Concrete Issue - 243 - 04/05/2010

" I have thoughts that

Concrete Interviews Nick Clegg

spiral out of control"

The Event talks songwriting, heartache cind Diana Vickers with E/lie Gou/ding. PAGE 19 EVENT

Concrete poses UEA students' questions to the Lib Dem golden boy. PAGE 8 CONCRETE

ISSUE 243

e

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

e

www.concrete-online.co.uk

e

UEA'S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

e

FREE

STUDENTS LEFT LOANLESS Students struggle as University staff error causes delays In thousands of UEA students' last loan instalment for the Summer.

Union steps In after Student Loans Company told the wrong date for the beginning of the term.

Nayo Hunt UEA students began the current semester in financial turmoil due to an error in correspondence between the University and the Student Loans Company, resulting in loans arriving a week late.

The University wrongly told the SLC that the new semester would begin on May 4th, which is actually the date that exams are due to commence.

Last year the SLC introduced a new portal system, requiring institutions to enter semester dates ahead of time, information which was then used to generate appropriate payment schedules. An erro·r was made when the end date for the Easter break was entered wrongly, leading to delayed payments. Several students

found themselves unable to return to Norwich after the Easter break and many who did return were unable to pay for food and basic amenities as a result of the error.

Undergraduate science student, De'ola Ayobiojo, expressed his frustration saying: "A month long holiday already had me and lot of others struggling for money and the late arrival of student loans only added to the situation.

"I found it difficult to buy food and got to the point where I had to go to the Dean of Students' to apply for an emergency loan of £200. Noone really tells you what to do when you put your card into the cash machine and it says no! "lt was a massive relief when the loans came in a week later because without it I really don't know what on

Earth I would've done."

After receiving numerous complaints the problem was rectified on April 28th. The University was able to get in contact with the SLC, promptly bringing the payment date forward much to the relief of students.

UUEAS' Academic Officer, David Sheppard, credited the University's speedy response : "the SLC is a failing organisation but on this occasion I think it is fair to say it was not their fault.

The University gave them the wrong dates but to their credit they were very quick to correct the problem once informed." lan Callaghan, Head of Planning at UEA said, "this is the first time, to our knowledge, that this has happened and we have instituted checks to ensure that the payment dates for

next year are correct and introduced some additional controls to prevent a repeat in future years." He also added that despite the inconvenience of the error, students would have been inform~ of prospective payment dates

by SLC document/sent to all students before the academic year began.

The Dean of Students' Office played a vital role in offering students suffering pa~cularly badly from the mishap with financial advice and support. Linda Shepherd of the Dean of Students said, "we were happy to help students suffering financial difficulty as a result of late student loans. We saw a slight increase in the number of students coming in for support and were more than happy to offer advice and

FIGHT NIGHT RETURNS TO UEA BUnERFLY BOXING ENTERTAINS THE LCR

ELECTRIFYING ELE·C TION SHOWDOWN IN THE LCR to ask pre-set questions on a range of topics and then follow-up questions to the Around 200 students and candidates' answers. Higher national media gathered in education, climate change, the LCR on Thursday 22nd transport, housing and April to hear from Norwich- · graduate jobs were covered, South candidates vying as well as additional concerns for the student vote in the about the Digital Economy forthcoming election.

Bill and the expenses scandal.

The Question Time style Included in the panel were incumbent Charles Clarke · debate allowed students

Nick Church

for Labour, Adrian Ram~ay for the Green Party, Simon Wright for Liberal Democrats and Anthony Little for Conservatives.

In true student fashion the event began with an interruption of proceedings

by Gabriel Pally, a student and candidate in Norwich South for the Workers' Revolutionary Party. After

reaffirming the existence of his candidacy, Mr. Pally cried "I demand the right to speak", followed by a futile attempt to barge past security to ·reach the stage.

He was escorted from · the venue.

The first question from the floor came on the topic of tuition fees in a climate of public spending cuts

proposed, to varying degrees, by all parties. First to speak was Mr. Clarke, explaining his position and his rationale for not pledging against an increase until after the Browne Inquiry. Advocating increased maintenance loans, including their extension to some mature and part-time students, and allowing for full independence from parents

at 18, Mr. Clarke said it was down to the universities to prove an increase in fees would not discriminate against those from poorer backgrounds, of which he is inclined to believe is not the case.

Mr. Little condemned Labour for being 13 years too

2 NEWS

TUESDAY 4th MAY 20 10

:f

C0

concrete.news@uea.ac.uk

~ ~ ~~a~FOLK'S AGRICULTURAL ASSET

nt e nts

NEWS ELECTION SPECIAL OPINION FEATURES TURF INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL FOOD EDITORIAL FOCSOC LIFESTYLE

The Ce ntre fo r Co ntempora ry Agriculture launched on the 27t h April in a joint vent ure between UEA, t he Norwi ch Research Park, Easton Col lege and the local ag riculture industry.

The Cent re rep resents in strategic innovation tra ining and education in the agriculture industry to tackle huge chal lenges arou nd food secur ity an d susta ina bl e agriculture.

A rece nt re port indi ca ted 60,000 extra sk il led staff must enter the UK agricultu re industry if food production is to be maintained at its current level over the next decade. UEA will supply important research for the centre alongsid e the No rwich Resea rch Park.

Bot h Easton Col lege and UEA are deve lop ing new undergrad uate and pos tgradu at e courses, as part of the Centre for Co n tempor~ry Ag ri cult ure's education ' strategy, with undertaki ng students placements in agricu lture and food businesses.

UEA pl ant sc ienti st

Professor John Turner, chair

over the decades to come.

teaching being informed by

to pro duce food at current levels, but wi th low er inp uts of energy and agro-chemicals and, at the same time, meet t he highest standards of food safety.

"As a nation that imports more than 30% of the food we consume, we must be aware of and plan to avert predicted international food shortages

response to this massive chal lenge."

Vice-Chancellor Ed Ac ton commented: new centre, based on an innovative part ne rship between the Univers ity and Easton College, has the potential to make a major impact all along the agri-food chain. Its focus is both global and local, with its

The ce nt re will dra w direct ly on UEA's resea rch, on th at of the Jo hn lnn es Centre, which leads t he world in plant science, and on that of the Institute for Food Research, Britain's premier instit ute in the field. lt is a very exciting development for Norfolk and has major implications for agricultu re and the food

:~r~~:~:;e~:onrt ~:~:~~~:a':::~ ::~t ~~~h:i~lasfto~~ E~g~~~~: ;r~~~~~\a~~s~~:::r~~p:r~:n::

SPORT

UEA BAR GIRLS RACE FOR LIFE DAN HOLLEY

11 [El ~ 14 0 Largely dry '.Vith sunny Sunny spt- ll s. Ri sk of a spell s Chill y bret-ze. sho•.ver. Chill y breeze.

~ @]0

cY @J0

Sunny spell s and a fev.; Sunny spell s and a fevv sho.ver s. Chilly bre eze. shov.;ers. Chilly winds. ~ Larg e ly

cl oudy with

rain

likely on sho.ve-rs on Sunday. Bri sk ,;nd chill y .vinds throughout

WJ Saturd,;y. Sunny spell s and

Staying relati vely cool •:.;ith a mixture of sho.vers or spell s of rain, intersperse d .vith sunny spt- ll s ...

Nayo Hunt Saturday 1st May saw the UEA bar staff take to the Norfolk showground to run the 2010 'Race fo r Life' in aid of Cance r Research. The all-female group began t he 5km co urse at 2p m alongside thousands of other women sporting bright pink "bar staff" t-shirts, w ith the names of friends and family members wh o had su ffered from cance r imprinted on th eir backs. So fa r th ey have raised over £1500 for Cancer Research, far exceeding their initial target of £700.

Kate Chapman who helped organise th e eve nt sa id: "This year was amazing with more girls tha n ever taking part. We more than doubled the tota l from last year with over £1500 raised and there's sti ll time to donate. The atmosphere this

year was particularly bri lliant not least because of the support we got from the boys behind the bar. We would like to say a special thank you to them for their support."

footbal l team, sporting the infamous pink t-s hirts to help raise money and awareness.

They also recorded their own .rendition of the R Kelly classic, World's Greatest, in honour

their success at the LCR that night spo rting their well earned 'Race for Life' medals. They would like to encourage everyone to keep on donating through their

Beth Robertson and Catherine Green were t he 1st UEA bar members to cross the finish line with a time of 25.54 minut es, closely followed by Holly Su t hren in 28 minutes.

All of t he girls received a meda l to acknowledge their pa rticipation an d fundra isi ng efforts.

Earlier in the day Lydia Munyi comp leted the 10km race in just over an hour accompanied by friend, Melissa llboudo, the recent winner of the Internationa l Student of the Year award .

The UEA male bar staff also played a charity football match against UEA's woman's

of the girls which was aired in t he ba r and can be viewed on You Tube.

The girls ce lebra ted

online sponsorship at www. racefo rl ifes po n so rm e. org/ ueabargirls and help win the fight against cancer.

I

concrete.news@uea.ac.uk

"Which issue is most important to you in the general election?" asks David Churchill

"it's the economy. The deficit has got to be reduced but how is it going to affect taxes and is this going to affect us when we finish university?

"Cuts will have to be made but will this affect the health service and how are we going to recreate jobs which have been lost in the economy?

"We've had boom but how will all this bust be rectified?

These issues are most important to me."

NEWS 3

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

"Student finance and fees and the Labour Party because they initially introduced fees.

But most parties seem to overshadow the importance of students and it's our generation which we should be looking at and which is most important for the future.

"But I also want to hear about how things will be practically done rather than hearing a lot of empty promises."

"I think public transport is the most important issue because it needs to be cheaper and at the moment it's real ly expensive.

"Public transport is also important because it is better for the environment and it would be better if more people used public transport for short journeys into university rather than driving in ."

" The economy is the most me important issue for because we've been in a recession and we need to work out the best way we can get out and ensure that people keep their jobs.

"Also, I will be graduating soon and I' m worried that I won't be able to get a job because people aren't hiring. lt is also important that we look at cutting national debt as well."

BANK BOYCOTT Mike Smith UUEAS could face a significant increase in its bank charges if plans to boycott RBS-Nat West go ahead after Union Council resolved to change banks if certain environmental and ethical standards were not adhered to.

The motion proposed to write first to the Union's bank over their environmental and ethical standards, followed by a boycott if demands for more rigorous standards are not met

by August 2010. A previous bank tender process in 2006 concluded that no bank that had high environmental and ethical standards would be able to offer the banking services required to run the Union's business, nor be cost effective.

In the last bank tender process RBS-Nat West was the cheapest, much to do with their close proximity to the Union, with a branch located

on the Street. Furthermore, if the Union were to terminate their five-year contract with Nat West, ending on 31st July 2011, they could change the terms under which the cost of banking was conducted, as well as a loss of interest.

The trustees of the Union have the ultimate responsibility for making the c;Jecision . They may choose to refer it to the Charity Commission for extra clarity on whether the Union can take the action the policy demands, in accordance with its constitution .

UUEAS is a charity and its activity must be proven to benefit UEA students in line with the aims and objectives described in the Union's governing document, the Union Constitution. A decision to boycott the bank could be interpreted as reducing the capacity for the Union to carry out these objectives and therefore a breach of the constitution .

UEA STUDENTS LAUNCH THEATRE COMPANY IN AID OF CHARITY Susanna Wood A new theatre company set up by three second year students at UEA is grabbing attention after the announcement of its first production, which is to be in aid of the Alzheimer's Research Trust.

Blackout Theatre Company has chosen to perform Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew which will be performed at The Garage on May 5th and 6th. Shaun Kitchener, the director of the production and eo-founder of the venture, explained why the 400-year-old play is still relevant: "After studying it at

school, I was so surprised at how accessible the language is. Shrew-inspired films such as 10 Things I Hate About You and the musical Kiss Me Kate are really popular; I'm sure people would be interested to see the original on the stage."

The Company has also had to raise the money to fund the production themselves.

Producer Emma Clarke is being sponsored to swim a distance equivalent to the English Channel over a period of ten days, an experience she is finding "exhausting" but very rewarding. Sponsorship money is coming in fast to cover the cost of the production

MrSimms Olde Sweet

Shoppe~

so all ticket proceeds can be donated to charity. "We want all the proceeds from ticket sales to go to the charity, that's very important to us", Mr Kitchener said . He added : "Alzheimer's disease affects so many families; it really is such a good cause to support."

The charity raises money to fund research into finding cures and treatment for Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

But the production has had to contend with the volcanic eruption in Iceland, with cast members stuck in various places towards the end of the holiday. "Sadly we

TAKE A WALK DOWN ME

had to recast one of our main roles due to him being stuck in America until May," producer Emma Clarke told Concrete. " Luckily we were able to find a fantastic replacement in time and rehearsals have been going well."

The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare's comedies; a tale about the "taming" of headstrong Katherine by her new husband Petruchio. Often considered a commentary on sexual politics, Shaun has defended any claims that the play could be seen as misogynistic, praising the female cast members for their presentation of strong women .

0

" We cast Baptista, usually Katherine's father, as a woman which adds an interesting slant on the production. Katherine and Petruchio are seen as equals and the ending is more

LANE ...

Enj y the widest. v ariety of sweets from your childhoo hubarb and ustard, your favou:r.ite ick and i_:x, han made fudge and chocolates to name but a few. We have it all at Mr Si rns Olde Sweet Shop e Norwich.

33 Lo

DON STREET (OPPOSITE BOOTS), NORWICH

of a meeting in the middle."

Performances are at 7.30pm at The Garage on May 5th and 6th . Find out more at www.blackouttheatre. wordpress.com.

MrSimms Olde Sweet Shoppe~

r 4 NEWS

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

concrete.news@uea.ac.uk

STUDENT LCR SHOWDOWN LOANS in particular cases emergency loans to cover the period of deficit." She went on to state that the Dean of Students is available Monday to Friday to offer support to students with financial or other difficulties.

A sim il ar incident occurred at the beginning of the autumn semester when students from institutions nationwide experienced delays in payments due to SLC difficulties. lt has been emphasised that th is wa s in no way the fault of the University.

VINDICTIVE VOLCANO UEA has felt the force of the recent volcano eruption on Ice land when lectures and classes had to be rescheduled after teaching staff were unabl e to return to university.

Around four seminars and lectures had to be rescheduled or rebooked due to flight disruptions.

Included in those affected was Sarah Churchwell, Senior Lecturer in the School of American Studies, whose flight from America had to be rescheduled for a later time.

SIMON ARM ITAGE Simon Armitage will now be appearing at UEA's spring literary festival on 9th June, instead of 19th May. The poet is one of Britain's best-known and celebrated authors who has won numerous awards for his poetry, including the lvor Novella and Lannan awards. He has also been a judge for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

Still to feature at the festival are Esther Freud and Joanne Harris.

All tickets will remain valid for the new date. All events take place in Lecture Theatre 1 at UEA and begin at 7pm .

Tickets are £6 and available from the UEA Box Office on 01603 508050 or online at www.ueaticketbookings.co. uk

late and "creating a solution to a problem they created ."

He further condemned the 50% target as putting "a cap on young people's aspirations" and what are "currently undeliverable targets."

Mr. Clarke rebutted this point, sayi ng higher education participation is the "core to economic success" and that all those qualified for university should be allowed to go. Adrian Ramsay refocused the issue, calling for in come tax increases for the highest earners to fund university education, while Simon Wright highlighted th e Liberal Democrat pledge to phase tuition fees out after six years. Both have pledged to oppose an increase in tuition fees if elected.

Next on the agenda was a question on the candidates' plans to tackle climate change in Norwich. Mr. Ram say argued for a fairer, more equitable society in which the climate

agenda should be tackled at the same time as economic problems, suggesting development of renewable energies cou ld provide job security. He also called for an end to aviation subsidies, which should be redirected towards public transport and renationalising the rail network.

Mr. Clarke emphasised energy efficiency in all major Norwich institutions including the hospital, Aviva building and UEA. A follow-up question asking the candidates where, if at all, they diffe r in climate policy did little to illuminate differences as almost all avoided the question and offered only limited or vague examples of policies.

Recent controversial legislation restricting Houses with Multiple Occupants (HMOs) was then posed for the candidates. All but Labour's Charles Clarke opposed the legislation on ground

of "undermining student cohesion", phrased by Simon Wright, or being seen as an unfeasible solution. Mr. Clarke defended the legi slation, saying leaving HMOs unregu lated requires too much faith in the market and encourages absentee landlords.

He emphasised it was not an issue of student misbehaviour but absentee landlords using HMOs and students as a "cash cow" yet often providing poor services and house quality. He argued HMO regulation would go some way in "promoting responsible landlords in the

local area."

Following this was a question concerning the Digital Economy Bill, which gives service providers the power to cut internet access to those breaking copyright laws.

Again condemned by all but Mr. Clarke, Mr. Ramsay said it needed to be reversed, Mr. Little said the bill was rushed with no room for House of Commons debate and Mr. Wright said it was pushed through to favour "big corporations." All of the latter agreed it was impractical in regulation. Mr.

Clarke maintained that there is a need to reward creativity in the digital economy and ensuring people receive pay for their work. He denied it wa s pandering to corporations and said the problem of regulation in sha red accommodation is overemphasised.

The debate finished with short questions on electoral reform and the expenses scandal. All accepted the need for reform t o some degree, including the House of Lords.

The event was chaired by Professor Catherine Waddams of the School of Management.

COPENHAGEN DELEGATE WINS INTERNATIONAL AWARD Adizah Tejani Undergraduate, Rose M elissa llboudo, 24, has been announced as winner of the British Council's International Student Awards, 'Sh ine! 2010.'

The awards, hosted in London on April 21 by BBC presenter Konnie Huq, saw Melissa presented with her prize.

Melissa was one of 1,300 st udents from 120 countries competing for the award. Her

EU matched funding. She also attended the Copenhagen Conference as a delegate for Burkina Faso, and even met President Obama. Melissa,

time at the University of East Anglia ha s see n her help to raise more than £200,000 for her home country alongside Christian Aid after her £50,000 total was quadrupled by the

who is in her third year of a degree in International Development, was short li sted for the final stage of the awards afte r submitting a letter to her uncle which described her time as a UEA student.

Christine Bateman, who represented the British Council on the final judging panel, said: "All of the judges were inspired by Melissa's story. lt is always humbling to hear how students have used the opportunities presented to them by their time studying in th e UK to help bring about positive benefits for their communities, either here, in the UK, or back

home. Melissa's own story is particularly so, having arrived in the UK with very little English and having worked so hard to campaign successfully for Burkina Faso. She is justly proud of her country, and her country has re ason to be equally proud of her. She is a shini ng ambassador."

When asked of the influence the award had on her, Melissa said it "h ighly

advisor spoke about her award: "What struck me most about the awards ceremony was the modesty, thoughtfulness and generosity of spi rit with which Melissa accepted the award. " Melissa is a real credit to the school, the university and the community of international st udents who choose to study in the UK." Melissa is an example of an international student who has

influenced my life, I am even more determined today to continue. When something unexpected happens it makes that indeed you realise nothing is impossible."

Ben Jones, Melissa 's

truly embraced her experience in the UK. Th e recognition ga ined through the Shine! award is well deserved and show s the importance of international students contributions within the UK.

WILDLIFE DOCUMENTARIES BREACH ANIMAL PRIVACY Nick Church Animals' right to privacy sho uld be re spected by wildl ife documentary makers, according to Dr Brett Mills of the Schoo l of Film and Tel evi sion Studies.

He argues in his study

that wild life documentaries in filming anima ls' private events - such as birt h or death - im plic itly uphold the human idea of mastery and responsibility of other species. If advances are to be made in the eth ical concern over anima l rights, human

concepts such as the private and public sphere need to be applied to an im als.

Dr Mills expla in ed why his work wa s important: "Such documentaries are the key way in which many people 'enco unter ' a range of species from all over the globe, and

so they therefore contribute to how we think about other species and human/animal interactions . " By exploring what wildlife docu mentaries do, and how they do it, I hope to contribute to environmental debates at a time when

the global effects of human behaviour are rightly under scrutiny."

Production teams comprehend animals' desire for privacy as a technological challenge, using newer forms to overcome species desire not to be seen.

I

6 NEWS · COSMOPOLIS An international festival celebrating the practice of storymaking is being held by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at UEA on June 5th.

Cosmopolis will see novelists, journalists, poets, musicians and film-makers from across the globe congregating at the University to participate in a series of events and masterclasses.

Events will cover a range of topics, from a panel on the politics of storymaking to a concert from UEA's own Amit Chaudhuri and his group This Is Not Fusion . In addition to this there wil l be masterclasses giving audiences an insight into

:r~:n~nefl~:~~:~~;aed~~:~~~~~ these sectors .

Speakers include Alan Edwards, who has represented entertainment legends such as David Bowie, Amy Winehouse and Michael Jackson as CEO for The Outside Organisation, Jason Cowley, editor of New Statesman and Hala Jaber, an award winning foreign correspondent.

For tickets, please go to http://www. ueaticketbookings.co.uk/ or call 01603 S08050.

MICROSOFT COMPETITION Microsoft has launched 8 Life Internet Explorer Academy to help students with ambitions to be the next Bill Gates, Bear Grylls or Banksy to win one of three flOK grants to make their idea become reality.

Entrants simply need to create a two-minute video pitch of their idea and how it reflects aspects of social responsibility and/or philanthropy to society and upload it to www. lifeacademy.uk.com by the 27th May. 12 finalists will be shortlisted on 15th June 2010 to pitch their idea live in front oJ a high profile panel of judges. Three finalists will be picked to win a £10,000 grant each to bring their ideas to life.

If you want to enter but do not have a video camera, then you can use your mobile phone or contact David, the UEA Microsoft Student Brand Manager, by emailing d.biggins@uea.ac.uk.

concrete.news@uea.ac.uk

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

NUS WARNS STUDENTS AGAINST BEING "SCREWED OVER" Christopher Mortey The National Union of Students (NUS) has issued a calling cry after a po ll of 14,000 students found that a third of students are planning to vote Conservative, w ith only a fifth backing the Liberal Democrats and a fifth Labour.

Current NUS presidentelect, Aaron Porter and former NUS president, Wes Streeting insisted that students risk being "screwed over for generations" unless they make sure that politicians are

"terrified" of their influence in the general election . They added that parliamentary candidates who refuse to sign pledges w hich oppose further hikes in tuition fees should not expect any votes from students. The Conservatives currently only have ten candidates who have signed the NUS petition against hikes in fees, compared with 300 Lib Dem and 200 Labour candidates .

The findings from the poll conducted by High Fliers Research come as a shock

since the Lib Dems are the only party who have proposed to abolish fees altogether.

NUS also suggested that the student vote in the forthcoming election could be more decisive than ever and have identified 20 vital battlegrounds where they think the election could be decided .

Amongst these key locations is NorwichSouth, which remains a hotly contested seat.

Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, agreed that the student vote

was decisive: "Universities are located in more than 100 constituencies ... half of those are marginals where the election will be decided.

There are more than 370,000 people employed in higher education and almost 2.5 million students. No one is suggesting that they will all vote on a single issue, but investment in a strong, flexible and high -quality higher education system may feature in their thinking ."

However, higher education spokesperson for the Lib

Dems, Stephen Williams, branded the NUS ana lysis as "simplistic" and hinted at an over emphasis on identifying key battlegrounds: "A lot of students vote in their home constituencies . The turnout among students is also lower than among the general electorate ."

A number of subsequent polls conducted by Opinionpanel contrastingly suggest that students are still more likely to vote for Lib Dems than any other of the main parties.

IPSOS MORI HIT BACK AT "UNREPRESENTATIVE" POLL CLAIMS Sarah Osbome The race for the parliamentary Norwich South seat has opened up after representatives from the Green Party questioned the findings of a poll commissioned by. the Union of UEA Students (UUEAS). The controversy over the po ll has cast doubt over the outcome of the Norwich South seat in the forthcoming election.

The poll in question was conducted by lpsos MORI for the UU EAS in March, which suggested a landslide victory for Labour MP Charles Clarke on 39% of the vote with Conservatives trailing on 20%, narrowly followed by Lib Dems and the Green Party in joint third on 19%.

Green Party But a representative has insisted that the UUEAS commissioned poll was grossly " unrepresentative,"

supplying further evidence to suggest that voting trends will differ dramatically come polling day.

The Green spokesperson alleged that there were fundamental flaws in the pol l, maintaining that the results published by UUEAS were "weighted in a questionable for "demographic way" reasons which included false assumptions" about voting intentions. The spokesperson also suggested that if the "raw data" was interpreted at facevalue, it would put Labour on 21%, with Greens in second on 13% and Lib Dems trailing on 12%. lt was also revealed that 25% of voters were as of yet "undecided" about who they would vote for: "The recommended minimum sample size for such a poll is 1000, and in this case the sample size was advertised as

CRIME IN COUNTY LOW

801. But although that number of people were telephoned, the result is weakened since only 362 agreed to say who they intended to vote for. The 'undecided's were not taken into account in the published results, even though undecided was the most common response."

But head of political research at lpsos MORI, Roger Mortimore, has hit back by suggesting that the criticism is unfounded : " This was a normal opin ion po ll conducted in the normal way. They are perfectly entitled to doubt whether it gives a fair prediction, given it was done at the start of March, but the criticisms they make of it are misconceived."

Mr Mortimore added that it was untrue that the recommended sample size for such polls was more than 1,000 and that most polls

use a smaller samp le. He also said that opinion polls had to be weighted in order to be representative, and that it was common practice to exclude the responses of those who are

undecided.

The controversial poll cost UUEAS £9,987.50. However, the decision to commission the poll was fully approved by Union Council.

LOW COST STUDENT HOUSE ANDFLAT MOVES ALL ITEMS MOVED rNCLUDING STUDENT!

Norfolk has the lowest crime rate in the country, according to figures recent ly released by the governme~t's Home Office .

Around 45,000 crimes were recorded in the 12 months from January to December 2009 . This equates to 55 crimes per thousand head population, which is a reduction of 9% on the previous year.

Chief Constable Phil Gormley said : "Norfolk has been acknow ledged as a

low crime area for a number of years, the challenge for us now is to maintain our position by improving our results still further.

"There is always room for improvement as we continue to work towards improving the quality of life for everyone. Statistics are one measure of success but don't tell the whole story, it is the quality of the services we deliver and whether people feel safe and confident about where they are living."

lOCAL AND l0tf3 DISTANCt rUlL OR PARTHOUSE MOVt~

SINGlf ITEMS PICKto UP AND DROPPED OfF 7DAYSAWttK

CALL RI C HA R D O N:

07506200448

(AND I WILL CALL YOU RIGHT BACK)

ALL E-MAI L ENQUIR IES TO: wood .richard34@yah oo.com

-:=-: ;:-_ _ :R

0 PERTIH-.._

.

Formerly Golden Triangle Properties

VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR DETAILS ON ALL OUR PROPERTIES

norwichstuden tproperties. eo. uk paul@mjbhotels.com stephanie@mjbhotels.com

CoME AND SEE us FOR INFORMATION AND ADVICE ON OUR PROPERTIES AT

CALL us FOR : OVER THE PHONE INFORMATION AND ADVICE ON

57 Earlham Road Norwich NR2 3AD

01603 632 711

8 ELECTION 2010

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

NICK CLEGG ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS The Liberal Democrat leader takes ti me out of the campaign trail to talk tuition fees, Trident and hobnobs with Concrete .

Labour is saying "Vote Yellow, Go Blue"- is it true that you will side with the Conservatives in the case of a hung parliament?

- Matthew Myles We're also being told by the Conservatives 'Vote Yellow, Go Red'. They wou ld say that, wouldn't they - they really are both desperate to prevent the kind of change we want to bring about. The truth is that a vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote for real change and real fairness. Our ambition, plain and simp le, is to put our programme into action . That means creating a sustainable economy for the UK, cutting class sizes and increasing one-to-one tuition, creating a fair tax system and po litica l reform. Those are our priorities and we wil l fight to achieve them come what may.

Simon Wright is the Liberal Democrat candidate in Norwich South. What makes him a good candidate?

- Duncan Vicat-Brown Simon is a dedicated local campaigner who wil l be a real local champion for the area and fight to get fairness and change for No rwic h. He's a fo rmer maths teacher, and he really knows local sc hoo ls. I know his wife Rosalind also works at UEA. He has also promised to publish all his expenses on his website, and not to take any paid jobs outside Parliament.

He has been incredibly hardworking as a loca l council lor and he is exactly the kind of MP that Norwich needs- and that I need to build my team to clean up the political system.

As a leader of a party long considered to be a third party, do you take the threat of the Greens seriously in Norwich South? - Kirsten Peter With the best w il l in t he world, t he Greens are not in a position to make things happen in Pa rl iament. That is so important, because the next government is almost certainly the last that wi ll be ab le to stop dange rou s climate change.

That's why I think people who care about the environment, more and more, are turning to the Liberal Democrats.

They recognise that we've got both the policies and the influence to make a difference and help stop runaway climate change. lt is so important to make the switch to a low-carbon economy. it's an enormous opportunity to get the economy working again and tack le the climate crisis at the same time, by investing in green technologies, home insulation, and public transport to bui ld an economy that is more sustainable, in all senses of the word. With your support, we can be in a position to make this happen in Parliament . The Greens almost certainly can't.

Did you anticipate such a positive reaction to the Lib Dems in the wake of the leaders' debates?- Davina Kesby The more people see our ideas for Britain, the more they like us. The debates gave me the platform to talk about Liberal Democrat ideas to change Britain - fair taxe s, so you don't pay any income tax on the first £10,000 you earn. Sma ll er class sizes and more one-to-one tuition in schools to give every chi ld a fair start. A fair economy, breaking up the banks and investing in green infrastructure.

And fair, clean, open po litics, so everyone has a voice and we stop having a political system dominated by money. Those changes would mean a very

different Britain, and I get the sense increasingly that a very different, fa irer Britai n is w hat peo ple are looking for. That's what the Liberal Democrats, and only t he Li beral Democ rat s, ca n offer.

How can we be sure the Liberal Democrats are capable of leading the country? - Hazy Hale Three reasons. First, because we are already running many of Britain's cities - Liverpoo l, Birmingham, Liverpool, Cardiff and many others - with great success and imagination.

Second, becau se we are the only party to have set out a costed programme of government, explaining what we want to change, how we are going to pay for it, an d how we are going to go about filling th e black hole in the public finances. Th ird, beca use - alone among t he parties at Westmin ster - my colleague Vince Cable warned about the perils of t he de bt crisis that was coming, and we are the only ones to set out plans to tackle the banks so that it doesn't happen again.

What do you think of tuition fees? Should they be abolished?

- Den Bartlett Yes. In fact, we are t he only party [of the three main parties] that believes university education should be free and admissions based on ability, not on people's ability to pay.

That's wh y w e're determined to scrap university tuition fees for all students taking their first degrees, inc lu ding peop le studying part time . it 's a huge burden on young people when they are saddled wit h up to £10,000 in debt, and when it's already tough enough to get a job, to get on t he housing ladder and make ends meet. lt is going to be difficult to afford that shift in the present climate, but we have put together a plan

that can phase fees out over six years, so that the change stays afforda ble in what are, after all, very difficult economic times.

If you decide to cut universit y funding, how could universities continue to function? - Josh Weatherill & Ell a Fairhurst We're not planning to cut university funding; all the money un iversities get in fees wi ll be replaced by government grants.

Our manifesto sets out how we can afford this. Of course there is uncertainty about university funding - Labour and the Conservatives are hiding behind Lord Browne's Higher Education Funding Review, because they know t hat their pol icies wo n' t be popular. But it could see fees rise to £7,000 a year, meaning student debts of £44,000 wo ul d be possi ble within just five years.

And worst of all, that doesn' t necessaril y mea n more mo ney for universities, as it could mean less money in government grants. I t hi nk studen t s, parents and universities deserve better than this, which is why we were so determ in ed to set out some clear proposals for higher education in our manifesto.

unemployment levels As continue to rise, how do you propose to help young people looking fo r employment? James Wa rdman We w ill shift more than £3bn of government into a major programm e that will protect the environment and create jobs at the same time. We will invest in wind energy, the energy efficie ncy of publi c bui ldings and homes, and make empty homes useable again by renovating them. Offshore wind alone has the potential to create 70,000 jobs and meet a quarter of all our electricity needs. We expect that to have a major impact on jobs for younger people.

That stimulus package w ill also include a 90-day promise

which will provide training, co llege places, pai d inte rn ships and apprenticeships for young people within three months of claiming Jo bseeke r's Al lowance. it's a work placement scheme, with up to 800,000 places, w hi ch ca n rea lly open t hat kind of really important experie nce

income tax threshold is the best w ay of help ing people on low incomes, including those just starting out. lt is insane tha t we live in a cou nt ry where nurses still pay more in tax as a proportion of their income t han ba nke rs, wh ic h means t hat - for t he lowest paid - it really

to everyone, rather than j ust those young peop le who can afford to work for nothing. They w ill be paid £55 a week, for up to t hree months, and it means that everybody can get those skills and build their CV, whoever they are - and w hether or not their parents can support them .

doesn't pay to be in work at all.

Since younger peop le tend to be the lowest paid in the workforce, this will particularly help them.

Young people were among those worst hit by the abolition of the lOp tax band. Do you think that raising the income tax threshold to £10,000 will compensate the low earners who were unfairly targeted by Labour's 2008 tax reforms? -

Yes- not t he w hole bi ll, as parts of it were deeply uncontroversial -but the clauses about account blocking are bad law an d need to be replaced with something that will work. We did our best to preve nt the Digital Eco nomy Bill being rushed th rough at the last moment. lt badly needed more debate an d amendment, and we are extremely worried that

Grace Simpson The re isn' t any exact balance.

But we believe that rai si ng the

If you are elected as part of a coalition government, will you still seriously attempt to have the Digital Economy Bill repealed?- Richard Joslin

I

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

ELECTION 201 0 9

HOW WOULD A HUNG PARLIAMENT CHANGE BRITISH POLITICS? Concrete's Ed Leftwich meets Patrick Harvie, leader of the Scottish Green Party. Currently campaigning with Adrian Ramsay, he discusses the realities of a hung parliament and proponional representation.

Last year the Greens were vital in influencing the Scottish hung parliament, what affect would a hung parliament have here?

it will now lead to completely innocent people having their internet connections cut off. lt was far too heavily weighted in favour of the big corporations and those who are worried about too much information becoming available. lt badly needs revisiting and that's what we will do.

Do you think that New Labour have changed the relationship between the state and the individual for the worse? If elected, would you give more public freedom back to the individual?- Richard Joslin Absolutely. Labour has whittled .away many of our hard-won rights and freedoms, often supported by the Conservatives.

They have made thousands of new things illegal and intruded into our privacy. They have overthrown some of the basic principles of British justice such as the right to jury trial.

They have turned Britain into a surveillance state. And they

I

haven't even managed to keep our information safe - every week we hear stories of lost data and laptops. What we want to do, as soon as we can, is to introduce a Freedom Bill to restore and protect these freedoms. lt will stop treating innocent people as if tliey were criminals. It'll stop councils from snooping into our private affairs - and our bins. We'll scrap ID cards, and restore our rights to protest and freedom of speech.

Chelsea or Man Utd?

In the UK, for generations we have had a system that is designed to choose between two alternatives. First past the post is only useful for choosing between two slightly different institutions.

A Balanced [Hung] Parliament could be the beginning of a change. it's the normal status of foreign parliaments, and council chambers here. Most councils have a range of different parties, most don't have one in overall control. lt means that a small group of Greens can challenge the other parties, and can start to get Green ideas onto the political agenda .

If you have Greens in there, then the other parties are forced to actually see some scrutiny of their environmental policies, and their social and economic pol icies from a Green perspective. In the Scottish parliament, eleven years ago we got our first seat (at the beginning of the new Scottish parliament) and immediately, we had a coalition government, between Labour and the Liberals. One Green voice stood there to challenge them, three years later we have a bigger group.

There is now a minority administration, every political party has influence. The nationalists are the Scottish government, but they have a minority of the seats, that's how it should be . They have to form an honest majority; they have to persuade people on the strength of thei r argument if they want to get their programme through. You are not going to win an argument by parliamentary strength; you have to win by the strength of parliamentary argument.

My eldest son would definitely like me to say Fulham.

How could a switch to PR affect

groups, which is why Russia and the USA are cutting their nuclear stockpiles. We badly need to hold a Strategic Security and Defence Review to work out what the best alternative is for the security threats we face today, not the ones we used to face a generation ago.

That doesn't mean unilateral disarmament, it means finding the best way to protect Britain now, instead of 30 years ago.

Chocolate or crisps?

The Liberal Democrat position when it comes to Trident has received some criticism - how do you justify maintaining the anti-Trident stance? - lucy Bence-Wilkins Well, let's be clear about what our position is. We don't want to replace Trident on a likefor-like basis: we can't afford it and, in any case, Trident was designed for the Cold War. Today's nuclear threat isn't from a super-power stand-off but from rogue regimes and terrorist

Does there have to be a choice?

What's your favourite biscuit?

Rich tea when otherwise hobnobs .

dunked,

Favourite drink?

Coffee with lots of milk.

Favourite TV programme?

The Office.

our government, could it work?

This c6uld be the last ever First Past the Post election. There are a number of different, potential voting systems, and that everyone acknowledges that none of them are perfect, there are some principles we need to achieve: transparency, accountability for MPs who represent their community.

Government that reflects the views within the public and has the support of the voters. No one system will achieve them all one hundred percent; but what we have at the moment with First Past the Post, is a system that completely sacrifices the democratic representation in favour of strong government. lt gives government the strength to implement a programme, even though most voters oppose that programme.

"You are not going to win an argument by parliamentary strength; you have to win by the strength of parliamentary argument" A single transferable vote system, that allows people to rank their preferences, so that your second preference is counted, your third preference is counted. Parties like the far right, tend to be the first choice for a small number of people, and the last choice for everybody else, so they wouldn't be likely to get anywhere with a single transferable vote.

That's the Green party's preference of course. Scottish parliament uses an additional m~mber system, you elect your local constituency member in just the same way you do with Westminster, and then you

have your regional member as well. That's a proportional system, a sort of hybrid. Labour are proposing the Alternative Voting system, which won't be strictly proportional and in some cases you can have a even less proportional result than even now. What we need though, is to put these different options to the test, and to recognise that a proportional system has to be an important element of the next parliament.

After the leaders' debates, there has been a renewed interest in this election. What are the Green party offering to students that the other parties aren't? lt is good that people are excited and have realised that this is not a done deal, that the election is supposed to be unpredictable, it is supposed to keep the parties on their toes. The opportun ity to be on that platform would make a difference, and I think that people would see that Green politics is not just a slightly longer list of environmental policies, it's a fundamental ly different approach to politics. If we want to fund public services, there is a perfectly decent way to do it, and it is called progressive taxation . Things like the financial transaction tax, the Robin Hood tax, which could also help to fund public services.

The other parties are talking about keeping taxes low at the moment, so they don't scare their very wealthy backers. Any of those parties don't have an excuse for going around saying that they are going to cut fund ing for higher education and further education, or any other public service as well. This is a moment when you can make a choice, not just about a different kind of politics, but for a fundamentally more equal and sustainable society, and that's the kind of idea the Greens represent and what you won't get from the other parties.

rI

10 COMMENT & OPINION

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

concrete.opinion@uea.ac.uk

A most pressing issue The election is just days away now, so Concrete has taken a look at the effect of the media on this election. First, Aniqah Choudhri examines whether Rupert Murdoch's influence on British politics is waning .

"Just how boring will the party leaders' debate be?" asked Hadley Freeman in The Guardian around three weeks ago. Luckily for her and unluckily for everyone else in the media sphere, Nick Clegg soared to the top of the polls after the first televised debate and the media responded with full-blown panic.

The Guardian at first were mostly gleeful about the rise of the Liberal Democrats for the slightly scandalous reason that even if Labour have the most amount of seats and the least amount of votes then Gordon will still be in Number 10. The Lib Dem boost was taking votes away from the Tories and Nick Clegg could be used to prop up Labour. A few days later the mood soured; columnists started to panic that a replay of politics in the 1920s was happening and the Lib Dems wou ld rep lace La bour as t he leading

opposition . They entreated their readers to vote Labour at all costs.

This went down in The Guardian's Comment is Free like a cup of cold sick.

"The Murdoc h p apers ore being espec ially vi rul ent" As former editor of The Sun, David Yelland, pointed out in The Guardian a week ago, the media elite don't have any connections with the Liberal Democrats. Commenting on the national media he said, "The trick is to ally yourself with the winner and win influence or at least the ear of the Prime Minister." The Murdoch Empire has even been boycotting them for years "for fea r of encouraging them."

Obviously the Tory Press has been the most aghast about this whole affair.

The most obvious proof of this is when The Daily Mail, The Telegraph, The Sun and The Express all decided to attack Clegg on the same day; with The Sun even using a Nazi slur. Unfortunately this backfired, mostly because it looked a great deal like a conspiracy. lt probably wasn't a conspiracy owing to the fact that newspapers are extreme ly competitive, but from the perspective of the general public, it certainly looked like one. The Murdoch papers are being especially virulent, because as Yelland po inted out, if the Lib Dems are in government Murdoch is locked out of British politics. Only The Times seems to be slightly confused as to where its allegiances lie. After the second debate, the BBC showed The Times' head lines for the next

day reading "Neck and Neck" with a picture of Cameron and Clegg until it was abruptly changed to "Cameron nicks it."

I doubt Murdoch is regretting his decision to back Came ron but he must surely regret doing it so unequivocally. If we want proof of how much the Murdoch Empire is cracking around the edges apart from the hysterical hea dlines, a very strange story was posted in The Independent last week. This doc umented James Murdoc h and Rebe"kah Brooks storming the lndy offices and deman ding "Wh at are you f * *ki ng pl aying at? !" The fuss w as

over an advert the paper refused to retract which read: "Rupert Murdoch won't decide this election. You will."

Even if Murdoch doesn't get completely locked out of British politics after May 6th the cracks have started to show, mostly because the polls don't seem to be affected by the latest headlines, unlike in the 90s when he backed Tony Blair. Is Mu rdoch losing his st rongho ld in Britain? I certainly hope so.

As The Guardian comes out in fa vour of the Lib Dems, the po litica l landscape looks set to change. Only the outcome of the election w ill te ll us how much.

Debate: Have the TV debates changed how we vote?

Fact box George Gilbert it's far too soon to tell for sure whether these debates will change people's political persuasions in the long term. But there is no question that they have changed the course of this election. They are both popu lar (9.4 million viewers for round one), and look set to become permanent. More importantly, the probable outcome of the 2010 General Election has been altered since the debates started- the crucial point at hand.

Liberal Democrat support has rocketed, overtaking Labour and pushing the Tories hard . A hung parliament looks increasingly likely.

There is serious ta lk that Nick Clegg may form a coalition with the Conservatives, a possibil ity perhaps not worthy of discussion a few weeks back. This fluctuating support has resulted from t he debates highlighting individual strengths and weaknesses.

We know from American politics that TV is unforgiving. Gordon Brown demonstrated this beautifully: "public service ... is about serving the public".

Who would have thought it Gord?

Meanwhile, we got to hear about the people Nick had met earlier that day, and that Cameron thought we needed to keep nukes to defend us from wayward states- like China. No surprises that on TV the fast-talking, photogenic Clegg has proven popular.

A te levision set can bring out the best in a cute childlike face, whilst simultaneously exposing a leader with no momentum and another with no policies. The media-friendly Clegg has risen to the chal lenge, and his party has reaped dividends. lt is not certain whether support for the Libera l Democrats is really solid or only temporary - a rejection of the other parties, rather than an election of their own policies. Yet even if that were the case, the debates represent an important step in the evo lution of our politics. lt has been accused of spin for ages. Now our politicians have truly entered a bear pit, where they can feel the wrath of a largely hostile public- with social networking tracking the changes every step of the way. Whether you think these developments are positive or negative, the change is not in doubt.

At the peak of the first debate, 41 tweets were sent per second.

The broadcasters, leaders and audience members had to conform to 76 rules!

Domestic, International and Economic affairs were covered in the debates.

A total of 154,342 tweets were sent during the third debate.

Against James Dixon

voters frozen in their ways. Labour's campaign lies bleeding in Brown's In taking a browned, crumbling red blood after his most recent leaf out of the American electoral gaffe where the Prime Minister was system's tattered book, the 2010 caught calling a 65-year old labour election has become an election of supporter 'bigoted'. lt seems this rose firsts. The first British election to is quickly losing its petals as Labour voters defect to the Conservatives or include televised debates between party leaders and the first time Lib Dems. The TV debates may have the Liberal Democrats could taste catalysed the Lib Dems but Labour power in over 50 years. The televised and the Conservatives have taken debates have certainly propelled little away from the experience.

Nick Clegg, a man who many people Labour is steadily declining into a formerly mistook for Nick Griffin, into possible third place whilst Cameron the political stratosphere where his appears unsure of his party's line in contemporaries, Gordon Brown and the face of a hung parliament.

David Cameron reside. Clegg seemed Labour's chances of retaining to score a victo ry over his opponents Downing Street are slim but still in the initial debate and sufficiently exist with the possibility of a hung held his own in the second debate, parliament hanging by a thread. where he came under increased Brown may have been ab le to salvage attack from a worried Cameron and some support through the final TV Brown. • debate but at this late stage it can Despite the rise of Clegg's orange change little. The debates have sun, the Conservatives are still in brought democracy to the people a strong position and are cu rrent and can be credited in the event favourites if there is to be a sole of a hung parliament, but this is winner. I believe this surge for the provided Cameron fails to secure his Liberals has come too late for their majority. Wi ll Cameron choke on his new found light to thaw many icy blue overlooked orange pip?

"Coffee in the morning is like a pu nch in the face"- Danny Collins HI S 3

./

concrete.opinion@uea.ac.uk

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

COMMENT & OPINION 11 IF YOU HAVE A COMMENT OR OPINION THAT YOU WANT TO GET OFF YOUR CHEST ON ANY ISSUE, THEN THIS IS THE PLACE FOR YOU. PLEASE CONTACT CONCRETE. OPINION@UEA. AC.UK AND WE'LL GET YOUR VOICE HEARD!

Who's who in the Norwich-South constituency?

The Norwich-South constituency encapsulates UEA and the su-rrounding area that a lot of UEA students live in. Over 10,000 students live in Norwich-South, so could really change the outcome of the election! We've created this guide to the candidates from the four main parties who are running in Norwich-South to help you on your way when it comes to deciding who gets your vote.

There are seven candidates standing in the constituency.

They are: Charles Clarke (Labour), Stephen Emmens (UK Independence Party), Leonard Heather (British National Party), Antony Little (Conservative), Gabriel Polley (Workers' Revolutionary Party), Adrian Ramsay (Green Party) and Simon Wright (Liberal Democrats).

If you live on campus, your polling station is Nelson Court Common Room B. Your polling card should be in your pigeonhole NOW, so make sure you collect it, you'll need it when you go to vote.

If you live off campus, check your polling card and it will tell you where you should go to cast your vote.

Charles Clarke

Antony Little

Simon Wright

Adrian Ramsay

Party - l abour Age- 59 Charles Clarke has been the MP for

Party- Conservative Age-31 Antony is a teacher and previously stood for election in the NorwichSouth constituency in 2005. Concret e asked Antony a few questions and here's how he replied: What is y our reaction to the fact that there are no women or ethnic minorities standing for the NorwichSouth seat? lt is a shame but that is the way democracy works - some constituencies will have female-only choices, for example. Each party went through its own process of selection and we've ended up with a m~le颅 only slate. I just hope that issues that affect women are not ignored in the campaign.

Given t he coverage of Conservative education policies in free schools, how do you respond t o the claims that the policy would disadvantage chi ldren in state comprehensives?

As a teacher I would say that the policy is designed to help disadvantaged children in state comprehensives. For too long the state has dictated where you go to school and too many parents do not get their first choice schools.

Conservative policies would put the power in the hands of parents and not in the hands of the bureaucrats in the local Education Authorities.

And finally, what is your favourite biscuit?

Asking a teacher to narrow it down to a single biscuit is very unfair! But I'd have to say chocolate Hobnob.

Party- liberal Democrats Age- 30 Simon studied Maths at Imperial College London and worked as a maths teacher for a while, before becoming an agent of Norman Lamb.

MP. / Asked abour tuition fees, Simon said: "I strongly oppose the possibility of increased fees over the next parliament. I think tuition fees should be abolished altogether. The current funding system is unfair and puts some people off attending university. The Liberal Democrats have developed a costed plan which would phase out fees by funding education through general taxation."

Climat e change is another topic that Simon has a lot to say about: "The Liberal Democrats are consistently rated by green organisations as having the strongest environmental policies of all the parliamentary parties. More Liberal Democrat MPs elected after this election will mean a larger, and therefore even more influential, group of parliamentarians tackling climate change".

As hundreds of UEA students face the prospect of finding a job, Mr. Wright was asked about graduate jobs. " Interns being taken on to do the work of paid staff, but without being 路 p~id for it, is plain wrong. The Liberal Democrats would fund an expansion of paid internship schemes to open up new opportunities for young people who are struggling to find work".

Party- Green Age -28 Adrian is deputy leader of the Green Party and studied Politics and Sociology at UEA. He is now a councillor on Norwich City Council.

Concrete spoke to Adrian about the problems facing the Green party.

Why do you think the Greens should appeal t o st udents?

When I was a student here at UEA a few years ago, I was one of the leading campaigners against topup fees which were brought in by Charles Clarke when he was Education Secretary. My view is that we need to scrap tuition fees, ~hat we can afford to provide education free at the point of delivery as a public service by increasing income tax for the highest earners.

How can we be sure that voting Green isn't a wasted vote?

Students in Norwich are voting in the Norwich-South constituency which is Ol}e of the strongest in the whole country for the Green Pi)rty. Here, it;s a wasted vote not to vote Green. Even a small number of Greens will have a really big difference because we need Green voices there who will hold other parties to account, who will ask the awkward questions and who will bring in new ideas. If there's a hung parliament every last vote will matter.

If in Norwich we lead the way, decide we don't want Labour and we elect myself instead, we can ensure there are Greens in Westminster making. a difference after next week.

until he became Home Secretary in December 2004. He retained this position until May 2006.

When it comes to funding f or Higher Education, Charles has said: " I favou r increasing the maintenance loan so that it fully covers living costs ... the government should only raise the current fee cap significantly if universities succeed in making the case that a higher level would promote educational diversity without deterring applicants from poorer backgrounds".

On the issue of student housi ng, Mr Clarke said: "The City Council, UEA and the Union of UEA Students need to work together to ensure that landlords offer accommodation which is both good value and good quality for the student and is well managed from the point of the local community".

Finally, Charles was asked about graduate j obs. "Job creation requires a strong economy with huge public and private investment in Norfolk. labour's approach has ensured that this continues to be the casP, despite the difficult international economic situation. I will continue campaigning for proper internships which lead to employment, provide genuine training and are non-discriminat ory".

I 12 FEATURES

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

concrete.features@uea.ac.uk

The Classism of Fascism Has the British National Party opened up the debate about immigration or have they just exposed the polit~cians' . snobbery about listening to the working classes? David Biggins discusses this contentious subject.

T oday it might seem like an odd thought, but it had always traditionally been the Labour party who were sceptical of Europe. For example, when Labour entered into the 1983 General Election under the leadership of Michael Foot, they campaigned for a protectionist, socialist economy. In other words, they wanted to withdraw from Europe in order to prot ect British jobs. lt seems intuitive; the party that claims to represent the underprivileged in Britain would naturally take measures to protect their jobs. Of course, such a prerogative is very much 'old Labour'. Tony Blair consciously took his party towards the centre right of politics in order to make it more electable. As a result, the probusiness and pro-European party has left many of its voters behind, and over the years they have become increasingly alienated. A study conducted by the Institute for Public Policy • Research (IPPR) reported that, since 1997, the gap between the rich and the poor had widened further under Labour. Blair once said that today "we live in a classless society.'' He was wrong.

Last week, Gordon Brown must have realised, however painfully, that immigration is a scorching issue amongst working class voters. Although the BBC's final leaders' debate featured an argument over how the problem of immigration should be tackled, it was a fairly lukewarm ordeal that's unlikely . to sway any BNP voters away from fascism.

The problem facing the three main parties is that they're not able to impose any legislation to· restrict immigration from inside the European Union (where each country's citizens are granted free movement to work inside

any EU country they choose). If they wanted to restrict this sort of immigration, they'd have to take Britain out of Europe, which is generally considered to be a move so crippling for Britain's interests that it's not possible to consider.

In terms of · immigration from countries outside of Europe, where the varying plans proposed by the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives or · Labour would be able to make a realistic difference, the level of immigration perplexingly sits at minus 8000. The fact is t hat there are more {non-EU} immigrants leaving the country than entering it. So, politicians from the three major parties

"Blair once said that today 'we live in a c lassless society.' He was ·wrong." have been left with a political nightmare. They have to appear to the general electorate to be tough on immigration in order to dissu(!de voters from turning to the BNP or UKIP; however, there's not really a lot they can do about it .

Since 1997, t he tactic had been to issue mildly xenophobic slogans {such as Blair's "slaying" of the European dragon or Brown's "British jobs for British people"), in the desperate hope that this would appease Euro sceptics across the country. lt wasn't a fantastic plan, and last year it proved disastrous at the election polls. The BNP won two Members of the European Parliament, securing 943,598 votes from across the country (6.4 % of the total votes cast

that election). Two seats won in Europe might not seem to be that chilling .a prospect since UKIP has had MEPs since 1999 and they've never been able to secure a seat in Parliament; however, if the BNP's success repeats itself under a scheme of proportional representation, t hen the BNP would secure 41 seats in our Parliament. lt is a sobering thought.

The Guardian was proud of the anti-BNP articles 'it published in the run-up to the local election, claiming that it "made a difference". Whether The Guardian expected its predominantly liberal readership to turn into raving fascists, or whether its editor expected The Sun's readership to suddenly lose a taste for boobies in favour for the tantalising Observer is unclear. lt is a sad contribution to the middle class being conditioned to dramatically underestimate the situation.

The BNP was ritually humiliated after its appearance Cin Question Time. Nick Griffin's idiotic commentary on 'militant homosexuals' and his general incomprehension of his fellow panelists' arguments won him a barrage of criticism from the media. From a middle class perspective there couldn't have been a better result. His arguments were flattened and he came across as an ignorant, creepy nutter which we could all (and did) laugh at. Yet outside of what was reported, many poorer voters sympathized with Griffin. From a certain point of view it looked like the liberal establishment treading upon the voice of the common man.

Despite the lynchi.1g that Griffin 30% received in the press, increase in BNP membership followed his appearance on Question Time. Are we still laughing at the creepy nutter?

Previously, anyone

a

complaining about the number of immigrants in the country would have been labelled a racist or a bigot. Ironically it took a meeting between the most powerful politician in the count ry and a traditional working class voter to bring the issue to the forefront. Gordon Brown came off as the enemy when he (privately) expressed his frustration with the views of the seemingly anti-immigration Labour supporter Gillian Duffy.

"Is she not allowed to express her view to you?" Jeremy Vine asked Gordon Brown. "Of course she is," replied Brown, with his head buried -deep in his hands.

Aside from being mortified at a blunder which will pot entially finish off his political career, he might also have realized that everyone's going to express their views on May 6th.

After the 2009 local election Brown and his government claimed that the BNP's success in gaining seats in the European Parliament was simply a 'protest' vote against the expenses scandal. lt is a view that the Conservatives also swallowed and equally echoed.

Hopefully, both parties are right.

However; with headlines full of the dominating cuts facing the public sector, and t he numbers of foreign workers increasing on a steady level it looks as if t he working. class citizens of Brit ain are going t o be hit the hardest under the next government. So far none of the three main political parties have yet managed t o find a policy which has really been able to unify and appease working class reservations, and they only have until May 6th to find one. Of course, if you are devastated at the prospect of a member of the British National party sitting in Parliament and representing you, you could always emigrate.

concrete.features@uea.ac.uk

FEATURES 13

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

Malcolm McLaren: Punk Icon Malcolm Mclaren died on 8th April 201 0 at the age of 64. · Lucy Moore profiles the creator of punk, avant garde fashion and the demise of one of Britain's greatest music moguls.

M

alcolm McLaren, the punk Svengali once described

by Johnny Rotten as "the most evil person on earth" died last week aged 64. Alongside Colonel Tom Parker and Brian Epstein, McLaren will go down in history as one of the few managers who became as well known as the acts he handled. He was the ultimate chancer, a shrewd publicist and businessman who had an eye for what was popular and how to make money from it.

His revolution began in a clothes shop on King's Road, Chelsea. SEX had started life as a 1950s memorabilia shop, but after a t rip to the Big Apple and a spell promoting t he New York Dolls, McLaren encouraged his then-girlfriend Vivienne Westwood to design and stock bondage and fetish inspired fashion. The shop became the place to hang out for aspiring punk musicians, with Siouxsie Sioux and Chrissie Hynde both working as Saturday girls. Also dropping by on a regular basis were members of the Sex Pistols. They just didn't know it yet. lt was McLaren who whipped the band into shape, replacing existing members with t hose that had t he right look and attitude. Lead singer Johnny Rotten was drafted in because of his vacant stare {the result of childhood meningitis} and the fact he was wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt with the words " I hate" scrawled above the band's name. Despite being unable to play a single note, Sid Vicious was selected as bassist because of his ability to snarl. As McLaren himself said, "Rock n' roll doesn't necessarily mean a band, it doesn't mean a singer, and it doesn't mean a lyric, really. it's that question of trying to be immortal." With the Pistols,

Malcolm granted himself this immortality. lt was his devilish direction that allowed one of the most important groups in musical history to take off.

However, despite encouraging their rock and roll excesses, he was initially· squeamish about the group's more extreme behaviour.

"for the re lease of their notorious single God Save

The Queen he . hired a boat and got the group to perform as it sailed down the Thames ..."

Along with most of middle England, he was horrified by the Pistols' sweary appearance on Today in December 1976, believing that the broadcast had ruined the band's career before it had even started . lt was not until he opened the morning papers that he discovered the controversy had made t he Pist ols household names and

had seen sales of their single Anarchy in the UK soar.

From that point on McLaren realised that no publicity was bad publicity and began organising a series of stunts for the band. For the release of their notorious single God Save The Queen, he hired a boat and got the group to perform as it sailed down the Thames, provoking outrage and eventually leading to arrests.

Getting his spotty young proteges to sign their recording contracts outside Buckingham Palace attracted further furore which only helped to send the single to Number two in the chart. McLaren also had a hand in naming the band's album Never Mind The Bol/ocks, savvy to the fact that it would be prosecuted under the Indecent Advertising Act. The ensuing court case and the publicity t hat surrounded it sent the album to Number one. Later on his. stunts became more elaborate and more contrived. Flying the band to Brazil to meet Ronnie Biggs, the great t rain robber, was the final straw for Rotten who refused to participate.

The band imploded not long after due to constant infighting and Vicious's escalating heroin addiction. The years following t he split saw the group locked

in bitter dispute with their former manager about unpaid royc:lties, until he eventually sett ed with the surviving band

"he briefly considered running for London Mayor and p roduced his plans for the

cit~

which included selling a lcohol in libraries ..." members (and the estate of Sid Vicious} in .1986. Despite their me~sy end and their tiny bad catalogue (one album and a handful of singles} the Sex Pistols are quite rightly heralded as legends, obliterating as they did the pretentious and bloated musical landscape that had come before them. lt was Mclaren that made them a success, skilfully elevating them from talentless oiks to icons and trail blazers.

Whilst the Pistols were McLaren's great est achievement, they were far from the only pie he had his finger in. After he had finished with punk, he spotted the potential in the emerging New Romantic scene and helped to style both Adam Ant and Boy George, later going on to manage Bow Wow Wow. Following their break up in the early eighties, he turned his attention to hip-hop, which he saw as "black punk rock". His 1983 album 'Duck Rock' brought hitherto marginalised this music to a wider audience and spawned two top ten hits. The best known, Buffalo Gals, was

sampled by Eminem on his 2002 single Without Me. In later years his bad boy reputation was blunted somewhat and the public increasingly viewed him as a daft uncle. This may partly have been owed to some less than quality TV appearances.

McLaren could However, still unleash some bite when he needed to. He briefly considered running for London Mayor and produced his plans for the city, which included selling alcohol in libraries and legalizing brothels. In 2008, he turned the Big Brother house upside down when he was allowed to take control as one of the celebrity hijackers. In his

typically subversive manner he encouraged the contestants to strip naked, cover themselves in paint and create artwork using only their bodies and a bicycle.

Whilst attending art college in the 1960s, McLaren produced a manifesto which read: "Be childish. Be irresponsible. Be disrespectfu I. Be everything that society hates." This was the mantra by which he lived his life. Although he didn't always succeed in making' the right choices for his career, he never took the easy ones. As the journalist Julie Burchill once wrote, "We are all children of That cher and McLaren."

~ESHAIR Professional & Affordable

'Beauty & '8~ 2

33A Avenue Road, Norwich NR2 3HN

01603 621854

GOLDWELL & BEDHEAD

Ladies Wet Cut Ladies Cut & Blow Dry Gents Cut Children (Under 12 Yrs) Full Head Woven Foil Hi-lights (lnc Cut & Blow Dry)

£ 10.00 £18.00 £8.00

£7.00 from £45.00

Full Head Tint (lnc Cut & Blow Dry)

from £35.00

"Long Hair Extra

Students Welcome

01603 621 854' No Appointment Necessary Tuesday- Saturday 9am- 5.30pm late Night Thursday

B~

OPI & DERMALOGICA FREE Mini Manicure with a Classic Pedicure £1 9, 1/2 Leg Wax £1 3, Eyelash Tint £9 Eyebrow Tint £6, Massage From £ 18.

Facials From £28, PACKAGES AVAILABLE

•

-

-

-

14 FEATURES

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

concrete.featureS@uea.ac.uk

The Trials of a 2010 Graduate Arts Editor and soon-to-be UEA graduate Fiona Howard writes about her experiences of the job market.

The job market is bleak, unemployment is high and unfortunately some of us are graduating. The newspapers. and the government might • tell us that prospects are still improving but it is still not as easy as if we had been graduating in the late 90s.

We're seeing employers increase their recruitment targets by about 12%. In a mockingly depressing turn of events, you'll find that a lot of these jobs are in Human Resources. But there is a glimmer of hope yet.

There are lots of websites out there offering great opportunities specialising in whatever tickles your fancy.

2010 graduates are not only up against their classmates but also graduates fr.om 2009 who were in an even worse boat last year.

That doesn't mean we don't have a chance and should give

up now, but it does mean that you will be applying for more jobs than you thought you would be and have to keep trucking.

This is where the joy of graduate recruitment websites come in handy.

The two biggest ones with probably the biggest hoopla surrounding them (because they are actually really good !) are www.prospects.ac.uk www.milkround.com. and If you've got your heart set on working on a particular interest, www.prospects. ac.uk has got some excellent information about how to get into. whatever sector your heart dreams of or even how to find work abroad if you're looking further afield.

That being said, if you're just looking for some way to break into the job market, both websites are vital in giving you a glimpse into what graduate

work is out there.

The problem with job adverts is that they are directed at those who already know what they want to do.

If you're like most graduates, you just want something that will pay the bills and be reasonably useful in the long term. But in a way, this can be a good thing as you might find yourself applying for a job you wouldn't normally have applied for and end up loving it! If not, both websites still offer invaluable advice on CV writing and interview tips and t hey offer surveys to help you organize your mind.

The Careers Centre offers indispensable advice on everything, from how to edit your CV, to where best to look, and all from a person rather than a generic website. But further to this, they organise events on campus run by employers in various different

sectors who offer advice, and you never know, you might get your foot in the door.

If you're fed up of broad all-encompassing websites, there are some more specific ones to look at such as www. w4mps.org which is great if you're looking to break into government, charity or NGO work.

You'd like to hear hopeful stories about people getting their dream job with vast amounts of pay and living happily ever after; unfortunately my story isn't quite so hopeful but it is an honest retelling of the harsh world of graduate job prospects. Everything I said above is true; the job market is bleak, made bleaker by the competition, but there really is hope if you keep smili~g.

I began looking for a job last October. I would love to tell you after hard work, countless

applications and interview after int erview I know exactly what I will be doing next ye(lr but if I did I would be lying. I. still have no idea what I am doing next year, and it's getting desperate.

But I haven't lost hope and nor should you. Instead, I am going to tell you my secrets, including how to face your parents after the numerous rejection letters/phone calls, and how to keep a brave face.

My biggest tip is to put aside every niggly thought you ever had about your abilities for a moment, take a deep breath and jump in. My motto at the moment is to apply for anything and everyt hing. By applying for all these jobs I am gaining invaluable experience in writing covering letters, the most efficient way to tell people I'm fabulous, and also accumulating interview skills.

And the best way to cope with

rejection and your friends offering condolences after every rejection is to chalk it up as experience.

If you're lucky enough to get an interview, employers will be more than happy to offer you feedback which you can put into your arsenal for next time. Sometimes it will be useful and sometimes it won't be. The import ant thing to remember is not to get bitter. it's not a personal attack but just a response to an exceptionally competitive market. If you do get bitteJ, it comes across in your applications, and then there really is no hope. And at the end of the day you can always ·go home, lock yourself away for a little while and have a good cry as long as you remember to get out there and try again. And remember, even the world's winners were once losers.

I

•

•

Maastricht Un1vers1ty

L~ / I

~ ~-

Graduate stu~y at Maastricht University:

Dreaming spires without spiraling debt The limes recently described studying at Maastricht University as 'life amid the dreaming spires of Maastricht' and rightly made the link to the famous UK universities that share this characteristic. At Maastricht University students can expect to follow Masters programmes which are excellent in terms of research and education and rated accordingly in various intE7rnational publications. Indeed the University could be called a Ratings high flier rising as it did 6o places in just one year in the limes Higher Education Supplement of the top two hundred universities. Last year the university was 172nd and this year it is 116~~> and expected · to go on rising. This year our School of Business and Economics was rated by the Financial limes as the 29~~> best Business School in Europe for the management programmes offered and it is still rising in the ratings.

The university is international in location and in terms of students and staff. it is situated in the heart of Europe and attracts students from all the surrounding countries and much further afield. Most of the Master courses are in English and take place in small groups following the innovative Problem.Based.Learning method of teaching which fosters teamwork and leadership skills. Employers value Maastricht students highly for their knowledge and ability to work together constructively in teams. Academic and Career pr~pects are excellent for our students.

English-taught Bachelor's and Master's Programmes: • Internationally recognised and rewarded • Enjoy Maastricht's beauty and student life • Competitive tuition fees: € 1672/yea r 2010 ·Single year Master's programmes

There are still places available at the university for a range of Master courses.This is expected to be a stark contrast to the UK where the economic crisis is leading to dramatic increases in postgraduate applications.

In addition to the high standard of our education and research the fees charged by the University are only a fraction of those charged by UK universities. The Dutch government sets the fee levels that universities can charge. Many Master course.s in the area of finance and management in the UK cost between 8-18,ooo pounds per year whereas they cost 1620 Euros at Maastricht. Students can expect proven research and educational quality at the university without the debt mountain that they would haveafterstudying in the UK.

concrete.edltor@uea.ac.uk

TURF 15

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

Topshop fails to make ethical commitments The Arcadia group owns some of the largest fashion retailers on the high street; however, it refuses to acknowledge that long-term change must be made in regards to its ethical policy.

The Arcadia group - the flagship of such brands as Topshop, Miss Selfridge and Burton - is the largest high street retailer not to join the Ethical Trading Initiative. This initiative, wh ile not an answer in itself, shows that the retailer ~ serious about making i_rnprovements in the supply chain . Labour Behind The Label, which campaigns for improvements in standards, have advised that Arcadia is far behind its high street competitors in addressing the multitude of problems faced by the makers of the garments.

Phili p Green, the owner of Arcadia, who has his base in

Monaco and is worth almost £5 billion, avoids almost all personal tax by paying dividends to his wife who lives offshore. This amounts to roughly £3 .3 million per day.

Green has been known to be supplied by factories paying their workers as little as 22 pence an hour in Mauritius, grossly under an adequate living wage and amounting to slave-labour. Those who work in the fa ctories are usually immigrants as the companies refuse to pay enough to attr.act local labour. These migrants pay huge fees to gain employment and are often kept in crowded dormitories and forced to work long shifts.

The Topshop line has achieved positive publicity in recent years for their introduction of Fairtrade and organic lines. However, they have been seen as a token

initiative and huge stamp duties have been added to their price. Nevertheless, despite its shortcomings this has had a positive impact upon Topshop's cred ibility.

Arcadia's hold over the student population is key to its success, with stores such as Topshop and Miss Selfridge putting a high emphasis on young branding, particularly by giving stl!_dent discounts and ded icating a section to students on their website. This

means that students have the consumer power to campaign for change.

In recent years, antisweatshop movements have led the way in raising awareness about the exploitative working conditions going on inside the garment industry. In the early 90s high profile campaigns drew attention to the abuse of workers, creating uproar amongst consumers, forcing many major companies, who had previously denied

exploitation, to accept the big problems and join initiatives to improve working conditions and pay. Nevertheless, key figures in the campaigns industry say campaigning is no longer about avoiding purchasing from a few big brands .

Shoppers need to put pressure on retailers they purchase from such as the Arcadia group to make stronger efforts to improve standards.

In the UK,

companies can join the Ethical Trading Initiative, meaning that corporations must help employees improve conditions rather then going somewhere else if violations are reported.

Martin Hearson, Campaign Coordinator for Labour Behind the Label, declared that a good company is not simply one that is sweatshop free but one that acknowledges the problems and engages in making changes.

Thomas Hague

--

Protest against RBS investments

Stop the Traffik student demonstration

Angered by the Royal Bank of Scotland's unethical investments, a group of UEA students protested outside the Norwich branch of RBS on Saturday 1st May. The protest aimed to highlight detrimental tar sands mining in Canada, which is currently partially funded by the bank.

The tar sands mining, wh ich has been nicknamed 'bloody oil', is a hugely environmentally and socially damaging project in Alberta, Canada, where poor quality oil extraction is both more energy and capital intensive than conventional oil extraction. The project is hugely damaging to the environment, tearing down vast swathes of natural forest and leaving tailing ponds of toxic sludge, which are so large they can be seen from space. Furthermore, mining is causing problems for the local indigenous communities. Rates of rare cancers have increased whilst the polluted land has resulted in a decrease in animal populations, damaging a diet that is largely hunting-based.

Between 2007 and 2009

Stop the Traffik (UEA's latest charity society) demonstrated in Norwich city centre on Saturday 1st May to raise awareness of human trafficking. · The societies is UEA's representative of the global organisations STT and A21, who campaign to raise awareness of the issue and actively search for, rescue and seek legal justice for those trafficked .

On the evening of Wednesday 21st April 2010, STT officially launched in the Hive with live music, free food and an opportunity to join the society. A presentation lead by Emma Goading (DEV1) and Lisa Onyi (LAW1) outlined the issue of human trafficking, explaining its global and local significance.

Human trafficking is where men, women and children are deceived, kidnapped or sold by their families to work in sweat shops and the sex industry as well as for other functions such as child brides and sacrificial worship. " Human trafficking and modern slavery is a global issue which affects at least 27 million people, a trade that earns twice the annual revenue of Coca Cola." The achievable aims of

RBS poured $12 .7billion into the oil-hungry mouths of extracting companies and shows no sign of changing its habits. The group of students from Climate Camp and student-run charity People and Planet demanded that RBS, 84% o-f which is currently owned by the British public, pulls out of the tar sands project as part of a nationwide week of action aga inst the bank's energy investments.

Liberal Democrat candidate Simon Wright turned up and the group collected around 130 signatures. Plastic ducks with the words 'save me, stop RBS from funding dirty oil' were given out to the general public. UEA Student Council has also recently passed a motion to boycott Natwest, a partner of RBS, if it does not review its energy investments by 2011.

Aona Tomson

Stop the Traffik were solidified when the speakers called upon the words of Kevin Bales, the world's leading authority on modern slavery: "The United Nations could eradicate slavery. The laws are in place.

But they' re not going to until we demand it." Katy Dunmall (ENV2) told Turf: "I never realised this was happening on such a massive scale, let alone in our own city."

On 1st May, STT hijacked bank holiday weekend shopping and last minute election campa1gnmg with three flash mobs (random acts of dancing), one of which took place inside Topshop.

The flash mobs were provided

by UEA dance squad and local

-

teenage dance group Pleasure Productions.

Passers by were offered a chocolate bar made by BBC's Paul Kenyon on Panorama: Chocolate - The Bitter Truth --; which is 'guaranteed to be made by slaves'. And shoppers passing by The Body Shop's window display were 'offered' UEA girls dressed as sex workers bearing the sign 'How much wou Id you pay for me?'

With support from Green Party candidates and the market stalls, as well as local shops, STT UEA's aim to raise awareness of this important issue was considered successful.

- - -

James Marlow

-

16 INTERNATIONAL

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

UEA Vietnamese students . involved in Ha Noi charity proJect Concrete International Unlike the UK, Vietnam doe sn't have a 'free' healthcare system. Many struggle to pay for expe nsive medication once a diagnosis has been received. Elderly patients, who don't have the ability to work, nor have any income, are particularly suffer ing.

A charity project was launched by a group of young people in Ha Noi, Vietnam in December 2009, which aimed at helping disadvantaged patients in hospital. Their main

activ ity is to provide free mea ls for patients who have financial problems. A number of U EA Vietnamese stud ents j oined in the charity groups, and along with other student vo lunteers from all age groups are hoping to make their co ntribution.

Quynh-hoa Le, a UEA INTO Vietnamese st udent who is involved in the charity project tells the Concrete International that "she be lieves their charity activities are very im portant."

"Be ing an international student living in the UK where soc ial benefits such as he alth ca re are provid ed free", she says, " I was wondering , what th e re sults of thi s proj ect wou ld be , how much would the lives of all these poor peop le be improved, if everyone cou ld ju st open th eir heart and give out even just a little?"

The free meal activity is set once eve ry week on a Saturday, an d wh en there is enough financial support an d cookers, this will be increased to two times a week.

The approximate budget spent on the 200 portions of porridge they provide for patients is 500,000 VN Dong, which equates to about 17 pounds.

Le is working hard to raise UEA Vietnamese and other international students' awareness about their proj ect and hop e to raise so me donations to he lp th em to continue.

For more information, please contact Quynh -hoa Le at quynh-hoa.le@uea.ac.uk

Nanjing!Nanjing! City of life and death Chinese director Lu Chuan's film Nanjing!

Nanjing! City of Life and Death is to be shown in Norwich's Cin ema City from 3rd to 6th M ay.

The film was released in the UK on the 16th April in around 14 cities and 35 cin ema s.

This epic black and white film fo cuses on the 1973 Nanjing Massacre during the Japanese invasion of China during World War 11 , in which thousands of Chinese peopl e were tortured, raped and killed by Jap anese soldiers. lt app roaches the Massacre from th e perspective of several people who were in Nanjing at the time, including Chinese civilians, Jap ane se soldiers and Germ an businessmen.

The Times film review gives City of Life and Death five sta rs and describes it as 'one

of th e fin est film s of the year so far' whi ch is 'harrowing, shocking and searingly emotional'.

In China, this film earned sig nificant public interest with huge box office success. lt received generally positive co mm ents from the mainstream media but not all are in support.

Reviews have criticized th e film as bein g too

deferential to Japan an d Ameri ca, ev iden ce of which can be observed on major websites and even in the director's personal blog. lt cou ld be argued th at some people have mi sun derstood what Chuan was trying to say through the film : rather than simply showing Chinese people being slaughtered by Japanese soldiers, it accounts how those Japanese soldiers have con fli cti ng feelings, as normal hum an beings. The director's portrayal of the invaders has led him to be targeted by radical Chinese youths who hold hatred for what they see as the Japanese aggressors.

The film is showing everyday at either 12pm or after 8pm in CinemaCity.

Concrete International's guide to examinations Examinations have always been known as the most effective way to test pupils' knowledge.

China has an especially long tradition of using examinations as a means of te sting knowledge, having its roots in the Sui Dynasty.

In China, most children are heavily burdened with exams, but whether exa ms are good, or whether they actually have no great value but to kill stud ent's creativity is a hotly debated point.

Exams in China are typified by very stri ct rules with very little variation, while in the UK, there are more type s of exams, such as multichoices or short essays. As a Chinese student, the most surprising exam I have taken at UEA is the so called 'take home' test. Before stepping into the exam room, candidates have already been given the exact questions and are allowed to bring literatures along to the exam. For me, what this type of exam test s is the student 's ability to construct good argum ents within a short period of time, and more importantly, the ability to write creatively using the limited resources that are avai lable to support arguments.

Exams can be fun if one doesn'ttake it as some kin d of "boring task". My style is to decorate my room. Firstly, to get a lively fee ling that creates a bright emotiona l impact, which probably will be a good way to keep the brain excited for a certai n period of tim e. Then not to waste th e beautiful sun shine - go out, enjoy some fresh air and take deep breathes to keep ca lm, especially when you reach the moment of feeling too much pressure.

Finally, self-confidence is the most important thing - plan through the revision schedule and stick to it. Every little step con tributes to the eve ntual goa l.

Now may I take thi s chance to wi sh everybody good luck with all your exar:ns, and enjoy your revision.

Hui Zhou

Qingn ing W ang

Fleeting thoughts of an international student ~

Life at UEA has been an enjoyable experience with so me ups and down s. But now, wh en exams are starting, it's al l becoming more and more nostalgic when thinking of the three years spent here. Studying hard in the next month to graduate with good honours and move onto wh erever life will take me is th e main co nsi deration, but not the on ly one.

Life at university for an international stud ent can be a very challenging, with various issues affecting students co ming to a new country with different cultures, traditions and rules. Those things are alm os t as perplexing as the uncertain weather in East An glia, whi ch has

been felt keenly by all internation al student s.

Or thinkin g in a different way, tim e is peo ple's ally as th ese three years of undergraduate study propels one into university socia l lives with studies and extra eo-curricular commi tm ents.

One may feel loneliness or helpless, but if they look around, support is always there in many form s. Personal advisers and other lecturers are helping with academic issues; the Dean of Students are offering suppo rt for both academic and persona l issues; and friend s and other colleagues will always be there.

Th e fact is, when it actually comes to an end, one can only feel that time has flown, but

_.,.

~riJ

Good Luck

university has given much to me and helped me develop into the person that I now find myself.

Fah d Shah

-路

concrete. travel@uea.ac.uk

TRAVEL 17

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

An Air Steward's Story Geo-Caching Backpacking is a popular way of exploring the world, but Georgia AdolphoCouling's mother explains another way in which one can delight in travelling.

How would you like to travel first class around the world? How would you like to have your photo taken in front of the Taj Mahal in India, to trek across the Great Wall of China, to dangle your legs over the edge of Table Mountain in Cape Town, to swim down the Amazon surrounded by crocodiles, to learn to scuba dive in Mauritius, to fly in a parasail over Nassau in the Bahamas, or to visit the Imperial Palace in Beijing? And to top it all off- how would you like to do it all free of charge like I did?

In all my experience, I am confident to say that one of the most memorable places I ever visited was Hong Kong Island. it has one of the most vibrant atmospheres I have ever experienced. Temple Street night market and Stanley market are a definite must-see for bargain hunters. The night time markets are perfect for a bit of late night shopping after a meal out in one of the different bars and restaurants around the island, whilst streets such as Bird Cage Street and Snake Street are literally named after what they sell, and are worth a visit for a taste of something different. But the best experience in Hong Kong was the six minute boat ride on the Star Ferry, crossing Hong Kong harbour to Kowloon on the Chinese mainland. it works out to be about ten pence per person and I would say it

is one of the most magnificent boat rides in the world .

Being an air hostess certainly has its advantages, but there are a few small prices to pay for such a glamorous lifestyle - the first being a ten hour long interview with 500 other hopefuls, answering questions in groups of ten such as

'' lt has one of the most vibrant atmospheres

I have ever experienced." "you are going to be stranded on a desert island for ten years, what ten things do you take with you?"

Although arguing with other women over which is more important - a toothbrush or a nail file - is fairly amusing, at the end of the day, the people observing your every move are really looking for somebody who can interact easily with the other nine people in the group, because no cabin crew will want to deal with an argumentative air hostess.

After several different exams, a second interview, a full medical and a 20 minute interview in a foreign language, you then have a six week training course before taking to the sky in style.

The second disadvantage to a life of travel is exhaustion, especially when you have to fly

across the International Date Line, London to Anchorage, then straight on to Tokyo the next day before going back to Anchorage. On that particular route you would lose an entire night's sleep. Sometimes, if a crew member had a birthday, they'd have it once in Tokyo, and then again in Anchorage. But nothing compares to the feeling of excitement you get before you receive your roster at the start of every month. You might be in America one week, and India the next.

Of course, being an air hostess is not all about the places you visit, as the majority of your time is spent working on the aircraft and ensuring the wellbeing of 420 passengers. An air hostess' most prized possession is her smile. Whilst welcoming passengers onto the aircraft I used to wear a smile that started at the corner of my mouth and ended somewhere in Timbuktu. When passengers in first class asked me to recite the names and origins of all 20 cheeses available on the cheese board before informing me that they didn't want any after all - I smiled .

When an aggravated man growled at me through bared teeth and blamed me personally for the traffic jam he was stuck in on the M25 and the coffee stain down his trousers, I smiled. And when passengers stepped off the plane after a 20 hour flight from Sydney, I sang my goodbyes at the door in a joyful manner with all the enthusiasm a good air hostess should advertise, occasionally replacing "goodbye" with "apple pie." The passengers don't notice after a 24 hour flight and, let's face it, it's entertaining.

I never knew so much adventure was on my doorstep. At home I look out of my window and see thousands of identical trees, and hundreds of rolling fields, all rolling into one, and dozens of country lanes which wind round to a few rivers or streams, all providing little entertainment. But my eyes have recently been opened to the world of Geo-Caching, and I want to open your eyes too.

Geo-Caching is a worldwide high tech treasure hunt which allows people of all ages to explore the world around them.

Using GPS technology, anyone can track the location and existence of a small waterproof container, normally a tupperware or ammo box, which encloses the evidence of a fellow seeker's adventure.

The number of active GeeCaches around the world exceeds one million and can be found in every continent across the globe, in over 100 countries. If you're lucky enough to own any GPS device, you can search the co-ordinates of the nearest Geo-Cache to you whilst you're shopping in town or walking the dog. If you're going travelling this

summer, maybe consider extending your exploration of new lands by trekking through jungles, over peaks or across planes in search of a Cache.

When you find one, it's a nice idea to share your experience by recording your find in the log-book which you will find enclosed, as well as maybe leaving a little trinket.

Searching for caches is a great activity to be shared with family or a group of friends. There are so many, all hidden in interesting places, that there is a good chance you walk past one every day without realising (there are at least three on or around campus!) Just visit geocaching.com and enter your postcode or region and search for your next adventure!

Georgina Pursey

Cruising The Nile Gtrath RIII路Whltt Having been on more 'traditional' cruises in the past, the idea of sailing down the Nile for a week seemed a little odd . For anyone who has been on an ocean cruise, being on a river is a strange experience- everything is the same, just on a far smaller scale.

The first day was straight into exploring, with a visit to the Valley of Kings and Queens. The entry ticket gives you access to any three tombs apart from Tutankhamen's. I would recommend going to the back of the valley, where the tombs are not only less crowded, but are older and generally more impressive.

Our next stop was the temple of Horus in Edfu. This is the most intact ruin, filled with seemingly endless hieroglyph-covered corridors, perhaps explaining why many rate it so highly. Personally I preferred Dendara temple, but then there's no accounting for taste. For those

wanting something a little different, Kom-Ombo has a plethora of mummified crocodiles.

Each day generally starts with a Sam wake-up call. Whilst this may seem a little depressing, it is to avoid the larger crowds and the heat, so you just accept it. Abu Simbel is the perfect example of this - the armed convoy left Aswan at 4am, got to the site at six, and was back by 11. it is odd to do all that before breakfast, but you do quickly adjust.

The highlight of the trip would be the Karnack Sound and Light Show, a.k.a. the worst tourist attraction of all time. Where else in the world can you pay extortionate prices to sit amongst ruins in the dark whilst listening to Brian Blessed shouting about Egypt?

So yes, Egypt was superb, even if I somehow saw more pyramids in Las Vegas. Maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough ...

-'

18 FOOD

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

concrete.food09@gmail.com

Bigger is not Better You are planning to go out for a meal, with your partner, the lads, the girls, whoever. How many times have you thought to yourselves, "lets just go to [in sert generic resta urant cha in] . its cheap and quite nice." Sometimes you finish the meal and think 'yeah, that was alright'. Yet, the bill is never as small as you imagined, the service as fast as you want or the food as tasty as it could be. Lets be honest, places like Frankie and Bennys, Bella ltalia, Cafe Rogue, Zizzis', La Tasca and Pizza Express masquerade as cool individual restaurants, but really they rarely feel special, and are never as reasonably priced as you remember.

Rarely does the bill come in at under £20 a head, £25 if you have had a couple of drinks.

I was sitti ng in the Library restaurant in Norwich the other day, eating the best steak ever cooked, drinking my second pint of Staropramen, considering the choice. Why would anyone in

Sausage and Onion Frittata

Norwich choose to pay £20-£25 to eat in a big national chain, with substand9rd service and mediocre meals, when they have such gems on their doorsteps? Last time I wa s in Cafe Rogue I waited for 30 minutes to be given a menu. Bel la ltalia served me practically cold pasta, and Zizzis the sloppiest lasagne I have ever seen.

The Raffles restaurants group is a loca lly owned and operated "chain" of restaurants. They operate The Library Bar and Grill, Pinnochios, St Benedicts Restaurant and the Pulse Cafe Bar. The food is exceptionally good, the service is brilliant and the atmosphere is perfect. The surprise came with the bill, under £25 a person with two drinks each, and a starter. So next time you're considering going out for a meal check out www. rafflesrestaurants.co.uk. You might just discover your favourite new eatery.

Ed Leftwich

Bacon and Spring Onion Quick Pot Noodle .. Ingredients 1 rasher smoked back bacon, trimmed and chopped 2 spring onions, white and green separated and fine ly sliced 50g frozen peas 1 tsp paprika 2 t sp cornflour 200ml vegetable stock 150g noodles, done to pack in structions, I like egg noodles, but wheat or rice will work Glug of Worcestershire sauce to taste

Spring Chicken Casserole I know it's a bit stran ge to be talking about casseroles just as we are heading into spring and summer proper, but this one is really light, really herby and fresh, and can be frozen and kept for ages and ages, meaning that you can live off this for a while, pretty cheap ly.

1 tbsp olive oil 340g pack chipolatas 6 eggs 2 slices bread , about 50g, torn into small pieces bunch spring onions, thinly sliced 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Method

Method

1. In a small non-stick pan, fry the bacon for a few m ins, add the white parts of the spring onions, peas and paprika, then cook for 1 min more.

2. Mix the cornflour with a little of the stock to get a paste, then stir this into the pan with the rest of the stock, noodles and a good splash of Worcestershire sauce. Simmer for a couple of m ins until thick and saucy, then scatter with the green parts of sp rin g onion.

1. Heat oil in a 20cm non-stick frying pan. Add chipolatas and cook for 7-8 m ins until browned.

Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a bowl. Stir in the bread, spring onions and garlic, then lightly season.

2. Heat the grill to medium. Pour the egg mixture into the hot pan, then cook on a low heat, until the egg is almost completely set.

Place the pan under the grill for 2-3 mins until golden brown and cooke d through. Slide onto a chopping board and cut into wedges.

dellacasa

01603 453444

I

~~

kebabs pizza chicken

In r dl nt 1 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, chopped 500g boneless, skin less chicken thighs 300g sma ll new potatoes 425ml vegetable stock 350g broccoli , cut into sma ll florets 350g spring greens, shredded 140g peas

M thod 1. Hea t the oil in a large, heavy pan. Add the onion, gently fry for 5 m ins until softened, add the chicken, then fry until lightly coloured.

Add the potatoes, stock and plenty of fre sh ly ground black pepper, then bring to the boil.

Cover, th en simmer for 30 mins until the potatoes are tender and the chicken is cooked.

Can be frozen at this point.

2. Add the broccoli, spring greens, petit pois and spring onions, stir well, then return to the boil. Cover, then cook for 5 mins more, stir in the pesto and heat through.

all for two family deal1 kebab feast family deal 3 · any 2

X

9" pizza

from set menu

rg any 2 X 7" pizza ~ £1 0

4 pes garlic bread I 8 pes

4 pes chicken

nuggets I coleslaw chicken wings I 2 cans of drink chips 110 mini chocolate donuts

I

dC?ner ko~e

chrcke~ & shrsh

£13 .

2 X chrps I salad I 3 prtt~ breads 12 sauces I bottle peps1

any 2 X 12" pizza

8pcschickennuggets / 21argechips coleslaw /10 mini chocolate donuts ,1 • .,

£• 8 90

concrete. dltorlal@uea.ac.uk

I

CONCRETE EDITORIAL

LETTERS

E

Dear Sir/Mdm.

Editor,

We are writing to bring to the attention of the Student Union the absolutely shambolic and awful "Union Awards ceremony" which took place on 27 April. Several of our members had been in previous years; particularly last year where the ceremony took place in the Sainsbury Centre's 'Garden Restaurant' which was an absolute delight to attend; the lighting and catering were beyond reproach, the winners were given a credible opportunity to thank others without any major time restrictions and the whole ceremony was presented with aplomb. By contrast, this year's ceremony took place in the LCR, probably the most depressing location for an award ceremony on campus! The tables were placed awkwardly over three levels, the catering was downgraded to one glass of watered down Pi mm's, the decorations consisted of a very long string of fairy lights and the presenting of the ceremony was amateur to say the least, making the whole affair comparable to a long drawnout public execution. Please can the clubs and societies have some guarantee from the Union Exec that next year's Union Awards will be significantly better prepared and executed in a more professional manner?

The increasing prospect of a balanced (aka 'hung') Parliament is good news for those of us who believe that it is high time that Britain recognised that it has multi-party politics, and that British politicians need to work together, across party lines, to secure a democratic "' mandate. However, it is distressing to see that the party still managing to stay narrowly out in front in the national polls (the Conservative Party) is the party most firmly committed to massive government cuts (rather than to what is obviously needed: investment in a 'Green New Deal'), to shrinking the state and to deregulation (when the gathering climate crisis - not to mention the last three years of unprecedented financial crisis - has demonstrated with absolute clarity the need for strong state action to prevent complete meltdown). it's time for real change. Sending Green Party MPs to Westminster, where they might play a crucial role in influencing for the better the policies of a minority government, or at least -4_

concrete .editor@ uea.ac. uk Hannah Livingston

EPUTY EDITO concrete.editorial@uea.ac.uk Alice Violett

CHI F CO V DITOR I

concrete.editorial@uea.ac.uk Denise Bartlett

INTERNATIONAL EDITO concrete.international@uea.ac.uk Qingning Wang

W lters Fahd Shah, Qingning Wang, Hui Zhou

Pro treaders Rachel Handforth, Ayesha Bailey, Milly Humphrey, Jessica Hynter

EL

e

N

T

concrete.travel@uea.ac.uk Rachel Conquer

N WS EDIT R concrete.news@uea.ac.uk Nicolas Church

I

rit r Georgia Adolpho-Couling, Gareth Rees-White, Georgina Pursey

s Editor

00 EDI 0

David Churchill

concrete.food09@gmail.com Edward Leftwich

e orte Nayo Hunt, Gordon M alloy, Mike Smith, Susanna Wood, Adizah Tejani, Christopher Morley, Sarah Osborne

Yours sincerely Ed Leftwich

0

I

SE

TOR

concrete.editorial@uea.ac.uk Alice Violett

concrete.turf@uea.ac.uk Rebecca Wiles

e

I

R

concrete.lifestyle@uea.ac.uk Samantha Lewis concrete.opinion@uea.ac.uk Davina Kesby Jessica L. Ball, Hannah Livingston Aniqah Choudhri, George Gilbert, James Dixon

IT concrete.features@uea.ac.uk Melissa York

e David Biggins, Fiona Howard, Lucy Moore

UEA Headlights (comedy society)

RESPONSE

Megan Pennell

Anna Tomson, Thomas Hague, James Marlow

I

EDITORIAL 19

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

concrete.sport@uea.ac.uk Danny Collins

I'm sorry to hear that UEA Headlights did not enjoy this year's Union Awards. This year's event was completely steered by students and student feedback from previous years was fully drawn upon. All attendees, including UEA Headlights, will get the opportunity to feed back on this year 's event in a short survey making its way to them right now.

While I'm on the subject, I would like to thank everyone that attended the Awards and made the night, from my own perspective, great, and to send special congratulations to this year's winners.

Chris King, Rob Schatten, lan Hobbs, Freddie Magee, Nick Church

CONCRETE PO BOX 410, NORWICH, NORFOLK, NR4 7TJ 01603 593466

The article about VCs' pay (20 April 2010) was misleading. The current VC's salary is not the £224,000 stated but £200,000 and the "pay freeze" referred to reflects his decision not to accept a pay increase this year. This places this

NON~EDITORIAL PHOTOGRAPHE Hector Lowe

I

Greg Mann

R FORECASTE Dan Holley

Faithfully, Councillor Dr. Rupert Read, Norwich Green Party, 17 Merton Road Norwich NR23TT 01603 219294 I 07946 459066.

Tom Sutton, Welfare Officer 2008-10

CORRECTION

•

in preventing the dismal plans of the old parties, is now the most positive and effective way in which voters can act.

Luckily the Green Party is now stronger than it has ever been before, and is for the first time ever in realistic contention to win some seats, such as here in Norwich South. The Conservatives are very weak here, and (to judge from all the posters on the streets and on campus, and from what people are saying to me on the doorstep and in the square) it is clearly the Green Party that is in potential contention to take this seat from Labour.

The national debates have enabled many citizens to recognise that they can look beyond the old parties.

Here, and in a number of other places in Britain, that can and should now mean: voting for the Greens.

Christopher Buthart, Casper Palmano, Greg Mann, Kyle Spencer, Laura Smith

university around 60th in the list for VCs' pay.

The Vice-Chancellor's salary is determined by the University Council's remuneration committee, a body of independent members from outside Higher Education. Any increase in recent years has been very much in line with sector averages.

•

Concrete is published by UUEAS Concrete Society ©2009 Concrete. ISSN 1351-2773 Letters should be addressed for the attention of the Editor, Hannah Livingston. Letters must include contact details, but we will consider anonymous publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity as necessary.

Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the Publisher or Editor.

Use of the name The Event is by arrangement with the copyright holders, Planet Zog Ltd. No part of this newspaper may be reproduced through any means without the express permission of the Editor, Hannah Livingston.

Printed by Archant .

•

~

I 20 IN FOCUS

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

And the winners are ...

Last week, fhe Union Awards recognised the great and good of UEA. AI ice Violett reports.

The tempe rate eveni ng of Tuesday 27th April sa w st ud ents from across .. the spectrum gath er in th e LCR in their fin est ga rb to mark the yea r's ac hievements at th e Union Awards.

Th ere were aw ard s for ca mpaigns, representation, volunteering and community se rvice as we ll as ones for ' Land lord of th e Year ' and 'Se rvi ce to th e Union', but for In Focus, the highlights of the night were, of course, the acco lades rece ived by clubs and soci eti es . it was definit ely a good night for Livewi re 1350, who won two aw ard s - th e cove ted 'Soc iety of th e Year' and 'Outstanding Achi eveme nt ' for the Recroom, particularly due -~ to their popular election debates.

The word ' Livewire' will also ap pear on another trophy th is year - Livewire TV picked up the 'Progress as a Society' award having success fully revived the flagging Nexus TV from the beginn ing of this academic year.

Elsewhere, Sa rah Whit eley, choreograp her and teacher of UEA Dance Squad won the hotly-contested 'Se rvi ces to a Soc iety' catego ry; her no min ators' admiration for her shon e throu gh in th e reasons given for her

路~

nom in ati o n.

Th e sports aw ards encompassed throwing, wat er and athl eti cs, as well as t ea m and more individual ac tiviti es as gongs went to Ultimate Fri sbee, Vol leyb all, Joe Johnson of Boat Club and Hollie Rowland of Athl etics .

These awards demonstrated th e ever-growi ng diversity of sports availa bl e at UEA as w el l as th e University's clout at national level. it was a chance to recogni se th e ac hi evements of the se sportsmen and women an d ho peful ly encourage further exce ll ence in the future.

Th e evening w as also an oppo rtun ity for some UEA societies to shovycase their talents . Members of Dance Squad th orou ghly warme d up the audience by opening the event with a fluid and energetic ro utin e. Th e interval saw Reve lati on Rock Gospel Choir demonstra te t heir impressive vocal talent s. They were followed by 'Service to the Co mmunity' winn ers Jam nesty, who, eye-catching orange jumpsuits aside, attract ed the audience's attention with a rousing and un co nventi onal percus sio n performan ce.

The event wa s closed by UEA Ange ls,

w ho performed th e moves that have earned them recogn iti on at a nati o nal level; a sterlin g exam pl e of what U EA studen ts have ach ieved this year and a great end to a ce leb rati o n of such ac hi evements.

The ce lebrations did not end there, though - everyo ne wh o attended the event w as give n a free ti cke t to the Black and White LCR, so eve n those nominees who lost out did not go away comp lete ly empty-handed and in stead parti ed on into the night .

Ho pefully, next yea r's Uni o n Awards will have even mo re to ce lebrate.

as w ell, so it's great to final ly get recognised for not just our broadcast con ten t but also all the other amaz ing things our members get up to!

,

based current affairs co ntent all year including the official Uni on executive debates. Th e Re croo m team have totally ove rh aul ed Livewire's news conte nt which hopefully will go from strength to strength in the next few years.

What's next for livewire?

Next year is going to be a big year for Livewire 1350. We have a great new

Which clubs and societies won?

Services to a Society- Sarah Whiteley (Dance Squad) Outstanding Achievement for a Society - The Rec Room (Livewire 1350) Progress as a Society - Livewire TV Society of the Year - Livewire 1350 Services to a Sports Club- Joe Johnson (Boat Club) Outstanding Achievement for a Sports Club/Sports Club Member - Hcillie Rowland (Athletics) Progress as a Sports Club- Ultimate Frisbee Sports Club of the Year - Volleyball

Megan Pennell

What does it mean to Livewire to have done so well at the Un ion Awards?

Well, I think it means an awful lot to us as a society. In the past th ere has been a feeling that the Union only sees us as a radio soc iety wh en in rea lity we do so me many other things

pleased w ith our live event s teams who have pulled off two huge events, beginning with Livewire Unsigned in the first semester and fol lowed by Hearing Aid 2010 in March, which raised ju st under 拢5000 for th e Haiti earthqu ake appeal. On top of that we have our new ly esta bli shed st udent affa irs show 'The Recroo m' which has produced amazing stud ent

I

UEA student helps judge media coverage of developing world

How does it feel to win two Union Awards? In Focus talks to Livewire's Rhys Goode to find out!

What have been the highlights of the past year for livewire?

There have been so many highlights this year th anks to our brilliant members. I think we are all especially

concrete.ed itorial@uea .a c .u k

committee headed by our new station manage r, Cathy Whit e. The new commi ttee are going to do a great job bu ilding upon our successes thi s yea r as well as making the society even bigger! Personally I'm really exci ted to see our brand new sc hedulin g system that will completely change th e soun d of Livewire and hopefully make the content even better for our li steners.

White to urists in Ke nya paying local girls as young as three years old for sex, Ghanaian chi ldren tortured and murdered after being branded as witch es or two Palestinian refugee girls wh o have dreams of beco ming rap stars; w it hout the existence of news reports, documentaries and arti cles these stories wou ld remain conceal ed.

UK-based charity One World M ed ia work to promote the importance of the media in bringi ng attention to development issues. Their On e World M edia Award s recog nise ou t standing achievement in media coverage of the developing worl d. As part of this year's Youth Jury I wa s responsible for judging th e Ch ild Righ ts ca tegory.

We worked with UNICEF, Save th e

ch ild rights issues. Th e award aims to acknowledge work which has enabled the voices of children to be heard; voices which would otherwise have remain ed silent.

The award also focus es on th e ability of th e media to change our view of children in the developing world . it opens ou r eyes to the fact th at chi ldren are not ju st victim s of their si tuation s, but they are ju st li ke us, with fea rs, hopes and imagination s.

In the determination to bring these stori es to light, journ al ists often risk thei r own lives; working undercover or in dangerou s situations. Yet in doing thi s, th e media is capable of not only creating awareness of these issues but it also has th e power to promote change and bring about solution s.

Children , the BBC and th e Guardian and Observer in ord er to help us come to a decision. award The Chi ld Rights celebrates in nova tive and in spiri ng journalism which has highlighted

Oth er award s include Journalist of the Ye ar, th e New M edia Award and Feature Documentary. Th e winn ers w ill be annou nced at the On e World M edia Award s ce remony, prese nted

by Jon Snow on June 22nd .

I

making media matte

I

concrete.lifestyle@uea.ac.uk

LIFESTYLE 21

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

10 things to do before it's too late you feel there are still th ings you need to get out of your system as the academic year draws to a close, pay attention to Jessica L Ball's ultimate UEA 2010 checklist. ~f

Hannah Livingston reveals what it takes to be the editor of Concrete.

When I first started this job, I thought I was a pretty sorted person.

Nothing can test your resolve quite like being thrown into a job editing a 48-page newspaper, while managing a group of 20+ sub-editors. Luckily I landed on my feet but what really occurred to me was that, despite thinking I knew a fair bit about life when I finished studying, my year of being Concrete's ed itor would teach me more about myself and other people than three years of a degree ever could.

"if you mess up, 15,000 people will know about it, a nd that mistake will be on d isplay for two full weeks" What a lot of people don't tell you about working is that you need to learn to create a 'work face' fairly quickly. I'm not talking about starting a split personality here but inevitably (and especially in journalism) you will either have to shout at someone or be shouted at. There is no room for self-doubt, crying or panicking in a newsroom, and if the wrong person sees a weakness in you they might try to manipulate it.

Nothing can compare to the stress of being stuck at your computer with three hours to make the print deadline, and no idea how you'll get the paper finished in time.

And if you do mess up, not only will 15,000 peop le know about it t he next day but the mistake will be on display for a full two weeks before a new issue comes out.

That kind of stress can bring out the best or the worst in someoneeither way it'll teach you something invaluable about who you are and how you work under pressure.

Whether you're approaching the end of your first, second or final year, we can all recognise there are some experiences that typify life at UEA. They aren't big, clever, glamorous or even always morally sound, but they are necessary to make the very most of our time here. So make sure you've had a go at this list; I reckon if you've done more than seven you've cracked it.

"Borrow" so mething epic. OK guys, stealing is wrong, but there is something inherently beautiful about waking up cradling a traffic cone, or opening your handbag to find it full of shot glasses.

Go all out on an LCR costume.

I'm talking men in lingerie, people wrapped in tinfoil, full body paint and huge home-made costumes constructed mainly from egg boxes and sellotape. You may be embarrassed at first but you are likely

to be elevated to legendry status my friend's Pikachu costume with teeny yellow shorts, tights and full yellow makeup is still talked of in reverent tones.

Pull in the LCR. Pulling in the LCR, messy but who hasn' t? And why just pull in the LCR? Why not take it just a little further and go for the four L's; LCR, Library, Lecture theatre and Lake. A true challenge. Which may also lead to ...

Complete an impressive walk of shame. Either from crashing at a friend's or (ahem) anything else that prevented you from making it back to your own bed. The walk of shame is hilarious and enjoyable ... for your housemates. Particularly brilliant if taking place on a Wednesday morning, with you left with only a dinosaur outfit to walk home in.

Doesn't look as cool in the harsh light of morning now, does it?

Sleep through a lecture. Listen to the soothing voice and drift away ...

"Give up drinking forever".

Repeatedly. In fact after every night out when you wake up with the carpet stuck to your face. Do this loudly and try to sound sincere, then head to the bar.

Pull an all nighter. To be completed the night before a deadline combined with a liquid diet of black coffee and red bull. You will feel unstoppable and energised, then you will crash for three days straight.

Meet and befriend a stra nger. I totally believe many solid friendships begin whilst intoxicated in a club toilet.

Have a barbecue by the lake. Start your summer with an undercooked economy burger and a large bottle of Strongbow. Bring your revision

along too; it's a little known fact that by having your books on your lap while sunbathing and watching topless frisbee, you can actually learn through osmosis.

Catch a UEA bunny. The ultimate aim. Yes they are fast but one day they will get sick of running and let us pick them up. This is one thing, though, that shouldn't be taken home as a souvenir!

And t he five you wish you hadn't but most likely have: 1) Pull someone creepy/revolting/ who you have a lecture with .

2) Vomit publicly.

3) Tell drunken secrets to strangers.

4) Wake up hung-over in your hallway/kitchen/stairway.

5) Drink last night's lukewarm alcohol because it's the only liquid in your room .

Sell your skills: interview techniques With graduate interviews on the horizon, Sam Lewis has some tips on how to perform professionally and positively.

As of June 3rd at 1pm many third year students wil l finally be free of essays, exams and the rigour of academic study. Concrete hopes to ease the next hurdle they face and provide a few tips on how to perform to your best at a graduate job interview.

Preparation is key. Be sure to research your prospective employer, studyi ng their website and re-reading the job description. Equally it is always impressive to have a list of questions to whip out at the end of your interview - it is your chance to grill them after all. lt may also be worth taking with you a few copies of your CV, and whilst we are on that topic make sure you know what is on it and are confident to talk about previous

work experience.

First impressions still count.

Interviewers size you up within the first ten seconds, looking at what you are wearing, how you speak, whether you are relaxed or nervous and the all-important strength of your handshake. Make sure you arrive five minutes early, not long enough to add to your growing anxiety but to show you can be punctual. Dress smartly, in something you feel comfortable in that is clean, polished and pressed.

Body language is also essential to maintaining that cool, calm exterior.

Looking the interviewer directly in the eye is recommended to convey a sense of confidence. You should also think about how you sit in your chair

- it is common courtesy to wait until you have been asked to be seated and don't fidget around.

What kind of questions can you expect? The usual 'tell me about yourself' or what can you offer this company?' are bound to come up. However, be prepared for the unexpected, 'what is your biggest weakness?', 'where do you see yourself in five years?' and 'what is your greatest professional/academic achievement' could pose more of a problem . lt is definitely advised to rehearse some answers beforehand keep in mind that you don't want to come across as arrogant or pushy and at this stage avoid discussing salary.

Remember not to base your

interview expectations on what you have seen on The Apprentice. Think of it as an informal chat, rather than an interrogation. Interviewers want you to shine and aim to create an environment that gives you an opportunity to sell yourself. All of this said, these days it is an achievement just to get an interview, so seriously, best of luck!

...

•

22 SPORT

concrete.sport@uea.ac.uk

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

Canary Corner lan Hobbs

..

Mourinho and Hodgson may be rightly in the spotlight as another fascinating season draws to a close, but no-one can ignore what Paul Lambert has achieved with the Canaries.

After Norwich sealed the League One Championship, it was clear to see the delight around Carrow Road .

During this rollercoaster season thi s writer feels the most significant moment of the season was going to Co lchester and beating them 5-0 on their own turf. For City fans it felt as if a score had been settled after the 7-1 home defeat to them back in August and this emphatic five goal victory was the catalyst for City's formidable form throughout the rest of the season.

One of those players who was at fault in the early season 7-1 home defeat was Michael Nelso n, who scored the only goal in City's promotion winning game against Charlton, and along with Dare! Russell grabbed a goal in th e 2-0 win over Gillingham which confirmed the Canaries' place at the top of the pile .

For this sig nificant Nelson was contribution, awarded the accolade of Coca Cola League One player of the month for April.

Many players have made an invaluable contribution to the Canaries' glorious campaign. Young Korey Smith has

done

fantastical ly

to cement himse lf a regular place in central midfield. Gary Doherty has had somewh at of a renaissance at centre back, putting in some man of the match performances and grabbing a few goa ls along th e way.

Chris Martin has also broken into the first team and sco red vital goa ls in City's promotion race, the stand out being a terrific header in the 89th minute at home to Leeds.

The littl e magician Wes Hoola han has been City's greatest creative outlet this seaso n and is bound to be one of City's most influential players

season.

Up stepped captain, Magee.

However, his vigil lasted no more than four balls as he was given out to a contentious LBW decision for two.

The stage was set for batsmen and fresher Johnny Atkinson to prove himself. All the talk was evidently true; Atkinson combined effectively with Maskell to steer UEA towards victory. Unfortunately for the president, he couldn't see the job through. Short ly after reaching hi s 50 Maskell ste ered a ball into the hands of first sli p and departed for 51.

ably Atkinson wa s supported by James Leek (10) and wicket-keeper, Dave Sargeant (8) as he guided the team home and finished with 77 not out, securing a well deserved five wi cket victory for UEA. Whilst the 1st XI travelled to De Montfort the 2nd XI played host to a strong Nottingham Trent 2nd XI. Batting first, Trent amassed a daunting 276-5, a hefty target, but achievable nonetheless. Th e UEA reply stuttered and they soon found themselves five wickets down

for on ly 30 runs with late addition Dave Pilgrim falling to ·a stunnin g catch at shortleg.

The Trent bowlers were hungry for more and the on ly resistance came from bowler Joe Carlin who wa s left stranded on 38 not out as others fell around him, and UEA were bow led out for 86 - with Trent winning by 190 runs.

With three games left in the season, the first XI are se nsi ng promotion, whilst the 2nd XI are looking to bounce back as soon as possible.

Forthe~ic

year 201 012011

well

2009-10 proved to be a successful year for the sportsmen and women of UEA as they recorded numerous national standard results.

UEA Club of the Year, Volleyball, reached the national stud ent's finals; the Women's team finished as Britain's second best student team.

Elsewhere, the Ultimate Frisbee squad, alternative ly known as Aye-Aye, also reached their national finals .

CONTINUED FROM BACK PAGE I»

Job Vacancy

Editor's Column

..

next seaso n. Captain Grant Halt is an indispensable player, who became the first City player to reach 30 goals for the season in all competitions for 46 years.

His work-rate is fantastic and he has become an instant fans' favourite.

My personal player of the season would be ongoa lkeeper Fraser loan Forster. Forster has made some world-class saves t his season, attracting interest from Premiership cl ubs and even being tipped for a future England career. Let's hope City can keep hold of him next

Basketball achieved unprecedented success, also reaching th e quarter-finals of the national Founders' Cup. On an individual basis, Hollie Rowland competed for Britai n in cross-country, coming home with a go ld medal .

Despite the success, there remained one sign ificant blip on the UEA sporting resume.

Derby Day has beco me the pinnacle of the sporting calender for both UEA and

Essex, and unfortunately 2010 saw Essex rega in the trophy with a 30-15 humbling at Colchester. Next year's competition on home turf will be eagerly antici pated.

On the local scene, Norwich City made their sabbatical in League One a short one, despite a disastrous start to the season. Th ey will look forward to the resumption of the East Anglian Derby against Ipswich next season.

Finally, Concrete Sport's tip for the World Cup: England, obviously.

concrete.sport@uea.ac.uk

SPORT 23

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

UEA FIGHT NIGHT PROVES A KNOCKO.UT Nick Church

UEA Boxing Society held their most recent 'Fight Night' in front of a packed LCR on Sunday 25th April, with over 200 students flocking to see the best UEA can offer.

First to touch gloves were Michael Maron and AJ Santiago. AJ came out. stro!:)g and dominated the first round with a few well-placed right hooks.

Round two saw an equally boisterous start from him; however, Michael took advantage of AJ's enthusiasm, exploiting tired slugs and lax guard with powerful counters.

A welltimed jab saw Michael draw blood in the final round. Nevertheless, he edged the match with a destructive combination capitalising on AJ's lack of stamina near the end of the round .

Up next were two first time boxers Vangelis and Zulfiqar who reached a stalemate. In an energetic first round Vangelis took the lead, cornering Zulf twice and landing numerous blows. Despite drawing blood Zulf recovered, landing a few clean jabs before the end of the round. Although he was kept on his back foot, Zulf managed numerous strong hooks to reply Vangelis.

Liam and Simian entered the ring for the third bout. Simian, taking

advantage of his stature, weaved and ducked from the punches of his taller opponent. Liam landed a few heavy hits, with Simian managing a few jabs.

Round two saw a powerful hook floor a fatigued Liam midway through the round . Simian capitalised on Liam's weak defence in the final round, landing a right hook that ended the fight with a second knockdown.

The fourth fight saw Dan Tulloch versus Daniel. Both landed bodyshots and jabs throughout the first round, making an even fight. Round two saw Tulloch attacking with confidence, dominating the round with powerful hooks to the body and face. Regaining lost ground, Dan landed consecutive well-placed punches on the tiring Tulloch in round three.

An increase in weight divisions was organised with Ed Howes and Jack in the fifth fight. The technically superior Ed controlled round one, wearing down the opponent with jabs and opportune hooks. Opening round two with a flurry of jabs and hooks, Jack was soon placed on the back foot by Ed, who kept composure and defended well.

The visibly exhausted Jack came out defensive in the final round. With Ed dominating this round, Jack landed a last ditch clean jab causing Ed to finish the match with a bloody nose, despite an

overall victory.

The boxing society's treasurer Anthony Roberts fought a taller and heavier opponent, Dave Duncan, in the final fight. The first round

remained a deadlock in which Dave used his reach to keep the faster Anthony at bay, whose weaving escaped the punches of his opponent.

Round two saw both adopt a

cautious style. Both struggled to find clean shots in the final round which came to an end shortly after a strong right hook from Anthony. The match ended in a draw.

·5 Minutes with: Tim Newenham Rob Schatten speaks to the City of Norwich Athletics Club coach, who was recently appointed Head Coach of England Athletics at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Anyone who is involved in UEA sport will be well aware of the depth of athletic talent this region provides.

Now, though, the area's natural ability to compete has received praise from the highest authority.

"There's a lot of talent in this area generally, and at UEA too," said leading England Athletics coach Tim Newenham, meeting Concrete at the Sportspark on Saturday. A specialist javelin coach and a former elite athlete himself, Newenham knows a few things about spotting potential in young people, and is more than happy pursuing this goal in the Norfolk area.

"I like working here," Newenham explained. I have a real affinity for this area. it's well connected and the quality of life is first class. There's athletic talent in abundance here; it's all about providing the opportunities and allowing kids to take their talent wherever they want to go with it."

As a dominant force in his sport

while at Loughborough University, winning a host of javelin titles while captaining a team containing such talents as the young Sebastian Coe, Newenham also believes that BUCS sport still has an important role to play in sports development. "lt is not only an integral part of university life, it's also a friendly but nevertheless very serious competition - much like the Commonwealth games," Newenham elaborated. lt develops performance coaches, chief executives and sports mentors as well as competitors, providing a background and encouraging excellence in a variety of roles."

But working with promising local youngsters, such as record-breaker Oliver Bradfield, isn't Newenham's only focus.

He was recently appointed head coach mentor for the English team going to this summer's Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, and is hugely excited about taking up his new role.

"We have a team of coaches selected and my role will be to support them prol(iding other information they need, on hygiene, diet and so on," said Newenham. I will also be looking after the athletes with our team manager, and advising the coaches on what the athletes need and prefer to get them performing at the maximum."

Given his involvement in building the original track at the Sportspark site, which has been in use since 1989, Newenham was one of many people both baffled and dismayed by the Sportspark's recent decision not to offer itself as a training camp during the Olympics, despite interest from some major nations.

"I'm very disappointed," said Newenham. "lt stands out as a very odd decision to me, a real missed opportunity. The Sportspark is based around athletics and I think more could be done to capitalise on the benefits of the Olympics."

-

•

•

-

-

-

concrete.sport@uea.ac.uk

TUESDAY 4th MAY 2010

BOXING

CANARIES

CoMMONWEALTHs

CRICKET

Concrete reports on UEA Boxing's Fight Night, held in the LCR last week.

lan Hobbs celebrates a successful year for the Canaries as they are crowned League 1 Champions.

Rob Schatten speaks to England Athletics Head Coach, Tim Newenham.

Concrete watches Cricket's 1st XI continue their excellent start to the season.

HITCHINER SMASHES UEA JAVELIN RECORD Danny Collins

\

1

.....

I

.,..

Second year thrower, Matthew Hitchiner, smashed the U EA javelin record with a huge throw of 58.64m at the BUCS Athletics Championships in Bedford on M onday.

The DE V student was unab le to replicate his achievement in the final , but was still able to secure a valuable point for the UEA total.

Blustery conditions hindered his hopes of a medal in the final, but having only taken up the sport last year, Hitchiner has made vast strides in the sport, throwing eleven metres further than last year.

Speaking to Concrete Sport, Hitchiner said: " I'm rea lly happy with a personal best in the heats, but I just wasn't feeling it in the final, so I'm naturally disappointed.

I'm going to train really hard for next year, though, and hopefully come away with a medal."

Distance runner Nick Earl had a busy weekend , running a 3000m steeplechase heat and final - in which he gained two BUCS points, and a lO,OOOm final over the course of the three day competition. Earl was coup led with teammate Josh Entwistle in qualifying for the steeplechase final as they joined former UEA alumnus and BUCS gold medallist, Glen Watts, in experiencing steeplechase success.

Speaking to Concrete Sport, Earl said: "lt wasn't a brilliant time, but I' m really chuffed, especially in bad

Chris King

conditions ."

In what was a successful weekend for the athletics club, Cat Foley also reached the final of the 1500m after a storming ru n of 4 minutes 44 seconds. Fo ley ha s missed huge amount of t raining this season, and despite this put in an excellent showing.

BUCS Athletics The Championships are renowned for their exceptionally high standard, and , despite this, the U EA athletes put on an admirable showing.

Fresher, Ruth McKellar, missed out on a semi-final by a mere two tenths of a second over the 200m in a display that demonstrated her vast potentia l. lOOm speciali sts, Greg Po ll ard and Steven Castellino, strugg led with windy condi ti ons, but still .posted sub-12 second times. Castellino combined with Danny Collins in the 200m as the two placed sixth and third respectively.

Unfortunately for third year medic, Nikki Smith, injury put paid

to her hopes of a semi-final berth as a reoccurring ailment hindered her lOOm campaign . The same was true of track capta in, Gra ham Stark, who pi cked up a hip inju ry in a seeming ly innocuous jump. Both wil l hope to recover quickly and ret urn stronger next year.

Rachel Ball and Lydia Growns both recorded personal bests in a strongly contested 800m , whilst Sarah Kimpton, Alec Beaney, Tom Love, Hafiz Olushekan and Tarley Barnes completed the UEA squad .

CRICKET 1ST XI MAINTAIN PROMOTION PUSH Freddie Magee

Following a comfortable victory over Leicester on Sunday, spirits were high as the 1st XI travelled to De Montfort for their second BUCS game of the year.

Batting first, De Montfort lost an early w icket as James Craske (1-24) trapped t he ope ning batsmen for just

UEA VOLLEYBALL CROWNED 'CLUB OF THE YEAR'

one. Craske was well supported by a fiery Jon Marsh and the introduction of change bowlers Tom Broughton and Ali Maitland constricted the home side to 115 for two after 25 avers.

There must have been something special in the drinks as UEA looked a different outfit in the remaining avers; something had got their backs up and the De Montfort batsmen had no cl ue what had hit th em.

With spinners, Alfie VennerWoodcock (3-38) and Johnny Atkinson (2-36), operating from both ends, the opposition were tied down and gave their wickets away. This allowed Maitland to clean up and finish with figures of 4-40 from seven avers.

Chasing 182 was never going to be easy on a lively pitch with a slow outfield . The task became even harder when De M ontfort em ployed th e kin d

of short-ball tactics which haven't been seen on a cricket fiel d since the 'Bodyline' Ashes series of 1932.

Openers David Maskell and James Latimir did a sterling job of seeing off the new ball and pushed the rate along with marvellous flair and vigour.

Latimir (20) fell in the 11th over when he in nocuously left a straight one.

UEA sports clubs and individuals were honoured at last Tu esday's annua l UEA Union Awa rds.

There had previous ly been two ceremonies, one for clubs and the other for societies, but the decision was made to amalgamate them into the all encompassing Union Awards .

Four awards were given to UEA sports clubs and individuals, with Volleyball being named Sports Club of the Year, Joe Johnson chosen for the Service to a Sports Club award, Ultimate Fri sbee receiving the award for Prog ress as a Sports Club, and fina lly Hollie Row land of UEA Athletics winning the coveted Outstanding Achievement by a Sports Club or Sports Club member award . lt has been a particularly successful year for UEA Volleyball, 路with the club's membership doubling and both the Men's and Women 's teams reaching the Student Cup Finals, with the latter performing excellently to finis h second overall and gain promotion to t he second division of the Vo ll eyba ll Eng land national league.

On Volleybal l's successful nomination; President Ross Gledhill said " Winning Sports Club of the Year 2010 came as a big surprise. lt is a great feeling to be recognised not just for its team success but the success of the whole club."

Rowlan d has also Hollie enjoyed an excel lent yea r, runn ing at the Europea n Cross Co unty Championshi ps in Dublin last December: "I was rea lly pleased to win the award", said Hollie, adding " I didn't expect to win because I was nominated alongside whole sports clubs, and I was the only individual."

This year's awards have seen a significant increase in t he numbers of candidates and nominations, which has been attributed to greater promotion of t he awards and the efforts of both sports' and societi es' co unc il s to pu sh th e nomi nations.