Students lose out while Union and Law Society blame each other for Law Ball fiasco
,,
By NIKKI MALLETT
THE LAW Society and the Union have launched blistering attacks on each other over the cancellation of the once prestigious Law Ball. The Union claim they had no option but to axe the ball after only 500 tickets were sold and are blaming the Law Society's lack of organisation for the event's failure. But the Law Ball team have hit back, accusing the Union of using its financial muscle to force any competition to its Summer Ball out of business. Law Society Secretary, Robert Colley, is adamant that the Union never wanted the ball to go ahead.
Unforthcoming "We went to the Union to ask them to help a while ago and they weren't very forthcoming, so we got on with it ourselves," claimed Robert. "They don't want to help those outside their own little kingdom," sniped Robert, "They wander around and tell you that you don't know the entertainment business but don't think to offer you any help."
"The Union obviously want to take part in every event and want complete control." But Union Finance Officer, Neil Fox, has robustly defended the Union, instead blaming the fiasco on the Law Society's inexperience and incompetence. "Unfortunately, things always go pear-shaped if you get a committee that don't communicate or plan things properly," he stormed. "They only sold just over 500 tickets, so all students would have got for their money would have been a buffet, a free drink and a disco. it's better not to do it at all than to do it badly." And he rejected accusations that the Union want to control all major events. "We haven't tried to stop the Law
Ball, in fact we have done everything we can to make-it go ahead," claimed Neil. "The Union have more time to organise a huge event such as this and they know the industry inside out. "I just don't think there are enough people interested to justify a second ball," he added.
Disgruntled But disgruntled students are simply angry that they have lost out on going to the ball. Said Beth Fuller (EAS 2), "The ball should have been better organised, for such a long running and traditional event, I really think they have let a lot of people down."
. __..,
2 News
Lecturers' strikes for better pay Cathedral leaders P-ray for restraint as CityP~P-ares for huge nightclub bonanZa N ORWI~H IS _s~t to become the party capital of East An lia - but Crty rehgrous leaders have hit out at th I g blasted, the hedonism they believe wi ll go witheit: ans and Tll o new 11 a tcn ng holes arc ;,et too en . the a utum n. includ ing a Yatc ·, Wi ne
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i\ml a. ma" i1e ne\\ night club. the 1argcst u1 the region. i, cutwntl)
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Fear Bu t party-poop in g p tl c't' at Nor11 ich Cathedral arc n1icing their fea rs that the ne11 bar' 1111 1 lead to a
booti ng ho nan t o.l. t:au"i ng a Lkdi nc in the standard of c it) Jik. " Wh at prompted u' to 'Ire" our cn1H.:..; rn wa~ a propu-..al to han:: a liccn'>e running until 2am 111 the morning on a th.' \\ club 111 To mbland.'' said Norw ich Cathedra l Ste11ard. Tim Ca1~ k we ll. " \Vc thought the number bar' and c lu bs had reached saturation
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pomt. A nd he empha'i'ed tha t the c hurc h was no t against people ha\ ing a good time.
Vomit " We arc not against the notion of nightcl ubs and bar>. wc j ust wa nt th e
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area to be take n into accou nt and of \Omit · -u 1d , 1rceh ... LA ,tudenh. ho11e1er, , .... . grected the plan' "ith e\eitcment. Said bt her H ig hton ( Ei\S-+ l. "Ne11 de1clopmcnh liJ..e these can on!) impro1e Norwich for
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;,tudenh ... " Jt ·, good that there " ill he more option' for thinp to do in :--Jon1 ich. and hopefull y wit h in creased com peti ti on in nig htcl ub, . prices -.hou ld come dm1 n:· enthu,cd \1 arJ.. Sn tJ..ow, J.. i (ENV "1) .
King Street Con,truct ion is abo undc rway on 1110 new mu luplc\ cinet n a,. " ith 14 'crecns pla nned for Ri1cr, ide and eight fo r Ca,tlc Ma ll. bo th d ue to open hy earl) nC\t year. T he King S treet area. near the Waterfront. i' also 'oon to b.: the , ubjcct of a d ra,tic fa,;e lift. ad d ing ne11 bars. re;,tauranh and shops to the o ldes t street in l'n glanu.
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THE UNION'S millennium plan to transform the Post Office and Paper Shop might have to be abandoned , it
t\nd that means that the plan' might not get appro1 al in time for cha nges to he maLic to the St reet b~
emerged this week.
nc\1 September.
T h e £ I00.000 sc h e m e h as fa ll e n fo ul o f U ni o n ru le> th a t c.J ic tat.: that
a n ) maj or ' pe nc.l ing ha-. to b.: approv.:c.J b ) the Union·, Permanen t Treasure r.
The Pcnnan..:n l Treasu rer ach
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a final chcc J.. on Union spe ndin g. a nd is normall ) appointed by the Un i1crsity's Council on the ad1 ice o r S tud enh Forum . But the po.,t has been empt y since January. w hen S YS·, LuJ..c Fit? ge rald . who he ld th e po, it io n.
QUALITY HOTEL, NORWICH 2 BARNARD ROAD BOWTHORPE, NORWICH
\ert th e Uni1c r,ity. T he Union hopes to appoin t Dean o r S tude nts. KilT Matheson. as the ne\\ Perma nent T reasurer. hut the 1110\ C i-, be ing held up b) Un iver, it)
*SINGLE '5UPPLEMENT £20.50 PER NIGHT
red ta pe.
STUD ENTS ARRIVING for crucial exams yesterday were due to be met at entrances to the Unive rsi ty by striking lecturers. The picket lines were manned by members of the Association of University Teachers, wh o are ~emanding a ten per cent pay nse from universities nationwide. But, as Concrete went to press, Dean of Students, Kiff Matheson , warned that students sympatheti c to the lecturers' cause should not have missed their exams. "Students who have exams must attend as normal. it's business as usual as far as students and exams n cautioned Dr Matheson. ' "I don't want students to be tl~e~ 'aRb'nlE.f!er.'EJd by the According to th e AUT, men members have borne the brunt of University funding cuts for too long. "We are in real terms getting only about 75 per cent of what we ought to," stormed local AUT President John NobleNesbitt. "We are looking fo r some reasonably substantial measures to claw back that erosion. We're looking for a speedy resol ution for our justified pay claim and if that happens th at won't be a need for fu rther actions;' added Or Noble-Nesbitt. The latest offer to lecture rs fro m the Universiti es and Colleges Employers Associati on, that negotiates pay on behalf of the old universities, is 3.5 per cent. Unless that offer is increased, the AUT has pledged to continue industrial action , includin g disrupting admissions and delaying University administration. National Union of Students President, Andrew Pakes, has pledged his support to the AUT action. "In our Student Rights Charter we call for students to receive teaching and support from motivated and well-resourced staff. I support the AUT because their cause is right," he said.
Time " \\ hene1er IO U tl') a nd do >ometh ing through the: Un i,cr,i t). it a l wa~ s taJ..e, tim e:· c \p l::l in cd Finance Olftccr Nci l Fox. " We're tr~i n g to appoint KilT. '' hi eh is taJ.. ing some ti me. because he i;, ha1 tng 1<1 go to people in the Unilcrsit) and ,-ariou' com m ill ee;, and get it appro1 ed ... J\, pan of the mo1es. the Union a rc a h o hop in g th at U ni ve r ~ it y Counc il 11ill 1ote thro ugh changes to the Co tNitu tion. that re place the U nion's fi1·e tr u•aec s with a . . ollcitor..., linn .
Bc<:au'e the l ' ninn i' a charitl. it cannot ho lc.J an) property it se lf. ln, teau. the li1e tru,t.:c' JooJ.. al"tc t the prnpert~ on their behalf. and pro1 ide an c\lra c hecJ.. o n spe nuing. Under the ,;hange,. I\\O solicitors wou ld perform the job of tru,tees in,tcad.
Fails t\n d if the U nil'e r'>i ty fa il ' tn make the changes in time. st udent\ at UEt\ ne\ I ~ca r '' ill li nd the Post O rtice a nd Pape r Sho p exac t\) the same a' the) arc now. "The L' n i1cr,it) need' to he aware o r what we a rc do ing and he able to apprn1c o ur plan<· ... aid Nc il. " We arc hopin g tha t it will be snrteu in the nest month of two ...
News 3
UEA's Prof Andrew Motion to write verse for Queen as he's made Poet Laureate By CLARE HAMILTON-EDDY
UEA'S WORLD famou s Creative Writing course has found its crown ing glory - course figurehead, Professor Andrew Motion, has been appointed as the Queen's official poet. Verse from the top prof will now be u ed to mark special occasions up and down the country. And his ftrst job will be to write voice to the chorus of They wanted to see a more commemorative verse to celebrate congratulations. adventurous decision, plumping for a "lt is a fitting tribute to one of the younger poet like Simon Armitage or this summer's royal wedding between Prince Edward and Sophie Rhysfinest poets of our generation," Carol Ann Duffy. Jones. gushed Vice Chancellor Vincent Awards Watts. Thrilled And Jon Cook, Acting Dean of the The appointment rounds off a Professor Motion is thrilled to hold School of English and American successful year for UEA's Creative the prestigiou position, which has Writing department though, with a Studies, expres ed his confidence that existed for over 400 years. his colleague would do the job well. host of awards going to both "I am delighted to have this new graduates and staff. Inspirational opportunity and challenge. I shall lan McEwan, the first ever student work to promote all the different "Andrew's work here has been to gain a Creative Writing MA in kinds of poetry being written in this inspirational, confirming the high Norwich, won the Booker Prize for country and try to encourage its reputation of our course." his celebrated novel, Amsterdam. cultural diversity," he enthused. "His students find his teaching Valuable stimulating. He has the capacity to Hotline promote the future of literature," he And it was announced last week "Poetry matters. lt is a hotline to added. that recent graduate, Andrew Miller, our deepest selves. To help make sure But the appointment has caused is the winner of this year's valuab le the hotline stays open: that is what it some controversy, wi th literary critics International !MPAC-Dublin Literary means to be Poet Laureate," he added. complaining that Professor Motion Award, for his debut title, Ingenious And UEA bos es have added their was too obvious a choice. Pains.
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4 News
Concrete Wednesday, May 26, 1999
Bulls Up? A YOUNG bull who failed to rise to the occasion when requested to service 80 cows is having acupuncture treatment to help him solve his unfortunate problem. lt seems the four-year old bull , President, was so stressed at the prospect of serving so many nubile cows that his performance sagged just at the thought of such a mean task. Said farmer Richard Clothier, " We are trying to relax the poor chap and it seems to be working ."
Jumbo Jet ROLY-POLY mum Linda Wareham who ballooned to 17st while on holiday in Florida found herself in a sticky situation when she was unable to free herself from her seat on the plane journey home . Linda, 35 went on a crash diet and lost 4 and a half stone after suffering the embarrassment of being freed from her seat by fireman.
Colour Blind
Students get chance to vote on election controversy UNION DEMOCRACY is set to be put to the test next week at the year's last UGM, as the Commun ications Officer election controversy comes up for discussion.
RESEARCH has revealed that Hell's Angels are five times more likely to cry at a soppy movie and three times as many are moved by poetry than the normal population !
Stu<.knh h tru tn have alread ) sai d th at thL' o rig in al elec tio n slm ul d he declared 1oid a nd a rc-e k c ti on hel d 11 ith one o f the ~ e~ can di da tes barred fro m rc -s ta mlin g- a nd no11 qude nh 11ill haiL' ,t chance to ha1e the ir \ a) o n the decis io n' . init ia lI) bann ed fnlln Lin in g so. Sa rah Mac ke n. 11 ho wo n the Bu t l·oru m ha le' stood h) the ir ori gi nal ~ k ct i u n . can tll l\\' re-slant.! dec isio n to ha n Sanj'11 Dar) anan i in any re c k cti on aft er she 11 '" fro m standin g. a l'tcr refusing to ~tLTL'j)l hi"' d c f~ n cc agai n:-.t charge . . of mcrspc ndi ng.
Dispute Both si<.k s of the dispute arc II!HTicd th at too k11 st ude nh "i ll atte nd for the L'G:--1 - sc hed uled for \ 1o m.lay.
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No point "A nd I t hi n ~ mn't people \1 ould th at the re 11ou ld he'"'' littk poin t go in g hac\.\ tn Studcnb Fo rum . it simpl ) de la) s th e dcn tona tic procc": · ad <.kd Sa njay. 13ut 11·hethcr the L.:GI- 1 i' qu oratc
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nr not. the l 'ni,>n is preparin g itself Ior a :e<tl 11 itlwut a 'ahhai iL'al Communtc·ations Ofllccr. Bec·ausc of the timing ol the rcmainin~ colllplaint.., pru~...·cdttl\.'"· 11 looks un likell that an: re-election l'l>UI<.I he hd<.l with lit a molll h of the I he· Au1umn
Non-Sabb i\ nd umk 1 the l 'ntnn·, Coth ti tutin n. that mea ns the po-t 11 oul<.l ha1 c tn he non-,abbatica l. "The appeals procc'" llt ntld not necc"aril) he fi nished h) ne\! \Lilh.'"tcr.
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could happen 0\et the summer." claimed Col in. • The· l' ( i ~l 11ill lake plctcc on Tucsd:t). June I at 6p m in the LC R. In the c1cnt o f it be ing inq uora tc. a spec i:d mecli ng ol· Student s l·orum 11 ill take place the nn t da:.
By Nikki Mallet!
UNIVERSITY BIGWIGS have admitted security needs to be beefed up at the Launderette following another break-in recently. The 24-hour facility has been ransacked three times th is year, with th e lat est bre ak-i n taking: place earli er
this mon th. The raid saw eight machines broken into, netting the culprits around £200 and causing over £900 worth of damage.
Robbery Despite catching parts of the robbery on CCTV, the police have so far been unable to charge anyone for the attack. And now the repeated attacks have forced the University and the Launderette's operator, Clean Machine, to urgently review the outlet's security measures. Said Ron Elliott , UEA Security Co-ordinator, "Security systems relative to the Launderette are being reviewed and discussions are taking place with the machine operators to determine what additional measures can be introduced ."
"Launderettes get attacked a lot and th ey are vulnerable to attacks when they are kept open all hours,'' he added . And Clean Machine General Manager, Kevi n Taylor, slammed the burglars for ruining the scheme for student users.
And he warn ed that any further attacks could jeopardise the Launderette's future.
Change Hours
"This is a good facility but if we continue to get this sort of damage then we will have to Wreck change th e opening hours," he cautioned. "What has disappointed me is that b e t w e e n r - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , us and the University have around 80 ,000 together. this facility and it i disappointing when someone comes along and wrecks it," he lamented.
News &
Concrete Wednesday, May 26, 1999
Charity fun marathon at Owens City-centre cafe bar Owens is dedicating its Bank Holiday weekend to raising cash for Norwich's Priscilla Bacon Lodge and Macmillan Nurses. From 3pm on Sunday, May 30, the bar will go into beach party mode, with a surfing simulator, limbo dancing, and street volleyball. There'll also be live music and funky summer tunes mixed all afternoon to urge on the summery mood. On top of this there'll be a hog roast to fend off any hunger caused by the riotous activities. And the best two surfers will bag themselves and two friends a plane ride across Norwich, buzzing over Owens as they cross the City. The events are being held in memory of Chary! Sissen, whose son is a chef at the eatery. Chary! passed away in February, after being cared for at the Priscilla Bacon Lodge as she battled against cancer for the third time. Ten per cent of the bar take on Sunday will be split between the Lodge and the carers charity Macmillan Nurses.
EUR slashed as WAM waits for verdict By JAMES GOFFIN
The future of UEA's two smallest schools of study is beginning to look clearer, with the announcement of key details by Registry bosses. Students taking courses in the Schools of Modern Languages and European Studies (EUR) and of World Art and Museology (WAM) were shocked earlier this year to discover their schools were to be subject to root and branch reviews. Pro-Vice-Chancellor Col in Davis has now revealed the identity of the external advisors for the WAM review as Dr Charles Saumarez Smith, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, and Professor Marcia Pointon of the University of Manchester.
Slammed Dr Saumarez Smith met with WAM students last week, but the timing of his visit has been slammed by Union Academic Officer, Katy Fixter. "Students in WAM were doing exams on that day, so very few students were available to come.'' fumed Katy. "The review seems much more positive than we were led to believe, but we still feel we haven't had adequate communication from Colin Davis as to what is going on in the review." "We find it very hard to see exactly
what will change when we have been given assurance> by the University that so many things will stay the same," she complained. But Professor Davis insists that UEA isn ' t trying to be underhand. "There is no question of decisions being made covertly, in haste, or without all parties having an opportunit y to comment," he reassured . Meanwhile, final detail~ of the break up of EUR have now been before University Council and will be implemented over the summer.
Lose As expected, EUR will lose its literature and media studies courses to the School of English and American Studies (EAS). and its European studies units to the School of Economic and Social Studies (SOC).
Around £135,000 of debt notched up by EUR will be paid off by the University, who will also sink an extra £30,000 a year into what is left of the school to pay for a new Director of Language Resources.
£140k Deficit But the school, renamed to the School of Language, Linguistics and Translation Studies (LLT), will still be saddled with a £ 140,000-a-year deficit , raising further questions as to the school's long term future. "The shifting around was to strengthen the school," stormed Katy Fixter, "but if there is evidence financially that the school can't be strengthened that is very worrying." The changes will also cost EAS £30,000 a year, although this will be offset by a three-year programme of support from the University. But Acting Dean of EAS, Jon Cook, is confident that the changes won't harm EAS. "A deficit of that size is very small, and we could bridge that with a sli ght increase in the recruitment of research students, and of the knock on effect income."'
THE GRADS BAR IS OPEN ALL SUMMER WE ARE IN NEED OF STAFF TO HELP RUN THE BAR, WHICH WILL MEAN WE STAY OPEN ALL YEAR
END OF TERM BEACH PARTY ON 11T JUNE BEACHWEAR
& News
Concrete Wednesday, May 26, 1999
Money! Students grad uatin g thi s summer could fin d the ir tro ubles soaked up by a grant from a new 拢25,000 fund. Bodyfonn is he lping th ose looking to gai n funding for a new career o r to embark on courses, trai ning schemes and projects. Awards are ava il ab le for all sLUdent s in a numbe r o f categori es. includin g to he lp pay for trai ning courses towards a wide range o f careers. for overseas travel, and fo r unique and innovative schemes. For an appli cati on form , send a stam ped SAE, to; Bu d yfo rm Careers Award, PO Box I, Avomouth , Bristo l, BS 11 8A H. The closing date for entries is 20th Aug ust 1999, so ge t yo ur skates on'
Cost of academic materials to go through roof By JAMES GOFFIN
Senior academics are warning that students face a massive increase in the costs of purchasing academic materials thanks to a ruling which could jeopardise teaching standards. New rul es be ing e nforced by the Copy right Li cens in g Autho rity mea n th at schools arc now go ing to have to c ha rge stude nts up to fi ve times m o re fo r re ading pac kages a nd course doss iers th an befo re. And th e price hike co uld even see schools worried that students wi ll suffer as a resu lt. " Reading pac kages are of great use to abandoning the packages altogeth er, leaving 'There are some good tex tbooks, but students, and witho ut them it becomes very students to buy tex tbooks or depend on the teaching on th e basis of a tex tbook is not as hard to obtai n that leve l of material," sa id already overstretched li brary. educatio nally beneficial as when you can Katy. use a va ri ety o f o rig ina l materials," he Rules Charge cauti oned . Lecturers are already hav ing to change And those concerns arc being echoed by But accord ing to the Library's Deid re the ir cou rses to take the c hanges into Uni on Acade mic Officer, Katy Fi xter, who Sharp. who co-ord inates th e Un iversity's account tl1e loss of reading pac kages . is worried th at the new charges w ill add to copyright lice nsing, th ere's no way around "To offer th em at a hi gher cost would be the fin ancial pressure student s already face. the rules . diffi cult , beca use we wouldn' t know how " If publi shers aren' t selling their books, Buying many students would bu y it , and whether to they need to at least get some return fo r their "The library tends to only have around inves tme nt , and pub lishi ng is qu ite des ign the unit o n tha t ass umpt ion ," ex pl ain ed SOC's Jo hn Gubbay. th ree co pies of a tex tbook for a un it taken by expensive ,' ' she co mmented. 50 stud ents, so we will be left with the Costs Suffer situation where students are bu ying books Instead , uni ts coul d increas ingly be based And she saw litt le chance of UEA being for the purpose of read ing one article or one chapter." aroun d tex tbooks, and Mr Gubbay is able to absorb the new costs.
"The Uni vers ity already pays 拢22,970 just so people don' t have to worry themselves s ick when they run off a photocopy in the Library."
'The ex tra cos ts just aren' t built into the sc hoo ls ' fun d ing. or Uni vers ity funding, and tha t's where the big problem is ," added M rs Sharp.
STA 路ING THROUGH THE SUMMER? ricks place
ricks place
EVERY THURSDAY 1.00 DRINKS ALL NIGH FREE ENTRY FOR NUS CARD HOLD RS
DJ FRYER CHUCK WITH
THE MONESTRY OF SOUND FULLY AIR CONDITIONED DRESS: JEANS OK NO TRAINERS
9.30 路 2am
News7
House Party THE CURTAIN is rising again on the Norwich Playhouse after near( y two years in the dark. The theatre, paid for with donations and lottery cash, was forced to close after dwindling audiences led to major financial problems. It has been hosting occasional plays and business conferences, but is now set to open again with a proper season of productions, combining comedy, music, dance and drama. And hopes are high that this time the shows will go on. "We have got three really good companies coming of a national standard, supp<111ed by the Arts Council," grinned Playhouse spokesman Tony Cooper. "We've got some real surprises in store," he promised. In the meantime, the venue is playing host to the Leap dance festival this summer, and several Norfolk and Norwich Festival events in October. By the time students return in the autumn, the theatre will have moved up a another gear, with plays and comedy planned. And the Playhouse are confident they will be able to provide a varied and unique range of events. "We have the time and the space to give to touring companies that would not fill a large theatre, like the Theatre Royal," said Mr Cooper.
CamP-US knife attack POLICE HAVE warned campus residents to be on their guard after an aHempted mugging left a student nursing a knife wound, writes Nikki Malletf. Second-year Maths student Jonathan Stafford was walking through an isolated part of campus near the lake, shortly after midnight on Sunday, May 16, when he fell victim to tl}e attack. "I was just walking around and then someone shouted 'Give me your wallet' but I didn't have it with me," explained a shaken Jonathan. "He tried to thrust a knife in my stomach but l managed to grab it, and I cut my hand. "I feel very shaken and I don't want to go outside, especially not at night, I have to be accompanied anywhere because I feel really threatened," claimed Jonathan. But University security are confident that the attack was a one off, and want to reassure students that campus is safe.
Security Co-ordinator, Ron Elliott, said "This is a very unusual incident given the remote location and the time it occurred. Nothing comparable has been reported as having occurred on campus in recent years."
Warning And he warned against reading too much into the attack. "Often the true nature of an incident is misinterpreted, giving rise to speculation and fear." "ln almost every case the anxiety arising from the fear of crime is
worse than the crime itself," added MrElliott. However students are still anxious that campus security is not as effective as it should be. Said Bayliss ( 3),
Concrete needs a new Advertising Manager for 1999/1000. If you have or want to get experience of selling and would enjoy working as part of a dedicated team, the job could be yours. You will need to be a UEA student, preferably here for another two years. The job involves strict deadlines, telephone contact and some out of hours worldng •.• but you will be well paid! In the first instance, send a full CV and covering letter to: James Graham, Editor, Concrete, PO Box 41 O, Norwich, NR4 7TB.
& News
Concrete Wednesday, May 26, 1999
• •• MOST PEOPLE'S KNOWLEDGE OF THE SECRET SERVICE COMES FROM JAMES BOND FILMS, BUT INFORMATION ABOUT THE REAL MI5 AND MI6 IS SLOWLY SEEPING OUT... THE RELEASE of a list of security service spies by a former agent and new accusations linking the services to the death of Princess Diana have cast a new light on the activities of one of the most secretive part of the British Government. The most recent reve lations are the latest in a trick le of leaks from what used to he regarded as one of the best inte ll igence operations
in the world. But since the end of the cold war, the ;heclcling of staff has left the service vulnerable to ex-agents who are willing to expose secrets for ca;h. Ri chard Tomlinson is the renegade ex-agent suspected of releas ing the list of M 16 agents. He left Military Intelligence Six four years ago after working for them around the world. includin g in political hotspots like Moscow and the Midd le East. The Cambridge graduate was sacked after four years service after his bosses declared him unsuitable
The Rose-
for the job. He then unsucccs;,fully tried to take MI6 to an industrial tribunal. under recently relaxed new rules. but was refused pennission by the then Foreign Secretary, Malcolm Rifkind. Embittered by the experience. he allempted to ;ell his memoirs to an Australian publisher, following the lead of a handful of ex-agents inspired by Peter Wright 's Spycatcher - the book that exposed the difliculty of enforcing British secrecy laws in an age of global publishing. But the publisher, Transworld . showed little interest in the novel , suspecting Tomlinson of dubious motives. "He seemed to have a personal vendena against MI6. I felt that would look really bad if I was going to do a book with him. I was also co ncerned about ge lling into an agreement with someone who would go back on his word." said Shona Martyn. the then head of Transworld . When Tomlin so n returned to Britain, he
ose-The Rose
''
Tuesday;: Best Quiz in t own 8 .30 footbail I cricket I rugby
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was aiTe>.ted and imprisoned under the Official Secrets Act. Tried at the Old Bailey in London , Tomlinson imprisonment. rclca;,cd after six months on probation. Since then he has lived in Europe, and is currentl y hol ed up in Switzerland. The Government arc now .__ _ _....__ _ _ _ _.,..__ _...,;;.;,;IOO,I;;;;;o; alleging that he emai led a list of serving M 16 officers from his home there to the American magazine. Executive Intelligence Review. who published it on their interne! websitc. Despi te condemning the list as inaccurate and out of date, the Government has made strenuom efforts to get it banned. putting pressure on interne! co mpani es across the world to drop websites that contain the list, and issuing a "D- ot ice" to the UK media. effective l y preventing them from repo rtin g details or the case.
impossible to get reliab le details abou t the sec urity serv ices' activi ties. "Who created the Official Secrets Act ? lt is the Establishment and the Roya l Household , right? lt shut s you up . If you dare to talk you are imprisoned. You arc beaten up. This is cxac tl) what happened to Richard Toml inson. They [MI6] arc above the law. They can kill, th ey can hug you. they can do anything to you:· he told The Sunday Times earl ier this month.
Service's long-standing focu s on the very substantial threat posed by the Soviet Un ion. In parallel. the th reat to British parliamentary democracy from subversion diminished over a number of years and is now negligible," says Stcphcn Lander, Director General of M 15. "However. the fa ll of the Soviet bloc generated instability throughout th e Soviet Un ion and beyond: the instabilit) and the loss of centralised control added to other threats. including the proliferation of chem ical. biological and nuclear weapons. and th e sp read of
"They [MI6] are above the law. They can kill, they can bug you, they can do anything to you" • Mohammed AI·Fayed
Tomlinson ha>. abo bee n lin~.:d to Moh ammed Al-Fayed. the Harrods ow ner and thorn in the side of the British Establishme nt. After almost singlehandcdly destroying the reputation of the Conservative governmeni o\·cr the cash for questions affair. the millionaire owner of Fulham FC ha>. most recently heen meddling in politics b) publi.,hing a series of reports on Peter Mandelson in Punch magaline. the origina l source of the details or the fo rmer Trade Secretary· s Inclustry and mortgage co ntroversia l arTangcmc nt s.
But Al-Faycd also famous ly accused M 16 of arranging the death or the Princess of Wales and his son Dodi in the 1997 Paris car crash. Apparent!) with the help of Richard Tomlinson. Al-Fayed has heen ~una5'ing evidence that the securit) services were responsible for the accident. He has claimed that the driver could have been blinded by a laser beam - the same technique 1\116 apparently considered when planning an assassi nation attempt on Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic. According to AI-Fayed. MI6 i>. out of control . aided by laws like the Official Secrets Act that make it
Wh atever the truth of the accusations. what is clear is that the work of the security services is a Ill) >.ter) to the public at large. Although lan Fleming·s Bond >. torics have alluded to the sen' iccs for years. the Government only oflicially acknow !edged their cxi-.tence ''hen the 1989 Security Service and 199-l Intelligence Sen ices Acts put them on a legal footing f'or the first time. There are two main part>. to the secu rit y serv ices, Mi lit ary Intel li ge nce Five and Six. Both work primarily to gat her information to protect Britain'>. national interest. hut with different focu>.e>.. JV11 5 dcab most ly with people or organisations within the UK. whi lst MI6 \\orb across the globe. spying and infiltrating groups that mi ght pose a threat to Britain. For many years. this meant primarily one thing- the communist threat to the capitalist west. ~116 maintained a large network or spies and in fo rmers across the Eastern blm:. and MI 5 investiga ted leftleani ng fi gures in the UK. including - somewhat ironi cally now - Jack Straw. curren t Home Secretary but one time leade r of the National Union of Students. But the end of the Cold War has made mallers more confusing for the scn ices. In stead of threats falling awa). they now think that the risk to sec urit y co mes from hundreds of smal ler. less predictable oppon ents. from the lone bomber that recently planted nail bombs across London to internati ona l tciTorism from ex treme religious or politi ca l groups. MI5. in particular. has significantly cha nged its focus. "Security threats to the UK have changed great ly in recent years. most notably \\' ith the end of the Cold War. which in turn ended the
organ ised
cr ime.
Espionage again;,t the UK has continued and terrorism has persisted th roughout." Since 1995. the sen ice has also been hea\ il) imolwd in national police wor~. co-operating with the National Crime Squad 111 invc~tigating
large
scale
drug·-..
fraud and oth er criminal acti\ ity. However. the acti\ ities of M 16 for the most part remain a m)ster). Although based at one of London's mm.t prominent and striking buildings. opposite the Tate Ga ller) on the ba nb of the Thames. the work of th e se rvice remains shroudcd in sec recy. Repo rt ed examples of the age ncy's handywork include th e alleged uses of businessmen in th e arms to lra4 ~candalto in\c~tigatc the regime on
MI6'' behalf. and the di;,co,ery of large parts of French research into tracking nuclear submarines such as the U K 's Trident fleet. Most recently. claims ha,·e heen made that MI6 imestigations into the Lockerbic bombing have unco\ered clear evidence that the ana.:~ '''" ordered by Libyan leader Colonel Gada ffi - but. as with much of the reporting of th e services. the claims have been rest ri cted by the Orticial Secrets Act. Whatever the secu rit y serv ices gctupto. it cos ts as lot of money. In 1997-8. the joint budget of MI5 . MI6 and GCHQ- the Go,ernmcnt's communicati ons listening agenc) was £70 I 111. wi th agents at M IS paid a starting sa lary of£ 15-20.000. The services' rare public statements tend to focus on denying alleged activity and trying to keep secret>. secret. such is the nature of its '' 0 1-k. But with change>. in tcchnolog) making it easier. they arc beginning to find it hard er to keep secrets safe. Th e rel ease of the li st of M 16 agents' names on th e internet is a major breach of <,ecurit ). lt surely won't be the last. Words: Jamcs Gofli n
News9
Concrete Wednesday, May 26, 1999
WHO DO YOU TRUST? At a time when the Union has been so obsessed with following its constitution to the letter over the Communications Election, it is ironic that the Sabbs' lateness in following it could jeopardise the Union's summer spending plans. It has been months now since the Union had either a Permanent Treasurer or replacement Trustees, and as a result the Union is running the risk that its £100,000 plan to improve its shops might have to be shelved. This problem is not something that has crept up on them, but the Union is now attempting to alter a fundamental part of its constitution by changing the significance of these posts. With just a nod of approval from Students Forum, the Union is asking UEA's Council body to push through changes to the constitution to abolish the trustees and appoint the Dean of Students, Dr Kiff Matheson, as the Permanent Treasurer.s The last Permanent Treasurer announced his intention to resign nearly a year ago, and left the University in January. The trustees have also been missing for many months. The roles of Permanent Treasurer and the trustees may seem obscure, but they are important. With their control on spending, they are the final check to prevent Sabbs wasting your money.
Macken's last words? I
stood for election because I felt I could make a valuable contribution to the Union. If students chose me to represent them as their communications Officer I would do the job with utter dedication and commitment. I would like to thank those who have encouraged and supported me over the last months. I am especially indebted to those who have never doubted my integrity. I believe it would have been too easy not to appeal, I had to defend my integrity. Revoking the mandate given to an elected Sabbatical Officer by the student population should be a last resort, but in this case was a course of action that was so easily and readily reached for. There are theories and suggestions as ·to why I was ousted from office - we will probably never know the real truth. As far as I am concerned that is a matter for those responsible. My reinstatement as a candidate by Forum satisfies me that my name has been cleared. However, nothing undo the last three months that I have had to ensure. it is therefore unfortunate that neither Elections Committee nor Forum have even had the courage to apologise for their actions at the beginning of March. I hope Sanjay will eventually receive a fair and impartial hearing. I think most would agree that to hear his appeal at 11.30pm at the end of a five hour meeting was inappropriate. The appeals process that our Union has used, flouts natural justice in more ways than one and must be changed. An organisation that opposes the sale of products from 'unethical' companies must ensure that it operates in a just and ethical manner. This process has shown that it does not. I wish my elected colleagues success in their year of service. I hope that they do not all view democracy and integrity as a waste of time and money, especially when I have been prepared to devote time to serve as a Sabbatical Officer. I did not want to spend my final days of University life fighting an appeal and attempting to re-establish democracy in our Union, but I felt it was something I had to do. Do not assume I took the decision lightly. Also, a word to the wise: when you send in letters and claim to be reporting facts make sure that's what they are and that they are not based on inaccurate, secondhand information. Remember, this is YOUR Union and it claims to be serving you? Is it? Sarah Macken (ENV 3)
More Comms cannot let Andy Marriott's letter in the last edition of Concrete go past without comment. I would like to have a few points noted: 1. As the work on Elections Committee is confidential, how did Mr Marriott know that Sanjay Daryanani put in a complaint? Especially considering that Forum could not even be told who put in the complaint which we were discussing? Has there been some lapse of confidentiality here, and if so, the person responsible should be found out and sacked/ 2. I would like to know the identity of the Conservative Rep on Elections Committee. I am sure that Elections Committee would also like to know. This was misinformation, which comes from not knowing all the facts. Also, Elections Committee can be criticised along with all other elected bodies; why are they so special that they can be exempt from accountability? 3. Forum was informed that people should know all the facts of the case before commenting on the appeals. As Mr Marriott is not a member of Forum, has not been involved in the Union all year and did not attend the meeting in question, then how can he suddenly claim to be an authority on the issue? Don't comment on something until both sides have been heard. 4. Do you think that Sarah and Sanjay have a right to clear their names if they are innocent, or should the two most popular candidates be disqualified on circumstantial evidence and not be allowed to appeal once it all gets too costly or hasslesome for the Union? Mr Marriott asks the students to decide what they think about this issue. Unfortunately we cannot do that, as we are prevented from registering our vote for our or against that candidate because he is not allowed to restand. Yours sincerely PJ Scaife (CHE 2 Forum Rep)
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What is more important, however, is that in making these changes, no one in the Union thought to ask you, its members. The changes have never even mentioned at a UGM this year. The Union has decided that students would not bother to turn up to vote at the UGM needed to change the constitution, and they decided to make the changes anyway. How democratic is that?
Concrete wishes everyone graduating good luck In the
future. We'll see the rest of you next year!
Sabbs slammed ell, didn't they do well? I would like to add my appreciation to this year's Sabbs, who have made such a tremendous job of running the Union. Katy Fixter has failed to deliver her manifesto pledge of 'open forums' and freeing up access for students to the Union. The Constitutional Reform she was so proud of also appears to have taken a nose dive; probably being left to the new Academic Officer to sort out next year (typical!) and so ends up being delayed - nothing of any note achieved this year, then? Neil Fox has continued the trend of putting up bar prices, but offering them nothing in return. Does anyone else think the new furniture in the bar makes it look like Homebase.? Also, the Entertainments (especially this year) have been awful. I know people are always complaining about this sort of thing in Concrete, but we used to be able to attract top names to UEA, but not so this year. This is on top of the thousands wasted on the Sports Ball and falling profits. The Union probably claims it was a good year! Tom Connors, has by other Sabbs' standards done rather well. Apart from the Fashion Show fiasco, turn outs for UGMs reaching new lows, his failure to report regularly and properly to Students Forum and being at the forefront of the recent Comms Election disaster (and misleading Forum, I believe). And as for the Welfare Office, er... um .. who IS the Welfare Officer?!? I do not wish the new Sabb team good luck in sorting out the disaster that is the Union of UEA Students. But with the news that we might have to go without a Comms Officer, things just may well go better...no-one will be there to mess things up! Your faithfully, M. Mcguire (EUR 2)
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concrete on the web! ·Editor: James 'byeee!' Graham •Deputy Editor: Emma 'star' Newbery •News Editor. James 'fount of knowledge' Goffin •Assistant News Editor: Nikki 'frog-bound' Mallet •Features Editor: Carolina 'smiler' Jeater •Assistant Features Editor. Carolyn 'men!' Boyd •Sports Editor: Mark 'bunny squisher' Edwards •Assistant Sports Editor: Nick 'sideburns' Henegan •Distribution Oliver 'distribution?' Polhill
•Editorial Contributors: Clare Hamilton-Eddy, Darcy Hurford, Simon Cogswell, Aidan Magee, Gemma 'laughing' Pearce, Adam 'cool' Clough, Kris Siefken, Paul 'every section' Stokes, James 'me next' Tapsfield •Photographers: Russell Burton, Rob Lutyens, Steve Cullingworth, Graham 'Wiggines' Diggines, Gemma 'talking' Pearce •Ad Catherine 'I've lost the ad' McNeil
If you want to avoid all that messy paper stuff, check out our web page - get on to the internet and head for:
www.uea.ac.uk/-suconc
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this issue Serbia calling 12 • Graduates' top ten 14 • Working summer 16 • Etiquette 17
Camel trekki ng in the Sahara might not seem the most obvious way to spend a summer holiday, but as Kris Siefken explains there's more to the desert than just solitude and sand ..... t doesn't matter whether you were born in Overland, Missouri or Aberystwyth , Wales; chances are, growing up you dreamed about what you wanted to be. A lawyer perhaps. Or an artist. Yet, whatever your dream, I'm pretty certain it never involved being a Saharan camel herder. I know it didn't for me; yet in the dying months of 1995, at the age of twentytwo, I found myself crouched behind a camel in a three-day Saharan sandstorm wondering just how I got there. And given that I believed it could well be my final thought, it seems an appropriate place to start. Leaving America in August 1995, and in need of making some money, I headed for Europe. Europe offered good financial prospects, but when I got there, Africa, tantalisingly close, beckoned. Repacking my rucksack on a whim, I grabbed a cheap flight to Tunisia and five hours later found myself stepping off the plane into the African night When I arrived in Carthage I already had five years travel experience, working at home for 6-8 months each time then heading abroad for a while to make some serious bucks to send home. But, as I was to find out, whatever you think you know about travelling means nothing when Mother Nature is involved . My first few weeks passed in cultural overload ; Tunis with its mi x of five cultural histories; Islam's holy city of Kairouan ; the Roman amphitheatre at El Jem; the ru ins at Dougga and Maktar: experiencing the cradle of civilisation that is Africa. But, despite all this, it wasn 't what I'd come for. The legendary 'song of the Sahara' can only be resisted for so long and the cost of all that culture meant it was soon time to head south . South to Gafsa, where I was to seek out the cousin of a prayer rug trader I'd met in Kairouan. I never found the cousin, but escaping the heat one day in a courtyard tea house I met Mohammed, the twenty-four year old nomad who became my travel com panion for much of my time in Africa. From a Syrian Bedouin tribe and being an old hand himself Mohammed suggested we team up and head to the date plantations in the southern oasis town of Tozeur. I agreed , and early next morning found myself bouncing around in the back of a truck with Mohammed and three dozen nervous, defecating goats; wishing more every minute never to see another goat again.
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But we got there, relatively clean, and suddenly, after hours of arid countryside, I found myself confronted by almost tropical greenery. Outside the edge of the oasis the air was stifling and the ground hot underfoot (I'd long given up footwear for bare feet and cooler nomad atti re borrowed from Mohammed) yet within the oasis itself th e air was cool and the ground damp: an eerie sensation. Tozeur and , its west coast counterpart, Gabes were to provide good pickings, if you'll pardon the pun, and we made some valuable income cl imbing palms to tend and harvest the dates you probably ate last Christmas. But even this was not the 'sand sea' of the Sahara that I was increasingly impatient to see up close.
"In our w ind ba ttered wanderi ngs w e ended up straying into Libya, not a good idea with a UK passport" So, pushing on and after a brief stay with the Troglodyte (cave dwelling) community of Matmata we reached the true Sahara. There aren't words to describe your first glimpse of the Sahara desert. You stand the re looking south and all you can see to the horizon is sand , sand and more sand. There can be few more physically humbling experiences than confronting the immensity of the Sahara desert.
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ocal rumours indicated that a camel caravan was building near Ksar Guilane so we walked through that night and the following day, hitching when we could . Arriving in the evening at a large Bedouin camp we were immediately offered food , as is traditional, and work. Mohammed , an experienced camel herder, delighted in introducing his now deeply tanned companion as a deaf Berber friend from Morocco: thereby explaining away my terrible Arabic. lt worked , much to his amusement, and I found myself that night just another nomad sleeping around the Bedouin fire. We made many trips with this hundred camelstrong caravan over the next wee ks but it was our
fourth solo trip when thi ngs got 'interesting' . Paid to take seven camels fiom Taguelmit on the Tunisia-Libyan border to a rendezvous further south we set off on the two-day trip. Within twelve hours of departure , however, a fierce sirroco wind blew up, whipping up the sand and forcing us to bed down and ride it out after hours of wandering blindly. Huddling in the leeward side of the circled camels, even yelling Mohammed and I could not make ourselves heard across the two metre gap. The wind turned desert sand into an industrial sandblaster that left your skin raw; collected in your ears and eyes, and plugged your nose. This Dante-inspired hell lasted for three days. Just as we were thinking that it would never end, it finally did, just as suddenly as it started ; revealing seven grumpy camels and two herders surprised to find each other alive. Unfortunately, it also revealed that in our wind-blinded wanderings we had strayed into Libya - not a good thing when you're holding a British or US passport ! Our seven long-suffering came ls found themselves racing west before the abated storm brought any 'wanderers' of the border guard vari ety. At regular speed camels may well be the 'ships of the desert', rocking gently back and forth , but at high
speed they ride li ke a badly put together horse. lt was one camel trek, neither me, nor my backside, will forget in a hurry.
"The wind t urned desert sa nd into a n industrial sandblaster that left your skin raw this desert hell lasted for 3 days" lt was also to prove one of my last treks. The year was rolling on and it was tim e to think of home, family and regular work again. I hadn' t made what I could have in Europe , but a couple of months of double shifts would put that straight. And besides, I'd weathered the worst that the Sahara could throw at me and who could put a price on that? I have sometimes been asked if I'd recommend it, and if I'd go back again . The answer to the first question is an unqualified yes. As to the second question I can only say that Mohammed and his wif~ were killed in a car accident outside Ksar Guilane three months later. it just wouldn 't be the same to go back now.
12 ln:Focus
Concrete Wednesday, May 26, 1999
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With the conflict in Kosovo far from over and official British ties with Serbia cut, James Tapsfield talks to ex-UEA student, Jovan Ratkovic about his role as head of the only Serbian press agency in Britain not controlled by M ilosevic ccording to hardened cynics, the first casualty of any war is truth. Perhaps, however, it is more accurate to say that war breeds its own 'truths': every side has their own version. When, on March 24 Tony Blair went on television to announce the first air strikes on Serbia, he portrayed Nato's action as a moral crusade against a vicious tyrant who had murdered 2,000 Kosovans in the preceding 12 months, and had repeatedly thumbed his nose at the international community. Air strikes were the "right thi ng to do," he asserted, because "barbarity can not be allowed to defeat justice". Given the Balkans' bewildering ethnic heterogeneity and the volume of outstanding historical grudges held by the region's different peoples, it is perhaps understandable that Nato should attempt to justify their action in stark moral terms rather than the more complex arguments of 'realpolitik'. After all, if few Europeans can claim to understand the political manoeuvring and internecine rivalry on their own doorstep, what hope have Americans, distanced as they are by some several thousand miles from the area? However, if one thing has become clear in the 63 days since the bombing began, it is that the issues su rrounding the alliance's involvement in Serbia are not black and white. Serb estimates now put the civilian casualties caused by Nato's
A
bombing at around 1,200, and while the West may not regard these figures as particularly trustworthy, casualties have been significant even by Nato's reckoning. The bombing is also held by many to have exacerbated the refugee problem by enabling Milosevic to take control of the media and carry out his campaign with little reporting of his actions. Then there are the attitudes of China and Russia, who have repeated ly attempted to move resolutions in the UN condemn ing the alliance's action. Nato's version of the truth is certainly not the only one that deserves examination, and the idea that issues cou ld be so clear-cut, especially in the Balkans, is faintly ridiculous. 24 year old Jovan Ratkovic, a graduate of the school of ENV and a native of Belgrade, has devoted a great deal of time and effort to 'greying' the issues around the air strikes on Serbia. As the head of the Serbian Information Centre, a body funded largely by the British Serb community since its foundation in 1991 and staffed by 15 volunteers, Jovan has tried to provide an independent voice for ordinary Serbs. Since the conflict began the centre has been giving upwards of 20 interviews every day, and Jovan is clearly proud of the ir work. "We have really good contacts. We opened all channels, both with independent and government media, and we have contact with opposition parties and official government institutions like the Serbian Ministry of
Information, the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs in Belgrade and so on. Yugoslavia broke its diplomatic relations with the UK when the bombing started, and that is why our information centre is so important now, because we are the only voice of the Serbian people in this country." What makes the Serbian Information Centre's views on the conflict particularly interesting is that whi le they feel free to criticise Nato's actions, the majority of the staff also oppose Milosevic's regi me and its policies. In fact, after graduating from UEA last summer Jovan returned to Belgrade to become a press officer for OTPOR, a large Serbian student movement, and was closely involved in organising protests against the draconian laws Milosevic passed to control universities .
"I hardly know of any youns eople ha~py with Milosev1c ut lhey will fight for any part of Serbian land"
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However, in spite of his obvious personal hostility to Milosevic, Jovan is surprisingly keen to stress his support for the system that brought him to power. "You can't say that President Milosevic is a dictator," says Jovan firmly, "And I always resent the willingness of the British media to demonise him, because they want to demonise
him in order to justify the bombing. He isn't a dictator in the sense that Sadamm Hussein is, or Gadaffi is . In dictatorship you do not have independent media and you do not have opposition parties. In Serbia you do. In the last couple of years we have had this development of the independent media system - the Association of Independent Electronic Media, for example - with more than 20 independent TV stations and almost 40 radio stations." Jovan admits that most of these independent stations have been banned or taken over by the government since the bombing started, but this does not strike him as unusual. "We can understand that in a state of war the Government would obviously control the media, but we seriously hope that all of those independent media will start to work again after the war is over." Perhaps this conciliatory attitude is a reaction to the common misconception that Serbia is an essentially undemocratic state. In fact , although Milosevic has consistently been able to form a government since the introduction of the so-called 'multiparty system' in 1990, even now his party, the Socialist Party of Serbia, do not have a majority in the Parliament, and so have to govern in a coalition with a right wing nationalist party. What is more, according to Jovan, before the air strikes commenced opposition was getting "stronger and stronger". Milosevic's grasp on power, it seems, relies more on disorganised opposition than iron control of the country or popular support. "The problem in Serbia," asserts Jovan, ''was never that people were not against Milosevic, because most of the people are. The problem was that they did not see a valid alternative to Mr Milosevic's party because the opposition parties we re either divided or disorganised."
"Since the UK broke its diplomatic ties with Serbia, we have become the only voice of the Serbian people"
New recruits to the Koso van Liberation Army join the fight against the Serbs
He points to the 1996 municipal elections, where the opposition coalition, Zajedno, defeated Milosevic's party in around 40 cities, to illustrate this point. Milosevic predictably declared the elections void, but was eventually fo rced to reinstate them after widespread public demonstrations. "[People] demonstrated in the streets of the biggest Serbian cities for more than three months. Most of them were students. You had at least 10,000 students marching through Belgrade every day, and basically they wanted an opposition coalition to win those elections. They succeeded, but unfortunately in spring 1997, as soon as the protests were over, the coalition opposition dissolved itself because of some petty quarrelling between its leaders." Thus Milosevic has managed to maintain his position as President since 1987, despite long and largely unsuccessful warfare against Croatia and Bosnia, and his arguably disastrous handling of the Serbian economy. Jovan believes that the continuance of his own
Concrete
26, 1999
power is all that Milosevic really craves. "Milosevic will adopt any ideology that is good for him at that moment. If he decides 'now it is good to be nationalist to stay in power', he is nationalist. If he decides he should adopt a more liberal approach to stay in power, then he will. He would do anything to stay in p6wer." • ver the past 12 years it has generally suited Milosevic to be nationalist. According to Jovan, his reputation within Serbia was largely forged through his handling of· Kosovo. When Kosovo gained effective autonomy within Serbia, the province was run by Albanian communists. The Albanian police were, it seems, extremely harsh on the Kosovan Serbs: Jovan claims that they "basically tried to ethnically cleanse Serbs from the province". "Then Milosevic came there in 1987 and said the famous sentence, 'no-one is going to beat you any more,' referring to the actions of the Albanian police in Kosovo. That is why he became so popular, and that is why Kosovo is Milosevic's Alamo. I think if he lost Kosovo his power would go."
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"No one bombed Croatia when they were ethnically cleansing Serbs in KXrina so people are anti Nato If this is indeed the case it bodes ill for the success of Nato's strategy: Milosevic can simply not afford to lose control of Kosovo. Moreover, if the alliance harboured any hopes that air strikes would encourage the opposition to remove Milosevic from power they will have been sadly disappointed. The bombing appears to have created a situation where the whole of Serbia is facing off against Nato rather than just Milosevic. Big cities like Belgrade, Novi Sad and Niche, which are being bombed by Nato every day, are in fact anti -Milosevic strongholds. The Lord Mayor of Belgrade is a prominent opposition figure. The Serbs in these cities, somewhat understandably, feel betrayed by the West. Meanwhile, Serbs across the political spectrum insist that Kosovo must remain a part of Serbia. "lt is not just Milosevic," asserts Jovan. "You can hardly find any Serb, no matter how liberal or intellectual to say 'Hey, look, we want to give up Kosovo.' I hardly know any young people in Serbia who support Milosevic, but they are all prepared to fight for any part of Serbian land:" Similarly, the army, which has previously had a very lukewarm relationship with Milosevic, now seems unlikely to undermine him. "Officers within the Yugoslav army are not happy with Mr Milosevic at all, but this bombing campaign gave them a sense of unity, and gave them a sense that they are fighting against Nato to defend the territory of Yugoslavia and not to defend Milosevic." Nato is certainly seen by the
Koso vans are still fleeing their homes from alleged Serb aggression Serbs as a guilty party in creating the conflict, if not as the sole aggressors. Jovan does not believe that diplomacy was ever given a chance to resolve the dispute in Kosovo, and he condemns the Rambouillet peace plan • which in fact led to the air strikes when Milosevic refused to sign • as a Nato "diktat''. "No reasonable Serb would ever sign that agreement. First of all, because after three years the Albanians would have had the right to secede Kosovo from Serbia, and second because a Nato occupational force would have had the right to occupy the whole of Yugoslavia." He finds the idea that the Kosovo problem could be solved with a short conference faintly ridiculous. "The UK needed ten years or more to solve the problem with Northern Ireland, and you expect Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo to solve their problems in a thirty day conference? lt doesn't seem like a serious effort to find a diplomatic solution to me." Jovan also holds that the way Nato tried to force Serbia to sign the agreement was contrary to international law. "If you say to Mr Milosevic, 'if you do not sign the Rambouillet agreement then we will bomb you,' that is in violation of the 1980
Apache helicopters are now joining In the bombing campaigns In Serbia
Vienna convention on the law of treaties, which expressly forbids you to force any country to sign any peace agreement. Even if they did sign, that peace agreement would be void." This is an important point because the legality of Nato's intervention in Serbia is often held to be highly questionable. Since the enactment of the United Nations Charter in 1945, war has only been legal in self-defence or when it is sanctioned by the UN, and as Nato's bombardment has not been sanctioned by the UN • largely because any attempt to pass such a resolution would have been blocked by Russia and China • it follows that the conflict is illegal. Such justification as the action does enjoy under international law derives from Article VI of the Charter, which condemns "crimes against peace", and seems to be at best rather tenuous. Nato, of course, hold that they have a moral duty to ~top Milosevic from carrying out ethnic cleansing in the Kosovo region. They estimate that around 1.5 million Kosovans have now been expelled from their homes, and around 100,000 Kosovan men are missing. . Jovan is not sure how aware Serbs are of the ethnic cleansing that Nato alleges has been taking
place, and he has little sympathy with the alliance's efforts to take the high moral ground. "it's hard to say. Some of them [the Serbs] know about [the ethnic cleansing], that's for sure. But they have a very good excuse not to be bothered about it because they think Nato have adopted a policy of double standards. They know that nobody protected their fellow Serbs in 1995 when they were ethnically cleansed by Groats in Kryina. Nato did not bomb Croatia then. You could not see pictures of thousands of Serbian refugees fleeing Kryina • nobody seemed to care. So now, only four years later, to try and persuade the Serbs that Nato action is because of some morality or humanitarian catastrophe sounds very cynical. They also know that the Kurdish humanitarian catastrophe is still going on in Turkey and Nato is not bombing Turkey- in fact, T urkey is one of the member states of Nato."
"lt's estimated that 1.5 million Kosovans have been expelled from their homes and 1 00,000 are missing" Although Jovan clearly feels that the Serbs have not been evenly dealt with by the international community, he is quick to voice his opposition to the policy of ethnic cleansing. "I do not support the policy of ethnic cleansing for a moment, and that is the first thing we should reverse. But I don't think the Kosovan refugees feel any better because ~ome innocent Serb civilians are now killed by Nato. Nato is obviously not bombing only military targets any more. Soon enough you are going to approach the line where Nato have actually killed more Serbs than Serbs have killed Albanians. I don't think that Serbian life is more important than Albanian life, but the vice versa applies as well." This idea that there will eventually be some kind of equivalence between the damage done by Nato and that done by Milosevic • which is much favoured by countries like China and Russia - is perhaps a lit11e unrealistic. While we can't know for sure how many deaths his forces are responsible for in Kosovo, aerial pictures of mass graves and eye-witness evidence from refugees suggests that it is an exponentially greater number than those killed by the Nato bombing. Similarly, it seems very doubtful that the alliance would be bombing non-military targets knowing the public recriminations that inevitably follow civilian deaths. Nato estimates that around 200,000 people have died in the Balkans as a result of Milosevic's ethnic cleansing actions since the bombardment of Kijevo in 1991. The conflict b~tween the Kosovo liberation Army and Milosevic's forces alone has claimed 150,000 lives since it began in late February 1998. 11 is hard to see how Nato could have stood by while such killing continued to take place in the middle of the first world. However, to justify their action as a moral crusade against an evil tyrant is to enter very dangerous territory. Issues of war, especially in the Balkans, are never so clear-cut.
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For some, the university years are almost over. In a few weeks time the LCR and Union bar will be nothing but a distant memory. ~ut can you actually say you were a proper Norwich student? In years to come, when friends ask you exactly what Norwich has to offer, will you get any further than mumbling something about there being a football ground somewhere? Well, if that's the case then Concrete is coming to your rescue, as Carofine Jeater compiles the essential guide to all those things you might not quite have got round to yet ... it takes is three hours down the gym every day for match, along with 20,000 other people is quite an months on end, a sacrifice some say is a small experience, and one that every student should do at least once. There aren't too many things that price to pay for being fit. Most people wouldn't can make the hairs on your neck stand bolt up though - and they demonstrate it with their feet. And let's face it, its the end of term now - the right like the moment a goal is scored and the permanent damage has already been done. But crowd goes wild, even if Carrow Road can't quite you could try and make it to the registering stage, compare to Wembley. All right, this season might and if you do you'll have gone one step further have finished, but you could still go in August when than most. At least you can say you saw the inside the season starts again - and it isn't too expensive of the sports centre whilst at university....and it either! -~~...--~---~-....,~ wasn't an exam that forced you in there. After all, if the cast of Eastenders can survive in Norfolk so should a few pissed up UEA students. And going to the seaside is always a good laugh especially if you take your bucket and spade with you. lt always interests your old 'relatives too, although they of course don't need to know that you spent all day in the pub and, thanks to the pissing rain, the nearest you got to the beach was the amusement arcade on the sea front.
6. Spent a whole day in the Hive
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1. Attempted a pub crawl around the Golden Triangle
2 . Visited the Sainsbury Centre
Before your days are taken up with working lunches and office dinners there is one obligatory student lunch you must partake in - the liquid lunch. And tea, and dinner.... Yep, a decent vomitinducing pub crawl is essential for any student before they fly UEA's nest. Norwich used to be able to boast that it had a pub for every day of the year, and while that is sadly no longer the case there's still plenty of choice - especially when you consider that the concentration of pubs in the Golden Triangle is probably higher than anywhere else in the City. The number of pubs you visit will of course depends upon how many pints are consumed in each pub, but it should all culminate in a heady dancing session to the Backstreet Boys in the LCR. After all, this is what student life is all about. And if you can't regale future friends with stories of your reckless student days, describing how you staggered around the Golden Triangle in the early hours of the morning, then you can barely call yourself a student at all.
Contrary to popular belief, the Sainsbury Centre is not just the home of a few art history students with enough money to afford the price of the food there - it offers a lot more which every student wo1h therr salt should take a look at before they leave. Firstly, it's free to get in with your UEA card which is as good a reason as any to go. lt also boasts some highly respected works of art, sculpture and artefacts inside, so if you do take a look you could at least profess that you dabbled in culture whilst at university. it's also one of Britain's more famous pieces of architecture - it was modelled on an aircraft hanger and designed by Sir Norman Foster, the man behind the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Lloyds building in London. And anyway, no one has to know that you only p>pped in for five minutes - and that was only beca~;se you wanted to cross the intriguing looking sky walkway from Norfolk Terrace.
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Norwich City once were a decant side, apparently. Seven years ago, UEA's students had the pleasure of watching the Canaries sitting on top of the old Division One and afterwards defeating the great Bayern Munich in European competition. However, such days are now sadly long gone and City now languish in a perennial state d mediocrity. Few neutral fans can get excited thinking about the possibility of making the play-offs - and rightly so, since Norwich have once again failed to reach them this year. But and it is a big but- going to a botball
4. Attempted a student prank There's nothing like remembering a decent prank to spark off a trip down memory lane, so make sure you've done one by the time you leave UEA. Of course, there are all sorts of levels of possible pranks - from the small to the large - and this University has had its share of all types. One clever fellow leafleted campus saying Sting was filming his new video in the square and got half of UEA to turn up in the hope of getting a glimpse of the great man. One pair of pranksters scaled the top of the Registry and replaced the UEA flag with another emblazoned 'Welcome to Disneyland'. They then returned some time later, and broke into the council house and snapped a picture of themselves in the nude on the UEA Chancellor's ceremonial throne. Of course, if you don't fancy matching these feats you could always try putting some washing up liquid in the fountain and watching the bubbles flow Gust don't say we told you to do it). Whatever your choice, originality is the key to being funny. Of course, now it's summer and all the sun-worshippers are in the Square there's a greater chance of getting an audience to witness your great prank...so get those thinking caps on!
s. Registered at the Gym Ah yes, sport and keeping fit - you knew Wednesday afternoons were supposed to be kept clear of lectures for some reason. Whilst it's a bit late in the day to start joining a sporting society, you can still flex your flab (sorry muscles) amongst all the fitness fanatics at the gym. Just imagine it, you could soon be a toned or muscled sex god. All
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What is lt about the Hive 1hat makes you spend all day .there? There are never enough seats when you want them and you're bound to spill your coffee on the rickeJY tables, but for second and third years it seems to be nothing less than a surrogate home. lt might always be inhabited by the same old faces but don't let that intimidate you - it's more friendly than the Bowl and the ideal place to catch up on the gossip of the previous night. To 'do lunch' in the Hive might have become too regular an occurrence for most of us, but the real challenge is to prove you can hold your own with the best Hive Bunnies out there - and spend a whole day within its featureless confines. And there is no better way of confirming your student status than lounging about reading up for your seminar and talking to whoever comes along. Furthermore, once you've got the taste of Hive coffee, its mysterious power to help you recover from any hangover will quickly become addictive. If only they'd stop playing the 'Sympathy For The Devil' by the Rolling Stones on the juke box then everything would be perfect.
9. Taken out a Vice Chancellor's loan Debt and students seem to have been umbilically linked since the beginning of time, and things have only got worse since the ending of grants. But all is not lost, at least not at UEA anyway. Because when you reach the low of not being able to buy even a pint in the Union Pub our generous Vice
Chancellor is there to help you out. He might not actually be pouring drinks on the house, but it's pretty damn near it. He asks less questions than the bank too. Indeed, our good old VC, Vincent Watts should be given a hearty slap on the back 路for heading his very own lending machine. The only catch? Well you can't graduate unless you pay him back...but hey, 拢200 is small fry compared to the thougl'lt of paying off your overdraft, the final demand on the phone bill or getting the booze in for that huge end of year house party. Just remember, you've got to get your request in quick before you leave.
10. The LCR Last but not least is路 the infamous LCR. Presuming you have attended one (as every proper student should), the actions that you take in those
hedonistic few hours might have altered your life, presented you with the love of your life, or at the very least come back to haunt you since. With its eclectic mix of pop/indie classics and copious amounts of alcohol, the LCR has to be tried to be believed. Even those who tend to prop up the bar on most regular nights find the lure of the cheesy music too.much and eventually venture onto the sticky and plastic glass-covered dance floor. Many people may find it difficult to conceive of life without the Thursday night LCR, and once the glamorous life of dinner parties and work do's becomes the norm in life, you will undoubtedly find yourself pining for the days when you could buy cheap drink from the Union bar, find yourself snogging someone you have never met and staggering home to throw up all over your next door neighbours hedge....ahh, the memories. Just make sure you can say it happened to you.
7. See the historical sights of Norwich Anyone who enters Norwich via the A 11 will know that it is 'a fine city'. Well, that's what a particularly inventive council sign painter thought anyway. And maybe he's got a point - Norwich, one of Britain's oldest settlements, has probably got more history attached to it than you could ever possibly want to know. Just make sure that you know a little bit of it when people ask in years to come. A quick afternoon spent wandering around the key sites will soon equip you with the basic essentials, so jump on that bus and head for !h~t following places: the castle, the cathedral, and if you are really stretchi ng it a few of the medieval sites off King Street. Anyone who isn't bored after that can always head for an evening of traditional Norfolk fare - Colman's Mustard and a turkey belonging to the county's most famous son, Bemard Matthews. Or, on second thoughts, maybe not.
8. Spent a day at the coast Day trips out with friends are always good ways of putting off any impending workloads and they're guaranteed to provide plenty of good memories something essential this far into your university career. A day trip at the .seaside at Cromer, Sheringham, Great Yarmouth or on the Norfolk Broads partying under the stars can be as expensive or cheap as you want. Just think of it the sand between the toes, the sea gently lapping onto the beach, the glorious sunshine. Hmmm. More likely it'll be grey and stormy, but pick your day right and everything should go swimmingly.
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18 ln:Focus
Concrete Wednesday, May 26, 1999
Need to earn some cash this summer? Gemma Pearce checks out the opportunities in and out of Norwich ... o, you've almost got past the stress of exams and you're looking forward to a spot of relaxation. The exams might even be over already. And if they're not, the chances are that everything you've revised is probably up in your head battling it out with thoughts of post-exam boozing and partying and probably losing. But remember this sobering thought: all those end of year festivities will probably empty your pocket faster than a quickfingered Fagin. And after they do, you'll need a summer job to pay them back. One of the best ways of earning a bit of cash is temping work for agencies, and Norwich, and most other cities for that matter, offer plenty of opportunity for this sort of work. The advantages of agency work are two-fold: the pay isn't bad and they do the job hunting for you. The only thing to remember is that you've got to get an agency to take you on - and that means getting in there early. Wherever you are, there will undoubtedly be a lot of other students trying to get on agency books at about the same time. As a result, it's best to try and get your name on their books straight after
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NELSON COURT GUEST SUITE Bed & Breakfast on Campus Your visiting family and friends can enjoy convenient, comfortable accommodation at UEA:
e e e •
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For information and reservations, call in and see us at the Conference Office in The Street, telephone 01603 593297 (UEA internal calls: 3297), or e-mail guestsuite@uea.ac.uk
UEA Conference Services
your last exam. Catherine Oagle of Select in Norwich is used to the rush, "You get two or three ahead of the crowd, then you get a bulk of people who come in straight after sitting their exams, then we get the next flock of people who have had a couple of weeks off and then decided to work. Now, those people are too late; she explains. But, with most of these students having the same type of experience and skills as each other, how can anyone stand out from the crowd? "lt is really about the way they present themselves, with professionalism and presentation," she said, adding, "Anyone with knowledge of Access, Excel and Power-Point is one step ahead." And potential temp workers should remember that they've got to be prepared to work at very short notice if the agency can't find them more long-term work. "A lot of the stuff we have is really just short notice. We can't always say, 'yes, we will offer you this job on Monday and then after two weeks we will offer you something else', because we usually have companies on the phone saying 'we need someone now.' So they must be flexible and positive," says Ms Oagle. "Most of the work is a week here and a week there. The industrial division is daily and so is catering. For commercial division, we tend to have a week or a couple of days at least." In order to get the pick of the jobs presentation is the key. When approaching an employment" agency, workplace, or interview make sure you dress smartly. And, as Select point out, decent dress doesn't need to break the bank.
"You can take your pick from being a fruit picker m Europe, archery inst ructor or tbe more obvious, bar work" "If people just invest in one smart jacket and one decent skirt or a pair of trousers and a shirt, then they can just change round and change tops underneath." And if you're moving weekly from place to place, no-one will notice you are wearing the same suit everyday anyway. So, how you dress is important. But what about the really important bit - the money? Well, most of the employment agencies have a minimum wage policy, so it's unlikely that you'll be ripped off, as Stephen of Alfred Marks explains. 'We never take on jobs that pay less than £3.60, even for 16 year olds, because then we would have to segregate the jobs into age ranges, and we think this is unfair and like to have equal opportunities for all."
Agency work is just one option for summer work though. If you have more time on your hands, you could take the longer, more tedious route to getting a job: going into shops, writing off to companies, and just looking through the recruitment section in newspapers. This does take a lot of effort and you do run the risk of getting a low wage job, but there is much more variety and you would be guaranteed a job for the whole summer. You'll also know what your hours are - you won't have to wait for last minute phone calls to know whether you'll be working or relaxing the next day. The Student Service Unit, based in Union House, offers a service for student job hunters called EmployAbility. This is a student job opportunity scheme that runs in conjunction with UEA's Careers Centre, and because it is student based, the term-time jobs on offer are part time, · casual work to suit student's time-tables. There are summer jobs too though, including off-the-wall jobs like fruit-harvesting in Europe, working as an ice-cream scooper or being a qualified archery instructor, as well as more down to earth jobs like bar-work and administration. The lists of jobs available are on the EmployAbility board in Student Services. And none of them pay less than £3.60 per hour. The Student Advice Unit also has a selection of voluntary work which you admittedly won't get paid for, but it will give you vital work-experience, and the rate of pay for agency work is based on previous experience. The scheme currently has project vacancies, which is great for enhancing the CV, but not so great for the wallet. As for jobs abroad, the Careers Centre has a selection of books and leaflets with information about working internationally and Student Services does offer fruit picking in Europe, but otherwise that's about it. Similarly, employment agencies can't get you international work straight away. 'We do have offices abroad so there is lots of temporary summer work for students. We don't organise the jobs abroad ourselves, but we are happy to give out contact numbers for our offices, national and international," says Select's Ms Oagle. And if you're staying in this country, the message seems to be simple: be as flexible as possible, have a positive attitude, look enthusiastic and present yourself in a professional way. Make sure you flaunt any experience you have • agencies think that students {especially second and third years) have a fair bit of techie computer know-how, so make the most of it!
Manpower 628591 Select: 615511 Alfred Marks: 629951
ln:Focus 17
Concrete Wednesday, May 26, 1999
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Take a walk through th~ history of etiquette: find out how you should behave at that once in a lifetime formal dinner, and find out whether manners really do count. Emma Newbery investigates...
hroughout the ages, the rituals of eating and socialising have been soaked in pomp and tradition - rules which guide our interaction with each other. Arabs used to roll back their sleeves and pray "Bismil'lah" (In God's name) before they could tuck into dinner - and only ate with their right hand so that the other could be used for more unclean purposes. These great feasts would often consist of a whole lamb placed in the middle of the table, from which people would tear of chunks. Diners at Queen Victoria's table faced quite a different scenario though. The Queen would be served first, and once she had begun eating, guests then had a race on their hands to get their food and eat it, because as soon as she had finished everybody else's plates would be taken away along with hers.
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"There are unspoken rules, it seems, govern1ng everything from the eating of avocados and apricots to the flushing of toilets" The use of eating utensils has traditionally struck fear into those experiencing their first formal dinner, but if you have trouble telling your bread knife from your fish knife, you'll be glad to know that chopsticks are certainly no easier to manage. In Japan, it would be considered the height of rudeness to leave your chopsticks upright in the rice - and when served, your bowl should always be held in two hands for fear of showing disrespect. But while manners vary hugely from continent to continent and age to age, they still play an enormous part in our interaction with one another.
You only need to check out the etiquette guide in The Times newspaper every Saturday, or catch stories of people being turned down for jobs because their 'manners weren't up to scratch' to begin to wonder if there isn't something a bit important about this whole manners malarkey. So what do the official etiquette guides say about getting through that formal dinner? For starters, bodily functions should be hidden at all costs: coughing, sneezing etc. are only acceptable when covered by hand or hanky; burping should most definitely be carried out in private. If you feel the need to pass wind, looking pointedly at somebody else, or 'nonchalantly w~ving a newspaper' to disperse the smell are apparently the best courses of action . Sit up straight, and don't talk with your mouth full. Knives and forks should be used from the outside in, and heaven forbid that the knife blades don't face towards the plate. Clearly holding a knife or fork as if they are weapons simply will not do, and of course, punctuality and prompt replies are essential to the well mannered guest. There are unspoken rules, it seems, governing everything from the eating of avocados and apricots to the flushing of toilets. Hat wearers in particular should beware - they are entering a minefield of potential faux pas. To hold onto their etiquette, the headpieces should be removed in all public spaces such as museums and theatres; any private home or office space as well as places like cemeteries and churches. They most definitely should not be worn during mealtimes. In fact, hats should only be worn in 'transient public places', like buses, campus or underground stations. That
is if you actually want to hold onto your etiquette. ut isn't etiquette really a thing of the past these days? Today, isn't the height of good manners just shaking hands upon meeting someone and being able to remember their name the next time you see them? All this "hats on, hats off" business seems to have gone out of the window. Let's be honest, we talk through lectures, eat on the streets, burp in public and many think nothing of eating cold baked beans straight out of the tin in front of the TV. But an afternoon with your mates reveals that, although formalised dinner traits have long been abandoned, we are still governed by our own rules and rituals. You don't, for example phone before 11 am unless it's a dire emergency. And while honesty has never been the best policy, few would risk telling their friends that they smelt or had bad breatH'. According to manners expert, Margaret Visser, the apparent decline in etiquette is nothing more than a change in the way we behave towards one another. Manners are in a way little more than formalised rules for interaction, an acceptable mode of behaviour within a group. She explains, "Rigid formality tends to be perceived these days (and politeness, now as ever, has everything to do with its perception by others) as an impolite and unkind expression of icy distance." So perhaps the best manners are actually to seem as if you have none at all. it seems our 'classless society' has lead to a dumbing down of even our manners, something we Brits are supposed to do best. But then there's never actually been anything wrong with eating in front of the TV - in fact it's tradition to be
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expected to speak while their guests eat, and everybody from the Greeks to the Renaissance French have traditions of musical accompaniments to their dinners (though in Greek feasts, the guests themselves would have to take it in turns to sing.) This was part of an idea that food would be better appreciated without the pressures of conversation, and means that TV dinners are almost a harking back to age old formalities.
"lt's customary when first introduced to the Queen to say 'How do you do your Majesty?' ana then 1n any sutisequent conversation you would call her Ma'am, wh1ch rhymes with jam" But surely there are still a few occasions when you should mind your P's and Q's? For example, when meeting the Queen? A Buckingham Palace spokesperson says, "it's customary when first introduced to say 'How do you do your Majesty?' and then in any subsequent conversation you would call her Ma'am which rhymes with jam." She adds, "it's also customary in this country for -ladies to give a little bob, it doesn't have to be a great big curtsey, and for men to just incline their heads from the neck- a sort of neck bow." But it seems that even this vestige of manners and rituals is by no means compulsory, as she goes on, "I say it's customary, but it's not a requirement - it's really down to how people feel." So what does Buckingham Palace's spokesperson think is the essence of politeness? "I suppose my personal view is thoughtfulness for others. it counts for a lot really." Indeed, it seems that the etiquette guides, have got it wrong - the question is not whether one should flush the loo in the middle of the night , or where and when people should take their hats off - these days manners are all about being comfortable with each other by demonstrating a lack of obvious formality. These days the height of good manners really is just tolerance.
entertained by singing during their meals, in other cultures hosts are
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181n:Focus
26 , 1999
• iggling your way through the undergrowth may not be everyone's idea of fun, but if, ni<e me, those childhood dreams of being the next Rambo still burn strong then paintball is for you. Set in acres of woodland with teams of warriors kilted :JP in camouflage, a mask and, most importantly, a paint gun with 200 rounds of , paintballing is the a civilian can get to real warfare - with none of the risks. The general idea of the game is simple - eliminate members of the opposite team by shooting them down. Any player is out of the game if they're shot once, making the ultimate aim, capturing the enemy base, all the easier. Simple, you might think. But play the game thinking that and you'd probably be underestimating the guile of your opponents. In no time at all you'd find yourself gunned down in a hail of Dulux. So, sophisticated methods need to employed to capture your enemy's base. A twopronged approach can be adopted by dividing the team into two, with one half defending your base by hiding in the undergrowth around your hut, while the more adventurous get a licence to
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The end of the second Millennium is being overshadowed; not by commercial profiteering or religious cults emerging from the w oodwork, but by the m oon. Adam Clough investigates ... the Millennium slowly draws to a close many people are pondering the ignificance of this date, and Its importance as a t urning point for humanity. lt all sounds a bit t oo heavy. Summertime Is for sitting on the grass, sunning your belly, chosen beverage In one hand, fag In the other, right? But perhaps we really should all consider the bigger picture. Have you ever tried to fathom the scale of things? Attem pted to put things In perspective? Spatially orientating yourself with a
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Paintball is the aggression therapy of the 90's. With the exams ending, what better way is there to let off steam? Nick Triggle reports from the line of fire....
roam and attack the opposition's headquarters. And if you do find yourself shot out of the game, most sites have quite a few different fields - giving you the opportunity of sweet revenge in another game.
"Don't underestimate your in no time you will be out of the game~ shot down in a hail of Dulux ' o~ pon ents,
We visited the Skirmish paintball site and its fields differed quite distinctly. Some have dense forests with streams running through , others have man-made huts and obstacles to navigate. One particularly epic battle we took part in was set in a small field that only had tyres to hide behind. The result was nothing short of a vicious fight-to-thedeath that saw hundreds of bullets whizzing back and forth as fighters found themselves viciously taken out of the game. Indeed, the battles can be intense and. as one would expect, considering that many participants are acting out their movie action hero fantasises, competitively fought. And the whole thing is made all the more realistic by the fact that you find yourself doing anything possible to avoid taking a hit, because, believe me, it hurts when one of the marble-sized pellets connects. The bruises all over my body are testament to that. Some players seem to forget this though, and in their excitement, offer themselves up as sitting ducks. One particular fighter I saw was so pleased he had taken his mate out of the game that he jumped out of his hiding place in delight and was subsequently shot down by five others. But the battles really liven up when the
marshals, who are on hand all day to supervise the battles, set a time limit on those matches that take a long time. Mass kamikaze charges are made in the closing minutes as last desperate attempts are made to snatch victory from the opposition. But be careful not to fire off too many bullets you are only given 500 pellets for the day. no way you want to be defenceless in the midst battle - staring down the barrel of a gun at that vital point is not a good way to end the day. Unless, of course, you think your hand combat skills match those of Rambo.
Details The Skirmish site where we played can take from ten to a hundred players. You can play between 8 -14 games in the day and all the equipment is provided on the site. And don't worry too much about your clothes all the paint should wash off the clothing quite easily, although make sure you wear trainers or shoes with a good grip for all that running around in the undergrowth! You can book to go individually but it is more fun to go with a group of mates. If you split up into teams before you get there you can also plan out your strategy of attack upon the enemy! There are eleven different games to be played at the Skirmish site and there are experienced staff close by to make sure things don 't get too out of hand. For more information contact: eSerious Fun Paintball: Tel 01473 414279 •skirmish Paintball: Tel 01603 715141 eTag Paintball: Tel 07050 298095
m eclipse
Pink Floyd album and some soothing cigarettes Is one chosen route , but you can do that anytime. The new millennium Is a possibility, but everyone will be so rat-arsed at the vital moment that it's probably not a realistic choice. There Is another option though - witnessing a total solar eclipse. And the best opportunity of your lifetime is coming up at the end of the summer. On the 11th of August this year the shadow of the Moon will sweep across the globe clipping the South coast of England before cutting through Europe and heading off through t he Middle East and beyond. One of the best places to see the eclipse Is Falmouth on the coast of Cornwall , where it's possible to experience two minutes and six seconds of darkness. But if you 're in Norwich lt might be j ust as worthwhile going to see the eclipse in France, as opposed to travelling all the way down to Cornwall . lt's supposedly fully booked up anyway. Tagged as the millennium eclipse, the natural phenomenon promises to be a spectacle of cosmic proportions. Many people have seen a total lunar eclipse, but the gentle beauty of t his occurrence is truly dwarfed by the spect acle of a t otal solar eclipse, as the Moon robs t he Earth of daylight for a few surreal moments. To see a total solar eclipse, you have to be In the path of totality (the shadow of the Moon) .There are less than 70 tot al eclipses each century so seeing
one, is for most of us, a once-in-a-lifetime event. ' Ye Locals' of Cornwall will undoubtedly appreciate the astronomical event as a product of the Inter-planetary scheme of things. However, the science behind an eclipse has often clashed with superstition. The Greeks thought that the Sun was abandoning the Earth as the Moon blocked out the light. They called it the 'abandonment' which Is where we derive the word eclipse. The mythology of different cultures th rough the ages often mentions what we now know to be an eclipse. Usually depleted as an ominous sign of some natural disaster or the downfall of a ruler, the eclipse can only be assumed to have Induced fear through ignorance. The Chinese believed the Sun was being devoured by an invisible dragon and tried to fright en t he monster away by making as much noise as possible by banging drums, even fl rlng arrows in the air to try and ki ll t he beast. The Indians believed In t he invisible dragon t oo. They would immerse themselves in water up t o their necks as an act of worship to help the Sun and Moon defend themselves from the dragon. The Japanese thought that poison would fall from the
darkened sky and used to try to cover-up wells and other sources of drinking water. Even today, lost and Isolated tribes probably still witness an eclipse through superstitious eyes. However, it's not all doom and gloom. For example, in Tahiti an eclipse Is trad itionally known as a session of love making between the Sun and the Moon. Don 't let that put you off standing around, watching and taking pictures though. Interestingly, the path of t otalit y In England th is summer passes j ust 60 miles south of Stonehenge. The exact purpose of the monument Is uncertain but some astronomers suggest that the stone slabs are positioned just right for predicting t he alignment of t he planets, like a 'giant prehistoric eclipse computer'. If you can't make it down the re this summer lt might be worthwhile checking out NASA's web pages t o see when and whe re the eclipses of the future will be. You can set a date to rendezvous with an eclipse as far forward as 2035. But If you' re not that pat ient a partial eclipse will be visi ble at noon, on Chri stmas Day 2000, across most of America. Coincidence or just good timing?
ln:Focus 19
Concrete Wednesday, May 26, 1999
Horoscopes
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So you think you know about
Sitcoms?
1) What house number did Linda la Hughes and Tom live at in 'Gimme, Gimme, Gimme'? 2) In 'The League of Gentlemen' what is the significance of the town's name Royston Vasey? 3) In Blackadder who always comes up with a cunning plan? 4) What was the first ever episode of Red Dwarf called? 5) Where is Father Ted set? 6) Where have you seen the sign 'Flowery Twats'? 7) How does the Ab Fab theme go? 8) In the 'Young Ones', what is Neil's favourite food? 9) What does Matt suffer from in 'Game-on'? 10) In Only Fools and Horses, who is Trigger's friend 'Dave'?
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I. Holdings (of property) (7) 5. Workers (5) 8. Dangerously limbed (5) 9. Heart of nuclear plant (7) 10. A former Labour leader (7) 11. First name of famous explorer (5) 12. Al1ce - author of The Colour Purple (6) 14. Doing sums (6) 17. Inspirations (5) 19. Something offensive or depraved (7) 22. To get something ready (7) 23. To make fun of (5) 24. Attempt again (5) 25. Day that gets its name from the God of War(7)
Down 1. To trace something that has passed (5) 2. A position in name only (7) 3. Cowboy show (5) 4. To rub affectionately (6) 5. Thronged together (7) 6. Theatrical player (5) 7. Length equal to 220 yards (7) 12. Speak in hushed tones (7) 13. State of extreme happiness (7) 15. Cold country (6) 16. Place filled with trees (6) 18. To vote someone in (5) 20. French phi losopher (5) 2 I. Type of board used for filing nai ls (5)
Issue 99: Answers / Across 1. Bon~de 5. Calm 9. Circa I0. Martian 11. Backbreaking 13. Preens 14. lbudan 17. Light-hcarted 20. Promise 2 I. Issue 22. Easy 23. Iterates
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Competition winners
Winners of pairs of tickets to use at the Odeon:
Down 1. Buck 2. Narrate 3. Frankenstein 4. Demure 6. Alibi 7. Managing 8. Great Barrier 12. Apple Pie 15. Deep set 16. Cement 18. Grows 19. Vets
J. Sathiagnanan(ENVPG) D. Johnson (SOC 1) James Phillips (EUR4)
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This may well be the last set of Union pages due to the complications in the Communications officers election. I'm sure you're all sick of hearing about it, so I'll sign off by thanking Concrete who have done all they can to help me advertisement from the students union put these pages together
IT' BEE
Well this is it, you were warned the year would go very quickly and as far as I'm concerned it's gone too quickly. I hope you've all enjoyed your time as much as me - it's been mucking fajic, but now you can look forward to a summer of less hazy Friday mornings. The rest of the Sabbs and r would like to thank you for contributi ng to our wages for the last year and we can only hope you've not been too bored by the nonsense that has surrou nded the elections this year. Unfortunately it looks as though the Union will be without a Sabbatical Communications Officer for next year. lt 's a real shame that a small group of petty individuals deci de to pl ay si lly
games and deprive the Union of an Officer who is essential to help your media to continue to grow and work efficiently. ow that's off my chest I'd like to thank all those who have made my year so enjoyable, especially all the staff and representatives who have put the effort in to make the Exec and Student's Forum more effective than it has been for years. For those of you who are moving on, good luck, I'm sure you'll pop back to frequent the LCR. To the rest of you lucky buggers, enjoy what you have left- it does go very quickly.
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Many Thanks, Tom
ELECTIONS COMMITTEE STATEMENT Following receipt by the Union of two complaints, under the Unions Complaints Procedure, concerning the election for the post of Communications Officer, in the form of resolutions to a General Meeting, from S Daryanani and A Little, the Elections Committee have suspended the published timetable for the election. Nominations will now close ten days after the determination of the complaint. The remainder of the election timetable will be published following the close of nominations. In view of the timescales contained in the Union's Complaints Procedure the election will not be able to be held during this academic year and may not be able to be held in the next academic year in time for the post to be sabbatical.
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Colin Moore Katy Fixter Andy Pott
Deputy Returning Officer Academic Officer Returning Officer
UNION POST OFFICE HAT.f tiFF Tfl THFGNAIJ~ VISIT OUR STALL IN U NION HOUSE DURING CONGREGATION FOR YOUR MEMORABILIA PRODUCTS • • • • • •
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Open 9am - 5.30pm weekdays, 9am - 1pm Saturday
GRANT APPLICATIONS 1999/2000 Clubs and Societies check your pigeonholes for application forms NOW! Forms should be returned to the Finance Officer by June 1st. Failure to do so may damage your chances for funding for next year, so make sure your club doesn't miss out. Dormant societies who wish to be 'resurrected' may also apply. If you have any problems see Neil Fox upstairs in Union House ASAP
250 HELPERS FOR UNDERGRADUATION 99 NO CASH BUT GIG/LCR/CINEMA TICKETS AND A FREE YELLOW T路SHIRT
INTER STED? CONTACT STUDENT ADVICE CENTRE
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THE FINAL WEEK OF TERM Live in the square- Tuesday 8th June 2000 people dancing in the square. Keep your fingers crossed for nice weather. - - Rolf HarrisWednesday 9th June =:t £7.50SU- doors open 7.30pm LCR - it's your last chance of the year. £5 - Early start and a late finish LCR- Disco and Retro tunes - Swing and House. Milky Lunch & Pam's HouseSaturday 12th June £6 SU- DJs Luke Neville and Lonsdale NAM party - Saturday 26th June Graduation Ball - 9th July £27.50 - Entertainment only
A ~l'YAWAIU IXNll'MCI ~nthea
When I started looking for Jobs, the training 8ltperlence 1 got on the scheme waa 'worth' • much • my clegreel D. SchollleldtlutM (now employed as a traJnsr for a National Pressure Group)
Applications must be submitted by Tuesday :1.st June 1999 For more information and an application form call into the Advice Unit, upstairs in Union House or email J.Peel@uea.
GRADUATION BALL A few tickets are still available for the Graduation Ball - tickets for entertainment only are £27.50. All the fun of the fair, casino, tattoos plus live bands One Night in Heaven, Lady Madonna, Step by Step, Greased Lightning from 9.30- 4am. Tic~ets for the last LCR of term go on sale on Tuesday 1st June. . Tickets cost £5 with maximum of two each
UGM UGM UGM UGM UGM UGM UGM UGM UGM UGM UGM UGM UGM UGM UGM UGM
Union General Meeting Tuesday 1st June 1999 6pm in the LCR
Items for the agenda should be submitted by 5pm on Tuesday 25th May to the Returning Officer
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Concrete Wednesday. May 26, 1999
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As the year comes to an end,. Mark Edwards takes a look at the highs and lows of UEA's iP-Orting season T +iAS been a year of mixed fortunes for UEA's sporting clubs with success coming in certain areas but disappointment in others.
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T here is no doubt that the glories of laM year 11cre built on to make it a memorabl e sporting year. Triumph 11 a-; m,surcd in both rowing and • nooke r. a~ go ld medal• wcr..: brought back from the BUSA C hampio nships. Ri chard Kcl sey claimed victory at the BU A regatta\\ ith a superb performance in the
courageous push for medals at the BUSA regalia. The crew on ly narrow ly missed out on a bronLc medal b) an ago nis ing 0.:2 seconds , but made up for it two weeks later by cla iming gold at th e Bed ford regana. These pe rformances earned them the honour of c laiming the Women's Tea m of the Year at UE/\. s po rl ~ award•. In snooker, Tim Sto ne e mulated hi ; p 'r•ona l achievemen t• of la·;t sea•o n by retaining hi s B-team individual title in th e B SA tou rn a ment w hi ch was held in February. There were more trophies gai ned from the B-ream as they grabbed the
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trave l to l3 ath to pia) the tie bu t bad weather made the journey imposs ible , they were then. thw~uted in their attempt~ to reach the rearranged fixture due to the bus they we re tra ve lling in breaking clown . nfonunmely for th e tea m it was not to be third time luc ky as BUSA bosses forced the team to concede the tic. Club pres ident. Andy Mather. said of the season ··we've had a great year. winning divisi o n two and reaching the las t 16 of the Tim Stone: triumphant at Sa/ford B U~A- Th ere ar' wme L---------------------------------------------~ year and were unfortunatcl) group stages for BUSA. the men's success. promising fiN and 0 ~cco nd years in the knocked out of BLSA rugby I st's did their best to restore "We were unfortunate not to get compctttion by a strong Glasg_o11 some pride and get some sill'erware funhcr in BLSA's. it is o ur old habit ~quad and I'm sure that side 11 ho kept UL/\ under via the Plate. and after outclas;.mg ol drawmg the \Hong tetu11." \\C Wtll do ~\ (!ll better pressure throughom the match. Roya l llo ll o\\ ay to reach the The ten nis tctUll also came clos..: nc .x t sca~on. prc,enting them from playing in quarter-finals thi> seemed a realistic to glory. reaching the final of the [( things had been their usual "ylc. possibilit). different there could BUSA Shield. Other sports whtch nnpresscd But disappointment was soon to Thanks to a strong performance have been more silverware in the throughout the year in their come m. LIE/\ were defeated 13-10 in the semi-final over C hrist Ch urch UEA troph) cabinet. rcspecti\'c compclllion<, \\er~ by Sussex to prc1 cnt another pu-,h College Canterbl!IJ the team Jamc' Tap>licld led the sq uash B/\LADS , lac rosse and the Skiing for glory. travelled to the final in team lo a superb run in the BUSA C lub. The BUS/\ compet iti on was Loughborough in con fident mood. Cup after cruising throu g.h th e The latter particular!) excelled short a nd sweet for the men's Bu t the UEA side were no match group stages. in Lcs Ar~ in the Brllish hockey 1st's who \\ere beaten in the for the overall winners St. Mmy 's They qualified to compete with Unive rsity C hampion shi p. where first round 5-2 by Reading. Co llege, who pro duced •ome some of the best university sides in Melissa Cannon finished a fine But the thirds made up for their outstanding tenni s to deny UEA the the countr) and did themselves sixth out of 94 in the giant proud - but it was not to be their slalom. year. There was also -;uccc<,s in With a strong display o ver UCL it the local lcagu s, the looked m. it the litlc was made for highlight being the men's UEA this yea r. bul the dream ended football I >t team regaining when they ran up against a their cro1' n m. champions. detennincd Nottingham side in the Most other teams assu red disappoinunrnt wiU1 a hi gh scoring overall ti tic. last 16. them•clvc~ promotion into a run in the Cup, the highlight being a 1l1c men's football Ist XI showed James Tap;ficld commented, hi gher standard in the Norfolk seven goal rout of Imperial Medic~. a lot of promise at the beginning of " We have a tremendous team , who league~. Last year> S hidd w inners, the have a! I work..:d hard for our their BUS/\ campaign, producing a And with the op..:n mg of thl! ladic~ basketball team. 11ere unable number of good resuiLs including an Sport' Park in the lorc•ecablc to rc-c,tablish their impressi'e form important 1 ictory over local rivals future it i, inc1 itablc that more of I, 51 year and 11 ere narrow!) Lssex. knocked out b) a magni licem Bath trophic> ''ill be brought back lO But form dropped and UEA Ub\ with facilities and success suffered a number of narro11 side. that even Loughborough wtll The volleyball team a lso coulcln ' t defeats. part.icularl) a narrow Ios'> emy. su~tain their high standard.s of last from eventual champions. Luton . which saw UEA hit the bar in the last minute denyi ng them a draw. This meant that the team progress..:d into the S hield after a good victory over Brunei in the play-ofl's , but they came off with th wor t pos;,iblc draw, an trip to E:>.ctcr. T he game another c lo e run thing. but Exeter edged it. EA's BUS/\ e nding campaign with defeat. After a performance in
"T riUmp • h was assure d In • b th timing lO rowing and snooker, as gold Steam pa;t medals were brought back from a I I opposition. the BUSA Championships" a n cl impeccabk
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It was an impressive pcrfonnancc considering ro11 ing 11·as a sport Kclscy only began on hi-, arriva l at Univl.! r~ it y. /\nd the medal was •ucceeded with the Spom Person of the Year awa rd 10 cap off a wonderful year with a desened recognition of hi-. effort,_ It had been a successful year for the Ro\\ing Club as a 11·hole though, 11 ith strong performances throughout the squads. J'hc women·, four .,tood out ao., o ne of the year's rno;t improved team• b) putting in a number of impressil'c performances against more experienced opposition , the crowning glo r) being their
close final to Queen\ College. Belfast. The A-team did not fttre as well tho ugh, missing out on retaining th<:ir tctun trophy and bringing it back to UI.:.A for the second year ru nnin g after being knocked out in a close >emi-linal bout. Botll the Squash C lub and th.:: Badminton Club shared the men·, team award . thanks to superb re ults in BUSA competit ion throug hout thc season. /\!though the Badminton Club were actmdl) undefeated throughout thctr cam paign thcy were forced to bow o ut in the last 16 due to a series of bad luck and inclement weather. The team initially pla nned to
"lt is inevitable that more trophies will be brought back to UEA with facilities and success that even Loughbrough will envy"
Sport 25
Concrete Wednesday, May 26, 1999
Soap Star Is Manchester United Peter Schmeichel about to follow his former team mate Eric Cantons into the acting game? Perhaps not yet, but the title hero may well be making a cameo appearance in top soap Coronation Street after he visited the set this week. The keeper was filmed in the background of one scene reading a paper about his side's championship victory. Scheichel follows in the footsteps of other celebrities such as Sir Cliff Richard who have appeared in the soap.
Concrete takes a look at the Canaries' season in full
Definitely Not Cricket The Minstrel Taverners of the Birmingham Park League are claiming to be the worst cricket team in the country after winning only six matches in their twenty year history. Their bid to claim the less than favourable title was helped by the fact that they only managed to score ten runs in their last game and six of them were extras. Club captain, Rob Doyle, said "In the past other teams batted first and got 200, then we'd be out for 12. Now we always bat first so matches don't drag on".
By AIDAN MAGEE
Double Fault
TO BE successful in any endurance race, you need a good start, a good middle, and a good end. Norwich certainly accomplished the first piece of the trilogy, but the second proved elusive, whilst the third was only just satisfactory. After impressive displays at the Craig Bellarny. There were beginning of the season, a good also impress ive draw against champions Sunderland and a resounding victory over performances Birmingham City meant that at from young Christmas the Canaries sat in a midfielder Lee Marshal! and healthy play-off position, with games in hand 01 er their rivals . centre-ha l f Craig Fleming. Disgraceful Kcith O'Neill Canaries: high hopes for the Millennium However, the turning point came at Wolves in December, a'> Kevin was disappointment again, and the to the Premiership next season. Muscat's disgraceful challenge dec is ion to sell him for £ 1 million If and when Rioch is given sidclined City's leading scorer was a good one by Bruce Rioch. money to spend, a top priority Craig Bellamy for well over a should be a robust. commanding Suspect month . and experienced central defender, In the same game, Norwich Darren Eadie is another who and possibly investing in a relinquished a two-goa l lead and when fit, is scintillating, but a goalkeeper. finis hed with honours even at 2-2. suspect med ical record often fails Scoring goa ls was not a problem A point from Molineux was by him . and ultimately the team itself. for City this season, but stemming no means a disgrace, but this, and Eadie is rapid ly becoming a the tide in the opposite direction the 3-2 defeat at Crewe, where they fo rgotten man , his ta len ts arc proved more troublesome. were also two goals ahead. seemed worthy of the Premiership. but Ex-Canary Andy Linighan is to knock the confidence of the Rioch must seriously consider avai lable. and would not cost the younger players in the sq uad. selli ng him before his market value ea rth. whilst Craig Forrest at West On their travel s though, City plummets, especially if his Ham might also favour a return to proved quite adept at taking points. programme of rebuilding is to East Anglia, where he played Seven victories were achieved, conti nue. between the sticks at local rivals including wins at Ipswich and Bruce Rioch ha~ proved that he Ipswich. Barn. ley, as well as useful draws at can bring on young talent, as he did Huddersl'ield, Wolves, Watford and before at prev ious cl ubs such as Binningham. Millwall and Bolton. In addition, his signings, Patchy particu larly Phil Mul ry ne from DIVISION ONE The home form was more patchy, Manchester Uni ted, and a possible PWDLGSPt and whilst the fina l tally of 15 summer capture of on- loan hero 7. Wolves 46 19 16 11 64 73 games won, and 15 lost suggests an Cedric Anselin, look solid . 8. Shelf. Utd. 4618 13 15 71 67 9. Norwich 46 15 17 14 62 62 average team, a final plac ing of Surprise 10. Huddersfd 46 15 16 15 62 61 ninth does not fully vindicate thi s 11 . C. Palace 4414 1515 56 57 assumption. Without many addi ti ons to Mike NORWICH CITY TOP SCORERS T he stars of the season we re Walker's squad, he has sq ueezed a !wan Roberts: 22 undoubtedly Iwan Roberts, and to a little more from it, and the Canaries Craig Bellamy: 19 slight ly lesser extent, Welsh starlet, could be a surprise package to travel
Britain's top tennis duo Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski have crashed out of the World Team Cup in spectacular style. The pair both lost In their matches against Swedish opposition in the tournament held in Dusseldorf, ending any hopes they had of making the final.
Di Canio In The Dock Paulo Di Canio is offering the fans of his former club, Sheffield Wednesday, £1000 in an attempt to dissuade them from suing him over the loss of their Player of the Year trophy. The controversial striker was served with a writ by the London branch of the Owls supporters club after he failed to return the trophy that he won last year.
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CITY STAYS
CRICKET BUSA Merit League 1, Men's 1st XI Sat. , April 24, UEA, 100 all out Wed., April 28, UEA, 118 all out Thu. , April 29, UEA, 217 for 5 Wed., May 5, UEA, 98 all out sun. Ma 9 UEA 195 for 7
v v v v v
Cardiff, 94 all out Northampton, 138 all out Thames Valley, 212 for 8 Essex, 144 all out Roeham ton 224 all out
UEA won by six runs. Northampton won by 20 runs. UEA won by three wickets. Essex won by 49 runs. Roeham ton won b 29 runs.
OPEN 24 HOURS A DAY 7 DAYS A WEEK • 20 Snooker tables • 4 pool tables •satellite TV • Video Games • £250 jackpot machines • Hot and cold food available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week • Licensed bar at low prices 1Oam-11 pm, 12·1 0.30pm Sun
ISTUDENT MEMBERSHIP £1 I St Mary's Plain, Norwich Tel: 627478 Only 5 minutes from Norwich market
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Ladies gualify for Shield without
Concrete Wednesday, May 26, 1999
p~y.ing.A.game
THE LADIES cricket team have made it through to the BUSA Shield in the easiest circumstances possible - they have not even had to step onto the field. De. pite not having p layed a match in the competition a ll $Ca~on, the way that to take place means UEA will now be competing in the Shield The UEA side were supposed to have were forct:d to forfeit them against played matc he. agai nst Essex , Cambridge. Cambridge. Luton and De Montford This left UEA with one 'ictory and one defeat on paper nnd the fac t that the Bedford but for various rea~ons no game wa> played on any occasion. poin t~ were shared from the match . Club president. Anika Flavin, ~aid of against Bedford meant that the team had enough po ints to sneak imo the Shield. the ca ncellations, " We couldn't play Essex because they didn't have enough The team are now due tO take to the crea~e aga in. t Nottingham University on bowler>. Cambridge becau ·e hair of our team were playing in the National unday, May 23 and are confident of Rugby Seve n's to urnament, and De progre~s ing. de&pite thei r lack of match Montford Bedford because of the poor practice. "Although it will be our firM B SA weather." gmn..: of the sc:tsoo we are very Scuppered confident of winning the game" aid AnJJ,a. The team was also scheduled to play EA Cancellations have dogged Luton but the tie was scuppered due to th roughout the year as various teams the team pulling out of the competition have ~u ftercd the problem o f having to altogether. miss important matches at ' 'ita! stage> of Due to the B SA rules. which state the sea&on, leaving t<·ams w ith a seven: that the team who cancel arc at fa ult , UEA gained the point; from Essex but lack of match practi.::e.
B S A disllibute point. if a game fa ils Howe\er, the fac t that UL:lA's group matche>o were cance lled has rai~ed questions about the Wa) in which teams regard BUSA competition.
Dismissed But Anika Flavin has dismissed the idea that teams no longer took the imcruniver ' ity competition serious!}. " l think it is definitely Mill taken seriously, she said, adding, "You an't do anything about the 11 eather. and also univcr ities find it hard to get a full team> for ladies cricket a; it is not one of those sports that everyone is rushtng to play." She also po inted to the fact that BU A games are mad~ e ven harder becau. e of the ti ming of exams at RA. Said Anika " BUSA ge ts very difticult for us bccau ~e of the exams. they are so early here."
Rivers are paved with gold, as rowers do it again THE SENIOR women 's four proved they were worthy winners of UEA's sport's women of the year by triumphing at the Bedford regatta, gaining a gold medal to add to their accolades.
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The fo ur c laimed the ir title w ith a comparatively easy victory ove r Lea fin a l o n May 15. good opposi tion. Th e wo men 's four have had The men also managed to return nu merous successes this year and the gold meda l at Bedford topped to Norwich wit h some sense of succe s. off a superb season fo r them. The novice men did There was furth er success for the excepti ona lly well , fin ish in g crew as they entered a category runners up to Bedford in th ei r above the ir status and sti ll competi tion for the nov ice regatta managed to fi ni sh a credi ble pl ate. second. lt was a tough race fo r the fo ur. lt was a c lose ru n race, bu t after but the team showed exce lle nt their success earlier in the day, a strength and stam ina to fe nd off tired UEA were j ust pipped to the most of the compet ition. The junior men's four also did Outclassed we ll , managing to reach the semiHowever. it was not all plain finab, and so did the senior men's fo ur. sai ling for the boat cl ub . as the novice women's four were knocked But despite some impressive and compet itive rowing against crews out of their heat by a strong and such as Cambri dge th ey were competitive fi e ld, who outclassed unable to reach the finals. the UEA crew. It was a disappointing result for a Combined forces crew who had showed great Both the men's j unior and sen ior promise in train ing. but lacked the men 's four combined fo rces fo r the experience to compete on a first first time in order to compete in the class level. senior eight race, hoping for more But despite this setback. the success then they coul d achieve team went on to Cam bridge to ind ividually. · compete in the 500m sprint. Considering it was the fi rst time The team managed a superb the crew had been on the water second pl ace with some tough together, they managed to do rowing pu ll ing them past some very
Boat C lu b in a te nse a nd dramatic surpri singly well. The amalgamated crew steamed through thei r first heat and got through to the semi-fi nals. But the experience and a uthority of the oppos ition soon took its toll as UEA bowed out graciously, coming close to qualifying fo r the fi nals.
El ite Foll ow in g hi s success at the BUSA rega tta in oui ngham. Richard Kc l ey took the pl unge by e nteri ng hi s scu ll in to the elite rather than the novice category. But the difference in standard showed. as Kelsey was defeated in only the second heat by some very tough opposit ion. And it was a disappointment that he was unable to emu late his success in the BUSA's. President of the UEA Boat Club. Tom Knowles. was delighted with the results though, sayi ng, "The excellent resu lts for both men's and women's crews bode we ll fo r the upcoming Henley regatta." And with the c lub in this sort of form no one will be bett ing against them to succeed once again.
Sport 27
Concrete Wednesday, May 26, 1999
Kick start UEA'S GEOFF Camp continued to show his tae-kwon-do skills after winning a bronze medal in the Power Kick Academy tournament in Lakenham, on Sunday, May 9. Camp cruised through his first round fight, showing his usual acrobatic daring, the highlight being a superb flying punch on his astonished opponent. But Camp met his match in the quarter-finals where he faced a tough opponent, who managed to defeat the tiring UEA fighter. And there was further disappointment for UEA as their depleted team began to lose out in their ftrst rounds . The team of four had little chance against more experienced opposition, as white belt Michael Saunders put up a spirited fight, but lost out in the first round. Becky Simpson also went out in her first round. The UEA fighter took total control of the fight, but the judges marked her down for her aggressive punches which landed in the face of her opponent. President, Ross Findlater said, "The club is only as good as the effort the team puts in."
New Sgorts Officer, lbi Gowan,_gledges smooth transfer to new SRorts Park By PAUL STOKES
UEA'S NEW sports officer, lbi Gowan, has set his sights high with a range of ambitious goals for next year. Ibi, a second year in SOC and a member of the men's 1st XV Rugby team, was elected on Thursday, April 29 to the non-sabb position with a majority of I 90. lbi has since revealed !)is long term visions for sport at UEA, explaining that with the construction of the Sports Park he'd like to make Norwich and UEA a focal point for spons. With the increased equipment and facilities and the talented sports people they will attract, the new Spons Officer is hoping that UEA teams will be able to lift themselves from the BUSA doldrums of recent seasons and establish the University amongst the country's top flight of sporting universities.
Top team "We're not going to have it immediately," he explained, "but if you're looking ten, 20 years down the line, we're going to have a situation that, along with Loughborough and Birmingham, we will no longer be the son of team when people just think 'UEA who are they?' we will actually become a top team and UEA will actually become well recognised for sport." However his long term vision has
not distracted him from the job in hand next year. Indeed, he has pledged to deal with a range of issues, from the problem of late BUSA cancellations to gelling more students invol~ed in sport. "One of my main aims is sport for absolutely everyone," he explained. He also has plans for a 'sports taster', so that freshers can "come in and try different spons they may not do normally." And he has pledged to operate an open door policy. ''I'd like to take input from clubs and other students and be seen as approachable - not just as a person sat in an office. "If they have a problem then by all means come along and see me to sort it out." lbi also has plans to tackle some of the excesses that have tainted sports teams in the past.
Boisterous "Boisterous behaviour at the bar is unfortunately one of those things
that goes with the turf, if people win they like to be jubilant," accepts lbi. "But things like stripping down in the bar, I'd probably like to come down on that, because the bar is not just for sports clubs, it's for the students at the University to sit down and enjoy themselves- it's not a strip show."
Concern However the main concern for next year seems to be the all important move to the developing Sports Park, which is set to open in the summer of 2000. "I've actually become sports officer at quite a crucial moment because we '11 be leaving the old sports centre and going to the new one so I'd like to make sure I gel things going along smoothly," explains lbi. "In some ways things will be weighted upon me to make sure that there's an easy transition, so whoever come in as sports officer the following year has a platform to work on."
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UEA lose out to Roehamgton, but secure safety in Merit league 1 By SIMON COGSWELL
19;1193ยง1 Men's 1 lost to Roeha mpton by 28 runs I UEA'S MEN'S 1st XI went into this match fighting for their survival in the BUSA Merit league 1 after a number of disappointing results had left their promotion hopes in tatters. UEA had already slipped way down the table and were in desperate search of points by the time they faced Roehampton Institute on Sunday, May 9 . The University won the toss and runs to win. and a lack of batting in the home UEA began the chase well, but put the visiting Roehampton side sides tail enders, meant that victory into bat. just when it looked like the opening went to the visitors. The decision seemed to have paid pair were comfortable with the UEA finished just a mere 28 runs off, as the UEA bowlers started Roehampton attack they were behind the victors with a total of 195 dismissed by so me excellent brightly with some fast bowling, runs for seven wickets, just missing out on a much-needed win. putting the Roehampton openers bowling. La ter, captain, James Stevens, under immense pressure. Top order praised the spirit of his side to mount UEA managed an early The remainder of the top order breakthrough taking the first a come back against a competent went in the same way, all making a Roehampton team. wicket, but failed to fully capitalise reasonable start, but failing to go on " It was a really good rearguard on their chances as the remaining perfonnance, I was very impressed. and make a large score. Roehampton opening batsman was The home side looked to be at one point we were dead and dropped twice off the bowling of buried. heading for certain defeat until the captain, James Stevens. "The middle order managed to match was rescued by a magnificent And the Roehampton opener bring us back into the game, but we 80 partnership between the middle continued to elude UEA's efforts, as were always 20 runs behind," he his 97 runs fonned the backbone of order pairing of lames Ma lhom and added. Mark Prince. the visitor's innings. Prince played superbly for his top UEA's leg spinner lames Cook Respectability score of 66, skilfully stroking the was a constant danger to the other Despite this defeat results ball around and running well batsmen though, taking four elsewhere had gone UEA's way and between the wickets, creating havoc wickets. the team is set to finish the season for the Roehampton bowlers. Expensive with a sense of some mid-table Dave Canter joined in the revival respectabili ty . playing some outstanding strokes, But he was also ex pensive, giving And hopes are high that next including a whopping hit for six that away 75 runs while another two season will see UEA rekindling the almost landed in the Norwich wickets were also taken by Andy impressive form shown at the Research Park. Brazil. beginning of this campaign which At this stage it appeared that UEA By the time Roehampton had saw them challenging for had a chance of reaching their target, completed their 45 overs they had promotion. but resilient Roehampton bowling set UEA the substantial target of 224
I
erv1n WITH THE sporting year coming to a close, UEA celebrated the achievements of outstanding sporting clubs and individuals at the annual Service to Sports Awards on Tuesday, May 11. The ceremony, which took place at the Sainsbury Centre, saw a variety of pres6ntations honouring all kinds of successes. The boat club hauled in two of the recognised that by giving me the most prestigious awards from the award." evening, with Richard Kelsey taking The rower earned the accolade after claiming gold at the BUSA the Sports Person of the Year award, and the women's four earning regatta in Nottingham, where the Women's Team of the Year. women's four were just pipped to the post for a bronze medal by 0.2 Delighted seconds. The Men's Team of the Year was Richard was delighted with the shared between the badminton and honour, commenting, "lt is always squash club for their efforts in BUSA nice to win these things, and it is also this year. nice that having put five years of hard 11 was a season of unfulfilled I effort in has
potential for the badminton club, who were undefeated in their BUSA campaign, but still forced pull out of the competition due to transport problems. "We were very pleased at winning this award , especially as it is the second time we have won it in four years," said President, Andy Mather. The squash club were also successful in BUSA, reaching the last 16 before finally getting knocked out by a top eight side.
Progress The vast improvement in organisation and increase in training schedules of the Korfball Club were
acknowledged too, as they were handed a well deserved Progress Award for the year.
Commitment Various individuals were also given the Service to Sports Award, the most notable being Steve Buckingham for his commitment to getting teams to far away games. And Andy Laing was also acknowledged for his nine years of service to the American Football club. The night was a suitable success, and capped off a triumphant year for sport at UEA, as the sporting societies now look towards 2000 and the birth of the Park.