Issue 240

THE UK’S MOST AWARDED STUDENT NEWSPAPER

YORK VISION Tuesday February 4th, 2014

Issue 240

vision@yusu.org

IS WILLOW CLOSING DOWN FOR GOOD? - SEE PAGE 3-

WWW.YORKVISION.CO.UK Vision Travel Diaries: AROUND AMSTERDAM

Features: DUBIOUS PATRONAGE? SEE PAGE 17

Spotlight: LUKE SITAL-SINGH

- SEE PAGE 24 -

TOKYO TELLS STUDENTS...

STRIP TO YOUR BOXERS AND CREAM UP YOUR NIPPLES VISION EXCLUSIVE

BY LEON MORRIS & HELENA HORTON A STUDENT stripped to his boxers and had whipped cream licked off his nipples at a shocking YUSU Club Night, it has emerged.

The reveller was told by officials at Toft Green’s Tokyo nightclub to perform the acts on stage as part of the venue’s “Grotti

FEATURE: SPENDING A NIGHT IN THE LIBRARY

SCENE: THE HIGH ART / LOW ART ISSUE

Gotti’s Wheel of Doom” on 23 January.

The student, an unnamed young man, was asked to take off his top, strip to his boxers and jump into the crowd. (continued on Page 5)

SPORT: COLLEGE FOOTBALL 30-31

2 NEWS

YORK VISION

Tuesday February 4, 2014

AWARD-WINNING POTTER TO VISIT YORK IN MAY

BY HELENA HORTON YORK RESIDENTS won a competition to bring cross-dressing vase enthusiast Grayson Perry to a museum in York.

The Turner Prize winning potter will be visiting the Yorkshire Museum in May, after York residents won the Night Connect10 competition, beating seven London galleries and museums.

Perry’s appearance and the success of the win have been attributed to the Museum’s furry mascot, Padmin Bear, who spearheaded the campaign. It is perhaps the first inanimate object to win a competition in York.

More than 60,000 people voted, and a spokesperson for the museum told the York Press that the museum was ‘delighted’ with the voting turnout.

POLL PICKS POTTER PERRY YORKVISION

The UK’s most awarded student publication Editors: Angus Quinn Karl Tomusk

Deputy Editors: Helena Horton Callum Shannon

Digital Editor: Jack Western

Managing Director: Leon Morris

Scene Editors: Milo Boyd Rachel Seymour

Photo Editors: Jack Western Zoe Bennell

News Editors: Leon Morris Jack Gevertz

Features Editors: Tom Davies Barto Joly de Lotbiniere

Sports Editors: James Pascoe Issaac Lister

Deputy News: Hugo Thompson Jonathan Barrow

Deputy Features: Dave Washington Zena Jarjis

Deputy Sport: Ella Howman Dean Bennell

Comment Editors: Michael Cooper Lizzie Roberts

Lifestyle Editors: Selina Pope Maddi Howell

Chief Sub-Editors: Anna Hinchcliffe Samuel Bowell

Deputy Comment: Eliza Gkritsi Joonsoo Yi

Deputy Lifestyle: Doris Xu

Social Media: Zena Jarjis

Scene Editorial list in pullout

Opinions expressed in York Vision are not necessarily those of the Editors, senior editorial team, membership, or advertisers. Every effort is made to ensure all articles are as factually correct as possible at the time of going to press, given the information available.

Copyright Vision Newspapers, 2014.

Printed by Mortons of Horncastle.

HEALTHY TALKS

KALLUM TAYLOR has been in talks with BY HELENA HORTON the NHS to improve the conditions for directly to the NHS and is now in talks with top bosses, alongside UniverHealth Science Students.

Taylor wants the Health Science Depart- sity representatives from across the ment to pay upfront for students transport UK to get a fairer deal for health science students. fees rather than students waiting over half The YUSU president commented: “We a term to receive reimbursement, with some students waiting over 10 weeks to get £200 managed to find out the details of a gathering at the University of Derby. There was no back.

Research over the summer, as revealed formal student representation there, so we

by Vision earlier this academic year, showed took a bit of a chance in sending me down that health science students were borrow- there.

“I turned up and explained our predicaing worrying amounts of money to fund dement and the delegates were intensely welgrees, compared with other students.

This is for reasons including longer coming and invited me to stay with them for terms and not having yet been reimbursed the whole day – during which I discussed our idea as a potential best practice, and a great for their travel expenses to placements. way to improve the student experience.

Taylor stated that he want“We’ve been promised to get direct feeded to cut through red tape, back on our idea. We’ve also been invited which delays the reimto attend further discussions with them on bursement of funds, so other occasions which focus on expenses and students can get refunded other funding more specifically. straight away and “rid the “We just need the NHS to allow this to students of the anxiety happen at universities who are willing to and stress they currently step up. If anything, it’ll save them time face with uncertainty and money.” over their money.”

Taylor’s idea is a new one which hasn’t But Taylor has been implemented at other universities taken a move TINKER TAYLOR DR’S LIES... before.

GOT A STORY? >> 07584 046 079

We pride ourselves on being the best source of student news in York.

Email vision@yusu.org news@yorkvision.co.uk

Web yorkvision.co.uk @YorkVision

Twitter Leon: @LAMorris91 Jack: @imjackyeah

YORK VISION

NEWS

Tuesday February 4, 2014

3

YORK VISION EXCLUSIVE

WHAT A BALLS UP!

BY LEON MORRIS

DRUNK VANBRUGH footballers have been sentenced to community service, Vision can reveal.

Vanbrugh Principal, Barry Thomas, put the sports group on probation following drunken antics during a punch party, which involved an argument with locals over noise level.

The social took place in first year accommodation Fairfax House, despite not having permission to do so.

Georgina Heath, College Officer, told Vision: “At no time is it permissible for non-residents or societies to hold events in student residence blocks and, had permission been sought, it would have been refused.

“Their unauthorised social caused a great deal of upset to the local residents.

“Barry Thomas, Vanbrugh Principal, proposed to the football captains that the teams might perhaps provide some community service on campus in lieu of a fine. ”

CHINESE WHISPERS ARE THE RUMOURS REALLY TRUE?

BY JACK GEVERTZ

Principal... Lenient Max Brewer, who holds the position of the team’s Captain, acknowledged the “dispute” and told Vision : “There is no development on any punitive measures being taken against the club as a result of a dispute which arose between a club member and a member of the public. This dispute was surrounding the amount of noise being made on a social.

“I apologise for the disruption we caused, but the issue has now been put to bed” Vanbrugh Chair Michael Duncan told Vision: ‘Clearly, this unfortunate situation resulted from a misunderstanding rather than any malicious intent.

“I am pleased that now the matter is resolved, the football team can return their focus to representing Vanbrugh, particularly in the playoffs, to compete in College Varsity later this term.”

All future socials for the football club will be held in supervised spaces in Vanbrugh Nucleus.

WE WERE no closer to discovering the future of Willow last week after the owner refused to confirm or quash rumours of a possible closure.

Social media has been awash with hearsay over the student favourite’s future for the last seven days, with some claiming that the restaurant would be shutting its doors in two weeks.

One student took to social media to say: “Willow is closing down. Let’s start a petition.”

On Wednesday, owner Tommy Fong said he knew students had been gossiping but had “no com-

ment” to say on his disco and bar’s future.

An employee at the Coney Street venue described the rumours as “Chinese Whispers”, telling students not to worry.

“One or two things may have been said,” Vision was told.

“However, I very much doubt that Willow will close in the time people are saying it is.”

A council official confirmed that the restaurant, which came under fire last year from Coronation Street star Sean Tully for its alleged “student-only” admissions policy, was not having its licence revoked, suggesting that it will not be closing down.

UNI TERROR SECRETS

BY JACK GEVERTZ GAGGED OFFICIALS cannot reveal plans for a “major” incident, it emerged last week.

A Freedom of Information request given to the University refused to outline the procedure for a critical incident such as terrorist attacks.

York Vision asked whether the University was prepared for terrorist attacks, whether buildings were bomb-proof and where

students would go if a major event occurred.

A spokesperson said: “The placement of such details into the public sphere would enable individuals with criminal intent or engaged in criminal or terrorist activity to identify the nature or focus of local and specific arrangements, the University’s use of locations and its assessments of risk and infrastructure, and allow them to exploit this information and use it to their advantage.”

“It’s probably a marketing ploy,” one cynic told us.

“I can’t see Willow closing its doors any time soon.”

Rumours originally floated earlier this month when an employee for YUSUBars updated a Facebook status saying they had “just heard that Willow may be closing next term.”

When York Vision asked who had informed them, they said they heard it from some “girl at the Lounge” who had “never lied before”, adding that the girl had probably “heard it on the grapevine” – a reference to lyrics in a song by American musician Marvin Gaye.

CHICKEN RUN

BY JACK GEVERTZ

LANGWITH seized upon an opportunity open to the colleges in an initiative to clothe battery hens.

Keen students from the college have hatched a plan to help out featherless battery chickens – by knitting jumpers for them.

The bizarre, but incredibly inventive, YUSU initiative was featured in an email sent to students earlier this month.

A section titled “Langwith does chicken jumpers” said: “This is a really fun volunteering opportunity helping to make jumpers for rescued battery chickens who have lost their feathers so struggle to stay warm in the winter.

“Absolutely no previous skill is required and it’ll be a great way to start volunteering this year!”

The email added that taking part would count towards Langwith’s chances of winning the Dame Judi Dench Cup – a prize given to the college who can get the most people involved in volunteering.

Langwith President, Gimli Son of Gloin, told Vision: “This volunteering opportunity is a great one to be a part of.”

But the college isn’t a stranger to rather peculiar goings on.

Last month, the president announced she would be changing her name by deed poll from Symone Thompson to Gimli Son of Gloin to raise funds in the name of charity.

Pres... Fundraiser

NISA POCKETS MILLIONS

BY JACK GEVERTZ

NEW CAMPUS shop Nisa has taken over the two Costcutter stores on Heslington West with a combined turnover of £3 million, it’s been revealed.

The Halifax College and Market Square branches were changed over the New Year in what the University’s commercial director, Jon Greenwood, has described as cutting out the “middle man.”

He told The Grocer: “We have

cut out the middle charge from Costcutter by joining Nisa, and therefore we can ensure we are offering the best deals.”

The company is preparing to open its third store on Heslington East after bosses announced last year that they were looking to build on pre-tax profits of £3.3 million.

Nisa recently received over 100 complaints following a grammar bungle on an in-store sign.

4 NEWS

YORK VISION

Tuesday February 4 2014

A FINE RAGGING

BY HELENA HORTON

CHEMICAL REACTIONS

BY HELENA HORTON

TWO YORK science lecturers have been listed as among the UK’s 100 Leading Scientists.

Professor Andy Young, a Psychology professor, was referenced for his work, including research on face perception and recognition of emotion.

He is the current President of the British Neuropsychological Society. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Fellow of the British Academy and chaired the Psychology section from 2011-2012.

From the Chemistry department, Professor Sir John Holman was recognised for his work as an educational policymaker and was cited as a “leading player in many of the major national science curriculum initiatives of the past 25 years.”

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a member of the Association for Science Education, Honorary Fellow of the British Science Association, and a member of the Royal Society’s Vision for science and mathematics education 5-19 project committee.

The Science Council was aiming to challenge what they called “the UK’s narrow and oldfashioned view of science” by releasing the names of the country’s leading practicing scientists, when before the list never referenced living scientists and regarded only included academics and researchers.

STUDENTS ARE being urged to pay back their library fines this week, so that the proceeds can go towards the RAG Week fundraising effort.

All fines collected will be given to the chosen RAG Charity, which was voted on earlier this year: Cardiac Risk in the Young.

This event is being held as part of RAG week 2014, where various events will be held over the course of the week to raise money for the charity.

Academic Officer, Daniel Whitmore, commented: “It’s great that the library are going to donate all the fines paid this week to RAG. If you owe them money, now is the time to pay

YORK VISION EXCLUSIVE

HOW SECURE IS OUR CAMPUS? CRIME DOWN BUT SEXUAL INCIDENTS ON THE RISE CRIME DROP

CRIME AT the University continues to fall, according to new data.

The total number of recorded criminal incidents stood at 90 last year – an 8 per cent fall on the 98 reported in 2012.

Among the highest drops was cycle theft, with 11 fewer bikes being pinched in 2013 compared with 2012.

The University’s Security Service has managed to play a key role in the fall of city-wide cycle theft, with 70 per cent fewer bikes being stolen since 2010.

SEXUAL INCIDENTS at the University have risen slightly since 2012.

From 2007-13 there has been a total of 12 incidents of indecency and sexual assault at the University, with four of them occurring in 2013 compared to none in 2012.

Last year saw the highest number of sexual assaults since 2007 – besides 2008 and 2009.

However, the total number of violent assaults on campus have decreased slightly since 2008, from nine recorded in 2008 to eight in 2013.

Six violent incidents have taken place off-campus since 2008, which includes the Sports Village, with a staggering 41 taking place on campus.

The lowest number of as-

HALIFAX SPIKING RAID

BY ANGUS QUINN

HALIFAX CSA has launched a new initiative aimed at countering drink spiking in nightclubs across York.

The scheme, piloted in Kuda on Tuesday 28th January, entailed placing cocktail umbrellas in unattended drinks to raise awareness of the risk of spiking.

Loussin Pilikian, Halifax CSA President said of the scheme: “Recently there has been an outbreak in reports of drink spiking and…

your fines!

“I’m so happy about it that I cried in the shower this morning!”

RAG Officer, Beth Greenwood told us: “We’re really excited! It’s something that we don’t think has happened before, so we have to say a massive thanks to the library team for their generosity; for making it happen!”

the number of reports to YUSU has increased.

“We thought during refreshers week constructing a weeks campaign like this would raise the awareness of this issue and highlight the importance of making sure young adults are having a good time but looking after themselves also.”

The scheme has also involved CSA members present with drugdetecting kits analysing unattended drinks to identify whether they had been spiked or not.

Jessica Smith, Vice-President for Welfare, elaborated: “Spiking is something that can have incredibly serious consequences but can be prevented, or at least the risk reduced, by making people more aware of the importance of not leaving your drink unattended.

“By encouraging people to come to us to have their drinks checked, I would also like to encourage people to report any incidences that do occur and not shrug them off as unimportant.”

BY HELENA HORTON saults in a year was in 2009, where only two took place.

University Secretary and Registrar describes York as a “very safe place to study” and told York Vision: “we deplore any form of sexual harassment or assault, and encourage students always to report such incidents to the proper authorities”.

MCGIVERN’UP

BY HELENA HORTON

ANNA MCGIVERN has confirmed that she is not rerunning as YUSU Activities Officer in a recent blog post.

She said; “If you fancy getting 17k for hanging about in York for a year, get yourself nominated!”

McGivern gushed the virtues of her role, arguing that it “Knocks all work experience claims out of the park” and that whilst she sometimes “hated everything about it”, the skills that she learned were “invaluable”.

Nominations are now closed for YUSU positions, with the candidate list out on Monday 10th.

A SEVEN DAY RAGGING

BY HELENA HORTON

RAG WEEK is now well underway, and all funds raised will go towards Cardiac Risk in the Young.

Four events have taken place so far, with Dodgeball and RAG Sport Superstars on Saturday, a Movie Marathon on Sunday and The Great Gatsby Shots ’n’ Shares on Monday.

Later in the week is a ‘Hangover’ Bar Crawl on Thursday, with challenges based on the film along the route. Beth Greenwood, one of the RAG Officers, commented, “There will be challenges based on the film along the route, with some great prizes for the team that does best.”

People who are looking for love will be interested in the event on Friday, which is a Blind Date hosted by Kallum Taylor.

People who want to take part can email rag@yusu.org.

Greenwood also commented; “There’s loads of other things going on throughout the week for everyone to get involved with too - people can check out the Facebook page for more details!”

TWEETS OF THE WEEK Lewis Chandler @Lewis Chandler “There are no words to describe my emotions about Willow’s apparent closing. I will be doing an Elton John Candle in the Wind memorial soon.”

Joshua Treacy @joshuatreacy “Vanbrugh Stalls should be renamed ‘The Gauntlet’”

YORK VISION

NEWS

Tuesday February 4, 2014

5

YORK VISION EXCLUSIVE

ONE BILLION RISE

BY MORENIKE ADEBAYO A GLOBAL campaign aimed at ending violence towards women will hit the University later this month.

The One Billion Rising event, which is part of the V-Day Movement, will take place at Vanbrugh Dining Hall on Valentine’s Day with this year’s message being on justice for the women survivors of violence.

A photoshoot for the event has been jointly organised by the Women’s Committee and Amnesty International for the 5 February to capture the reasons why people are rising for V-Day. Organiser Emily Inglis said: “I think it’s important to raise awareness via a show of positive strength, especially with things like the videos broadcast of women rising across the world - it’s amazing to see.”

TOKYO-MG STUDENTS FORCED TO COMMIT DRUNKEN ACTS

OFFER: “We don’t want CALL-OUTS UP students...pressured to take their clothes off...”

BY LEON MORRIS

THE NUMBER of ambulance call-outs to the University has gradually risen over the last three years, new data shows.

In 2013, a total of 156 ambulances were called onto campus.

A total of 42 evacuations were made from campus blocks in 2013, including Fairfax House, following botched culinary attempts by students.

But this is less than the 136 ambulances called in 2012, and sharply up on the 117 called in 2011.

And according to the figures, there were 408 reported accidents in 2013, with the majority of accidents resulting from “cuts on sharps”.

SCOPED IN

BY LEON MORRIS

THE UNIVERSITY has confirmed plans to invite Chair of Scope, Alice Maynard, to improve access across university campuses.

Maynard, a key adviser to Transport for London on issues of access, has agreed to advise the University’s Disability Accessibility Group.

Academic Registrar David Duncan told Vision: “Dr Alice Maynard is a distinguished alumna of the University with internationally recognised expertise on disability issues.

“We look forward to welcoming Alice back to York soon.”

Maynard, a campaigner and businesswoman, recently received an honorary degree from the University of York.

ADELE: “The licking of the cream was authorised by management...”

[continued from front page] But in a later task, it has emerged that a young woman was told to lick off whipped cream from the man’s nipple, belly-button and armpit in what has been blasted as “uncomfortable peer pressure”.

Anna Henley, a third-year English undergraduate, told Vision: “The issue wasn’t the fact they weren’t dangerously drunk but that there was uncomfortable peer pressure.

Sure they volunteered but they didn’t know they were going to strip or they had to lick cream off one another – the guy seemed initially reluctant. It was uncomfortable to watch – free alcohol or no free alcohol, it’s not my idea of entertainment.”

The manager of Tokyo, Adele Lord, has apologised for any offence caused, and said that the company was open to suggestions for “better games”.

She said to Vision: “It was not a drinking game, it was a stage game, but crowd surfing and the licking of the cream was authorised by management.

“We at Tokyo apologise to those who are offended, and we may set up a competition for an idea for another event in the future, to avoid situations like these in the future.”

She added that the two students were not intoxicated and that no alcoholic prize was awarded for taking part.

But according to eye-witness Jordan Allwood, also a

third-year English student, “The girl definitely won a bottle of wine for doing the licking.

“That said, both people volunteered to go up on stage, and were free to leave whenever they wanted, so while Tokyo shouldn’t really have done the game in the first place, nobody was forced to do anything they didn’t want to.”

George Offer, YUSU’s Welfare and Community Officer, told Vision: “Fortunately it seems that the student in this case wasn’t distressed by the situation. Ultimately we don’t want students to feel pressured to take their clothes off (or lick cream off someone’s nipples!)”

The event was held as part of the “I Love Tokyo Thursdays” – a YUSU-backed club night held at Tokyo every Thursday.

It is linked with the student unions’ Black Card, which guarantees a queue jump, a plus one queue jump and free entry for cardholders.

In 2011, the club came under fire from a group of women who were asked to give a lapdance to the company of TOWIE’s Joey Essex.

According to one of the girls involved, they had to perform the act in order to meet the 23-year-old reality TV star.

On the club night, Offer continued: “We have a great relationship with the YUSU club night staff, so we can make sure we don’t see any incidents like this in future.”

6

YORK VISION

NEWS

FIRE SAFETY BREACHES

BY JACK GEVERTZ

CASH-STRAPPED students landed 176 fines for breaching fire safety rules last year – a 14 per cent rise on 2012.

The biggest contributor to the increase was the use of candles in rooms, with discoveries more than doubling in a year, according to data obtained by Vision.

In 2012, fire inspectors issued 23 fines for candles in study rooms, but last year they made students pay-up 50 times.

Additionally, those hoping to dodge penalties by storing wax lights in cupboards were also caught out – a staggering 40 times last year compared with none in 2012.

The fines have contributed to a rise in the number of penalties being issued by safety inspectors, with 24 more students being told they have breached rules in comparison to 2012.

There was some good news, though, as figures show that the number of malicious activations of a Manual Call Point nose-dived – down from 54 in 2012 to just one in 2013.

The number of students being caught smoking in their room was also down – falling from 24 to 22 in 2013.

Tuesday February 4, 2014

FRESHERS’ WEEK SECURITY STATS REVEALED

w NUISANCE COLLEGES

REVEALED

Alcuin crowned (closely followed by Derwent...)

ALCUIN: 10 DERWENT: 9 GOODRICKE: 6 JAMES & VANBRUGH: 5 HALIFAX: 4 LANGWITH: 2 WENTWORTH: 1

BY JACK GEVERTZ DROWSY COLLEGE Alcuin has topped the Freshers’ Week incident table - with 10 incidents being recorded.

The college was crowned most incident-prone for the seven-day event, with Derwent coming a close second on 9 reported issues.

Goodricke came third with 6 issues, whilst Vanbrugh and James were awarded joint fourth place with 5 issues.

The number of overall campus incidents, including those that took place in colleges, stood at a whopping 97.

This was made up largely of general

maintenance problems with plumber call-outs and insecure doors and windows making up 20 issues.

Recorded student welfare concerns stood at 13, whilst alarm activations maxed 12.

But the statistics, obtained by Vision, show a worrying number of thefts and ambulance call-outs - with 8 incidents being recorded for each across the sevenday period.

The college that reported the fewest issues was Wentworth, with Langwith and Halifax known to have 2 and 4 problems respectively.

YORK VISION

NEWS

Tuesday February 4, 2014

STUDENTS CRY OUT AS MANAGERS FORCE DOWN PAY

Vision reveals top boss bad sportsmanship in popular venue...

BY HELENA HORTON

THERE WAS an online stampede to get a glimpse of a veteran broadcaster last Friday.

Tickets to see Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow were snapped up by students within hours of them going live.

The journalist, who is visiting as part of the York Union events, will speak on Iran, the

United States and other current affairs at the Bowland Auditorium in the Berrick Saul Building this Friday.

A spokesperson for the York Union said: “We will release some more tickets next week.

The best way to find out when they go on sale is by keeping an eye on our Facebook page and the Facebook event.”

STUDENT EMPLOYEES at the University have faced unexpected pay cuts after agreeing to zero-hours contracts.

Two student receptionists have complained about their treatment to YUSU Sabb Officers Cass Brown and Kallum Taylor, with one student stating that the University did not tell her about an unexpected pay cut, after finding out via a colleague.

One student told Sabb Officers in an email; “Our pay rate has recently been dropped from £7.73 to £6.31 per hour.

“On the University website it stipulates that as casual workers we ought to be being paid at least £6.83 per hour according to University regulations. I believe that, as part-time receptionists, we are being paid too little.”

Another student receptionist at the York Sports Village, “felt hard done by” because of the pay cut”.

One student revealed in an email to Kallum Taylor that her

zero-hours contract meant that she was being “left out of the shift rota”.

She commented: “I’m just really confused as I can’t think of anything I would have done wrong to be frozen out of shifts, and I’m hurt! Other casual receptionists are still getting several shifts a month.”

The contract which the receptionists signed stated that they would be paid £7.73 an hour – and failed to mention whether this wage could or would be dropped.

It does state, however, that “casual engagement does not constitute or imply any contract of employment between yourself and YCL.” Kallum Taylor, YUSU President told Vision: “The brief exchanges in communication I’ve had with Unison appear to contradict that [sic] I’ve had with the University regarding whether or not there was a process agreed on the issues raised. We’ll be investigating further as it looks like procedure is being made up as they go along here.”

CAREER FEARS: VISION POLL REVEALS ALL...

BY ED KENT

JUST UNDER 50 per cent of students have never used the careers service in a recent Vision poll, after revelations that graduate employment at York is one of the worst in the UK’s top 30 Universities.

A survey of over 200 students at the university found that just under 50 per cent of all students surveyed have shunned the careers service, with all first years never using the service.

Will Murray, a second year history student, voiced his concerns, commenting: “the service wasn’t really very useful” and “they just

told me things I already knew”.

Despite her issues with the careers service, Sabina Usher, an ex-York student, managed to get the job she wanted. She said “the careers service wasn’t particularly helpful and I never went to the careers talks”.

Sabina is now working at Instant Impact, a recruitment agency connecting fast-growing SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) with students and graduates and comments on the fact that “many students don’t know what SMEs are, or if they do then they are unsure how to access them.”

She also told us: “When I was a

student at York I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do, let alone the smaller business route”.

Dan Ashcroft, a third year student, finds that the careers service “isn’t very proactive in letting students know of the service that they provide. You have to actively seek them out or be lucky enough to spot the Facebook event on your news feed”.

There was, however, a mixed response as one student lucky enough to spot careers events did give praise to the careers service.

Alex Kontos, a second year, told Vision: “I’ve used it for entrepreneurship and they’re extremely

helpful”.

The Complete University Guide ranks York at 12th in the UK, with its graduate prospects being ranked at the 6th lowest in the top 30. The Guardian ranked York at the 4th worst in the top 30 in terms of career prospects.

Academic Registrar David Duncan told Vision: “York graduates are very able, highly competitive all rounders – exactly the qualities top employers are looking for.

“York’s position continues to strengthen as employers recognise our graduates’ high levels of employability.”

7

WHAT’S BITCOIN?

BY JACK GEVERTZ THOSE WISHING to pay for their tuition fees using a digital currency may be in for a bit of a disappointment.

Academic Registrar David Duncan seemed baffled over the coinage plans of Cumbria University when it announced earlier this month that it would introduce Bitcoin to allow a small number of students to pay for their courses if they studied one of two degrees.

When we quizzed the senior university official over whether the digital currency would be adopted here, he asked: “What’s that?”

Cumbria says it will introduce Bitcoin to allow students to pay their tuition fees if they study a Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Leadership or a Certificate of Achievement in Sustainable Exchange.

But it seems, from Mr. Duncan’s response, that bosses at York don’t seem in any rush to adopt similar plans, so unfortunately it means continuing trips to the bank or ongoing direct debits.

CHEER UP PETAL!

BY HELENA HORTON GOODRICKE are spreading the love this Valentine’s day, allowing lovestruck students to send roses to each other through the JCRC. For a small sum, members of the college will be able to send this romantic floral gift to the object of their affections- or maybe just to embarrass their friends!

Tara Annison, the Goodricke Chair commented; “We’re hoping to spread some love around goodricke with the opportunity to send a rose to a loved one, a secret crush or maybe just some friends and flatmates.”

“We haven’t put poster up and announced it yet but we’ve contacted rose companies and done an initial survey and it’s looking to be very popular.

We just haven’t pressed the go button yet but it’s all ready to begin!”

8

YORK VISION

NEWS

Vision's Helena Horton takes a look at the country’s student publications with news surrounding the arms industry, animal welfare and secret societies.

Student Press THIS WEEK, the London Student revealed that London Universities have a huge stake in the arms industry, despite student antipathy towards the issue displayed in protests such as Disarm UCL. This is another trend in Universities across the country not listening to their students but to their coffers.

Slightly closer to home, The Newcastle Courier wrote about a harrowing experiment that takes place at their University on wild-caught baboons. Critics have called this research on the intelligent mammals invasive and unsafe – the professor, Stuart Baker, was testing the effect of strokes on the brain.

He’s hit back, though, and said that the baboons enjoy a high standard of animal welfare – they have large cages apparently and big social groups.

This puts our rat testing scandal of last year into perspective a little, but it raises the question of whether science professors should listen to student concerns about animal welfare, or just get on with their research regardless.

I’m sure our colleagues in the Biology department would agree with the latter.

On a more lighthearted note, my favourite story of late is that in Lancaster, the Scan reported that students are being threatened with fines upwards of £200 for being drunk in the Uni bar.

Imagine the uproar we’d get at York if it were implemented here, what with our apparent strong libertarian presence! I hate the idea of stopping our bright and beautiful from being able to get mortal – what else are those of us with six contact hours a week supposed to do if not spend our entire time either drunk or hungover?

Apparently all it did was inspire loads of students to go to the bar and get drunk to ‘protest’. Sounds a bit like a clever marketing scheme to me...

If you didn’t think that Durham could get more exclusive, then you’re in for a shock. The Palatinate revealed this week that secret societies exist in the University.

Because of this, they’ve had a backlash for being ‘elitist’. We can’t confirm or deny whether there are any secret societies at York, as they are, obviously, secret, but we definitely do not hold secret society meetings in the Vision office...

We promise...

IMPENDING ERECTIONS

BY JAMES SCOTT

SOCIETIES ARE set to have greater opportunities to advertise on campus as Circular Billboards, similar to those seen in Paris and Berlin, are to be introduced in York.

Opportunities for societies to advertise their events and meetings on campus have been severely curtailed since 2011, when postering outside of designated areas was controversially banned.

The new scheme will see a number of Parisian style Circular Columns set up in key footfall areas on campus, creating a space which will allow students and societies to advertise their events and services.

Deputy Vice Chancellor Jane Grenville, who is spearheading the scheme, told Vision; “Although the reasons for banning fly posting on campus are good, and we should stick with the ban, an unintended outcome is that the

University looks a bit ‘antiseptic’.

Posters liven it up and students like them, even in an electronic age, as a primary form of communication.”

Grenville... Inspired

The scheme has received largely positive reaction from societies.

Drama Soc’s Press and Publicity Officer, Zoe Biles, was delighted with the development; “I think this scheme sounds fantastic. The idea of having poster billboards is great, as it combines the idea of keeping campus ‘tidy’ with giving ample opportunity for students to advertise their work.”

VANBRUGH VICTORIOUS

BY ANGUS QUINN VANBRUGH CHAIR, Michael Duncan, has opened up his inaugural term with massive success, claiming the most contested JCRC by-elections and pulling off a Vanbrugh club night at Mansion.

Duncan said of the success: “It’s really encouraging that we had more byelection candidates than any other colleges.

“It proves just how enthusiastic our students are about getting involved with Vanbrugh.

“With our new members, the JCRC is going to be working hard this year to use that enthusiasm to make Vanbrugh better than it has ever been.”

Vanbrugh College claimed the highest number of votes for a single position and fielded 17 candidates across the bi-elections.

The VERTIGO event, hosted off campus on the 29th January, also proved a huge success for the college. 500 tickets were sold for the event without YUSU involvement.

FAR-EASTERN PRESSURE

BY HELENA HORTON

GOODRICKE JCRC and Langwith CSA have put forward a petition to the University, urging them to complete their promised facilities by October 2015.

YUSU, Heslington Parish Council and the Heslington Ward have pledged support for the petition, with YUSU speaking in favour of approving planning permission for Constantine College.

The University has failed to commit to a strict timeline regarding the development on Heslington East, after earlier promising to establish a working group with the aim of completing a number of social and catering facilities by next October.

YUSU Welfare & Community Officer, George Offer, commented: “Students who live and study on Heslington East are in serious need of better provision of social and catering facilities.

We really want to see, as part of

what’s provided, flexible space for YUSU, Student Support Services and colleges to use for the benefit of students.

“It’s a huge pleasure to be able to work together with the Heslington Parish Council on an issue that affects residents throughout the village and both campuses.”

Heslington Ward Councillor, David Levene has commented: “Everyone agrees that there need to be improvements to the facilities available on Hes East; this is about getting firm commitments about when they will be delivered. This will be of benefit to both the student body and the wider community, so I’m really glad to be working with YUSU on this campaign, and we are confident that we will be able to get groups like Heslington Parish Council on board too.

“Ultimately we recognise how important this is to the local area and are hoping to get enough signatures to trigger a debate at City Council on the issue.”

Tuesday February 4, 2014

VISION REVEALS PLANS With tuition fees potentially on the rise again and the student books on the sell, we have discovered university plans to further privatise key services to international students... with evidence of similar plans failing in the past...

TOP BOSSES are planning to part-privatise recruitment and English language teaching of international students to multinational contractor, INTO, York Vision can reveal.

Previously undeclared plans for a Joint Venture involve INTO Partnerships Ltd opening an English teaching centre on Heslington East – with potential consequences for the current in-house Centre for English Language Teaching and its staff.

Leaked minutes from the last meeting of the Joint Negotiation and Consultation Committee, the university’s trade union and management forum, reveal the university claiming “very early stage discussions [are] taking place with… ‘INTO’, who provide foundation programmes for overseas students, for one year, which [include] programmes to bring English language up to the required standard to undertake degree programmes.”

However, Vision has obtained information that suggests the university has been in negotiation with INTO for around six months, as it is still being heavily negotiated by Senate, with union representatives on campus only discovering plans in October.

One source told this paper that the negotiations were ‘closeddoor’ and lacked transparency.

INTO’s own website suggests that the partnership is already underway, promoting International Foundation courses at the university.

According to the JNCC minutes, the plans are currently for the initiative to fully “begin [by] Autumn 2015, with flow through from 2016”, with the university claiming potential benefits include “shared fees with INTO and flow-through of overseas students, which would help increase the University’s overseas undergraduate student intake.”

However, unions on campus have questioned the plans, with the UCU lecturers’ union asking why international student recruitment and language teaching cannot continue to be done in-house.

INTO state that since 2006, they have “successfully launched 18 joint venture partnerships with 17 leading universities in the United Kingdom, North America and China”, providing a “strong private sector partner.”

But York Vision spoke to a staff member at a British INTOpartner university, who wishes to remain anonymous, who claims the company operate “dicey im-

iscussions..

Registrar... D

“‘CLOSED

migration practices” to increase student numbers, “promise more than they can deliver’ and engage in ‘extremely poor practice’. The source – who is considering resigning over the issue - claims they play ‘fast and loose’ with their student recruitment, and only delivered around a third of their initially predicted student recruits.

The outsourcing plans were discussed in a ‘very lively debate’ at last week’s Senate, leading to the

NEWS

YORK VISION

Tuesday February 4, 2014

TO OUTSOURCE KEY INTERNATIONAL SERVICES

9

DAVID LEVENE IS

THE COUNCILLOR

YORK’S HEADING INTO DANGER? UNI’S NEW OUTSOURCING PLANS DRAW CRITICISM

FAN-TASH-TIC!

BY JACK GEVERTZ

A UNIT at the University has received a grant, thanks to a Movember fundraising drive.

The Yorkshire Cancer Research (YCR) Unit has received £190,000 to explore whether changing the behaviour of a certain gene in the prostate could help identify therapeutic targets which can halt a prostate cancer from spreading.

The YCR, which also receives funding from R U Taking The P, has been given the grant by Prostate Cancer UK, which aims to advance understanding into the treatment of prostate cancer.

Professor Norman Maitland, from the department of biology, told ITV News: “With this generous grant from Prostate Cancer UK we want to find out exactly how a gene called latexin works in prostate tissues.

“My recent research has already shown that this gene has a strong effect on the fate of the cells which cause the tumour to develop. If we can find a way to increase its activity, in turn reducing the growth of tumours, this may lead to a new focus for the development of treatments for advanced prostate cancer.”

The causes of the cancer are largely unknown but most cases develop in men aged over 50.

DOOR’ AND LACKED TRANSPARENCY” BY university agreeing to establish a Senate sub-group to look more closely at the proposals – a tactic used at other campuses - with the UCU pushing for a seat at the table.

However, given the scale of anger, there may be an emergency Senate before the next scheduled meeting.

University registrar David Duncan said: “We have given the trade union a [legally-required] guarantee that the jobs and terms and conditions of existing mem-

JOSIAH MORTIMER & LEON MORRIS bers of staff would be safeguarded. We would also be prepared to enter a recognition agreement with the union covering staff in the joint venture.”

Duncan stated that under the proposed Joint Venture “INTO would provide the capital for additional facilities on campus and recruitment services via overseas recruitment agents; the academic content and all decisions on academic matters would be

the responsibility of the University. Total additional student numbers coming into University programmes would rise gradually to around 300-350 by 2022/2023.”

YUSU President Kallum Taylor said: “The student representatives at Senate made it very clear that we absolutely recognise that the INTO proposal could be hugely successful for York.

However, along with a considerable section of Senate member-

ship, we raised a number of concerns and conditions which we expect to addressed and met in order to cement our support.

“We won’t be backing [the plans] until a vast array of grey areas are cleared up, and a number of conditions are met”.

He demanded student representation on the Senate sub-group to discuss the plans.

York, and not in a way that’s generic, rushed and cheap.”

COMMENT: PAGE 13

CAMPAIGNING IS my favourite thing about politics. From the dizzying heights of the NUS affiliation referendum in my first year, to Council election canvassing the year after graduation, I can’t get enough. What can I say, political types are an odd bunch.

And it’s a busy time for campaigning. Recognising an increasing interest in single issue campaigns, myself, Hull Road Councillor, Neil Barnes, and the good folk at the University Labour Club are petitioning against student support cuts.

There have been some worrying reports about the Government considering cutting funding targeted at getting the poorest into HE, or reducing the amount of available grant and converting it to loans. Given that a central argument of those increasing fees was that it would come with more generous financial support, this didn’t seem right.

Now, as one fine gent put it as we were collecting signatures recently, “Yeah, but it’s all bollocks, isn’t it?”. Well, maybe.

Maybe not. 38 Degrees, where we have an online version of our petition, has a whole section listing successful campaigns. And I think it’s important people let their representatives know there will be consequences to their decisions. Raising this always causes a bit of fuss, but at a hustings for the last General Election, a certain York Outer MP promised to sign NUS’s pledge not to raise fees. He didn’t. He then voted for the rise. Now there’s a notable silence on cutting grants. Is this right? Is he representing his constituents’ interests? If not, it’s important people speak up.

In the next couple of weeks I’m also going to be working with YUSU to get some guarantees from the University on improved Hes East facilities. For too long, when someone argued it was not okay for Goodricke, and now Langwith, and soon Constantine students, to have to cross an A road to get to a shop (the petrol station), everyone would agree, but where is the retail provision?

Where are the student activities spaces? Where is the social and catering building? This has a big impact on those living there, as well as the surrounding area, so we want a debate at the City Council to discuss this issue.

This takes 1000 signatures, so we’ll be working to get groups like Heslington Parish involved, too. A good example of a campaign bringing different communities together.

So get signing. Get voting, get involved. Or at least, don’t scowl at me too much when I try and grab you as you pass Vanbrugh Stalls!

P.S. Outside of campaigning, YUSU, the Police and the Council are planning a Volunteering Fair-type event covering student and community activities to advertise opportunities and showcase work already done.

10NEWS

YORK VISION

Tuesday February 4, 2014

REGISTRAR CLAIMS ‘PLUG THE GAP’ FAIR

DUNCAN: UNIVERSITY’S SCHOLARSHIP IS ‘FAIR’

BY JACK GEVERTZ

THE UNIVERSITY’S plan to fill a funding cut in the National Scholarship Programme by more than £350,000 is ‘fair’, Academic Registrar David Duncan has said.

The government announced in November that it would slash its part of the funding for the programme - which provides financial help for the poorest students - by £100 million from the next academic year.

The University’s pledge fills almost half of £709,000 shortfall created by the move.

But the Times Higher Education magazine has learned that some universities are offering to fill a much higher gap in the

YORK’S GREEN TUMBLE

BY JACK GEVERTZ

THE UNIVERSITY has once again plunged in the latest environmental rankings – falling more than 40 places on 2012.

The annual survey by Greenmetric placed the University 152nd for 2013 – considerably lower than the 108th place ranked in 2012 and more than 70 places lower than 2011, where the University ranked 78th.

The study combines institution efforts at setting and infrastructure, energy and climate change, waste water, transportation and education to give an overall score on university sustainability and green friendly management.

It gave York a total of 4,962 – less than institutions across Europe, Asia and America.

Registrar David Duncan said: “It is difficult to understand exactly how these rankings are compiled and why York is rated so low. We have taken important steps to improve energy efficiency, reduce traffic to and from the campus and raise awareness of environmental sustainability.”

“At the same time, we recognise that much remains to be done.”

shortfall.

The University of Warwick is pledging £500,000 to cover twothirds of the cut whilst University College London and the University of Leicester are stumping up £600,000 and £700,000 respectively – almost the entire government cut.

Mr. Duncan said that the University admits a large proportion of low-income students among the Russell Group universities and so the plans were fair.

“The additional University allocation of £350,000 will help to address the shortfall created by the unexpected change in government policy,” he said.

“Unlike some Duncan... Calm

institutions, we do not ration the number of awards we make under the National Scholarships Programme.”

He also insisted that scholarships would still be awarded to those who earn up to £35,000 a year.

“All those from the lowest income backgrounds will receive scholarships of £4,000, with smaller bursaries available to those on higher income brackets up to £35,000 pa. Higher value bursaries are available for care leavers and foundation year students,” he added.

The shortfall announced by the University came after a campaign by YUSU President Kallum Taylor, who urged officials to “plug the gap” to ensure those students who had already opted for York were not financially burdened.

Mr. Taylor welcomed the

change in direction but said that the University’s plans were not “100 per cent”.

“It’s not 100 per cent no, but for York, it is a huge change in direction,” he said.

“Other institutions have offered more money, and others have offered less – and that’s clearly down to the pressure placed on them by interests within, and ultimately, their varying sizes, student numbers, types of student, and overall finances so to judge them all on the same terms would be flawed.”

The YUSU President added that the government should be “taken to task” on its move to slash funding.

“There’s also bigger politics involved,” he said.

“Many institutions are reluctant to put up the entire 100% as they don’t want the government to assume that they can

pass these costs off onto institutions easily… It’s amazing that £354,500 in the form of cash bursaries will protect this year’s intake, but that money is essentially student’s money that could’ve gone elsewhere, so it would be dangerous for this to happen year in, year out. The government should be taken to task on this in the long run.”

Original plans in the Government’s Spending Review last year prompted an axe concern

by YUSU officials after ministers announced a slash in the National Scholarship Programme’s budget from £150 million to £50 million for the 2015-16 academic year.

But the Department for Business, Skills and Innovation insisted that the scheme would not be scrapped following its introduction by the Coalition government as tuition fees were trebled.

STUDENTS FORCED TO WORK TOO HARD

BY HELENA HORTON

THE PHILOSOPHY department has been described as a ‘shame’ to the University, Vision can reveal.

Embittered second-year students complained after they were given an ‘unreasonable’ workload by the Department, who purportedly refused to listen to complaints from students after the first term’s workload.

The department set secondyears three assessed essays in for the same day in Week 7 of the Autumn Term, for the first time since the University considered introducing semesterisation. Students voiced their concerns to their Course Rep, Andy Bewley.

He then went on to bring it up with the Department who ‘are yet to respond’, but carried on with the same structure, setting three assessed essays in for the same day in Week 7 of this term.

One student, who wishes to remain unnamed, commented; “This term we will be expected to carry out the 3 essays in for the same day, with no regard for however we may struggle with the reading and content of each respective module.

“This entire year seems like it is just their opportunity to fuck us all over. And to be particularly honest it does seem like the department gives no fucks to how we do and has no inter-communication capacity because of the

continuous workload they are constantly setting us to do.”

Loussin Pilikian, Halifax President, was unhappy with the changes to the course structure and remarked; “Whilst I feel like this is just the general qualms of a second year not quite getting to grips with the depth of understanding required I feel that with the rise in tuition fees lecturers need to focus strongly on the teaching and support aspect of their jobs.”

“I think more contact hours are required in order for people to feel comfortable with the material, the lecturers and furthering understanding!”

“Philosophy is about conversation, ideas, views and perspec-

tive.”

“Independent reading is all well and good but I do believe we need scheduled tutorials to better hone original thought and practice and to be honest the lack of supportive framework has been great letdown and shame to the university and course of Philosophy. Socrates would turn in his grave.”

Robert Webster, who sat on the academic committee, explained to the ‘frustrated’ second years that the second year programme is ‘constantly shifting’ because of the University ‘flirting’ with the idea of semesters, so even with complaints from students, the assessment structure is unlikely to change.

CLUB CONDEMNS CALLOUS CUTS

BY ANGUS QUINN

UNIVERSITY OF York Labour Club and local Labour Councillors have launched a petition condemning government plans to cut £200 Million of funding for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The petition calls upon Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, and Julian Sturdy, York Outer MP, to “reject any plans to reduce the

amount of grant or other financial support available to those in Higher and Further Education.”

Caitlin O’Kelly, Chair of University of York Labour Cub said: “The proposed changes to the current student grant allocation is a huge concern, especially considering the rising cost of tuition, and living expenses.

“The University of York Labour Club is delighted to be working with local councillors to campaign against any cut in

the student support budget, and to ask Julian Sturdy to take the interests of students at York into account when he votes on this issue.”

Hull Road ward councilor, Neil Barnes commented: “Labour councillors in York are fully supportive of mixed local communities and recognise the positive contribution that students make to York’s economy.

“Following our motion back in December, we’re now pleased

to team up with the University Labour Club in gathering the signatures of York students to reject any plans to reduce student support schemes.”

Over 500 people signed the petition, with offical results released this week.

11 COMMENT

YORK VISION

COMMENT

Tuesday Febuary 4, 2014

www.yorkvision.co.uk/comment comment@yorkvision.co.uk

PRIVATE AFFAIRS

ARE POLITICIAN’S PRIVATE LIVES ANY OF OUR BUSINESS?

MICHAEL COOPER @MichaelCooper09

I

n this country to be a politician is very much to be in the public eye. If you ascend to the highest heights of office you can expect to have your every move scrutinised; from the colour of the shirts you wear on holiday, to the way in which you sign of text messages to newspaper editors.

Of course the absolute worst thing any politician or public servant can do is lie – and the worst kind of lying is cheating.

When a politician has an affair all hell breaks loose, The Sun have headlines running for weeks – in fact all our countries media has a field day from the serious political commentators discussing the implications of the affair on the politician’s position to the tabloids talking about what clothes the mistress would wear on her perfect Sunday.

Recently it was revealed the Francois Hollande, the president of France, has been having an affair with an actress and as a result he separated from his wife. The British media seem to be taking advantage of the seemingly dull sexual landscape of the House of Commons and are getting all excited about the sex life of the French

president. However, the French people do not seem to be as concerned – when watching BBC news one could not help but assume that the interviewer could not seem to find many French citizens that actually cared – they all seemed to believe that the president’s personal life was personal and in fact were much more concerned with the mess that they perceive he is making of their country.

I think it is the case that we do not seem to see politicians as humans that have emotions, desires or feelings This seems to be very strange; one cannot imagine that happening over here: if David Cameron was caught at it there would be a media frenzy – the news would be filled with every Tom, Dick and Harry who has an opinion on the Prime minister’s integrity – and probably result in an extended press conference where he would apologise for every bad thing he has done and then end with an awkward embrace with his wife who, of course, will have forgiven him.

So why is there such a vast difference be-

tween us and the French? Why do they not take such an interest in the private lives of their politicians? I think the answer lies in what we expect of politicians – do we expect them to be people with feelings, hopes and dreams or simply administrators with no emotions? Now it is very important to point out at this point that I am not condoning Mr Hollande’s actions- I do not know the ins and outs of his private life – but I do not think that we can so easily use his infidelity as evidence that he is a bad leader. Of course one can argue that ‘once a cheater always a cheater’ and that we can then infer that he would cheat the public if he is willing to cheat on his wife.

Unfortunately, I am not particularly convinced by this logic – if someone asked me whom I would trust more as a politician, someone who had cheated on their wife or someone who had fiddled their expenses for purely monetary gain then I would choose the former. Of course this person could turn out to be an awful politician but the latter has already proved that he is deeply self-interested – a character trait that no one can deny is awful in a public servant.

I think it is the case that we do not seem to see politicians as humans that have emotions, desires or feelings. This is of course then very restrictive to the kind of people we can have in politics.

If you take the film Love Actually for example, it would be ludicrous to conceive of

a bachelor prime minister – what woman in their right mind would date the Prime Minister? The media attention would be horrendous. If you look at the leaders of the main three political parties they are all in stable marriages. I have nothing against this, but is this just the case because this is the perceived norm?

Look at Boris Johnson, he commands more popularity than most of the House of Commons and he is known to have had affairs – now I do not think he is a good politician by any means but that has nothing to do with his affairs. Take Russell Brand personally I believe he has interesting points to make about democracy but the idea of him being an MP is ridiculous.

I think that we have to take an unfaithful politician with a pinch of salt, we need to realise that they are human beings just like us and we should not hold them up to ridiculous moral standards. If David Cameron was unfaithful to his wife I would not think it made him a terrible politician; he is a terrible politician because of his policies. Politicians are humans with feelings if we accepted them as such perhaps we could widen the appeal of the profession to those who do not fit the extremely narrow criteria set for them.

We can take a lesson from the people of France: we should judge politicians only on their policies and not on the basis of their private lives.

view actually counts.

Maybe six whole weeks of doing this (with perhaps a few too many nights) and it can quite quickly appear that you’re overworking, taking too much time out of societal commitments to read papers, all of which have very little impact on your educational enrichment.

Also, the work generally has absolutely no effect upon your final module grade – and considering you only really need to learn roughly a quarter of a module in most arts degrees anyway, everything can be dropped!

The point I am trying to make is it’s possible to scrape through an entire term without actually studying or reading anything, and by blagging seminar absences with some transient excuse. You can cram most information in a couple of days before your exam or essay deadline and still attain a 2:1. We kid ourselves that our contact hours matter when, in fact, the majority of a degree is completely self-taught.

The best bit is the irrational stigma that working hard brings you. On first arriving to university, you are immediately greeted with alcoholism, late nights and the constant line that “first year doesn’t count”.

I think we should challenge this idea of “the university experience” that young students feel they need to have in their lives.

The global education system has developed into a fatal representation of human intelli-

gence and “education” has become useless.

Universities have become much more than educational institutions. Top bosses are more intent on league tables, student numbers and tuition fees. What on earth does any of this have to do with receiving a good quality education?

Having said all of this, I accept that education is a social construct to enrich human beings and shouldn’t be taken for granted.

I don’t think education is an inalienable human right – like water, air and food.

Education should be free and available to all and, more importantly, equal. The global education system needs to be reformed to reflect that. In the UK, there needs to be a complete nationalising of the education system, with government controlling everything from buildings to the curriculum.

Yes, private tuition has been proven to spit out the best performing students but fundamentally, it’s not the type of school that can provide a level of education. Good teachers provide a good education – and when there’s money going, they’re always going to make a terrible decision.

Money corrupts all - it’s a belief I’ve always held. It’s something which definitely applies to education and something that impacts us all.

Call me a political optimist, but politicians should recognise the dangers of the current systems we have in place and act to change the global trend now.

A DEGREE OF EXPECTATION EDUCATION NEEDS A GLOBAL REFORM NOW

LEON MORRIS @ LAMorris91

I

t may come as a little shock when I declare to you the penetrable and irrational statement that degrees are absolutely useless in their current form.

Take a second and ask yourself why you came to university. The colourful spectrum of answers would generally range from drinking and drugs, to the nightlife of the city (ha!), or perhaps the employment prospects. Let’s be honest, most definitely the hope of a decent pay packet at the end.

Actually, I don’t deny that the majority of us choose Higher Education with the best of intentions. I personally remember the keenness and amity to which I poured through books before arriving in York, thinking of how much more intelligent I would be once I did that every single day at university. I even left a military career because I wanted to become more intellectually aware of what was actually going on around me in the world.

However, being at university certainly doesn’t live up to the illustrious image that we so fondly hold. Even more ironically, we immediately justify any antipathy to-

wards studying at university, with a wide range of excuses, which usually includes jobs, friends or that troublesome one night stand.

Through all my best intentions and educational virtuosity, I do however fondly remember leaving the military to pursue a degree with the plans of returning to a better paid position in the forces. Perhaps I didn’t always have the most idyllic of intentions with my education – instead I focused on maintaining my own “career plan”.

It’s possible to scrape through an entire term without studying or reading anything.

Let’s take a look at what a degree actually equates to in today’s society. The typical student arises out of bed around 11am, stumbles into the shower with that belligerent hangover, and consequentially formulates their best intentions for that “productive” day ahead (despite having already missed their 9am lecture or seminar from the morning, of course).

The student manages may make a number of their lectures and/or seminars and sits passively, but probably only contributes in seminars when required to, or to get that little ego trip when you think your

12 COMMENT

THE VOICE OF

YORK VISION

TOKYO’S WHEEL OF DOOM SHOWS THAT LAD CULTURE REMAINS AN EMBARASSING PROBLEM IN YORK Lad Culture has reared its ugly head yet again in York, being given a new spin on Tokyo’s Wheel of Doom. There’s something so depressing in intelligent young people giving in to peer pressure and publicly humiliating their peers. Tokyo isn’t exactly a paragon of innocence or virtue but there is almost certainly a line crossed when people are being undressed and being made to feel extremely uncomfortable in front of a room of normally level-headed and rational people. Frankly we should all know better.

Publicly degrading two people is completely unacceptable and the kind of thing that we should be rising above rather than encouraging. Though the two people involved are probably anonymous to the great mass that were at Tokyo that night, they have to carry with them the memory of what happened and deal with it. What for most people was hilarious for those two people can only have been distressing to put it mildly. Everytime Lad Culture seems to disappear, it reasserts itself in the ugliest way possible. So long as students, male and female, continue to buy into the culture of peer pressure and public humiliation events like Wheel of Doom will remain an embarrassing spear on the reputation of the collective student body.

York’s dismal career prospects have been an ever increasing worry for those of us either in or approaching our Third Year and the latest news is bleaker still. Of the Top 30 UK Universities, York ranked 26th for career prospects in the country. Since for many, University is as much about career postdegree as the experience itself the news is extremely disheartening. The fact is though perhaps mediated by the fact less than 50% of students actually use the university careers service. As much as our post-degree prospects might be dismal, if we aren’t making use of the careers service and making use of everything the university has on offer to help us with our career then we shouldn’t be shocked when prospects are so terrible. Multiple networking events are run yearly amongst other careers focused events and if students are really concerned about careers they should take advantage.

The imminent arrival of One Billion Rising on campus in York represents another step forward for women’s rights on campus. Though there is still a long way to go, the campaign which aims to end violence against woman and promote gender equality represents another move towards raising the issues and prejudice women still face on a day-to-day basis in the university. It is also part of a wider move that seeks to tackle nationally and internationally the still present problem of domestic abuse. It should not be taken for granted that equality has been achieved here and not elsewhere. It remains an issue to be campaigned on and fought for tenaciously, and One Billion Rising can only help to confront the issue and keep it on the agenda.

YORK VISION

MILKING THE ISSUE

Tuesday Febuary 4, 2014

IT MAKES NO SENSE FOR STUDENTS TO BE STINGY WITH EACH OTHER

TOM DAVIES

@ tomdavies111

I

was on the bus the other day. Terrible I know, but I have been known to have to use the bloody thing from time to time, as my house mate assures me that he is not actually my chauffeur.

The reason why I mention is that I overheard a conversation which managed to utterly depress me. Sitting in front of me were two chaps, one of which was coolly telling the other about how he keeps an enormous multi pack of extra plush quilted toilet paper locked in a cupboard under his bed

So why is this necessary now? After all, hasn’t humanity progressed okay so far without lessons in love? to prevent his house mates from using it.

Is this what we’ve become now? Students, universally considered the most hard living, happy-go-lucky band of rascals outside of the French Foreign Legion, have turned finally into uptight, bean counting, wouldbe accountants fighting endless cold wars against each other over perceived thieveries and petty cash disputes.

You might not like to think so, but I fear it’s true. We’re a disappointment, bringing shame to our easy going, grifter fore bears.

None of them would have been caught dead spending money on toilet roll more luxurious than the pages of one of those free newspapers that are forever getting posted through your doors. I myself am steadily making my way through a copy of the last edition of Nouse as we speak. But say one of these student heroes of yours was able to get hold of some luxurious bog roll, do you think they would hoard it, deny the comfort from their house mates over some petty gripe and the financial loss of a handful of pocket change.

My brothers! My sisters! Something needs to change, and anyone familiar with me will be aware that I do not make such proclamations lightly. I’m not a revolutionary, I’m not exactly sold on putting more Socialism into our government but maybe we could all use a few more Socialist values in our lives.

After all, as Kropotkin once said “proper tea is theft” and if you’ve got some proper tea I’ll be having the odd bag off you every now and again. There’s only so long a man can live off cuppas made from a clump of twigs boiled orange in an old boot, and it serves you right anyway you Twinings drinking capitalist bilge dog.

So embrace thy neighbour, and stop passive-aggressively inferring if you think he’s been half inching your cheerios. You probably ate them, and if you didn’t, well they probably did, but let’s forget about it eh? Life’s too short and all that.

Obviously if you’re living with some serious kleptomaniac who’s stolen your watch

and took your chicken fillets and made them into ear muffs, feel free to get irritated. But it’s almost never that. It’s little things that did happen made worse by paranoia that NOTHING IS SAFE. No pint of milk, no block of cheese, no bottle of ketchup. Shit, as the wise man once said, is wont to happen, and in a cohabitation situation, particularly in halls, where you can have over ten people sharing a fridge or a kitchen, overlap (ok, ok petty theft) is certain to occur to some degree.

Sometimes people need a bit of butter in a hurry, sometimes they just can’t be arsed

Take it in turns to buy certain things, start a kitty. to go to the shop, it happens. Now this may sound like an apology for larceny, and I suppose it kind of is. But more so it’s a call to accept the inevitability of these things, and to make your peace with it. If you’re really worried about the pennies lost through your housemates petty pinching then why not communalize a few key things? Like milk and bread and washing up tablets.

Take it in turns to buy certain things, start a kitty. Get over yourselves, hold hands and share the socialist love. Hell what do I care, just stop bitching on the bus and behaving like tin foil hat wearing preppers living in an abandoned mine shaft in rural North Dakota. Seriously, cut it out.

It’s not a good look on anyone.

Michael Cooper

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YORK VISION

POINTLESS PROGRESS

COMMENT

Tuesday Febuary 4, 2014

JOONSOO ARGUES THAT THE GENEVA II CONFERENCE WAS POINTLESS

JOONSOO YI @joyiparr

I

t may not be entirely justifiable to describe the Geneva II conference as a total failure bearing in mind the fact that nobody was expecting a major breakthrough anyway. One should remember why this conference was convened in the first place, which was to discuss the execution of a communiqué that was determined in Geneva seven months ago: the establishment of a transitional government in Syria.

Progress of any kind is unthinkable if we are to agree that the definition of “progress” is a post-Assad Syria It was always going to be the case that the application of this bold promulgation was going to be impossible, and it would have been invariably deluded had one thought otherwise. Instating a transitional government is synonymous with “regime change,” effectively removing Assad from power, something Russia and the Syrian government would never approve of. This means progress of any kind is simply unthinkable if we are to agree that the definition of “progress” is a post-Assad Syria.

It is worth pointing out that the point of any peace conference is “consensus-building,” wherein every conjoining party even-

tually agrees upon a certain resolution to be carried out. I have already said that “consensus” stands no chance because the core of the discussion has been, and will continue to be, rejected by Russia and the Syrian government.

However, even if on the off chance that an agreement is made and Assad is somehow happy to go, the decision will prove meaningless because the biggest powerhouse in the region, Iran, has been excluded from the conference (comically, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon initially asked Iran to partake in the conference, but the offer was quickly retracted upon US pressure). One could say that Assad would not have been in power by now had he lacked the backing from Iran. Much of Assad’s weapons come from Iran, and the personnels fighting for the regime are financed by Iran, whose alliance with its partner, Hezbollah, has played a significant role in the playing out of the regional civil-war. Assad is effectively powerless on his own: he listens to the Shiite regime unreservedly because he knows just how much he is dependent on their resources and regional power.

But provided the context, the exclusion of Iran from the peace talks is somewhat understandable. The Syrian National Coalition, which is a loosely conjoined alliance that is supposed to represent every Syrian except those who are aligned with the regime, announced that they are unwilling to partake in the conference should Iran be invited.

Nevertheless, I don’t see that any concerted efforts have been made by the participants of the conference to invite both Iran and the SNC at the same time. A major problem surrounding Geneva II is the unwillingness of every concerning party to partici-

pate and make the conference a meaningful one.

So what now? Diplomacy failed. John Kerry said Assad is a war criminal who should be removed from power without conditions.

Assad has refused to destroy the chemical weapons stockpile despite pressure from the Western governments – indeed, Syria still has 95% of its chemical weapons. It is clear that Assad won’t back down, and so are Russia and Iran in their lending support for the thug-regime, but also the US and the rebels who will continue to fight as long as Assad remains in power.

The most likely thing to come out of Geneva II would be the agreement to create a Geneva III One would hope to see, if the international law has any legitimacy nowadays, that Assad be removed as soon as possible. As though the brutalizing usage of chemical weapons wasn’t enough, Assad has, according to recent reports, systemically tortured and murdered thousands of detainees (and civilians too) on an industrial scale.

But realistically, the most likely—and relatively favourable—thing to come out of Geneva II would be the agreement to create a Geneva III. And this time, no major player in the Syrian conflict should be excluded, and the US should toughen their stance on the establishment of a transitional government (lending cooperation from the SNC) through more acting—by actually enforcing the international law to try Assad for his war crimes—and less talking.

WHAT IS YORK GETTING INTO?

THE UNIVERSITY SHOULD BE MORE TRANSPARENT ABOUT THEIR PARTENRSHIPS

JOSIAH MORTIMER @josiahmortimer

You’ll be hard-pressed to find much about it online, in emails from the university, or through consultation with lecturers and students. York’s proposed ‘joint venture’ with INTO University Partnerships – a for-profit company which focuses on recruiting and teaching international students – has largely gone under the radar. I came across the plans not through the university or YUSU, but through a UCU lecturer’s union briefing chucked on a few tables in Vanbrugh.

Does the University really want to take such an enormous gamble with students’ money?

The plans are to partially-outsource the recruitment and English language-teaching of international students by Autumn 2015, to an INTO-run building on Hes East near Goodricke. It appears they’ve already started the process, with opaque talks apparently being underway for half a year. The UCU discovered the plans through a ‘by-the-way’ comment during an unrelated VC presentation late last year.

Although the full plans aren’t completely clear yet (due to a lack of information and transparency) it looks likely that the uni will emulate other universities that have bunked up with INTO in the past. Many of which seem to have ended in failure.

Let’s look at the partnerships at UEA, Exeter and Newcastle universities. According to Freedom of Information Requests, in the best case scenarios, four or five in every ten international students ‘recruited’ failed to progress onto one of the university’s courses. That opens up the risk of huge financial losses for the university.

The joint venture at Queen’s Belfast lost over £1.5 million in 2009/10, and was still losing £630k two years down the line. At Manchester College, the whole venture was called off in 2009 following £1.4m losses.

It was a similar story for City University - £2.5m losses in 2009/10. That’s nearly 300 students’ £9k fees down the pan.

INTO promised profits but actually wreaked financial chaos. Does the university really want to take such an enormous gamble with students’ money?

Where profits are sought and achieved however, the means are risky. In a bid to fill international student numbers paying sky-high fees at Exeter, the quality of those recruited was said – by management – to be ‘lower than those recruited by the university’. What can the university do about it?

Locked into a long-term joint venture, not a lot. Moreover, the university – not INTO – sponsor students’ visas, meaning if INTO

messes up, it’s the university that gets hit.

Moreover, new workers’ pay and conditions are likely to be affected. With no union recognition or public service ethos, INTO could put non-transferred staff on zero-hours contracts, lay off workers, and strip back hard-fought conditions. Even the company’s chair said ‘rates of pay are probably worse’. Their contracts say you can be sacked for actions which are ‘likely to prejudice the interests of the Company whether or not such conduct occurs in the course of your employment’.

New workers’ pay and conditions are likely to be affected by this scheme What could that mean? Speaking out against malpractice and mistreatment? It’s vague enough to be very dangerous indeed.

The situation looks frightening for our Centre for English Language Teaching and its extremely (and rightfully) worried staff.

Finally, a company part-owned by a private equity firm is likely to want to expand its involvement with the university in the future. Will we even know the extent of its involvement? After all, it will be allowed to trade under ‘University of York’ branding.

Students and staff should – like 96% at Queen’s University - reject this whole dodgy scheme and keep services in-house.

13

LET’S CULL THE WHOLE THING OFF ANGUS QUINN

@Angus_Quinn17

S

teven Spielberg and Hollywood have made quite clear that sharks are evil.

Without warning they’ll prey on surfers, couples enjoying a romantic night sailing and any child foolish enough to go swimming off beaches. You should basically just never consider swimming in the open ocean, unless you want to get eaten and have your death scored by an iconic theme tune.

Except, of course you’re more likely to get bitten by another person than a shark.

Unfortunately, the Australian government ignores this. After seven lethal attacks in three years, the government has decided there needs to be a cull and that sharks should be actively killed.

This completely ignores the fact over 100 million sharks are killed a year by humans around the world and it also ignores another fact: jellyfish are far more of a menace than sharks have ever been. While the jellyfish population is growing out of control the government has instead decided to target a species placed on the World Wildlife Fund watch-list.

Over 100 million sharks are killed a year by humans around the world A persistent problem for holidaymakers around the world due to their venomous stings, jellyfish have not only quietly been increasing lethal incidents but have also posed problems for fishing industries. 20 to 40 people die in the Phillipines each year from box jellyfish stings and there are now over 400 oceanic dead zones only populated by jellyfish.

The increasing commercial impact of jellyfish is also hugely problematic. A smack of mauve jellyfish killed 100,000 salmon at Northern Ireland’s only fish farm, the Black Sea fishing industry was completely destroyed by the arrival of comb jellyfish and in Japan, the now annual nomura jellyfish boom has had a huge impact on the industry making most catches unsellable due to toxins present in the fish.

The spreading human danger of the irukanji jellyfish has also escaped national attention and has instead been avoided because the jellyfish is minute and cannot be as obviously combated as a 10-foot long female tiger shark.

The shark cull in Australia has been motivated by hysteria and nothing more. It won’t solve the problem of shark attacks as they are unavoidable so long as humans interact with the animals in the ocean. If anything the cull will only serve to make sharks more afraid of humans and thus more likely to panic when presented with them.

Worse still, it also seeks to justify the illegal commercial trade in shark fins – the shark carcasses are after all thrown back into the ocean in exactly the same manner by the Australians hunting sharks.

The cull is a visible demonstration to placate fears about a hugely exaggerated problem, rather than tackling the real oceanic menace that threatens people’s lives and commerce around the world.

14

YORK VISION

COMMENT

KANYE BEST

ZENA JARJIS

@zenajarjis

O

ver the past week, several American universities have introduced some slightly unconventional courses.

English students at the University of Missouri now have the option to take a module on Jay Z and Kanye West, while Rutgers University’s Women and Gender Studies course will now include a class on Beyonce and feminism. News of these courses has been shared all over social media by incredulous students who cannot believe that hip-hop and R ‘n’ B are actually being studied at degree level.

However, rather than being treated as a bizarre one-off, the study of Jay Z and Kanye West as part of English degrees should be seen as the beginning of an exciting expansion of the definition of literature. Hip-hop can teach us so much about race, class and gender, and it is composed with just as much time and thought as any other form of poetry. The literary canon is no longer as limited as it once was. The English course at York takes film and photography into account, and until relatively recently these were not seen as particularly high forms of art. Jay Z and Kanye West may not use long words or iambic pentameter, but their music is still a form of artistic expression, and no form of art should be excluded in the study of literature. In years to come, hip-hop music will probably be studied in the same way as Ancient Greek spoken word poetry.

Beyonce is just as important to the study of 21st century feminism as rappers are to modern poetry Beyonce is just as important to the study of 21st century feminism as rappers are to the study of modern poetry. The Rutgers University course, called ‘Politicizing Beyonce’, includes analysis of Beyonce’s lyrics alongside readings by black feminists. Just as looking at different art forms is crucial to the study of literature, it is important to look at different manifestations of feminism to avoid a singular view. The ‘Caitlin Moran feminists’ who have taken over the internet over the past year have been accused of alienating black and ethnic minority women.

Instead of laughing at the thought of Beyonce being studied alongside women like Moran, we should be welcoming this openminded view of women’s studies. Anyone who chooses to study Women and Gender Studies must want a comprehensive understanding of feminism, and looking at influential, prominent feminists like Beyonce is key to that.

English Literature is a course for the open-minded, and the discipline should not just include the study of artists like Shakespeare, Dickens and Keats. English Literature should be a study of culture, and hiphop is a huge part of 21st century western culture. Similarly, if Beyonce is influencing women and has her own unique brand of feminism, then she too should be studied in relation to gender studies. The introduction of these courses is a sign of the development and progressiveness of modern universities, and they should be welcomed as a sign of the diversity of higher education.

Tuesday Febuary 4, 2014

SHOULD UNIVERSITIES FINE DRUNK STUDENTS ON CAMPUS?

ZENA

ELIZA GKRITSI

YES

@legreechee

D

ude, what the hell happened last night?”. We’ve all said this one too many times. We’ve all been tipsy, drunk, or in some state of inebriation that we’ve lost consciousness. Even if only partly.

Despite its social acceptance alcohol remains a drug, and a most powerful one, and maybe a fine, such as the one imposed by Lancaster University, is the right way to restrain it. The problem doesn’t lie in these (hopefully) isolated incidents, but in the culture surrounding drinking.

We spend a ridiculously big part of our days talking about when we will next get drunk, or what we did whilst drunk. Making “nights we won’t remember”, as Ke$ha eloquently put it, is our definition of an evening well spent. I really can’t help but wonder exactly how healthy this drinking culture is. How healthy is relating pleasure to a loss of self and awareness?

Maybe alcohol is just a way to let loose, one would argue, but in my experience it’s not.

That would be the equivalent of having a couple glasses of wine around dinner with your friends. But when we’re heading out to town, after pre-drinks where we played “games” to get drunk as fast as possible, we are not loose, we are out of control.

I’m not saying that our brains

turn off, rather that our judgement is severely impaired, and in a university that is a major paradox.

We are intelligent young adults who should be able to make conversation without being hideously drunk. Granted, a few drinks will make you more outgoing, but reinforcing this idea hinders us whilst sober; we feel like something is missing.

A place which is supposed to promote education and dialogue contradicts its mission when allowing behaviour that implies that alcohol is the fuel of conversation and leads to a distortion of our judgement.

So, is a fine an effective measure against drunkenness? Probably not; not all drunk students will be caught, not all will be fined. But that is beside the point. This rule isn’t an attempt to hurt the finances of the drinkers. Neither is it put forth by a conviction that it will end alcohol consumption. It is, as a politician would phrase it, a message. A message that it is not OK to be wasted on campus.

The university would be taking a stance against a habit that is harming us, both physically and mentally. It may not be effective, but there is only so much to be done given the limited jurisdiction and setting an example is good enough.

HELENA HORTON

NO

@helenashead

A

s students, we do suffer some grave hardships; massive fees, having to read books with a hangover, STIs and 9am lectures.The only good thing about being a student is being able to get ridiculously drunk and fuck about, and apparently the evil people at University Administration want to take that away from us as well. At risk of sounding like a spoiled brat; it’s not fair!

The whole point of a union bar is to get us wasted cheaply so that we only spend marginally less than our grocery budget on one night. Fining people for being drunk in a Union bar is like fining people in a Philosophy lecture for being pretentious; it is silly and will frankly move students to get bevved elsewhere, in town, where they are further from security services when they fall over in their own vomit or mortally injure someone for scamming on their significant other. Taking away the simple pleasure of vomiting in the lake and staggering around campus in drunken bliss is simply cruel.

The University are very happy to treat us as promising young adults at graduation and in their prospectuses but when it comes to the crunch they act like aggrieved schoolteachers berating year 11s for downing Strongbow and getting with each other. Ap-

parently it’s for student safety and wellbeing, but stripping us of £250 of our loan will not help our wellbeing as we will not be able to afford food. Then we will die. Do they want the deaths of students on their hands? I thought not.

OK, maybe I am getting a bit extreme now; this is the mindset of a student imagining facing the prospect of not being able to get drunk without financial penalty. It is my one vice in a sad world of essays, unrequited love and inevitable unemployment in the future which is ever creeping closer. I would go mad without being able to let my hair down once in a while (or twice in a week) and many other students are in the same position.

Drinking is a way of keeping us quiet; imagine how much we would moan if we weren’t crippled by hangovers half the time.

Give us our alcohol and we won’t give you grief for your incompetence.

To be honest, extortionate club prices and drinks bought for people who are going to sleep with you anyway are financial penalty enough for drunkenness. The hangovers and regrets brought on after a night on the lash aren’t enough to stop us drinking, so does the University really expect the prospect of financial penalty to put us off ?

T’HOUSE OF COMMONS

CALLUM SHANNON

I

YORKSHIRE IS NOT READY FOR POLITICAL AUTONOMY

@Callum_Shannon

t seems that everywhere in the United Kingdom wants more say in how they’re governed these days; the Welsh assembly is having its powers increased to similar levels to the Scottish parliament, while Scotland itself is voting on independence. Now, it seems, Yorkshire wants a slice of the devolutionary action too.

Although not quite vying to become a great pudding munching, flat cap wearing, whippet owning republic of the North yet, calls for Yorkshire to have its own assembly have increased quite dramatically recently.

In 2012 the Yorkshire Devolution Movement, a group devoted to “campaigning to secure a directly elected regional assembly for Yorkshire”, was founded and while still a relatively small movement has gained some rather influential supporters, including earlier this year York City Council leader, James Alexander.

Being Yorkshire born and bred myself, having lived in Yorkshire all my life and now studying at one of its best educational institutions, I have to admit until recently I

had not given this issue much thought and even now I’m not entirely sure where I stand on this: on the one hand I think adding an extra layer to the already bloated and complicated web of county, district, borough and town councils that currently account for local government cannot be a good thing and there’s infinite questions about what kind of powers such an assembly should have, Yorkshire has little history of self-governance after all.

However, I can see the potential benefits a devolved assembly could bring to the region.

For starters, devolution gives areas with distinct cultural identities unique recognition, and while Yorkshire hardly has the independent history and unique social characteristics of Scotland or Wales, I would argue Yorkshire has much more of a distinctive cultural identity than London, a region granted its own assembly in 2000.

However it is not just in terms of cultural identity that Yorkshire surpasses other already devolved parts of the UK: with a population of 5.3 million people, this makes it a similar size to Scotland and a GDP twice the size of Wales’, accounting for about 8% of British economic output and distinctly larger than the economies of many European countries.

All of these facts seem to make a strong case for devolution, but ultimately there

is still one major question that needs to be asked: do the good folk of Yorkshire actually want it? I would scarcely have considered it until hearing more about it in the news earlier last year and even now I cannot bring myself to passionately support or reject it. It has to be said that I’ve encountered very few people who passionately support the cause.

Let’s also not forget that Yorkshire almost did get a vote on limited autonomy in the last decade: a devolution referendum, brainchild of Hull MP John Prescott had been planned for 2004, but was dropped after the North East region – who had also been offered devolution – rejected the proposal by a whopping 78%. Although times are different now, the North-South divide arguably widened since the recession and it must be taken into account that the vote was held in a different region, the message is hard to ignore. Perhaps we English, unlike our Scottish and Welsh friends, simply can’t get fired up about self-governance.

With little polling on the issue, historical examples like the North East referendum are pretty much all we have to go on.

Given the lack of enthusiasm for devolution in other parts of England recently, perhaps Yorkshire is not quite ready to have its own assembly yet. The day for Yorkshire autonomy may yet come, but I’m pretty certain it is not today.

15

FEATURES

YORK VISION Tuesday February 4, 2014

FEATURES

www.yorkvision.co.uk/features features@yorkvision.co.uk

a FORGOTTEN GENOCIDE TOM DAVIES tells the story of the conflict nobody talks about...

I

A Free West Papua demonstration in Melbourne, Australia showing the ‘Morning Star’ flag of West Papuan independence

MAGINE A protest. A protest against the actions of a tyrannical, oppressive military administration totally intolerant of dissent. Now imagine that protest was broken up in a coordinated attack by police and military forces, killing dozens of unarmed civilians and capturing many others. Imagine many of those taken into custody being raped, tortured and horrifically mutilated by their captors. Now where would you imagine events like this would have taken place? Syria perhaps? Or maybe North Korea? Perhaps under one of the particularly bloodthirsty dictatorships in Africa or South America? You would consider something like this a massacre. A heinous crime by a government against its people which you would hope would cause an outcry from the international community.

You’d be wrong on all counts. The events described took place in 1998, in a place which, were it not for its political situation might be considered a paradise in the middle of the south pacific. You’ve probably never even heard of it before, just as you’ve probably never heard of the 1998 Biak Massacre before. Events like these are not unusual there; they’re framed against a backdrop of half of century of conflict and aggressive military occupation. They call this region West Papua, but you may know it best as the other half of the island upon which sits Papua New Guinea, a place better known internationally for debatable tales of cannibalism than its neighbour, which has been occupied by Indonesia since the 1960s, where atrocities and conflict are an all too regular occurrence.

I first learned about West Papua almost by sheer chance when attending a panel debate in London last year. The debate was on outmanoeuvring tyranny and included

figures such as the legal representative of the Free Syrian Army and a noted anti government activist from Azerbaijan. However it was a strange figure sitting at the end of the panel that seemed of most interest to the crowd, resplendent in a Hawaiian shirt and tribal headdress. The head of the panel introduced him as Benny Wenda, an independence leader from West Papua. Wenda was 37 years old at the time, but you could be forgiven for thinking him ten years older, which in the context of his life is hardly surprising.

Wenda was born in 1975 in Baliem Valley in the West Papuan highlands, thirteen years after the Indonesian annexation of the region. When he was just one years old the Indonesian military bombed his village in response to an uprising of the highland Lani people against Indonesian military rule. Many of Wenda’s family were killed in the repeated airstrikes and he himself incurred a severe leg injury, resulting in impaired growth. For the next six years Wenda and many other West Papuan highlanders lived in hiding in the jungles of central West Papua. After the Lani people finally surrendered to the Indonesian government, he went on to study at a University in Jayapura, West Papua’s largest city, and became a noted independence leader and Secretary General of Demmak, the Koteka Tribal Assembly.

In 2002 Wenda was imprisoned for leading a procession at an Independence rally which allegedly turned violent. This occurred during a clampdown on the Independence Movement only a few months after the assassination of noted pro-independence figure Theys Eluay. Facing a 25 year prison sentence, Wenda escaped from custody whilst on trial and was able to flee

across the border to Papua New Guinea, where he was reunited with his wife, Maria, at a refugee camp and granted political asylum in the United Kingdom. He now lives with his family just outside Oxford, and campaigns for West Papuan Independence at events such as the one I attended.

During the debate in London it was Wenda that stole the show. Under any other normal circumstances any of the other panellists, distinguished activists and cam-

side of western spheres of influence to be deemed worthy of much note by most media sources, or of much action by western governments. The conflict is completely unheard of by the vast majority of people, but it is estimated that 100,000 people have been displaced, and from 100,000 to over 400,000 people may have died in over the past fifty years; a high proportion of those civilians.

Countless Independence leaders have been arrested, imprisoned or assassinated by the Indonesian military. However, despite the occupiers worst excesses, the United Nations has provided Indonesia with diplomatic support and neighbouring nations, such as Papua New Guinea and Australia, have pursued policies of appeasement towards Indonesian control of West Papua.

Apart from a handful of activists and politicians abroad, the West Papuan people stand virtually alone, deprived of their right to self determination and largely ignored by the international community.

The scale of the violence in such a reasonably small and sparsely populated nation is equalled only by the excessiveness of the Indonesian response to pro-independence activities. In 1978, five leaders of pro-independence faction, the OPM, surrendered to save the village they were caught in and were subsequently beaten to death with red hot iron bars and their bodies thrown into a pit latrine. The 125 villagers were then machine gunned down as suspected OPM sympathisers. In 1981, 10 Papuans were killed and 58 disappeared without a trace in the Paniai region, whilst later that year an estimated 13,000 Papuans were killed in the central highlands from September to December. On June 24 1985 in the same region, 2,500 people were killed in a single day. In July 2009, after the raising of the Morning Star flag (an act deemed illegal by the In-

In 1978, five leaders of pro-independence faction, the OPM, surrendered to save the village they were caught in and were subsequently beaten to death with red hot iron bars and their bodies thrown into a pit latrine paigners all would have been of great interest to any self-respecting political wonk.

But it was Wenda who captured the imagination of the audience; his story was so tragically untold, half of the well educated crowd had until that morning not even been aware that the land of his birth existed. His story was so beautifully sad, so poignant and when he rounded off his plea with a rendition of a song he had written whilst imprisoned on a handmade ukulele painted with the flag of West Papua, you could see some members of the audience barely able to choke back tears. Which, in a room filled with hardnosed young political activists and other assorted current affairs buffs, is quite something indeed.

West Papua is often labelled as a forgotten genocide. The atrocities committed by the Indonesian government are simply too diplomatically unimportant, too far out-

donesian government) in the West Papuan village of Jugum, more than 30 homes were burnt to the ground by the military, and in 2011 at least five people were killed when police opened fire on an independence rally.

These are just a snapshot of the extreme violence committed during a conflict, which shows no signs of stopping.

Indonesia has found in West Papua what might be referred to as its Vietnam. A war it can never truly win against an indigenous populace who clearly do not accept its place as their vassal. The difference is, despite the brutal methods and significant military might used to quash the dissent, the violence has continued unabated for over fifty years. Indonesia has not relented in its claims of sovereignty over the region and, whilst its activities in West Papua remain shielded from international scrutiny, why would it?

16 FEATURES THE LECTURE HALL CRIMINALS TOM DAVIES and CALLUM SHANNON discusses these most irritating characters from your lectures...

YORK VISION Tuesday February 4, 2014

Dubious Patronage?

BARTO JOLY DE LOTBINIERE and CALLUM SHANNON investigate the history of the people behind the key landmarks of York University and whether they deserve to lend their names to them.

COUNT TAPULA

You know the guy. Always brings his laptop to lectures, and boy, don’t you just know it. These individuals don’t so much use their laptops as play them like a creepy butler bashing an organ in a Hammer Horror flick. To run with the horror metaphor, the tapping, oh the tapping, ever so loudly rapping, echoing across the lecture hall, “If that bastard’ I muttered, “will not stop tapping, I fear I’ll have to end it all.”

Constantine College

The Seebhom Rowntree Building

Constantine, the first Christian Roman Emperor, the unifier of a fractured territory and one-time resident of Eboracum (York), is a powerful name to attach to the newest addition to the University’s clan. Yet he suffered from what can only be described as a dysfunctional family, having his firstborn son executed at the behest of his jealous second wife, who in a fit of remorseful revenge, he had suffocated in an over-heated bath. This dynastical infighting continued after his death, dividing the empire irreperably.

Seebhom Rowntree was one of the key figures in the research into poverty at the turn of the century, most notably in his home town of York. Yet his family business, who also used child labour in their factories, was responsible for the buying of cocao from plantantions in the Portuguese colony of São Tomé and Principe in West Africa who kept their workers in slave conditions. Rowntree’s chocolate company took more than two years to boycott their supplier, after an independent report was published in 1907.

Hendrix Hall

Vanbrugh College

It seems inconceivable to students today that one of the greatest rock guitarists in music history once graced this University’s corridors. In 2011 his venue, a mundane lecture hall in Derwent formally known as D/L/028, was renamed in his honour. With an entry price of just 6/-, Jimi performed in February 1967, just before his career was about to take off, after the release of ‘Purple Haze’ and ‘The Wind Cries Mary’. His set was ‘awesome’ reminisced one attendee but ‘he had clearly been smoking a lot’. Well, it was the sixties.

Sir John Vanbrugh had quite a varied career. In his time, he was an architect, a knight, a radical Whig involved with the plot to overthrow James II and most interestingly, a sexually explicit playwrite. Extremely controversial in his day, Vanbrugh’s best known work, Love’s Last Shift, was a box-office hit but contained four scandalous sex scenes and gained criticism from Bishops who scorned his “failure to impose exemplary morality by appropriating rewards and not punishments for their filthy acts.”

COMPULSIVE TEXTER

Whether they’re posting selfies on Facebook, tweeting the lecturer’s latest cock-up to their six followers or snapchatting “In a lecture, lol” to their friend sat right next to them, these guys just can’t put their phone down for more than five seconds. Although they have the common courtesy to silence them, they’re still vibrating away every five seconds, chainsawing their way through your concentration and driving you insane.

THE SITTING DEAD

The person who really shouldn’t be here because from the amount of coughing and sneezing they’re doing, you wonder whether they’ll still be alive by the end of the lecture. Having infected half your coursemates and single handily laid the foundations for you to be bedridden for a month, they proceed to cough loudly over everything the lecturer says. While the more tolerant of you may admire their determination, most wish they’d just die quietly.

Halifax College The ‘Sir’ Jack Lyons Concert

Halifax College

Leeds-born Jack Lyons was an influential donor to the Music Department and understandably, was honoured with the naming of the 350 seat concert hall after him. Yet the businessman was ignominiously stripped of his knighthood and CBE after being convicted of insider-dealing. This was through his close contact with Margaret Thatcher in Guinness’ buy-out of the Scottish drinks company Distillers, and had to pay an eye-watering £4 million fine, avoiding prison time on health grounds.

The namesake of York’s largest college and foreign secretary in Neville Chamberlain’s government, he is considered by some historians to be Britain’s ‘Arch-appeaser’, pressing for peace negotiations with Nazi Germany as late as May 1940. However his incompetence was not all detrimental to his legacy, as in his previous role as Viceroy of India he opened up dialogue with Mahatma Gandhi after his attempts at imprisoning the members of the Indian National Congress failed.

17

YORK VISION

FEATURES

Tuesday February 4, 2014

Children of the Night

JACK WESTERN pulls the much-loved student tactic, the ‘all-nighter’, to observe the nocturnal ecosystem that is the University Library building after dark...

L

ately it seems that I’ve been doing a lot of unusual things in the name of journalism, most recently it was the Butterfield Diet Plan. However, this is an altogether slightly more serious piece, delving into the library late one night, to see what people are really getting up to in the dead of night and why they are doing it. Starting at 11pm, I stayed in the library, ensconced in the history of art section on the 2nd floor of the JB, with the intention of staying until around 9am, when dawn has broken and the library loons have left.

Armed with my trusty camera, my laptop, a lot of coffee and a substanial box of various veggie snacks I hunkered down, complete with slippers. With the prospect of a 2,500-word essay looming, this seemed like the prime time to try and get it nailed down while doing my work for this piece.

Armed with my trusty camera, my laptop, a lot of coffee and a substanial box of various fruity and veggie snacks I hunkered down, complete with slippers It’s 11pm, I’ve just arrived in the library, traditionally home to the panicking third year, but at this hour, it is quiet and peaceful. Scattered among the bookshelves are those most rare of students - the night owls.

Those studying into the early hours, may be working on a dissertation or just keen to get their work done so they can sleep in even later than usual. At intermittent periods, the predators at the top of the library food chain, the night staff, work their way around the shelves returning stray books to their sedentary siblings and eyeing up the weaker stragglers desperately struggling to focus on their work.

At around midnight, reports came in that a Neknominate had just occurred in the undergrowth of the JB Morrell. Sadly, this wasn’t seen in person; however video evidence was recorded and uploaded. I rushed to the supposed location, but alas, the moment had passed.

As 1am approached, it was quite clear that people were still trying to work in the JB Morrell. They had left evidence, maybe

Photo: Jack Western a locked laptop and some notes left in a corner while the student had gone hunting, maybe for a vending machine to raid or for a smoke in the ‘no smoking section’ outside the library. Shortly afterwards, I went on an exploration walk to see who remained.

After attempting several times to communicate I gave up, rejected by glares and semiindignant looks; it was obvious I was not welcome at this particular point.

Shortly afterwards, I ventured to the Harry Fairhurst building, where the first floor was lightly scattered by people in hushed discussions. As I didn’t wish to startle them, I moved on to upstairs. There I had a short conversation with a postgraduate who preferred working in the early hours mostly due to the lack of distractions from housemates. We both agreed that it was the library’s near complete silence that made it a good place to work.

By 3am there was a significant lull, although I did manage to snag a short discus-

sion with what I discovered to be that most rare of students – the desperate first year.

In my nearly three years of university, I have only very occasionally encountered such a person. A first year that was actually completing a deadline in the library rather than in the comfort of their own bed!

I then preceeded downstairs to the cafe in order to acquire sustenance aka Dominoes with a Vision-ary who had maybe seen my plea for help on Facebook. At the same time I took the opportunity to approach and chat with one of the help desk staff in the hope of gaining any knowledge of unusual events that occur in the library at night. Apparently this isn’t a ‘spooky library like the Minster Library or King’s Manor’. A comforting piece of information as I continued my vigil, powering through with another hit of caffeine from coffee machine.

This particular chap had ordered two pizzas, then stashed them behind a Walls ice cream machine in Costa cafe While sitting in the café, I ended up chatting to a fellow third year who turned out to be in YSTV and was heading off to Somerset in the morning but also thought it would be easier to eat pizza and do any outstanding society duties. This led to the discovery of ‘pizza boy’; a one of a kind specimen described to me by the YSTV third year. As it turns out this particular chap had ordered two pizzas, then stashed them behind a Walls ice cream machine in the Costa café, maybe to stop fellow students from stealing his kill? Who knows! All I found out is that he returned twice and offered his leftover

pizza to the nice chap from YSTV. After obtaining yet more caffeine based products, I shuffled back upstairs at 4am quietly lest I disturb my remaining subjects. I did another quiet walk around the library but alas, there was no one new and the ones who remained were deeply engrossed in what they were doing… or asleep.

6am rolled around. The most rare thing had occurred in the library – the vacuums were out. Truly unique to me personally as after two and a half years I had never seen one in the library. I could hear the gentle drones of them on the ground floor, accompanied by the faint voices of two cleaners.

By 7.30am the cleaning staff, the new top dogs of the library, have bustled upstairs, and for a few brief minutes there was actual life in the library as staff merrily chat away while hoovering and scrubbing occurred all around. Quite a surreal experience when one has been sitting and working in near silence for the best part of nine hours.

8am – they say the early bird catches the worm, with the first keen sensible students appearing to start their day. Already we can see them interacting with printers, roaming more freely now that the library night staff have retreated, working their way through the hinterland of forgotten shelves for books that may or may not exist.

It was an interesting challenge, an attempt at documenting some of the resaons why people prefer to work in the library very late, even during a time in term when there aren’t many deadlines. I only actually met one student who was working on a next morning deadline. Obviously there were some oddities, such as the pizza incident but I did half hope/expect for a drunken crowd to come bursting through the doors, but in some ways I was reassured by how little happens. It does mean that the library remains a quiet haven for those who have work through the night, for whatever reasons they have. So there you have the pro-tip for the day: work in the library late at night. You’ll be safe.

18 FEATURES

YORK VISION

from russia with hate

Tuesday February 4, 2014

MILO BOYD talks exclusively to a Russian journalist and activist about the true state of homophobia in Russia

2

013 saw a dark cloud descend over Russia. A champion of a dubious and violent Syrian regime, embroiled in an Olympic scandal to the tune of 25 billion missing dollars, and boasting an embarrassingly high journalistic body count. As viewed from the West it’s not going well. Add to the innumerable counts of corruption and state-funded foul play, a piece of de facto anti-gay legislation, and cries of draconian seem less than hyperbolic.

Considering the political schmooze fest that usually constitutes the Olympics (think Cameron, Putin and Judo) and perhaps the most telling sign of Russia’s internationally perceived fuckery is the absence of every Western leader from the Sochi games next week. If even the chance for a bit of quality Putin/dubious trade agreement time is being passed up, can anyone, let alone a gay person, be heading towards Russia? It seems at least one.

“I saw there were reports that people were starting to leave and I thought the best thing to do in these situations is the opposite of what everyone else is doing.”

This is Evgeny. We met in a cavernous Hungarian apartment he was babysitting over the summer. The Air B&B host for our three day stay, he failed his duties

show smoking on TV or sell cigarettes in bright packages. Smoking should be restricted to certain areas and then it’s fine. We don’t have anything against smokers, we have something against the promotion of smoking. It seems like homosexuality is viewed in this way like a bad habit. Because of this, the main work of the activist over here is to explain to people that this is not what homosexuality is.”

This understanding of homosexuality as a bad habit - a bad habit one can choose - is sadly not a novel one. Although this particular strain of ignorance holds little credence in Britain, a quick jump onto mainland Europe or across the pond finds far more support, albeit mostly from fringe Christian groups, for the troublesome notion. It’s root cause in Russia may be a little different however.

“Usually people in the UK and the US, if they’re conservative right they are the whole package; anti-gay, anti-abortion, antiimmigrant. Here there is no such kind of dichotomy. The majority of Russians support liberal abortion laws, maybe half support the legalisation of prostitution.

77% support family planning in school. Alcoholism and drug taking are not looked upon too badly.

Divorce rates are enormous. I

Putin admitted we have homosexuals in government and we do spectacularly for the first one and a half weeks as attempts were made to sleep off the effects of a week long celebration for Madonna’s birthday. Despite the pitch perfect night life of Budapest and the ominous threat of Federal law #436-FZ, Evgeny is one of a surprising number of openly gay men choosing to live in Russia. Sitting on the floor of a white walled apartment in Moscow, the activist and journalist described the true state of homophobia and homosexuality in his perhaps misunderstood, always impossibly complex homeland. He begins by explaining the controversial law.

“The act says do it in private.

Putin admitted we have homosexuals in government and we do.

Closeted, but in the gay community here everyone knows there are homosexuals in the government, parliament and high up in the police hierarchy.

“I think the best way to understand the law is through this metaphor. They say people have been smoking for all of history.

In this country we do not want to ban smoking for people who are adults and choose to do it.

But you shouldn’t smoke in front of children; you shouldn’t tell children it’s okay. You shouldn’t

wouldn’t say that this is a conservative Christian country as Putin is trying to make out. Most Russians are secularists or maybe go to Church once a year. The problem here is that most people don’t understand what gay is. If you have a pride march or wave a rainbow flag, people will just ask, “why are you proud of being gay?” When it emerged in America the pride idea made sense. But here it’s just taken from the West and people just don’t get it. Many activists fight in a very European way, which is fine, but it needs to be adjusted to local ways; explained in local terms.

“Of course all of this bullshit they show on TV has an effect, but I’m more interested in the societal aspects. Equally important as the communication breakdown is the macho culture specific to Russia.

When the Soviet Union collapsed and the censorship was removed, there was suddenly this prison culture. Prison songs, prison language, prison jokes. Living according to unspoken prison rules.

For example, when asking for a cigarette in prison you shouldn’t say “thank you” back, because cigarettes are bad for you.

Through the now open media culture little things like this became popular. This, and the idea that

Defaced Putin image at a Russian gay rights demonstration. homosexuals are at the bottom of the hierarchy; the idea that in prison the most humiliating thing you can do to someone is to rape.

The man that is used by the others as a woman is the man who has lost his dignity. If you look at the Russian women, of course some are homophobic, but its not aggressive in the same way as with men. Sometimes if a man finds out you’re homosexual, he will change from a friend to enemy in a second; like they’re possessed by a demon. There are some deep psychological issues here. Within the macho Russian culture it is rare to meet a non-homophobic, straight man. It was like that long before the law. Long before Putin.”

If this is the case, Evgeny’s return to Russia seems even stranger. Political regimes can be overturned and laws changed, but the deeply imbedded, collective anger of the majority is perhaps immutable. Following the law’s passing, from the arguably sheltered outlook of liberal Britain, what joy a gay person can have in Russia is hard to comprehend.

“There is a woman called Masha Gessen who was publishing stories in the western press and is a very influential journalist here in Russia. In the NY Times she wrote an article about how we all wanted to leave and I thought, how does she know? She is an upper-middle class lady and she can leave. Most gay people here can’t leave. Most people want to stay here. It is their home and they want to change something. People like Masha speak on behalf of 5 or so million people here and she has no right. I try not to because I don’t know how they all live, what they all want. The gays here are very diverse. You have the people in power who don’t have to care about the LGBT cause, extremely racist gays who say homophobia

will get worse as Muslims come.

The gay community is really a reflection of society, and we have a lot of social diseases here.

“The thing is, you can actually protest here. There are a bunch of TV shows, even state TV shows, that still discuss homosexual issues. It’s in newspapers too. LGBT organisations are still functioning and growing. LGBT Network is still growing and has outlets even in Siberia and the far east.

They hold seminars and movie screenings even though they are not allowed. It is more complicated now because any time you can be technically fined because children may read them. But these websites just put on an 18+ button and they get away with it. No organisations have been fined so far, and only two people have in the last half year.”

This raises the obvious question of why introduce the law?

One might think it’s a vote winner, placating a vehemently homopho-

is very rarely applied. The same with this new law. The guy who introduced it in St Petersburg, Vitaly Milonov, this funny guy with glasses who tried to sue Madonna, said we wanted to make this law in order to create a new discourse, in order to signify the emergence of new values socially. He kind of achieved what he wanted, but in a way that helped to increase homophobia on the one hand but also the LGBT movement on the other. Those who were liberal but skeptical of the LGBT movement now understand it as a political issue and are more supportive. There’s now mainstream newspapers and radio stations who talk about LGBT issues the whole time, where before they didn’t. Overall, the law didn’t really go as planned.”

So homophobia is rife in Russia and ignorance abounds, but there is hope. A discourse has begun and for the next couple of weeks the world will be looking on. The

The law which bans hate speech is actually in the constitution, but this is very rarely applied bic public. But even if one takes the more than leading 2013 Pew Research poll at face value and accept that 74% of Russians think gays should not be accepted by society, this doesn’t really check out. There’s not an election on the horizon, the law isn’t being implemented and has alienated much of the western world.

“This is what we call a cultural broken phone. In the west the law is adopted in order to be implemented. In Russia, the law and the law enforcement are two completely different things. The law which bans hate speech is actually in the constitution, but this

power of external pressure can not be underestimated. Although the pro-boycotting sentiment of Nadezhd Tolokonnikova is one increasingly disregarded as wayward in its effect, her band’s early release from prison last month suggests Putin’s non-negotiable outlook may be loosening. As powerful as a perceived glare may be however, Evgeny suggests we can do better. “If you really want to help, don’t boycott, don’t get angry. Tweet or write to musicians and film-stars who are coming to Russia and tell them to say gay is okay. Madonna did it and people listened.”

LIFESTYLE//TURNUPTHEHEAT

YORK VISION

Tuesday February 4, 2014

Page 19 - What to Wear on Valentine’s Day Page 20 & 21 - The Vintage Mix-Up Page 22 - Blind Date Page 23 - Food for Thought Page 24 - Student Travel: Amsterdam

19

HOT!

She flew to fame as Hermione and went on to become one of our favourite style icons. But the girl has a reputation for her brains too, and this month Emma Watson has guest-edited a special edition of wonderland.

Turn up the Heat

WHAT? Xiang Renxian has made news in China with her home-grown couture, having woven a cardigan together with the hairs from her own head. She has collected the long black threads from her hairbrush since she was 14. A unique keepsake or just plain weird?!

NOT! V

ALENTINES’S DAY fashion depends entirely on what your plans for the big day are. We’ve opted for dressing to impress, and channelled monochrome with a splash of red and added a spritz of Vivienne Westwood’s decidedly cheeky fragrance. The LBD pulls the whole thing together and ensures a killer effect for the big day.

Dream Suede Peep Toe Heels £28, French Connection

Lace Triangle Bra £18, Topshop

Rise Fashion Paris Dress £35 www.littleblackdress.co.uk

Vivienne Westwood Cheeky Alice £44, The Perfume Shop

Maddi Howell

Paula Patton, American actress and wife of Robin Thicke, stole the title of worst dressed in January at the Grammy Awards...There is nothing blurred enough about those zebra lines!

20LIFESTYLE//SHOOT

YORK VISION

Tuesday February 4 2014

Student Style:

vs

The Vintage Mix-Up

charity shops the new vintage

O

NE MIGHT be forgiven for condemning the charity shop as a dim, slightly odd-smelling space, typically housing clothes that once belonged to one’s distant Aunt Ethel; the general lingering of a musk antiquity about the air.

However, take a stroll into York city centre, and you will find a splendour of 21st century charities, defying the dust-coated stereotypes to their very end.

Ten minutes into town, and you unlock a minefield of charity gems. With over a dozen in the city centre alone, it is time we explored these havens and the cause of what I like to term ‘the charity boom.’

With many donations containing not so démodé highstreet buys for fractions of the original price, is it any wonder that the fashion-enthralled youth have flocked to the charity doors in search of bargains? It presents an ideal exchange – low cost, largely top-quality clothing and, in the name of charity, it is a divine mixture.

The vintage revival could be part of the reason why we have fallen back in love with charity shops. That and the fact that charity shop clothing doesn’t burn a hole in our pockets! The virtuous nature of charity shop chic could play a part in it as well, of course.

Not only have York’s students formed admiration for these organisations, but we have become their major consumer.

So, if charity shops are now brimming with eager-eyed students, surely this can only be beneficial for our towns? We needn’t imagine that Sir Philip Green will be put out of business by students turning to the odd second-hand bargain. What, perhaps, is probable is a marginal and occasional turn from highstreet retail. The rallying youth seem to have stimulated both sales and donations, and brought charities into a new light. It begs the question, no doubt, whether or not our local small businesses are failing to stay afloat – hence the abundance of charities filling vacant shop space. Of course, this space is better filled than lying destitute with flyerridden windows and decaying ‘final sale’ signs.

It seems that the charity shop has been given a fresh lease of life. If one can have the mixture of vintage wonders, low-cost and high quality pieces, and all whilst giving to charity, then I do not think it improper to talk of the modern charity shop as a great economic and philanthropic institution.

Louise Essex

W

E FELT it was time to show off the diverse and quirky style around campus here at York, so we collaborated with Dog & Bone Vintage on Gillygate, who lent us some vintage pieces to mix in with the wardrobes of four student models: Sara, Louise, Charlie and Matt.

The eclectic items selected included a classic Levi denim jacket, an old-school satchel (the perfect size for your laptop, and guaranteed to make you stand out from the crowd) and a bold red coat, to name a few. Alongside high street pieces and personal favourites, we created a look which echoes the best of the 1960s through to the 1980s, brought forward and adapted for the fashionista of 2014.

This proved to be an affordable way to have fun with clothes and look chic.

LIFESTYLE//SHOOT

YORK VISION

Tuesday February 4 2014

Denim Jacket – £38 Black Shoe Boots – £22

Louise MacDonald chose her tartan mini dress with gold chain detail at the neckline as the foundation of her look, and found the perfect pair of black ankle boots to accompany it at the shop. As Louise is petite, we struggled to find a fur coat that wouldn’t drown her frame. Luckily, we found the ideal Levi denim jacket amongst the vast selection at Dog & Bone which looked fabulous with the rest of her ensemble.

Trousers – Model’s Own, Asos Shirt – £10 York’s Affordable Vintage Fair Jumper – Model’s Own River Island Brogues – Model’s Own, Office

Due to the logistics of organising a shoot on a Monday, Matt Durrant was unable to make it to Dog & Bone to sample their selection of menswear. Luckily, having attended York’s Affordable Vintage Fair on the 26th of January, he arrived looking dapper and decked out in a wonderful vintage shirt (the price was bartered down too…), burgundy knitwear, charcoal jeans and brogues – a wonderful example of how to mix vintage with everyday lecture-wear!

Text here...

Photographers - Eashan Maheshwari and Jack Western Creative directors - Maddi Howell and Selina Pope

21

Tweed jacket – £36 Peach shirt – £26 Satchel – £20 Brogues – Model’s Own, Dune

Sara Zangri takes a sense of style from her Italian roots. She brought along a (shockingly green) sixties mini skirt as the basis of her outfit, purchased recently from a vintage fair in York (and worn recently to a sports social!) The peach blouse with pearl button detail and tweed jacket from Dog & Bone was the perfect combination to offset it, and her choice of light tan satchel and high-street brogues from Dune brought her look together.

22 LIFESTYLE//BLIND DATE

YORK VISION Tuesday February 4, 2014

BLIND DATE

@TomDavies111

Davies’ Diaries

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ear your political t-shirt and sacred college scarf, discussing the world’s situation but just for

a laugh.

The voice of Jerry Hall, lead singer of The Specials taunts me through my laptop speakers as I prepare to make the herculean journey from the far end of Osbaldwick (or as you will know it from your maps: ‘Here be Dragons’) to campus for another seminar at an unsociable hour before midday when we of a creative mindset have cleared away the fog of last night’s bottle and a half of Sainsbury’s cheapest merlot.

Yes, Easter Term is firmly in swing.

You can hear the sounds of normalcy returning as the yuletide bells and essay groans fade into distant memory.

The sounds of the guy at pre drinks who repeatedly assures you that he “has a 9am tomorrow” and then wakes up the following afternoon on a park bench in Clifton Moor.

The slow shuffling of the queue for the cashpoint outside Nisa Local, everyone apparently unaware of the one on the next level or perhaps the other one outside Vanbrugh 200 yards down the path, and, of course the sound of Jerry Hall winding me up in the mornings as I try to drag myself out of bed.

It’s alright Jez, I think being a politics student makes me a tosser too. Although In my defence I’d never wear a political t-shirt, it would be far too casual for me.

Plus it’s not actually a college scarf; my dad bought it me for Christmas.

It was this return to normal business however, that reminded me of one of my fondest University phenomena, which I am deigning to call ‘Davies’ lecture time bomb’. The bomb refers to a process of harrying a lecture to a close slightly before its due time, and has been the bane of many an educator of mine this past 18 months or so.

A lecturer may themselves step into the trap. Any mention of “next week” or “next time” can be enough to prime the bomb. Sometimes a lecturer may simply drone on or being dying so badly out front that the timer may start itself. It begins with the rustling of students clicking pens off or putting away note pads.

Of coats and scarves and hats being fiddled with and put on. Some may even go to rise slightly from their chairs. The noise builds as the class becomes even more restless to depart. The lecturer begins to panic now, and from this point they have a shelf life of about 90 seconds.

They start to talk faster, desperately attempting to rush things along with the last strand of attention they know they still have. They throw away slides in a bid to hurry things to some sort of conclusion before finally giving up, and in an almighty wave, the lecture hall rises to claim its freedom.

It’s a wonderful thing to see, the spontaneous wrath of the mob achieving something tangible that we can all get behind.

Plus it gives me an extra couple of minutes to spend doing something more productive, like drinking in the Courtyard. Whoever said that the people don’t have any real power?

VERITY ON VICENTE

VICENTE ON VERITY

What do you look for in a guy?

Are you looking for anything serious?

Someone who has a good sense of humour, and who appreciates

Not really, no. I’m a free spirit and I don’t want to be tied

my quirks, rather than judges them….

down too much (laughs).

What was the first thing you noticed about Vincente?

How did she look?

That he was there and hadn’t stood me up as I had feared. Nor

She looked great. The outfit was really lovely and I think

did he walk in, see me and leave, which was my next worry.

she’d made a big effort.

What did you talk about?

What was the funniest thing she said?

We talked a lot about music, and it turns out we have very

The conversation was excellent actually and that was large-

different tastes. In my attempt to appear cultured I told him I

ly due to her humour. There was an especially amusing mo-

liked Blues music, and when he asked me which particular art-

ment, when she said she could be a bit blonde sometimes. It

ists I could only name the Blues Brothers. He also mentioned

doesn’t look that spectacular written down but at the time

Beethoven and I asked him if he had seen the film which didn’t

it was absolutely hilarious and had me in stitches. The date

go down well.

produced one of the funest conversations I’ve ever had.

If you met him in Willow, would you go home with him?

What did you have to eat?

Since he doesn’t drink or like clubbing, I would say it would be

I had the bacon bolognese bake. I’d really recommend

Did you exchange numbers? it - the pasta was perfectly cooked and the meat was very Venue planned for round

highly unlikely that I would meet him in there. If he did happen to come across me though, I strongly doubt that my faint

tender. Unfortunately we didn’t go on anywhere after the

aroma of sambucca would appeal to him.

meal but the food was really super.

Marks out of ten?

Marks out of ten?

6. It was less awkward than I initially feared it was going to be,

Probably an 8. Sadly like I say we didn’t get on anywhere

but I think any longer and the conversation would have run

else afterwards but she was a lovely girl and it made for a

really dry…

lovely evening.

Dating Update Tom and Rachel got along like a house on fire on their date last issue. The sizzling passion was palpable. However, the ember soon burned out and after a drunken Facebook conversation the dialogue ceased. Some loves are just not meant to be.

Blind Date was kindly sponsored by Frankie and Benny’s, Foss Islands Retail Park, York. We recommend the potato skins, speciality pizzas and epic burgers, not to mention cocktails and desserts!

LIFESTYLE//FOODFORTHOUGHT

YORK VISION Tuesday February 4, 2014

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Q u i n n ’ s Kitchen

I

f, like me, you’ve been foolish enough to brave the bracing Yorkshire climate without a thermal tent about your person then you’ve probably got sniffles, which will rapidly snowball into a cold and end in that most unforgiving of student illnesses: flu.

No matter how many lemsips you chug back in the grim hope of escaping the illness you’re still going to be knocked out for a few days and effectively crippled as you can’t move without sneezing.

There is however a handy alternative solution: Asian food. It’s tasty, easy and, most importantly, it is hot in every sense of the word. I’m not suggesting of course that you go out and try to make something ridiculously complicated that needs four dozen spices, five hours preparation and two minutes cooking. I’m talking about making a simple stir-fry super or knocking up a curry that actually tastes of something.

Stir-fries are now pretty much a student mainstay. You chuck in some oil, vegetables and chicken, wok away for about five minutes, and then dump a load of noodles over it and serve up. Simple but it’s a bit boring.

Even a dash of soy sauce isn’t going to lift it. Ginger, pepper and chilli are really easy seasonings to get a hold of pretty much anywhere and make stir-fries both healthier and tastier. It makes your tongue tingle!

Ginger, pepper and chilli will also chase away your cold, and though you might be left reaching for the milk if it’s too hot, it’ll set you on your way to getting better much quicker than a mug of lemsip.

Another really easy and simple way to get tasty Asian food that you don’t buy in a ready meal is something like chicken fried rice. Chicken, peppers, onions and peas are the perfect bedrock for this dish and super cheap. Chilli flakes spice it up and then a drizzle of soy sauce makes it perfectly satisfying when you’re ill and need a pick me up.

Add it to boiled rice and mix together and a big enough portion will last you for a few days or keep if frozen to be reheated whenever you can’t be bothered going through cooking it all again.

Lastly of course there’s curry. Another takeaway favourite, any you’re likely to get in York will be swimming in oil and is a decidedly grim prospect that will leave you feeling worse than when you started.

Although you can get ready-made sauces in jars, a better choice if you can is to get a jar of curry paste and then use a little each time and beef it out with chopped tomatoes and other vegetables. It means that it lasts longer and you aren’t using all that expensive meat you just bought. With some naan bread to dunk and maybe a few cheeky bhajis or samosas you’ll be well on your way to feeling better.

23

REVIEW: The Olive Tree Jim Dee heads to Tower Street near Clifford’s Tower to check out some Mediterranean-inspired cuisine...

A

s dependable as some of the better spots in York are, sometimes it’s worth heading somewhere new and seeing what’s up for offer, and with the low prices of The Olive Tree’s weeknight menu, it seemed worth trying out.

Offering itself up as a Mediterranean restaurant with an English twist, as well as a focus on local and seasonal ingredients, it’s easy to see how The Olive Tree might be a little confused.

We arrived to an empty restaurant, a little alarming but given that we were dining at six it wasn’t too much of a put off.

For somewhere claiming to be influenced by the cuisine of southern France

and the Med, it was strange to see that the wine list was composed largely of new world bottles, and the Sauvignon Blanc we settled on had a harsh acidity and little else going for it. To start with we had tomato and carrot soup, and prosciutto with peaches.

Something about that combination didn’t seem right, but I couldn’t put my finger on it until I remembered it was January and that peaches hadn’t been in season for at least three months.

This is cooking at its worst, with no refinement or attention to detail whatsoever.

Prepared at the height of sticky summer, the combination of fresh warm peaches and salty prosciutto is a triumph, but the cold tinned variety with bland ham I was given were a less colourful affair by far. For a restaurant priding itself on seasonality and locality, this was poor. The soup was better, nicely spiced but nonetheless a little grainy.

For mains we went for Mediterranean vegetable pasta and steak frites, rare. The pasta was nicely al dente, but had a complete lack of seasoning and was excessively

oily. The ‘Mediterranean’ vegetables it came with included parsnips, broccoli and potatoes alongside the usual peppers, olives and tomatoes.

The steak arrived medium well, was sent back and was then returned to me blue. I’m perfectly happy with a blue steak, but not with one which is so gristly it’s two thirds inedible. The chips were soggy and the salad was covered in a foul, floury sauce. Given the opportunity, I would make it illegal to call a sauce like that a jus.

After complaining for a second time the waitress proceeded to argue with me about how my steak was cooked, while waiter number two stood there telling me he had fried the chips himself and so there was nothing to complain about. After two minutes of arguing the manager took the steak away and eventually agreed to removing it from the bill.

When Rustique is only a 2 minute walk away, it’s madness to spend your money at The Olive Tree. Think stale, uninspired and lazy cooking with serving staff who actually argue with you during your meal and it should be clear that The Olive Tree is best avoided.

The Olive Tree is found at 10 Tower Street.

Chinese New Year Special Doris Xu reveals her recipe for classic pork and Chinese cabbage dumplings (jiaozi) You will need: Bowls in different sizes, measuring spoons, teaspoons, tablespoons, rolling pin, sieve and saucepan.

Ingredients for the dough: 150g plain flour, plus extra for dusting which is used to smooth the dough; the amount of flour is enough for two servings.

125ml water; cold boiled water is better.

Ingredients for fillings: 120g pork 80g Chinese cabbage leaves ½ tsp salt Ingredients for dipping sauce: 2 tbsp soy sauce; Chinese flavour sauce is purchasable in the nearby Chinese supermarket like Chi Yip and Oriental Ex-

press.

1 tsp oil; chilli or sesame oil Step 1: Make the dough.

1. Add water to the flour gradually, mixing with a spoon until the water is absorbed. Don’t use a whisk; the dough is too dry.

2. Remove the unfinished dough onto a clean surface and knead it with your hands. At intervals, dust the dough with a little spare plain flour to avoid stick.

This may take about 15 minutes.

3. Put the dough back in the bowl and set aside until it is smooth.

It needs 20 minutes or so.

Step 2: Make the filling.

Shred the cabbage leaves and

squeeze out the moisture. Mince the pork, squeeze ginger juice, and season with salt. Use your hands to ensure ingredients are mixed fully.

Step 3: Make the wrapper.

1. Kneed and lengthen the dough into a roll about 25cm long and 2.5cm in diameter, using your hands to cut it into small pieces (about 20 discs).

3. Use a rolling pin to roll each piece into a round and flat wrapper about 9 cm in diameter.

Step 4: Wrap the filling into the wrapper 1. Place a half spoonful of filling in the centre of each wrapper.

2. Smear a little water on the edges of the wrapper, and then fold the wrapper by pinching the two edges together, forming a half-circle shape 3. Place the wrapped Jiaozi separately to avoid sticking together.

Step 5: Cook the jiaozi 1. Add salt to water, to prevent wrappers sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.

2. When the water is boiling, add the dumplings. Wait until the water boils again and turn down the heat until the dumplings float.

3. Sieve the dumplings.

4. Serve with the dipping sauce.

The Food Team Loves...

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his month, we’ll be harnessing the immune-boosting powers of ginger.

But once we’ve dealt with our colds, we’ve been checking out the best of aphrodisiac and mood-lifting foods to get into the spirit of Valentine’s Day. Beat the winter slump with fruity options such as figs, pomegranates and watermelon (much cheaper alternatives to breaking the bank to impress with oyster). Not to forget chocolate of course. And what other beverage but red wine to get you feeling fine?

LIFESTYLE//STUDENTTRAVEL

YORK VISION

Tuesday February 4th, 2014

TRAVEL: A

Amsterdam

msterdam – on hearing that word an array of different things that come to mind: bicycles, Anne Frank, ‘coffee shops’ and the notorious red light district to name but a few. Upon discovering that this was to be the location of the annual school of politics, economics and philosophy study trip, we certainly didn’t hesitate to get our hands on one of the highly sought after places; we would soon discover that Amsterdam was the perfect student-orientated location due to its good balance between culture and fun.

In true student style, after the usual frantic packing the night before, we boarded the precarious looking bus and left our inhibitions behind as we journeyed towards Amsterdam.

Our hostel, which was so ingeniously named, ‘The Travel Hotel,’ was located on a street between a church and a strip club, making it probably the best place in the world for anyone wanting to hold a Tarts and Vicars party. Although nowhere near luxury standard, the travel hotel was quaint and perfect for those staying in Amsterdam for a short stay, on a student budget – just what we were looking for. Furthermore, the small bar, wifi access on ground floor, and convenient vending machine for hungry rampages at night, enhanced the place’s appeal. Having to scale five flights of incredibly steep stairs whilst intoxicated however, was not so convenient and we certainly almost had a few neardeath encounters.

Of course, we did not want to spend our whole stay in the hostel, so as soon as we arrived in Amsterdam, we bravely ventured onwards into the unknown… round the corner.

Although we did not journey far, we did not have to. After just a two minute walk from the hostel we found ourselves on a busy, atmospheric lane packed full of takeaways, restaurants, cafes, and shops selling a range of interesting merchandise.

On our first evening, with the prospect of having to awaken at 6am the next morning, we opted for a rel-

atively easy-going time at one of the notorious coffee shops. Afterwards we, of course, stuffed our faces full of nutella crepes, then plodded on back to the hostel, satisfied and excited for the rest of our trip.

Amsterdam is widely acknowledged to have some of the best and most diverse nightlife in Europe: with ample pubs, clubs, bars, coffee shops and countless… let’s say places of ill repute and moral dubiousness that you wouldn’t want to be seen frequenting, there’s certainly something for everyone. With our hotel conveniently on the edge of the red light district, it goes without saying that we enjoyed many a good night out, sampling local Dutch beers and partying the night away.

But Amsterdam isn’t all hookahs and hookers; let’s not forget this was a study visit!

As economics students, it was only fitting we visited the somewhat underwhelming Dutch Central Bank, which, despite holding one of the largest gold supplies in the western world, was scarcely bigger than your average branch of HSBC. However, while we were there we were entertained and informed by a lecture from famous Dutch philosopher and author Bas Harring.

The more impressive institutions we visited were both located in The Hague: we were lucky enough to be given a tour of the International Court of Justice and the Dutch Parliament, the latter of which included an exclusive peek at the usually strictly off limits to the public archive, apparently acknowledged as one of the 12 most beautiful libraries in the world. We certainly agreed.

And finally, of course, who can forget the historical significance and many tourist attractions of Amsterdam? On our last day we decided to pay a visit to Anne Frank’s old house, situated picturesquely on the riverside. For under 10 euros the trip was certainly worthwhile, although we were slightly disappointed to find that all of the house’s furniture had now been removed, and we were instead expected to gain an accurate insight into Anne’s experience by looking at a tiny photo

which attempted to reconstruct the room’s appearance. There was however something incredibly aweinspiring, yet slightly unnerving, about squeezing past the old book shelf, just as Anne and her family did some 70 years ago.

Upon leaving, we felt rather pensive and touched by experiencing a glimmer of Anne’s life. After signing the guestbook, (not in Justin Bieber style), we slowly walked back to our beloved travel hotel to get ready for our journey back to York.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Amsterdam and would recommend it to anyone on a tight budget who may want a fun, spontaneous, weekend trip away. The city itself also felt very student friendly and seems to have something for everyone, whether you want to bask in a laid-back, chilled atmosphere or have an exciting, fast-paced holiday.

Callum Shannon and Selina Pope

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ASK OUR AGONY AUNTS When I came to University, I was a virgin and didn’t realise how much attention I would get from guys and how attractive and interesting they would be. By the end of the first couple of weeks, my flat-mate, Max, and I got on so well and I thought he really liked me; he even said he would break up with his girlfriend for me. The thing is, when he didn’t and I got upset, he said I was being naïve and had to learn that sex was just sex. Now, whenever I go to a club, I always end up sleeping with a different guy that I live with. I never start the night meaning to but I get carried away. It seems now, though, that everyone in my flat hates me, the guys think I am a joke, and the girls think I am a man-eater. How do I fix this and mend the friendships I had in my flat?

Aunt Betty Calm down now, many people go wild when they first start University. Everybody makes mistakes and I’m sure your flat-mates have made just as many as you - some of them have probably done worse. Dating, or just getting with, your flatmate(s) is not the best idea though. You also have to be cautious that not all guys are going to be gentlemen.

You are releasing your frustration in a way that is not necessarily healthy, at least for you.

Find something else in which you can immerse yourself and act like yourself, not someone you think you are. Talk to your friends and ask them for their patience, explain to them what you have been going through; if they are real friends, they will listen.

Aunt Petunia Taking someone home is a lot of fun, so I’m not surprised you’ve gone a bit crazy during the madness that is freshers, but if that’s what you want to do, you’ve got to compartmentalise your life; keep your friends and conquests separate. Your flatmates are wrong to judge you, but unfortunately it’s what people do. First year makes it seem like your flatmates should be your besties and if they’re not, you’re doing something wrong, but that’s not true. Move into a different flat, start a fresh, and learn from the mistakes that you’ve made, but most importantly, don’t beat yourself up about this - this - do a Nigella and keep your head held high at all times; if people want to judge you that’s their problem - leave them to it.

Do you have burning issues which need the advice of York Vision’s agony aunts? Then contact them through: lifestyle@yorkvision.co.uk

SPORT

Join us on the 14th February for ISA Fiesta!

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26 SPORT

YORK VISION

sport

Tuesday February 4, 2014

Web: www.yorkvision.co.uk/sport Email: sport@yorkvision.co.uk Twitter: @YorkVisionSport

TRANSFERS: THE WINTER WINDOW

I OFTEN found myself nodding in agreement when I heard people say “The winter transfer window is full of excitement.” Looking back, I realise such fanciful thoughts are unreasonable. This time around it was no exception.

ARSENAL: Could say it was a disaster Arsenal needed at least two players: a central-defensive midfielder and a striker.

They did sign Kim Källström, a deeplaying playmaker with good defensive abilities, on loan until the end of the season. I can tell he has lots of ability, the issue is whether he can put in top performances consistently for his club.

More problematic for Arsenal is their failure to sign a striker. There is not a single Arsenal fan who thinks they could rely on Giroud for the rest of the season. With difficult fixtures coming up and injuries to key players, Arsenal are bound to suffer.

CHELSEA: Will hope it doesn’t Mata While Mourinho did very well to capture the services of Matic, Salah and Zouma, the expulsion of Juan Mata is risible.

According to Jose, Mata was surplus to requirements because he was tactically unsuitable. That’s Nonsense. However, if he meant creative attacking-midfielders don’t help his ‘park the bus’ stunt, then he was onto something: Juan Mata is not a defender.

Chelsea, like Arsenal, were in a desperate need of a striker, and their fans will be very unhappy to see their attacking options restricted to Eto’o, Ba and Torres.

UNITED: Think they’ve found the Juan Moyes had opted for just one signing this January, and that is Juan Mata.

Marquee signings are guaranteed morale-boosters and for a demoralized team like United, Juan Mata would provide just that. First, he can play on the wing, which means Moyes doesn’t need to rely on the likes of Young, Nani and Valencia.

The recent performances of those players has evoked reaction akin to: “They are paid 100k a week to be knob-heads”. An accomplished attacking midfielder such as Mata will combine effortlessly with van Persie, Rooney and Januzaj.

Unfortunately, the acquisition of Mata is not sufficient for United. They require heavy improvement in every outfield position, especially in the central-midfield where Carrick is the only stand-out player.

BARCA: Made a Messi of it Most Los Culés wanted two players in this window: a centre-back and a striker.

Unfortunately, none of these signings happened. The role of Lionel Messi has gradually shifted to a proper number 10 as opposed to a false-9 (hinged between the two wide players and the midfield).

This means that Barça need a natural centre-forward who can play alongside

Messi up front. The reason for this is that teams have started playing a deeper block against Barça (pulling their defensive line very deep).

This renders the tactical role of a false-9 (whose job is to manipulate the open space left by the two opposing centre-backs who don’t know who to mark) useless.

Messi no longer has the space to work with, so he needs a striker that can open up that space for him. Currently, with every team that Barça face, there are at least three players man-marking Messi at all times.

It is fair to say Tata Martino has fixed a lot of Barça’s defensive problems especially in the transition.

However, Carles Puyol and Javier Mascherano aren’t getting any younger.

This means that Barça need for a centreback of the profile of Eric Abidal: tall, leftfooted, and comfortable on the ball.

ARE THE WINTER OLYMPICS MASSIVELY OVERHYPED? ANGUS QUINN

YES

HOORAY FOR the Winter Olympics!

Another chance for Team GB to punch above its weight and prove that despite our size we can go toe-to-toe – or ski-toski in this case – with the big powers.

We’ll cut them up on the ski slopes, skate rings around them and bob-sleigh our way to victory on every front because that’s what we do. Expertise, competence and opportunism will come together to give us a respectable finish at Sochi.

At least that’s what the BBC wants you to think. Everyone else knows we’re rubbish at the Winter Olympics. I’m not sure quite why we’re so terrible. The only national winter sport heroes are Torvill & Dean, and since 1984, medals have been sparse.

Also, incase it escaped your attention somehow, there’s little public interest in the Games. The BBC got away with focusing on events GB didn’t enter in 2012 because of the personalities the summer games has like Usain Bolt. The Winter Games are devoid of the same personalities and identity.

It’s hard to remember anything about Vancouver 2010, whereas the London and Beijing games were both hugely memorable.

Public apathy and the poor likelihood of winning medals means we really shouldn’t put the Winter Olympics on the same pedestal as its more promising summer equivalent.

DAVE WASHINGTON

NO

FIGURE SKATING, bobsleigh and skeleton may not compare to athletics, swimming and cycling as Olympic sports, and Vancouver gold-medallist Amy Williams may not be a household name like Mo Farah or Jessica Ennis, but that doesn’t mean that the Winter Olympics deserves less attention.

Winter sports aren’t popular in the UK, but for a few weeks they have the opportunity to be in the spotlight due to the excitement created by the Games. However, once

again the Sochi Games will fail to receive the attention of the Summer Olympics, with media attention instead focusing on the likes of the Six Nations.

There is genuine optimism that Team GB can enjoy their most successful Winter Olympics ever. By covering these potential successes, the prestige of these sports can develop. The next generation can be inspired to try out adrenaline-filled snowboarding to more sedate curling.

London 2012 created a buzz about sports like basketball, handball and volleyball.

By providing increased media coverage at Sochi, the same benefits can be reaped by these Winter Sports.

We’ve always associated the Winter Olympics with Eddie the Eagle, yet we have the chance to establish ourselves as genuine contenders. Surely this is something to be celebrated?

YORK VISION

SPORT

Tuesday February 4, 2014

SPOTLIGHT: SITTING VOLLEYBALL

JAMES PASCOE TRIES OUT THE DISABILITY SPORT WHICH COULD BE A SURPRISE HIT ON CAMPUS...

WALKING INTO the Sports Centre last Monday evening, I was unbelievably nervous. To me, volleyball was just something I played by the sea on holiday when I got fed up of subathing. I’d been lucky enough to get tickets to the beach volleyball at London 2012, and I have to admit I was more taken in by the festive atmosphere than the sport itself. Naturally, when I was invited to try out sitting volleyball, I genuinely had no idea what to expect.

Nevertheless, I was willing to have a go at anything. What followed was a challenging, but pleasantly surprising evening of fun. Hidden away behind a curtain in the Main Hall, there were six others warming up. I was greeted by Elsa Meserlian, chief organiser of Britain’s first student-led sitting volleyball initiative. “I’ve been involved as an active volunteer with Volleyball England.” I knew that they had good initiatives in place for sitting volleyball; it was just a matter of putting all the right bits together to start it out.

She told me that most attendees so far were part of UYVC. As yet, the club has no disabled members. “We have made contact with the local council who has provided us with the equipment we currently use.

We’ve made efforts to communicate the sessions with the local disabilities network, and we hope to see more community members get involved in the next few weeks,” Elsa says.

The club’s ambition impresses me.

“Tron [YUSU Disabilties officer] and I will be meeting next week to further discuss how we can improve the sessions. He was

very excited, and has since promoted it through the disabilities network on campus.” Present was Steve Matthews, a professional coach with a long-standing interest in the sitting game.

As we warmed up, I was surprised by how little power was required to send the ball flying. A ball travelling at speed required only the deftest touch to cannon off your wrists. Surprisingly quickly, I got the hang of it - my technique left rather a lot to be desired, but I was enjoying testing out my reflexes.

It was time to set the court up. There’s a distinctly lower net than for regular volleyball - about knee-height, for obvious reasons. With Elsa injured, coach Matthews stepped in to make it four-a-side.

We did a few exercises to get used to moving around the court. It’s harder than it looks - the official Paralympic rules stipulate that your pelvis can’t leave the floor, which is basically the polite way of saying you might end up leaving with a sore arse.

In a game where movement is so restricted, teamwork and disciplined positioning is key, a lesson I learnt the hard way as I proved to be the weak link. Blocking is another aspect I struggled with.

Something I comparatively excelled at was serving. It turns out I had a decent thump in my left paw, and after initally being unable to hit the ball gently enough to land the ball on court, I won a few points for the team.

The ninety minutes just flew by. Allin-all, it seems like the club’s got a bright future. There’s a social next week at the Lounge, with free pizza. Get involved.

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NEW TENNIS DOME UNVEILED A NEW inflatable dome over the Sports Centre tennis courts was officially unveiled on Friday. The ambitious new project means that three of the six tennis courts will permanently be covered during the Autumn and Spring terms.

The university spent over £100,000 on the new structure in a bid to promote participation in the sport during winter.

Head of Sport Keith Morris said: “Thanks to the dome, we will be able to run a more sustainable programme of activities. Players at all levels, from both the local community and University, will be able to enjoy tennis all year round.”

York Sport President Cass Brown told Vision: “The new tennis dome is an excellent addition to the York sport landscape.

The appointing of a full time university tennis coordinator last week will do wonders for tennis at York.”

NEW PHYSIOS TO START THIS WEEK THE ADDITION of a new part-time physiotherapist is to bolster sport at York.

Brown secured the services of a new physio who is set to start work this week.

The new team are from Highthorne Physiotherapy, the oldest clinic in York.

Speaking to Vision, Brown said: “Although I could have picked a clinic with cheaper quotes, I didn’t want to deny our students the best service possible.

“Every club within the York Sport Union can benefit from it. Clubs will benefit from the service equally.

“If we are to keep climbing up the BUCS ladder, this is an essential edition to Photo: Jack Western York.”

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Photo: Jack Western

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YORK VISION Tuesday February 4 2014

AN OCEAN BETWEEN US Atlantic Rowing champions speak exclusively to Vision

Last Saturday, Britons Dan Howie and Will North crossed the finishing line in Antigua to take the pairs title in the Talisker Whiskey Challenge. Now, Dan Howie recounts the experience to Vision.

DAN HOWIE and Will North came close to death more times than they care to remember during their mammoth row across the Atlantic. “We always aimed to prepare for the worst and we certainly got that,” Dan Howie tells me.

It’s been over a week since their glorious arrival in Antigua, but Howie can still feel the force of the ocean bearing down on their small, overexposed rowboat. “I was shocked by the size of some of the waves. Past rowers always mentioned they got to 50ft but I thought they were lying to scare me. They weren’t.”

It’s certainly a far cry from the day-job - Dan earns a living as a chartered-surveyor working in London, and remarkably plans to return to the job within weeks.

His teammate Will, the man with whom he spent almost two months alone at sea, will aim to return to his day-job as a headhunter in Sheffield once he’s recovered.

The two rowers, who met whilst studying at Oxford Brookes University, finished the race in 53 days, 9 hours and fifty minutes, after having set out in November. The pair started training in 2011 for the biggest challenge of their lives, but nothing could have prepared them for what they faced in some of the toughest conditions the Atlantic race has ever seen. Sharks juddering the boat weren’t irregular occurences, and, it was impossible to have contingency plans for everything. “We only had one rudder. So if this snapped we would be in a bit of trouble.”

Given the immensity of the task before them, and the fact that their very lives hung at the mercy of the weather, it is amazing to question how the two of them stayed motivated. “We thought of home a lot, the charities we were helping and also listened to motivational music all the time. We also kept motivated by checking our race position daily and working hard

to win our category.”

Charity clearly played its part in the race. Both Dan and Will have family members affected by illness, and have raised over £70,000 for Cancer Research UK, Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research and St. Anna’s. Dan’s father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009, and Will’s father discovered he had Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

The race took on even greater poignancy following the death of Dan’s original race partner Gareth Crockett left him stunned. Gareth was killed while cycling to in the Isle of Man on a charity intiative of his own. “I thought about Gareth a lot.

I only knew him for a couple of years but I loved his sense of adventure (he was planning to go to the South Pole) and he was just generally an all round legend whom I could really relate to. His family sent us some nice messages and we are proud to have rowed in his memory.”

Gareth was in Dan’s thoughts as they crossed the finish line in Antigua late on 26th January. “That was the highlight for me,” Dan says fondly. “The welcome we received at Nelsons Dockyard... I was gobsmacked by the turnout. There were hundreds all cheering us in and we felt very humbled. That moment will never be beaten.”

The elation of finishing, and winning the pairs class, came in stark contrast to the nadir of the race. The 17th December was the day that the two of them came closest to death. “We had nearly capsized about 8 times that day already and when we finally did it really shook me up.” The conditions were so rough that Dan tells me they actually had to slow themselves down by trailing a 40-feet long rope behind the boat. “I thought we may well have to get rescued that day but we got through it and here I now sit in Antigua.”

Where next for the duo? Married life, for Dan - he proposed to girlfriend Jo upon arrival in Antigua. “She has done all our PR and been a legend throughout this whole campaign. Thankfully she said yes!” And has the Atlantic seen the back of him? “For now...maybe my view will change over time when I forget the bad bits and only remember the good.” Watch this space...

HOCKEY: DERWENT 5-3 VANBRUGH DERWENT PREVAILED 5-3 over their fierce rivals Langwith in an enthralling contest on Sunday morning, as a brace from Jack Bradshaw helped his side to claim a hard-earned victory.

In sunny conditions, both sides played crisp passing hockey in a competitive contest, but it was Derwent who held a slender 2-1 lead at the interval after a penalty goal and a Bradshaw strike cancelled out Langwith’s opener.

Derwent extended their lead soon after the break as Dom Bolt slotted home, but Langwith refused to succumb to defeat and showed great resilience as led by Barnaby Steel and Simon Downes they clawed back the two goal deficit to bring the scores level with less than 10 minutes to go.

Langwith’s efforts were to be in vain though, as Derwent retook the lead with five

minutes left as Hattie Whillans rounded off a flowing counter-attack. A fifth soon followed to seal the victory as Bradshaw capped off an excellent performance to ensure that Derwent moved up to second in the table.

Halifax also claimed their second victory of term, as they breezed past bottom-placed Alcuin with a crushing 8-0 victory. Alex Francis bagged four goals to lead Isaac Barker’s side to victory over their struggling opponents, who slid to yet another defeat.

Alcuin never threatened, as Halifax dominated from start to finish, with Helena Page, Graeme Osborn and Jamie Emmerson adding their names to the scoresheet.

The final game saw Vanbrugh fail to field a full side against Goodricke, meaning they were handed the spoils even though they were defeated in the following friendly.

James remain top despite enjoying a week off, as three wins out of three means that they sit two points clear of Derwent.

SPORT

YORK VISION

Tuesday February 4, 2014

BOXING REVISITED

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Sport of kings in rude health on campus despite dwindling coverage

I JOINED boxing this year and I wish I had done so much sooner.

As a third year, I wanted to take a crack at something that I had never attempted before, and many of you may have made similar decisions this academic year.

It seemed like the right move to try out boxing at least once as I was completely inexperienced and had never even put on gloves before.

Despite showing up a bit intimidated by experienced fighters and how they may be overbearing or brutish, my reservations were almost immediately proved

wrong.

I was warmly welcomed by the guys and girls organising the first meeting and was not alone in being a beginner, which helped to settle those early nerves.

It is true that many of the members of the boxing club are experienced at the sport, but I was never made to feel inadequate for having no previous knowledge.

As a first time visitor, I was showed the proper stance and footwork, where to hold my gloves, and some simple moves.

I was hooked from the start and felt like I was learning quickly.

After the first few meetings, they incorporated new moves and

skills at a relaxing and easy to follow pace.

The class is divided into two or three groups depending on ability: first time visitors, beginner to intermediate, and advanced.

The time is split between fitness and technique, with fitness incorporating circuit training.

The fitness will definitely keep you in shape and increase overall strength to your core, arms, and legs.

All fitness is weight bearing exercises such as press ups and squats. It’s all at your pace and can be taken slowly, or as intense as you would like.

We do have one of the most rigorous training sessions out

there, so come and try it out!

We also have sparring throughout the meeting.

Sparring is optional, but is an amazing way to practise some of the technique you will learn.

In addition to our training sessions, there is the challenge of potentially showing off your new moves in our annual Fight Night event.

Again, no one is forced to spar, but if you choose to, we always incorporate head gear and everyone is required to wear mouth guards.

Headgear can be risky as it partially obstructs peripheral vision.

However, we would rather be protected and take that shot from

the side than risk serious injury by abstaining from the headgear.

Not only do we train hard, but we have amazing nights out as well. The socials are some of the best I’ve been to with large groups of guys and girls coming out for a good time.

We always stay in a group and ensure that everyone makes it to the destination.

Fancy dress is a common theme, and we have joint socials with other sports.

I definitely don’t regret trying out boxing as I have made some of my closest friends during my entire University experience just this year through my membership of the club.

GIVE ‘EM HULL, BOYS

UYAFC topple Trinity to set up Northern Premier Division 3B showdown ON THE Wednesday before last, UYAFC welcomed a struggling Teesside outfit to the 3G, knowing that a victory would all but end Hull’s chances of snatching the title away from them.

Whether it was complacency due to Teesside’s four defeats from six, or the importance of the occasion, the Black and Gold looked a shadow of the side that had smashed in nine goals in three games.

James Davies takes on Teesside

They could ill-afford to repeat the non-committal, flimsy performance of the Teesside match against Leeds Trinity, no better or worse a side on paper than their previous opponents.

Leeds Trinity were comfortably put in their place to the tune of four goals to nil.

This meant that UYAFC travel to Hull on Wednesday with their pride restored and a golden opportunity to seal the Northern Premier 3B title.

But what was it that caused them to collapse against Teesside,

and how did they put it right in such style just seven days later?

The root of the problem lies in the pros and cons of lining up in a 4-2-3-1.

The basic notation of such a formation dictates that with the wide midfielders pushed on as out and out wingers (Connor McCoy, James Davies) the central midfield ‘holding’ pair need to be both dynamic in terms of their ‘box-tobox’ movement.

If the central two (Mirhire Overo-Tarimo, Chris Osborne) are too static in their movement, the attacking midfielder (Joe Easter) quite simply never gets into the game.

This is exactly what happened against the Teessiders.

Initially, Teesside were caught cold, and the combination of overloads created down the flanks by fullbacks and wingers left and right looked to overwhelm as the home side started strongly.

Midway through the half they forced a goal, and continued to press for a second.

Unfortunately, they were caught out by one incisive attack on the break by the away side.

It was this equaliser that gave them the confidence to execute their plan.

The lack of movement through the middle from Overo-Tarimo and Osborne was quickly exploited- Teesside noticed that York were loathe to cut inside and attempt to play through the middle due to lethargy on the part of the central midfielders.

This left UYAFC frustrated in two ways- firstly as Teesside pressed them wider and wider into corridors on the flanks, their movement down the channels was increasingly restricted.

It was because of this that Joe Easter found himself open for a pass in acres of space through the middle, yet he was frustrated by the lack of supply.

York failed to analyse and react to this approach by getting the ball through the middle to Easter with Overo-Tarimo and Osborne in alternate support.

This meant they ended the afternoon with a disappointing draw.

Whatever was said in training on Monday, it certainly worked as last Wednesday and the Leeds Trinity game rolled around.

Although the same strategy was implemented in terms of working it down the channels, York were restricted from direct approach play by the ferocity of

the wind around the 3G, which scuppered any aerial balls.

Much like the Teesside game, high tempo play down the right flank caught the visitors out and James Davies capitalised, cutting inside to shoot home at the far post.

When Leeds Trinity became wise to York’s wingplay, unlike last time out, they began to look inside at Easter whose quick feet and vision caused no end of problems to the Leeds back-line.

Mirhire Overo-Tarimo really came into his own in this game, battling forward with energy to sit the midfield high.

He would go on to burst into the box to grab a couple of goals of his own- all while being brilliantly protected by Chris Osborne.

It was this energy through the middle that saw UYAFC take Leeds Trinity apart in a manner which surely would have seen off the Teessiders, and if they carry this tenacious momentum into the crucial match on Wednesday, they’ll go to Hull, and they’ll come back with three points and the title in the bag.

UYAFC travel to the University of Hull on Wednesday, and kick off at 3pm.

30 SPORT

YORK VISION

James 3 - 1 Derwent

Tuesday January 14, 2014

Déjà vu as James dismantle Derwent again

Swanderland A 3-1 victory for James heralded the return of College Football to 22 Acres following a weather-enforced hiatus. An early strike from Ralph Gill and a Matt Singleton double put paid to a Derwent resistance spearheaded by the spirited Josh Bew, and secured the Black Swan all three points.

The opening minutes of the game were consummately controlled by James, and it did not take long at all for them to storm into the lead, with captain Ralph Gill drilling home following a Felix Aylett flap.

Derwent were keen not to let heads drop, and equalised soon after, Josh Bew thumping home off a Joe Eyles cross.

The match developed into a high-tempo end to end affair, with James creating the better chances: one such chance for Andy Jopson slipping through their fingers- as Aylett closed the angle, Jopson sidefooted horribly wide.

Derwent would make things happen in front of Andy Balzan’s goal when another dangerous Eyles cross found Ryan Gwinnett lurking in the area. Fortunately for James, the attacking midfielder could only blast high over the bar from 15 yards.

Felix Aylett was forced to close down another onrushing James forward just moments later- though James’ Davies would break clean through with the ball; a combination of the goalkeeper and right-back Sam Weighall ensured that the goal threat was confidently neutralised.

The two sides would go in level at the break. After the restart, there was a controversial moment as a fine Derwent attack resulted in Jamie Trant tucking the ball into the net from close range, only to see the referee signal for offside.

Derwent’s spunky resilience meant at this stage they certainly seemed full value for the point they were achieving- a stark contrast to the way James tore them apart in last season’s title decider.

Just as Derwent felt they had began to dictate the tempo and control the match themselves, James lashed out with a clinical Matt Singleton finish from a slide-rule Davies through ball to turn the tide yet again.

At 2-1 all credit must be given to Derwent, who rallied in the face of adversity, forcing Andy Balzan to palm away a well-hit Josh Bew strike. Jamie Trant then spanked an emphatic volley off the crossbar with Balzan well beaten.

Then James scored again. Derwent switched off at a corner kick, and when Jacob Tapper’s downward header lacked conviction, Matt Singleton was alive to the situation and easily swept home from the penalty spot.

At 3-1, Derwent heads definitely dropped.

James began to completely dominate in possession inspired by economical use of the ball by Ralph Gill.

There was still time for Sam Earle to test Balzan with a good effort, and Josh Bew to blot his copybook with a howler of a miss before the referee called time on a pulsating and eventful match.

James deserved to win it though. By finding the net in key moments when it looked

as though Derwent were back on the horse and creating chances, James were able to eat away at their morale and force them out of the game.

Derwent never once waved the white flag though, and they will take great confidence from their resilience in the face of a very talented and able James outfit.

James captain Ralph Gill was pleased to come away with victory from the match, telling Vision “It’s good to be playing again. The game was excellent and competitive, but almost too open at times.

“It’s great to get the win, and we embrace the challenge of the Varsity qualifiers. We’ll do our best to win.”

Derwent captain Dave Belshaw, watching from the touchline, was in a rueful and reflective mood.

After the match, he told Vision “I don’t think there’s an awful lot between the two sides. James were dangerous, but we created chances ourselves.

“The difference is they took them and we didn’t, which is disappointing. I’m excited about Varsity qualifiers, and we’ll do our best to get the results that matter.”

VISION MOTM: Matt Singleton JAMES (4-4-1-1): Balzan, Sangha, Elliot, Alhassan, Edwards, Jopson, Gill, Davies, Ferrao, Briars, Singleton DERWENT (4-2-3-1): Aylett, Weighall, Tapper, Whittall, Delay, Earle, Kirby, Eyles, Gwinnett, Trant, Bew Subs: Fotheringham, Nozaki

MATCH STATISTICS Possession 55%

45%

Shots 11

10

Shots on Target 9

4

Fouls 5

3

Offsides 0

1

YORK VISION

SPORT

Tuesday January 14, 2014

LANGWITH GET LAMPED VANBRUGH

5

LANGWITH

2

VANBRUGH BEAT Langwith 5-2 in a thrilling goal fest on 22 Acres, taking advantage of some terrible defending from the men in yellow.

A string of goals from both teams made for a lively display but it was the set pieces that that made the difference in the game.

Langwith started promisingly, taking the lead early on with a counter attack and a professional finish from Okusanya, one on one with the keeper.

However their pressure soon expired as Vanbrugh began to settle and equalised through a well taken goal from Elliot RousRoss after Langwith failed to clear the free kick.

Vanbrugh’s second showed an even greater exposure of their opposition’s struggle to

defend set pieces when Chris Wignall was not picked up and provided a powerful finish to give keeper Cheshire no chance.

Corners proved to be a definite vulnerability for Langwith with a good save from Cheshire pushing Brewer’s effort over the bar.

Vanbrugh continued to pressure throughout the first half and looked dangerous in attack with a great run and cross from Joe Lund that couldn’t be finished in the box.

Their pressure didn’t go unrewarded when a free kick from Watkins went all the way through to give Vanbrugh a two goal cushion.

The first half ended with Wignall and Rous-Ross engaging in some promising link up play as Langwith faded, diminishing any hope of a goal back before half time.

Langwith’s defending didn’t improve in the second half as Vanbrugh looked to extend their goal rout.

They did just that via a great striker’s goal by Rous-Ross who showed swift pace to shrug off the defenders and a great finish in the corner to make it 4-1.

Langwith responded quickly to get one back with a free kick from captain Marcus Campbell who whipped in a good delivery with Vanbrugh this time being guilty of poor defending, failing to clear it.

31

Any hope of a comeback was short lived however when some truly criminal defending put Vanbrugh back in control.

A mix up between the defence and keeper allowed Watkins to claim his second and Vanbrugh’s fifth to restore their firm authority on the game.

Langwith didn’t surrender however and had a good spell of pressure.

Some careless defending by the Vanbrugh defence left them thinking they had a goal back when Hooper was forced into a good save to clear a poor back pass off the line.

Often however, they were unable to follow through with chances and Vanbrugh also could have scored more with Rous-Ross and Graham failing to hit the target in the closing stages of the match.

After the game, Langwith captain Marcus Campbell told Vision “The result didn’t reflect how well we played at times.

Things were much more promising in the second half, but our poor defending allowed them to capitalise and get the win.”

Vanbrugh looked strong overall with some great attacking play and showed their strength in exposing the weaknesses of the opposition to give them an impressive victory over the losing side from Langwith College.

Photos: Zoe Bennell

Photo: Zoe Bennell

WENT OFF THE BOIL

HALIFAX

5

WENTWORTH

2

Wentworth were no match for Halifax on 22 Acres.

Halifax’s Pilades opened the scoring in the third minute, scoring from a corner.

Halifax went on to dominate the opening minutes of the game.

They continued to

press, and in the 25th minute Heath scored from a rebound.

Five minutes later, Wentworth skipper Paes scored from a long-range shot after a lucky break.

The Postgrads then went on to dominate the game until a brilliant counter-attack from Halifax ended up with Heath converting a second.

Wentworth improved in the second half, but they were

finally undone when Halifax’s McCoy scored from outside the box for 4-1.

Wentworth then scored on the counter thanks to Ben Keane.

In the 80th minute, a first-time cross from Brooks reached Heath who finished off his hat-trick.

In summary, though Wentworth fought hard, the class of Halifax ultimately told and they came out on top.

TOO GOOD FOR YOU

GOODRICKE

3

ALCUIN

1

Goodricke beat Alcuin 3-1 on 22 Acres with both sides showing skill in spite of sodden conditions.

The game began with a solid start, with some tactical passing between

players. Goodricke came in fast with a spontaneous air of penal ferociousness, giving themselves enough space to bring the ball across the field.

Eventually, Alcuin got into the game, with Andy Fernando securing the first goal.

Several free kicks were issued throughout the second half, one which involved a

Ben Bugeja tackle and a slight injury for Goodricke Captain Jonathan Gillbanks. A serious injury hit one Goodricke player, Simon Hirst, who was necessarily replaced.

Two goals in quick succession from Ben Crawley and Ben Watkins gave Goodricke control, before a late third made sure of all three points.

SPOTLIGHT: SITTING VOLLEYBALL

BOXING: A FRESH LOOK

SPORT

V

ATLANTIC ROWING: HEROES SPEAK TO VISION

P28

GAME ON

P27

P29

Photo: Jack Western

be re-arranged for midweek, and the long term effect of the fixture chaos remains to be seen.

What we do know, though, is that FOLLOWING WEEKS of inclemJames dismantled a resilient Derent weather rendering 22 Acres comwent 3-1 as last term’s title rivals pletely unplayable, it began to look went head to head. as though College Football would Vanbrugh and Halifax each regive up the ghost. corded 5-2 wins over Langwith and However, Lady Luck (and the Wentworth respectively to grab Sun) decided at long last to shine on three points in their first fixtures of the colleges this week, and all eight the campaign. teams were in action.

You’ll find reports and reactions With the fixture list still in disarfrom all these fixtures inside this isray, matches will doubtlessly need to sue of Vision Sport.

Reports: Pages 30-31

> COLLEGE FOOTBALL BACK ON AFTER WEEKS OF INCLEMENT WEATHER > JAMES DEFEAT DERWENT 3-1 > VANBRUGH, HALIFAX AND GOODRICKE ALL WIN ON 22 ACRES

Issue 240

Tuesday February 4, 2014

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