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Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd December 2011
In brief
Email: majithia.meera@gmail.com
Leicester Voice
By Meera Majithia
University bags Times Higher Education Award Loughborough and Coventry Universities have been presented with the award for Outstanding Support for Students at this year’s Times Higher Education (THE) Awards. Announced at a ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane in London on the 24th November, the THE awards recognise excellence, creativity and innovation within the UK’s universities. Loughborough and Coventry were presented with their award in recognition of the work of sigma – a collaborative venture, which aims to help students advance their mathematical and statistical skills. In the first eight
months of the 2010-11 academic year, more than 12,000 students visited the sigma services at Loughborough and Coventry, with a further 13,000 visitors using the online resources each month. Students in disciplines as diverse as aeronautical engineering and social sciences have benefited from up to 40 hours of
support each week since sigma started in 2005. Students with very specific support needs, such as severe confidence issues or maths-phobia, are able to get additional help at sigma’s Eureka Centre for M a t h e m a t i c a l Confidence, and one-toone statistics support for students working on final year and postgraduate projects is also available.
Student ambassadors have helped to promote the scheme to their peers and acted as mentors alongside academic staff. Professor Tony Croft, sigma Director at Loughborough, said of the award: “To have our work acknowledged in the sector in this way is w o n d e r f u l . Loughborough and Coventry are widely regarded as leaders in the field of university-wide mathematics support – this award is formal recognition of that, and also of the hard work and commitment of all the staff, and students, involved in mathematics and statistics support at Loughborough and Coventry.”
Fake vodka alert Food safety officers from Leicester City Council are on the lookout for bottles of fake vodka which are unfit for human consumption and which may be for sale in the city. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has warned councils across the UK to be on the lookout for the illegal bottles of Drop Vodka, which could contain dangerous isopropyl alcohol - known as Propan-2-ol. Leicester City Council’s food safety team are visiting small licensed retailers to check if any of them have been offered the illegal drinks, urging them not to accept any if offered, and confiscating any that is found. So far, illegal Drop Vodka has been found on sale in East Anglia,
Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and East Midlands, the south of England, the north east and south Wales. The FSA says the fake vodka does not contain enough alcohol to be called vodka - having only 28.6 per cent ABV compared to the minimum of 37.5 per cent ABV in genuine vodka. In addition, samples of the vodka have revealed it contains Propan-2-ol - a type of industrial alcohol which isn’t safe for human consumption. There are also a number of labelling issues, including the absence of any manufacturer’s details, on the illegal bottles, which means the producers are unknown and impossible
to trace. Print quality on the labels is poor, duty stamps are not fluorescent under UV light, the barcodes are not valid, and there are no manufacturers’ marks on the bottle or label. Typically the bottles have turned up for sale in small independent stores, corner shops and petrol stations. Two types of the Drop Vodka exist - labelled as being made in France or made in Italy. Leicester City Council’s head of food safety, David Barclay Rhodes, said: “We will be visiting retailers to see whether they’ve been offered this illegal drink, and impounding any that we do find. “We’d also call on shoppers who do see this
drink for sale to report it to Consumer Direct or to us, so we can investigate properly and take it off sale.” Leicester assistant city mayor with responsibility for neighbourhood services, Cllr Sarah Russell, added: “The information we have is that this vodka isn’t fit for human consumption and contains unsafe chemicals, so anyone who sees this for sale should report it to our food safety team so they can deal with it properly and advise the retailer involved. Shoppers should report any Drop Vodka they see in shops in Leicester to Consumer Direct, on 08454 040506, or Leicester City Council’s food safety team on food@leicester.gov.uk
International skin expert comes to the city A laser hair removal guru with a celebrity clientele has chosen the city of Leicester for her next treatment centre. Holistic therapist Nina Sharma of Nina Lallure has not only worked in Mumbai, but also has experience of working in Richmond and London’s Bond Street. After dedicating 10 years of her life to laser hair removal she opened her second clinic at the end of
Nina Sharm
October on Loughborough Road in Leicester. Nina said: “I feel very
excited about this development because there is so much to do in terms of educating people in Leicester about laser hair removal. Laser is the best thing in today’s market to remove hair. It’s very safe, pain free and now very affordable.” The skin expert said she decided to expand to the midlands following a successful television campaign and constant enquiries from people in the area.
Nina has appeared as an advisor on television and radio and performed over 10,000 treatments so far, which include a number of other well-known celebrities. She is thrilled to be offering the treatments that are on offer across the world in cities like Mumbai and Los Angeles, here in the city. For more information you can visit www.ninalallure.com
Police tackle drug dealing in Loughborough Fourteen people have been arrested and six people charged in an operation to tackle drug dealing on the Bell Foundry Estate in Loughborough. Operation Jet was launched in response to an increase in public concerns about drug taking in the area. Members of the Neighbourhood Action Team (NAT) and the Loughborough East Beat Team executed three war-
rants. On Thursday 20th October 2011 two women were arrested on suspicion of possession of crack cocaine – they were bailed. On Wednesday 2nd November 2011 a 36-yearold woman and an 36-yearold man were arrested on suspicion of dealing Class ‘A’ drugs. They were released on police bail pending further enquiries. Two other men, aged 34 and 44 were also
arrested and charged with possession of Class ‘A’ drugs and were both cautioned. On Thursday 3rd November 2011 a 36-yearold man was arrested and charged with possessing Class-A drugs. Two other men, aged 40 and 45 were arrested and charged with supplying a Class ‘A’ drug and possession with intent to supply a Class ‘A’ drug. They were remanded in prison. On Friday 17th
November 2011 a 34-yearold man was arrested at an address on Kensington Avenue he was charged and remanded for being in possession of Class-A drugs with the intention to supply. He was also on prison licence and so was recalled and will be serving the rest of his suspended sentence in prison. As part of ongoing enquiries a further four people were arrested for theft, burglary and being wanted
Killer commits another crime
A 62-year-old man who murdered his wife has been found guilty of brutally raping a prostitute. Nadesse Cooppen, who was released from jail after serving a sentence for the killing of his wife in 1999, was convicted of raping a 25-year-old street worker at Leicester Crown Court. The victim went to Cooppen’s home in St Peter’s Road, Highfields, on the night of 3rd January 2011 where she was beaten with a bat, which shattered as he began hitting her, when she asked for payment. She suffered bruising to her arm, back, grazing on her chest, an egg sized bump on her head and a cut hand and bruised finger. Cooppen remains to be sentenced as the hearing was adjourned.
Lecturer awarded grant to uncover history of gender politics in Pakistan A De Montfort University (DMU) historian has been awarded more than €48,500 (approximately £41,400) to carry out research on the history of gender politics in Pakistan. Dr Pippa Virdee, senior lecturer in Modern South Asian History has received a two year grant from the Gerda Henkel Foundation as part of its focus on the modern nation state of Islam and transnational movements. The project will look specifically at Muslim women’s history from the late colonial period to present day Pakistan. Dr Virdee said: From a position of strength in the late colonial period, women’s position in Pakistan has undergone vast change, yet very little is written about this. “The status and influence of women in Pakistan has gone through enormous change since the Pakistan separatist movement started in colonial India. This project will investigate how women’s position in Pakistan has changed over the past 60 years and to what extent Islam has been invoked in mobilising and shaping women’s identity in Pakistan. “My research will investigate Muslim women’s history in the making of the modern Pakistan nation state. It will explore the transformation of women in Pakistan, beginning with the colonial era and the impact of the separatist movement, before comparing these processes with the women’s movement in the 1980s and more recently the Al-Huda movement.” Dr Virdee has previously conducted research on Muslim women’s experiences of migration and resettlement following the partition of the Punjab, India, in 1947.
£1 million refurbishment unveiled by school
Pupils at a city primary unveiled their new school facilities on Tuesday, 29th November, which include a brand new kitchen, dining hall, climbing wall and multi-purpose courtyard area. Northfields House celebrated the completion of the works with a ribbon cutting ceremony and pupil presentations. Students spoke to the guests about what the new kitchen and dining hall meant to them, how they were involved with the project all the way through and what new opportunities it now offers. In addition, there were a number of ‘taster session’ for pupils and guests to try out some of the delicious delicacies produced in the new kitchen. The works cost just over £1 million and were funded from a Government grant, match funding from Leicester City Council and a contribution from the school. Assistant City Mayor, Councillor Vi Dempster, said: “The new facilities are already having a very positive impact at Northfields House. The Kitchen programme has enabled us to increase the take up of school meals across the city and significantly improve the quality of food on offer. “Children and young people learn more effectively when they are getting a balanced diet and school meals are a proven way of contributing to their healthy eating lifestyle.” on warrant bringing the total number of arrests to 13. Inspector Johnny Monks, Commander of Loughborough local policing unit, said: “We know that a small minority of criminally minded individuals are making money out of drug dealing, this can blight an area bringing with it lots of prob-
lems and anti-social behaviour which has an impact on those people living nearby. These warrants evidence the strong commitment by my police officers, that we can, and do, act upon information from the community and we will take action to stop the problem.”