bathimpact Issue 11 Volume 13

Hotels on campus News Page 5

Opera helps the heart

Compete...

Science Page 22

with bite

bathimpact The University of Bath Students’ Union Newspaper

Volume 13 Issue 11

Monday 16th April 2012

www.bathimpact.com

In this week’s bathimpact Stamp success The Royal Mail have decided that Bath will represent the letter ‘R’ in their endeavour to create an A to Z of iconic British cities in stamp form.

Why not ‘B’? Because that accolade goes to Blackpool Tower. Bath as a city is a heritage site, but the Roman Baths take the biscuit!

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Sam Short

Costly times

‘Quackman’ is watching... the SU and the University ask us to keep it clean as the sun comes out and tempts students to dine lakeside

Russell Group rejection

Simon O’Kane bathimpact Contributor he Universities of Durham, York and Exeter, as well as Queen Mary’s College London, have accepted invitations to join the prestigious Russell Group of elite UK universities. This required them to leave the 1994 Group, another prestigious group of which the University of Bath is a part.

The Russell Group was founded in 1994 by a group of larger elite research-intensive universities who wanted to protect their interests following the post-1992 expansion of higher education. The smaller pre1992 research-intensive universities responded by forming the 1994 Group in order to protect their interests.

The Russell Group encompasses all of the “big players” of the university system such as Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London. The

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1994 Group’s universities tend to be smaller but still highly regarded, such as St. Andrews, Loughborough, Sussex, SOAS and of course Bath.

This move reduces the 1994 Group’s membership to just 15 while swelling the Russell Group’s ranks to 24, prompting speculation that the 1994 group would cease to exist.

The students’ unions of the Russell Group form an association known as the Aldwych Group, while Unions 94 is the 1994 Group’s equivalent. BUSU President-elect and current VP Sport Chris Clements was at a meeting of Unions 94 that took place following the decision.

When asked to comment, Clements replied, “The overwhelming feeling of Unions 94 is that there still is great value in membership of the group. Despite those [Universities] that have left, 9 of the top 20 Universities are still from the 1994 Group.

All Universities within share similar characteristics and have great value in working together.”When asked if this reflected BUSU’s opinion also, Clements replied “I think so.” He went on to say, “The biggest problem is that the Students’ Unions were not consulted; some of them only found out when it was announced in the news.”

He also went on to quash speculation about a possible break-up, saying, “It looks as though the 1994 Group will continue to exist.”

The move has prompted fears that those left in the 1994 Group will lose out on research funding, given that the Russell Group already receives more than ten times the research funding that the 1994 Group does.

The Russell Group is also coming to have increasing influence over Government policy, with the 1994 Group publicly criticising the Government’s decision to limit university involve-

ment with the changes to A-levels to members of the Russell Group.

The 1994 and Russell Groups are controversial in themselves; the former are often described as “Russell Group rejects” while others hit back with the claim that the 1994 Group is an association of genuinely similar universities that support each other, as opposed to the Russell Group whose primary focus is political lobbying.Most of the 1994 Group’s members are post-war English universities, with the notable exception of St. Andrews, while the Russell Group’s membership is more diverse with member institutions in all four nations of the UK. As the move was announced shortly after the Sabb elections, the news passed by many students by, though not all. bathimpact Deputy International Editor Benjamin Butcher described the move as “a snub to Bath.”

The issue of pay across all sectors has evoked heated debate recently.

The Higher Education sector being no different with UCU and other unions critisisng the trend of increasing the Vice Chancellor’s pay. In comment this week we look at both sides of the argument. Why not send a letter to the Editor and let us know your thoughts?

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Whipped... bathimpact contributor and newly elected Chair of The Politics Society, William Cooper, looks at why our political system needs whipping into submission by someone other than the out of date whips. The structure of British politics has been brought into question a lot recently, but we look at it from a slightly different angle...

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Rival Nation bite takes on the theme of competition this week, with a special focus on the run up to the Olympics. There is also a look at gaming tornaments from a computing level for those with an inner nerd, and bite offers a few lucky readers the chance to get their hands on some hot festival tickets in bite’s own competition! with bite

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Monday 16th April 2012

Editorials

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Kylie Barton Editor-in-Chief

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Gemma Isherwood Deputy Editor

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Tomos Evans News/Comment Editor impact-news@bath.ac.uk

Esther Osarfo-Mensah Features Editor impact-features@bath.ac.uk

Holly Narey bite Editor

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Jonathan Gleave Sport Editor

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Ben Hooper Publicity/Distribution

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Magali Calabressi Treasurer

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Jack Franklin IT Officer

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Nick Hill Secretary

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George Orwell is reading your emails

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t was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating slightly by quoting George Orwell, but this is getting ridiculous. Every time I look at the news I cringe, not wanting to know what utter garbage the government is throwing our way now. The world’s economy might be… bad (can you tell I’m no economist?) but it feels like we’re being pushed a bit far. Benefits?

Make the buggers work. Welfare?

Waste of money. Education? University fees would be a good way to save a few pounds, and for those

who think we’ll be disadvantaging our future workforce? Well we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Public sector workers? Fire thousands of them, we’ll save money on their wages and if they can’t find any work then they can claim - oh wait no, never mind.

Next, let’s target free healthcare. What fun, we are good at this money-saving malarkey aren’t we?

Let’s carry on after a good game of polo. What ho. Now it appears the government has been distracted from the task of saving our economy from edge of the precipice by the fight against crime and terror,

and I’ve got to say, I am not a fan of crime and terror, but their new plans of monitoring us on more platforms than they already do appears to be a little too Big Brotheresque.

Yes, technology has had some massive advances over recent years, and communication has evolved along with it, even a small child understands that crime is bad, and terrorism especially bad, but have we learnt nothing from literature and graphic novels? Could this not be a slippery slope towards an existence where thoughtcrime is a reality. Although, being a person who

is constantly prepared for a zombie apocalypse, I’m no optimist.

While the powers that be will still require a warrant to see the contents of our internet activity, the fact that they will be able to see so much does just give the impression of a desire to snoop. Not that I have anything to hide. Honest. But what’s this?! There is an unlikely hero on the horizon. Good ol’ Nick Clegg has stepped up with a hesitant, barely audible “er… I’m not sure about this fellas”, but I’m going to have to go with Jojo on this one, it might be a little too late from the Lib Dems.

ities like Bath are famous for their historical relevance and huge tourist pull. Bath has a range of historical attractions spanning centuries and more than enough guided tours, museums and gimmicks in gift shops to satisfy the thousands of people that descend upon the city we live in. the problem I have with these tourists is the frequency with which we become a tour guide, a signpost or a linguistically exploited United Kingdom tourist attractions are numerous and operate with varying success. The effort Bath has gone to to make sure everyone who visits gets the most out of the Roman Baths, Abbey and Royal Crescent (and then some) is admirable to the extent that there is huge revenue from it. This brings with it a dedicated team of

people who operate at various attractions within Bath who are paid for the pleasure of walking up and down the city streets with hoards of schoolchildren in tow, handing out guide booklets to people who don’t speak English and generally making sure nobody is stuck behind the language barrier.

Naturally, we feel like we’re taking something away from these people by using our (mediocre at best) German skills to get an elderly couple to follow us down Great Pulteney Street to the Abbey because we can’t remember how to do directions. We also feel like we shouldn’t have to. We think it’s perfectly obvious that we’re students because we carry around our laptops and books, usually have our phones in one hand and iPods in the other and don’t try in the slightest to look like we know

anything about anything. But of course, we are locals! Forget these people dressed up in their bright red uniforms proffering maps and audio guides: ask the students who are half sprinting to the bus stop so we doesn’t miss lectures.

It’s irritating at the best of times.

This isn’t designed to be a rant, most tourists are just asking for help, which we would never refuse or be rude or short about giving. If we were people in a foreign country, however, our first port of call would be the people in the bright t-shirts saying ‘Welcome to Foreignland’ and handing out maps, not the people with their heads bowed who are clearly going somewhere and might not even be from the city we’re in. Students don’t give off the air of being tour guides and therefore shouldn’t be used so. There’ a wealth fo people

who know a lot more that are getting paid for giving you maps and taking your money, we’d much rather stay out of the way.

Switching to the flipside of the coin, though, we’re also advocates of making friends with random people whenever the opportunity arises. The guy you’re next to on the bus, the woman behind the bar. Smile, ask them how their day is going. If they decline to reply, it’s their loss! This said, there is obviously a big difference between a friendly conversation and having to give street names very slowly to someone with a flimsy grasp of English. In short, tourists are great for Bath and we love them to bits for making the city such a vibrant and exiting place, but as students, sometimes we’d rather be left alone. Don’t hold it against us.

by James Cameron created to draw attention to the true tragedy of the tale.

This is one of the greatest examples of the media industry being guilty of drawing attention away from the main point of a sad story, to one arguably tedious detail that usually encompasses at least one of the staples to a good hook; sex, drugs or rock and roll. In this case we were given sex.

Everyone admits that the car scene is stonkingly hot - and our Kate doesn’t look all that bad legging it down the hallway away from the wall of encroaching water either - but Kate’s breasts are not what we

should be remembering.

The film has obviously raised the profile of the event itself, and therefore would have raised money for, and attention to, the real cause and victims of the tragedy that unfolded.

It would seem the majority of people are more enthused that the centenary has led to the 3D version of the film gracing a screen near you than they are to find out more about the story and the consequential investigations into maritime conduct.

We at bathimpact find it somewhat disconcerting that the disaster’s hundredth anniversary is just another excuse for companies who produce cheap merchandise to capi-

talise on peoples love of Jack and Rose as opposed to genuine empathy for the real human lives involved.

Moreover, it is upsetting that even the usually commendable Channel 4 jumped on board (excuse the very bad pun) with this capitalisation in re-airing its documentary of the sinking of the Concordia, another ocean catastrophe.

There is such a thing as overkill, and the Titanic is certainly a victim of that. It should be treated with reverance and respect, not made into a money-spinning media event that forgets the 1,500 lives lost and commemorates people that weren’t even real.

We’re students, not tour guides C

It is more than a sinking shame

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e all know the story: a little rich girl meets a hot, humble, poor boy on the world’s largest, ‘unsinkable’ cruise ship but the ship sinks before they can run away and be happy ever after… so which part of that sentence isn’t true?!

All of it of course, except the last bit. Who could have missed the memo that it is one hundred years since the great ship Titanic sank?

The main reason there is such a sense of hysteria surrounding the centenary of the world’s most famous ship wreck is not because of the actual lives lost, but because of the whimsical love story imagined

Monday 16th April 2012

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Gove proposes to change A-levels Liv Hows tells bathimpact about moves to reform A-levels in England ccarlstead

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here are currently discussions underway to bring about changes to the structure and contents of A-levels. It has been argued that currently A-levels do not stretch or challenge students enough; leaving them under-prepared for the challenges they face at university.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has suggested that universities should be more closely involved in deciding how A-levels are run, and the subject material that is included in the syllabuses. It is said they should have an active role, and that it shouldn’t just be as Mr Gove put it, a “tick-box exercise”.

Mr Gove’s suggestion, however, have been shot down by some central education figures, such as Wendy Piatt, Director General for the Russell Group. Wendy Piatt has warned that the idea is all very well and good but that in fact: “We don’t actually have much time and resource spare to spend a lot of time in reforming Alevels.”

Much of this idea to change to Alevels has stemmed from information sourced directly from universi-

Critics claim that A levels are becoming less challenging. Universities may be asked to help set them ties themselves. Many lecturers and universities have reportedly argued that students arrive at university being intellectually incapable of meeting some required skills for their degrees, due to ‘spoon-feeding’ at A-level.

Universities have spoken about how in light of students being under-prepared, they are having to run catchup sessions, to bring some students

up to speed.

Mr Gove particularly speaks of how A-levels at the moment “fall short of commanding the level of confidence” that undergraduates need when entering university. He suggests that universities are therefore involved in A-levels so as to sufficiently equip students with both academic skills and confidence in their subjects

and studies.

However, Dr Mary Bousted, of the ALT teacher’s union, has argued that in fact this is a restricted viewpoint of the role of A-levels. Dr Bousted has argued that in fact A-levels “test more than just the ability to go to university”. As well as this other members of secondary education boards and conferences have argued that in fact

people such as Mr Gove, are unaware of the extent of the work that these changed require.

Many teachers and heads of schools such as Anthony Seldon, headmaster of Wellington College, have indeed agreed that A-levels and education has lost some of its “rigour and zest” and other people suggesting that secondary education doesn’t provide enough “independent thinking.”

There seems to be a general consensus that nowadays there is too much ‘spoon-feeding involved’ where teaching and learning are all about passing the exam, rather than providing a well-rounded and all-encompassing education.

All in all it would seem that there is much debate over planned changes to A-levels. Educators and education regulators seem to be divided over the benefits of changes, and queries seem to be raised over where the emphasis of A-levels should be put; whether it rests on simply preparing students for university, getting them through qualifications, or providing them with education that is purely just more stimulating and challenging.

Vying to keep grads Buses in Bath

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he University of Bath is proud of its reputation as an institution that boasts strong employability prospects for its students. Almost 90% of 2010 graduates went straight into employment or further study on completion of their degree, and now the city of Bath is involved in a campaign to encourage more of these desirable potential employees to remain in the area after graduation.

The Graduate Talent Initiative developed by the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership is urging businesses in Bath and the surrounding areas to exploit of the pool of 10,000 talented graduates produced each year by the University of Bath, Bath Spa University, the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England.

In the current economic climate, with opportunities for graduates to enter employment and gain experience often seeming hard to come by, the LEP aims to attract local graduates by encouraging companies to create more opportunities for summer internships, student placements, part-time roles and positions for recent graduates.

Colin Skellett, chairman of the LEP, chief executive of Wessex Wa-

With two universities, Bath hopes to retain graduates in the city ter and Bath resident, commented on the quality of the south-west’s students, and stressed the importance of graduate retention for the local area.

“We have a wealth of talent and world-class research capabilities within our sub-region and we must make sure that this potential is developed so that it can contribute to our economic growth”.

The initiative also stresses the benefits for businesses of hiring

students and graduates, who are often highly motivated employees, who can bring fresh ideas and upto-date learning to organisations.

Mr Skellet added that taking on graduates and students is a cost effective way to find new, talented employees.

“Many young people have fantastic skills and potential and nurturing this talent is vital to encourage local economic growth and help our businesses prosper.”

Alex Philpotts bathimpact Contributor

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teps are now being taken towards a proposed “smartcard” scheme in the Bath area. Similar to the Oyster card system which has been operating in London for over eight years, this new potential alternative in local travel is hoped to enable cheaper, faster travel by introducing an online top up system.

The card will be available for all services operating within the Bath area, including Wessex Connect and First services operating Oldfield Park, Southdown and Combe Down student housing areas.

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat Minister for Transport, has also revealed the introduction of a new “low carbon” bus. With a grant of over £650,000 provided to First Somerset and Avon from the Green Bus Fund, a fleet of 8 new buses are being brought into the Bath area as part of the coalition government’s green initiative, and will emit a third less carbon than the diesel buses currently running.

Don Foster, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, commented: “Buses are a crucial part of Bath’s infrastructure so as a Liberal Democrat I am absolutely delighted that we are backing the environment and making significant investments in low carbon transport”

With the large majority of students already taking the bus to and from university, it is hoped that the reduced emissions can help Bath push the green initiative into the public conscience.

“Bath residents make good use of our buses but my Liberal Democrats colleagues and I want to get more people out of their cars and on to public transport - this is all part of our commitment that makes the Coalition Government the greenest government ever.”

The new improvements to Bath public transport are part of the plans to make the bus a viable alternative to the car, and follow a public vote in favour of the redevelopment and installation of further bus stops on major routes across the city.

Sam Short

David Kennaway

Bethan Rees bathimpact Contributor

Inside a First ‘Orange bus’

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main pipe bursting on one of Bath’s busiest roads temporarily cut off water to more than 3,000 homes. The pipe fracture caused the partial closure of the A36 Lower Bristol Road, near Churchill Bridge and the Green Park Tavern, around 10:50am on 11th April morning.

The burst caused significant damage to the road, which will now have to be dug up for workers to gain access to the nine-inch (23cm) erupted pipes.

A spokesman for Wessex Water said that water had been restored to all the affected properties, whilst the leak had been isolated and alternate pipes had been used to deliver water to affected businesses and homes.

Water bowsers were also placed in Oldfield Park and Twerton, which Wessex Wa-

ter described as “precautionary measure”. The spokesman added: “Wessex Water apologises for any inconvenience caused and would like to thank the local community for their patience and understanding while the incident was resolved.”

This incident follows another water pipe bursting two weeks ago; this caused major traffic jams in the southern part of the city. A similar incident occurred in August 2010, disrupting water access for 3,500 homes and closing a section of Lower Bristol Road for several days.

One student who lives on Stanley Road West, Oldfield Park commented, “Not only was a late for work because I had to wait around for the water to come on so I could shower, but, I also couldn’t have my morning cup of tea. It’s really not acceptable, I hope it doesn’t happen again!”

Research funded Max Cadle bathimpact Contributor he University of Bath has received a £451,000 grant from the Economic and Social Research Council to help fund studies of recently bereaved families in order to facilitate better guidelines for support.

Professor Tony Walter and Dr Christine Valentine from the University’s Department of Social and Policy Sciences will be conducting the study with help from research consultant Lorna Templeton at the University of Bath, and Professor Linda Bauld and research associate Jennifer McKell at the University of Stirling. All of whom have had previous experience in addiction studies.

The research will focus on the experiences of families who have lost people close to them due to

the misuse of drugs and alcohol so that more effective support can be supplied to this group of individuals.

Professor Walter says “It [the study] will be achieved through in-depth interviews with bereaved family members and consultation with policy-makers and practitioners in South West England and the West of Scotland.” Dr Christine then added “At a time when substance misuse related deaths are increasing and support for bereaved families lacking, the study will address a significant gap in understanding and addressing the needs of this group.”

The research will begin in September 2012 and run in collaboration with the Universities of Stirling and Glasgow for three years and will be based in Bath University’s very own Centre for Death and Society.

The competition to redesign the BUCS service desk into a welcoming and friendly store has been won by a joint entry from Zifeng Wei and Patrick McEvoy, two 4th year students from the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering.

Both designers won themselves a £100 Amazon voucher as a result of their winning design Work will begin on the project

this summer and the new design will feature a more open plan area that has facilities for buying IT equipment and software, repairing laptops and providing general IT support. The service bar will also feature a seating area and a genius bar made from recycled tabletops.

To see a graphic of the winning design go to www.bath.ac.uk/ bucs/news/news_0430.html

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BUCS redesign

PriDE’s gone public Simon O’Kane bathimpact Contributor

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he University of Bath’s Professionalism in the Digital Environment (PriDE) Project, funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) has launched its first set of open-access resources to the higher education community, in the hope of inspiring other universities to emulate its approach.

The first phase of the project took place last semester and involved the establishment of a think-tank called a Faculty Learning Community for each of the University’s Four Faculties: Science, Engineering and Design, Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) and the School of Management. Each Faculty Learning Community was made up of volunteers from each of the various stakeholder groups, including students, lecturers, researchers, administrators and Library staff.

Each of the Faculty Learning Communities met three times to discuss exactly what the phrase “digital literacy” meant, how it could be improved and how much progress had already been made. Issues discussed in Engineering and Design ranged from protocol with emails and social media to

the purchasing of licenses for specialist research-grade software such that used for computational fluid dynamics. Access to software from off-campus was also an issue.

Students’ Union VP Education elect Alex Pool was involved in the Science Faculty Learning Community

Possible users of the service and found that similar issues came up in his meetings. “With emails now easily available at your fingertips through wi-fi and mobile phones this start[s] to blur the lines about what is ‘home’ and what is ‘work’. Other issues raised were the availability of e-books and

online journal articles as well as software use via remote desktop.”

Staff from the University’s e-learning unit attended all of the sessions in order to record the outputs and bring them to a University-level Learning Community that brought current VP Education Matt Benka and the University’s head of e-Learning Kyriaki Anagnostopoulou, both of whom spearheaded the project, together with University senior management.

PriDE was born from a JISC initiative to fund consultative e-learning projects in different universities, with each University tackling the issue from a different angle. As the name suggests, PriDE focused on professionalism and looked at e-learning and digital literacy from an institution-wide perspective.

The next phase of the project involves bringing people together from the different Learning Communities in order to look at approaches to dealing with the problems and needs identified in those meetings. If you want to get involved, email Vic Jenkins at V.K.Jenkins@bath.ac.uk, visit the blog http://digilitpride.wordpress. com or follow them on Twitter, @digilitpride.

CompSci host event bathimpact’s Elliott Campbell tells about the recent trip of the BCSWomen Lovelace Colloquium to Bath

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he University of Bath’s Department of Computer Science recently held the 2012 BCSWomen Lovelace Colloquium.

The event is typically only open to female students studying computing related subjects.

This year, however, the event opened it’s doors to Bathonian school girls, providing them with an invaluable opportunity to learn more about the career options available in this increasingly vital field.

The Colloquium is named after computing pioneer Ada Lovelace, incidentally the daughter of Lord Byron, and focuses on providing both undergraduates and postgraduates with a chance to network and exchange ideas, stimulating interest in computing through a series of talks and providing guidance and help in choosing career paths.

There was also the traditional poster contest where female computing students from around the country were invited to present a poster, invitations were as always fiercely competitive with invitations being based on submitted abstracts.

University of Bath students did well in the last two years with three students winning awards for their posters.

University of Bath

Burst water pipe Dafydd Angove bathimpact Contributor

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Comp Sci students love chilling on the bench outside East Building Dr John Power, the man who ran the event, said: “We hope that by coming to the Lovelace day, seeing current student’s work, listening to speakers, and talking with people in computer science, girls from Bath will gain a much clearer idea of what

computer science at University involves.”

Previous colloquia venues have ranged all the way from Leeds and Birmingham to Cardiff, and have always been free of charge to those who are come.

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Hotels on campus? Quite possibly Gemma Isherwood shares new attempt to attract students to university Sam Short

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ith a spate of universities across the UK making plans to develop their campuses, could Bath be next in unveiling plans to build hotel-like accommodation for visitors and students alike?

Several universities, anonymised in a recent survey, put forward plans for purpose-built hotels, office spaces, Olympic-style ‘villages’ and much more besides. The survey, conducted by building firm Wates, stated that there are plans for millions to be spent on expanding campuses, improving international and postgraduate facilities and entering into partnerships with local and national companies to being joint ventures in the catering, accommodation and business sectors.

Aberystwyth already offer rooms over the summer between June and September for £24.50 with breakfast for an additional £5 while students are out of halls, similar to many universities who make use of empty rooms in order to make money and out up people who travel long distances for summer schools, conferences and meetings at HE lo-

bathimpact’s interpretation of a future Bath. Hotels are being used as a way to attract students cations across the country.

Another university in the UK is considering adding private housing, offices and a hotel to the collection of buildings already on campus.

Whether or not this is a wise longterm move is questionable as and

HE institution with too many loyalties to outside companies could end up having to compromise the benefits its students receive in order to maintain good working relationships with. For example, it could be speculated that businesses who

use provide office space provided by universities could demand that more attention be given to internships offered by themselves rather than allowing students to see the full range of potentially better opportunities on offer.

Yet another university is apparently planning a ‘student village’ aimed at International students, probably in order to pull in as many of the higher-fee-paying overseas students as possible. It is questionable, however, as to whether this will attract more overseas students in a positive way or simply serve to alienate further a group of young people who can often find it hard to adjust to life in the UK at Higher Education institutions.

Bath already has a Beds@Bath scheme which offers accommodation to students’ families and visitors to the campus alike and operates at all times of year. With prices ranging from £20 for an Eastwood room to as much as £60 a night for a Woodland Court room over summer, it seems that our University has already capitalised on making money out of visitors who can’t find the Lower Bristol Road Travelodge. it is not unfathomable that the revealed plans of other HE institutes will likely be an incentive for Bath to follow suit and look into yet further expansion in order to accommodate guests across the year.

Fewer university places Landlord deposits A M

These changes may affect the number of students Bath accepts increase in funding for teaching expensive science subjects.

While the number of university places offered is slashed, we will see about 10,000 places being offered through further education colleges; 143 FE colleges will receive extra degree places. FE colleges, which traditionally charge lower fees, will play a larger part in offering degrees in the UK as they receive an increase in funding for places previously held by universities.

The aim of these funding alterations is to make further education more accessible and widely avail-

able through local FE colleges.

Additionally, limits on recruiting students gaining high A-level grades of AAB or above will be removed, increasing the uncertainty about university places.

Liam Burns, president of the National Union of Students, argues that the financial reforms have caused ‘slashed budgets, bigger debts and thousands fewer places’.

However, Universities Minister, David Willetts, maintains that funding for universities would increase by 10 per cent under this parliament.

Anthony Masters bathimpact Deputy

mendments to the Localism Act will mean that landlords and lettings agents will face tougher sanctions for not protecting their tenant’s deposits in a government-approved scheme, under new rules that came into effect on 6th April.

This change also gives landlords in England and Wales up to 30 days to protect the deposit after receiving it from their tenant, which is an increase from the previously prescribed 14 days. The intention is to close legal loopholes surrounding the security of tenancy deposits, after some landlords successfully appealed against penalties for failing to secure the deposits. Landlords are also required to give their tenants the Deposit Protection Certificate, which is proof of this protection, within the 30 day period.

A provision of the United Kingdom Housing Act 2004 meant that landlords in England and Wales had to keep the deposits for short-term tenancies in one of three government-authorised schemes: TDS, MyDeposits and Deposit Protection Scheme. Coming into effect in April 2007, it was intended to help settle disputes

between landlords, letting agents and tenants, and stop unscrupulous landlords withholding or deducting the deposit unfairly. However, the original term of 14 days to conform to the scheme allowed some landlords to claim that administrative errors had prevented their compliance.

David Salusbury, Chairman of the National Landlords Association, commented on the changes: “These changes are helpful to landlords who now have extra time to ensure any deposit they take is properly protected. But they must make sure they do so within the 30 day time limit as changes to the law now make penalties strictly enforceable.”

Cristiano Betta

ost universities are set to offer fewer places to students this year due to changes in higher education funding announced by the funding council.

These cuts to funding, following the increase in tuition fees of up to £9,000, include cutting teaching grants by more than £800m for 2012-13. Moreover, the council revealed a disparity between the levels of funding different institutions are granted for teaching and research. While Oxford and UCL receive approximately £178m and £174m respectively, smaller institutions receive less than £10m.

The Higher Education Funding Council suggests that as many as three in four universities will cut places in response to the changes to funding; about a quarter of institutions will do so by more than 10 per cent. There will be about 19,000 fewer places than last year’s intake.

Funding Council Chief Executive, Sir Alan Langlands, argued that universities can ‘cope with the change’ and are able to “ride it out financially”. However, in response to the funding cuts, the Russell Group of universities requested an

siemer+siemer

Maddie Winn bathimpact Contributor

A typical front door in Britain

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Monday 16th April 2012

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Tomos Evans bathimpact News Editor impact-news@bath.ac.uk

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David Michael Morris

t has been revealed that university drop-out rates have increased across the United Kingdom, with only Northern Ireland bucking the trend The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) has released statistics revealing that across the UK drop-out rates for 2009-2010 are up from 7.9 per cent to 8.6 per cent.

Breaking down these figures reveals that Wales has seen the largest increases, from 7.4 to 9 per cent.

England and Scotland have fared

Drop-out rates are increasing better with their drop-out rates increasing by 0.6 and 0.1 per cent to 8.4 and 9.4 per cent, respectively.

Northern Ireland reported a its drop-out rate as decreasing from 9 to 8.3 per cent Some people in higher education, such as Professor John Hugh-

es, Higher Education Wales chair and vice-chancellor of Bangor University in North Wales has put the increase in drop-outs down to the current economic climate.

Most attention is being paid to the 1.6 per cent increase in Wales, especially as the Welsh Government claim that Welsh students receive more assistance than any of their other counterparts in Britain.

The Welsh Government said that in 2012-12 Welsh students from poorer backgrounds will have access to the “most generous” grants in the UK. The increase in drop-out rates comes in spite of action being taken by all UK administrations to try and prevent their steady increase.

A spokesman at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said, “Although our student completion rates compare well internationally, we want to reduce the number of students who don’t complete their studies.”

Actions being taken by government include new rules to ensure universities are provided full and frank information about courses and cash to help universities provide key facilities so that students can have an overall better experience at university.

In England, the worst drop-out rate was at the University of Bolton with 21.4 per cent dropping out after a year. The best performing universities in Britain for drop-out rates are Cambridge, St Andrews and Oxford all at 1.4 per cent drop-out rates

thisibath

Drop-outs up MoD’s leaving Bath

The Foxhill Ministry of Defence site is one of three in Bath, which may be turned into homes.

Anthony Masters MoD’s exit from the city in March business community. By working bathimpact Deputy 2013, large-scale building work will with the MOD, Bath & North East

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ath’s three Ministry of Defence sites are set to be transformed into two primary schools, a health centre and 1,200 new houses. Bath and North East Somerset Council’s draft plan is to use the 92 acres of land in Foxhill, Warminster and Ensleigh to attempt to alleviate the city’s housing deficiencies; the Council’s Draft Core Strategy requires the authority to build 11,500 new houses by 2026.

The MoD’s exodus to nearby Bristol will mean the dissolution of Bath’s bond with the MoD, which began at the start of the Second World War when the Admiralty moved from London. Following the

commence, with the intention of also providing new business parks, which are to be equipped with advantageous access for pedestrians and cyclists. The sale of the MoD land initiates in the autumn of this year, with a process being established by B&NES Council for developers to engage with the neighbouring communities following their land acquisition.

The authority’s Cabinet Member for Homes and Planning, Cllr Tim Ball (Lib-Dem, Twerton), said: “Over recent years the area has faced a number of challenges including an undersupply of housing to support a growing dynamic

Somerset Council’s aim is to ensure that the sites provide housing that is appropriate for our residents and meets the aspirations of the local community.”

Tim Baker, Assistant Head of Projects for the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, commented: “We continue to work closely with the council throughout the disposal process to help secure a positive outcome for Bath and the wider community.”

Following the B&NES Cabinet meeting on 11th April, a public consultation on the MoD plans will be undertaken in late April, with a series of public exhibitions.

Roman Baths featured in stamps heatheronhertravels Flickr

Benjamin Butcher bathimpact Deputy

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irst they were constructed by the Romans in 60AD as both a spiritual and cultural centre in the then named Aquae Sulis.

Then, in the 19th Century they were reconstructed as a form of Victorian recreation before being made a World Heritage Site in 1987. Now, finally, the City of Bath and its most famous attraction, the Roman Baths have been immortalised by a postage stamp.

Fans of stamps and Roman culture are said to be ecstatic over the news as the Royal Mail announced the baths would represent the letter R in the second part of their creative A-Z of Great Britain series. The baths will be only one of two World Heritage Sites in the 26-set collection and the only Roman site.

The image chosen shows mist rising above the main pool of the Bath and North-East Somerset run attraction in the early morning,

The Roman Baths have been printed on a stamp, heralding the status as a World Heritage site.. highlighting the beauty and uniqueness of the ancient building which lay hidden under the ground for almost 500 years.

Stephen Claws, manager of the Roman Baths, said “The image on this beautiful stamp captures Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Roman Baths as you can see it on a

crisp winter’s morning, with dawn light breaking. In the early morning the baths can be a calm and quiet space with mist rising slowly from the waters, allowing the viewer to immerse in tranquil solitude. Photographer Mark Passmore has done an excellent job in revealing this very special moment in the daily life

of the baths.”

Within the Roman Baths, which actually lie below the current street level, there are four main features: the Sacred Spring, the Roman Temple, the Roman Bath House and the Museum holding artefacts from the Roman Bath. The Baths are a major tourist attraction and, together

with the Grand Pump Room, receive more than one million visitors a year. Visitors can see the Baths and Museum but cannot enter the water.

The hot springs originate from rainwater from the Mendip Hills which infiltrates 2,700m underground, reaching temperatures of 46°C which rises back up to the surface at a rate of 1,170,000 litres per day.

Geoff Braden, Regional Operations Director for Royal Mail, said: “Our two-part journey around the UK has proved a wonderful reminder of the fantastic number of landmarks, such as the Roman Baths, that we are fortunate to enjoy. The Roman Baths retain huge cultural and historical importance in the UK, at the heart of one of the country’s few World Heritage sites. Having stood at the centre of the City of Bath for nearly 2,000 years, the Roman Baths truly are a monument to the great heritage of this country.”

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Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact

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PoLIS isn’t working Person-wha?

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he department of PoLIS seems to be having many admin issues at the moment, something which appears to be frustrating many of its students. More importantly however, could this be the start of a trend as the University re-adjusts in a time of austerity?

For a start… seminars. An integral part of university life, key to understanding the content of modules for any subject. So why are they so hard to navigate? It is certainly the case within the department of PoLIS that each lecturer picks and chooses how to enact the sign up portal in one of

of work before exams but then failing to follow through. This certainly affects the revision process, as it is key to have some sort of idea how well you did in the subject area so you can direct revision a little more effectively.

It is unclear why such problems arise, but one lecturer from the faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences speculated that it may be due to the new ‘work load model’ which is gradually being rolled out across all faculties. This will be in line with new performance management targets which said lecturer stated are ‘sold as an attempt to improve the student experience’ but in actuality are a preemptive strike by PoLIS to get ahead of the curve in regard to the coming

are supposed to be aired, but the last available (November) minutes show that the problems as described do not appear on the agenda. This shows that there is still a break down in communications despite the Academic Representative system being in place, between the students and their reps, and the reps and the University. Students need to be more vocal about such concerns, and the link between staff experience and student experience must be taken more seriously.

After getting hold of a set of the latest minutes (which weren’t available online) from the Academic Representative for Politics with International Relations, it is clear that reps are keen to gauge the thoughts of students. Mr

The House of Commons is often dysfunctional, but is the PoLIS department also in disarray? the many ways apparently possible.

There is a complete lack of coherence with how this is carried out. In most cases, it is unclear which groups tie up with the time slots that appear on the timetables. If there are presentations involved it is often difficult to work out what date you will be presenting as again it is never clearly stated. It would be much better if departments across all faculties came up with a more uniform system for signups to minimise the number of emails lecturers receive from concerned/confused students who have managed to misinterpret the chosen system.

There was also some sort of quibble with the date of exam results. The release date was pushed back by a week, something decided by the University some months back, which was supposed to be then communicated to individual departments, who were supposed to inform their students.

This did not happen in the case of PoLIS until February. It was however, great to see the SAMIS problem was overcome by emailing student’s there results to avoid the system crashes of last year which caused even greater frustration. At the end of last semester students were also experiencing problems with the return of essays, with some lecturers promising the return

funding changes.

This is most felt at a staff level at the moment, but will inevitable trickle down to student experience across all departments as the admin staff begin to suffer with increased expectations and bureaucracy. This was shown by the 2011 Staff Survey, where 60 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement; ‘too many approvals are needed for routine decisions’ (up 33 per cent), and 71 per cent said they ‘had to put in a lot of extra time in the last year to reach the demands of their workload’. 40 per cent said they found their current workload ‘too much’ and almost half stated that they are concerned about proposed changes. The University and its staff seem very closed when it comes to speaking of such issues outside formal frameworks such as the survey, with a number of staff wearing the ‘no comment’ hat (or words to the same effect) which actually says something stronger than any proper response, or reeling off some line imposed by a higher body which doesn’t really address the issue. Their certainly seems to be a lack of acknowledgement that staff experience is directly related to the student experience.

The Staff Student Liaison Committee is the forum where such concerns

Exell had undertaken a student survey of his own, how seriously this will be taken however is yet to be seen. This survey was more focussed on the lecture content and the lecturers themselves as opposed to the structure of the course. Assessment and marking was also on the agenda of this meeting, where Mr Howard White, Senior lecturer for the department, reported the satisfaction for this was fairly low.

Student reps then proceeded to state that it was felt staff members marked differently and that adequate feedback was not always given.

PoLIS as a department brings in a lot of revenue for the University, so it is understandable that they want to lead on the changes, to try an iron out any problems before full implementation is compulsory. It does seem however that there is a certain level of denial about how such changes will affect student experience on the ground, the link between University staff and students is stronger than usually given credit for, as shown by the ‘late’ exam results, essay hand back, and seminar sign up problems. If admin and teaching staff are stressed and overworked problems such as this will only get worse, but then in the current economic climate what can really be done?

Thomas Gane bathimpact Deputy

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f you are aware of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and then happened to stumble across the movement known as Personhood USA you at first might have thought, “Oh someone made a parody of it.

Haha, mocking the Christian Right is always funny.” Then you go in to a bit more detail and see that these people aren’t joking and probably have just read the book and thought, “well the bad guys do basically get away with it don’t they?” You then realise that this isn’t just the work of bat-shit crazy Westboro Baptist types and that these ideas and reforms have spread quite far into American politics. If you’re anything like me you then spent a few minutes raging at the world, poured yourself a stiff drink and desperately hoped that Obama wins in November.

Personhood USA is involved in trying to legally define a zygote as a person from the moment of fertilisation and as such give it the full rights as any other US Citizen, outlawing any medical measures to inhibit or end a pregnancy. This would criminalize all abortions, even in cases of rape, severe foetal deformity and cases in which the mother’s life is threatened. In this situation an eleven year old girl who had been raped would be forced to continue her pregnancy or face criminal charges of murder and perhaps more severe retribution than her attacker. These bills go further than traditional antiabortion ideas and try to place blame upon certain miscarriages, again giving the classification of murderer to women who are not seen to have done enough to prevent the miscarriage. Women have been charged after it has been deemed that deciding not have a caesarean caused the miscarriage, even if it’s deemed dangerous to the woman (see the case of Angela Carter, diagnosed with lung cancer at 25 weeks into her pregnancy. She was forced to have a caesarean birth against her, her doctor and her families wishes leading to the death of both her and the child), or when a woman has performed an action that is deemed to have caused the miscarriage (see the case of Bei Bei Shaui in Indianapolis, who when suffering from depression attempted suicide, suffered a miscarriage and now potentially faces 45 years to life). This law takes what is quite likely to be the most traumatising incident in a wom-

an’s life and instead of offering support during this time of need, attaches public blame and punishment to it.

Despite completely disregarding the rights of women in individual situations the laws also have more far reaching and potentially horrifying consequences.

Certain laws give the state’s government the right to literally seize a woman’s body to protect a foetus and allow hospitals, with state government support, to force a woman to bear a child and have a caesarean or other medical procedures against her will. Laura Pemberton was in active labour at home when Florida State’s Attorney and Sheriff took her into custody, physically strapped her down and forced her to have a caesarean against her will. These measures literally place a woman under the control of their state, losing control of their own bodies and ability to exercise free will. Considering the propaganda of personhood attempts to portray the movement as extending rights to all manner of person, to so extensively remove the rights of women in such a way is hypocritical to an obscene level. One final nail in the theocratic coffin is attempts by personhood movements in Arizona to extend the definition of pregnancy to two weeks before conception i.e. when a woman is on her period. While this may seem less shocking compared to previous measures there are significant ideological implicaJonathan Thorne

Kylie Barton bathimpact Editor-in-Chief impact-editor@bath.ac.uk

Are the unborn US citizens? tions. The goal is to create a situation where the majority, if not all, women are described as pregnant, implying that this is the natural state and what a woman’s job in society is, a baby making machine who can be controlled against her will.

The really scary part? Mitt Romney was asked in a television interview whether he supported the movement, his reply, “absolutely”.

Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact

9

Comment

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Vice-Chancellor’s pay, too much?

University of Bath VC, Dame Glynis M. Breakwell

merited, given they are not aware of all the relevant information.

Pay for vice-chancellors have not increased exorbitantly or uniformly.

In fact, the Times’ Higher Education survey of all British universities demonstrated that average vice-chancellor pay decreased by 1.21 per cent from 2009 to 2010. Of course, this means that some vice-chancellors took pay cuts, whilst the executive compensation increased in universities such as our own. According to the University of Bath’s 2010 accounts, the entire expenditure of the university was approximately £165.7m, with £101.1m being spent on staff costs, meaning the Vice-Chancellor’s pay was 0.002% of total spending.

Many headlines have been written suggesting that average vice-chancellor pay has increased by £9,700 this year alone. This, however, is the aver-

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efore I start writing what will no doubt be a contentious piece, let me make it clear that I believe the personal focus on one woman, the Vice-Chancellor, to be mostly unwarranted.

All of the University’s senior management team have received pay rises above that of the rest of the staff, so both my praise and criticism are directed at the entire team. Please make a note of this.

Now that’s out of the way, I can start proper. As my colleague Anthony Masters has already demonstrated at length, the University has gone from strength to strength under Professor Dame Breakwell’s leadership. We outrank half of

age of only 13 British universities, with no description given behind why these particular universities from the Russell Group were selected. Given that some of these universities were running record surpluses, it is likely that selection bias stalks behind this alarming headline.

I sincerely doubt that it has escaped any student’s attention that the University of Bath is the Sunday Times’ University of the Year. This is just one of a number of accolades that the University of Bath has obtained since Professor Breakwell was appointed ViceChancellor in 2001.

These awards show that our university has grown in stature, and is regularly competing with the best universities in the world. This university had 15 subjects rated as ‘excellent’ in 2009, the highest possible rating, and almost every university guide places the Uni-

versity of Bath in the UK Top 10 for the majority of its subjects. The University of Bath also has a great graduation employment rate, due to its emphasis on placements. Moral complaints about high pay usually derive from pay seemingly being divorced from performance, but it is very incredulous to argue that the University of Bath, and hence its management, is not performing admirably well at the present time.

The anger surrounding vice-chancellor pay often arises from clandestine remuneration committees and obfuscation about what the vice-chancellor actually does for the university. We should certainly strive to correct these problems. Students should not paralyze themselves with moral contortions about vice-chancellor pay. These laudable egalitarian instincts would be much better served by focussing on low pay of workers in universities.

Is this small change to some?

the Russell Group in the league tables and especially on graduate employability. Quality of teaching has also dramatically improved in the last few years, leading us to be named the Sunday Times University of the Year 2011/2012.

We’ve bucked the national trend in that undergraduate application numbers are rising and our financial position is extremely strong, despite the opposite being true of most universities. Our research has been recognised with the award of the Queen’s Anniversary Prize and the founding of the Doctoral Training Centre.

Given all this, any suggestion that our executives’ pay should be cut

should in my opinion be met with mockery.

There is one thing, however, that does not seem to be been considered. The idea that the aforementioned achievements are solely the responsibility of the University’s senior management team is even more ludicrous than the suggestion that their pay should be cut.

Yet by awarding the executive with a healthy (though not excessive) pay rise while giving the rest of the staff as close to a pay freeze as makes no odds, those responsible for setting salaries give just that impression.

So what would be my solution?

My solution is that the percentage increase in staff salaries should be the same, whether they are the Vice-Chancellor or someone receiving the minimum wage. That would mean that the executive got a smaller, although still positive, pay rise in order to fund a similar proportional increase in salary for the rest of the University’s staff.

Every member of staff at this University has done us proud and deserves to be rewarded for it.

(Actually, I tell a lie. The UK Government’s decision to freeze research funding as opposed to cutting it is widely regarded as a personal victory for our ViceChancellor.)

Apparently, amongst all my quirks, my dislike of chicken is the strangest. Now, I don’t, don’t like it. It’s more so that it is so very dull and boring. Why order chicken in a restaurant? Why? All you pay for is the crap they sling over it to make it taste nice. Also, in my strange world, I’ve always thought that the bigger the animal, the more likely it has a nicer life. That’s why I life beef.

As I’ve been writing this, I’ve realised I currently have a cut on the roof of my mouth. As my hobbies include bathimpact and eating, I’m not too sure where it has come from, or if it is a bad thing, this time. It’ll heal quick; don’t fret reader, please.

Well, this has suitably filled the space that was left on the page.

Hope you all had a nice Easter and enjoy the ramblings of an apparent madman!

Howard Lake

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uch popular and political attention has been shined onto the pay and bonus packages of corporate chief executives and bankers. The Universities and Colleges’ Union has highlighted what it calls the “murky world” of vice-chancellor pay, and the National Union of Students has also complained about such pay increases.

It is easy for third party observers to spy on a particular remuneration package and criticise that it is unfair, undeserved and excessively avaricious.

The question is not why vice-chancellors are accepting such pay, but why it is being offered to them. Since the main restriction on what you are paid is what other people are willing to pay you, greed cannot possibly advance your paid income. It is also impossible for outside observers to judge whether one person’s compensation is fair or

Kai Schreiber

Anthony Masters and Simon O’Kane tackle the VC’s pay packet

Why I don’t like crisps, and other sharp foods Tomos Evans bathimpact Comment Editor impact-news@bath.ac.uk

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y now, you’ve probably read most of comment and seen some of the serious articles we have in this issue. Having read them all myself, and as your News and Comment Editor, I thought we needed something a bit more cheery!

So, here’s why I don’t like crisps - and other sharp foods. Firstly, what is a crisp? It’s a bit of potato, fried and no longer tasting of potato. Quite annoying. That said, I will eat the odd packet of crisps, c’mon, why not get a whole meal deal from Fresh? Anyway, I don’t like crisps because, as I’ve already said, they’re sharp. They cut your mouth and then it hurts for a while, not great.

I’m sure you’ll agree.

On announcing my dislike of crisps because of their sharpness, my colleagues here are bathimpact mocked me mercilessly. I am now paranoid that I am eating crisps wrong, so, please, answers on a postcard.

Second to my dislike of crisps is my dislike of baguettes. They, too, are sharp, I would equate a baguette to a knife and you wouldn’t put a sharp knife in your mouth, now would you? It’s upsetting that I feel I cannot enjoy Pitstop. I am aware they do sandwiches, but what’s the point if it’s not a baguette? I’m sure I would still get my money’s worth in a sandwich from the shop.

So yeah. I’m actually afraid of crisps. Pathetic I know.

Any of you who know me would know I come out with some ridiculous things, I have been told the

Crisps, disguised as a heart, trying to trick you into sheer pain aforementioned is among the best.

My hours and hours and even more hours spent in the bathimpact office have highlighted to me my peculiari-

ties. It’s quirks like this which make me wonder if I’ll ever find that elusive boyfriend, it’s not like I’m in any rush after all!

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Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact

Comment

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Manufacturing Made in Britain Sam Short

Zara Parry bathimpact Contributor

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n March, the documentary ‘Mary’s Bottom Line’ showed Mary Portas attempt at rejuvenating the British clothing industry through the creation of an underwear line that was entirely British.

There was a time when Britain, particularly the Midlands, was at the heart of the world’s clothing production. However foreign competition means that now over 90 percent of Britain’s clothes are imported.

When the public were questioned as to where their clothes come from, they did exactly what I did, pulling out labels to find the words ‘Made in China’ or ‘Made in Pakistan’ commonplace. Our obvious disregard to the origins of our clothing leads us to ask, does it really matter?

Well, yes, it does. Since the increase in foreign competition, 700, 000 jobs have been lost in the past 20 years. This depletion of jobs has happened at terrific speed, the Office for National Statistics states that the underwear manufacturing industry between 1998 and 2008, lost 33,000 employees, falling from 36,000 to just 3,000. When you realise that this is also happening throughout the production of shoes, dresses, coats, the destruction it has caused is colossal.

The movement of lingerie manufacturing overseas meant our photographer had a terrible time.

With unemployment at record highs, and the job prospects for our generation looking increasingly more sorrowful, any attempts at job creation on our soil should be supported. The crowds of people queuing up for the eight jobs Mary’s project offered proved this.

We spend £2.5 billion a year on un-

derwear, with this expenditure being ploughed into economies other than our own. Mary Portas believes that due to rising labour and transport costs in Asia, now is the time to bring back British manufacturing.

I think that Mary’s ‘Kinky Knickers’ underwear line will have some success. However only time will tell

if this is owed to the money-can’tbuy publicity is has received or the cunning of Mary’s business plan.

Producing a solely British product is hard, as documented in the programme, British raw materials are not easy to source and a disengaged, long-term unemployed workforce is difficult to motivate. ‘We have

reached a point where the industry has been denuded to such a point that even if the big High Street retailers suddenly decided to buy British again, manufacturers simply wouldn’t have the capacity, the skilled staff and premises to meet demand,’ argues John Miln, of the UK Fashion and Textile Association. Mary Portas puts up a brave fight, but her optimism and energy undoubtedly is not enough to dramatically alter the landscape of the British clothing industry. Despite this, the case she puts forth is a convincing one, “Honestly, if somebody said to you, you can go and get those made in a sweatshop in China and you’ll pay five quid, or you can pay ten quid for better quality – and it is – while also keeping people in a job, if you can afford it, who wouldn’t want to do that? To actually regenerate something we’ve lost in this country?”

Many of us, including myself, will nod and exclaim that we would definitely be willing to pay the extra money; throughout the documentary Mary finds many examples of this. However when it came down to it, would you? - honestly? The crowds gathering at Primark and New Look every weekend suggest otherwise. And really, that’s the bottom line.

James Thomas bathimpact Contributor

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magine if I, on the edge of leaving sixth form, were to write an article in a respected national newspaper about my fears for the future.

What would the reply be? “Welcome to the real world” perhaps? Regardless, someone has done almost exactly that recently in the Guardian where this sort of thing is more acceptable, and asked the very important question of whether or not graduation represents, for uni students, the start of a “quarter life crisis”.

Crisis (along with terror, fury, hero, etc. cf. Mail front page) as a term has already become so branded into the national consciousness that its banality is rapidly approaching that of other more famous suffix, –gate.

The overuse of such words has actually reached an almost critical point, which I’m calling cliché-gate… wait.

Anyway disregarding how overused the word “crisis” is, the general tone of the article suggests that university is a warm, comforting, womb-like environment. Unfortunately, you then have to be born, or “graduate” as it is known. Naked and screaming you’re forcibly ejected into the bright lights of the real world, although I am as-

sured that being slapped on the arse is not (as) customary when it comes to graduation.

In most of the graduation photos I’ve seen (you know, smiling, scroll in hand, wearing a gown) the subjects do not appear frozen in a grotesque rictus of fear, and so I can only assume that graduation is not as terrifying as some people apparently think it is. Seems the fear doesn’t last particularly long though; as Victoria of Nottingham University puts it “Come [graduation]… we won’t have anything in our lives.” Ah yes, I forgot that life descends into a shapeless void once you start having to pay council tax and lose that crucial free cheeseburger at a certain well known burger establishment. I’ve been on placement abroad for the last year, and I was actually surprised how not-scary dealing with non-uni life is. It actually made me realise that working has perks too, like not being broke all the time. For people worried about getting a job, there’s always the option of taking refuge in the statistics. Bath is ranked seventh in the country for graduate employability, especially as University of the Year this year. I would make a joke about keeping University of the Year quiet

James Thomas

Welcome to the quarter life crisis

Is the quarter life crisis real or is the term just ritually overused? but unfortunately every joke on the subject has in fact already been said, and I would just be repeating myself.

My point is that employers will basically be smashing down the doors of Bath grads to force contracts into their shocked, nerveless hands before carting them off to Goldman Sachs/ Intel/the salt mines come August.

The entire idea of the quarter-life crisis seems to hang on the notion that suddenly one day you will wake up and be an “adult”. We’re abruptly shunted between fresh-faced schoolchildren and mature adults, with anything in between being classed as a crisis. I know plenty of adults without a family, a life plan, or a career:

they seem to act much like the rest of us human beings. Most don’t seem at all panicked about the bottomless pit of frantic despair they are apparently drifting towards the bottom of.

Maybe they’re just putting on a brave face. There’s a world of possibility out in the big beyond, and while I’m not knocking people who genuinely love their subject and want to study further, I don’t remember any of my classmates in sixth form saying “I want to go to uni and live like I’m on the dole forever because as soon as I leave, IT’S CRISIS TIME!” Not knowing what you want to do after uni is fine. There are no agencies forcing you to stay in the first job you get after leaving, just the secret lizardperson shadow government which assigns everyone their professions.

But I digress. I don’t know what I want to do after uni, but that’s the great thing: I’ll have the chance to experiment, to travel, and to follow my dreams and ambitions without being forced into the notion that I’m not a proper grown up without a house in the suburbs and a mid-range estate car. I may never be an adult by that definition, but that’s mainly because I want to live on a yacht. Or preferably two yachts.

To get involved with broadcasting, production, engineering, journalism and filming, consider Media as your new hobby next term...

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Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact

Politics

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BANES leader grilled on Article 4

bathimpact’s Anthony Masters interviews Paul Crossley on student matters

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n an interview for bathimpact last week, Councillor Paul Crossley, the leader of Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) Council, spoke about all matters student, including the infamous Article 4 Direction.

of residences, so it’s a question of managing where students have options to live. Some of the students say an Article 4 is anti-student and wants to drive students out; I’d say that is a misrepresentation.

We want HMOs to meet rigorous qualities and expectations, so that it works for the communities where the students are living, the students themselves, and the landlords who are running a commercial business.

AM: What duties do you have as leader of the council?

AM: Moving onto a controversial issue, what is the intention behind the Article 4 Direction?

PC: First, we absolutely welcome

AM: So is it a done deal then?

Councillor in the community

PC: We’re in a consultation phase at the moment; which is being extended to include the new student intake. We welcome everyone taking part in the consultation; there is nothing that is a done deal. We are looking at both licensing and Article 4, so we have four options, we can do nothing, either or both.

the fact that we have two successful universities here in Bath. However, with success, also come problems.

We recognise that students don’t want to spend all their years in halls

AM: How much pressure is there on the council to enact an Article 4 Direction across Bath?

Paul Crossley

Paul Crossley: The council provides £300m of services a year, 75% of our budget is on education and social services, and the remaining 25% covers everything else. In terms of education, we are increasingly becoming a delivery agency as more schools become academies.

In B&NES, we are one of the worst funded education authorities, but have one of the best education results of any part of the country.

PC: There is quite clearly concern in certain communities. There are 3,000 HMOs in the whole of B&NES, and 1,000 are concentrated in one small corner of Bath.

Students want to live in the community, and if that community is a student ghetto, they are living in a campus extension. It’s impor-

“

[Article 4] should diversify the options for students Paul Crossley

”

tant that we get the mix of student needs, resident needs and family needs correct and balanced.

AM: One of the main objections is that the Article 4 Direction sets students and that style of living apart.

PC: But it doesn’t set them apart, it means you have to go through a planning process. It doesn’t set a zone where you are going to live; I mean that’s what happening now,

with whole streets are becoming student streets. It should diversify the options for students, not restrict. I don’t accept the premise of your question; I think it actually adds to diversification of where students can live.

AM: How successful has the Student Community Partnership been?

PC: I think it’s been very good, which is not to say it can’t improve.

It has addressed the needs of students, and it has also given education to students about living in communities, which perhaps they didn’t have previously when they were living with their families. We’re very committed to keeping it going as a dialogue between students and councillors, between the university and the town.

Councillor Paul Crossley and Cabinet member Tim Ball both said they were happy to debate with students issues surrounding the Article 4 Direction and other issues.

Kylie Barton bathimpact Editor in Chief impact-editor@bath.ac.uk

T

he University of Bath held a conference in celebration of the Queens Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education which was awarded to the University at a ceremony held at Buckingham Palace in February. The award is hailed as the countries ‘most prestigious recognition for a UK academic institution’, and Bath was recognised in particular for its research in the field of child poverty and related policy which was the focus of the conference held at the end of last month.

The event was host to an array of dignitaries, researchers, academics, NGO representatives, former MPs, The Bath Mayor and students who attended to hear an overview of the award winning research and to debate the future of policy in the UK in the area of child poverty.

Jane Millar (Chair) OBE, Professor and Pro-VC at Bath opened the conference by stating two aims of celebration and looking to what impact such research may have on a larger scale in the future. There was a theme of how childhood has been commodified, and how technology has changed what it means to be a child and what is important within childhood, which was something all speakers touched upon.

Professor Millar also spoke of the bad trajectory for children in the current climate, with research showing that poor families will suffer most from the cuts. She said that the blame culture in the UK is not backed by evidence, stating “hard times generate hard attitudes”.

Paul Gregg and Susan Harkness were the first to speak, focussing on the importance of lone-parent families. In 1970 one in twenty families were headed by lone parents, which has risen to one in five today. Harkness stressed that this concept is fluid, as loneness is usually a transitional state therefore half of all children will at one point live with a single parent, proving loneness is not always the disaster claimed by popular media (who took quite a hammering throughout the conference), but the number of transitions which is key.

Professor Gregg looked at the idea of popular opinion further; he said jokingly “We can’t give money to poor people as they all spend it on sex drugs and rock and roll!” An opinion which is interesting he said, when spending on alcohol and tobacco actually fell, and spending increased in areas of children’s clothing, fruit and books, significantly so in comparison to other family types.

Tess Ridge focussed on the resourcefulness of children, and how

Nic Delves-Broughton

Policy in hard times... Bath takes the lead

A selection of the researchers who joined the day’s discussions they “don’t need to be given a voice, but they need to be given a hearing”.

She also mentioned the hidden costs of education, and how the internal system can be unintentionally discriminatory.

In the first round of questions, an audience member asked about how much public opinion guides policy.

To which Ridge responded she was ‘disheartened’ by the response to the recent Social Attitudes Survey. It was also pointed out that it is where you are in the political cycle which matters most. Ridge finished the debate by saying in addition to evidence based policy she ‘would like to see the start of evidence based media’, which brought gasps and laughs from the audience.

Joe Devine and Geof Wood spoke about child poverty in Bangladesh,

and the challenges of thinking about poverty globally beyond the traditional ‘Band Aid image’. Jason Heart continued to broaden the discussion into a global context by looking at the plight of Palestinian children and the ‘stateless child’.

Sue Duncan re-focussed the discussion on UK policy stating “there is a need for a well informed debate, now more than ever”, cautioning that too often ‘the wrong questions’ are asked in relation to such issues. She also stressed how such academic research should not be constrained by the agenda of the party of the day. She also discussed how reactionary debate isn’t enough, and how academics should be invited to join the discussion earlier in the process whilst recognising ‘academics are being squeezed to do more

with less’.

UNICEF UK representative, Alison Marshall highlighted the importance of NGOs of being a ‘bridge’ between academics and policy, and the importance of busting through the jargon to make the main points digestible to the general public to widen engagement with the issues of poverty on a local and global scale. She also stated how it was important to enshrine the UN Rights of the Child in all legislation, and should follow the lead of the devolved nations in the UK. Graham Room was the last to speak, refocusing the talk back to a local level, discussing how clarification of terms and levels of analysis can affect statistics such as the ward of Foxhill in Bath being overlooked by council initiatives due to its more affluent surrounding of Combe Down. As a rebuttal to this Geoff Wood pointed out that in the current ranking system of the work of academics, ‘the more complicated the better’ for the advancement of their careers, limiting the researches utility.

The conference raised a lot of interesting points, and was an apt way to celebrate the diversity of work undertaken by Bath academics in the field of child poverty. As stated by many of the speakers, the task is to make for a better tomorrow, not to simply sit and analyse yesterday.

Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact

13

Politics

www.bathimpact.com

‘Academic Spring’ gets backing by gov The government has recently announced their support for what has been hailed as the ‘academic spring’.

The initiative is an attempt to make academic journals more widely available in a quest to spread knowledge.

The project is being spearheaded by medical research giant ‘Wellcome Trust’ who are in the process of creating a scientific journal called ‘eLife’ which unlike other academic journals will be free to access on the internet. In the strive for openness the trust will also be considering financial sanctions to those researchers who do not wish to make their findings open.

This endeavor will go some way in widening participation in academia.

Without pay walls, a greater cross section of the demographic will be able to access information before limited to those will access to such resources through institutions such as Universities.

The project will also be of use due to the rising costs of publishing academic journals, and so is likely to be attractive to universities from a spending point of view too. The main cost it is argued is in the sending out of manuscripts for peer review before publication which publishers and researchers acknowledge is a crucial part of quality control.

In December, Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts

Whose funding your little party William Cooper bathimpact Contributor owerful and wealthy donors seeking to acquire influence over the direction of party policy and the composition of the cabinet. Sound familiar? You would be forgiven for assuming I was talking of No. 10’s Come Dine With Me millionaire specials.

The cash for access scandal is totally unacceptable, and Miliband has quite rightly states that the dinners represent ‘grave allegations about the way that access

Loozrboy

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in the Commons last week that not only do the trade union donations buy policy, but they also ‘elect the leader. So, before Miliband accuses the Tories of acting unethically, perhaps he should first check his own party treasury and the Labour 2010 leadership election data. In this election, just under half of all of Miliband’s votes came from the trade unions.

As far as funding is concerned, the two main parties are playing on a level field. But as necessary as private funding

Balancing the books always proves difficult for politicians! is gained and policy is made’. Yet, the Tories are not the only guilty party.

The way in which the Labour Party secures its funding from the trade unions is equally unacceptable. Francis Maude noted

is to party politics, its lack of transparency gives a bad name to politics.

The only way to counter this to enforce transparency on the issue funding through the press: we should let the public decide.

said he ‘aspired to have all government-funded research published in the public domain’. Research by Research Libraries UK shows that around 10 per cent of the block grants provided to universities by the government is spent on gaining

“

[Academics] are more ruthless than Murdoch

”

access to journals.

The important task here is to tackle the prestigious journals to get them on board as this is where the researchers themselves will take most notice. 9,000 researchers have already signed up to boycott publi-

cations that prohibit the spread of knowledge for free, and so it seems there is acknowledgement within the field that in an age of information, change is needed.

The Wellcome Trust only works within the field of science, but as a lead name in this domain, it’s success is hoped to influence other areas of research too. David Willits also stated that the move is important for ‘encouraging collaboration and facilitating technology transfer’, recognizing the potential the move to a larger platform could have beyond widening readership.

These goals are also supported by other bodies in the research sector such as Research Councils UK, and more high profile charities such

as Cancer Research UK who already employ a similar scheme.

Academics also need to take a lead role in this initiative, and have been doing so. Dame Janet Finch is leading the National Working Group on Expanding Access to Published Research Findings which will formulate an agenda of action to ensure that the ideas laid out are put into action.

The current protocol has led some commentators labelling academics as more ruthless capitalists than Murdoch with their ‘knowledge monopoly’ – large claim. It seems the academic world can no longer be nostalgic for a time of papers piled high in dark dusky office, and needs to jump on the technology bandwagon.

Student visa threat

Madeline Winn bathimpact Contributor nder the VISA system introduced by the Labour government in 2009, each student must be sponsored by a licensed educational institution and cannot change establishment without applying to the agency. Before these reforms, no permission was required before changing institutions.

However, the National Audit Office (NAO), which published a critical report of these reforms, argues that the new system was introduced before some of the ‘key controls’ were established; consequently, between 40,000 and 50,000 people currently working in the UK entered illegitimately by claiming to be students. This is largely due to the border agency’s failure to check that people arriving in the UK for educative purposes were in fact attending college and not being employed. The flaws in the student visa system had been ‘both predictable and avoidable’, according to Amyas Morse, Head of the NAO. For the agency, the ‘students’ that overstay or work in breach of their visas are a relatively low priority, when compared to illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers. Therefore, the border agency has done very little to prevent students overstaying or breaching their visa; the agency also lacks information about how many people are continuing to live in the UK after their student visa expires.

While, according to the report, the UK border agency failed to trace individuals effectively, NAO tracked down 147 migrants who are almost certainly here illegally, and found the addresses of 812

U

Sam Short

Kylie Barton bathimpact Editor in Chief impact-editor@bath.ac.uk

The University’s Science dep. attracts many international students suspects in total, within a week at a cost of only £3,000. Amyas Morse thus argues that the agency should prioritise the pursuit and removal of people with no right to remain in the UK.

“

The agency needs to get a grip and fix the way it deals with student visas

”

Margaret Hodge MP The Chairperson for the Commons Public Accounts Committee, Margaret Hodge MP, further criticises the agency: ‘this is one of the most shocking reports of poor management leading to abuse that I have seen… The agency needs to

get a grip and fix the way it deals with student visas.’

The immigration minister Damian Green points out that the current government is introducing radical reforms to ensure abuse of the system stops; these reforms include new rules on English language, working rights and dependants, ensuring only legitimate students come to study in the UK. Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, points out the success of these reforms which have ‘tightened up’ the system.

However, she also argues that legitimate students are being deterred from applying, as there is a message being delivered that the UK is hostile to genuine international students.

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bathimpact

Politics

www.bathimpact.com

Whipped into submission Web monitoring bathimpact’s William Cooper looks at why

The whipping should be restrained to the private hours...

O

ur political system today is the least democratic is has been since before the complete enfranchisement of women.

Much has been said about the monarchy - how it is the Queen who poses the greatest threat to democracy, for she ultimately retains the ability to dispose of an elected government.

Furthermore, the democratic deficit that the House of Lords embodies is also well documented. Unelected peers draft, accept and reject legislation that directly impacts upon the ways in which our society is organised (remind anyone of Brussels?).

However, please do not mistake this article for a republican assault on our monarchy, or a Cleggite attack on unelected peers. In our political system, it is neither the Queen nor the House of Lords that should be our main cause for concern. Rather, we ought to be concerned with the very institution that ostensibly serves to

guarantee our political representation and participation in the system that governs our society. It is within the House of Commons that the democratic credentials of our political system are undermined.

While the issues with the monarchy and the House of Lords have long been on the public agenda, it is startling how the House of Commons’ silent subversion of democratic principles has escaped scrutiny. The fundamental component of representative democracy is that the people elect accountable and retractable representatives to represent their interests in a legislature. In Britain, this means that constituents elect a single MP who will serve their interests for the duration of the Parliamentary session. However, in practice this is not the case. The advent of the coherent, modern mass party has compelled the use of those esteemed marshals of democracy, the party whips, who effec-

Benjamin Butcher bathimpact Contributor here is little doubt that Ed Miliband, leader of the Labour Party, woke up on Thursday with a smile on his face.

The by-election in Bradford West, which was held as a result of Labour incumbent Marsha Singh’s resignation on health grounds, was going to be an easy victory. Labour had had a good week, not so much because of what they were doing right, but because of what the Conservatives were doing wrong. The donorgate scandal exacerbated the belief that the Conservatives are still the party of the rich, Downing Street triggered a national rush on fuel and, amongst the backlash to the punishing budg-

et, Cameron couldn’t even remember where he bought his last pasty!

So, in the midst of all this, one could easily predict in a constituency consisting overwhelmingly of BritishAsians and where Labour had over a 5000 vote advantage in the last election, Labour would easily walk to victory. They couldn’t have been more wrong.

When Mr Galloway, who was expelled from the Labour party in 2003 for his critique on the Iraq War, entered the race with his socialist Respect party, it was never just a token gesture. This impoverished part of the UK, filled with its racial tensions and demonization by certain parts of the media, has been taken advantage of for years by the Labour gov-

tively control the voting behaviour of MPs in accordance with their particular party legislative programme. What does this mean? MPs do not represent the interests of their constituents; rather, MPs represent their whips, who in turn represent the interests of their party leader.

In October 2010, Tory MP Peter Bone proposed in a Private Member’s Bill that party whips in the Commons should be abolished. Bone argued that whips treat their MPs as mere ‘sheep’, divided into ‘flocks’ to be herded into voting chambers. While timid deliberation over bills takes place in an almost empty chamber, the majority of MPs relax in their Westminster common rooms. When the time arrives for the Commons vote on that bill, a bell sounds, and the MPs are herded into the voting chambers, having been instructed by the whips on which way to vote. In some cases, the only thing an MP may know of the bill is how his or her whip wants them to vote on it.

Now, which term describes the House of Commons most appropriately? Representative democracy?

Or perhaps, to use Lord Hailsham’s phrase, elective dictatorship? Perhaps the public should have greater knowledge and control over a instrument of party government that has such great consequences for the legislation that affects us. To find out more, look up the bill entitled ‘the House of Commons Disqualification (Amendment) Bill 2010-12’, sponsored by Peter Bone, MP for Wellingborough and Rushden.

Perhaps if individual MPs had more autonomy to represent their constituents, pledges wouldn’t be broken quite so often.

U

nder proposed legislation by the government, intelligence officers will be authorized to monitor the Internet activities of every individual living in the UK. The new law itself would require Internet service providers to give GCHQ access to content of messages, e-mails and phone calls with a warrant. It will also allow them to pinpoint with whom a group or individual is in contact with, for how often and how long as well as which websites they have visited.

The Home Office issued a statement saying that it would allow “Police and security services […] to obtain communications data in certain circumstance to investigate serious crime and terrorism and to protect the public” with assurance that it will be “compatible with the government’s approach to civil liberties”.

ally improve public safety…”

There are also those who believe that this legislation could potentially be used in much less threatening contexts, like the Regulation of Investigatory Power Acts where local councils used counter-terror methods to conduct undercover operations against those suspect of lying in school applications and flytippers.

Indeed this is not the first time the government has proposed legislation to keep track of internet activity. In 2006 the Labour government proposed the legislation; Intercept Modernisation Programme that compelled Internet service providers and phone companies to collect customer data that would then be passed on to a government controlled database.

It faced heavy opposition from the public, civil liberties groups and the Conservatives (then in opposition) and was eventually dropped in 2009.

Sam Short

Aikuisten

the Commons system needs updating

Robyn Chan bathimpact Contributor

Computer safety is a new challenge, and policy is behind Yet this assurance has been met The legislation will most likely with scepticism. Conservative MP be formally announced in the next David Davis commented on the Queen’s Speech, with hopes of it BBC, “what this is talking about being implemented in 2015. At this doing is not focusing on terrorists point the bill will most likely come or criminals, it’s absolutely eve- up against strong opposition in the rybody’s emails, phone calls, web Commons and House of Lords and access…” The director of the Big be significantly watered down, if it Brother Watch campaign group, survives Parliament. Already Lib Nick Pickles described it as “ an ab- Dem’s president Tim Farron has solute attack on privacy online and said that they are “prepared to kill it is far from clear [that it] will actu- [the plans]… if it comes down to it”.

T

C4

Who the hell let that old cat out of the bag?

George is certainly the cat that got the cream in Westminster ernment, who have taken their votes but given little back. It should have been obvious that Labour wouldn’t enjoy a strong win, but there are few who could have predicted a victory for Respect.

Mr Galloway received 56% of the votes to Labours 25%. The Conservatives scraped just over 8% and, just

as humiliatingly, the Liberal Democrats lost their deposit with only 5% of the vote. The coalition partners could have easily predicted such a result, but if there was ever a wakeup call for the Labour party this was it. Mr Galloway made this clear in his victory speech as he stated Labour “must stop imagining that work-

ing people and poor people have no option but to support them”. He’s right; this was as much a protest vote against Labour as it was against the ConDem coalition. That does not take anything away from Mr Galloway’s remarkable performance. He pandered to the Muslim vote by doing what he does best: highlighting the fact that the Iraq war has been economically and politically disastrous for Britain and has pushed the Islamic community against a wall.

At such a point in time, Labour should be winning seats, not losing them. Miliband may have woken up smiling, but he will no doubt have gone to bed with one thing on his mind. How long can I survive in this job?

Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact

15

Media

www.bathimpact.com

And Media’s winners are... bathimpact gives you the winners of the Media Committee elections for 2012/13 - and don’t forget our Media Officer Nick Hill!

University of Bath Students’ Union

The list of students who will be bringing you your student newspaper next year are as follows: Editor-in-Chief - Rowan Emslie Deputy Editor - Elliott Campbell News & Comment Editor - Liv Hows Features Editor - Ben Butcher bite Editor - Thomas Gane Sport Editor - Matthew Powell Photography Editor - Caleb Wheeler-Robinson Treasurer - Aran Gnana Publicity - <Vacant> IT - <Vacant>

Ctv

C a m p u s Te l e v i s i o n Making all the decisions for the student TV station at Bath: Station Manager - <Vacant> Chief Engineer - Deepak Ramchandani Live Events - Sam Withers Treasurer - Liv Hows Head of AdMarket - <Vacant> Head of Production - <Vacant>

In charge of one of the top 3 student radio stations in the country, it’s these guys: Station Manager - Jamie O’Sullivan Executive Producer - David James Programme Controller - James Thomas Chief Engineer - Alex Davies Head of Music - Tim Jones Head of Station Sound - Steven Pagett Head of Online - Jonty Usborne Head of AdMarket - Jack Mclaren-Stewart Training - Marie-Lou Steul Social Secretary - Nick Hill Head of IT - Michael Parry Treasurer - Gemma Saggers

Vacant positions will be filled in a by-election which will take place very soon, so if you’re interested in any of the above vacancies or being involved next year, please get in touch with impact-editor@bath. ac.uk, ctv-manager@bath.ac.uk or urb-manager@bath.ac.uk to find out how to apply!

jump into STU DENT University

of

Bath

Students’

Union

m edia

Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact

17

Sabbs Corner

www.bathimpact.com

The greatest stage on earth F

rom May 4th to May 7th the 2012 Olympic Stadium will play host to student athletes from all over the country as the BUCS Athletics Championships are held as the test event of the Olympic games.

Not only does this offer a fantastic opportunity for all those lucky enough to be selected to compete, but it offers a fantastic opportunity for spectators and the whole University Sporting sector.

Despite having some of the best athletes in the country competing, the profile of university sport in this country is not comparable to that in many others. This is especially true in comparison to America, where most universities have stadiums that would not look out of place when likened to those in professional leagues.

The final of the NCAA (America’s far more glamorous cousin of BUCS) was watched by 78,603 people at The University of Phoenix stadium. In addition to this, there are regularly games shown live on TV.

In America Division 1 during the 2009/10 season, athletic programmes generated an income of $8.7bn. These programmes often run at a profit and are free for the top athletes to take part.

So, you must have to be good to get in to one of these multi-million dollar programmes? Not necessarily. As a national level swimmer (but a long way off international standard), I was offered a sports scholarship from a small university in Florida.

So why does American Collegiate Sport attract so much attention, yet we have Premiership level British University Sport which takes place without any crowds on campus? It all comes down to profile. In America when you go to watch collegiate sport you are not watching just your university but you’re watching the stars of tomorrow.

There are also the problems of scale. The majority of US campuses are far larger than those in the UK, and they are also grouped into larger institutions. There is an allegiance there and that is often enough. Additionally, given the spread of the na-

tional league grounds around such a large country, there are large pockets where, unless you want to travel for 5 hours, your best bet is to support your local university.

That is not to say that all is lost here in the UK. The problems we encounter have mostly to do with alternative pathways to the top level, which are often preferred.

Personally I think that urging all athletes to come through the university sector will only do wonders for the individuals involved and sport as a whole. We have seen a number of elite athletes come through the University of Bath, including former England Rugby captain Steve Borthwick.

We are very fortunate to have good links to local league clubs in Bath Rugby and Bath City Football Club.

This ensures that there is the option still here of competing a university degree alongside developing into professional sport.

University sport in this country, and particularly at Bath, is still the highest level of sport you can watch outside of the professional leagues.

Although it is only a one-off event, Varsity saw approximately 3500 spectators across the day with an additional 1200 watching the live stream of the rugby online. There’s no doubt that events like this are the start of something which can only continue to grow.

This brings me back on to the BUCS Athletics Championships. One area in which this country does excel

is Olympic sport and this has it fundamental roots in universities. The chance to showcase this on such a grand stage is something not to be missed.

On Saturday 5th May we will be sending coaches to the Olympic Stadium to sample the atmosphere and cheer on our athletes. To secure your place please email susa@bath.ac.uk

Sam Short

Chris Clements VP Sport susport@bath.ac.uk

This year’s varsity was a hit

A Founders Day in the life What’s the QAA? David Howells tells bathimpact about an atypical day in the life of a sabbatical officer

E

very day as a sabb is a little bit different. Some days are good, some are bad, some days involve wins for students, some only frustrating struggles to get what students really want. And then, there is Founders Day. Begun last year, the University of Bath holds an annual afternoon in celebration of the founding of the University in 1966. The day combines a free pre-existing annual events, including the rent paying ceremony (with accompanying formal dinner), and the equivalent of the organisations AGM - Court. Here, the Vice Chancellor and the Director of Finance outline the University’s position and progress over the last year. As Court, a meeting laid down in the University’s statutes, is intended to include a wide range of stakeholders, the sabbatical team are invited to attend on your behalf.

This all might sound a little dull. And as someone who struggles with formal dinners and has heard much of the university’s achievements several times

before, I might even agree, if it weren’t for the fact that Founders Day involves so much more than that.

It started this year with a presentation by the Director of Sport and key figures from the University’s history on the sport at the University through the ages. Say what you will (and I often do!), sport is a big part of this institution, and it really is fascinating to see how we got to where we are. It might be inconceivable to us to imagine the University without the STV, but there was a time before world class facilities. It was an enjoyable talk, and certainly fitting for an Olympic year, or indeed the year the British Paralympics Squad comes here to train for success in the upcoming games.

Court swiftly followed the talk, and I’m not going to write much about it, because bathimpact has already covered the University’s proud achievements this year. Of course, like in these very pages, the University’s success didn’t stop question of the VC’s pay from being raised.

But the centrepiece of the af-

ternoon was the Founders Day Lecture, presented by the Master of Trinity College Cambridge Lord Rees. His lecture was titled ‘Planets, Life and the Universe’, and covered the topics ranging from the search for life, the history of the universe, and planet hunting.

The talk was utterly fascinating, but perhaps for me the most striking thing was not the topics, but how artfully they were brought together into something far more intelligent than their (already pretty intelligent!) pieces.

The end of the afternoon was the peppercorn rent dinner, where the University presents the local Council (who own our land) with the rent of a peppercorn. While the ceremony itself is a little silly the second time round, the dinner was itself more enjoyable than I had feared. One of the things I most enjoyed was the opportunity to speak to several professors about their research and academic life, So that was my Founders Day. Not a typical day in the life of a sabb, but a day in the life nevertheless.

Matt Benka VP Education sueducation@bath.ac.uk

U

nless you’re fairly involved in Academic Representation and the Higher Education sector, you’re probably not aware of the QAA (Quality Assurance Agency), what it does, or why it’s important. Well, luckily for you, you’re about to have those questions answered in the most important and oversimplified article you will ever read, assuming that you have never before, nor will ever again, read another article.

Let’s start with the basics. The QAA - basically makes sure that the degrees in the UK Higher Education sector are of a sound academic standard, and to make sure that universities have methods in place to assure the quality of their degrees. Simple version - they make sure that there aren’t any “doss degrees”, which is a horrible term and is only ever used by people who need to validate their own choice of degree by judging other degrees for no rational reason.

Next: the Institutional Review - this is how the QAA reviews institutions. Clearly. The University of Bath is one of the institutions that will be reviewed next academic year.

What this basically involves is the

institution preparing a submission, which the QAA then considers, comes to visit the institution, and then produces a judgement on a few areas. Now, if that sounds simple and straightforward, it’s only because I reduced the entire process to a single sentence. In reality, preparing a submission takes over a year of time, and involves so much paper that I’m going to plant a couple of trees to compensate.

I’ll spare you the details, but the QAA asks dozens of questions, all of which require consideration, and most of which will require some form of research.

On top of this, there’s what’s called the Student Written Submission, which is a submission that is written by the students of the institution, and continues the QAA’s trend of naming things in the most straightforward way possible.

At Bath, this submission is written by the Students’ Union, and is basically the students’ view on what the QAA asks. Essentially, this means that if we feel that the institution is talking absolute nonsense and we need to make sure the truth is out there, the Student Written Submission is how we do that. Expect to see a draft of it at the start of the next academic year.

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Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact

Activities

www.bathimpact.com

PGA events Support Cycle Everest!

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isfy the theatrical societies, the next three productions of Arsenic and Old Lace, The Vagina Monologues, and Fame were made to sell out as well! BUSMS’ production of Fame completely selling out in particular was a real gift for the society, as it approaches its 20th year, as it was the first BUSMS’ show to completely sell out in the last decade! It’s true that the two societies are probably slightly smug at the moment, but they’re determined to continue this success to the end of this year and into the next!

The next production to look out for from these societies is BUSMS’ Encore; a revue show held every year to showcase the campus’ many talents within a selection of incredible numbers from the many great musicals. Being performed on the 6th and 7th of May in the Arts Lecture Theatre on campus, this year’s Encore is one event not to miss! With songs from The Lion King to We Will Rock You, and numbers from the new West End and Broadway smashes: Matilda, and The Book of Mormon, Encore 2012 promises to be an evening that you’ll fondly remember for a while to come.

BUSMS

he quality of arts on campus keeps getting better. Proof of this can be seen in just how well the theatrical societies have shone in their endeavours this year, and also how they’ve made a noticeable impact on the campus’ atmosphere. From musical flashmobs on the parade, to the university’s first pantomime, differences really can be seen this year in how the student body is responding to the arts.

For two of the union’s largest arts societies, BUSMS and BUST (musicals and theatre respectively), success this year has been tremendous, and almost unheard of in previous years.

October saw a great start for both societies. The productions of Elton John’s Aida from BUSMS and Patrick Marber’s Dealer’s Choice by BUST both received excellent responses, and an income of new talent to both societies that was reflective of that success. The pantomime Sleeping Beauty was staged in December by a very proud cast of BUST-ians, and all four performances sold out entirely!

If that alone wasn’t enough to sat-

The team performing Lion King in Encore 2010

sponsors and events will go towards the chosen charities; Tibet Foundation, Neil Turkington Nepal Project, Water Aid Nepal and Bath Rag. The team members include Sunny Shah (3rd year Mechanical Engineering), Fred Tasker (3rd year Mechanical Engineering), Rory Taylor (4th year Accounting and Finance), Andy Smith (1st year Mathematical Science) and Yusuf Islow (4th year Electrical and Electronic Engineer-

ing).

The group will be organising various fundraising events on campus over the coming weeks, ranging from cake sales to a 24 hour bike ride on campus. You can contact the group through their website if you would like to join this adventure. More information about this project can also be found on their website, www. cycle-everest.co.uk.

ChaOS is truly the society run by musicians for musicians. No auditions are required; we would be pleased to

welcome you. For more information find us on BathStudent, Facebook or email su6caos@bath.ac.uk

ChaOS in classy concert

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aturday 17th March saw a fantastic night of music making by the University’s Choral and Orchestral Society (ChaOS). In front of an audience almost 100 strong, at Christ Church in Julian Road, the society’s talented musicians gave a performance of which they can be very proud. The applause received was a great testimony to the hard work of the students and their conductors over the course of the whole academic year.

If you missed out on this success, ChaOS will be performing again, on Saturday 21st April from 2pm to 10pm at Green Park Station. ‘Sounds in the Station’ is a FREE concert showcasing the highlights of the ensembles’ years’ work. Everyone is welcome to come and listen, whether for 5 minutes or 5 hours. Vocal groups will perform before 5pm, followed by instrumental ensembles playing through the evening. ChaOS always performs music in a wide range of styles, from classical to contemporary to jazz, so there is bound to be something for everyone’s taste.

For any musicians out there who have not been part of ChaOS this year (or indeed anyone who has always fancied singing but never got further than in their shower), why not join ChaOS for next year? With over 170 members and 7 ensembles,

Catherine Bateson

Arts on campus

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group of 5 undergraduate students will be cycling 1000km from Lhasa, Tibet, to Kathmandu, Nepal, via Everest Base Camp this September to raise money for charities in the Bath, Tibet and Nepal.

Tibet, protected by the great Himalayan chain to the south and west, and by the even more inhospitable mountains to the north and east, has haunted the ambition of explorers for centuries. For the adventurous cyclist this land of rugged beauty, vast landscapes, brilliant skies and glittering peaks offers one of the ultimate biking challenges. One that is sure to test them physically and mentally in equal measures.

In a total of 15 cycling days, the group will be taking in Kathmandu and Lhasa, the north face of Everest, several 5000m+ passes, and an unrivalled 4000m descent into Nepal, probably one the world’s longest descents. This is truly an epic ride across 'the forbidden land' and includes a total climb in excess of 10,000m; higher than Mt. Everest!

The trip will be entirely selffunded by the team and any money raised through the JustGiving page,

The Alley Barbers belting it out

The choir fills the churh Catherine Bateson

evening gathering, as well as getting a chance to catch up with old ones.

Monday 5 March also saw the debut of our new postgraduate pub quiz, held in The Tub. The event was a success with a turnout of over 30, so we hope to hold it again soon.

As a member of the PGA Exec, I can tell you we have even more planned. To keep up to date with what the PGA are doing, be sure to check your emails regularly and also be sure to ‘Like’ the PGA Facebook page if you have Facebook, or follow ‘bathpga’ if you use Twitter! All postgraduates are PGA members by default, so there’s no need to sign up to anything – just come along!

If you want to get in touch, email postgrads@bath.ac.uk or visit our Bathstudent page to find out more.

Catherine Bateson

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s the Postgraduate Association (PGA) Education Officer I’m delighted to announce a recent increase in our programme of social events. In addition to Cuppa Coffee, which continues to take place every Thursday afternoon between 3pm and 4:30pm in the 4 West Graduate Centre, we now have a similarly informal get-together in the Tub at 5pm on Thursdays, with a mind to those who either cannot attend Cuppa Coffee due to lectures/labs or would just prefer a different time and setting.

Turnout for the new networking event fluctuates week on week, but it’s always more than good enough for good conversation. I’ve already made new friends thanks to the

The big band in full swing

Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact

19

International

www.bathimpact.com

Spain bites the austerity bullet

bathimpact’s Julia Fioretti explores Spains new austerity measures

“

Spains budget is thus a gamble between selfperpetuating recession and slow growth

”

government headed by Mariano Rajoy is firmly determined to follow the Irish model.

On March 30th the Spanish government announced what was the most austere budget since Franco’s death in 1975. In an at-

tempt to save €27bn this year, public sector salaries will be frozen, ministries will face budget cuts of up to 17 per cent, income tax will rise by 1.9 per cent and electricity and gas bills will rise by 7 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively. Unemployment benefit will be frozen and pensions will be indexed to inflation. As a palliative for consumers, VAT will stay at its current 18 per cent. Following massive protests across Spain, which turned violent in Barcelona, the budget minister Cristobal Montoro was careful to ensure that most of the savings would come from higher corporate taxes, a fiscal amnesty in return for a 10 per cent fee and public sector cuts.

The draconian budget follows negotiations with the European Union last month during which Spain agreed to reduce its deficit from 8.5 per cent to 5.3 per cent of GDP in 2012. This figure was a compromise on Spain’s earlier announcement in March that it

would reduce the deficit to 5.8 per cent, a long way from the 4.4 per cent previously agreed with the EU. Blaming the previous Socialist government, the current administration justified this unilateral announcement with its discovery that the country’s finances were more rickety than it had expected.

A lot of commentators have expressed doubts about the feasibil-

ity of the budget cuts. One worry is that Spain might fall into a downward spiral of spending cuts, recession, unemployment and falling tax revenues, given that the economy is already in recession and predicted to shrink by 2 per cent this year before any savings are made. Moreover, unemployment already stands at 23 per cent, rising to over 50 per cent for young people. Given that the trou-

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ou have the Greek model, or the Irish model. You can either go kicking or screaming, or you can bite the bullet, like people have done in Ireland”. This is the analogy Gayle Allard, an economist from Spain’s IE Business School, used to describe reactions to austerity cuts. Judging by Spain’s latest budget, it seems the centre-right

Spaniards take to the streets in protest against the cuts!

blesome regional governments were largely responsible for Spain overshooting its deficit target of 6 per cent last year by 2.5 percentage points, the latest budget is at risk if they fail to cut down on their spending.

On the other hand Spain is anxious to step out of limelight and quash any concerns about it needing a bailout, especially as bond yields rose almost a full percentage point since the start of March. Should Spain prove incapable of reining in its spending and raising revenue, interest rates could well rise to unsustainable levels. Mr Rajoy has a brief window of opportunity to push through his programme as exports in January were 3.9 per cent higher than a year earlier and a weaker recession in Europe ought to buoy the upward trend. Spain’s public debt is also small by European standards, something that ought to give it some respite.

Greece and the man on the ledge bathimpacts Stathis Tsilenis reports from Athens on the eurocrisis pensions and salaries and increases in taxation) in order to deal with the failure.

Under these adverse circumstances, the political influence of the traditional pro-European parties (the socialist and the conservative party) that have interchangeably ruled Greece after its transition to democracy in 1974, has diminished. Meanwhile, radical voices both on the extreme right and left of the political spectrum constantly gain strength and sympathizers. The common characteristic of all these radical movements is their

opposition to the bailout package offered to Greece by the troika (the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank) and the austerity measures that Greece has to implement in return for the foreign aid. They support that as a result of the consecutive austerity packages, that troika demands, the living standards of the average Greek are going to deteriorate that much that it wouldn’t make any difference for everyday people’s lives whether or not a sovereign bankruptcy would occur or whether or not the country leaves the euro.

Flickr

Since early 2009, Greece has constantly been on the brink of the abyss.

At the same time it has become clear that European proposals for expelling Greece from the Eurozone resembles a situation where a man is desperately shouting empty threats from a ledge at a rescue crew below. Countless European high-ranking officials (including Chancellor Merkel and her finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble) now admit that a Greek “exodus” from the Eurozone would be catastrophic for both Greece and Europe. They recognize that the Eurozone was built without “exit doors” and therefore it is impossible for country to leave since no such institutional and legal mechanism exists.

The Greek parliament has voted for the past three years, under threats of sovereign bankruptcy and of an expulsion from the Eurozone, harsh austerity measures that have driven the its economy into a severe recession. They have therefore dramatically deteriorated the living standards of millions of Greeks and have brought the country to the brink of an unprecedented social explosion. The implemented austerity measures have not yielded the expected monetary result and the government is consistently forced to take additional measures (like cuts in

I think a certain someone should have gone to specsavers, no?

Other arguments are that going back to drachma is Greece’s only real option for standing back to its feet again and becoming competitive and that Greece’s foreign lenders use the crisis as an opportunity to devalue Greek national assets like ports, the energy and rail infrastructure and then buy them at low prices. Some more colourful opinions include signing agreements with Chavez for getting cheap oil from Venezuela, and rumours that Russia and China are willing to bail Greece out but the treacherous politicians “servants of Brussels and of the US” deny these generous offers. If these opinions are right or not and up to what extent is something subject to a big debate, but one thing is for sure that the audience for them is constantly increasing among the Greek society.

However out of all the rising extreme political movements one should be distinguished as the most alarming sign of the radicalization of the Greek political life and society and that would be the Golden Dawn. An ultra-nationalist, neo-nazi organization that according to most polls is going to enter the parliament for the first time in the coming elections that will take place in May. The activities of the organization include numerous

violent attacks against immigrants and leftists and the publication of magazines with glorifying articles about Nazism, Hitler and the SS. In the last local elections in 2010 the Golden Dawn elected a councilman in Athens City Council.

Although nothing is sure about who is going to enter the next parliament and who isn’t (every poll gives a different image), the event of a hung parliament should be considered a given fact. The two largest parties (the socialists and the conservatives) the only parties committed in implementing the bailout plan and in keeping Greece on a European track, struggle for getting a number of seats that will add up to 151 and that will allow them to form a coalition government. In the event that a coalition will not be achieved the country will probably have to withstand repeated elections until a government can be formed. But no accurate predictions can be made at this point since this is uncharted territory for the Greek politics traditionally characterised by single party governments having absolute majority. Whatever, the elections outcome let us just hope that the next day will not find Greece on the ledge hand in hand with Europe.

Moday 16th April 2012

France shooting horror Ailbhe Rees looks at the impact of the killings win. Hate can’t win. The Republic is much stronger than all that. Much stronger.” The French President also took time to go to the funerals of the soldiers killed earlier in the week.

There has been speculation that Merah was not stopped earlier in order to put security, Sarkozy’s strong suit, back into the political spotlight.

Sarkozy is now polling above his socialist rival Hollande for the first time in the campaign, but the allegations are largely discredited.

Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen was forced into silence as it was confirmed that Merah was French born and raised.

This highlighted other questions - did Merah have help? Was he a lone soldier, or part of a group? He

claimed to have links to Al-Qaeda; was this substantiated? Twenty people, suspected to have links to Merah or his activities, were arrested in Toulouse this week.

In any western democracy attacks like these would be reacted to with shock; in France it is with horror, confusion and shame. Home to the largest Jewish community in Europe, it was unthinkable that such an attack could happen on French soil.

Jewish and Muslim buildings across France were subject to high security levels in fear of another attack to avenge Merah’s death.

Mohammed Merah wanted to die “in a hail of bullets”. He got his wish.

Behind him, he left a population devastated, shocked and confused.

Paumier

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n March 11th, a masked gunman on a French street killed a French soldier.

On the 15th, there was an attack on a further three soldiers in which two died. On the 19th, there was an attack by that same gunman on a school in Toulouse. Three children and a Rabbi were killed; it was France's worst school attack and the worst attack on Jewish people in France in three decades.

The French military and Muslim communities in mourning were then joined by the French Jewish community, and indeed the nation, in a sense of sorrow and confusion.

An arrest warrant was only issued on the 21st and Mohammed Merah, the perpetrator of the crimes, was shot and killed after a thirty-hour exchange of fire which saw five police officers injured Election campaign activities were stopped as President-candidate Sarkozy went to Toulouse to show his solidarity with the victims, urging people to think of the woman who lost her two children and husband on the same day.

He showed strength, urging people to trust in the Republic, saying “barbarity, brutality, cruelty can’t

Sarkozy delivered a rousing speech in response to the attacks

International

Wad of World News Gabdurakhmanov

www.bathimpact.com

21

The Pope visited Cuba for the first time since the Castro dictatorship took power in 1957 marking a new era of religious freedom in the country. The Pope claimed that communism “does not correspond with reality” and called for greater freedoms, but also claimed the US embargo “unfairly burdened” the Cuban people. The Pope met former leader Fidel Castro and current leader Raul Castro, who consequently declared Good Friday a national holiday.

World Economic Forum

bathimpact

Nuclear Diplomacy U

both have an interest in making sure that international norms surrounding non-proliferation, preventing destabilising nuclear weapons, is very important”.

Obama hopes the creation of the potential union between the two will intimidate the North Koreans, especially with China being the regime’s greatest benefactor and sole ally, although it has been reported that North Korea has previously disregarded China’s worries concerning its nuclear and missile programmes, according to Obama’s deputy national security advisor, Ben Rhodes. This is not the first time that Obama has called upon China for support concerning North Korea, having requested China to influence the state to return to six-party nuclear talks, halted by North Korea’s storming out in 2009 to conduct its second nuclear test.

In addition to China’s support, however, the US has gained South Korea and Japan’s backing, agreeing that the occurrence of the rocket launch would breach the UN’s ban on missile activity because the technology utilised could potentially create long-range missiles. Both Japan and South Korea have stated that they will not hesitate to eliminate the missile

if it crosses over into their respective territories. A South Korean defence ministry spokesperson stated, “We are preparing measures to track the missile’s trajectory and shoot it down if, by chance, it deviates from the planned route and falls into our territory”.

However, North Korea seeks to defy the US in believing that it has the right to launch its “observation satellite” and the strain of the disagreement between the two is already apparent with the suspension of a deal accomplished in February calling for a discontinuation of North Korean long-range missile tests and its uranium enrichment programme in exchange for 240, 000 tonnes of US food aid.

Obama continues to attempt to encourage nuclear reductions worldwide, in particular when concerning North Korea and Iran, in the pursuit of a world free of nuclear weapons.

The President claims that both the US and Russia are prepared to embark on “denuclearisation”. Whether or not North Korea and Iran will follow in their footsteps is another story, one can only expect that a turbulent nuclear future lies ahead for today’s political stage.

Former UN General Secretary Kofi Annan continues to push forward a cease fire between the Syrian government and rebels within the country.

Unsuccessful so far, the country is drifting close to a civil war. Close to 10,000 have died in the clashes, many of them citizens, as neither side refuses to put down arms and go into negotiations. President Assad continues to call the rebels ‘terrorists’ whilst they claim to have been subjugated by the government for their race and religion.

Gage Sigmore

Alex Egan bathimpact contributor S President, Barack Obama, has warned Kim Jong-un of North Korea to cancel the scheduled rocket launch for this month, outlining that it will achieve nothing from “threats or provocations” thus only creating “more isolation” by developing nuclear weapons.

North Korea claims that the rocket launch, synchronizing with the centenary of the birth of North Korea’s founder, Kim Il-sung, simply seeks to carry an observation satellite into orbit. The launch has come as a result of three months of consolidation of Kim Jong-il’s successor Kim Jong-un’s power, who is expected to receive the titles of secretary general of the party this month. .

The launch has become a controversial topic for the US President, as well as other world leaders. Speaking at the beginning of the two-day nuclear security summit in Seoul, to discuss ways to prevent nuclear terrorism, Obama and Hu Jintao, President of China, have agreed to a joint response to the rocket launch if it does indeed take place as expected between 12 and 16 April. Obama announced, “We

Rick Santorum has halted his bid for the Republican ticket at this years US presidential elections. The decision, which comes after weeks of speculation, leaves frontrunner Mitt Romney as the presumptive victor.

Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul continue to struggle on, but both President Obama and Romney are already preparing for the campaign in the autumn.

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Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact

Science

www.bathimpact.com

The structure of the graphene balls Simon O’Kane more than copper... and it is the bathimpact contributor strongest material ever tested - 40 raphene is ready for com- times stronger than steel and even mercial exploitation, or stronger than diamond - it can be so it is claimed in a series stretched 25% and still stays inof presentations by the Centre for tact."

Graphene Science, a joint venture “Its optical properties are between the Universities of Bath pretty wacky too - a single atomic and Exeter, where Professor Si- graphene layer absorbs a remarkmon Bending of our own Depart- able 2.3% of incident light over ment of Physics called for “strong a broad range of wavelengths,” engagement with the end-users of claims Bending. On the other hand, research.”

Dr. Saverio Russo and Dr. David This stuff just won’t leave Horsell of the Univiersity of Exeter bathimpact’s pages and for good claim to have made a transparent reasons. "As an electrical conduc- version of graphene called Graphtor at room temperature it is at Exeter. least [ten times] better than siliDr. Horsell’s research concerns con," says Professor Bending, "its graphene-based sensors, the printhermal conductivity is 100 times ciple of which was described in

G

my previous article on graphene, while our own Dr. Steve Andrews is looking into using (absorbing) graphene for photonics applications, which include the so-called metamaterials on which the recent media frenzy surrounding ‘invisibility cloaks’ is based.

Professor Shaowei Zhang of the University of Exeter, who has decades of experience in ceramics research, is looking into graphene-ceramic and graphenepolymer composites in addition to composites of graphene and metal oxides.

Dr. Alain Nogaret of Bath has already managed to use graphene-polymer composites to make a new kind of mechanical sensor.

"The composite codes mechanical strain into oscillation frequency - like mechanoreceptor neurons in the skin," he says. Such a sensor has potential applications in robotics, biomechanics and nondestructive testing.

The centre for Graphene Science has 44 academic staff and the same number in PhD students and postdoctoral research officers, in addition to a dedicated research laboratory located in 9 West.

Esther Osarfo-Mensah bathimpact Features Editor impact-features@bath.ac.uk

I

f you happened to attend the New York International Auto show earlier this month, then you would have been shown the shiny future of driving. If not, no worries, I’ll let you in on the 411.

Terrafugia, an American company that specialises in aircraft manufacturing, has developed the first car-come-plane that can is both road and air worthy. Like an ordinary, albeit small vehicle, it has four wheels and two seats. However, at the flick of a switch (or two) you can also unleash its retractable wings, thereby showing how it earned the Transformers-like name the ‘Tran-

sition’.

At the moment there still a few problems to iron out, such as the fact that you need a lot more speed to take off than a conventional plane, and the landing, which has been described by Dr Samuel Schwegart, one of the project engineers, as “hard, but [it’s] nothing of concern”.

Interested in buying it? Well if you happen to have about £176,300 in your student bank account, a vague idea of how to fly a plane, and vertigo then stay away. If you don’t mind heights, then keep to your mission and expect a two to three year wait. Otherwise stick to the bus like the rest of us. We all secretly enjoy being squished to the window by larger gentlemen anyway. lotprocars

University of Exeter

Graphene is back Car of the future

The innovation that will allow you to soar like a bird over traffic jams

Music makes the heart grow fonder bathimpact’s Alex Egan reports on how music is saving heart op patients heart transplant operations. For one week after the operation, the mice were continuously exposed to a certain genre of music, either Verdi’s opera La Traviata, various Mozart concertos, works by Irish singer Enya or multiple single monotones.

The results of the exposures to different genres of music on the survival of the mice were as follows: those exposed to opera survived an average of 26 days, followed by those exposed to Mozart averaging at a close 20 days.

Additionally, mice who listened to Enya survived for 11 days and finally those exposed to monotones only survived for a total of 7 days.

The results thus show that mice who listened to opera survived the longest.

Further investigation into the effects of opera music on the survival of heart transplant patients included exposing deaf mice to La Traviata, resulting in the mice living for just 7 days after the operation. It therefore appears that

hearing the classical music caused the longer length of survival rather than another factor, such as feeling the vibrations from the music, for example.

It thus appears that classical music had a calming effect on the mice, blood samples have shown, by slowing organ rejection by calming the immune system.

Reduced concentrations of the proteins gamma interferon and interleukin-2, which cause inflammation, and increased levels of proteins that decrease inflammation, such as interleukins 4 and 10. When approached, Uchiyama explained “We don’t know the exact mechanisms but the harmony of Verdi and Mozart may be important”.

If the results are indeed accurate, the team at Juntendo University Hospital hope to use their research to increase the success rates of heart transplants in people, as has been demonstrated with the combination of music therapy and relaxation imagery on

patients following a bone marrow transplant. Research has found that the two reduce the pain and nausea patients experience following the operation. The investiga-

tion carried out by the Tokyo team has possibly created a medical breakthrough, who knew that listening to a bit of opera could have such an effect?

Catherine Bateman

A

new investigation concerning the effects of classical music on the length of survival of mice after receiving heart transplants in Tokyo has revealed some interesting findings.

Masateru Uchiyama, of Juntendo University Hospital in Tokyo, has found that if mice who received recent heart transplants listened to classical music after their operation survived twice as long as those who listened to pop music.

Uchiyama, of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at Juntendo University Hospital, headed the experiment investigating the effects of music on the survival of heart transplant patients with his team, including Xiangyuan Jin, Qi Zhang, Toshihito Hirai, Atsushi Amano, Hisashi Bashuda and Masanori Niimi.

The group of scientists assumed the rejection of heart transplants by giving a selection of mice hearts from an unrelated donor and instead investigated the length of survival of these mice after their

Had a heart transplant recently? Go to a ChaOS website

Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact

Science

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Carbon free school Christiana Langma descibes how the University of Bath has contributed to the future of eco-friendly buildings

University of Bath Professor David Coley

Professor Science

Can you fit a black hole into another black hole?

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Montgomery school is the first of its kind areas and transfer 80% of the heat in exhaust air to incoming air so as to preserve energy. This all means that little, if any, artificial heating is required. Buchan Concrete

“

Going back to basics, using materials that have been around us for centuries, might be the key to future developments.

”

Solutions, one of the companies involved in building Montgomery school, said: ‘Passivhaus is primarily a tough Quality Assurance standard, and it took tremendous rigour and attention to detail, during the design and construction process to achieve certification.’

Whereas most would describe a typical Passivhaus building as ‘low-energy’, requiring some external energy from the grid, Montgomery school is unique in the sense that its energy for heating and power is purely supplied from photovoltaic panels on the roof so, unlike Passivhaus buildings in the UK, it is 100 per cent carbon-free.

Mr Coley described the school as “a zero-carbon purpose-designed building that will require almost no heating and is fit for purpose until at least 2080.” He has had the design of such a school in mind for a number of years and, upon joining the Centre for Energy and the Environment at Exeter University in 1998, was able to assist the Devon County Council and others

in Exeter to bring the idea to fruition, especially with his work on future weather conditions to ensure the school happily endures all conditions to come.

Ms Ratcliffe, a 2nd year in the department, commented that PassivHaus was proof future technology didn’t have to be ‘all spaceagey’. “Going back to basics, using materials that have been around us for centuries, might be the key to future developments. Being someone who is incredibly passionate about both sustainable development and innovative solutions, I think PassivHaus is both a fantastic development in its own right, and a sign that new, sustainable, potentially 'world-saving' technologies are on the horizon. I don't personally have a strong belief that we currently have the technology on earth to tackle the rising demands in energy, and the increasing urgency of climate change, but projects and successes like this are encouraging and are a definite viable step towards a healthier, carbon-neutral society.”

Having only joined the University of Bath last semester, Mr Coley’s passion for the environment certainly fits in with the university’s green ethos. If you are keen to hear more of Mr Coley’s ideas, he will be giving an inaugural lecture on ‘Are buildings evil?’ on 10th October 2012 and another lecture is scheduled for 6th November 2012 entitled 'Do buildings need to use energy?' as part of the University’s Institute for Sustainable Energy and the Environment (I-SEE) seminars.

hat a ridiculous question! I hear you cry, obviously the answer is... well...hmm I don’t know...

Well surprise, surprise. Bet you never thought about this before ey?

Luckily, one of you brainy lot had one of those epiphanies that only seem to appear when you’re in the shower or about the go to sleep, just when that pen you always keep in your top pocket isn’t immediately at hand. I myself have often come up with ways to bring about world peace, treatments to cure all diseases and the perfect excuses to get out of going to see someone I don’t particularly like. Then I see a moth and forget everything.

Anyway, bathimpact’s resident professor has had this brain boggler researched and is ready to share it with you. It’s (probably) good to know that this important query that has plagued at least one person in history.

We’ve all seen the Hollywood version of a black hole. An unfortunate astronaut or spaceship gets caught up its momentum, goes round and round its edges and then falls into absolute nothingness, with no hope of escape.

The movies haven’t got it completely wrong. Black holes are indeed bottomless pits that suck everything, including light, into

their bellies of doom. They can be formed when a star dies, where the outer shell is ripped apart, and the inner core collapses into itself. This leaves behind a region in space where there’s a large amount of gravity pulling everything into a very small area. As light can’t escape it either, they’re technically invisible.

The smallest black holes, according to scientists are only the size of an atom, but have the mass of a mountain. Larger ones, such as those that reside in our galaxy, can have a mass twenty times that of our sun. Luckily our Sun isn’t large enough to form a black hole, so, unlike our current government; it won’t destroy everything that it touches.

So back to the original question.

Would a black hole ever fit into another one? Both would want to suck the other one in, and so the outcome would most likely depend on whichever has the largest mass.

In fact in September 2011, this very phenomenon was spotted occurring.

So there you go; it’s possible to fit a black hole into another one.

Your life is now complete.

If you would like a question answered by Professor Science, send it on to impact-features@bath. ac.uk.

Phil Plait

University of ath

D

avid Coley, Professor in the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, is to be congratulated as one of the key people behind the design of the UK’s first zero-carbon school.

The Montgomery Primary School, in Exeter, cost £9 million to build and officially opened this November. It will cater for around 400 pupils and a nursery and will also, to the envy of many students, have no energy bills thanks to its ‘PassivHaus’ (i.e. Passive House) design.

Passivhaus constructions introduced in the early 90s by professors Bo Adamson and Wolfgang Feist ‘dramatically reduce the requirement for space heating and cooling whilst also creating excellent indoor comfort levels’. Starting from Germany, they have spread around the globe. The idea is that they use little energy (through methods such as super insulation, heat reclamation and triple glazing) whilst creating a comfortable living and working environment. Wolfgang Feist said the idea came about due to the huge demand in Europe for energy just to heat buildings. He stated the main benefits of Passivhaus to be: a healthy indoor environment where the availability of fresh air is no concern, comfortable indoor climate conditions (more than that of traditional buildings), low energy bills, less demand for fossil fuels and a potential decrease in global carbon dioxide emissions by a factor of 10.

To attain ‘Passivhaus standard’, a building must meet stringent requirements: it must be air-tight, it must use no more than 15kWh/ m2/year for heating (compared to the 113-164 required by standard schools), it must have a U-value below 0.5W/m2/K for all components of the building envelope, it must circulate warm air from high occupancy areas to low occupancy

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A black hole - something that you’d probably want to avoid

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Monay 16th April 2012

bathimpact

Business

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Benjamin Butcher bathimpact Deputy

T

here was a time when the Inca Empire spread across the Andes covering the limits of five modern states and encompassing twelve million citizens.

An empire of plenty, food was in such abundance that there was always enough stored to feed the entire population in times of supposed famine. The people were able to build cities with such skill that even the Spanish inhabited their buildings rather than building their own. History was cruel to the South American people but also their neighbours in Central America and the Caribbean islands. A brutal dictatorship of imperialist hegemony pushed their vast achievements into the footnotes of history but with a growing population and a rapid thirst to prove itself, will this decade belong to Latin America?

A complete revamp of many of the region’s economies in the 1980’s and 1990’s mixed with commoditydriven prosperity and remarkable social progress has pushed Latin America more and more into the

forefront of the global community.

Growth rates are as high as 5.17 per cent and Latin American companies ranging from Petrobras to Embraer are now leading international players. These facts, along with a third of the world’s fresh water, a third of the world’s available agricultural land and a youth heavy population all bode incredibly well for the region. But what makes Latin America any different from other ‘developing’ regions such as Africa and Asia?

For a start, it is responsible. The media, which is quick to highlight the drug wars and corruption, often overlooks how the continent has gone from a bunch of ‘junta’ run, repressive regimes to some of the finest democracies in the developing world. Whilst China struggles over fundamental human rights and Russia can hardly hold an election, only a few countries in Latin America remain where all these freedoms are not enshrined by law.

Respect for the environment, a part of their culture since the earliest civilisations, is still important and Brazil can boast of being the green-

est of the BRICS not just in its domestic policy, but in the way it talks about the issue with the world. It was Brazil, not the USA, who gave the most government backed aid to the earthquake-struck Haiti and it is Bolivia leading the international fight for respect for indigenous cultures.

Yet, however great its advantages are, its disadvantages can seem just as strong. Despite an ethical and moral stance on many issues, the media is right in noting the bloody drugs wars that poison Central America and five ministers that have resigned over corruption in Brazil over the last year. As in many developing regions, its development is top heavy driven by Brazil, Mexico and Argentina and many of the lauded trade groups of the 1990’s, like the Andean Community and Mercosur, have broken down over recent years. Diplomacy is stronger than most global regions as the Latin Americans have more similarities than differences.

However, there are still many issues that have yet to be solved before they can really attempt region-

Szeke

Is it time for Latin America to shine?

The Inca ruins show how prosperous South America was al development.

So is it Latin America’s decade?

The world’s eyes will be on the region as they hold both the World Cup and Olympics; the perfect advertisement for a place that has struggled for so long. Well placed investments, a pragmatic foreign

policy and continued social development could see Latin America become a more attractive alternative to Asia and Africa.

Whether or not it can entice enough investors to keep up with the other BRICS, however, is yet to be seen.

UK recession is The 2012 budget will be harsh predicted to return

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fter the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced that the contraction towards the end of 2011 was worse than previously thought, the OECD announced that the UK will fall back into recession. It predicted an annualised contraction of 0.4 per cent and 0.1 per cent compared with the previous quarter in the first 3 months of 2012.

The government’s economic policy of fiscal tightening was attributed by Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor, as the reason for such a gloomy forecast. He mentioned that the deputy head of OECD last year said that fiscal consolidation should be slowed down if growth was worse than thought, and “with our economy flat lining for over a year, it's time the chancellor listened to wise advice”.

Nevertheless, forecasters and economists seem divided on whether the UK will actually contract. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) actually believes the UK would have grown in the first 3 months.

There certainly are some positive signs for us to take the OBR’s forecast seriously. According to the ONS, services output rose 0.2 per cent higher in January, and the services sector makes up 76 per cent of the economy, hence this would have had a significant impact upon growth. Furthermore, after the OECD made its forecast, there was data showing that the manufacturing sector grew at its fastest pace for 10 months, and a survey by the British Chambers of Commerce has revealed that domestic orders and exports were higher compared to the previous quarter. The recent data has therefore cast doubt on whether the UK will actually enter recession as the OECD says.

However, since the middle of 2010, we have alternated between positive and negative growth, which the governor of the Bank of England has forecast to continue for the rest of the year. Hence, despite the uncertainty over the growth figures for the last 3 months, there is certainly little optimism for the economy this year.

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ith the 2012 budget decisions looming, extensive amounts of tax comment, including political uproar made from talks of trimming the 50 per cent top tax rate to 45 per cent, and the socalled ‘pasty wars’, the UK is forgetting the real problem that we’re facing. That is, a colossal debt, predicted by economists to hit £1 trillion in 2012-13.

An awful lot of media attention is being paid to ‘pasty wars’ at the moment, which although beneficial to politicians score boards and newspapers, whether small businesses should be exempt from paying VAT on hot

take-away food or not, is not a topic that requires such exploitation at a time when UK debt is at a gigantic £988.7bn (February 2012, excludes financial sector intervention), equivalent to 63 per cent of GDP. Although Britain may have tricks up its sleeve – such as its own currency which the country can choose to devalue at will – that mean it is more likely to deliver economic growth, the amount of debt that has been accumulated in such a short time is terrifying.

The UK may currently hold a AAA rating, but this so-called “safe-haven status” should not be taken for granted.

Commotion is creating a gap between problems that are ‘not quite as important’, to some extent, and Britons’ very own reality – that we are ‘liv38 degress

Aran Gnana explains OECD’s gloomy forecast to bathimpact

Magali Calabressi bathimpact Treasurer impact-money@bath.ac.uk

A similar sight to what we’ll see

ing beyond our means.’ This is an attribute to a debt-based society, where a person supports herself or himself via accumulating debt and continues to borrow money to fund a lifestyle that they cannot afford.

There is no doubt that the UK needs to grasp the seriousness of our situation and get a grip on spending, particularly on welfare spending.

And this is being tackled. Austerity measures have been put in place, but although 75 per cent of planned tax rises are in place, only 10 per cent of spending cuts have occurred. Furthermore, the enforcement of these cuts will prove to be politically difficult, and yet they do not seem to stretch to requirements.

It is not good passing austerity measures that inhibit growth. This would only create an incessant loop.

What the UK needs, on par with Europe, is growth. Without growth, the UK will see its debt rise. But how can we achieve growth? There are three principal areas in an economy that spend: businesses, consumers and the government. Out of these, private businesses are the only to have some spare cash, yet with a weary economy, executives are unwilling to spend. But it is really an only choice as consumers and the government are highly indebted – so the Chancellor should step up their game and offer sweets to businesses who shed off some of the balance on their balance sheets.

Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact

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Business

www.bathimpact.com

Magali Calabressi tells bathimpact about Coutts & Co’s alledged financial violations

The Coutts & Co logo showing how long its been in business

The FSA has said that Coutts had routinely failed to gather important information on individuals in political positions also know as Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs)

8.75 million

Fine in pounds sterling

that carry higher corruption risk due to their position. Coutts made a statement claiming that there was no evidence that money laundering took place and have also admitted that although their systems and controls were not up to scratch, they have now been put right.

Whilst this may be the case, it is important to note that this is not the first time Coutts has been fined for the lack of sufficient controls.

They were penalised for £5.6m in 2010 and £6.3m last November, however these penalties were not all for money laundering. Nevertheless, with the sum of all the fines equalling £25m by the FSA since its government bailout, it has become the most fined bank in the UK. The truth is, that there is always a limit, especially when it comes to the seriousness of money laundering crime, and coupling this with the interest expressed by RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) to buy Coutts out, perhaps it is time that Coutts starts getting its house in order.

Business Glossary Money laundering (ML) – refers to the method of concealing the true source of illegaly obtained money.

Financial Services Authority (FSA) – an independent body responsible for regulating the financial services industry in the United Kingdom.

Know Your Customer – refers to the activities of due diligence that must be carried out on all clients. These are a requirement for all financial institutions and other regulated businesses, in order to identify relevant information for

carrying out financial services.

Politically Exposed Person (PEP) – a person entrusted to do a ‘prominent public function’ (Section 14(5) of ML Regulations).

Commodity - A commodity refers to a marketable product that is made in order to satisfy needs. That is, a raw material or a primary agricultural item. Examples include yerba mate (species of holly made for beverages), coffee and also things like crude oil, gold, silver, etc.

Junta - A military/political group, which rules a country after having

taken over by force.

Devaluation - This refers to the reduction in the value of a given currency with respect to products, services or other monetary units that may be exchanged in return for such currency. There are several reasons why a country may choose to devalue its currency. For instance, in order to increase exports, restrict importing demands for goods and other services, amongst others. There are factors that need to be taken into account however, such as inflation.

Facebook has announced it is purchasing popular photo sharing smartphone app Instagram for a massive $1bn. The website has over 30m users uploading around 5m photos a day making it one of the largest free photo sharing websites on the web. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg has promised to continue Instagram as an individual brand but users are concerned that Facebook will use the purchase to target them with advertisements. john kararatsanis

ell borwn

money laundering is not the sort of activity nowadays that only drug-dealers and criminals use to “clean” money linked to a crime, so that it can be used in the open market. The law penalises many organisations and individuals that have tipped off money launders, or in the case of Coutts, failed to conduct proper checks on politically sensitive persons, in addition to having relevant procedures of reviewing the clients accordingly.

All these checks also fall under the ‘Know Your Customer’ checks for due diligence that all financial organisations must perform.

Nokia shares have plunged by 18 per cent after the company announced losses over the first two quarters of 2012. The struggling Finnish business blames the losses on increased competition in developing markets but vows to push on with cost cutting measures and continue advertising its Lumia smartphone. Since February over 4,000 jobs have been cut by the company, but it hasn’t stopped speculation over the company’s future. sunshinecity

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oney laundering is a financial crime that is taken very seriously with penalties including up to 14 years imprisonment and unlimited fines with global jurisdiction. Politicians and regulatory bodies such as the FSA are clearly not taking any signs of it lightly.

The FSA is none lighter towards Coutts, the private bank used by the Queen, which is owned by government-backed RBS. Coutts has received a colossal fine of £8.75m, the UK’s largest ever fine for money laundering violations.

Contrary to popular belief,

deneyterrio

Queen’s bank accused A bite of business of money laundering

Energy firms in the UK have promised to “guarantee the best deal” on tariffs in a scheme aiming to save family households up to £100 a year.

The governmental plan comes after it emerged 7 out of 10 homes pay too much for energy. The policy involves British Gas, E.On, NPower and EDF but the companies will not have to inform on the cheaper deals of rival businesses.

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Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact

Sport

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Ben’s Bath Half Mech Eng are IDFC champs Nik Simon bathimpact contributor

Guy Barkley bathimpact contributor n the match that literally some people were talking about, tournament underdogs Chemical Engineering battled it out with Mechanical Engineering for the title of Bath University IDFC Champions.

Scores of people lined the pitch with estimates in the region of around 100 turning out to witness the spectacle. When Chem Eng opened the scoring with an Alex Marks’ shot from outside the box, which dipped over a flapping James Mady - the feckless Mech Eng keeper, there was jubilation from the Chem

Ben Nagy looking comfortable

The fourth year sports scientist maintained his solid pace to finish the ten thousand strong race in 11th place, six minutes off Edwin Kiptoo’s track record.

Ben’s 3000m training had clearly set him up well. “My realistic aim was for sub 70 minutes, and I was just hoping to get under that really. My preparation wasn't ideal - I was training really well, and had done quite a lot of miles in training over the winter till February, but my most recent races had been an indoor 1500m and the 3000m at the BUCS Indoor Athletics Champs, where I came 6th.”

“Coming round into Pulteney Street was a great feeling - knowing the pain was nearly over. I knew the time was going to be pretty amazing as well, so I just kicked and sprinted as fast as I could.”

Nagy’s next race will be at the BUCS Outdoor Championships, where he will no doubt hope to reclaim his 3000m title in front of a 40,000 sellout crowd at the Olympic Stadium.

James Lewis bathimpact contributor n Thursday 19th April, in The Claverton Rooms at 7pm, Coach Education brings to you a Question-of-Sport Pub Quiz and Panel Show, sponsored by Oswald and Bailey Camping. The night will include the classic Question-of-Sport themed quiz rounds, such as “Picture Board” and “What Happened Next” but will also see a few other classic TV inspired quiz rounds.

You and your team will get to fully

participate in the first few rounds, as we kick off the Pub Quiz and introduce the captains and the All Sports Stars Team.

The winning pub quiz team will then get honour to go head to head against the All Sports Stars Team as a part of the Question of Sport live show.

It should be a fantastic evening for all sports and quiz fans to attend.

What’s possibly even more exciting then the quiz itself is that current VP Sport and next year’s SU President,

Chris ‘Clemmo’ Clements, will be your host for the evening.

Tickets are £3.50 for the quiz and panel show combined. Every pound made from the event will be going to a good cause, but ultimately it’s you who decides where the money goes.

Upon your arrival, you will have a choice from one of our selected charities where you like your contribution be donated towards. Charities that you can choose from are: Help for Heroes, Access Sport and Bath Rugby Foundation.

Lloyd Ellington, Northcliffe Media Ltd

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tom Stevens

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alf marathon debutant Ben Nagy flew the flag for TeamBath at the Bath Half, finishing in an excellent time of 68 minutes.

With hundreds of students taking to the streets, few had hoped to find themselves leading the front pack after the opening mile.

Eng contingent. They would prove to be a 12th man behind the relatively small department which had pluckily triumphed over Biology and last year’s winners, Polis in the Semis and Quarters respectively.

However, this lead was short lived and erased when Phil Blackburn fired in an audacious header from the edge of the box. Both sides subsequently enjoyed periods of possession, yet the sides went in level at half-time.

Mech Eng broke Chemical hearts when Will Rosier headed them into take the lead. However, Chem Eng came back strong, enjoying much of the play and a goal looked imminent.

Andrew Smith’s long range effort sailed just wide and they had a penalty shout dismissed when Will Casey went down in the box. The breakthrough finally came after a penalty area scrap gifted Chris Revell the chance to level the scores and open up the tie back up. Both sides had opportunities to clinch the game; James Mady’s redeeming one-on-one save and Steve Burke’s heroic defending kept Chem Eng at bay. As a result of solid defending from both sides the 90 mins finished in a stalemate.

However, the game was by no means over. There was a final twist…

Mech Eng’s Spanish import, Andres Figar, having overcome petty illness and with fresh legs, was thrown into the fray and finished emphatically twice. One with a thunderous shot into the top corner and the other a finesse finish into the bottom corner. Will Rosier then ended the contest in the second period of extra time by slotting home his second having beaten the goal keeper in the air. Final Score: Mech Eng 5-2 Chem Eng after extra time. Thanks again to all who turned out to show their support.

Question of Sport at Bath Baseball madness

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in the 30 strong league. The most successful team in Major League Baseball history, the New York Yankees, will be using their $200 million payroll in the pursuit of their 28th title. Despite the vast number of games being played, average attendance remains over 30,000 throughout the duration of the season, a phenomenal feat by any stretch of the imagination.

Even though the sport is being constantly plagued by steroid abuse, financial difficulties and the threat of player strikes; it still holds a warm spot in the hearts of fans both in the USA and further afield.

As far as I can tell though, the game is just a glorified version of rounders, just with chronic obesity, foam fingers, more adverts than game time, dodgy food and expensive beer. But by god I love it.

Owen Tomlinson

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Owen Tomlinson bathimpact contributor aster break coincided with the start of the Major League Baseball season, one of the largest leagues and home to the most congested season in professional sport. Each team will battle it out over the course of the next six months to compete for the ultimate prize, the World Series. This year’s season kicked off in Japan, in an attempt to spread the game into the international market. The Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics splitting the two game series. The first game on American soil saw the defending champions, the St Louis Cardinals, taking on the newly created Miami Marlins.

Each team will play a mind-boggling 162 games during the regular season, playing in two, three and four game series against every other team

Monday 16th April 2012

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Sport

www.bathimpact.com

Climbers rock out in France Gleave’s gripes

Owen Tomlinson

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of you sat at home eating chocolate and jeering at the drizzle, I travelled to France with The Mountaineering Club for a spot of climbing. Many people may see these ‘adventure holidays’ as a bizarre and unusual pastime undertaken only by those with a death-wish. However, I can

fully assure you (as much of a nutter I am), that this is not the case.

Bouldering is a form of low-level rock climbing that combines the thrill and expertise of hard climbing, with very little of the associated danger. One of the best bouldering locations in the world is located near the town of Fontainebleau, approximately an hour south of Paris.

Seeing as it is practically on our doorstep, it seemed rude not to go for a cheeky holiday to while away the days that should be spent doing my coursework. Every year, the University of Bath Mountaineering Club hits the road and explores this climbing Mecca in all its glory, introducing novices to the sport as well as allowing the more experienced members to hone their skills.

Although that particular trip is now over, there is still plenty of time to get involved in more just like it, spread all over the UK. With trips to not so far flung places such as Cheddar and Avon lined up there’s a lot of scope to get involved. The

club is also headed to the Dorset and Cornwall coasts this semester to sample the best that the south west has to offer. If you’re keen to get involved in this fantastic and exhilarating vertical world, then check the club out on bumc.org.uk or bathstudent.com.

and has made a great claim for a spot in the England Students Squad, which is set to be announced in the coming month. This rounds off an

unbelievable debut season for Rugby League at Bath and everyone in the club is very excited for what next season holds in store.

Sam Cruickshank

Owen Tomlinson bathimpact contributor magine yourself sitting in the French sunshine, enjoying the clean country air, the fine cheese and the even finer wine. Well imagine I did not, as that’s what I did with my Easter holiday. Whilst most

A possible plea from the chair?

Ali Dawson bathimpact contributor he Bath Broncos Rugby League side have had a fantastic inaugural season; they have been crowned champions of the BUCS Wales and West Conference Division, reached the last 16 of the BUCS trophy, and run away as surprise victors over Exeter in the varsity series. When everyone thought it couldn’t get any better, it did. On the back of this success, five Bath rugby league players featured in the South West Students team, competing in the Rugby League Regional Students competition on the 31st of March.

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The competition saw six regions from all over the country battle it out for the top spot. Unfortunately the South West drew their first game with Yorkshire and suffered a narrow loss in their second. They did however, ran out comprehensive winners in the 5th Vs 6th place playoff, winning 38-6 against the North East.

The five selected Bath players made up a quarter of the South West squad that travelled to Nottingham for the competition. At which, England Students selectors prowled the sidelines in the hunt for the next national representatives. Every Bath player put in a brilliant performance

Ali Dawson

Bronco’s represent South West

The Broncos selected, from L/R: Miles Dempsey, Joe McClean, Stephen Taylor, Gavin Grant and Harry Chapman-Walker

STV converts two more students

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he Sports Training Village can potentially be a terrifying place for people who don’t play sport, according to two of my bathimpact colleagues anyway. Esther Mensah and Harriet Tangney had, in their two years at the University, previously never ventured into the STV. To them, it appeared to be an off limits area of campus where big people went to get bigger, and occasionally, the biggest of people went to get slimmer. So I took it upon myself to drag them to the STV in an attempt to show them that it can be a place non sporty students

can also enjoy.

Jonathan Gleave: “So girls, what did you make of your first trip to the STV?” Harriet: “It was less scary then we thought it would be, everyone was really friendly and made me feel at home.”

JG: “That’s nice. Esther, would you go again?”

Esther: “Maybe. I might even consider getting a gym membership now, the facilities were outstanding.”

JG: “Fantastic. I’m glad you both had a good time and it is no longer the scary place you once thought it was.”

It’s now worth pointing out how-

ever, that they originally only went there in the first place to buy food from the Blues Café. So if nothing

else, at least the STV serves as an alternative food source when no where else is open…

Jonathan Gleave

Jonathan Gleave Sports Editor impact-sport@bath.ac.uk

Harriet and Esther enjoying the Training Village’s Blues Café

Trenton?! Jesus Christ Trenton The Easter holidays brought us chocolate and Lenten promises which were all, undoubtedly broken. My abstemiousness lasted four whole hours, before I remembered I quite like booze. It also brought us sporting controversies. Political protests in Bahrain threaten, at the time of writing, to cancel the F1 Grandprix to be held there between the 20th and 22nd of April. Trenton Oldfield also managed to single handily ruin/liven up the University Boat Race. While Mario Ladotelli, I mean Balotelli, slept with Wayne Rooney’s former mistress come prostitute, Jennifer Thompson.

The last one, we can more or less ignore because rumour has it, she is a demon in the sack and meh, it’s Balotelli. That boy could slap a blind nun with a wet fish whilst shoving Chinese fire crackers up his arse, and I doubt anyone would really care. The other two, the acts of protest, I cannot ignore.

The first incident of controversy, you can sort of forgive. The Bahraini people are fighting for democracy.

In the process of fighting for equal human rights however, they have quite possibly ruined my weekend by depriving me of MY right to watch Lewis Hamilton knob all over Sebastian Vetell in an adrenaline fuelled day of fast cars and loud noises. How very inconsiderate.

The second incident is undeniably unforgiveable though. Trenton Oldfield, you are quite simply, a fool. I’m sure there was a point to your remonstration, but the fact you elected to protest via the medium of swimming, has limited your ability to carry a witty placard - a must have accessory for any successful protest. This means that no one really knows, or cares what your protest was about.

Oldfield’s attempts to disrupt the boat race in a fight against elitism (okay, so he did have a point), seem to echo the protest of Emily Davison on behalf of the suffragette movement at the 1913 Epsom Derby. In that they both interrupted historic events, and they both ended badly.

Davison, however, died for her cause and actually did some good for helping women to get the vote. Oldfield on the other hand, got arrested and only succeeded in getting a bit wet.

His attempts at stopping the race to make a point were so feebly pathetic I half expected his owner to come swimming into shot screaming ‘Trenton.... TRENTON... Oh Jesus Christ. TRENTON?!?’

impactsport

Rocking the rocks in Fontainebleau Mountaineering, p27 http://www.pridepassionparty.com

Monday 16th April 2012

Inside impactsport 68 minutes 68 minutes, that’s how long it took Sports Scientist Ben Nagy to complete the Bath Half, just six minutes behind the track record.

Clearly putting what he learnt on his degree to good use...

Page 26 has the full story

Mechanical, best of the engineers Mech Eng persevered through extra time to beat Chem Eng 5-2 in the final of the Interdepartmental Football Competition. A brace from Andres Figar helping them on their way.

See page 26 for the full report

Bronco’s continue to impress

Bath, best in the South West

»»University of Bath beat University of Exeter 5-1overall Jonathan Gleave Sports Editor impact-sport@bath.ac.uk

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n case you hadn’t heard, we are the inaugural ‘Varsity - Best of the South West’ 2012 Champions. What this essentially means is that we can claim bragging rights over our nearest sporting rivals, Exeter University, in terms of both distance and ability. It also means we get another shiny trophy to add to our already impressive haul from this year, thereby affirming our status as one of the best sporting universities in the country.

Varsity day kicked off on campus on the morning of March 24th with the two universities going head-to-head in Women’s Rugby Union, Men’s Rugby League, Women’s Football and Women’s Netball. Unfortunately, our women’s rugby side went down 46-5 to an Exeter team who have been an extremely dominant force in the world of women’s rugby in recent years. Special mention goes to Ad-

elaide Young however, who played her final game for the side. She was awarded a signed Bath Rugby shirt later on in the day as a sign of gratitude from the SA, for all of the hard work she has put into helping to run the club for the past two years.

The rugby was to be Exeter’s only victory over the course of the day though and was but a minor blip on our otherwise triumphant march to glory. The Netball Second Team prevailed against a strong Exeter First Team to win 50-31.

The Women’s Football Team also proved too strong for the girls from Devon, ending up 6-0 winners.

The highlight of the morning came in the Men’s Rugby League match. The Bath Bronco’s locked horns with the distinctly unimpressively named ‘Exeter University Rugby League Side’. The Exeter team however were far from unimpressive. They had previously been unbeaten in two years, yet the Bronco’s came out 28-26 winners with Tom Joyce claiming the win-

ning try. This is a testament to just how well our Rugby League boys have done this season and beating the third highest ranked university team in the country can only bode well for next season.

The afternoon saw the start of the events in town, with our Men’s Second XI taking on Exeter’s First XI at Twerton Park in the football.

With both teams playing in the same division next season it was always going to be a tight affair. The day threatened to be ruined though when Exeter scored a scorching volley from the edge of the box to make it 0-1. But two penalties either side of half time ensured that Bath ended up as 2-1 winners.

Going into the Men’s Rugby Union game at The Recreation Ground, nothing was at stake apart from pride. However, neither set of players had any knowledge of this until the final whistle, and played the game as if it were a final. The atmosphere at The Rec was immense, with a 3000 strong

crowd turning up to cheer the lads over the line. Supporters turned up painted in the Bath’s blue and yellow colours and adorned themselves with a ‘Varsity - Best in the South West’ t-shirt, giving the event a real carnival feel. Spurred on by the vibrant crowd, Bath took a 5-0 lead into half time. A converted try 9 minutes after half time saw Exeter sneak into a 7-5 lead before a final push and converted try saw Bath run out 12-7 winners. This meant Bath ended up as 5-1 winners of Varsity overall to claim the first spot on the ‘Best of the South West Cup’.

It was a great day which everyone thoroughly enjoyed and will hopefully be the start of a friendly, but entertaining rivalry between the two universities. Who knows, in a seventy odd years when we take Exeter on at Varsity LXXIV in space hockey and flying dodgeball they will look back to this first Varsity battle and realise it was the start of something special.

Five Bath Broncos Rugby League players were recently selected to represent the South West in a nationwide competition in Nottingham. They already proved to be the best in the South West by beating Exeter at Varsity, but how did they fair nationally?

Turn to page 27 to see how they got on

Sporting controversies over Easter bathimpact Sports Editor Jonathan Gleave offers his views on the political protests in Bahrain and Trenton Oldfield’s protest in the Thames, and how they impacted Easter’s sport.

Page 27

Get involved If you like sport and want to contribute, then contact the bathimpact Sports Editor Jonathan Gleave (impact-sport@bath.ac.uk) to find out more details about how you can get involved.

We’re always looking for writers, photographers, people to lay up, or just all round sports buffs in general to help out. So, if you have a story you want to share, don’t be afraid to get in touch!

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Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact

EDITORIAL

www.bathimpact.com

No pain,

Written by Holly Narey

Holly Narey bite Editor

impact-bite@bath.ac.uk

Harriet Tangney bite Deputy

CONTENTS

Student Lifestyle

No pain, no Gain - Page 2 & 3 Lessons from the universe - Page 3 Overworked and Underpaid - Page 5

Sex & Relationships

Let us beat that inner monologue - Page 6 Crowding around the honey pot - Page 6

The Guide Page 7

Music

Listen up! - Page 8 The Outtallectual Collective - Page 9 Review: The Maccabees- Page 9

Videogames

Triumph and Tournament - Pages 10 & 11

Film

The Pirates! - Page 13 The Hunger Games - Page 14

TV

This Fortnight’s TV- Page 14

Fashion

Sporty Chic - Page 16 Get the look - Page 17

Food

Eggstraordinary - Page 18 American Pancakes - Page 18 Welsh Rarebit - Page 18

Horoscopes Page 19

Puzzle Corner Page 20

www.facebook.com/bathimpactbite www.bathimpact.com U n i v e r s i t y

o f

B a t h

S t u d e n t s ’

U n i o n

STUDENT

m edia Advertising Enquires Helen Freeman H.Freeman@bath.ac.uk 01225 386806

Well. This is it. The final countdown. Or showdown, whichever you prefer; the last scene in the film when the boy gets the girl, the bad guys lose and the goodies reign supreme. Happily ever after, all that jazz.

This is my last issue as bite editor before I hand it over to the very capable hands of Thomas Gane (“who is Thomas Gane?” you ask. Glance to your right to see evidence of his excellent work) and it’s something that I will miss immeasurably. Sure, I’ve had stressful days when the deadline’s approaching and I have no articles to lay up, or it’s two minutes before we send off the paper, and I’m sat staring at an empty space wondering what’s supposed to be there until I realise it’s that article I’ve been meaning to write for two weeks. I could have been better organised. I could have been more ambitious. I began this year aiming to turn bite into a brand that everyone would recognise, and trust as the first port of call when looking for things happening in and around Bath, but I forgot that I have a degree to do as well, and as much as I’d love to do this full-time, I don’t think my parents would be too happy to hear about my throwing my university career away. Ah well.

Anyway! To the issue at hand. Or rather, in hand. Your hand to be precise. Or possibly on your knee, or on an obliging table, I can’t tell the future (unlike our mystic on page 19). The theme, as you may have gathered from our front cover, or maybe you were distracted by the stone abs on display, is Competition, appropriate because of the upcoming olympics and also the competition for festival tickets that we will soon be running on facebook and on campus.

On page 2 (you don’t need to go far), Thomas Gane covers the age-old tradition of school sports day, and how implementing effective changes there could change the futures of the participants, whether for the better or worse, I suppose we’ll never know. On page 3 Ben Hooper competes with his own inner voice to successfully complete an article without getting distracted, and on page 6 our sex and relationship columnists discuss competing against other people for partners, and your own war of thoughts. Our centre page spread on pages 10 and 11 has Ron Morrow and Simon O’Kane discussing the different types of competition in the world of videogames (and it’s quite pretty, oh you agree? How kind of you). Elliot Campbell reviews the film of the moment, The Hunger Games, the ultimate contest on page 14. Harret Tangney does a wonderful job of showing us how to look good while working out (oh if only) on pages 16 and 17. We’ve got all of this and of course, all the classics. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed making it, with the help of many. Thank you to all of my wonderful contributors, everyone who’s ever helped me lay up, thank you to Nia Evans, bite deputy, who has also never failed to produce a fantastic food section. And of course, thank you to Harriet Tangney, also bite deputy and right hand man. I couldn’t have done it without you. Good luck Tom. You’ve got a great team coming in.

You’ll do fantastically.

Finally, to quote the future Editor-in-chief, Rowan Emslie; “shit covered tigers”.

That’s all from me folks, over and out. It’s been a good ride. See you in another life brother.

To get involved in bite head over to our facebook group at www.facebook.com/bathimpactbite Or email me at impact-bite@bath.ac.uk

bathimpact Students’ Union University of Bath Bath BA2 7AY 01225 38 6151

The opinions expressed in bathimpact are not necessarily those of the bathimpact editors nor of the University of Bath Students’ Union. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the information contained in this publication is correct and accurate at the time of going to print, the publisher cannot accept any liability for information which is later altered or incorrect. bathimpact as a publication adheres to the Press Complaints Commission’s Code of Conduct. Please contact them for any information.

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Let’s play spot the editor of bite!

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Written by Thomas

ne of the great British traditions and a memory that we all hold, well not dear, but at least we have it, is school sports day. The weather that was only ever too hot or pissing it down, the sunburn and hay fever epidemics, the over-enthusiastic parents that everyone hoped would end up in a fight and those tuck shop drinks you bought for 15p that tasted vaguely of cancer. We’re not exactly the best at organising these things are we? Yet this summer we have the duty of organising the biggest sports day of them all. I’d like to think it’d be different but I fear we may slip into the same old ways, to quote the eternal scholars Bowling for Soup, “High School Never Ends”. Usain Bolt will be that ridiculously cool kid that turns up and wins with no effort before swaggering off to an orgy with Samuel L. Jackson, The Old Spice Man, Doctor Who and most of the gymnastic and beach volleyball teams.

Micheal Phelps is that ridiculously perfect one that does all the training, never makes any mistakes, is the darling of all the teachers and you just want to punch him in his smug little face because he’s just so fucking exceptional. Natalie Coughlin is the glamorous girl who swims because not only does she win pretty much everything, but gets to show off just how annoyingly gorgeous she is in lycra. In the “cool” events we’re really not that competitive, we’re generally the one sitting and watching, dreading our fifteen minutes of shame and hoping the fat kid is in your race so we don’t end up completely last. We turned up because it’s compulsory and spend the day lathering ourselves in SP50, despite the fact we know that no matter what we’re going to burn like a ginger kid working a 12 hour shift in a McDonald’s kitchen, and the desire to end it all after each event will probably be similar. However people of Britain, I believe I have found the answer, I may have been a tad drunk at the time but I’m sure most of the best ideas (and people) were conceived that way.

Seen as we have scientifically established that there is absolutely no difference between sports day and the Olympics (except that parents are allowed to go and watch their kids compete in the sports day, oh yeah London 2012, I went there) then our problems must begin at the source.

There’s no longer any competition at sports day, no one loses. There’s kind of a winner, but at the same time everyone else is told that they’re a winner for trying their hardest which is what really matters. We have events for everyone and all the parents clap everybody equally, even if one of them is obviously shit and is probably only there because it violates his parole not to turn up for school. Does this go down in America?

Do they just let people remain ignorant of what the parents deem to be their failings and retain a fair amount of self-esteem? No they do not and that is why they beat us. Parents in America force their children into hours of training every day in the hope of them getting a scholarship to give them the best chance of a medal. Who needs a childhood when you’ve got glory?! Parents attack each other, sometimes even fighting to the death (sadly, amongst a lot of white lies, this is actually true) and the referee in sports like Youth Hockey, now that is competitive. That is why America wins… I mean it could also be down to the huge population, massive amounts of money and incredibly varied geography that allows for them to train for pretty much any event without leaving the country, but I think it’s probably the attitude. We need to start adopting this attitude in Britain if we want to win. The child that comes in last in the egg and spoon race should then be publically egged. Anyone who knocks the bar off at the high jump should then be hung by their feet from it, have the word “Failure” written across their chest and put outside the front gate as an example to others. Lose a race, lose a beloved family pet and you don’t get it back until you’ve won something. If Dwayne Chambers had gone through this sort of pressure do you think he’d be so comfortable with staring at Bolt and Tyson Gay’s ass as they streak away? He’d have done anything to catch them, he’d have trained for longer, eaten healthier, rejected all female advances to focus on his work and he’d have certainly got much better at being discreet with his drug taking. We’re living in political correctness gone mad! I mean sure it’s stopped casual racism being common place, made sexism in the workplace a crime, prevented discrimination against those with mental and physical disorders and helped to make everyone feel that little bit more comfortable together, but these benefits pales in comparison to a few extra gold medals once every four years! People should earn the right to be comfortable, would the Chinese stand for this shit? If you drop the egg in a Chinese egg and spoon race your family probably doesn’t eat for a week and your granddad is arrested for being a political radical. When the North Korean football team were embarrassed in the World Cup they were sent to a work

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no gain Gane

And if they don’t win, they’ll be tied up in that bag for thirty years.

Lessons from the universe Written by Ben Hooper

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f physics has proven anything over the years, it’s that nobody actually knows anything about our universe, students are taken into labs and classrooms and delivered the false secrets that ‘govern’ our environment and known universe and if they refuse to be part of the covenant then they have their memory erased, I know what you’re thinking, the Men in Black thing. Right? Well, no, I know for sure that the professors at the University of Bath specialise in memory removal with the use of pop-tarts, carefully stuck (sticky side down) to Patrick Swayze box sets, they’ll get that thought out, even if you put brainy in the corner. I did start this article with the idea that I’d argue that the world was governed by a game of twister going on in somebody’s head, or shed? But I’ve decided that’s not a very good or fun idea. Many ideas have been competing in my mind and thus I think it would be nice to talk about the competition between thoughts, emotions and ideas. I believe that it’s this competition that holds many of us back (I included) but

that also makes us creative, quirky and spontaneous. I find those in complete control with their sense of direction, their day to day life and every waking thought or emotion; lack this certain spark; the most creative people I know are basically fucking mental (I included). Not everyone though, some people are steady as a rock, as creative as God on day 6, as bright as Mr Sunshine on my god damn shoulders John Denver (before he died) and as mad as a box of frogs with little woolly gloves and hats. I guess you’re waiting for the crux of the argument, well here it is. My advice to me is, don’t let emotions and especially thoughts compete in your head, set targets and goals and fulfil your aspirations on a day to day basis (I hope someone else takes something away from this) but basically what I’m saying is, as soon as frogs start realising that they’ve been enslaved in the ponds of Britain and gain the ability to knit. They will start hanging out in boxes whilst wearing knitted attire. Before you know it the world as we know it will end. Good day. beckyphoto.com

Duncan Hull Flickr

camp and I suggest this is what we need to do if we want to stay competitive.

In fact to send a message I want John Terry, Ashley Cole, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard sent to a work camp immediately (this bit started as a joke, but now I come to think of it…).

This may all seem ridiculous, but I have yet more evidence to support my claim. What events do we excel in? The posh ones. Who doesn’t obey political correctness? The aristocracy. Coincidence? I think not! In boarding and public schools the price of failure is greater; the watchful eye is not always there. If you drop the baton in a relay race then you’d better be sure you don’t drop the soap in the post-race shower.

Then there’s the traditional pass times of the aristocracy, sailing, rowing, equestrian and to a slightly lesser extent cycling, arguably our best events. When there’s a family name and more importantly a large will at stake you tend to work a bit harder, plus it’s easier to spend more time in the gym or prancing about on horseback when you know that daddy’s allowance means you don’t need to spend any time on a silly job. If you fail as a member of the aristocracy I am led to believe you are sent away to become a commander in some foreign war and cut from the will, allowing other great aristocratic activities, such as colonisation and the Agatha Christie murder mystery, to take place.

Perhaps we are too late to be really competitive for London 2012, but now is the time to plan for the future. Parents should be forced to drink at least one fifth of vodka before each event so that they are in the best possible condition to motivate their children. Those kids that aren’t quite going to make it should be given steroids that look and taste like Haribo so that the best kids have to work harder to stay on top. I’ve also been reading this fabulous textbook on the subject with wonderful ideas about how to encourage an effective but generally harmless competitive nature amongst young people, I believe it was called The Hunger Games. We don’t have to suffer the mediocrity of the past, we can be better, what is happiness compared to being that little bit more competitive? Onwards fellow Britons, for Gondor!

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Overworked and underpaid Ulterior Motives: Part 2 Written by Rowan Emslie

“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety.

Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals - sounds that say listen to this, it is important.”

News coverage can be extremely one note, particularly when it comes to ‘world news’ or development based stories. There is a degree to which wider cultural reasons are responsible for this - see ‘aid as entertainment’ on Aidspeak for more - but there is also an economic schema from within journalism: pushing unorthodox views and opinions does not sell; just look at the Daily Mail. These are the dying days of print news publications, now, more than ever, it is the commercial arm that exerts the greatest influence on those publications struggling to retain their positions.

Tales From The Hood once described the world of development as being based on a menage a trois (the original post is password protected, for some reason, but another post also focuses on a sex based analogy of aid - the orgy*): development agencies, donors and beneficiaries. The media is important - albeit for different reasons - to all three of those groups. As such, it exerts and influence on the relationship between them. Unfortunately, as it sees no way of monetising it’s involvement, it’s position of influence is poisonous**. The outlook is one of middle-of-the-road, conservative conventionality. That does not bode well for an industry like development: one that is often reactive and, by necessity, looking to adapt and improvise almost all the time.

What’s worse is that, if such papers represent the ‘prevailing mood’ of a nation, there is a degree of societal pressure placed on relevant decision makers to conform with these rather dull interpretations of the world of development. While highly influential papers like the mail continues to support columnists and editorial lines that publicly maul aid and aid agencies for being wasteful, donors are placed in a tricky situation. If I were in there shoes I would, by and large, be very much better disposed to safe,

dependable projects - i.e ones that are unlikely to scandalise a seemingly hostile public.

The menage a trois is not as exciting as it sounds. Like going to the same great bar night after night, getting caught in a stifling coterie of people mostly interested in development, however forward thinking, can only do so much good.

Alanna Shaikh, the queen bee of the development blogosphere, posed a question a while back that has been niggling me ever since: Where are all the interesting development thinkers?

I don’t know where they are or who they might be – and I’m sure they are out there - but I do want to suggest that the reason they’re so hidden is the insular, holierthan-thou and, sadly, sometimes condescending world of development workers is one that attracts only one type of person. Even more sadly, this seems to be a strange source of embattled pride. Don’t get me wrong - these are great people doing hard work and they are entitled to be annoyed by half-assed pretenders trying and failing to join in with them. It’s just, sometimes, it’s a sort of homogeneous club that turns away the kind of people that could help them to improve.

*boredinpostconflict.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/menage-troismore-like-orgy.html **the Daily Wail and its ilk are not the only voices in journalism. They are, however, extremely influential and, as it has grown so exuberantly while many of its competitors have floundered or perished, is as good a model as any for the future of the industry.

Commonwealth Foundation/Colin Patterson Flickr

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he commonwealth lecture is an annual event. Starting in 1997, a laudable and impressive speaker has been invited to address a crowd for 50 minutes or so on the chosen theme of the year. Amartya Sen was the first speaker and, for the most part, other older, male economists and political theorists have followed. This year the speaker was the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, whose youth and field of expertise is comparatively alternative. Her speech, while familiar to fans like myself, was intelligent, erudite and commandingly delivered - it is well worth a watch.

In Part 1, I explored how another writer, Philip Roth, had succeeded in engendering in me a deeper interest in polio, vaccination and epidemics than countless news reports or worthy academic papers. With the former particularly I believe there is an image problem. There is a brilliant piece of instructional writing by Gary Provost (quoted in Roy Peter Clark’s ‘Writing Tools’) that illustrates well a basic tenet of grabbing your audience’s attention.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at the Commonwealth Lecture 2012

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Let us beat that inner monologue Written by bite’s relationship columnist

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t is quite difficult as a writer to find focus with your words when the subject of your story lies behind you snoring in bed, blissfully unaware of the flurry of words being pounded upon the keyboard. So I sit here, competing with the two little people in my mind, do I go and join my subject to whip up some inspiration for this piece, or do I let him snooze... I’ll be right back.

Right so, dating is a game, and like all good games, competition is key. Internally you compete with yourself, those two little figures on your shoulders, the good and the rational, the bad and the naughty. Girls love a bad guy… but it always ends in tears. Nice guys, let’s face it, are a bore, so can we find a happy medium? *Looks over shoulder, smiles and nods to self*.

Externally you compare your prospective partners to one another... “well he’s taller, but he’s funnier” or “he has a better job, but he’s better in bed”. It is a competition, and the prize at stake is each other. The trick is finding the person that ticks the majority of the boxes, and continues to surprise you pleasantly throughout the dating period.

This incessant list making (whilst endlessly useful in most areas of life) really is quite degrading to those each side of the column. Emotions cannot be put down in black and white, as annoyingly, they are a whole spectrum of grey. You need a combination of the darks and the lights to find your happy medium and stability.

Competition can be healthy; it can spur better performance, create excitement and lead to a win. It can also facilitate jealousy, create hostility, and lead to a loss. This combination of elements is what you get in the world of dating... and it’s fucking frustrating.

It can however, also be just plain dangerous. Whilst competing with your inner monologue you could let a good one slip away and get lumbered with somebody completely inadequate. So it seems that a relationship is not the place for competition, as people get hurt. Therefore I suggest chilling out, enjoying the moment for what it is, and sucking out all the poison that your own deliberations can inject into a potential mate.

Luckily, this time I have been lumbered with a great one. So apologies for the blunt ending, but I am going to get back into bed and enjoy it before I get bumped down his list.

Crowding around the honey pot Written by bite’s sex columnist

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few weeks ago, I developed a crush for the first time in a very long time. Despite never having had penetrative sex with him, I knew I wanted to. I wanted him so deep inside me he was tickling my small intestine. However, I soon found out I wasn’t the only girl to feel this way.

A few days later, I take my fine-ass self to da cluuuuub and (accidently on purpose) bump into the love interest, he’s surrounded by other girls, frantic for his attention like a swarm of flies around a piece of rotting meat. All these deprived women, including myself, have put gargantuan effort into their appearance (makeup, tan, nails, hair, outfit: all to be coordinated and perfected) whilst lowering their expectations and actively denigrating each other to gain the attention of one, very undeserving, chap.

This situation is not exclusive to women: obviously groups of men have been known crave attention from a single attractive female, crowding round a honey pot, too small to let the whole hive in. A problem since the dawn of human beings: excessive competition obstructing attempts to mate with elite members of the opposite sex.

As a heterosexual female, I only have experience of “one upping” myself against other women in order to obtain a masculine diamond in the rough for a few hours. As embarrassing as it is to admit, I will get dressed up. I will judge and compare the aesthetic appearance of other women. I will admit to being a player in the game, acting in my own self-interest, which ultimately hinders myself in the process when interacting with competition strategically. In other words: going on the pull mimics the same principles of a “prisoners dilemma”.

To extrapolate, we have the puller, who spends more resources - money, time, and energycompeting with other prospective pullers who in turn lose out collectively. No matter how many drinks these pullers buy the attractive target, or how many hours they spend doing their hair, the end prize, or person, will remain the same. In the end, all the extra effort doesn’t make the target any more attractive, yet it does drain resources (resources that could be made use of elsewhere).

There is an incentive to try harder in order to potentially gain the lucky victim, but if they all try harder, a catch-22 emerges. Competition is still just as fierce, and the potential reward to be gained remains the same. I might even argue that the target decreases in value, as he/she may decide no effort is required to attract potential pullers.

The point I’m making is simple, as a predator, my life would be made a whole lot simpler if this vicious circle didn’t exist. A drain on our time, money and effort, we should collaborate to cooperate with one another.

So be the first to wear trousers instead of a skirt! Throw out your pot of hair gel! Besides, only plebs use deodorant anyway! Then, and only then, can we break the unnecessary drain on resources.

Capitalism is dead! Save the cows! Make Kony famous!

Then again, maybe I’m bluffing…? The beauty of a prisoner’s dilemma.

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The Guide Written by Anthony Masters

Music Kick & Snare and 16Bit @ Moles, 18th April Tickets £6 before, £8 after, 16Bit are an electronica duo hailing from West London, and are two of the most respected electronica producers around today. 16Bit have acquired a serious reputation for epic stage performances, also seeming to enjoy playing their music as much as their fans enjoy listening to it, varying between the extremes of frenetic frenzy and poignant emotion. If you wished to be introduced to electronica, there’s never been a better time.

Sylosis with Hang the Bastard, Xerath and Chapters @ The Fleece, 22nd April Tickets £10 in advance, Sylosis have played live with Dragonforce, As I Lay Dying and The Black Dahlia in festivals such as Download, and so have established their metal credentials. The critical acclaim garnered from their new album ‘Edge of the Earth’ means they are considered one of the pioneers of the metal genre. This intense band is not to be missed.

Miles Kane @ 02 Academy, 27th April Tickets £15, Miles Kane is co-frontman of The Last Shadow Puppets and was the frontman of indie rock band The Rascals, but is currently pursuing a solo career. His first solo album, ‘Colour of the Trap’ peaked at number 11 in the album charts, which NME said “Miles Kane has come smelling of roses”.

No, you’re a Sylosis, what am I?

Arts

Comedy

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia @ Little Theatre Cinema, 17th April Tickets £5

An Evening with Milton Jones @ The Forum, 20th April Tickets £10 or £7 concessionary price,

This powerful Turkish film was the co-winner of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival’s Grand Prix. It is based on the real experience of one of the writers, detailing the story of a group of men searching for a dead body on the Anatolian steppes. The Little Theatre Cinema describes this film as a “subtle, gorgeous, metaphysical and hypnotising crime thriller all in one”. Any fans of foreign cinema are encouraged to check this out.

Described by the Guardian as the “sultan of the surreal”, Milton Jones is a one-line magician and a one-man comedy extravaganza, and will be performing in Bath for one night only. His regularity on BBC2’s Mock the Week and recent performances for BBC1’s Live at the Apollo has given Milton’s comedy style nationwide exposure, and his Lion Whisperer live tour last year played to over 100,000 people. Milton will be accompanied by the Monckton Combe Big Band; this show is raising money for the Club Capernaum charity.

This show will be very popular so hurry to get your tickets from the Bath Box Office (www.bathboxoffice.org. uk/9077).

Abigail’s Party @ Theatre Royal Bath, 23-28 April Tickets range between £18 and £32 Mike Leigh’s popular satire of the tastes and aspirations of Britain’s emerging middle class in the 1970s comes to Bath’s Theatre Royal, with many famous faces playing the leading roles. Jill Halfpenny is well-known for her performances on Strictly Come Dancing, as well as key roles in soap operas Coronation Street and Eastenders. Her performance as Beverly has been described by the Daily Telegraph as “simultaneously sexy and repellent”, calling it a “terrific production”. Natalie Casey plays the daughter Angela, has television credits in Hollyoaks and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps. The other roles in the play are performed by Andy Nyman, Joe Absolom and Lindsey Posner.

Stewart Francis Outstanding in His Field @ Komedia, 25th April Tickets £17.50, Another prodigy of the BBC2 comedy series Mock the Week graces Bath; Stewart Francis promises a night of quick-fire giggling at his impressive arsenal of one-liners.

Stewart Francis is critically acclaimed around the world, having done his stand-up performances almost everywhere, including North America, Asia, South Africa and the Middle East. Stewart’s familiarity means that this is very likely to sell out, so book your tickets now (www.komediabath.ticketsolve.com/shows/126519814/events).

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Listen Up!

URB’s Crouching Beaver, Hidden Squirrel give us an overview of recent releases

Albums Big K.R.I.T. 4evaNaDay

Burial Kindred [EP]

Dr. John Locked Down

The Shins Port of Morrow

The top comment on a Youtube vid says it all – “thumbs up if you cant find a krit song you dont like”. Like other accessible-but-nottrendy artists possessing intimidating consistency (say, Elbow), he’s steadily built a massive fan base on both sides of the Atlantic. The latest (free) mixtape is more of the same, and no bad thing because of it – soul-food production, dirty-south swagger interspersed with thought-provoking lines that knock you over.

The first three tracks lack the momentum you’d expect, but once he gets the engine started your carried all the way to the finish line.

2011’s ‘Street Halo’ saw Burial consolidating his style, with only slight growth from Untrue’s palette - this all changes with Kindred. His joint venture with Massive Attack hinted at the crawling pace and epic song-lengths of this release, but those tracks simply didn’t possess the brilliance present here. It certainly takes a few listens to sink in, as Burial is now miles ahead of the 2-step beats of his debut – the tracks decay and bloom like… well not like anything, ever.

This is without doubt one of the finest EP’s in history that, like all great music, achieves significance without trying.

I checked this out after seeing stellar reviews of an artist I’d regularly heard playing out of my dad’s stereo, and was amazed at just how vital this record sounds. The young blood of Dan Auerbach (the Black Keys) in the production chair certainly helps, but the energy all parties involved give to these performances of humid NewOrleans funk/blues is simultaneously captivating and danceable, finding an older artist recording something that may actually win new fans.

Indie heroes (or hero - frontman/songwriter James Mercer is the only original member remaining) return with a more polished sound courtesy of Greg Kurstin (Foster the People, Lily Allen). This means the usually charming filler is downright dull, but thanks to the internet you have no excuse not to grab the first half and last two tracks of the album (along with bonus track Pariah King), some of the best poprock since… the last Shins album. I’ll accept unevenness in return for tracks like ‘The Rifle’s Spiral’, ‘Simple Song’, ‘Bait and Switch’ and the old-style-Shins-on-a-beach of ‘September’

Singles Beach House Myth

Girls My Ma

Jack White

Love Interruption/Sixteen Saltines

Jessie Ware Running

OFWGKTA Oldie

The first new single since their utterly brilliant 2010 album ‘Teen Dream’ piles even more atmosphere onto an already dreamy sound. They still manage to remain gracefully light-footed thanks to a chorus that sounds like clouds parting and constantly fluctuating instrumentation.

The third single from last year’s brilliant ‘Father, Son, Holy Ghost’ may in many ways be a re-tread of incredible lead single Vomit, but that’s no put down. Slow-core, slide-guitar, Elliott Smith melancholy and Pink Floyd production touches avoid pastiche thanks to heart-rending sentiment.

The first two teasers for one of the most active characters in music’s upcoming solo debut, Jack returns to the styles he’s most famous for – wailing over nimble acoustics and firing out vintage punk-rock. Yes it lacks little-red-riding-Bonham on the drums, but this’ll satiate Stripes devotees.

I went apeshit for Ware’s first single, ‘Strangest Feeling’, and for good reason – Katy B on a comedown tickles my musical gooch.

This is definitely brighter territory, with a more bouncy 80s synth touch, but variety only ups the anticipation for an album from the SBTRKT collaborator.

The rap crew bizarrely turned up on Newsnight yesterday, asked what they’re trying to say - “Nothing. Shit to piss old white people off like you.”

There’s no denying that the ‘irresponsible’ lyrics are for the sake of it, but isn’t all art? They remain too uneven to wholly embrace, but this posse track has the spirit of teens just hanging out and tearing up the mic.

Most likely to: soundtrack a wedding cake falling, in slow-motion, on a cruise ship.

Most likely to: soundtrack a Californian sunset.

Least likely to: win any new kinds of fans. But I don’t think he cares.

Most likely to: win over the demographic that ‘doesn’t do sad music’. Pffft.

Most likely to: remind you of why people listened to Slipknot and Eminem. Screw you parents!

All videos and tracks available at cbhs.tumblr.com

Monday 16th April 2012

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MusicSoc BotB 2012 Written by Holly Narey

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n the 29th of March The Green Park Tavern played host to the first heat of the University of Bath MusicSoc’s Battle of the Bands. Five groups of fellow students got up on stage to play fifteen minute sets of a combination of original songs and covers, trying to win one of the three available places in the final. I was lucky enough to be invited along as a judge (one of the many perks of bite editor) Club Stone Ginger were up first, and filled the stage with their multitude of instruments, musicians and big sounds. They were the only band to have a brass section (something that always impresses me) and a highlight was their cover of Britney’s Toxic, which had most of the audience dancing along with them. Next up was The Mist, who took things down a more mellow route, with very strong performances and original songs. Then it was the Cheesecake Factory, who replaced a vocalist with a creative, post-rock use of keyboard and guitars. Next was the band with probably, in fact definitely, the longest name I have ever come across; Super iPhase PHWWWOOOAARRR Arcade Edition Remix 2: The Lost Levels VERSUS Senium (I Like Balls in

my Mouth), last year’s reigning champions, and I could see why.

The lead singer came on stage, head covered with a rubber horse mask (no easy feat considering the spotlights heating up the stage) and proceeded to blast out a few huge and heavy songs, swapping instruments between each song and cracking jokes with the audience.

Finally it was the turn of Mandrill Vendetta, who had the only female singer of the competition, Suzie Hance, who blew us away with her effortless vocals. Their set was full of bluesy swing vibes and was a great finale to the show.

Each band was judged on many categories, including originality, musicianship and sportsmanship. Once in, their scores were calculated from a combination of judge’s vote, audience vote and combined vote in a way that is too complicated for my feeble mind to fathom, and the three acts to go through were (drumroll) Club Stone Ginger, … here we go… Super iPhase PHWWWOOOAARRR Arcade Edition Remix 2: The Lost Levels VERSUS Senium (I Like Balls in my Mouth), and Mandrill Vendetta.

Roll on the second heat on the 19th April. See you there? Cool.

The three successful bands. Left to right: Super iPhase... at last year’s BotB, Club Stone Ginger and Mandrill Vendetta

Review: The Maccabees Written by Matthew Walsh

The third album is a challenge that many bands find defeats them; their creative stores have been drained by a few years of releases, and the challenge of having to write on the road is often something that means that the band loses something of themselves, the quality of what they produce can fade, and often this causes them to fade also, into obscurity. The Maccabees, with their new album, Given To The Wild, have faced this challenge, and have succeeded impressively. Hailed by NME as the first classic album of 2012, it shows a maturity that these guys have earned through years of developing their style. With all this in mind, I jumped at the opportunity to head on over to Bristol O2 Academy on the 13th March to see whether they would live up to the amazing album live.

The support act, La Shark, were unique to say the least. I wasn’t that impressed and was almost relieved when their set was over and the main event could begin.

I had anticipated that the gig would be quite chilled to suit the feeling of the album, but (luckily), I was wrong. They came on looking like little boys all grown up, dressed smartly in black, (I fancy them a bit, can you tell?) and soon the haunting sounds of the title track, Given To The Wild, began to reverberate around the venue, sending shivers down everyone’s spines. The song made its natural transition into Child, and the crowd started to shout and sing along with Orlando’s almost whispery voice until they really let loose, and before I knew it I was in the middle of a mosh pit. The energy of the show was astounding, the performance flawless. If you’ve got the chance, grab it. They’re currently touring internationally, but will be back in time for the Reading and Leeds festival.

The Outtallectual Collective Written by Aryan Ashoori

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t’s been 13 months since the inception of Outtallectuality became facebook official. The idea to bring forth new scientific and artistic insight into our community has been encouraged by 115 science lovers and 200 artists from the University of Bath who joined their respected Outtallectual groups, leading to the publication of a webzine, an album release, a few club nights and plenty of state-of-the-art wisdom. The community continues to expand internationally and now houses 500 members, about 50 musicians ranging from Japan to Middle East to Virginia, USA. Various members of the community were also involved with kick-starting Bath’s own Occupy movement which proved to be great recruiting ground for forward thinkers involved in projects such as the Venus Project.

The collective has repeatedly stood up for progression from ignorance in every possible facet by covering uneasy topics that would not surface otherwise; for example, the war on drugs. With the war’s superficial ideology of hypocrisy, it condones the use of alcohol and cigarettes which cause more death per annum than all illegal drugs, and ignores the positive aspects of psychedelic drugs. Similarly, topics such as the war on terror and its hypocrisy regarding the non-sanctioned drone attacks in many countries and G-8’s stockpile of nuclear weapons. The group hosts open discussions on such issues and input from all different backgrounds is welcome. After all, this is how centricity combines the right leftist ideas and gives birth to balanced ideas that could potentially satisfy beliefs from all sides of the spectrum.

It is important to stress the Outtallectual idea of Omni-dimensionalism; the idea that fields of knowledge are all interlinked and can only move forward when they are synchronized. This ranges from pre-Abrahamic cultural wisdom of Mesoamerican tribes to cutting edge neuroscientific advancements. It is only through this holistic approach that we can progress scientifically and spiritually and hope to find the border world intersection that would bring all atheists, agnostics and believers together.

If you like the idea of human ascension rather than World War 3 or if you believe that time is a measure of synchronicity and art rather than money, we would very much appreciate your presence within our community and welcome your input.

Please make sure to check our facebook groups and page. Finally we’d like to thank the folks in bathimpact editorial group who have supported us throughout this time.

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Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact

www.bathimpact.com

Friendly competition Written by Simon O’Kane

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ompetitive videogaming comes in two very different forms. YouTube user FlamesOnFire1212, in the introduction to his video Top Ten “You’re a Dick” Moments in Video Games, explains the distinction: “OK, I know what you’re thinking… You just did Annoying Things People Do Online, isn’t that the same thing? Hear me out on this one. I’m talking about when you’re playing multiplayer with friends.” The same is true of this article; if you’re interested in serious competitive gaming, my colleague Ron Morrow has written a piece about that. I recommend the video by the way; it’s hilarious and lists a lot of the most-played multiplayer games.

Playing videogames with housemates or whoever you happen to have over at that point has become a staple of the teenage/ twenty-something lifestyle, so I thought I’d write a short article about the sheer diversity of what’s out there. Speaking of diversity, Mario Kart Wii attracts the widest range of players; the intuitive steering wheel control system makes it easy for non-gamers to pick up, plus it has a strong reputation for being light-hearted, harmless fun. When I offered to organise a games night for RAG Week, the then VP Education Katie Mabery said, “If you’re playing Mario Kart, I’m THERE.” Music-based games also appeal a wide audience. Guitar Hero started the trend and is a solid competitive game, but there are many others. There are also games centred around singing and dancing (SingStar, We Sing, Dance Central, the list goes on…), which are especially popular with “normal” people as it mirrors the sort of thing they tend to do for fun anyway.

Now that most of the obvious ones are out of the way, I can get into the hidden gems. I’m mainly talking about games built around short single-player mini-games, which can also be played competitively. For example, Big Brain Academy for Wii is surprisingly good in multiplayer, sporting three different competitive modes. Wii Fit has provided hours of fun for my family, with people competing for the highest scores.

In particular, Zazen becomes a VERY different

game when everyone is trying to distract you! For those of you without a Wii, the DS games Super Mario 64 DS and New Super Mario Bros. also feature some awesome mini-games.

The various Mario Party titles combine this mini-game element with a board game setup to form an experience that is depressingly dull to play alone, but a barrel of laughs with four players. Wii Party has a similar setup, but with less emphasis on the board game format. Mario Party 8 has a board that requires players to invest in hotels (sound familiar?); the concept has been so successful as to inspire Fortune Street, which is quite literally the Japanese answer to Monopoly.

For those of you who have read my article about old-school videogames, there are some right gems there too. The original versions of Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark for the N64 still manage to compete with newer shooting games like Halo, while my previous article already covered Jedi Outcast, the multi-platform game where you fight with lightsabers and futuristic guns. As for Pokémon Stadium 2, one of the mini-games (Delibird’s Delivery) is so good that I will quite happily pay £40 for a copy with a working N64 and two controllers (to prove I’m not kidding, my email address is sejok20@bath.ac.uk). Oh and Tetris is also available in multiplayer.

There are many times when a visit to a friend’s house has ended in playing some kind of fighting game. The various Soul Calibur titles come to mind; if their enormous range of characters isn’t enough, later versions actually allow you to create your own custom characters. You can fight as your favourite film or videogame character, or enact what will inevitably happen when the Editorin-Chief finally tracks down Colonel Sanders. My own taste, however, mirrors that of incoming bite editor Thomas Gane: “[Super Smash Bros.] justice, it may not seem fair but it is impartial and the only true form of order in the universe… it is the best game for playing with friends.”

Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact www.bathimpact.com

I want to be the very best Written by Ron Morrow

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n 2010 I attended the National Pokémon Championships in Birmingham. I was fairly new to the whole extreme training mechanic that sits happily, hiding in the background and slowly evolving into a more complex beast with each iteration of the game. It was the only competition in the UK before the World Championships and foolishly I thought it would be a fairly casual event, populated solely by a few fanatics such as myself willing to make the journey and nagging children. I was wrong. Well, I wasn’t in my description of the crowd, but my estimation of the quantity was way off. Despite arriving at 8am, an hour before registration even opened, I didn’t get a space in the competition. Needless to say I stuck around to watch the proceedings and battle against other rejected competitors and I thoroughly enjoyed myself despite having my ass handed to me every match.

When I contrast the popularity of this competition with how little competitive gaming has taken off in the UK I get confused. How can one event be insanely popular whilst all the others fail to get off their feet? I admit that Nintendo has more money than sense and the grand prize was a pretty savage holiday of your choosing, but that can’t be the only key to success, can it? There are numerous online championships in existence, but that’s not the type of tournament I mean. I’m talking about watching real people play.

I’m talking about a champion being born through battle and the crowds cheering them on as they weave magic with their thumbs and index fingers. I’m talking about beating your opponent and having the satisfaction of shaking their hand afterwards instead of simply typing “good game” or tea-bagging their rag doll corpse.

Gaming competitions have always struggled with generalities because not only do they have to cater to a broad range of genres, but also endless diversity in any one of those with endless sequels constantly changing the field of play. Not to mention different consoles only exacerbating matters. Surely it’s more appropriate to embrace this diversity though?

It’s all well and

good being the best by miles at one iteration of CoD, but the real winner should be the one who can do consistently well across everything from Quake to Goldeneye and Battlefield. You can still celebrate those who do well at particular games, but at least you’re distinguishing between those who could kill a yak from 200 yards away with mind bullets on any platform, from those who spent their childhood memorising the glitches in the DE_ Dust2 map. The other problem is that gaming on its own isn’t always that exciting to watch, but chuck in some big screen action, an overly enthusiastic host and some fancy editing and you’ve got something people would flock to out of intrigue alone.

In 2009, one company tried to set up a national scale, multi-disciplinary gaming league. In answer to the blank expression on your face, it was the UK eSports Association and they filed for bankruptcy within just over a year. They failed for a number of reasons, the most prevalent of which being that they took a brute force approach to “build it and they will come”. Corporate deals and sponsorship, branded teams and an insanely large prize fund; they were engaging with everyone except the one person a modern sport is nothing without: the spectator. If no one’s watching then who the hell are you catering for? You can’t just start a huge tournament with a slapped on season structure and expect it to work, because without trial and error the tower is sure to topple.

You have to start from the ground up; find out what the people want and what works. Once you build up enough of a fan base where people actually care about who wins and eventually the rules and structure will define itself. Next year I hope to set up a few local tournaments here in Bath and I would urge anyone who’s bored of beating faceless sprites to do the same in their home towns. If for nothing else then just because it’s fun to play face to face, meet fellow gamers and swap tips,

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Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact www.bathimpact.com

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Review: The Pirates!

Written by Ron Morrow

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ardman’s latest foray into feature lengths is everything you’ve come to expect and love from the Bristol based animation company. The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! is delightfully British in its subtle humour and is entertaining throughout, but lacks any real punch to its plot.

Lead by the suave but misguided Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant, who thankfully avoids his usual bumbling Englishman voice), this merry band of misfits sail the seven seas plundering the odd ship and enjoying the weekly ham night. Of course they’re not very good pirates though and so winning the oh-so coveted Pirate of the Year contest (think Miss Teen America, but with more beards and bounty) has slipped their grasp for the last 20 years. Not this year though as, after a chance encounter with Charles Darwin (David Tennant) and his monkey butler (an oddly popular choice in butler species this year), they realise their big-boned parrot dodo Polly means they’re a shoein for this year’s prize. That is of course if they can get past the pirate hating Queen Vic (Imelda Staunton) to enough booty to blow the Captain’s equally flamboyant (and well cast) competitors out of the water.

Admirably and casually stepping into the 21st century like The Muppets before it, Pirates! has managed to keep all of the old stop motion aesthetic while joining forces with new technology. The majority of sea and sky is computer generated, whilst all of the characters and set pieces remain painstakingly hand crafted and look all the bet-

Welcome back from Easter folks, it’s about time you started planning your summer, and if you’ve got any brains then your plans should involve at least one festival. In the overdraft? Never fear! bite has your free tickets to these festivals.

For more info head to the facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/bathimpactbite

ter for it. A lot of computer generated features can get carried away with themselves and forget about proportioning, but when each scene has an existence in reality it keeps everything in check. It takes years of practice to create realistic absurdity and silliness, but Aardman have most certainly proved they’ve still got what it takes when it comes to making plasticine look dashing.

Despite clear effort being put into having a stellar cast and great visuals, Pirates! falls down on the story slightly. Not to say it isn’t funny, because it left me laughing throughout. Filled to the brim with the types of jokes that leave you sniggering as opposed to roaring with laughter, there are plenty of hints towards hidden gags or scenes that border on pure absurdity. While those of more advanced years might enjoy the odd joke about evolution or silly pub names, it doesn’t leave much for the kids who it’s aimed at, oddly alienating its target audience. The story just doesn’t feel like there’s enough at risk though and so the end pay-off feels lessened because of it; when your only dilemma is a first world problem of money or friends there isn’t exactly much of a cause to rally behind.

Pirates! shows that Aardman’s still got it, and for those of us who grew up loving Wallace and Gromit then this will surely go down a treat. If you have your wits about you then you’ll find jokes that’ll keep you giggling throughout and some pretty awesome characters to boot. Bring on the next adventure I say! Aaaarrghhhh!

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Monday 16th April 2012

This Fortnight’s TV The Apprentice Written by Charlotte Lightowler

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Review: The Hunger Games Written by Elliott Campbell

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hen the opening titles of the Hunger Games rolled across the screen, I remember wondering if it would meet my already low expectations.

I had been reluctantly dragged along to see what I was sure was either going to be a sub-standard twilightesque romance that’s only redeeming feature was it’s dystopic setting or a remake of Battle Royale for little kids. So when the heroine Katniss (don’t worry, the name astounded me too) has a touching little heart to heart with handsome male friend I felt a mixture of the pleasure that comes with being right, and the regret at forking out the ludicrous amount of money that cinema tickets cost nowadays.

The premise of the film is bearable. Essentially a young boy and girl from each of the nearby areas compete in an annual free-for-all fight to the death called the ‘Hunger Games’. Then the whole thing is televised to the rest of the country. Jolly good stuff.

This was, however, a film with a 12-certificate rating and was also based off a book for ‘young adults’ - I was fairly sure there would be a noticeable lack of brutal violence.

So as I prepared myself to say goodbye to the next 142 minutes of my life, debating whether I should play DrawSomething or simply nap until it was over, I was a little caught off guard when Katniss turned out not to be the pathetically helpless heroine I had assumed she would be *cough*Bella*cough*. After that I sat up in my lovely comfy cinema chair (although sadly my budget didn’t stretch to a premier seat) and properly gave the film my attention.

By the end of the film I felt guilty. Guilty that I had initially been so dismissive.

Guilty that I had judged a film by it’s cover. And guilty that I had accidentally finished my friends coke because I thought it was mine.

The Hunger Games did in fact have a pretty good plot, if a tad predictable at times, and a surprisingly dark undertone for what I had been so quick to write off as a waste of my time. I don’t want to go into too much detail as I would prefer to ruin as little of the film for you as possible so I’ll leave it at that and just say that all in all the Hunger Games was a good egg (in keeping with the Easter theme) that exceeded my expectations. A good one, but certainly not a great one.

That said the only film I think is truly great is Anchorman. So I would probably take everything I say with a pinch of salt. And a bit of tequila and lemon for good measure.

Katie: apparent bimbo, actual bitch

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h, the British spring is upon us. That means sunshine, daffodils, lambs, and most importantly, a brand new series of The Apprentice. Since last year’s winner was one of our own, a MecEng Bath graduate, I thought the programme would be of particular interest. This year’s fresh crop of wannabe-Sugars lacks a Bath graduate, so the outcome is not quite as obvious.

I’m not too clued up on what the competition is about, but by the looks of it, the aim is to be as arrogant, threatening and unpleasant as is physically possible within the realms of humanity.

Stop at nothing to trample your peers, screech the loudest and stomp your feet to get your own way. If you fail to ruthlessly bully your weaker colleagues and shout from the rooftops that you are the new Jesus, you might as well go home now.

The first three rejected hopefuls have learnt some valuable lessons in Business. Respectively, don’t be a foreigner, don’t fall asleep in the car, and don’t, whatever you do, be a nice person. “I thought I was going to get fired… and then I realised Michael was there!” Guffaws one amiable soul of the nearly normal-looking Michael, the most recently fired individual at the time of writing. Still, it is fair to say Michael was out of his depth: although he claimed to be a mini Sugar, the similarities began and ended with the Cockney accent; he was more of a mini Billy Mitchell who had stumbled onto the wrong BBC1 show.

Last week’s task of making and selling a new condiment was a classic, with both teams making the most basic of blunders. Team Phoenix produced a batch of their ‘Mediterranean’ ketchup slop so bad that it had to be thrown out, thus losing a fifth of their product. At least they managed to squirt out a sample bottle, while Team Sterling almost poisoned themselves with their toxic mixture of pineapple and chilli, meaning poor Nick had to pitch without a product. The pack of overly-cocky, jeering boys looked genuinely shocked when apparent bimbo, actual bitch, Katie, put herself up for the role of project manager. Sensitive Adam was particularly concerned: “It’s very very complicated”, he helpfully pointed out. In the end the girls managed a win, perhaps due to the addition of two strong men to their team, but awkwardly Sugar had arranged a motorracing treat, doubtless assuming the boys would triumph once again. It’s good to see sexism in business is finally in the past.

Katie dragged “professional wrestler” Ricky Martin (now there’s an image) and poor Michael into the boardroom to face Lord Sugar’s wrath. The Latin American pop singer was clearly to blame for the failure of the task, Sugar actually said so himself. However, as I have stated time and time again, there is no room for nice people in Business and Phil Mitchells’ dogsbody suffered that most humiliating of setbacks: getting fired from a job he had not yet acquired.

Thirteen candidates remain. The fight for Lord Sugar’s quarter of a million pound investment has begun. Give me strength.

*cough*Bella*cough*

Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact www.bathimpact.com

American Apparel

Written by Harriet Tangney, bite Deputy

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ast month the new 2012 olympic GB kit was launched, designed by Stella Mccartney as another collaboration with Adidas. They have been working together on sportswear for fashion conscious women for about eight years now, and I am glad to see some her flair in the new kit. It’s a modern take on the union jack flag along with some Stella touches and the team look pretty snazzy in my opinion.

This got me thinking about the whole “sporty chic” trend, something that comes and goes occasionally but I have never really got into, I guess probably because of my total aversion to exercise and anything requiring coordination. But there is something quite attracting about sports wear; the clean lines, contrast piping along seams and of course, the comfort factor! And you don’t have to look like you just came out of the gym, this trend is all about subtlety and minimalism. Look out for comfy draped jersey, racer back tops, stripe details, dayglo colours and the use of fabrics like mesh and neoprene and velcro.

This look isn’t necessarily a sexy one, but American Apparel has been making sport sexy for years. Their aesthetic is all about 80s style dance inspired clothing, and their advertising is notoriously overtly sexual. Go there for basics in good colours and shapes, though note it may be more expensive than you expect; though if you are like me, you’ll just sigh and buy that perfect grey t-shirt anyway.

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Above: Grey twist knot dress - River Island £30 Left outfit: Zip Bralette - New Look £9.99 Dip Dyed Joggers - Topshop £25 Right outfit: Tank top - H&M £5.99 Slimfit joggers - Topshop £22 Below: Socks - American Apparel £7 Nike High Tops - ASOS £67

Tuesday XXth Month 9999

99

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Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact

Eggstraordinary!

www.bathimpact.com

Written by Nia Evans, bite Deputy

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Alisha Vargas Flickr

wenty years ago not many people would even look at the humble egg on supermarket shelves. Sales in the product dropped dramatically due to fears of salmonella and the worry that eggs were the cause of serious health problems such as heart disease and high cholesterol. But now the egg is making a strong comeback in the culinary world and is even considered to be one of the new ‘super-foods’ alongside blueberries, broccoli and brazil nuts. It’s quite remarkable how much goodness can be found is in those little shells. One medium egg can contain as much as 6.8 grams of protein and is rich in numerous vitamins and minerals.

Perhaps the best thing, however, about the simple egg is the fact they are probably one of the most versatile ingredients to be found in any pantry. They form the basis of the oldest and most established recipes known and are essential to traditional cooking all over the world. From cakes and custard to mayonnaise and frittatas, life in the kitchen would not be the same without eggs.

For me, skinny frites would be miserable pieces of fried potatoes without a generous blob of mayonnaise and what would childhood be without meringues so sweet they make your teeth hurt?

What’s more, the egg has to be the ultimate student ingredient. If you open any student cookbook you will undoubtedly find countless recipes for omelettes, scrambled eggs and hangover fried egg sandwiches. So I’m adding a couple more to the collection!

My first eggy eggstravaganza (sorry!) is my all time favourite breakfast recipe... PANCAKES! My American friend made these for me whilst I was on my year abroad and they are one of the few things which get me out of bed on a Saturday morning. Eat them with maple syrup and streaky bacon (it’s actually really good!) or if you’re like me with copious amounts of Nutella and banana.

Contrary to the opinion of my housemates Welsh Rarebit is NOT just cheese on toast! I love this recipe and it is perfect for a quick lunch and a change from beans on toast. Eat it with a slice of bacon on top if you are a true carnivore like me or with a super salad on the side.

Ingredients: 250g/9oz plain flour 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 3 tbsp sugar 250ml/9fl oz milk 2 eggs, lightly beaten 50g/2oz butter (melted)

Ingredients: 2 slices thick cut bread (white/brown/granary whichever you prefer) 200g/7oz mature cheese 1tsp Dijon mustard Splash of Worcestershire sauce Splash of milk 1 beaten egg

Method: • Begin by sifting the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a large mixing bowl.

• Mix the milk, eggs and the melted butter in a separate bowl.

• Add the egg mixture and to the flour and mix quickly to make a batter. Don’t worry about any lumps; these are thick pancakes so you won’t be able to tell when they are cooked.

• Next, heat a frying pan and grease it lightly with a little extra butter.

• When the pan is hot enough, pour in the batter. Each pancake should be about 8-10cm.

• Cook them for 1-2 minutes or until bubbles form on top of the pancake and the underside is golden, then flip and cook for one minute.

Method • First, grate the cheese. I tend to prefer a mature cheddar cheese but feel free to experiment with different types.

• Next, beat the egg and mix with it the cheese, milk, mustard and Worcestershire sauce.

• Grill one side of the bread until toasted.

• Spoon the cheesey mixture onto the untoasted side of the bread and spread so it is even.

• Finally, grill the rarebit for a few minutes until the cheese has melted and has turned golden brown on top.

brett jordan Flickr

Welsh Rarebit

smittenkittenorig Flickr

Pancakes (American Style)

Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact www.bathimpact.com

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Our mystic is speaking to the stars on your behalf to find out the inner secrets of your futures. He was self-taught for six years, until a wizened old hag took a break from selling The Big Issue to teach him the ways of the universe in exchange for a ham sandwich. He stares at the stars every night wondering what does it all really mean? He once saw a ghost.

Or thought he did. It might have been the shadow of a cat or a car driving past his window. And he hates mango.

Ooh so magic

 Taurus

 Gemini

 Cancer

A dark and mysterious man will enter your life this week. He’ll be strong, tall and handsome with a long trenchcoat and after this your life will never be the same. Unfortunately you’ll meet him in a dark alley and the next few years will involve a lot of therapy.

The stars are angry. Very very angry at the poor calibre of music people listen to while they gaze upon them, pretending to be romantic. As such they have commanded the deaths of You Me At Six, Kids In Glass Houses, Nickelback, Justin Beiber and anyone else who thinks four chords and cheap rhymes is a good love song. Go Taurus, let the stars will be done.

 Virgo

 Libra

Sometimes bad things happen to good people, this is not one of those times. You deserve this you unspeakable bastard. The stars see and hear everything, they’re like God except they exist, so like Father Christmas except enacting vengance all year round. The stars are fed up and we can’t actually print what they want to do to you, but let’s just say it involves giant scorpions, bacon grease, a baguette, some chains and penetration.

There is one simple solution to your problems and that is tattoos. Members of the opposite sex will think you’re deep and sexy, show them off or tell people about them and you’ll be doing the stride of pride in no time. People in work will think you’re really tough and therefore won’t mess you about so you get all the best shifts. Plus it’s a scientific fact that creative people all have tattoos so your marks will increase as soon as you get one.

The stars have warned me of how to get out of all your exams! A few days before your first one obtain the following items: a crate of lager, cider and Guiness, one bottle of white wine and one bottle of red, one fifth of vodka, one of tequila and one of whiskey, some Long Island Ice Tea and some Malcom X Tea. Next, consume the following in about 12 hours, start with the Malcom X, and wait. Finally, ensure you have a sober friend watching who’s able to take you to the hospital and collect your doctors note.

 Scorpio

 Sagittarius

 Capricorn

Be wary of a man in a T-shirt and trousers, he may do something that may effect your life in what might be an adverse way. Someone of the opposite sex may come onto the scene and might make you question your current situation and their vague actions may make you take what might be a very important decision. In work someone you might work with may do something that might be good but could just as likely be bad. Congratualtions, you just read a real horoscope.

Thou shalt not worship pop idols or follow Lostprophets, Thou shalt not take Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer or Jimmi Hendrix’s name in vain, Thou shalt not think that any man who plays with a child who is not their one is a paedophile, Thou shalt not read NME, Thou shalt not question Stephen Fry and most importantly, Thou shalt always listen to Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip.

Girl, you are a strong independent woman who don’t need no man, you can do so much better than that dog Tyrone. Shaniqua saw him down town with that skank Krystal, she did! With her own eyes! Girl you don’t need him, he holding you down! Here’s what we go’n do, get you all dolled up, new vajazzle and errthing then take you out and find you an NBA player.

 Aquarius

 Pisces

 Aries

April 21 - May 20

May 21 - June 20

BIRTHDAY BIRTHDAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU

Sometimes bad things happen to good people, it’s a fact of life. Keep track of your coursework as your computer will crash inexplicably at some point this week. Your crush will get with someone else, they won’t really want to but they’re going to get really drunk and then a lucky person will do unspeakable things to them. Sorry, at least you’re forewarned.

 Leo

July 22 - August 22

October 23 - November 21

January 21 - February 19

This week is a week of regret. If you’d have bought a lottery ticket last week then you’d have been the sole winner and be living on your own island right now. If you’d sent that flirtatious text message then you’d be having sex at this very moment. If you’d done an extra shift in work you’d have been promoted. Wondering why we’re only telling you this now? …lol.

August 23 - September 22

November 22 - December 21

February 20 - March 20

This’ll be a really really good week. You’ll get to go on really really long walks by the river and go for awesome swims. People will give you lots and lots of food from the table. Someone will scratch your belly for a really, really long time. You’ll get to chase lots and lots of squirrels and have lots and lots of sex with someone’s leg! …shit, no, this is a dog horoscope again.

June 21 - July 21

September 23 - October 22

December 22 - January 20

March 21 - April 20

IT IS ALSO YOUR BIRTHDAY HOORAY

This week you’ll learn that this world isn’t exactly real, it’s all a simulation in a Thirteenth Floor/The Matrix kind of way. I’d like to think that you’ll be able to cope and escape into the real world (the year 3000, not much has changed we just live under water, thankfully McFly were killed in the Second Coming of Jesus), but you’ll probably just go insane and kill yourself.

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Monday 16th April 2012

bathimpact www.bathimpact.com

Puzzle Corner

Quick Crossword

Puzzles and quiz made by Dorian Lidell

Across

Down

1) Absolutely nothing (5,5,5) 9) Eskimo dwelling (5) 10) Letter-for-letter (9) 11) Concise, pithy (5) 12) Requirement (9) 13) Disentangle (7) 16) Cherished, treasured (6) 17) Destiny, fortune (3) 19) In a foreign country (6) 20) But on the other hand (7) 23) Large species of eel (6,3) 24) Goodbye (Old French: “to God”) (5) 26) Coming before (9) 27) Pertaining to the kidneys (5) 28) Engage in a wild drinking spree (5,3,4,3)

1) Japanese massage technique (7) 2) Proficient Swiss mathematician (5) 3) Scottish) Put up with, bear (5) 4) Taking everything into account (3,2,3) 5) Become aware of (6) 6) Earth’s atmosphere and beyond (9) 7) Ascribe; a property or quality (9) 8) Breed of spitz dog with a fluffy white coat (7) 14) Vast plain in Tanzania and Kenya (9) 15) Surprise, astonishment (9) 18) Soft light visible in the sky before sunrise and after sunset (8) 19) Alcoholic drink which tastes like a soft drink (7) 21) Filthy and neglected (7) 22) Die (6) 24) Feathered missile shot from a bow (5) 25) Situated closer to the centre (5)

Brain Trainers

Jigsawdoku

One-upper

Enter the numbers 1-9 into the grid so that each number appears precisely once in each row, column and barred block. In standard Sudoku, the blocks are nine 3x3 squares, but here they can be any shape at all.

Enter the numbers 1-5 into the grid so that each number appears precisely once in each row and column. A bar between two cells indicates that the numbers either side of the bar must differ by 1; if there is no bar between two cells, the numbers in the cells differ by more than 1.

Darius N

Quiz This fortnight: Sport!

Questions: 1. Which country won the very first World Cup in 1930?

2. The winter biathlon combines rifle shooting with which other sport?

3. Which American skateboarder is credited with inventing many of the basic flip tricks of skateboarding, including the kickflip and heelflip?

4. The Sudirman Cup, Thomas Cup and Uber Cup are major competitions in which sport?

5. Which comedians provided the lyrics for “Three Lions”, the official anthem of the England football team in 1996?

6. Which darts player’s entrance music is Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like The Wolf”?

Last Week’s Solution

7. In golf, what colour is the jacket awarded to the winner of the Masters?

Arithmaster Solution

9. The Hillsborough Disaster of 1989 resulted in the deaths of 96 people, all of whom supported which football club?

10. Monty Panesar plays one-day and test matches for which national cricket team?

Answers: 1. Uruguay 2. Cross-country skiing 3. Rodney Mullen 4. Badminton 5. Frank Skinner and David Baddiel 6. Martin Adams 7. Green 8. Boxing 9. Liverpool FC 10. England

Bridge it!

Solution

8. The 19th century Queensberry Rules form the basis for the modern rules of which sport?

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