festival.
All too often, the press response is unquestioning, which allows this sort of nonsense to spread. Dodgy statistics and flawed research are passed on as fact, straight from the press release, when it would be more suitable to ridicule any minister either stupid enough to believe such information is valid, or cynical enough to pass it on as true despite knowing how mislead-ing it is.
when some claims are so badly disguised that they fall apart under the slightest scrutiny, there really is no excuse to allow public figures to get away with cooking the books.
National Death SentenceAs a cholera consumes Zimbabwe Juliet Evans searches for hope in an increasingly desperate region
Cookingthe books
James ellingworth
AFRiCA’S woRST epidemic of cholera on record is hap-pening now in Zimbabwe, to
which President Mugabe is turning a blind eye. The official death toll rests at 2,000 with almost 40,000 infected patients, though there are wide claims this is an underestima-tion, masking an even grimmer re-ality. This figure becomes even more tragic when you realise that under normal conditions cholera is a pre-ventable disease, yet in Zimbabwe the lack of any recognisable health service and clean water supplies is allowing many unnecessary deaths.
Cholera is one of the most rapidly fatal illnesses known to man and is contracted by ingesting water or food contaminated with sewage con-taining the vibrio cholerae bacteria. The collapsed infrastructure in Zim-babwe due to prolonged economic and political crises means that ef-fective sewage or water systems are virtually non-existent leaving civilians to find drinking water from dirty wells and rivers. The disease manifests as extreme diarrhea and vomiting, with the patient losing vast amounts of body fluid and thus becoming dangerously dehydrated.if oral rehydration therapy is not provided a patient may die within a few days. The desperate shortage
of drugs and equipment mean that many hospitals are closing and pa-tients are flocking to neighbouring South Africa to receive lifesaving treatment at the border. As a result the disease is spreading to South Africa where 1,419 cases and 13 deaths have already been recorded.
Mugabe’s government which came to power in 1980 has long been criticised for apathy and neglect to its people –the Nobel Peace Prize winning campaign organisation; Physicians for human Rights direct-ly hold Mugabe responsible for the scale of the disaster (something he claims is ‘a pack of lies’) and have conducted an investigatory report backed by the Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former UN high Commis-sioner for human Rights Mary Rob-inson. They reported that the govern-ment has deliberately played down the extent of the outbreak with Mugabe even claiming an obvious lie that there ‘is no cholera’ in De-cember 2008, in order to remove the possible threat of being overthrown by the western countries of the UN - one of his greatest insecurities. he accuses these nations of using the cholera epidemic as an excuse to overthrow him. Mugabe does nothing to help repair the chaotic infrastructure while he carefully
imports in his own bottled drinking water, leading the PhR to accuse him and his regime of ‘crimes against hu-manity’. The report also highlighted how warnings given to Zimbabwe in 2006 of a potential cholera outbreak due to failing water purification systems were ignored. Physicians for human Rights now strongly calls for the UN to step in.
At the annual conference of Zanu in December 2008 Mugabe appeared defiant in the face of his country’s problems; it seemed he was unaware of the extent of the catastrophe sur-rounding him. in response to contin-ual calls for his resignation he stated ‘Zimbabwe is mine’ and that ’only God’ could make him resign from power. he also issued a warning to any African countries thinking of in-tervening saying ‘i don’t know of any African country that is brave enough to do that’. indeed Zimbabwe is ac-knowledged to be on the brink of collapse – democracy ceased years ago, with proof of this in the staying on of power by Mugabe after he was voted out in elections in March 2008. The world has done little, bar issuing warnings such as that issued by the G8 summit in July 2008 that it does “not accept the legitimacy of a gov-ernment that does not reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people”. And
when Gordon Brown intervened, Mugabe famously dismissed him as ’a little tiny dot on this planet’. Brown has since expressed how important it is that Britain sends humanitar-ian aid to the cholera victims, yet no apparent plan of action to remove Mugabe from government has been proposed.
with the deathly cholera raging on day by day the only hope of a real long-term solution seems to be for Mugabe to accept that he must act now to save his nation, by restor-ing the water purifying systems to establish a clean water supply and by improving the general infrastruc-ture. But this would implicate loss of face to Mugabe himself who stands adamant that there is no cholera crisis. if pressure to do this from outsiders including the UN, contin-ues to be scorned and ignored, then there may be no option but to send in peacekeeping troops - a plan sup-ported by South Africa’s Archbishop Tutu. Ultimately the day Mugabe and his corrupt regime is removed from power will be the first real day of hope for the country of Zimba-bwe. Sadly, this day seems far off.
Anam Soomro
20/01/08www.studentnewspaper.org10 Comment
We’ve all heard the one about the suicidal ho-meopath who took an
underdose. But what about the one in which a homeopath is invited to a prestigious university to peddle his bizarre and illogical remedies? Oh wait - this isn’t a joke.
Yes, you read that correctly. You are, as you read this, in the middle of EUSA’s ‘Wellbeing Week’, which includes a two-day ‘Wellbeing Fair’ with, to quote Naomi Hunter (the EUSA Vice President of Societ-ies and Activities) ‘lots of freebies, advice, makeovers, hair consulta-tions, reflexology, homeopathy, massage, good food and smoothies.’
Did you spot the odd ones out? They were homeopathy and reflex-ology which, unlike the others on the list, claim to be true-blue alter-native therapies instead of just nice ways to relax and increase your ‘inner feeling of warm fuzziness’ quotient.
Homeopathy (a purveyor of which, incidentally, has a perma-nent office in Potterrow – a cause for concern in itself) is claimed by its proponents to have the power to treat – and sometimes cure - a huge
variety of ailments, from eczema to anxiety to dementia. There’s even such a thing as a homeopathic first aid kit. Patients are given solu-tions of various ingredients which have been diluted a huge number of times, ostensibly to increase their power. That is, the fewer molecules of the substance that there are in the solution, the more effective it is said to be. If you can feel your brain drib-bling out of your ears at this point, I know how you feel.
There is quite simply no mecha-nism known to science which could account for this, and there are a huge number of wholly unsurprising studies from respected sources such as The Lancet which show homeopa-thy has no effect on patients beyond a placebo. Perhaps a clue as to the true nature of homeopathy comes from one of its most regularly-used remedies, Oscillococcinum, which is an ultra-diluted solution of the liver of a particular kind of duck. Remind me, what noise do ducks make?
Also appearing at the Fair is re-flexology, a very relaxing-sounding procedure in which the soles of the patient’s feet are pressed in various places and in various ways by the
practitioner. So far, it’s just a foot massage. But here’s where reflex-ologists pour in a couple of gallons of credulity-stretching drivel. You see, the idea is that there’s a map on your foot of all your body areas. The reflexologist, by manipulating the parts of this map, can redirect the flow of Chi energy to the various regions, healing whatever ails them.
Unfortunately, since any corre-spondence between precise areas of the feet and the body’s internal organs is utterly unknown to medi-cine, reflexology turns out to be about as effective as rubbing your finger along a map of Princes Street in order to help build the tram line. Oh, and by the way, Chi exists in the same way the Tooth Fairy does.
Contrast the above with this: the University of Edinburgh has just spent around £41.2m on the new In-formatics Forum, a building dedicat-ed to science and research. Perfect proof, as if there were any doubt, that the University holds such ideals in high regard. I see a profound contradiction between such high-minded Enlightenment principles and the shoddy, made-up world of alternative medicine. Do we really
want our Students’ Association, who work on our behalf and represent us to the rest of society, to promote the latter?
A qualification, in case this all sounded too derisive - I have the utmost respect for any attempt that (the ordinarily excellent) EUSA makes to improve the wellbeing of students. The Wellbeing Fair is nothing if not well-meaning. But giving support to pseudoscience in this way gives it a patina of respect-ability which it simply does not deserve. You can be certain that the homeopaths and reflexologists at the Fair won’t just be talking about well-being.
A wager: if they’re not promoting their therapies to the high heavens, making a huge variety of unsub-stantiated claims about cures and remedies for illness, I’ll personally massage the feet of every Fair at-tendee – though I can’t be held re-sponsible for any damage to your internal organs that results.
In the last issue of Student an anon-ymous letter from ‘our tutors’ was printed. This letter criticised EUSA
and I on two issues, so I am going to take these complaints in turn.
First, it complained about a quote I gave to Student about plagiarism. There are two points here. The first is that the quote as printed was heavily edited. What I said to Student origi-nally was that students shouldn’t pla-giarise and that those who do and are caught ought to have sanctions taken against them. This part of the quote was not included in the article.
The second thing I said was that a large part of the increase in plagiarism comes from students from other coun-tries. There is a specific and substantial problem that academic culture in South East Asia is different. Students are sup-posed to write essays by copying large chunks of what academics have said before them, and there is no expecta-tion that this will be referenced - it is assumed the marker will know who the excerpt is from. I explained that the university needs to invest in re-solving this problem more.
The second criticism was that I complained that our lecturers and tutors aren’t putting enough work into teaching. It is somewhat frustrating to be accused of this when we have been doing the exact opposite. We have never said degrees should be easy. We have never said our teachers are out to get us.
The Vice President of Academic Affairs, Guy Bromley, Teaching and Learning Convener Robert Jenkin and I have all been very clear with the university in where we believe the problem lies. Academics are rewarded and recognised for the effort they put into research, but not for quality of teaching. Time and again, at university committees and in the pages of the press we have argued that our teach-ers need more reward and recognition when they put the effort into good teaching. We have established the Stu-dents’ Association Teaching awards to show that students value good teach-ing. We have argued with the uni-versity to do the same. We have met with countless people to discuss how greater recognition of good teaching could be delivered.
The University of Edinburgh does need to focus more on quality teach-ing. Guy, Robert and I have worked hard this year to push the univer-sity in that direction. I am delighted people have noticed our work. But please don’t think that we believe for a second that the problem is that our tutors are lazy or malicious. This is a systemic problem across the uni-versity. We have been very clear that they must get the problem sorted, and I genuinely believe that they are begin-ning, just beginning, to listen.
Stuart Richie remains sceptical of the alternative therapies on offer at EUSA’s Well-being Fair
Trick or Treat?
Reward our Teachers
Adam Ramsay
Adam Ramsay is President of Edinburgh University Students As-sociation
Stuart Ritchie is President of the University of Edinburgh Humanist Society
Robert Shepherd
Editors Lee Bunce/Neil PooranComment Mairi Gordon / Zeenath Ul IslamCulture Emma Murray/Hannah RamseyFeatures Ed Ballard/Jonathan Holmes/Rosie NolanFilm Tom MacDonald/Sam KarasikIllustrations Harriet Brisley/Henry Birkbeck/Zeeneth Ul IslamInterview Catherine McGloinLifestyle Kimberlee Mclaughlan/
Maddie WalderMusic Andrew Chadwick/Jonny Stockford News Lyle Brennan/James EllingworthSenior News Writers Sarah Morrison/Anna MacSwan/Guy RughaniPhotography Katy Kennedy/Julia Sanches/Callum ToogoodPresident Liz RawlingsSecretary Rachel HuntSport Martin Domin/Misa KlimesTech Alan Williamson/Craig Wilson
Treasurer Madeline RijnjaTV Fern Brady/Susan RobinsonWebsite Bruno Panara/Jack Schofield
Advertising Tony Foster(Contact @ 0131 650 9189)Student Newspaper60 PleasanceEdinburghEH8 9TJ Email: [email protected]
Student welcomes letters for publication. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity. Anonymous letters will not be printed but names will be witheld on request. The letters printed are the opinions of individuals outwith Student and do not represent the views of the editors or the paper as a whole.
Published by and copyright © Student Newspaper Society, 2008 Printed by Cumbrian PrintersDistributed by Lothian Couriers, North BerwickRegistered as a newspaper at the Post Office.
Your Letters
20/01/09 www.studentnewspaper.org Editorial 11
Student Since 1887 - The UK’ s oldest student newspaper
A bad ReadIf the point of a university education is to better equip us how to think rather than what to think, then I am afraid that Sam Ross, writer of last week’s film review for The Reader, appears to have missed the point entirely. Ross awards the film two stars (two less than the cerebral masterpiece of post-modern, intelli-gent cinema that is Role Models) for the sole reason that he believes that Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet) was transformed into a central figure of pity in the film.
It seems that Ross, rather than attempting to watch and under-stand the film’s messages regarding societal hypocrisy, morality, and justice just wanted an opportunity to Nazi-bash. Ooh, that’s REALLY difficult to do!
Hanna was not transformed into a figure of sympathy or pity. It is explicitly stated that the money she gives to the daughter of a concen-tration camp victim would not go to a Jewish organization for Holo-caust victims as this might be con-sidered a form of absolution. As Bruno Ganz’s character illusrated, societies do not operate by moral-ity. They operate by laws.
It also pointed out that were Hanna’s crimes not detailed in a book written by a victim, she would not have been brought to court. Mr Ganz quotes the statistic that out of over 8,000 guards at Auschwitz, only 13 were convicted of murder (out of 19 total convictions). The question of German war guilt is a tricky one. For all we know, the Iraq War might be held in the same regard by future generations as the Holocaust is by us. How guilty are we for letting our government do what it has done? How much re-sistance is enough to absolve us of guilt? What kind of punishment is necessary for those who go along with these plans?
As Hanna asks the judge at her trial, ‘what would you have done?’ My conviction is that Sam Ross would repeat what he has been
taught from birth, just as he is do-ing now: “Nazis bad! Thinking bad! Questioning bad!” Perhaps Sam should review something a little more in his league next time, such as Role Models.
Mitchell Tedesco3rd Year MA History
Hyslop’s recession plans shouldn’t intrude on universitiesLAST WEEK saw the Scottish Gov-ernment announce new attempts to help Scottish students see through the economic downturn, after the UK government in London pon-dered how to boost graduates’ chances of employment earlier in the month.
A pilot scheme which grants part-time students extra funding is certainly welcome, but less so is the suggestion that universities should tailor their curriculum to what the government thinks will benefit the economy. Leaving aside
consideration that academics may better understand the recession than politicians, it must not be used as an excuse to exercise undue political intrusion into universities.
Student understands the university’s Economics department is particularly concerned about the proposals, which were outlined by Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop in a letter to the funding council.
There are good intentions behind Hyslop’s sentiments; after all it is reasonable to expect universities to put taxpayers’ money to good use,
and to provide a relevant education to students. Yet the economy has proved so turbulent in recent months that altering teaching to suit it runs the risk of being dangerously short-sighted.
Given that one of the primary concessions granted from the Scottish Government’s tight funding deal to universities last year was a supposed increase in academic freedom, it is particularly galling that they should now turn around and demand a say in how lecturers operate.
In order to dispell some of the myths and misconseptions about writing for Student, here are some Frequently Asked Questions about the paper which will hopefully steer you in the right direction
Dear Tutors,
There’s one thing you are right about – it’s not fair to blame over-worked and underpaid tutors for the lack of time they have to pro-vide proper feedback and prepare for tutorials and teaching. The fact is that we need systemic changes in the way the university rewards good teaching and changes in the way universities are funded so that good teaching is encouraged. Students appreciate that you often don’t have the time to give reasonable feedback, but that doesn’t make it acceptable that we don’t receive it.
However, much of the rest of what you say is simply untrue. It just is not the case that in “most cases” we receive adequate feed-back. My experience is that I’ve had less than five pieces of assessed work returned with feedback that is more than just a mark. It’s not just me either: only 31% of students feel they receive prompt feedback, only 33% feel that they receive helpful feedback, and only 34% feel they receive detailed feedback. Do you think that’s acceptable? I don’t.
We should have a more construc-tive discussion about these issues – we aren’t out to get the tutors, we just want decent teaching. If we do work together we can get the uni-versity to fund teaching properly and we can get the government to fund the university properly. After all, as you say, you want us to suc-ceed and, with your help, we can.
Yours Sincerely,Thomas Graham.
The following letter was written in response to a letter in last week’s Student from ‘our tutors’
Q: Do I have to write something every week?
A: No, you can write for us once, or whenever you have spare time.
Q: The newspaper seems shrouded in mystery, is there some kind of initiation rite?
A: Yes, you must jump through 7 hoops of fire naked while writing a 300 word statement on why you want to join. Em, no, there isn’t.
Q: But some of the articles are poor quality.
A: All the more reason for you to come and make things better: the newspaper should reflect a wide range of views from the student body and the only way we can change that is by having a wider range of writers with new and original ideas.
Q: The quality of some of the articles is so great, how can I ever live up to it?
A: Don’t sweat it, we’re more than willing to help you produce something top-notch.
Q: Will I get told what I should write?
A: No, we actually prefer people to come to us with their own ideas (think about what would be interesting for Edinburgh’s thousands of students to read). There are some exceptions with news and reviews sections, and occasionally the features and comment sections, where you’ll be given a story to write up.
Q: I want to join the paper, but I’m not sure if I want to write articles
A: We’re always looking for photographers, graphic designers, web designers, illustrators and copy editors.
Q: How will this be of benefit to me?
A: Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, acknowledged that student newspapers are now the principal places in which future journalists cut their teeth and learn valuable experience. And if you don’t want to go into journalism; employers are placing increasing emphasis on the value of extra-curricular work experience at university and working at a student newspaper will look good on your CV, regardless of what you want to do after graduation.
Q: How do I start?
A: Come to the meeting at the Pleasance’s Pentland Room, every Tuesday at 1.15pm. You can also email [email protected], and we have socials at half 8 every Tuesday in Cache. Except not today. We’re off to Native State to watch Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony.
12 Features
Old Profession, New Problems
What to do when the object of your affection declares they’re destined for pastures new in the name of education? Mhairi Blair and Auntie Dorinda* advise encouragement, enthusiasm and a little self-restraint
19th Jan-uary 2009
Dear DorinDa,
I don’t know whether I’m being irrational here. My boy-friend has set his heart on a study-ing abroad next year. I’ve told him if he wants to go I’d let him, but we’d probably need portable we-bcams so that I wouldn’t miss him too much and I could see the new sights he’s seeing. I’ve also stipu-lated GPS tracking could be a good idea, so that if he went on a night out I could check if he arrived home safely. I was also considering start-ing an airline credit card, just so that I could fly out to him every week-end. Do you think I’m going a little overboard? I understand the GPS and the webcam are fairly sensible ideas, but I’m worried that getting myself into airline debt could be a little daft. Please help me.
P.S Timeshares on old Russian spy satellites are fifty percent off so do you think I should invest in one just in case?
Dorinda says: Discarding this slightly neurotic (head)case, a year abroad could put a strain on the most stable of rela-tionships. ERASMUS couples face a multitude of decisions - if one per-son goes, should the other? Is it bet-ter to have a joint venture or should they go to separate countries? It can be a difficult experience imagining a person close to you having the time of their life in some far-flung land, exploring new cultures and meeting a multitude of new friends. The bo-nuses of a year abroad are undoubt-edly obvious but surely there will be a niggling seed of doubt growing larger and larger when you realise someone special could be sharing this experience with you.
25th June 2009Dear Dorinda,
I just wanted some more advice, even though you ig-nored my last letter. Maybe
it was lost in the post. I’ve de-cided I’m going abroad too, but
to a different country. Why should I stay when I can have my own ex-periences, my own stories to tell? I’ve taken precautions though such as samples of my boyfriend’s hair and toenails; they’re secure in my travelling safe. My problem this time is my boyfriend thinks I’m being odd, all because we had a tiff when he said he wasn’t taking my toenails abroad with him. It’s almost like he doesn’t love me.
P.S Saw do-it-at-home DNA clon-ing kits, this could solve all my problems but I don’t know what I’d do with the spare at the end of the year. Probably best just to put it down.
Dorinda says:No doubt there will be more ro-mantic ERASMUS couples who decide they just can’t bear the separation; however, this again has its drawbacks. At the tender age of twenty, you’re certain your rela-tionship will span the aeons, and indeed many university couples do blossom into lifelong partnerships. There is, on the other hand, the chance that one could be throwing away a veritable once-in-a-life-time opportunity for a girl/boy-friend you may one day curse. A tie binding you to the fair city of Edinburgh may at some point be an emotional reminder of a year of experience that never was.
16th October 2009Dear DorindaAlthough I’ve still not heard from you, I’m sure you’re so invested in my star-crossed saga I’ll keep you informed anyway. That’s me settled in my new home for the year. It’s been a memorable journey so far and I’ve met so many new faces, but my new flatmates don’t like
hanging out in my room because of my wallpaper. They say a mil-lion tiny faces of my boyfriend is creepy, and when I dole out the 3D glasses for them to have the full experience some say they feel like the room is swimming. I’ve told my boyfriend about the wallpaper. We had a fight because his is plain. He says he doesn’t see the problem with an old-fashioned Polaroid.
P.S Heard of anywhere that would imprint faces onto doormats? I just think it would be a nice sight for him to come home to.
Dorinda says:ERASMUS couples do not face the same heart-wrenching separa-tion as, say, Liv Tyler in Armaged-don; however, a year apart could cause severe tugs on the heart-strings. The world-renowned Ro-man poet Sextus Propertius cer-tainly had thoughts on the matter : ‘Always toward absent lovers love’s tide stronger flows.’ This poetic precursor to ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ could provide solace for persons brooding about what a year abroad could spell for their relationship. However, ( and as Google was not quite so accommodating regarding proverbs for forgetting people) in the words of this prophetic writer,: ‘The more the footsteps betwixt you and your love, the more lost in the caverns of your mind they doth become’. Sextus, eat your heart out.A year abroad could either be the nail in the coffin for a struggling relationship or a stepping stone to a future together. Yet again, this in-sightful writer falls back on a com-plex phrase passed down through the ages - ‘the future is unwritten, nought can be foreseen that is not sketched in the heavens above, and the only way to divine these mys-teries with certainty is to wait.’In other words, only time will tell.
11th December 2009Dear Dorinda,
I think my boyfriend’s changed his address and not told me.
Dear Dorinda...
24/03/09: If you love someone, Dorinda says: set them free and don’t humiliate yourself.
17/10/09: Photos of far-off friends are touching. If used in moderation.
30/11/09: Remember - your loved one did ERASMUS to get away from YOU. So don’t spoil their fun.
11/12/09: Returned love letters? He’s moved on. So should you.
19/01/09: Happiness reigns.
The ERASMUS Couple
*Student would like to make it clear Auntie Dorinda is not a real Agony Aunt, and has no qualifications in that particular field
Abroad Perspective on Romance?
14 Features
of Scottish Neighbourhood Watch hinted that the future is a bright one for Neighbourhood Watch groups: “There are many agencies and organisations involved in Community Safety and Neighbourhood Watch knows that working collaboratively can be far more effective for the communities involved. Neighbourhood Watch has always had strong ties to the Police, but it is important for us to establish relationships with groups such as Local Authorities, Fire & Rescue, Trading Standards and Community Councils to name a few. We’re also hold-ing an award ceremony in April to celebrate the hard work and commitment of Neighbour-hood Watch members and their partners.” As public safety becomes more of an issue, more people are being inspired to join teams such as these in the hope that they can make their neighbourhoods safer. Students are among those least likely to get involved, mainly due to the transient nature of student life (and perhaps our renowned sense of apathy); however, students make up a large part of Edinburgh communities, so joining a group like this would further strengthen the effectiveness of the Neighbourhood Watch scheme.
Aside from overseeing these community-based schemes, what is Edinburgh City Coun-cil doing to tackle anti-social behaviour in the city? Community Protection Manager Jim Hunter said that; “as far as the council is concerned, anti-social behaviour is already a diminishing problem. I feel that this has a lot to do with the introduction of the 2004 Anti-social Behaviour Act”. The Council are keen to emphasise their practical efforts in tackling local problems, the local authority and the police are already working together to focus on low level crime and problem areas. One hundred police of� cers have been directly funded by the council in an attempt to ensure that the action against anti-social behaviour is visible and effective.
There are separate Neighbourhood Action Units for each section of the city. These are co-located with the Council’s Community Safety Of� cers to ensure that those involved are communicating and working together effectively. Also, as reported previously in Student, the number of CCTV cameras around the city has increased. Mr. Hunter said that “these cameras have meant an increase in the number of crimes detected in the city”. Despite some believing that these cameras are more intrusive than effective, the increase in CCTV cameras has undeniably coincided with an increase in convictions.
How does all this affect students living in Edinburgh? Some, it seems, are not so lucky
How Safe Is Your House?
Increased use of CCTV cameras has coincided with a rise in convictions in anti-social behaviour cases
Jen Bowden discusses how Edinburgh’s communities are beginning to come together to confront anti-social behaviour
EDINBURGH DOESN’T seem to be the most dangerous of cities, but as a student or a newcomer to any city one of the most important questions you’ll ask yourself is, how safe is it to live in? Every city has crime, and though most students will not experi-
ence serious crime in their time here, anti-social behaviour has become a prominent issue over the last few years. Community safety will continue to be a big issue in 2009, with Scottish crime rates looking set to drop for another year as more and more members of the public take a more active role in addressing crime, a tactic which has successfully reduced anti-social behaviour in recent years. However, the public are just one contributing factor to the reduction in crime. Others include landlords, the council, and of course the police, all of whom have a hand in keeping us safe. So does Edinburgh live up to its reputation as one of the safest cities in the UK?
According to the Scottish Government, crime has decreased in Scotland between 2006-2007 and 2007-2008: all very well, but when looked at closer the � gures reveal how much the people around us have to do with our safety. Housebreaking makes up 44 percent of reported crimes, while � re raising and vandalism make up to 31 per cent of the total. Sexual and non-sexual crimes of violence comprise barely 5 percent. Without dismissing the seriousness of these crimes, it is clear that most crimes affect whole communities rather than individuals. As the statistics show, housebreaking and vandalism are becoming major crimes simply due to the amount they are experienced. In 2006, 65 percent of Scottish people thought that the crime rate has remained the same or decreased over the previous two years, this � gure was only 55 percent in 2003, suggesting that the people of Scotland feel they are becoming increasingly safer in their homes. If communities are most at risk then it’s not surprising that collective action is seen by many as a solution to shared prob-lems such as vandalism and anti-social behaviour.
Enter a new way of combatting anti-social crime in the form of increasing numbers of Neighbourhood Watch teams, which are becoming a voice for communities across Scot-land. Edinburgh alone has 600 Neighbourhood Watch groups covering 33,000 households. Members of Neighbourhood Watch could be anyone, anywhere in the community, such as people who talk to vulnerable members of society to ensure their safety. Most important is the fact that they are just ordinary people who give up their time to ensure that the neigh-bourhood is safe for others. National Development Of� cer, Lisa Toon, from the Association
25/11/08 15
� e personal e� ects of the last two years have been numerous. I often feel angry, agitated and, if I am being honest, on the edge of depression. I have often been in tears with the frustration. My home situation has de� nitely had a detrimental e� ect on my university performance.
My home is not safe. I have lived here for 7 years; the last 2 of which have been a living nightmare. My windows are in need of repair, and I am still the only tenant in the area awaiting a comprehensive property upgrade. I have been involved in this matter since last April. Since then, I
have had a visit from one maintenance man who a� xed a smoke alarm to my hall ceiling. On various occasions over 3 years the Council Noise Team have stood in my � at while having their eardrums assaulted by hard-core techno style “music”, telling me “there is nothing we can do!” � is noise has on many occasions moved � ttings and � xtures in my property.
I have had 4 cars in this previous year alone, all of which have been subject to vandalism, on one occasion the damage amounted to £2500. � e area is littered with discarded furniture and other house contents strewn about the streets. Nobody seems to bother. I wouldn’t say the area is excessively bad for serious crime as such, but it has become a haven for anti-social behavioural habits and petty crime.
Around 2 and a half years ago the same company under whom I am currently a tenant renovated a nearby tenement. One of the � ats houses a man in his mid-20s who is an alleged drug dealer. � is person still goes about
his business even after his criminal and anti-social behaviour was reported to the relevant agencies. I often see young teenagers approaching the dealer’s home address and appearing in the street 15 minutes later seemingly high.
� e incidents I have witnessed defy belief; I have seen a battered sofa being used in our communal garden by junkies shooting up. I complained to the association about the sofa on the grounds that it was being used for drug use. � ey gave assurances that the o� ending article would be removed within a day but it was only after a month that the sofa was removed and the trail of used syringes were safely disposed of by me and other locals.
� ese incidents became more upsetting as time passed. At one point,
on returning from holiday, I entered my common stair to be confronted by a group of 12 or so youngsters sitting at my front door doing drugs. I asked politely for them to remove themselves and they did so - all but one who became verbally abusive.
� e problem is ongoing. Around two months ago, I heard a commotion in the garden area late one Tuesday night. It was the dealer attempting to break into a � rst-� oor � at. When challenged he responded, in a highly agitated manner, that he had given his mate, whose � at it was, some “bad gear”. He was visibly shaken, as he explained the situation. � e following morning his mate’s corpse was removed in a big black bag. I believe the situation is still under investigation, but the implications are obvious.
I have informed all the relevant agencies, including the company responsible for my � at, the police and the Council Anti-Social Behaviour team, all of whom publicly state they do not tolerate this type of behaviour. � eir attempts have been futile, not because the rate of crime is so high, but because they don’t seem to have the time to fully investigate. In the previous summer, my landlords sent one of their housing o� cers who stood clipboard in hand in the back for 5 minutes and left. No changes were made. I should be able to feel safe in my own home, yet I still feel a very strong sense of foreboding every time I approach, like I’m just awaiting the next incident.
“� e dealer responded in an agitated manner that he had given his mate some bad gear”
“My landlords sent one of their housing o� cers who stood clipboard in hand for � ve minutes and left”
Robert (not his real name) lives alone in a South-West Edinburgh � at and has for the last two years seen serious problems in his neighbourhood go unsolved. As a result he has learned � rst-hand the e� ects this can have on
ever, the Council receives over 10,000 complaints a year regarding anti-social behaviour, though they admit that only a small percentage of these involve students, in de� ance of the myth that students have a detrimental e� ect on established communities: most complaints regarding noise and anti-social behaviour are made about non-students. Mr. Hunter also made assurances that students ‘are treated like any other person, their complaints will be dealt with regardless of their status as students, which is the way it should be.’ A small warning to those who like to party at top volume though: the Council Noise Team currently pride themselves on a 42 minute response time, 24 hours a day to any complaint of noise (although our case-study opposite casts doubt on this claim).
Trust is vital if communities are to feel secure: trust in the council and the police; but important also is trust in the companies responsible for providing accommodation in Edinburgh. Most letting agencies boast of their zero-tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour, and emphasise community values. Student contacted Dunedin Canmore Housing Association, based in Edinburgh, wondering how they deal with their own complaints of anti-social behaviour. Tenancy Services Director Graeme Russell initially said that the company ‘do not tolerate anti-social behaviour under any circumstances’ from their tenants, but impressed the seriousness of acting within the law when dealing with complaints against tenants. Mr. Russell stated that ‘we would need evidence that anti-social behaviour exists before being able to deal with the problem fully.’ However, he went on to comment that the problem is the ‘unrealistic expectations’ placed upon landlords by the general public. He commented that “anti-social behaviour is one of the most di� cult things to deal with as a landlord. It is an issue which the police, the council and housing associations must work together to rectify, and of course this all needs involvement from the community. � ese days the public have unrealistic expectations regarding anti-social behaviour; it is an issue which takes up a lot of sta� and time and all complaints need evidence.”
As students, we have a responsibility to become a part of the community in which we live. Edinburgh is, after all, our city too, and the safer it is to live in the better, making reporting incidents everyone’s responsibility. � e Council urge anyone with a complaint to contact them on 0131 200 2000 or to visit the council website at www.edinburgh.gov.uk where complaints can be placed online.
• Niddrie is the worst area for � re-raising,
car-crime and vandalism, while South
Leith has most rapes reported. The Royal
Mile and the Cowgate have the most drug
o� ences and the New Town has the
highest incidence of violent crime and
burglary.
• The Dutch Government sought advice
from Scottish police last year, seeking to
emulate their success in combatting anti-
social behaviour in Edinburgh.
• There are over 600 Neighbourhood Watch
groups active in Edinburgh.
• Edinburgh City Council received over
10,000 complaints of anti-social behaviour
every year
- Scottish Crime Survey 2008
Crime in Edinburgh
THE WRESTLER
DIRECTED BY
DARREN ARONOFSKY
AAAAASCRIPTED AND directed by a � lm-maker whose last � lm was both a critical and commercial bomb, al-most universally dismissed as self-indulgent, poorly conceived and without substance; starring an aging, part-time actor with a reputation tarnished decades previously, who is perhaps more notable for notorious off-screen violence, drug abuse and jail time than any of his performanc-es; a lengthy script offering sparse dialogue and generally unsympa-thetic characters; a story anchored by the inevitable decline - emotion-ally, physically and professionally - of a washed-up wrestler failing to realise his basic human needs…The Wrestler should not be the � lm it is.
Director and writer Darren Aronofsky’s � rst two � lms, Pi and Requiem for a Dream, enjoyed un-precedented acclaim upon release, the latter receiving a rapturous thir-teen minute standing ovation follow-ing its premiere at the 2000 Cannes � lm festival. However, The Fountain, Aronofsky’s 2006 follow-up, and his � rst foray into Hollywood � lmmak-ing, was a failure in almost every re-spect, with critics regretfully admit-ting that the director’s initial promise was apparently little more than luck.
It seems strange then that, giv-en the chance to redeem himself, Aronofsky chose to make a � lm like The Wrestler. Chronicling the emo-
tionally empty life of a professional wrestler approaching a frustratingly inevitable retirement despite it be-ing the only life he really knows, it’s dif� cult to conceive The Wrestler being anything other than an awk-ward pairing of panto with pathos. Wrestling, after all, is a self-acknowl-edged non-sport, grounded entirely in pseudo-comedy battles between ridiculously named pretend pugi-lists. Why make a � lm centred on a sport that by its very nature cannot be won?
Ultimately, because The Wrestler is not a sports � lm, at least not in the conventional sense. The ‘one last � ght’ story arc typical of so many boxing � lms is present, as is a quest for redemption not unfamiliar to fans of the genre and the wrestling itself enjoys lengthy screen time, yet the focus is always on life outside the ring. The � lm’s power lies in the ex-ploration of its characters, not in any sporting achievements.
Mickey Rourke is exhumed, re-born, resurrected, investing himself
fully in Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson, the � lm’s eponymous barely-walking tragedy. Rourke’s absolute command of the role - reserved, painfully raw and faultless - has rightly earned him universal acclaim and a re-evaluation of his entire career.
There have been showier ‘come-backs’ but it’s the eschewing of indulgent and manipulative exag-geration that marks the restrained performance, and indeed the � lm as a whole, as one of the year’s very best.
� e best � lm about wrestling since Nacho Libre20/01/09www.studentnewspaper.org16 Film
SEX DRIVE is another in a long line of teen-comedies in the vein of American Pie: crude, crass and a whole lot of fun. Be prepared to titter as we follow amiable nerd Ian (Josh Zuckerman) on his quest to � nd the deliciously named ‘Ms. Tasty’, a mysterious online babe that Ian is desperate to know. Playing on the ‘McLovin’ riff, Zuckerman plays his dork to perfection, at once clear-ly a lonely boy with a wealth of feel-ings to share, while simultaneously a sex-obsessed loser.
The chief success of this � lm lies in its ability to selectively pluck the choicest clichés from the comedy genre and instil them with a fresh-ness that surprises and delights in equal measure. A good example of this is perhaps the opening sequence, where we are introduced to Ian and the aformentioned Ms. Tasty in an online conversation which brings new meaning to the word ‘sad’.
Here we are shown the despera-tion of this teenager, a boy who is clearly a stereotype for a whole sub-culture of sensitive idiots who are quite comfortable to discuss their sexual preferences to a complete stranger online whilst being unable
to acknowledge a girl that they like in the same room. Regardless howev-er the scene is well-handled enough to cause little if any offence to the parties concerned, a re� ection of how warm the humour is. The result of this unusual but effective scene is the creation of some truly side-split-ting gags later on.
Clark Duke, the other leading man, is also worthy of mention. Seemingly the heir to Seth Rogen’s currently occupied throne, Duke plays his sex-obsessed and self-as-sured obese dork assuredly, while once again bringing warmth to the performance. This is also true of the rest of the supporting cast, they all � ll their respective roles with charm and humour that the � lm would suf-fer greatly without.
Despite the great number of gross-out moments (a cheap act) and the inevitably of the � nal coupling, Sex Drive does what it does very well; infuses an unattractive premise with hilarious, albeit conventional, gags and much in the way of well-timed humour. With a witty script, delightful banter between Zucker-man and Duke and a few moments that will surely go down in the pan-theon of pop culture history (Giant Donut costume anyone?), Sex Drive is worth the time of anyone with a funnybone and a functioning set of lungs.
Sean Cameron
SEX DRIVE
DIRECTED BY
SEAN ANDERS
AAAAD
Tom MacDonald grapples with Mickey Rourke’s well-oiled performance
Back in 1983, Pancho “El Zapato” Sanchez was at the top of his game, literally the Les Dennis of Mexican Profession-al Wrestling, or Lucha Libre. Days after becoming the World Champion, his life literally fell to pieces, culminating in the loss of his arm from steroid-related leprosy and the explosion of his groin. His wife Lupe left him for his manager, taking all of his money, spandex, and dignity in a widely publicised divorce trial, leaving Sanchez an abandoned, dispossessed, shell of a man.
When Hasbro decided to discontinue the El Zapato line of lunchboxes, shoes, and of-� ce supplies, his income came to a virtual stop, excepting the royalties from his Christmas rap album “El Zapato Navidad con Marky Mark Wahlberg”, which continues to sell well in Japan and Korea. For the past twenty-six years, Sanchez has been off and on drugs including, but not limited to: crack, smack, crank, crunk juice, purples, reds, clarky cat, whizzes, and Calpol. We spoke to him in Mexico City, whilst searching for the World’s best taco.
Thanks for cycling out to speak with us, Mr. Sanchez. How’s it going?Not so good, man. Not so good.
What’s wrong?Well, for starters, my proposal for a reality TV show “I’m El Zapato, Get Me Out of Here!” was reject-ed by all major and minor net-works, whilst my autobiography Life Against the Ropes: The Pan-cho Sanchez Story, ghostwritten by Salman Rushdie, was also re-jected by a number of publishing houses. I still owe Salman four million bucks.
Where did it all go wrong?When I started wrestling.
Thanks for answering our ques-tions. Much love.
Student Film sits down with former
professional wrestler Pancho “El
Zapato” Sanchez
Interview
Mickey Rourke channels Pancho “El Zapato” Sanchez, in a riveting performance as Randy “The Ram” Robinson.
20/01/09 www.studentnewspaper.org Film 17
Of the many World War two sto-ries that have been turned into films, Defiance is among the most under-appreciated and yet perhaps the most interesting.
the story concerns the Jewish Bielski family, whose need to hide from Nazi oppression during the war drove them to live for years in the forests of Belarus. the hundreds of people who travelled to join these brothers and those rescued from the slums of Belarusian cities are at the centre of the film, their struggle to survive the war a tale of true poi-gnancy.
eldest of the Belarusian brothers is our resident James Bond Daniel Craig, donning a beard, a leather jacket and a pseudo-eastern euro-pean accent for the part. though the part allows Craig to step out of his
usual testosterone-weaved tuxedo and tackle a more challenging role, he still manages to find himself lots of guns with which to kill innumer-able German baddies, albeit with a little less flair than audiences may be used to.
the best performance in Defi-ance, however, comes from Jamie Bell (of Billy Elliot fame) who, as Craig’s youngest brother, outshines so many of the older and more ex-perienced cast. And it was nice to see him in a film without dancing or stalking anything.
Sadly, and inevitably, Defiance cannot evade the tropes of nearly all American films tackling foreign is-sues, featuring a cast unable to mus-ter anything approaching a Russian accent and a few historical inaccura-cies that should have been spotted in pre-production.
the technique of sporadically having the dialogue slip into Rus-sian to remind you where you are and then ‘seamlessly’ back into the dodgy accents also seems confused
Defiance
DirecteD by
eDwarD Zwick
aaaad
SlumDog millionaire
DirecteD by
Danny boyle
aaaddDANNy BOyle’S Slumdog Mil-lionaire is a film which shouldn’t be taken entirely seriously, despite be-ing set in a near hell. It takes a while to get used to this, especially as the first few minutes contain some vio-lence which wouldn’t be out of place in any of the director’s grislier films. the hero of the piece, Jamal Ma-lik, played more than competently by Dev Patel of ‘Skins’, is a Mum-bai slum-dweller who finds himself waiting to face the final question on India’s Who Wants to Be A Million-aire, only to be subjected to torture by the suspicious police, who don’t believe an uneducated ‘slumdog’ like him could have progressed so far in the quiz without cheating.
the story develops in a series of flashbacks, with Jamal explaining to his interrogators the reasons behind his knowledge of each piece of trivia in sequence, and in doing so telling the story of his life–one marked thus far by poverty, fear and neglect. his knowledge is based upon life-chang-
ing events ensconced permanently in his consciousness: he knows that the God Rama carries a bow-and-ar-row because, moments after seeing his mother murdered by anti-Mus-lim fanatics, he saw a child dressed as the deity; he knows who wrote of a certain song because the exact same song was that which Jamal was forced to sing when begging on be-half of a child-thief. the flashbacks also reveal Jamal’s separation from his childhood love latika, and, form-ing the crux of Slumdog’s narrative, his attempts in the intervening years to find her again, mainly involving lots of picturesque adventures ac-companied by the songs of MIA.
elements of the plot do suffer a little after a moment’s scrutiny: after scandalously electrocuting a quiz-show contestant, why would the cops suddenly turn into decent chaps and give him a fair hearing, as they do? the duplicity of the creepy Indian Chris tarrant equivalent, who feeds Jamal a wrong answer, is never fully explained either. the entire sto-ry also cheekily relies on the fiction that a show like Millionaire would be broadcast live.
But these plot-holes matter no
THE SPIRIT, the latest comic book adaptation to hit the big screen, is directed by frank Miller, considered one of the medium’s gods. Rodri-guez’s adaptation of Miller’s own Sin City was a huge success and, whilst similar in tone and utilising the same striking graphics and colour blocks employed on that film, The Spirit fails to capture the imagination and excitement of Will eisner’s graphic novels.
On a purely aesthetic level, the film succeeds masterfully, the pal-ette stylish and stark and comple-mented by sophisticated direction from Miller. A bevy of hollywood beauties, most of whom fall for the title hero, also helps. eva Mendes’ smouldering but fatal Sand Saref and Scarlett Johansson’s sarcastic side-kick among them, all come with ‘interesting’ costumes to boot. there can be no denying that this film is visually spectacular.
Once you get your head round those visuals, however, the film is somewhat lacking. lacking sensible dialogue, any character develop-ment, a feasible plot…One minute we have the Spirit battling his nem-esis on a mud flat, the next we are trying to follow the half-baked at-tempt at a plot that is the quest for the blood of heracles. All for little, or no, purpose.
On the other hand, this film does
have everything a comic book geek could ever want. there is a Samurai scene, there are Nazi dentists, there are clones, there is gratuitous and of-ten hilarious violence, and there are gorgeous babes. heck, even Samuel l. Jackson is thrown into the mix. Will eisner and frank Miller knew their demographic well when they came up with this heady cocktail of a film.
Samuel l. Jackson plays the Oc-topus, the evil nemesis of the Spirit. his character is, by some way, the best thing about this film and every-thing a comic book villain should be: insane, evil, and out for world domination using the most difficult methods possible. the Octopus and his assistant, Silken floss (Scarlett Johansson), tease and tempt the Spirit into their lair where, dressed as Nazis and under a giant Swas-tika, they subject him to ridiculous monologues about free-range eggs, genetics and dissolving kittens. All the issues with plot and dialogue be-come unimportant once Samuel l. is on the screen.
And that is how this film must be viewed. If you want to enjoy this, you cannot concern yourself with anything important. even the cast seem to be having a ball, deliver-ing their lines in hilariously sarcastic tones and running around in ludi-crous costumes whilst fighting or se-ducing one another. the only aspect of this catatonic film that is worth any critical acclaim is the artistic direction. But please, don’t let that worry you. enjoy the ride, and you will not be disappointed.
Claire Cameron
the Spirit
DirecteD by
frank miller
aaadd
and clumsy.In her first major film role, Aus-
tralian actress Mia Wasikowska shines, despite her character spend-ing a fair portion of the film simply sobbing loudly. Wasikowska shows great promise in the role and it will certainly be interesting to see her tackle the title character in tim Burton’s upcoming take on Alice in Wonderland. An equally fine perfor-mance from Alexa Davalos and an even-handed script combine to show that the women of Defiance held just as strong a place in the incred-ible story as the men, the actresses easily holding their own amongst a predominantly male cast.
Defiance is a history buff’s dream, a mostly accurate tale of an aston-ishing group of people driven only by a need to survive. With a great setting in the forests of Belarus and a fine cast, the film is surprisingly ac-cessible (though it may be about half an hour too long) and well worth a journey to the cinema.
Lance “AV” Jordan
more than Patel’s wandering accent (which seems to spend as much time in the Midlands as Mumbai). Such an improbable rags-to-riches story plainly assumes a kindly suspension of disbelief on the part of its audi-ence: the plot, with its Dickensian baddies and narrow escapes, is sus-penseful enough, and Boyle’s vision of India pretty enough, to keep us hooked.
Instead, what holds the film back is its sentimentality, which can of-ten seem jarring next to the graphic depictions of slum-life. these scenes suggest a seriousness–an engage-ment with India’s social problems–which the film doesn’t fully provide. you can spend long periods thinking Danny Boyle has made the Indian version of City of God, only to come across an exchange like this, at the moment when the hero has finally tracked down his childhood sweet-heart, now in the clutches of a mur-derous pimp–
“Come away with me!” “And live on what?” “Love!” –when suddenly you find yourself
right in the middle of love Actually. Ed Ballard
20/01/09www.studentnewspaper.org18 Music
Album of the Week
Antony & the Johnsonsthe Crying Light
rough trAde
Upcoming Releases
Gig Listings Date Band/Event 20-01 Francoiz Breut 21-01 Architects Midas Fall + White Heath Jungledub 22-01 Karima Francis 23-01 Ed Rush/Randall/Hazard Duke Special HOBO vs //FAST// 24-01 Boys Like Girls 25-01 Bloc Party 26-01 Of Montreal 27-01 Sharleen Spiteri 28-01 Amadou & Mariam 31-01 NME Awards Tour 04-02 The Cribs
Venue Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow
Studio 24, EdinburghCabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh
Bongo Club, EdinburghKing Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow
Potterow, EdinburghCabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh
Bongo Club, EdinburghGarage, Glasgow
02 Academy, Glasgow02 Academy, Glasgow
Oran Mor, GlasgowPicture House, Edinburgh
02 Academy, GlasgowABC, Glasgow
PAINT IT BLACK: Antony isn’t big on colour.
Bon Iver Provides A Very Good Winter
Bon iverBLood BAnk ePJAgJAguwAr
aaaaD
CAT POWER: Justin Vernon introduces his new bandmate
FOLLOWiNG THE break-ups of both a relation-ship and his long time band, Justin Vernon retreated to his father’s
secluded cabin, surrounded by 80 desolate, frosty acres of Northwest-ern Wisconsin, for three months in the winter of 2006. He emerged gloriously whiskered and with nine purgative songs which went on to become Bon iver’s widely ac-claimed debut, For Emma, Forever Ago, a record recently placed top of The Observer’s 50 albums of 2008. Catapulted from obscurity to indie stardom over a period of six months Vernon certainly has much to live up to with Bon iver’s new EP Blood Bank, released January 19th. The eponymous song ‘Blood Bank’ is a driving, romantic stand-out, structured around the metronomic plodding of a bass drum, offset by Vernon’s haunting falsetto. The modest strum and lazy guitar slides of ‘Beach Baby’ serves as a pretty but brief little bridge to the unrelenting piano pounding of ‘Babys’. The track’s extended intro-duction of repetitive eighth notes conveys a sense of anticipation and restlessness with the end result an uncharacteristically optimistic tune. ‘Woods’ is an a capella harmony of controversially autotuned vocals. However, after listening to ‘Woods’
titus AndroniCusthe Crying Light
rough trAde
aaaaDM. wArdhoLd tiMe
rough trAde
aaaaDSTiLL BURST-iNG with musical invention follow-ing his collabora-tion with actress Zooey Deschanel as the ‘him’ of
She & Him, Matt Ward juggles gen-res and ideas to create a marvellous record full of surprises and unex-pected denouements, perfect for any fan of eclectic pop music with a smidgen of erudition. Soft lo-fi guitar work on ‘One Hundred Million Years’ comes off as Elliot Smith performing gospel (“Oh my soul!” he coos), creating the impression of love longer even than the life of “the burning ball of fire up in the sky” in just over in two minutes; Ward’s girl is “beyond comprehension” as time is equally incredulously held on the title track, to a backing of bubbling strings and crotchety piano. Double-tracked vocals, both here and on ‘Shangri-La’, create wondrous counterpoints which enhance Ward’s prudent musicality and voice, which also emerge on ‘Jailbird’, Devendra Banhart-type psych-folk without
the vocal affectation. Lucinda Williams is employed well on the Northern Sky-sound-ing ‘Oh Lonesome Me’ and Buddy Holly’s ‘Rave On’ morphs into a harmony-laden idyll. More religious touches emerge on ‘Epistemology’ – “Sometimes i wonder what in G-D’s name i did to deserve you” – which comes off as Richard Haw-ley in tenor voice, and on ‘Blake’s View’, where “death is just a door/ a threshold that hurts”, beyond which a confidant will meet her love again, counselled by Ward’s warm shoulder. Ward does up-tempo as well as he does ballads: She & Him outtake ‘Never Had Nobody Like You’ is Dylan from the Magic Roundabout doing iggy Pop, sparkling with handclaps and fuzz guitar; ‘To Save Me’ is a melange of synth-pop ideas and Spectorrific, go-go girl percus-sion; ‘Stars of Leo’ recalls Rufus Wainwright in his pop guise, with its refrain “i get so high i need a bring-me-down.” You certainly need no uppers or downers to enjoy this record and counter the blustery January chill.
Jonny Brick
a few times, any scepticism over the bold decision to distort Vernon’s signature voice melts away as the profundity of the song becomes apparent. in Blood Bank Vernon has succeeded in introducing some ex-
perimental new techniques, whilst preserving the atmospheric power that made For Emma such a great debut. As such, this is a near-perfect stop-gap, pointing perhaps towards a full-band sound on album two.
Alan Roberts
THE CHOiCE of Antony And The Johnsons i Am A Bird Now was one of the Mercury Music Prize’s more
admirable decisions in recent years, and brought Antony Hegarty and his unique talent some much-de-served attention beyond his avant-garde theatrical roots. The Crying Light marks a move away, for the most part, from i Am A Bird’s focus on gender identity and feminin-ity, exploring instead Hegarty’s relationship with nature and the world around him. it all sounds rather pretentious, and it is, but in
the hands of Antony that seems to sit just right with the pop sensibility he always employs, and of course, that voice. ‘Kiss My Name’ floats by on a breeze of string flourishes and piano, ‘Aeon’ sees Antony singing over a guitar riff, which is unexpected, and the result is of the highest quality, enough to suggest that Antony’s voice is suited to far more than just mournful ballads, as was also proved on his cameo with Hercules and Love Affair last year. Hegarty has produced another record of fine songwriting and haunting atmospherics, just what you’d expect from such a special artist.
Andrew Chadwick
TiTUS ANDRON-iCUS’S Patrick Stickles has a frail whiny voice just like that of Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst. However,
unlike Oberst (and a lot of contem-porary US indie bands) Stickles isn’t given to self-pity. This album is indeed an “airing of grievances”, but there’s no feeling that he cher-ishes his suffering: Stickles screams his grievances furiously, like some-
one with anger to burn. He uses a breathless second before the furious chorus of “Landscape with the Fall of icarus” to yell “fuck everything, fuck me!”: a sentiment which sums up the tone of this album. Titus Andronicus are not devoid of musical subtlety: as well as the overblown, Springsteeny choruses, many tracks are rich with shoegazy washes of distortion, or comple-mented by accordions and intricate guitar parts. But at heart they’re a punk band, with the classic punk ethic: four chords and the truth. This is an exhilarating album, joyfully riding a wave of vitriol.
Ed Ballard
aaaaD
26-01:Architects - Hollow CrownBen Kweller – Changing HorsesBruce Springsteen - Working On A DreamFranz Ferdinand – Tonight: Franz Ferdinand John Frusciante - The Empyrean 02-02:Andrew Bird - Noble BeastLily Allen – it’s Not Me, it’s YouThe View - Which Bitch
09:02Missy Elliott - Block PartyMos Def - The Ecstatic
16-02:Beirut - March of the Zapotec/Hol-landMorrissey - Years of Refusal
23-0250 Cent - Before i Self DestructBlack Lips – 200 Million ThousandEmpire of the Sun - Walking On A DreamThe Prodigy - invaders Must Die
02-03U2 - No Line On The HorizonEminem - RelapseStarsailor - All The Plans
Next week: we review Bruce Springsteen’s hotly-anticipated new album featuring the E Street Band. His 24th. Sheesh.
20/01/09 www.studentnewspaper.org Music 19Live Reviews
Local MusicWe’re kicking off 2009 with a series of interviews and features on Edinburgh’s local bands. This week, we talk to Fox Gang.
eleven years ago, most of us students were between 7 and 12. and I know that many of us were out buying singles from Woolies (sniff) as well as bunking off lessons and having a cheeky fag behind the bike shed at lunchtime. nothing much has changed really, has it? I admit, your honour, to buying a Honeyz single, ‘Finally Found’, that year (other buys included east 17’s ‘stay another Day’ and ‘The Ham-ster song’). I also bought s Club 7’s debut single, ‘Bring It all Back’,
helping them to immediate chart success, and their first of four UK number ones. Fast-forward selecta. last night, at the age of 23, I had a little bit of my childhood brought back to me at the ‘row. It was absolutely fucking surreal. My disappointment at rachel stevens’ lack of an appearance was made up - to a certain extent anyway - by Paul’s fantastically bad dancing. Tina was not doing her dance, Jon wasn’t looking for romance, but Paul was getting down on the floor, I tell thee. He clearly loved every minute, re-living the giddy days of pop star-dom with a bit of a beer belly and without having to perform perfect-ly-timed and choreographed dance moves. He leapt like a salmon and spun his arms like a windmill; only
the classic knee-slide was miss-ing (but I suppose that was Jon’s move... and the git didn’t turn up). The ‘row was, unsurprisingly, crammed like a can of sardines, and loving all the hits; some performed in a medley, others given the full showing. ‘reach’, ‘Don’t stop Mov-in’ and, of course, ‘s Club Party’ were the three big favourites of the night, though Jo, Bradley and Paul also packed in the ballads and fully grown arms swayed in response. Jo did at one stage think that she was performing in front of a bunch of primary school kids, however, apologising after enthusiastically shouting “scotland is the bollocks!” sadly no-one shouted “We’re all grown up now!” in response.
video of the Week
‘la larona’ will feature on March of the Zapotec, one of two ePs Zach Condon is releasing in Febru-ary. The video was shot by animator Jon Cook and features a large band, a donkey and a dog all wandering through a Mexican town with cob-bled streets, surrounded by hills and a graveyard.
Beirut - la llorona
Hello, Fox Gang. Fancy describing yourselves to us?
Joe: yes. ryan and I met while we were both living in Krakow, Poland. I had only my acoustic guitar and clothes, and he was liv-ing there with his Polish girlfriend and running a london-based art career from afar. He was also into writing music, and I caught his first gig. It was acoustic and very bare, backed by a couple of guys who played root notes and simple chords, but his voice was very distinct and he had excellent lyrics full of dark humour. very British. I knew I could help him out. We knew a lot of other musicians up for it and ended up a 6 piece with a new rhythm section, piano and trumpet.I borrowed an electric. We are/were a mixed group of people who brought all kinds of guns to the fight. Being outside of your own country is the perfect place to reflect and write about it. now in Glasgow we’ve stripped down to a four-piece, but we’re a tighter unit.
What bands/musicians have influ-enced you?
Joe: I’ve always been influenced by country music. The guitarist for Tom Waits’s band is pretty sweet, if we’re talking guitarists. Waits as a writer and performer. I like nWa. They were real storytellers of the early 90’s wild west, and Dr. Dre was/is an amazing producer. I love Dylan, and his whole story really inspired me to do whatever the hell I wanted in my life. early springsteen took that americana level: he rivals little richard as the most intense performer ever. I listened to The Beatles in the crib. ryan and my other British bandmates and friends let me in on some Britpop and early Man-chester stuff. I thank them for that. now ryan for a less obvious list...Ryan: lkj, Pogodno, John Cooper Clark, Talking Heads, The Birth-day Party. My elder bro grew up through that magical, edgy time in
British music from 78 through the 80s. He’d go to Fingers, Pogues and Motorhead gigs among others. He had great taste in music and I stole all his records.
What do you think of the current music scene in Edinburgh? How does it compare to Glasgow, Man-chester and London?
Joe: Ironically, when we lived in Poland bands there were emulat-ing english or american bands of the last 10-60 years. We came to edinburgh and now it seems hip as hell to play music from eastern europe! Oomp Pah Pah fiddle fid-dle, accordian! Glasgow seems to be a bit more ballsy, but we’ve only just arrived here. It’s unhealthy like Krakow. We cough more and have more headaches, but it’s sweet.
Tell us about your favourite album(s) of 2008.
Ryan: Tough question, you couldn’t answer that one with a trip to HMv. Plenty made me angry.Joe: I had a busy year. I moved three times, almost got deported, got married and drove accross the Usa. I can’t remember listening to one album back to front that definitely came out in 2008. I’ll tell you in ten years.
What do you hope for in 2009 both for the band and for music in general?
Joe: We want a lot of people to hear us, and go mental for it. We’re talking about doing an album for a new label based in leith. also to keep releasing stuff on tentracks.co.ukRyan: Jules Holland (‘later’) seemed to average one decent act per show at best, I hope his stand-ards don’t slip further.
Fox Gang play The Tron on January 24th with White Heath, last week’s featured band. Listen to them at www.myspace.com/foxgang
Julia Sanches
IT Has long been Franz Ferdi-nand’s manifesto to make ‘rock music that girls can dance to’ but if the Picture House crowd is any indicator, it seems that after 7 years they have succeeded in making ‘rock music for grown men to stand about awkwardly to’. Despite this being their first edinburgh show in 3 years, the sold-out auditorium was strangely subdued; perhaps their playing such a small venue for a mainstream band, the crowd felt
duty-bound to give a small reaction. The band appeared similarly affected by the January blues, oddly taking a break half-way through the set, and dropping their biggest hit, Take Me Out, early, as though to get it out the way. Indeed, the aim of the evening’s proceedings was to showcase their new album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand and, whilst hearing new material at a concert can often be on a par with homework to the unemployed indie poser, it was the new songs that were met with the biggest enthusiasm. The response to new single ‘Ulysses’ suggested a whole-hearted agreement with singer alex Kapranos’s post-credit-crunch battle-cry advocating a de-
scent into hedonism of “I’m bored/ so bored/ C’mon let’s get high”. The neat unassuming grey suits, the strained politeness of the crowd banter, the band between songs have all the demeanour of the quiet guy at the office you secretly think is a serial killer. But once the razor-sharp guitar licks kick in the band are in their element, with Kapranos striking crucifixion poses and nick McCarthy wielding his guitar like a machine gun. We are reminded of how Franz Ferdinand have sus-tained that elusive balance between commercial success and cool, their ability to write and play a bloody good rock-pop song.
Catherine Sylvain
Franz FerdinandPicture House
14 January
aaaaD
s clubPotterow
16 January
aaaDD
Jonny Stockford
Culture 20 www.studentnewspaper.org 20/01/09
Sleeping Beauty
FeStival theatre
7 - 10 Jan
aaaaa
Sleeping Beauty is a classic tale to tackle, and this production by Scottish Ballet mingles tradition with modernity as Ashley Page’s choreography adds an innovative dimension to Tchaikovsky’s famous score. Although some of Petipa’s original steps feature, Page’s vision dominates. This story has been spun
for generations, yet a fresh sophisti-cation transforms it.
The first pivotal scene, Aurora’s christening, introduces a colourful band of characters. Clad in white, the aristocracy move with a gran-deur that emanates royalty. Six fair-ies and their partners merge the real and magical.
While dancing, female grace and male masculinity delineate the dif-ferences between the sexes.
There is a plot twist – the Lilac fairy and the evil fairy Carabosse, are twins, and their costumes clash tellingly. Carabosse has two bald daughters, forming an evil trio with outlandish movements. Compel-lingly, one climbs onto the pram to cast their spell.
Aurora’s 16th becomes a com-edy of the grotesque as the evil trio masquerade as gardeners. Elaborate scenery and colourful costumes combine, with gold lights twin-kling in the paper sky. As the guests
dance to the music, it is reminiscent of magic and dreams. We are frozen in momentary optimism and wel-comed into a tale which continues to captivate.
Aurora enters, her sparkling white dress emblematic of the fresh purity she represents. The sequence with her suitors seems to last too long, the music almost shrill as if signifying she is not altogether com-fortable. Aurora performs an under-stated solo, reminding us the pivotal character is one whose qualities are delicate and quiet.
Disruption occurs as the garden-ers wheel on a huge phallic cactus. Panic and chaos reign, and only the Lilac Fairy can restore tranquillity, waving everyone into slumber.
For once, the appearance of four other fairytale heroines – Belle, Snow White, Red Riding Hood, and Cinderella – is explained.
Later the prince will present them to Aurora’s four disgruntled
HEnRy VAugHAn’S collection of William Turner’s watercolours is dis-played annually in the Royal Scot-tish Academy building. As Vaughan’s request was to ensure the preserva-tion of these delicate paintings by not letting them absorb too much daylight, the public is only given the chance to see the interesting compi-
lation of Turner’s works every dim-lit January. Although contemporary technology could now keep the wa-tercolours from fading, Vaughan’s stipulation has remained a well-hon-oured tradition.
Turner is known for brilliantly capturing the light in the mist, thun-derstorm and even moonbeams
in nocturnal images. As an active painter during the Romantic period, Turner was fascinated with the sub-lime, the simultaneous feeling of awe and horror, the terrific beauty of na-ture. He spent time developing and mastering depiction of mountains, storms and waterfalls, scraping the applied watercolours to create pure
white illuminating lines. The collection spans through
Turner’s career, from the early years when he was part of the Monro’s Evening Academy and painted top-ographic copies of wash drawings owned by Dr Thomas Monro, to the 1830-40s when Turner travelled in Italy and Switzerland. Represented by a darker, brown-shaded palette, his watercolours of Switzerland tend to conflict with the general ideas of Swiss greenery and blue lakes.
Maybe a slightly more chrono-logically accurate arrangement of the works would be useful as they seem arranged in a largely aesthetic order. Although the RSA may in-tend this to vary the traditional exhibition which has been running annually for more than a century, the arrangement seems unable able to properly grasp his development as an artist.
In the darkest month of the year, Turner’s images of sunshine behind the haze provide an escape from the grey skies around us. Furthermore, when looking at these waterco-lours, one can also ponder Turner’s heady prominence over one of the most prestigious awards in contem-porary art world. For anyone who is interested in seeing more of his works, an international exhibition of Turner’s watercolours of Italy is held from the end of March.
“Turner’s images of
sunshine behind the haze
provide an escape from
the grey skies around us”
turner in January -
the vaughan BequeSt
royal ScottiSh academy Building
until 31 Jan
aaaad
THIS CoLLECTIon was put to-gether to show the evolution of Scottish watercolour from the eighteenth to twentieth century. It is surprisingly varied and diverse, demonstrating the versatility of the medium. There’s an eclectic range of portraiture, cityscapes and architec-tural painting as well as the kind of thing you’re more likely to expect from watercolour, like rolling green
landscapes and delicate flowers.The exhibition emphasises wa-
tercolour as a very old medium which has historically been paid far less respect than it deserves, partly due to the prevalence of oils. It was once under-regarded by artists, seen as suitable only for amateur ‘ladies’ painting’ or preliminary plans for oil. In the last three hundred years, however, the medium has received more attention, with pioneer-ing artists exploring its particular strengths. The selection on display shows early examples of waterco-lour as a complement to pencil or ink drawings, contrasted with more ‘painterly’ pieces which exploit the medium’s extraordinary delicacy.
Particular highlights include an angry John Bellamy self portrait in fiery reds and blues, depicting the artist in all his bearded fury and a
beautiful paint shot of old Paris in greys and muted greens, by William Wilson.
I had hoped to see more paintings of Scotland, especially because the ‘wet-on-wet’ technique captured the dreary beauty of the Scottish coun-tryside so well, though it was refresh-ing to see other places represented, giving the collection more of an in-ternational feel.
It is an interesting little exhibition with an impressive range but it con-veys a sense of contrast more than ‘evolution’, which would be much better captured if the paintings were displayed chronologically or ordered by the region they came from. That said it’s still well worth a look and is a good place for inspiration if you use the medium yourself.
lisa parr
a lighter touch -
Selected WatercolourS
royal ScottiSh academy Building
until 31 Jan
aaadd
suitors. The matchmaking could seem contrived, yet it gives a cer-tain finesse. The Bluebird prompts the prince towards Aurora; their duet exemplifying old-fashioned male companionship.
The first time Aurora and the prince dance alone is breathtaking. The romantic sequence, coupled with the sparse surroundings, high-lights the delicate beauty of their union. They are boundless, and the fluidity of her movements poi-gnant – she leans back to throw off her former self and embraces a new one.
A scene of celebration aptly ends the ballet. The structure is seamlessly logical, yet creates an alluring darker side. With this per-formance, Scottish Ballet proved that some stories are in fact time-less. Christine Johnston
View of the Royal High School and Burns Monument,Edinburgh, by Thomas Hamilton RSA and David Roberts RA, HRSA.
Venice from the Laguna, 1840 J.M.W. Turner
20/01/09 www.studentnewspaper.org Culture 21
New year, new you?Jen Bowden delves into this January’s best offering of books to help you through 2009
It was andy warhol who in 1968 predicted that “In the future, ev-eryone will be world famous for 15 minutes”. Fast-forward to 1980, and such a pursuit seems to have been heartily adopted by the protagonists of Fame: The Musi-cal, who prance, dance, argue and snog their way through the New York High school for the Perform-ing arts in search of not only 15 minutes, but a lifetime of notori-ety. Its latest incarnation as a stage show is intended to convey all the energy and pace of this great melt-ing pot of talent, however it only does so to limited success.
the show follows the transfor-mation of the class of ‘84, from their first appearance as nervous auditionees into fully fledged ar-
tistes in a flurry of legwarmers, hairspray and sexual tensions. How-ever, despite the excellently high turnover of 80s paraphernalia, the production often suffers from a plot that seems at best fragmented if not chaotic, giving the performance a rather slap-dash feel that did not draw the audience in but instead marched them hurriedly along a se-ries of disjointed scenarios.
the audience looks on as our medley of characters must face the prickly challenges of illiteracy/drugs/pressurising parents, as well as tackling not one, but three love stories. It is a highly ambitious feat to try to maintain any coherence with such a large amount of nar-rative threads, and the central flaw in Fame is that it fails to do so. the
characters have no depth because there is not enough time for any development of their face-value personalities, and a weak script is laughably predictable. the set emu-lating a typical brick façade of the school generally served its purpose well, but was not particularly in-spired and appeared to be simply functional rather than intended to add interest or excitement.
that said, the vocal performanc-es are breathtakingly good, partic-ularly ‘think of Meryl streep’ and ‘Mabel’s Prayer’, both belted out to perfection. Holly James is particu-larly outstanding as feisty señorita Carmen Diaz, commanding the au-dience’s attention in every scene. Each large dance number enjoys a generous dollop of pizzazz and
Fame
The Playhouse
9 - 17 Jan
aaddd
palpable enthusiasm radiates from a young cast, with the end result that Fame, certainly, is not a lost cause.
I’m not sure whether to admit that I was one of those dancing like a lunatic during the encore, but, then again, it is a well-known fact that those who seek fame are sometimes required to sacrifice a certain degree of self respect.
Ciara Stafford
NEw YEar, new you, new diet, stop smoking; a bil-lion resolutions which you
tell yourself will be the beginning of your new amazing life. It’s that time of year again when the choco-lates are finally polished off and the leftovers of your mother’s immense Christmas dinner stop appearing on your plate in their various guises - New Year. whatever your resolution there’s bound to be a book to help you through it, and we’ve got the ones that might be just the thing to keep you on track. Hurry, while the sales are still on, and you might just nab yourself a bargain!
First up is How to Dress by the all-knowing fashion guru Gok wan. wan has of course, been around for a while, so it’s no surprise that his lat-est offering retails at a pricey £18.99. But catch him in the sales and prices start to drop. split into sections for each body shape How to Dress is a comprehensive style-guide for the modern woman. If your new year’s resolution is to get slimmer then why not try simply finding clothes to suit your shape, especially for those of you who can’t, or won’t, find time for exercise. the all -amazing Gok even offers advice on how to update clothes you already have, perfect for cash strapped students and crafty in-dividuals. How to Dress is the best way of maximising your body’s po-tential while minimising pain.
something that not everyone might consider is Carol Klein’s Grow Your Own Veg, a great book if you feel yourself nurturing a desire to be green. with the effects of the credit crunch looming, growing your own might seem a cheaper alternative to the not-so-economical supermarket prices. Of course, for students the problem is getting a garden, or even finding the time, to do this. Never-theless with five star reviews from
the majority of buyers on amazon.com, Grow Your Own Veg seems a worthwhile investment for all bud-ding gardeners. It offers informa-tion on how to choose your soil carefully, where to sow the seeds and offers advice on forty different types of vegetables. You’ll never go hungry again!
One of the latest editions to the dieting world is Bruce Byron’s Fat Bloke Slims, a book which seems well informed on the medical side of things whilst combining moti-vating statistics with a good old fashioned success story. Celebrity endorsement helps; Bruce is a well known figure on British television dramas. a bit less of an instruction manual and more of a good exam-ple, this book is definitely aimed at men, possibly even older men, but the same feel-good moral remains. who knows, maybe it’ll push you to change your lifestyle before it’s too late.
Last, but by no means least, is the book for those wanting a com-plete body and soul overhaul. writ-ten by richard Bandler, Get the Life You Want is an all encompass-ing life change programme from the man who taught Paul McK-enna. according to amazon.com “Bandler shows you how to move beyond the limitations that are holding you back, to discover what you want more of in your life and then to make it happen.” Enough said really, but beware, make sure the exercises don’t trump your Uni work, or you won’t have much of a life to improve.
so, whatever your resolution, the above examples show that there’s something there to help ev-eryone, and who knows, this year you might just keep your resolu-tions.
Cecily Rainey
THE CURRENT vogue among game developers is to resurrect old fran-chises with a shiny lick of high-de� -nition paint. Some succeed like Tomb Raider or Fallout, while the less said about Turok the better. Now it’s the turn of 20-year-old stalwart Prince of Persia, although the politically sensitive name has survived intact.
Rather than continuing the story of the arguably stale Sands of Time trilogy, Ubisoft have gone back to the drawing board. Gone are the emo Prince and his collection of My Chemical Romance records, replaced with a more cocky and carefree ad-venturer. The contrast is jarring for fans of the series, while newcom-ers might be equally insulted by his
AAAAD
PRINCE OF PERSIA
UBISOFT
X360, PS3, PC£19.99 - £49.99
crass Americanization, but somehow his terrible jokes grow on you.
The heart of the game is a care-fully constructed ballet of platforms, plinths and hazards. Each area of the game’s open world has been ‘cor-rupted’ with black slime that eats through careless princes faster than a starving tiger. Luckily the Prince has some incredible acrobatics at his disposal, swinging off poles and scal-ing walls with the greatest of ease. Equally impressive is the presenta-tion with its bold art design and peerless animation.
Elika, a princess with convenient magic abilities, accompanies the Prince. Her powers can be used to save the Prince from plummeting to a painful death, boost his jumps and attack enemies. However, these aren’t nearly as interesting as the interaction between her and the Prince. Their relationship brings to mind that of Yorda and Ico in the PS2 classic Ico. They cooperate to
navigate the environment, � lling the downtime with some witty and of-ten sexually charged banter.
It’s worrying then, that all of the brilliant writing and most of the plot exposition is entirely optional. Play-ers must actively interact with Elika to talk about her back-story. I sus-pect many will not bother, since it breaks the � ow of the action, which is not the level of attention the story deserves. Simply allowing the main characters to chat while you play seems an obvious suggestion.
Your task is to head to the centre of each stage and use Elika’s power to heal the land. As you progress Elika attains new powers, allowing the Prince to run up walls and leap over long distances. The levels are well designed and feel rewarding, if light on challenge at times.
The surprisingly relaxing plat-forming is juxtaposed with some combat sequences, which are pretty dull indeed. While � ghts against
generic soldiers of death are short-lived, encounters with the four boss characters are much more drawn-out. This would be acceptable if only you didn’t have to � ght each boss on � ve separate occasions, using the same strategy each time.
Other aspects of the game seem included for bragging purposes, rath-er than because they fundamentally improve the experience. Once an area has been cleansed of corruption it becomes populated with collect-able ‘light seeds’ which, you guessed it, must be collected arbitrarily to progress further. Although the Prince is free to tackle stages in any order, a tighter and more linear adventure would have been more enjoyable.
Prince of Persia marks a success-ful new era for the franchise, even if there’s plenty of room for improve-ment in the inevitable sequel. Often thrilling, if never spectacular, it’s de� nitely more Fresh Prince than Emperor’s New Clothes.
Byte-size
20/01/09www.studentnewspaper.org22 Tech
The Fresh Prince of PersiaIn West Asia born and raised, Alan Williamson never fails in the games that he plays
Neil Pooran takes a leap of Faith, over and over and over again
AAADD
MIRROR’S EDGE
EAX360, PS3, PC£24.99 - £49.99
EVERY CORRECT answer in this vocabulary game donates ten grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end world hunger and your boredom. Splendiferous!
www.freerice.com
I KNOW what you’re thinking. “I love reading Tech every week, but it doesn’t provide me with tidbits of technological goodness for party conversation”. Fear not dear reader, we’re here to help with a roundup of this week’s news.
THE 2009 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) took place last week. Highlights include 3D televisions that will no doubt terrify your grandparents and allow George Lu-cas to roll out yet another re-release of Star Wars.
WINDOWS 7 is now available for download as an un� nished ‘beta’ version. Our sources suggest it’s a promising successor to Windows Vista. Of course by ‘promising’, we mean ‘it doesn’t accost you every � ve minutes with nonsensical secu-rity warnings and grind your com-puter to a sputtering halt every time you use it’. Pre-order it today!
WHAT DO you do when the futur-istic, pristine metropolis you inhabit is ruled over by an authoritarian, all-seeing government? Civil disobe-dience? Move to another city? No, the answer is to start running. For no reason whatsoever.
A fairly barren plot has heroine Faith, a ‘runner’, vaulting her way across the city’s rooftops to escape the law while battling to rescue her sister from the clutches of the appar-ently evil city authorities. Again, no reason is given for doing so. Played through the eyes of the runner, you vault across the bleached city entire-ly in a � rst-person perspective.
The intention is that you � ow through the city in a series of swift parkour moves rather than break stride by ‘stopping and popping’ the armed guards in pursuit. The empha-sis is on graceful evasion rather than combat, which is probably why � ring guns feels like tossing pennies onto a
baking tray in more ways than one.With the focus on jumping, wall-
running and scaling through the in-door and outdoor cityscape, pulling off these acrobatic tricks with the right timing becomes an irritating ex-perience when attempting the same sequence for the umpteenth time. However, the payoff from nailing a dif� cult line can be sublime. There is nothing quite as exhilarating as div-ing off of a 50-storey rooftop into a building opposite, before disarming a guard with a mid-air kick to the groin, all the while dodging bullets from a helicopter’s chaingun. Mo-ments such as these, along with the highly-stylised design of the name-less city creates an unsettling atmo-sphere, and ensure Mirror’s Edge feels like more than just a platform game with a few gimmicks attached.
Developers DICE have answered their challenge of � rst-person plat-forming admirably and have certain-ly breached new ground. However many of the faults of the game stem from these adventurous design deci-sions. A frustratingly large amount of your time will be spent plummeting to your death and respawning after you constantly miss a crucial jump
or fail to spot the right path to take. Your � rst run through the game is a brief one, but since you’re intended to sprint through the levels at break-neck pace this is perhaps unsurpris-ing. However Mirror’s Edge is now considerably cheaper following the post-Christmas clearouts, a welcome move. The inclusion of time trials and downloadable challenge arenas
on the horizon will provide more variety to those of a clock-watching persuasion.
While it’s impressive that the in-tensity of parkour has been success-fully translated into a video game, you can’t help but feel that Mirror’s Edge is just the � rst, prototypical part of a franchise that needs to evolve a little further.
APPLE CEO Steve Jobs has taken a leave of absence until June due to undisclosed health problems, caus-ing company investors to panic. We at Tech wish Steve a speedy recov-ery, even though he is yet to send us those free iPhones we requested last year.
www.freerice.com
20/01/09 www.studentnewspaper.org TV 23
End of an ERa
ER were undercut with the black-est of gallows humour: a sink falls through the ceiling onto a patient they’ve all but given up on, giving his heart the kick-start it needs. There are glimmers of this in the new series: unable to find an intu-bation tube, Dr Morris improvises, thrusting an IV cannula into the neck of a dying Pratt. A beat later, a bewildered porter arrives with the correct equipment.
Unfortunately the heroics used
‘LIfE AfTER Death’ is the uncon-sciously apt title of the first episode of ER’s 15th and final series. The show’s writers have fought hard to resuscitate the show, testing new characters, devising increasingly more tragic and astonishing deaths for old ones and writing ever more fantastical ways for people to be maimed. However, only so many injections of adrenalin can be effec-tive.
ER was once groundbreaking TV: lightening-paced live shows, realis-tic medical procedures, high profile cameos, unnervingly beautiful doc-tors and nurses, not to mention out-right carnage. With a death count often reaching double figures be-fore the opening credits, ER made Casualty and Holby City look as though they were set before the Hippocratic Oath was invented.
In the 8th series it became the Abby Lockhart Show as she slept her way around most of County General’s male population. This episode is no different, the waiting room is packed and everyone is des-perately seeking Dr Lockhart, only she’s been in an ambulance explo-sion. Shame. As has Dr Pratt who is so badass that he manages to walk out the wreckage despite a bone sticking out his leg and coughing up blood.
In its golden age, the tragedies of
Fern Brady
Fern Brady wonders what really happened.
Enough to make you Burrell
XXL TVFern Brady
‘IT’S LIkE a prison that you just, move around in!’ sobs Billy Robbins who, at 60 stone, has the dubious accolade of being the fattest teen-ager in the world. Your body may be a prison fatboy, but it’s arguably a tasty prison of your own making, one in which the bars are made of sausage rolls, with walls of delicious puff pastry.
Bodyshock’s Half Ton Son is markedly different from the series’ previous efforts: Half Ton Man, Half Ton Mum and Half Ton Dad. Oh, wait...no, it’s not at all different as once the fatties pass the 30 stone mark, categories such as age, race and gender are all rendered invalid as distinguishing markers of identi-fication
Let’s deconstruct the title of ‘Bodyshock’ here: where, pre-cisely, is the ‘shock’ factor in the programme? We’re told that Billy’s mum (who isn’t getting asked to do Paris fashion Week anytime soon) has been feeding him up to 8000 calories a day. This is the equivalent of eating 26.66667 Scotch eggs, all day, every day.
Shocking, would be if Billy’s mas-sive caloric intake was utilised to create a new kind of super-efficient magical fuel that would solve the world’s energy crisis. Not shocking: taking up eating as a full-time occu-pation makes you porky.
One of the crueller ironies I’ve noticed in documentaries on the morbidly obese is that they’re often obliged to spend a significant chunk of their screen time buck naked (it would seem clothing manufacturers have only so many Xs they can add to an L).
Admittedly, there is a certain freedom made available to fatties as lumbering around in the buff does not bring the usual host of worries it would with the majority of the pop-ulation. for instance, the thought of ‘don’t want to be naked on telly, might ruin future sexual opportuni-ties’ probably flew out the window for Billy Robbins, right after he re-alised finding his willy from under a vast apron of fat is much akin to a game of hide-and-seek, a game he loses all too often.
The equivalent of eating 26.66667 Scotch eggs, all day, every day.
WHAT A STEAL: For only £30 you too can own this limited edition Paul Burrell. (pictured, left). Teddybear not included.
to be performed by taller, better- looking, kinder doctors. Not the titian-haired Morris. However, the arrival of appealing new interns in Episode Two, who become entan-gled in a ricin scare (prompting cute Daria to ask in her best bedside manner: ‘so how did you become a bio-terrorist?’) promises a return to form. Cameos are to follow from Noah Wylie (went to Africa), An-thony Edwards (brain tumour)and Paul McCrane (squashed by a heli-
copter) ensuring that the series will not simply flat-line.
I was ready to hate the new se-ries but like an expectant mother stranded in a snowstorm, ER never fails to deliver. Watching a mute Pratt, one minute delegating his own treatment; the next, a pulsing lump in his neck, tears streaming down his face and blood pouring out his mouth...I realise that it is still one of the most visceral pro-grammes on TV.
The gory days are over. Susan Robinson says RIP to ER.
TOO MANY DOCTORS: ‘Do you find me clinically attractive?’ Asks Dr. Abby Lockhart.
WATCHING A Jaques Peretti pro-gramme (Paul Burrell: What Re-ally Happened) is always taking a gamble with your valuable viewing time, principally because he seems to have attended the Dawn Porter School of Investigative Journal-ism.
“You mean, Jacques Peretti sucked wall-to-wall cock to fill the gaping void where talent should be?” you cry. No, no, not that, I was referring to Dawn Porter-style research methods.
Peretti has been touted as ‘Channel 4’s answer to Louis Ther-oux’ but it’s difficult to discern any connection between the two, other than that they both have heads and facial features. Where Theroux uses a tried-and-tested method of faking naivete to lure subjects into a position of trust, Peretti simply is naïve, creating programmes that are essentially a clumsy rehashing of Wikipedia pages and tabloid sto-ries that are already widely avail-able to anyone with a functioning broadband connection.
There’s a strong degree of ambi-guity in the series’ title. The ‘what really happened’ part announces itself authoritatively, offering an insight into the dark underbelly of a story that we, the ignorant viewer, can’t possibly see. Instead,
the show’s title is more consistent with Peretti driving around aim-lessly and repeating “What really happened…what REALLY hap-pened?”, while never actually managing to answer his own burn-ing hypotheses.
Placing Peretti’s complete in-competence aside, watching any-thing featuring Paul Burrell is in-variably brilliant train-wreck TV. Public revulsion of him appears to stem from the fact that he is the concentrated incarnation of every middle-Englander that displays a disarmingly servile admiration for the Royal family. You know the type: they’re the same people that buy commemorative Diana plates that sing Elton John tunes at the touch of a button. And they’re responsible for every Christmas number 1 that Cliff Richard’s ever had.
Unfortunately, it still all comes back to whether the programme sheds any new light on the ques-tion of “Why is Paul Burrell com-pletely mental?”
With a line of enquiry as inane as “who would play Paul in the film of his life?” it’s unlikely that we’ll ever find out, though the viewing of this programme did serve as a valuable reminder of Burrell’s weirdness.
Bring it all back (to the 90s)20/01/09www.studentnewspaper.org24 Lifestyle
With S Club back in town, Maddie Walder decides to relive that infamous decade
Do you remember your pre pubescent years? you hit 13, hear a knock on
the door, and bam, hello acne, angst and that first feeling of rebellion. More to the point, do you remember the sweet, sweet decade which nurtured your growth? Ah, yes, I talk of the 90s. The days of the school disco, Doc Martins, Steps, the wee crocodile clips parting your oh so crimped hair, the birth of Harry Potter... So, what with S Club (three) returning stiffly to the scene, hot on the heels of other 90s bonanzas, (Gladiators, Take That and those 5 ladies who just wanna zig - a – zig – aaa), Lifestyle has decided to get all nostalgic and take a little look back at the past. Nay, more than this, we aim to celebrate (and contemplate the potential revival of) the other quirks of that funky decade. After all, there’s word on the block of a Bewitch reunion. What with those Irish stunners set for a comeback and the rumours of the ‘new crop top’ circulating rapidly through certain student publications, what better reason to take a trip down memory lane? It’s time to walk the dog (as in the yo-yo move).
Imagine then, if you will, some of the less accessible fads rearing their ugly heads from the stagnant waters of ‘bad trends are us’ swamp. Guys, do you even dare to contemplate the return of the greasy curtains? Take a fine comb, find your centre parting
and smooth out those locks into two sleek, face framing strands, to create a jaw dropping look rivalling the gay one from Boyzone. Guaranteed to get the girls hot under their school shirt collars. Throw a denim jacket into the mix, maybe even a bandana, and you’re onto a winner.
The ladies didn’t get away so easy either. In fact, it was not so long ago that one particularly ghastly 90s trend smashed into the present in a big way....leggings my friends, leggings, instilling fear of sausage legs and camel toes into women the world over. We all swore we would never touch such heinous items, yet, given a few months, the little buggers were stretched over the female leg far and wide, afflicting all with that elusive ‘where the heck are your trousers?’ syndrome. But not only this. The crop top, deserving of a whole article of its own, is apparently happily back, poised to destroy any rogue grain of self confidence left in our post-festivity-binge-bodies. This is one look that only works on the catwalk, girls, I promise you.
As for the dangerous dilemma of dating, primary school style, if your tip top dress sense didn’t already clinch the deal, you could always fall back on the fail safe ‘shag bands’. Those little plastic bracelets, available in a variety of delightful neon colors, supposedly exerted a large dose of destiny upon your love life. If a member of the opposite sex cheekily snapped
your ‘shag band’, you were in for an afternoon of passion behind the P.E blocks. one wonders if we ever truly comprehended the meaning of these tacky gimmicks at the tender ages of early teendom, but, fair enough, they provided a no fuss route to the tonsils of the girl/boy of your dreams.
Lest we forget, music. The soundtrack of our youth, punctuated with the ecstatic cries of the playing of Pokemon, the trading of pogs and the braiding of itsy bisty little plaits into the hair of long suffering victims, was an eclectic mix of dangerously cheesy, inappropriately worded (‘I wanna have sex on the beach’) keyboard mash ups. And, fortunately for us, some of the most infamous acts are back on the scene yet again! The world-rocking Titanic theme, courtesy of Celine Dion, is also well worth a mention, whilst ‘Saturday Night’, ‘The Macarena’ and ‘ooh, Ah, Just a Little Bit’ still get the Student team up and dancing in the office. I’m personally holding out for an East 17 (ugliest pop stars of all time, inspiration for current chavs everywhere) greatest hits concert. obviously, I’ll be skating there in a tie dye top and bunches, topped off with multicoloured, glow in the dark braces on my dentals.
one final word – don’t forget to feed your Tamagotchi. That’s How For Now, kids.
Ben from A1 working the curtains
Shag bands, baby
Scrunchies galore
Crimp-tastic
Lolly, 90s pop diva
The original Gladiators giving the Conga a new twist
Feeeeed me.....
My, what cosmic beauties
Pop Diva Lolly gets her tummy out
20/01/09 www.studentnewspaper.org Lifestyle 25
Quiz Time
Easy
Hard
Crop tops. The words bring back a flood of truly cringe worthy memories that are best
left dead and buried, especially if - being young girl in the 90s - you danced around to ‘Wannabe’ in Mum’s stilettos whilst scantily
clad in an itsy bitsy... oh no, there it goes, the final blow... crop top.
This heinous fashion affront should have been locked in a time capsule with The Spice Girls and their misguided notions of girl power, so that historians could open it in a thousand years time and comment on this archaic and torturous practise that we deemed to be ‘fashion’. In the instance of such an event, cries of disbelief would quickly circulate: ‘Crikey, its bloody freezing in Britain, why were these primitive folk torturing themselves like that?’ And rather sensibly, as with other catastrophic events in history, the human race would vow never to allow the event to repeat itself.
But just when we thought this crime against decency was well and truly behind us, the crop top has repeated its vicious fashion cycle and forced itself upon us, yet again. This worrying trend started creeping into the mainstream back in the summer of 2008, when celebrities were spotted sporting the said offender on multiple occasions in a short period of time, the most notable criminals being Daisy Lowe and Pixie Geldof (see picture). Ever since, the crop top has increased its ominous
The Revival of Crop Top ChicKimberlee McLaughlan derides the return of a truly horrifying 90’s throw back
Pixie Geldoff pulls it off...Damn her
presence in various areas of the fashion industry, and various high-brow sources have tipped it to be a major 2009 catwalk and street trend.
In spite of the fact that ‘fads’ and what is in Vogue have never been a big cause for concern to me, I do believe that this issue deserves due attention, partially because of the previously mentioned factors, but mostly down to the endlessly shameful issue of vanity. A crop top in the name of fashion is simply not flattering, unless you are a child. Or Barbie. Washboard stomachs for either sex are definitely not achievable goals on a student diet of chips and beans. At least previous trends that had the potential to be less than slimming – for example skinny jeans – were saved by the tuck it all in high-waist variety. For the crop top, clever tummy hiding is just not workable. Unfortunately, it’s all out there, all of the time. So who can we place the blame on for this unfortunate crop top renaissance?
Exposure of the abdomen and flaunting of the midriff has been an integral part of many non-western cultures for centuries, and we thus cannot blame these societies for
Across
1. Russian world chess champion who lost the title to Bobby Fischer in 1972 (5,7)7. Fir or pine wood (4)11. US state containing the national monument Shoshone Cavern (7)12. 1992 comedy film with Whoopi Goldberg and Maggie Smith (6,3)13. French philosopher and writer whose works epitomize the Age of Enlightenment (8)14. Actress whose name was used for an inflatable life jacket (3,4)16. Highly poisonous metallic element, with the chemical symbol As (7)17. City of northwest Colombia that was once the richest port on the Spanish Main (9)18. The religious and classical literary language of India (8)20. Musical direction to go back to the point indicated by the sign (3,5)24. Italian film director whose films include La Notte and Zabriskie Point (9)
Down
1. Weapons for toxophilites (4)2. A light-sensitive pigment in the retina, also known as visual purple (9)3. A strong rich cheese, often with blue veins, originally made in Leicestershire (7)4. Opera by Ruggiero Leoncavallo first performed in 1892 (9)5. Roman coin worth a quarter of a denarius (8)6. Territory in the western Himalayas divided between India and Pakistan (7)8. Display stand with open shelves (7)9. Department of France with Agen as its capital (3-2-7)10. Husband of Helen of Troy (8)15. The unlawful killing of a human being without malice aforethought (12)19. Any herbivorous marsupial of the family Macropodidae (8)21. Leading lady in films of the 30s and 40s, once a singer with Rudy Vallee’s band (5,4)22. A dish of boneless cooked white poultry or fish served cold in jelly (9)23. An athletic contest in skiing and shooting (8)25. Fringed shawl worn by some Jewish men, especially at prayer (7)26. English actor, producer and director given a life peerage in 1970 (7)28. Small pegs or plugs for stopping the vents of casks (7)31. A title of respect used in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and other countries of Asia (4)
27. Hormone that regulates the amount of glucose in the blood (7)29. 18th century Italian physiologist who pioneered the therapeutic use of electricity (7)30. Film for which Holly Hunter, Anna Paquin and Jane Campion won Oscars in 1993 (3,5)32. A scientific name or algebraic expression of three terms (9)33. French playwright whose works, such as Antigone, juxtapose harsh reality and fantasy (7)34. Mining and industrial region of western Germany (4)35. Novel by Mary Shelley, published in 1818 (12)
appreciating an attractive practise steeped in tradition. Similarly, chain mail cropped tops were used to protect medieval soldiers from lances, dragons and the like. On a different note, the contemporary western world embraced belly tops in the 80’s as a practicality for athletes and in particular for American footballers. Shortly after, the crop top’s progression into the realm of making loud and pointless statements was secured; as it was used primarily to elicit interest between the sexes, flesh for flesh’s sake. By the mid 90’s, the golden age of the crop top was in full swing. Indeed, such was crop top mania that young girls often ‘bunched’ their average length tops upwards to expose more flesh, as has been nicely demonstrated by Britney Spear’s earlier videos.
In light of history, it would seem that, actually, we can’t really blame any single entity for the unwarranted return of a 90’s affair. In fact, the revival of the crop top may be symptomatic of human curiosity, in which case, hopefully this fascination will quickly dwindle. But remember people (men included), that when the time comes, it’s ok to say NO to a crop top!
Men... don’t bother
20/01/09www.studentnewspaper.org26 Sport
A matter of national pride
Ice Hockey is of paramount importance to canadians. It’s a chance for them to express their
national identity and succeed against their southern neighbours. you only have to look at the names of canadi-an National Hockey League (NHL) teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Montreal canadians to under-stand what I mean.
As an exchange student in Van-couver, my local NHL team is of course the Vancouver canucks. The canucks are by no means the finest team in canada, never mind the NHL, but they are very popular here in British columbia and this is reflected in their ticket prices which start at about £35 for a poor seat. Vancouver’s second team, the Giants, charge considerably less. Therefore, when my family came to visit me over christmas and Hogmanay it was the Giants we saw playing host to the Prince George cougars in the Pacific coliseum.
It certainly wasn’t a bad decision. My father had booked the tickets online early so we arrived to find out that we had excellent seats in the second row just next to the subs bench. Rules were recently changed requiring the wall surrounding the rink to be slightly flexible to prevent serious injury during player colli-sions. This meant that we knew all about it when a player was bounced into the wall less than a metre in front of us. This was particularly disquieting for one member of our party who had succumbed to jetlag and fallen asleep.
Having not traveled recently I was in a position to enjoy an ex-cellent game of hockey. The Giants eventually earned a deserved 4-3 victory, but only after coming from
Benjamin Miller takes in an ice hockey match in Canada and leaves suitably impressed
ALTHouGH THe festivi-ties are over, the shop-ping for presents is still
in full flow in the football market. one need only have looked at the back pages last week to see figures of £100m being banded about for Brazilian superstar and Ac Milan midfielder kaka.
The question of whether or not he will leave is on every foot-ball fan’s lips. Will he really sacri-fice success in football to become the most expensive player in the history of the sport, getting paid a jaw-dropping £500,000 per week? Ac Milan have reportedly allowed Manchester city, yes that is correct, Manchester city, to have talks with the 26-year-old midfielder but as of yet, no agreement has been reached.
It is however hard to decide if it’s worth it. Lets be honest, it’s not as if kaka needs the money; he already earns £9m a season, after tax! He is also currently playing for un-doubtedly the most renowned team in Italy and one of the most pres-tigious in the world. Furthermore, if he really wanted to play in the Premiership, which most players do aspire to, surely one of the bigger clubs would be more suitable?
I mean Man city, with all due respect, are nobodies, unknowns and current relegation prospects. It would be like cristiano Ronaldo moving to Spain to play for Real Betis. Mark Hughes’ side currently lie 15th in the table, 19 points off a champions League place. Aston Villa, who occupy the 4th spot, have dropped only 22 points all season. However, Spurs who are in the rel-egation zone, are within two points of city.
So will a player like kaka even help them stay in the Premiership? Not all players settle quickly in this rough and fast-paced league. If kaka did eventually arrive, surely more players would be attracted to east-lands as well and this would mean that Man city would have a virtual-ly unrecognisable team by February and the new recruits would prob-ably be new to the Premiership. As we have seen with Spurs, money doesn’t always buy success. So who will the deal actually benefit? The only benefactor in my opinion is Ac Milan who will rake in enough money to buy two or three world class players to replace him. With Ronaldinho already in the side the money will certainly help soften the blow of his departure.
A load of Kaka?
Ed Senior
a whole industry of mid-game en-tertainment supported by frequent advertisements. of course, you are allowed to buy beer at the overpriced bar in the stadium. However it’s a lot less acceptable to succumb to the effects of the alcohol even slightly and swear loudly when the players get into a fight which is something I found out personally when at a pre-vious game.
Hockey is a family sport, and almost everyone seems to like or at least tolerate it. Although your average Vancouver housewife might not go to every game I’d imagine they’ll be able to tell you that Roberto Luongo is the best goal-tender in the NHL. It’s an inclusive sport, and this was shown clearly by the miniature game played by girls under 12 during the first break.
The second period didn’t live
up to the drama of the first, the most impressive moment being the crowd’s Mexican wave managing to circle four times. The play was largely scrappy and the Giants’ equaliser came from nowhere, a long shot into the top corner. The game con-tinued to be dominated by desper-ate unshapely play and the cougars managed to take advantage of a particularly frantic stramash to put themselves 3-2 up just as the buzzer went for the end of the period.
The last period was scrappy again, with the Giants pressing hard and the cougars looking dangerous on the break. The cougars goalie was having the night of his life, until with less than three minutes left when the Giants equalised. This was followed by one of those characteris-tic moments in ice hockey: the fight. It took seconds for the two players, just feet away from us, to lose their gloves. It was fast, but also heart-felt – the Giants player looked as if his mother had been insulted and I guess she could have been. It was exciting, but this time I managed to control myself and just jumped up and down a little bit in childish ex-citement.
The Giants didn’t waste time putting the icing on the cake after that with Vancouver winger craig cunningham getting his second of the night. It was a breathtaking end to what was a fairly exciting game.
Having been in canada for four and a half months now I think I un-derstand why canadians find most other sports dull. Hockey is fast, physical and arouses real passion (es-pecially as I found out recently when canada beat the united States). ul-timately, when you choose to go to the hockey you’re almost guaran-teed entertainment.
behind in the last few minutes. The visitors – from the British colum-bian interior – put up a good fight and deserve plaudits for making the league-leaders so uncomfortable.
The early minutes of the game set the tone for the rest of the match. While Vancouver enjoyed lots of possession in the offensive zone, they couldn’t make any of their shots count. The cougars on the other hand were quick to counter-attack and converted two of their chances in the first 11 minutes, even though they had only taken a third of the shots of the home team. The Giants got one back a few minutes later to leave the score at 2-1 after the first period.
It’s during the break that you realise how much better sports fans are generally treated in North America than in the uk. There is
Debbie Miller
Debbie Miller
20/01/09 www.studentnewspaper.org Sport 27
Pietersen’s forced smile Both surpise and unpre-
dictability follow Kevin piertersen. Whenever one
thinks he has deciphered pietersen, the man suddenly makes a turn no one anticipated. he plays the role of maverick very well. still, there is something in his latest feud with the former england coach peter Moores that raises many questions about pietersen’s judgement. Cricket fans probably like to forget pietersen’s personality and focus on his con-siderable talent which has produced much excellent work.
however, one’s personality affects the exploitation of one’s talent and ultimately the standing of one’s career. Mike tyson and paul Gas-coigne are two examples of sports-men who could not find any stability. of course pietersen does not share the flaws of tyson or Gascoigne but the surprise with which he ex-pressed the blowback when his true opinions of Moore became public is concerning. how these opinions became public is debatable but what is not is the controversy they have generated. it is true that elements in the British press hunt enthusiasti-cally for controversy and pietersen
has articulated his sadness with how events have unravelled: “What hurts me was the character assassination that has been totally unfounded. And that is the reason why i want to get my story across so that people can understand that i have done ab-solutely nothing wrong.”
What is perplexing is how piet-ersen did not suspect that the British media would question his integ-rity, Moores’ and the whole english cricket team. Andrew strauss has been parachuted into be a safe pair of hands and provides a degree of stability. Key players in the team like strauss and Flintoff have ex-pressed their support for pietersen and he is determined to rebound by playing as brilliantly as he has done before, “i feel it is right for me to go back and just play - to do some-thing that i totally, totally love and which is scoring runs and more runs for england. i am committed 100% behind the skipper and winning games of cricket. i will get up every day and i’ll smile and do whatever i can to win games of cricket for england.” Come what may, piet-ersen will follow a path that is deci-sively his own.
HHter Terry
Redman aiming to bow out on a high
AFter tWo highly success-ful seasons, the university of edinburgh’s men’s foot-
ball side have established them-selves as one of the leading clubs within the university and also across scotland. this season has been rather more sedate so far with many of last season’s squad moving on or suffering from injury.
Club captain Jamie redman is hopeful however that the side has turned the corner and that they go into the New Year with renewed hope. he said “After a slow start to the season, due to the new squad taking time to gel, the last couple of months were successful ones as we were unbeaten in over ten games. We currently sit sixth in the east of scotland premier Division with games in hand on most of the teams above us so we feel we’re heading back to where we should be.”
redman explained that the side were set a series of targets for the season back in August and is hopeful that they can still match them. he continued: “At the start of the season we aimed to win the Queen’s park shield and/or an east of scotland cup competition, to qualify for the third round of the
scottish Cup and to finish in the top four of the premier League.
“We currently sit second in the scottish universities Champion-ship, with stirling having already clinched the title. We were beaten 4-2 away from home against them in frustrating circumstances, having beaten them 3-0 at home in sep-tember. this unfortunately adds to a series of near misses for myself and some of my older team-mates in this competition!”
“however, we’re still in with an excellent chance of qualifying for last 16 of the British universities Championship which can throw up a fantastic tie with a big english university. plus if you’re lucky, this may include a memorable bus journey home as recent trips to Leeds and Birmingham have shown!”
one of the major talking points over the last two seasons was the side’s scottish Cup runs which created a huge buzz around the university. this season however, ed-inburgh were dumped out by east of scotland First Division side Civil service strollers which redman admits came as a major blow to the club.
he said: “We were really disap-pointed at our early scottish Cup exit to Civil service strollers as we under-performed massively on the day, letting a great opportunity slip away. that was probably the lowest point of my career and it probably hurt more for those players who’d been part of our success in the scot-tish Cup in the last two seasons, which notably raised the profile of the club. the matches in recent seasons against Keith, Cowden-beath, Deveronvale and Cove rangers were special occasions and to not progress further than we did was a major let-down.
“Nevertheless, to win the sFA south regional Cup in March would go a long way to making up for it! We are all desperate to deliver a trophy this season and this is the most prestigious compe-tition we play in which we can re-alistically hope to win. With spar-tans as the opposition and with the game being played at a top scottish premier League or Football League stadium, it becomes even more ex-citing! personally, to lift the trophy as captain in my final season would be the best way to bow out and the squad are very determined to do
Martin Domin talks to Edinburgh’s midfield maestro and captain Jamie Redman about the semester ahead
Michael Klimes dissects the role played by Kevin Pietersen in the recent English cricketing fiasco
just that.“As for the league, we’ve re-
cently started picking up the points our performances have deserved and we’re surging up the league table which is still very tight. We feel anything less than fourth place would represent failure however, especially with the talent in our squad.”
Last season’s second place finish was certainly a remarkable achieve-ment but despite having come ago-nisingly close to the title, redman and his team mates were able to look back with pride.
he said: “We managed to get it out of our system over the summer break and now we realise how well we did to be a realistic title con-tender right to the final weekend of the season. No previous university side has ever come so close or won as many points in the premier Divi-sion so we certainly raised expecta-tion levels surrounding our club.”
having seen former team mates Andrew Cook and scott Bennett es-tablish themselves at raith rovers and stenhousemuir respectively, redman is quick to shower them with praise. he added: ”We’re very proud of both of them. it shows
the rest of us what can be achieved within the environment of our club when you work hard at your game as the gap between our level and the second and third divisions of the scottish Football League (sFL) is not as great as some think. We continually slag them for being ‘big-time charlies’ but only because we’re jealous! there are a few players in the current team who are capable of playing at a higher level and guys like Andrew and scott and those before them give us that extra belief.”
redman himself harbours hopes of making the step up after he fin-ishes his degree this year. he has so far resisted the urge to leave the club and hopes to combine his football with a somewhat different career choice.
he admitted: “i hope to make the step-up to the sFL when i graduate in the summer. i’ve had some inter-est over the past year but i’m keen to remain with edinburgh universi-ty until my degree is over and then hopefully i’ll have some options to further my career. i’m also cur-rently applying for graduate jobs as a chemical engineer so hopefully something will fit together!”
IN HAPPIER TIMES: Pietersen’s short lived captaincy was brought to an abrupt end at the beginning of the month
![[2016 s2-ifn600] week-1-tutorial](https://img.pdfslide.us/doc/110x75/587fdeed1a28ab58248b7145/2016-s2-ifn600-week-1-tutorial.jpg)
