thursday - The Cambridge Student

Transcription

THURSDAY:
Explores Africa
The
CambridgeStudent
Michaelmas 2008 Issue 7
University promotions
process alleged to be illegal
Cambridge University is investigating
allegations that it illegally rejects qualified applicants for senior academic
positions on a regular basis.
Two senior academics have accused
the University of consistently ignoring
its own official guidelines on teaching staff promotions. Dr Nick Gay, a
Reader in Biochemistry, claims to have
evidence that senior appointments
are actually being made according to
“an opaque and secretive secondary
system of ranking,” which he says is
illegal.
The allegations, made during a discussion at Senate House, were referred
by the University’s governing Council
to the General Board on November 3rd.
Professor Willy Brown, a member of the
General Board, the body responsible
for the University’s academic policy,
told The Cambridge Student (TCS): “I
can see no grounds for saying that the
University is acting illegally. The criteria make reference to the applicant’s
international reputation, and that’s
subjective.”
But Dr Gay, whose own application for promotion was passed over
last year, claims to have documents,
obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, which disprove this. He
says the documents show all last year’s
rejected applicants for promotion in
the Biological and Medical Sciences
as having had “clear evidence evaluations on all the criteria for promotion.”
This is, he claims, “information that
the General Board would prefer to keep
secret.”
Professor Gillian Evans, who won
the right in 1997 to a judicial review
into the University’s promotions procedure, was the second of the two academics who spoke out at Senate House.
Following her campaign, Cambridge
altered its promotions procedure ten
years ago and the review was never implemented. But, she says, if Cambridge
is failing, once again, to award promotions on the basis of clear criteria in
accordance with the law, this judicial
review could now be enforced.
With the decade-old threat of a
legal inquiry hanging in the air, Professor Evans told those assembled at
Senate House: “The published criteria
for promotion have become worthless.
Many candidates fully satisfy them but
why some are promoted and some are
not remains as mysterious as when I
took the question to the High Court.”
“Promotion is no longer given
where it is deserved but when it can
be afforded,” she concluded. But, she
told TCS: “The finding of the Court is
still authoritative.”
Dr Gay told Senate House: “The
evaluative criteria introduced [after
1997] to comply with the law are redundant. Decisions about promotions
are no longer being made in relation
to a common set of relevant criteria,
but by subjective and arbitrary assessments, the nature of which is not
known by the candidates.”
He told TCS: “I was absolutely appalled when I found out what was going on. It’s not actually legal unless
they use a defined set of criteria, but
they won’t tell us what the criteria
are.”
“My legal friends tell me that the refusal to give reasons could be contested
by judicial review,” he continued, adding that he was personally considering
taking legal action. “I wouldn’t rule
it out completely, and I’ve told them
that,” he said.
Asked why he thought the University was failing to comply both with its
own regulations and with UK law, Dr
Gay pointed to financial limits on the
annual number of promotions.
“This is absolutely bound to arise if
you have a financial constraint on the
number of people you can promote,”
Dr Gay explained. “People are becoming demoralised and demotivated as a
result, so it’s not good for the University.”
Professor Evans explained that the
University has failed to fulfil the promises it made in 1997, when the threat of
judicial review was still fresh.
“The result of the last patch of warfare was pretty satisfactory. We had a
massive catch-up of overdue promotions, and we won the concession
that everyone who deserved it should
get promoted,” she said. “The General
Board went back on the deal and said
it would promote only as many as the
university could afford.”
At present, University Readers take
home a starting salary of £55,259,
while a Professor begins at £64,059.
Dr Gay has said that he would not like
to see promotions separated from pay
increases, as is the case at Oxford University.
Dr Mike Clark, Vice-President of
the Cambridge University and College
Union (UCU), which represents employment interests of teaching staff,
said: “The senior academic promotions
process should adhere to basic principles of fairness and natural justice.”
“Applicants should have clear information on what the judged criteria
for academic promotion are. The actual criteria that are used to ultimately
judge applicants are not those which
are published in the guidelines.”
A member of the General Board
said: “We can’t promote everyone we’d
like to see promoted. People can be delayed in promotion for two or even six
years because they’ve been unlucky in
having tough referees. It’s not a perfect process.”
News
interview
THEATRE
Alex Coke-Woods
Associate Editor
>>03
>>14
>> 21
David Lammy
THRUST AWAY!
Will it rain on
their Parade?
Cambridge remembers
Thousands of locals and students turned out on Sunday to
remember those who died in two world wars and several
other conflicts. Mike Dixon, Mayor of Cambridge attended
a memorial service at Great St. Mary’s Church, while Deputy Mayor Russ McPherson laid a wreath at the war memorial alongside veterans’ organisations.
Photo: Tom Moriarty
Music
>> 25
Sport
This week’s>> 30-31
supplement:
Cage the Elephant Cambridge Utd
The Cambridge Student | 13/11/08
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 761 685
02|News
News in Brief
Famous Freshers
Grossman graces Magdalene
Loyd Grossman has joined this
year’s batch of freshers at Magdelene College. The TV presenter
and chef, famous for fronting
programmes such as Through the
Keyhole and Masterchef, will be
spending the next year studying
for an MPhil in History of Art. He
is also attempting to revive his
early career as a punk musician:
his band Jet Bronx and the New
Forbidden will be playing at this
year’s Rebellion Festival in Blackpool.
Downing Alumni
Honorary Fellowship
A leading light of the Pakistani
legal and political establishment
has been elected to an Honorary
Fellowship by Downing College.
Aitzaz Ahsan has worked in the
Pakistani parliament as Minister
for Law and Justice, Minister for
the Interior and Narcotics Control, Minister for Education and,
subsequently, Leader of the Opposition. A committed human
rights activist and author, Ahsan
was appointed President of the
Supreme Court Bar Association in
October 2007. In November of the
same year, however, he was placed
under house arrest following the
declaration of a State of Emergency. He was released in March 2008.
Ahsan graduated from Downing
with a degree in Law in 1967.
European Debate
Students grill EU bigwigs
Cambridge MML students have
joined peers from across Europe
in a debate aimed at improving
relations between the EU and its
citizens. Representatives of prominent Universities in Germany, Romania and France, among others,
traveled to Brussels to put their
questions to a panel of EU experts
from various fields, including the
President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering. The
event was organised by the newly
established European Radio Network, EURANET. The multilingual
station aims to provide information about European events “from
a trans-national perspective.”
THURSDAY
Shuo Zhang
Kwame Kwei-Armah Talks about being being a black political playwright
African Film Festival An intro to Cambridge’s month-long festival
Ethnic Inspired Fashion Come on, take a walk on the wild side
Health Care in Africa Science looks at the pros and cons of current aid schemes
sponsored
by:
Thursday 13th November, Issue 7, Michaelmas 2008
Blaze on Mill Road
The fire broke out in a warehouse in the
early hours of Wednesday morning.
Photo: Masons News Agency
Fire engulfs Mill Lane factory
Anna Croall
Deputy News Editor
A fire at a warehouse on Mill Road
yesterday morning has resulted in
the closure of one of the busiest
traffic routes in Cambridge.
The fire broke out around 1am
yesterday morning at a former
John Lewis warehouse, which may
now have to be demolished.
The warehouse, which is currently owned by the Muslim Academic Trust, in partnership with
the Cambridge Muslim Welfare Society, had already been scheduled
for demolition, to make way for a
new mosque on Mill Road.
50 fire-fighters were called to
the scene of the fire at 1.15am;
by 2.15am they believed to have
got the blaze under control. But
within half an hour, the wind had
changed, causing renewed fears
that the fire might spread.
CUSU Welfare Officer Andrea
Walko, who lives in the building
adjacent to the warehouse, told
The Cambridge Student (TCS) that
the residents of her house were
woken by the flashing lights in the
road outside at around 2.15 am.
She spoke to one of the firefighters tackling the blaze and was
told that “It was all under control.”
After half an hour though, they
were informed that the wind had
shifted direction and because of
the danger they had to be evacuated.
They were not given any official
evacuation aid and instead journeyed into town, looking for accommodation with friends. Walko
herself spent the remainder of the
night on a sofa in King’s College.
Residents told Cambridge Evening News (CEN) of their distress at
the ways events unfolded, but were
reassured by the actions of the firefighters. One local resident, who
wished to remain anonymous, described their experience of the
blaze:
“We managed to sleep through
the initial part of it. Then I saw
flashes behind the curtains. I
looked out and saw orange smoke
coming out of the building…It
seemed to take quite a long time to
get it under control.
“The only thing that worried
me at one point was that it might
spread to the garage next door.”
In praise of the fire-fighters,
though, this resident added that:
“It seemed to me the fire-fighters were very professional and it
was extremely organised.”
Speaking to TCS, Walko agreed
that the efforts of the fire services
warranted such praise:
“I was reassured by the competence and politeness of the fire
fighters. I never felt in any great
danger.”
Police are currently treating the
site of the fire as a crime scene.
Fire-fighters will carry out a full
assessment of the site, including
a search and launch investigation,
once they are able to enter the
building.
As a result of the incident, Mill
Road has been closed in both directions between Perne Road and
Coleridge Road.
Motorists have been advised to
expect lengthy delays or to find
alternative routes, though cyclists
and pedestrians can still use the
route.
Interfaith conference promotes religious harmony
Katherine Fish
News Reporter
The Cambridge University Law
Faculty played host to a number
of influential members of the
Jewish and Muslim communities
for a panel discussion entitled
‘Muslim and Jewish Relations in
a Climate of Change’ last Wednesday, 12th November.
Students had the opportunity
to air their views during the live
talk and were also able to meet
the panellists.
Those attending included former Conservative leader Michael
Howard and shadow cabinet min-
ister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi.
Discussion ranged from lively
debate as to how Jews and Muslims can understand themselves
as British citizens, to the panellist’s personal experiences regarding the changing nature of
Jewish-Muslim relations over the
past few decades.
A number of pertinent questions from the floor were put to
the experts.
The panel also comprised of
Lord Mitchell, the Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion,
Trust founder Lord Greville Janner, the Liberal Democrat Peer
Baroness Kishwer Falkner and Sir
Gulam Noon OBE, among others.
Jewish and Muslim people
work together in all walks of life,
yet we seem to live apart,” said
Baroness Falkner.
“This tour will finally give us
an opportunity to get beneath
the skin and to talk of all the
things that bring us together in
this country and where we might
make common cause. It’s long
overdue.”
The event, which formed part
of a UK campus tour organised by
the Co-Existence Trust, focused
on the shared experiences and
common values of the two communities in order to bring Jewish
and Muslim students together.
The Trust, established in 2005,
works to encourage the growth of
strong inter-faith relations on an
international level.
Membership now includes
leaders from over 40 nations.
Lord Parry Mitchell, Labour
Peer and Chairman of the Coexistence Trust, said:
“In addition to promoting
positive relations between young
Muslims and Jews at UK Universities, we hope the tour will address the aspirations of Muslim
and Jewish students as they integrate into society; their values
and life-goals.”
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 761 685
News|03
‘Thrust’ causes upset for LBGT
Carly Hilts
Deputy News Editor
‘Thrust is a
sexual word
however you
try to label it’
Despite difficulties in deciding how to classify what might be
seen as demeaning or offensive,
the Women’s Union passed it last
Thursday.
As part of the proposal, CUSU
Women’s Officer Natalie Szarek
was mandated to keep in contact
Photo: Alex Coke-Woods
Cambridge University Students’
Union (CUSU) LBGT have held
an open meeting after receiving
complaints about the new name
of the Tuesday club night held at
The Place, ‘Thrust’.
CUSU Ents Officer Math Morgan said: “We’ve only had a couple of complaints – and this has
been about the name of the club.
People are generally very happy
with how the night is run.”
He added: “We had a meeting
with CUSU, LBGT and club representatives discussing the issues
that have been raised and how
to move forward with the issue.
There’s been no definite decision
as of yet – at the moment we’re
just looking at what people have
said, post-open meeting.”
This comes after Women’s
Council proposed a motion that
CUSU ents should not be demeaning on a basis of gender or sexual
orientation.
with the Ents Officer when future
ents are being planned.
She said: “I think it’s important for CUSU Ents that the ents it
promotes are viewed positively by
its students, not just in terms of
having a good time, but in terms
of what it says about the LGBT
community, women, etc. I am
confident that the CUSU Ents Officer will do their utmost to represent this.”
“CUSU needs to set the standard for other nights like college
ents,” she added.
Another result of the proposal
passing will be the development
of a specific complaints policy
with clear provisions for complaints about ents.
Any action taken on the issue
of the club night’s name will be
the first application of this policy.
The club night was renamed
after taking on new promoters,
but some students have criticized
the choice of name.
Szarek said: “‘Thrust’ is a sexual word however you try to label
it. The club night isn’t a sex-fest.
Granted, we had ‘Kinki’ nights,
but every hetero-normative night
isn’t called something like ‘Penetration’ - you have to be careful
of how you portray the LBGT community.
“It’s about self-definition.
People have to have the right to
say this isn’t how they want to be
portrayed and defined.”
Math Morgan said: “I’m fairly
indifferent to the name. I want
to listen to what students have to
say.
“Obviously we don’t want to
run a night that would be offensive to anyone. There are dif-
The club night’s name ‘Thrust’ is seen to be sexist and demeaning and has caused controversy
ficulties because the promoters
of the club have used the name
elsewhere and like the name,
but we obviously want to look at
the issues as raised by students.
We’re looking to see where we can
compromise to achieve the best
solution for students.”
Numerous solutions were suggested at the open meeting,
from changing the name again to
changing the promoter.
Natalie Szarek said: “The ideal
situation would be to work with
the ents partners and rebrand
it - to build on something that
already has a reputation and a
following would be the best solution.
“If that proves to be impossible
and they choose to set up a parallel night then I would support
them in that as Liberation Officer
but I am optimistic that we could
find a practical solution.”
CUSU LBGT released the following statement: “CUSU LBGT Executive have received a number of
complaints from students about
the name and branding of our new
club night, Thrust at The Place on
Tuesdays. Following this, the club
night was discussed at our Open
Meeting on Sunday to get further
input and opinions from the LBGT
student community. The club promoters, Thrust Promotions, have
been made aware of the issues
students have with the night,
and are working with CUSU LBGT
and Ents to rectify the matter as
soon as possible.”
‘Apprentice’ winner comes to Cambridge
Sita Dinanauth
News Reporter
Tim Campbell, the first winner of
hit television show ‘The Apprentice’, visited Robinson College on
Monday as part of the Cambridge
Business Lecture series.
Campbell beat several other razor sharp business minds in a cut
throat environment to win the
reality show and remained at Sir
Alan Sugar’s side for two years,
before deciding to leave and establish his own company.
John Bird MBE, founder of the
big issue, praised Tim Campbell
from the stage of Robinson College, commenting “Since winning
the Apprentice, he has become
incredibly influential.”
Under the title, ‘‘Much Sug-
ar is a good thing: the power of
mentoring”, Campbell spoke to
the audience about his life before
and after the show.
The lecture included amusing
anecdotes about his Jamaican
mother’s discipline and playing
truant from school, but there was
a serious undertone to the talk,
in which Campbell concentrated
on the drive, hunger and strategies needed to succeed in the
business world.
After graduating with a degree
in psychology, Campbell became
an human relations employee
for London Underground. He discussed his dissatisfaction in this
job with the audience:
“I saw lots of people who were
being promoted over me. They
didn’t see I had potential, they
just wanted me for that particular
role.”
Campbell later left this job, to
retrain as a project manager in
marketing and planning at the
age of 24, seeing those who had
previously turned down his job
application begin to work for
him.
It was during this time that
someone suggested he applied
for The Apprentice. Speaking to
the audience about his initial
disinterest in the reality show, he
said;
“I couldn’t be bothered, I had
no interest at all in being on
television. I was content, earning a decent amount of money.
The day before the closing date I
filled out the form.”
He branded The Apprentice a
‘life changing experience’ , citing
that fact that it was a level playing field, where determination
and hunger for success were more
important than contacts. He
also pin pointed what he thought
made Sir Alan so successful;
“Alan could convince you
to follow him to the end of the
earth. He also employed people
he thought were better than him,
which was important.”
Campbell concluded by speaking of his desire to set up a business which focused on looking
after young people, rather than
maximising profit, giving them
the opportunity to work with a
mentor to guide them in the business arena.
It was this desire which led to
him setting up an organisation
called The Bright Ideas Trust. The
trust is now a registered charity,
which looks after young people
from 16-30 who want to get involved in the entrepreneurial
field.
While determination, hunger
and intelligence may all be positive attributes, they are not a
guarantee for success.
When asked what qualities he
thinks have enabled him to become the first winner of The Apprentice, he told TCS he believes
the root is something instilled in
him by his mother:
“I’ve always walked into situations with a lot of confidence
in my abilities. There was never
anywhere I felt I didn’t deserve to
be or any ambitions that seemed
unachievable.”
The
CambridgeStudent
L
Editorial
team
N
T
Applications for all positions on the Lent editorial team open on Thursday
13th November. Visit www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/apply to find out more
Applications to [email protected]
Deadline: 25th November
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 761 685
News|05
Union Sketch
James Garner
“This house has no confidence in Her
Majesty’s Government”
Image: BillT
NUS conference
causes conflict
Katie Spenceley
News Editor
The National Union of Students
(NUS) has passed a controversial
new constitution, following a vote
at the NUS conference.
The proposed constitutional reforms had originally been passed at
last year’s conference.
Plans were then shelved, however, following a lack of support
for the changes at the NUS’ annual
Blackpool conference.
The changes were originally
drawn up in order to stop the NUS
from losing money. The ideas were
championed at the conference by
the NUS President and former Cambridge student, Wes Streeting.
Delegates from Cambridge University attended the debate. Of the
14 Cambridge delegates, 7 voted in
favour of constitutional change and
7 voted against it.
This week’s motion was passed
easily, with 614 of the approximately 700 student representatives voting in favour of a new constitution,
in contrast to just 142 who opposed
the amendments.
The required number of representatives needed for the motion to be
passed was 499.
Despite the motion’s obvious support, harsh criticism has been made,
both of the policy and the way in
which the conference was handled
by the NUS.
CUSU Academic Affairs Officer,
Ant Bagshaw, who attended the con-
ference, told The Cambridge Student
(TCS) that he viewed the conference
itself as a disappointment:
“It’s an absolute faction-riven
farce. There’s been very little debate,
very few people changed their opinions – there are 700 student representatives and still NUS can’t come
up with a way of engaging them in
debate.
“As for the motion, there are a
number of serious problems with
the current constitution. That
said, I voted for it and I’m glad it’s
passed.”
Another Cambridge delegate, Ed
Maltby, had stronger and more critical words to offer in opposition to
the proposed NUS constitution:
“I’m against the constitution because it concentrates power in the
union with a group of professionals.
It’s antithetical to a students’ union,
and antithetical to the fundamental
idea of grassroots involvement. This
will be borne out by a reading of the
constitution itself.”
Maltby argues that, rather than
introducing the constitutional reform at the annual conference – a
larger and there more democratically representative conference – the
Union have tried to “railroad” the
changes through a small event that
was poorly publicised:
“Very few delegates could turn up
due to poor publicity and last minute organisation.
“This meant that smaller institutions, Further Education colleges
and working class students were
shut out of the debate, not becoming aware of the conference until it
was too late to attend.”
Maltby also has concerns about
the future of students’ democratic
involvement in the progress of the
constitution, which needs to be ratified again before the changes can
come into effect:
“The constitution needs to be
ratified twice.
“It’s likely that the NUS leadership are going to try and railroad it
through another extraordinary conference, rather than discussing it in
an annual conference.
“The result of all of this will put a
huge amount of power in unelected
professional bureaucrats that will
make the process of democracy more
difficult for students.
“The current NUS leadership are
to say that there were problems and
that the union needed to be reformed.
“But all the current problems in
the union have come about on their
watch – and yet it’s they who think
they have the answers in this new
constitution.
“You don’t send an arsonist to
put out a fire.”
An anonymous delegate, however, gave TCS a very different opinion
of the matter:
“The conference has been built
up to sound like a ground-breaking event – but really it’s about a
relatively small number of people
fighting to defend their over-sized
egos.”
S
ocial conventions and
the rules of etiquette
exist to stop us talking about certain
things in certain circumstances. Take the
‘home clothes’ day when my PE
teacher arrived to take his gym
class wearing a dress. Being polite
young coves, we completed our
vaults and somersaults in silence,
waiting for him to dismiss us before talking of little else for the
next four years.
Perhaps you would expect a
similar reserve from our heroes,
invited to discuss the British government when they each really
wanted to argue that they were
Barack’s SW1 homeboy. First to renege was William Redfern, CU Labour Club Chairman. He bigged up
Barry and then, without blinking,
told us that “this isn’t a time for
a novice.”
I wondered if previous speakers
had been able to resist the temptation to upend themselves by veering off-topic in the wake of global
happenings.
A sift through the Union archives showed that little changes.
In a 1933 debate concerning the
new German government, the
Chamber was told: “the only thing
we have to fear is fear itself.”
Ten years ago, a debate about organ donation was marred by the
pronouncement that, “Near, far,
wherever you are, I believe that
the heart does go on.”
Redfern, all side parting and
floppy fringe, decided it was time
to dust off the classic tactic of
interpreting the motion in an infuriatingly literal way. He told us
that, if we had any confidence in
the government at all, a mere murmur of trust in old Gordon, we had
to side with the opposition. Then
people started saying that if the
motion was having 1% confidence
we could all vote in favour, or that
they had confidence in Gordon’s
ability… to ruin things. It was
that sort of evening.
It was also an evening when everyone talked economics. Obama
demonstrated that the key to
sounding authoritative in this
sphere is to blame your predecessors, i.e. Republicans, Clintons. So
the Tories rubbished Labour’s 11
years. But Labour remembered the
18 years before that. I was perplexed – just whose government
is to blame for this mess? Wait, I
seem to have underlined a name
in my notes: Robert Walpole?
Oliver Letwin still sports the
bouffant hair of the Lawson boom
but, under orders from CO, he tried
exceedingly hard to exude another sort of fluffiness. With a pained
expression, Letwin worried about
“a society… that is broken,” and
“public services,” and “worklessness and poverty.” A floor speaker
tried to trip him up, asking, “Do
you passionately care about the
poor?” Letwin paused. This wasn’t
in the briefing. “Yes?” he replied.
Letwin was aided by a floor speech
from Hugo Hadlow, CUCA Chairman. In the past two weeks I have
jibed at Hadlow. This week he was
wearing a CU Boxing Club t-shirt.
The final speaker was Robert
Evans, Labour MEP for London.
Now, if I was charged with defending the Government and nobody
had mentioned ‘dumbing down’ or
the DNA database, I wouldn’t have
considered it necessary to rebut
criticisms concerning them. Not
Evans.
“Standards of education are going up,” he boasted, seeing nothing
odd in grade inflation, something
he compared to the increases in
the “high jump record.” Of course,
Javier Sotomayor’s 2.45m leap
hasn’t been bettered since 1993
and he was eventually banned for
steroid use. There’s a moral there
somewhere.
Evans had, however, noted the
frequent references to Obama during the debate. He promised to be
the first speaker “to get through
without mentioning the USA.”
Oliver Letwin stood up to protest
that he hadn’t invoked America.
Evans thought quickly. “You just
did,” he countered. I think it was
around this point that my head
exploded.
The motion was passed.
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 761 685
06|News
Police crack down on
cyclists without lights
Owen Kennedy
Deputy News Editor
‘We will never
eradicate the
problem, but
we are making
a difference’
“It has certainly brought the
dangers of cycling without lights
to the fore.”
Cambridge Evening News also
quoted Paul Griffin, the Community Safety Officer for the City
Council as saying that students
should expect there to be further
crackdowns in the future:
“The week-long operation is not
the end of our work to tackle this
issue.
“In fact, it is just the beginning.
“More enforcement and education operations are planned, including two evenings this week.
“ights will again be made available for those fined.”
One student cyclist, who wished
to remain anonymous, told The
Cambridge Student (TCS) that recent campaigns have brought them
around to the advantages of using
bike lights:
“I hadn’t really considered the
dangers of riding without lights.
“Although I’m not sure that
fining students is really the right
way to go, I think that giving out
bike lights for free will definitely
encourage a lot more students to
cycle safely.”
Photo: Alex Coke-Woods
Cambridge police have begun an
operation cracking down on cyclists who ride at night without
lights, according to Cambridge
Evening News.
The initiative began just over
two weeks ago, on 27 October,
the same weekend that the clocks
went back.
Cambridge Evening News reported that Mill Road had seen
the most £30 fines given out, with
50 issued in just two hours on
Hallowe’en.
Quayside,
near
Magdalene
Bridge, was close behind in second
place with 48 fines given out the
day before.
In total, 170 fines were issued.
At the same time, Cambridge
City Council also offered free bike
lights to those that were fined.
Some 160 sets were given to
student cyclists.
Sgt. Gordon Morgenthaler, a
spokesman for Cambridgeshire Po-
lice, was quoted as saying:
“We have had a lot of good
feedback and on Bonfire Night we
issued just four tickets to cyclists
without lights.
“We will never fully eradicate
the problem, but we are making a
difference.
“The colleges have picked up on
the campaign and are warning students to get lights fitted to their
bikes.
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 761 685
News|07
ID cards planned for foreign students
Alexander Glasner
Deputy News Editor
Foreign students will be forced to
have Identification cards, under a
government scheme that will begin on 25 November.
The Home Office has said that,
from November to April, 50,000
students and their spouses will
be issued with biometric ID cards.
This scheme will affect students
that come from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland and will take the place of
the former system, which required
foreign students to have visas in
passports.
This move is being seen as the
first stage of the government’s
plan to introduce ID cards to the
general population. By 2015, it is
expected that 90% of foreign nationals will be covered.
Although in initial announcements the government said that
the cards would be widely used,
a few hours later a press release
said that the cards would simply
replace the old visas. Jacqui Smith
has said that, “‘ID cards will help
protect against identity fraud, illegal working, reduce the use of
multiple identities in organised
crime and terrorism, crack down
on those trying to abuse positions
of trust and make it easier for people to prove they are who they say
they are.”
NO2ID, a pressure group
which campaigns to reverse
the introduction of ID cards
argues ,however, that this is
not a full ID scheme, it is simply “a piece of plastic that they
can call a success for the ID project.”
He says that the cards, which
will be the size of a credit card,
will be much easier to forget or
lose and that you cannot enter the
UK without it, “it’s stupidity in every way.”
The government claims that
they have already identified 3,500
cases of identity fraud and that
Britain is one of just three countries in the EU without an ID card
scheme.
NO2ID representative, Andrew
Watson, said that this was “a case
of picking of foreign students to
use as guinea-pigs. As they don’t
vote they can’t object.”
The new system is expected to
be much more expensive and the
cost will be paid for by foreign students applying for visas.
“This will drive students away
to other countries. This is an own
Academics criticise
university spy plan
Gregory Lewis
News Reporter
ists. We already have to register at
the police station every time we
get a new visa.
“I think that the system is already too expensive and they reject loads of people too.”
“NO2ID will be working hard to
communicate this stupidity.”
Watson has told TCS that this
“is not a system to help you confirm your identity, but one that
subjects the nation constant sur-
veillance.
“Why implement the tools for
totalitarian government? We do
not know what future governments
will do with the information.”
Watson said that the Government has continually delayed ID
cards because of “such great resistance from the public”.
Whilst the scheme is being implemented foreign students have
been advised not to travel abroad.
Handbags cover dual carriageway
Alexander Glasner
Deputy News Editor
A lorry jack-knifed on the A14
outside Cambridge, strewing handbags across the dual carriageway.
The lorry overturned on the
eastbound sliproad near the Huntingdon junction at 5.00am last
Tuesday, causing delays for commuters.
Rescue services including two
fire engines arrived shortly after
the accident to clear the road and
free the driver, who was trapped in
his cabin and had minor injuries.
The bags, brand unknown, were
cleared away quickly.
Photo: Masons News Agency
Government plans to use universities to monitor international students have come under fire from
lecturers and academics.
The new rules, expected to
come into force next March, are
designed to stop bogus student
applications. All universities wishing to admit students from outside
the EU would need to apply for a
licence, which would oblige them
to sponsor their visa applications.
Universities would have to report students who enrol on courses late and those who drop out, as
well as those who miss 10 or more
lectures or seminars.
They would also need to supply international students with ID
cards and take their fingerprints.
The students themselves would
have to demonstrate that they
can afford to pay the fees and
other costs (estimated at £800 a
month).
The Home Office said that legitimate universities have nothing
to fear from the new rules.
A Home Office spokesman said:
“Those who come to Britain must
play by the rules and benefit the
country. This new route for students will ensure we know exactly
who is coming here to study and
stamp out bogus colleges who facilitate the lawbreakers.”
The authorities have identified
around 300 such bogus institutions over the last three years.
Academics have raised concerns
that the system of registering students will struggle to cope when
the new rules are introduced, and
that it is not the role of the universities to act as a proxy immigration police.
An open letter written to The
Guardian by the head of the National Critical Lawyers group,
Tony Benn, and representatives
from the Birkbeck School of Law
and the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers said: “This police-like
surveillance is not the function of
universities, and alters the educational relationship between students and their teachers in a very
harmful manner.”
The letter also suggested that
such rules, applying exclusively to
non-EU students, could constitute
a breach of the European convention on human rights.
goal for the UK, it is us who will
lose out.”
The process is already expensive with the average cost totaling
£500, almost twice the cost two
years ago, whilst some students
have paid up to £800.
June Wang, a Chinese student
from Newnham told The Cambridge
Student (TCS), “It is appalling that
we are being classed in the same
category as criminals and terror-
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 761 685
08|Comment
The student left is confused and hypocritical
Cambridge’s champagne socialists are more interested in looking the part than changing lifesyles
Jack
Nugent
King’s
D
Stop
masquerading
behind
socialist
values
This raises another issue. People
like this feel the need to portray
themselves as being external to
the establishment that they supposedly want to help.
However, take the trendiness of
being an outsider away and they
become disillusioned to the cause,
as proven by the writers of many
‘socialist’ publications available
in Cambridge who don’t like how
politicians are latching onto Green
issues. A fight, it seems, is only
worth having when there’s someone big to punch.
Such inconsistency is indicative
of immaturity: they are so desperate to cling to ideals as a way of
self-definition that they fail to notice the inevitable hypocrisy.
A prime example is the May
Week Balls. The committees for
these extravagant events are substantial and, in my experience,
include people who have actively
participated in raising awareness
for Fair Trade and global warming.
And yet, they see no problem
with spending millions on one party, for one night when, not once,
have I ever heard them suggest
that all the money be given to the
worthy causes which they care so
passionately about.
The worst thing, though, is
when this flawed means of selfdefinition is applied to a class system.
A certain Cambridge student
talks about the ‘working class’
like an external part of society,
describing them in a recently
launched ‘socialist’ publication as
“our greatest allies” in the battle
against global warming.
Neither a definition for the term
‘working class’ nor a clarification of
who ‘us’ is seems necessary to the
writer, even though they evidently
position themselves to the left of
the political spectrum.
Photo: AndreaF
uring the summer,
a small part of Kent
was submerged
by protesters who
strongly disagreed
with the opening of
a coal-fired power station, the first
in Britain for 24 years. The proposed
plans for Kingsnorth have faced
heavy opposition from climate
change groups and this culminated
in what was supposedly intended to
be a peaceful protest. It wasn’t. Police got involved and that cost the
taxpayer £7 million.
These students cited the large
police presence as an indication of
their political validity. In reality,
the authorities saw the camp for
what it was: an event consisting
of ‘political’ adolescents fuelled by
testosterone.
I’m not saying that police always use proportionate force. Far
from it, but the fact remains that,
for those local residents who were
not involved in the climate change
camp, it was just a massive group
of people who didn’t usually occupy that area of Kent.
Anyone would expect police to
oversee such an invasion.
“It’s not an invasion”, they
would object, “but a peaceful protest”. The very nature of a protest
is that it is formed by people who
do not, in one way or another,
consider that they are a part of the
mainstream - an outsider.
On top of this, the same person has the audacity to criticise
capitalism. They argue that it has
caused environmental damage but,
at the same time, they uphold the
social distinctions capitalism has
created between rich and poor.
Work with the ‘working class’? The
concept of ‘working class’ should
not even exist.
And this is the real underlying
problem. Utopia for anyone with
left wing tendencies would be the
complete eradication of the class
system but, for many in Cambridge,
this is difficult to swallow.
No class system means no public
school, no public school means no
elite university and potentially the
end of the lifestyle to which they
and their families have become accustomed.
Stop masquerading behind socialist values as a way of seeming ‘cool’: it only turns left wing
politics into a muddy field in Kent,
dominated by confused individuals
and their biodegradeable banners.
Jack Nugent is a second year
classicist at King’s.
No longer any need to mind the gap
The statistics show that there are no good reasons to think women earn less
Hugo
Hadlow
St John’s
W
omen earn approximately
17.2% per hour
less than men,
on average. The
Fawcett Society’s
“No Pay Day” claims that this means,
from October 30th, all women are
working for free. A speaker in a recent Union debate said that “women
earn £569 per month less than men”,
and that there is probably a pay gap
at the University because more bedders are women and more professors
are men. Well, yes.
The 1970 Equal Pay Act says that
two workers doing the same jobs to
the same standard should get paid
the same. This is sensible. So why,
forty years later, does the pay gap
still exist? Is the remaining gap really the result of sexism? I used to
believe it was. But it turns out that
if you control for things like parttime work, and men and women being more likely to do different jobs,
the gap disappears.
For example, some jobs done
more by men have disadvantages
that are reflected by higher pay.
Men are more likely to work outside
in all weathers and work unsocial
hours. Women’s jobs are less risky
in two ways: men are much more
likely to be made redundant, and
suffer much higher rates of industrial injury. Women have shorter
commuting times to work, and take
more time off. Women report greater job satisfaction than men.
More women work part-time
than men. It costs more to train
two workers than one, so part-time
workers cost an employer more per
hour than full-time, and this is reflected in lower hourly pay. This
shows up in the overall pay gap,
but doesn’t indicate sexism. More
women than men do certain jobs,
and vice versa. This is the result of
different average preferences.
In one study, men tended to
place more importance on “being
successful in my line of work” and
“inventing or creating something
that will have an impact”, while
women tended to place more importance “having strong friend-
ships”, “living close to parents and
relatives”, and “having a meaningful spiritual life.”
Often sexism
is inferred
from simplistic
analysis
But amongst men and women
doing the same jobs, the gap can
disappear, or even be negative. In
many couples, the female partner
often spends more time looking
after the children, which would reduce her overall lifetime earnings.
That is why there is no pay gap
amongst the young.
If you look at the figures more
closely, you find not only is sexism not necessary to explain anything, but that there are some
things which cannot be explained
by sexism. On average, Bangladeshi
women in the UK earn about 26.8%
more than Bangladeshi men, and
Black Caribbean women 1.5% more.
This hardly indicates sexism.
I’m no apologist for sexism; it’s
stupid and inefficient, and sexist
employers who don’t hire the best
person for the job are losing out
themselves. And surely sexism does
still exist in the workplace. But too
often widespread sexism is inferred
from simplistic econometric analysis with no other evidence.
And, as I hope I’ve shown, this
inference is misguided. A study by
economist June O’Neill, former director of the US Congressional Budget Office, found that women earn
98% of what men do when controlled for experience, education,
and number of years on the job.
I’ve been talking a lot about averages. Really, there is now so much
variation in lifestyles and economic
behaviour amongst men and women
that simple comparisons of average
male and female pay are increasingly irrelevant.
The data does not indicate sexism, and those who claim the opposite are guilty of “cherry picking”
data (a scientific cardinal sin), not
comparing like with like, and selective reporting of the facts. They
focus on the “headline” figure and
don’t look any further.
Hugo Hadlow is a third year
compsci at St John’s.
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 761 685
Comment|09
A ‘British Obama’ misses the point
Race has crept back into the Obama saga and it threatens to obscure the real reasons for his success
Tess
Buchanan
B
Emmanuel
A ‘British
Obama’ would
not earn this
title by grace
of being black
the world dared hope they could be.
And yet such celebration has had its
dark side. As America revels in its
own unexpected ability to change,
British pundits look back towards
the motherland with a newly critical eye. All of a sudden it is we,
not America, that are narrow-mind-
ed and burdened with prejudice.
Obama could not have made it in
Britain, Trevor Phillips, Chair of the
Commission for Racial Equality, tells
us. Institutional racism here is rife.
The situation on the ground
would seem to support this accusation. There are, after all, only fifteen ethnic minority MPs in Parliament – a grand two per cent of the
total. There have only ever been
three non-white Cabinet members,
although David Lammy, minister for
Universities and a rising star in the
Labour cabinet (as well as friend of
Obama), is a notable exception.
Perhaps though we should be
taking Barack Obama’s assertion
that his story could only ever have
happened in America as a personal
criticism of the British political system.
And yet comments such as those
made by Trevor Phillips are missing
the point. Questioning whether or
not there could be a ‘British Obama’
merely serves to cram the presidentelect’s achievements back down into
the box marked ‘race’.
A ‘British Obama’ would not earn
this title by grace of being just a
black Prime Minister. Rather, he or
she would display the same astuteness, the same judgement, the same
talent for inspiring rhetoric which
characterise the real Obama. The
British Obama could therefore be
Asian, or white – or a woman. One
Photo: Patrick Dentler
arack Obama has gone
back to black. Race,
the great unmentionable throughout
much of the campaign, has made a
dramatic reappearance on the political scene. Obama has managed
to become the first black president
without ever having been ‘the black
candidate’.
At first glance, this is yet another example of the skill with which
Obama conducted his campaign.
The president-elect resisted marginalisation during the battle for the
White House but, once elected, enjoyed to the full the historic nature
of his position. But in actual fact,
this was a strategy performed for,
not by, the Illinois senator. McCain
and Palin assiduously avoided the
topic of race, knowing that any hint
of attempting to engender prejudice
would only damage their cause. The
media, too, tiptoed ambivalently
around the issue: race didn’t exist
– or it did exist, but wasn’t an issue – or it was an issue, but only
for Texan hicks who thought Obama
was a Muslim anyway.
All change, however, as Obama
becomes the 44th president of the
United States. Suddenly race is
back, but this time as something
joyous to be emphasised and celebrated. David Dimbleby announces
not the Obama presidency, but the
first African-American presidency.
The elephant in the room has become a breaker of boundaries, a victory against history.
In a way, this is how it should
be. There are few who would deny
Obama’s election as president is a
momentous occasion. Americans,
who so often thought themselves
better than they were, have proved
themselves better than the rest of
thing is for certain: no matter how
much Brown, Cameron, and Clegg
strive to identify themselves with
the American president-elect, the
British Obama is not here yet.
Of course we should celebrate the
election of the first African-American president. It would be ridiculous
to deny the importance of this event
and a mistake not to appreciate how
far America has come in the last half
century. But at the same time we
should not forget the real reason
why Tuesday was a great night.
We welcome Obama’s presidency
not because he is black, but because
he is brilliant. And also, of course,
because he is not George Bush.
Tess Buchanan is a third year historian at Emmanuel.
Image: Candy Parfit
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 761 685
Bursting The Bubble|11
Berlusconi criticised for ‘tanned’ gaffe
Alice Baghdijian
TCS Reporter
Analysis: Silvio Berlusconi
Jess Touschek
TCS Reporter
It isn’t fun to be an Italian at the
moment.
The economy has never been
exactly buoyant, but now, with
consumers cutting back on everything from tourism to the export of
cars, wine and quality goods, it is
fast becoming the one of the most
severe European casualties of this
global financial crisis.
Taxes keep increasing, unemployment is as high as 20% in some
parts of the South, the pension system is a national joke and inflation
is rising at a level disproportionate
to that of the average salary.
Citizens are now less able to afford their own produce than foreigners who have to pay extortionate import duties. With per-capita
income falling below the EU-19 average this summer, the celebrated
Italian dolce vita is crumbling.
Thank God, then, for the light
relief of Silvio Berlusconi.
Only Italy’s train-wreck of a democracy could allow for the astonishing political odyssey of this corrupt, perma-tanned, hair-plugged,
gaffe-prone, billionaire lothario.
To obtain a vague sense of
equivalence, one has to imagine
British voters deciding to install
some unholy concoction of Rupert
Murdoch and Nick Griffin (with a
healthy dash of Boris Johnson’s
foot-in-mouth syndrome) in Number 10. And then, having booted
him unceremoniously out the back
door, re-elect him. Twice.
In fact, not even these largerthan-life figures can do justice to
the buffoonery, bigotry and breathtaking arrogance of the man who
once proclaimed himself ‘the Jesus
Christ of politics’.
This week’s sketch of a ‘tanned’
Barack Obama registers barely a
blip on the scale of his cretinism.
After all, this is the man who told
a German MEP that he was ‘perfect’
for a role in a film about Nazi concentration camps; the man who,
during the 2006 general elections,
insisted that ‘in the China of Mao,
they did not eat children, but had
them boiled to fertilise the fields.’
Hilarious as such lunatic declarations undoubtedly are, they
are hardly the stuff of respectable
statesmanship.
The great tragedy is that the
current political landscape offers
no feasible alternative; despite being offered countless opportunities
over the last two decades to effect
fundamental change, Leftist coalitions have exhausted the faith of
constituents with incessant bickering and inability to co-operate.
Ordinary Italians cannot be condemned for turning to a man who,
while irredeemably flawed, at least
presents a facade of single-minded
resolution and self-assurance. His
supreme confidence is brash, even
offensive, but in these tumultuous
and demoralising times it is a commodity not to be underestimated.
New Zealand
Prime Minister Helen Clark is to
step down after nine years in power after losing in recent elections.
The Labour leader was defeated by
John Key’s centre-right National
Party, the main opposition party
in New Zealand.
Mr Key won 45% of the vote,
enough for 59 seats in parliament.
This is not an outright majority,
but Mr Key will form a coalition
with the smaller United Future and
ACT parties, and he hopes to win
the support of the Maori party.
Photo: Giuseppe Nicoloro
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, notorious for making undiplomatic remarks, has sparked
controversy by describing US
President-elect Barack Obama as
‘tanned’.
The Italian leader’s ‘great compliment’ was said during a visit to
Moscow, where Mr Berlusconi told
Russian President Dimitry Medvedev:
“Obama is young, handsome and
also tanned, so he has all the qualities to agree with you.”
The comments have provoked
embarrassment and anger among
political opponents in Italy, who
have called upon Berlusconi to retract these remarks.
Walter Veltroni, leader of the
Democratic Left Party, said that
the incident ‘seriously hurt Italy’s
image and dignity’ in the international community.
Further criticism has come from
Jean-Leonard Touadi, the only
black member of the Italian Parliament, who told the BBC he is
‘deeply disappointed that the first
public expression [Berlusconi] has
about this important event is to say
Obama is suntanned.’
In his defence, Berlusconi revealed his inspiration for the statement was, in fact, a song.
“I could have said that he was
very tall,” he explained at a press
conference in Brussels, “but I was
in the presence of Vladimir Putin
and Medvedev, who are not very
tall... I had in mind a song [that]
says to be beautiful, you have to
be tanned.”
When asked whether his comments could be misinterpreted,
Berlusconi retorted that his opponents had no sense of humour,
adding later:
“God save us from imbeciles.”
These remarks are only the latest in a long line of odd utterances
from the self-proclaimed ‘best political leader in Europe and the
world.’
In 2002, Berlusconi paid a similar compliment to visiting Danish
Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, describing him as ‘the best
looking Prime Minister in Europe’
and announcing that ‘he’s so good
looking, I’m even thinking of intro-
World
World
NewsNews
Silvio Berlusconi has yet to apologise for calling Barack Obama ‘tanned’
ducing him to my wife.’
More recently in 2005, Berlusconi made headlines when he claimed
to have used ‘playboy tactics’ to
charm Finnish President Tarja Halonen.
Mr Berlusconi is yet to issue an
apology for his latest remark.
Eyewitness: Italy
Francis Touschek
Rome
Despite the Unification of 1861,
two World Wars and a transition
from a Monarchy to a Republic,
Italy is far from united. Dozens of
invasions throughout the centuries have formed one of the most
multiethnic and politically confused nations in the world. The
new Constitution enforced on the
January 1st 1948 was really the
first attempt to create a general
guideline for the whole country, a guideline which has been
abused and distorted for political
convenience ever since.
The ‘led’ years of the 70’s culminating with the assassination
of Prime Minister, Aldo Moro, and
the subsequent decade’s uncovering of widespread corruption,
saw an end to the so called First
Republic in 1994. A new breed of
politicians was ushered into power, a shady cohort of businessmen
and managers led by the media
tycoon Silvio Berlusconi.
International observers may
dismiss him as a figure of ridicule, but this belies the evidence
of his extraordinary political acumen. In the five general elections
he has run in he has emerged as
Prime Minister three times. The
second incarnation of his cabinet
was the only one ever to have
lasted a full five year term.
His political movement PdL
(previously Forza Italia) consistently gains 30% support. Rightly
or wrongly, these people see him
as a model of the successful entrepreneur whose wealth of business experience means that he is
more likely to put action first.
This may be wishful thinking,
but, on his campaigns at least,
Berlusconi certainly puts his
business know-how to good use.
He uses highly advanced market
research techniques to fine-tune
his political machine, playing
on his intimate knowledge (and
control) of the Italian media to
dispense exactly the kind of information he knows the majority
of voters want to hear.
Really, though, the views of
the rest of us living here range
from indifference to acute embarrassment, and even anger, at
the kind of blunders we’ve seen
him make this week. The bottom
line is that Berlusconi should not
be in politics. The enormous conflict of interest he represents is
irrefutable, yet Italians have become almost resigned to the fact
that he’ll keep coming back no
matter what.
The trouble is, Italy is his
domain. He more than anybody
else, understands the diversity
of the country and exploits it
to his advantage. Until someone
else can match him in this field,
I think we’ll be stuck with him
for a while.
North Korea
Speculation about the health of
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il
has been revived by claims that a
recent photo of him is fake.
In an attempt to quell rumours
that the ‘Dear Leader’ might be
seriously unwell, an image of Mr
Kim inspecting military units was
released last week.
The New York Times, however, has
pointed out incongruities around
Mr Kim’s legs and the BBC has suggested that the pixels might be
mismatched.
Germany
German investigators have demanded the extradition of an alleged
Nazi concentration camp guard
who moved to the USA in 1952.
They have produced new files that
they say prove with ‘no doubt’
that John Demjanjuk, 88, was responsible for the death of almost
30,000 Jews at the Sobibor camp
in Poland.
Demjanjuk was sentenced to death
in Israel in the 1980s but returned
to the US after being aquitted.
Russia
According to Kremlin reports, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
has sent a bill to parliament which,
if passed, would extend the presidential term from four years to six.
It is unclear whether he intends to
extend his own term or that of his
successor.
There has been speculation that
Mr Medvedev’s predecessor, Vladimir Putin, who will complete his
maximum of two consecutive terms
as Prime Minister in May, hopes to
return to his former post.
Egypt
Archaeologists have uncovered a
4300-year-old pyramid 12 miles
from Cairo.
The 16ft-high pyramid, the 118th
found in Egypt, was found at
Saqqara, a site well known as the
necropolis of the rulers of ancient
memphis.
Experts say it probably houses the
remains of Queen Sesheshet, mother of King Teti, the founder of the
Sixth Dynasty of Egypt’s Old Kingdom.
12|Bursting The Bubble
The Cambridge Student |13/11/08
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 761 685
Haiti school collapse
Sophie Rodger
TCS Reporter
rey building on Saturday.
A member of the rescue effort said on Monday: “We think
the opportunity for anyone to be
alive is over,.”
While there has been no official
comment on the possible cause of
the collapse, reports say that the
second floor of the school was
still under construction when it
fell in, dragging down the rest of
the building.
Residents in the area believe
that the college was poorly rebuilt after it partially collapsed
eight years ago.
The tragedy at La Promesse,
where there was barely any steel
or cement to hold the concrete
blocks together, has brought more
attention to chronic poverty in
Haiti, where neighbourhoods rise
up in chaotic jigsaws and construction safety codes are widely
ignored.
President Rene Preval has made
several visits to the disaster site,
blaming the collapse on constant
government turnover and a general disrespect for the law.
Mr Preval told the Associated
Press: “There is a code already,
but they don’t follow it. What we
need is political stability.”
The owner and founder of the
school, Protestant preacher Fortin Augustin, will be investigated
on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter, a charge that carries a
sentence of life imprisonment.
Officials said Augustin was denied a permit to build the school
in the 1990s but went ahead with
the project during the years of rebellion and government upheaval
that followed.
Senator Yvon Bissereth said:
“We are going to ask the Minister
of Education to make an inspection of all the schools built in the
same way.”
Estimates suggest that more
than 1.8 million of Haiti’s 9 million people live in ramshackle
slums districts with squalid homes,
shabby churches and poorly constructed schools.
also charge them with crimes
against humanity and using UN
sanctions to protect those who
took part in the 100 days of murder.
Thousands have taken to the
streets in Rwanda, including Kabuye’s husband to protest against
her arrest, calling it an ‘injustice’.
The German government has
since been asked to remove their
ambassador from Kigali, and
Rwanda has recalled their representative from Berlin.
It is yet to be seen whether
Kabuye’s arrest will have damage
discussions between Rwanda and
the European Union regarding
the recent outbreak of violence in
the Democratic Republic of Congo
regarding the presence of Hutu
rebels.
What is clear is that each
country will continue to declare
the other morally responsible for
the tragic events of 1994 and the
Rwandan relationship with Germany will remain on rocky ground
for the foreseeable future.
USA
Anti-cancer beer
Israel
Two monks arrested after brawl
Ireland
Obama song an internet smash
Hungary
Twelve stolen pigs found in car
Wales
High-vis vest rule for pub dog
Students at Rice University, Massachussets are developing beer with
anti-cancer properties,
‘BioBeer’ contains resveratol, a
chemical usually found in wine that
has helped to treat cancer and heart
disease in laboratory experiments on
animals.
The students hope to enter the
International Genetically Engineered
Machine competition, the largest
international synthetic biology competition, but say it will be a while
before the brew is marketed.
Two monks have been arrested after
Israeli police intervened to break up
a brawl at one of the most important
Christian sites in Jerusalem.
The fight broke out last Sunday between two groups of Greek Orthodox
and Armenian monks at the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, thought to be
the site of the Crucifixion.
Pilgrims watched as the monks,
wearing the traditional robes of their
orders, exchanged kicks and punches, knocking over decorations and
tapestries in the process.
A song about Barack Obama’s Irish
heritage has become a surprise internet hit.
The song ‘There’s no one as Irish
as Barack Obama’, was written by
Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys, a
band from Limerick, after the US
President-elect’s ancestry was traced
to Moneygall in County Offaly.
Featuring the lyrics ‘Tooraloo,
tooraloo, tooraloo, tooralama- there’s
no one as Irish as Barack Obama’, the
song has received over 650,000 hits
on the video-sharing site Youtube.
Hungarian police were surprised
after apprehending two thieves by
chance and finding 12 pigs crammed
into their vehicle.
Police had stopped the men in
a routine traffic check near Szigetvar in southern Hungary, about 130
miles south of Budapest, and were
astonished to find 12 pigs in the Renault Kangoo, each weighing about
30kg.
Police said that the animals had
been stolen from a nearby farm,
where 35 pigs had gone missing.
A pub landlord in Prestatyn has
ruled that a dog banned from his establishment may only return if she
wears a high-visibility vest.
Lakeland Terrier Hatty was barred
from the Jolly Sailor for bad behaviour including chewing beer mats.
However, the proprietor, Nigel
McLelland, relented after regulars
threatened to start a petition to let
Hatty back in.
Rather than lose trade, he said
that the dog could return, but only
if she could be seen at all times.
Photo: Jon & Mel Kots
6th which brought down a plane
carrying President Habyarimana,
three French nationals, and the
president of neighbouring Burundi, Cyprien Nearyamire.
Anti-terror judge Jean-Louis
Brugiere said that the individuals
accused should face a United Nations court.
German authorities have said
that Kabuye was forewarned that
they would have no option but
to detain her, but she continued
with her preparations, allegedly
courting extradition in order to
expose France’s part in the events
of 1994.
Rwandan officials have named
13 French political leaders earlier this year they believe were
involved in the generation of the
genocide.
As news of Kabuye’s arrest came
in, Rwanda was preparing the
publication of its own indictments
against further senior French authorities.
Not only do they accuse France
of aiding the genocide but they
Rescuers at a collapsed shantytown school in Haiti, the poorest
country in the Americas, have
ended the search for survivors and
will soon demolish the remains
of the building where at least 94
students and teachers have died.
This latest tragedy comes at a
time when the country’s inhabitants are still recovering from four
tropical storms and hurricanes
that killed more than 800 people
in August and September.
The church-run school, La
Promesse College, caved in on Friday morning at 10AM local time
trapping scores of people beneath
the rubble.
More than 150 people were injured and two houses behind the
school were destroyed in Nerrette,
a slum below the wealthy Port-auPrince suburb of Petionville.
A teacher who left the building
minutes before it fell said:
“Between 250 and 300 pupils
were inside.”
Even so, casualties could have
been much higher; on Friday the
school was holding a party which
required a donation of 63 cents to
attend, a price that many poorer
families could not afford.
Deputy Steven Benoit, who
speaks for the area in the House
of Representatives, said: “A lot of
students had their lives saved because they couldn’t get in.”
Student Cherly Louis told reporters that about a quarter of
her class were absent that day.
In a bed in Port-au-Prince’s
General Hospital, the 17-year-old
said: “I fell right out of the building. I’m very grateful that I’m
alive.”
Teams from the UN, the Red
Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières,
Haitian police and rescuers from
France, the USA and Canada have
been scouring the rubble around
the clock but have not found any
survivors since four were pulled
from the debris of the three-sto-
Rwanda presidential aide
arrested for genocide links
Sarah Filler
TCS Reporter
A senior aide to the Rwandan
President has been arrested in
connection with triggering the
1994 genocide.
Rose Kabuye, former officer in
the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)
and now Director General of State
Protocol, was taken into custody
at Frankfurt airport as she prepared for President Paul Kagame’s
two-day visit to Germany.
Her arrest warrant was issued
in France in November 2006 along
with warrants for eight other associates of the president, all of
whom are accused of taking part
in the 1994 assassination of President Habyarimana which sparked
the worst genocide Africa has ever
experienced, in which 800,000
Tutsis and moderate Hutus were
massacred in 100 days of brutality.
All nine stand accused of being involved in the launching of
ground-to-air missiles on April
Mad World
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 761 685
Bursting The Bubble|13
North Korea closes land border
Carly Hilts
International News Editor
Photo: much ado about nothing
North Korea is to close its land border with South Korea, the official
Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)
has reported.
The agency said last week that
the closure was provoked by ‘reckless confrontation’ on the part of
its southern neighbour, ‘beyond the
danger level’.
From December 1st North Korea
will ‘strictly restrict and cut off all
the overland passages’ across the
border, which has been heavily fortified since the end of the Korean
War in 1953, a conflict for which a
peace treaty has never been agreed.
The KNCA said: “The South Korean puppet authorities should never
forget that the presence of interKorean relations are at the crucial
crossroads of existence and total
severance.”
This announcement follows
months of deteriorating relations
between the two countries, which
became strained after South Korean
President Lee Myung-bak returned
to office promising to put pressure
on Pyongyang over its nuclear programme but offering economic aid
in exchange for compliance.
The hardline approach of Seoul’s
conservative government has caused
anger in North Korea, which last
month threatened to reduce the
South ‘to rubble’ if activists were not
prevented from flying anti-Pyongyang leaflets, attached to balloons,
into the country.
A representative of the South Korean government said: “The leaflets
are going deeper into the country
than before and this has increased
concern in North Korea, especially
because it comes at a time when
there is speculation on Kim Jong-il’s
health.”
After no new photographs of the
North Korean leader were published
for some months, rumours spread
that he could be seriously ill or even
dead.
Most common reports suggest
that Mr Kim has been incapacitated
by a stroke, though North Korea adamantly denies this and insists that
their leader is both in good health
and in charge.
The already frosty relations between the two nations are likely to
be further damaged by the decision
of a South Korean human rights
agency to set up a committee to
investigate alleged abuses in the
North.
It is unclear whether North Korea
intends to close the border fully. A
Unification Ministry official in Seoul
said: “We don’t think it means complete closure’”
Closing down the border entirely
would cause problmes for the inhabitants of both states.
The South Korean-funded Kae-
song industrial complex is situated
just across the border in the North,
and some 30,000 North Koreans are
employed there by South Korean
companies.
Banning all border crossings
would make it almost impossible for
the plant to continue to operate.
Koh Yu-hwan, Professor of North
Korea Studies at Dongguk University, said:
“This is what the North Korean
military can do in response to what
they consider to be South Korea’s
obstinate and hawkish policies towards the North. They also want to
show that previous warnings are not
empty threats.”
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Photo: Office of David Lammy, MP
I’m not Blair, I’m not
Shane Murray speaks to David Lammy,
the Universities Minister
I
t’s easy to be cynical about
politics. Even after Barack
Obama’s sensational victory, it’ll be easy for us to
fall back into thinking that
politicians live in the “Westminster bubble”, have no connection
to ordinary people and are only interested in holding onto power, rather
than wanting to achieve something
positive. It’s easy to do that because
that’s the vision of politics in the
public eye, seen through the jaundiced eyes of journalists who’ve seen
it all before.
This limited view is quickly dispelled when you actually meet people who get involved in politics at
the level where it matters, the local
level. Once in a while, you meet a
politician who can raise your hopes
about politics and about what it can
achieve. They help you to realise
that they’re not all bastards.
David Lammy, the Universities Minister, came to speak to the
Eastern region Fabian Society meeting, in the small building that the
Cambridge Labour Party uses as its
base. The meeting is at the opposite
end of the spectrum to Newsnight,
as Lammy faces a small audience of
around thirty people, only two of
whom are under the age of thirty.
It’s a meeting that appears to provide very little tangible benefit for
Lammy, but he throws himself into
the discussion with gusto.
Lammy, as a black man who was
able to attend Harvard University
only after he had receieved a scholarship to attend Peterborough Cathedral school, is desperate to talk
about equality and what we should
do to achieve it. He lamented that
the Labour Party “hasn’t talked to
Middle England about equality since
Attlee” and that, although he believes that Labour made Britain a
much more tolerant place, equality
had not been spoken about up-front
in 1997.
Lammy is an unashamedly ideological politician in the best sense,
as he said Labour politicians “have
to talk about the values”. Lammy
grew gradually more agitated as he
made his case for the Labour Party
being a self-labelled and proudly
progressive party, rather than hiding behind the language of “Middle
England”.
Although he talked extensively
about the need for women’s equal-
ity and the need to “stand up to
Enoch Powell”, he said that when
we talk about equality, we are really
talking about poverty. It was at this
stage that he became more nakedly
partisan, saying that “When you see
these poor young people picking
up knives that is the direct result
‘Right-wing
parties have
to use the
politics of fear,
to tell people
that society is
broken’
of their parents suffering under the
Conservatives.”
He claimed that Labour had been
succeeding in fighting inequality,
but had not articulated their success. Furthermore, he stated that
the future lay with the left, saying
“right-wing parties have to be in
the place of George W. Bush, they
have to use the politics of fear, to
tell people that society is broken”.
Nonetheless, he recognised that
even if the true believers who had
come to see him speak were convinced by this, much of the rest of
the country has its doubts about New
Labour. He quickly cast aside the
distraction of internal party squabbles by declaring, “I’m not Blair, I’m
not Brown, I’m just black.”
He then returned to the main
theme of his speech during a question and answer session with the
audience, demanding that Labour
be bolder in saying what they believe to be right. He scotched the
idea that what Labour needs is compromise with the opposition and
instead insisted that Labour should
hammer home what it believed in. “I
don’t want a progressive consensus,
I want a progressive movement”.
Lammy gave the consistent impression who was absolutely assured
that he was right and the opposition was wrong. Normally, this kind
of inflexibility is not particularly attractive in a politician, not least as
Lammy seemed to be barely containing anger when talking about the
Conservatives, but in Lammy’s case
it came across as genuine conviction
that politics can achieve something
and can help people achieve their
potential.
After he had finished his talk, I
spoke to him about his role as the
Minister for Universities. Of course,
the most controversial action of
his department recently has been
the public spat between his boss,
John Denham, and Alison Richard,
Cambridge’s Vice-Chancellor, as to
whether universities should be “engines for promoting social justice.”
Lammy made the government’s
case simply and clearly, suggesting
that it was in the best interests of
universities to follow the advice of
the government. “Surely the purpose of a quality liberal arts education is to extend it to as many
people as you can, those who merit
it and that has to be a partnership
between universities, parents and
schools. It’s got to come from all
directions.” He moved on to praise
what the government had already
achieved in getting people into university and how that had helped the
country.
“Without the 50% target, there
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 761 685
Interview|14-15
Brown, I’m just black
‘Surely the
purpose of a
liberal arts
education is to
extend it to as
many people as
you can’
we must all share, both those selective universities and some of the
perceptions that surround them,
which are historical; both the outreach and open mind that is necessary to reach beyond one’s present
condition.
“It is absolutely central that
schools are open, that teachers seize
opportunity for their pupils, wherever those schools are, that schools
forge partnerships, and reach out
beyond their neighbourhoods into
our most selective universities. It’s
something that parents have to be
engaged in as well, so this isn’t an
either/or. I think that’s simplistic
intellectually and the debate becomes polarised and silly. It’s about
all of us: universities, parents, young
people and schools.”
In connection with this, I asked
whether the government had been
too narrow in its focus by attempting to push evermore young people
Photo: Office of David Lammy, MP
would still be young people in this
country not being able to go to our
most selective universities. That’s
not good for Britain plc, actually. So
I think John Denham’s absolutely
right. This isn’t about fixing it so
that young people who are not of
the appropriate standard are selected for universities. It is about recognising that we have to extend the
net, we have to be honest about our
history, a history that has obviously
been riddled with class and a degree
of elitism, but it’s about recognising
excellence and quality, and extending that to everyone we can.
“It was a great privilege for me to
have spent time at Harvard University. I can’t tell you how empowering
that was for me personally, coming
from my kind of background. I want
that opportunity for any young
people who merit it. That’s what the
government is committed to.”
On the question of where the
fault for low state school attendance at Oxbridge lies, Lammy was
similarly moderate in his answer,
doing his best to balance both sides
of the argument, deftly suggesting
“I never believed that this is a simplistic either/or. This is a discussion
into universities rather than into
vocational courses. Lammy, who had
previously been Minister for Skills,
took this as an opportunity to highlight what he saw as an unrecognised success of the government and
to criticise the Tories.
“We had 75,000 apprentices in
1997, because the programme had
been so run down by the previous
government. We’ve now got 250,000
and we’ve got an ambition to get
one in five young people into apprenticeships. So that’s not something you can describe in any way
as not doing enough.
“However, it is true to say that
many of our colleagues in the media
have never done an apprenticeship,
their kids don’t do apprenticeships,
they tend to be more focused on
higher education. Both of these
things have widened participation,
giving people increasing opportunity to go to university and to do
apprenticeships, which can be and
should be, a route into higher skills
and university as well. All of that
must happen at the same time in a
modern economy.”
I then moved onto the questions
that had written next to them on
my notes “try not to sound racist”.
I asked him, in connection with his
constituency and background growing up in a deprived area of London,
why he thought that young black
men statistically tend to underper-
form in British schools.
“Well, I think that’s for a whole
host of reasons. I think that we have
to defy low expectations, we have to
ensure that there are the right role
models within communities that
people can recognise success beyond
the odd hip-hop artist. We need to
be in loco parentis, beyond school,
with quality youth workers.
“I had this wonderful experience
to experience life beyond Tottenham. I hadn’t been much beyond
Tottenham before the age of 11;
when I went to Peterborough it was
the first time I’d been on a train. We
have to open up opportunities beyond those that people see in front
of them. There are issues of parent-
ing and fatherhood that do need to
be challenged as well.”
However, he also emphasised
that we shouldn’t think about this
in racial terms, but in terms of inequality and as a socio-economic
problem.
“There are white working class –
or not so working – estates in cities along the south coast, as well
as whole tracts of the past industrial north, where these are as bad.
You go to Salford, you go to Middlesborough, you go to towns like
Scunthorpe, these are issues also for
those sorts of communities.”
Following this, with a horrendous
lack of self-awareness, asked if he
found it patronising to be treated
as a spokesman for the black community and as a black role model.
Luckily for me, he doesn’t seem
to mind being asked cockamamie
questions like this, while expressing
a clear wish not to be pigeonholed:
“No, I think I accept it. Look, I have
sought to talk about a wide range
of issues. I have to accept that as
the only elected black man in the
government at this time that obviously there’s a responsibility that
comes with that, but I’m not allowing that to limit me in the things I
care about.”
Finally, I asked the life-long Tottenham fan whether Gordon Brown
or Spurs would last longer in the
Premiership (this was before ‘Arry
‘Oudini had taken over). He laughed
this off and showed considerable
optimism: “Look, Gordon Brown has
got a lot of fight left in him; we’ve
seen that over the last few weeks.
The problems that we’ve had over
the last year are deep enough not
to confine them to the leadership of
our party: we’re all in this together.
“The problems for Tottenham are
deep and concerning. It’s a great
club with a great history and I’ve
been a supporter all my life. I can’t
believe the season that we’ve had,
but we will prevail, we are not going
down.”
Lammy gave the impression of
being that rare thing, a genuine
politician, someone who believes
what he says and is in politics for a
reason other than personal gain and
ambition. Even more surprisingly,
he manages to combine a fiercely
held set of beliefs and principles
with a clear-headed, moderate temperament that shows a propensity
for rational, sensible government.
Granted, he seems unwilling to
countenance much criticism of Labour or praise of the Tories, but he
is a politician after all.
Above all else, he comes across as
an incredibly and clear-sighted realistic politician. Well, apart from
about Tottenham.
Investigations
Clare’s small rents
and ‘cozy’ rooms
Anna Croall
Deputy News Editor
20
Clare students
sharing one room
between two
He suggested that encouraging
longer rent periods for students
was mutually beneficial:“A 9month lease allows students to stay
in college over the Easter vacation
to study for exams, and avoids the
time-consuming process of moving in and out at either end of the
term.”
As a result of lower costs and
longer occupancy periods, he
explained:“We happened to hit a
period last year where the model
produced a lower rate than usual.”
Some have, however, voiced
concern that, in recent years, the
college has spent large amounts on
Room rents at Clare rose less than at
any other college this year
Photograph:Rob Palmer
The rent rollercoaster
|16-17
It was the best of rooms...
Rent is one of the single greatest expenditures a student makes each term. The amount
they pay can vary wildly depending on the quality of the room and the college they go
to; but no one seems to fully understand any of it. Anna Croall investigates rent rises.
Student rents in Cambridge have risen by up to 9% on last year’s prices
at some colleges, according to figures
obtained by The Cambridge Student
(TCS). This has come at a time when
living costs for students at the University appear to be rising across
the board, with many colleges also
increasing food and drink prices as
a result of general world-wide price
inflation.
On average, colleges have increased rents by approximately 6%
compared to Michaelmas 2007, with
the average weekly price of a room in
Cambridge now standing at approximately £77.
There was, of course, great variation between the rises experienced at
different colleges. Whilst Peterhouse
topped the table at 9.19%, students
at Clare face only a 2.9% increase in
the costs of college accommodation.
But these figures, for some colleges at least, mask potentially higher
financial burdens placed on students
by rising energy costs – factored into
rent in only some of Cambridge’s colleges.
At Queen’s college, for example,
heating costs have risen 80% this
year alone, causing many students to
feel disgruntled – despite more reasonable accommodation price rises of
between 6.49 and 6.99%.
After these rent rises some students can expect to pay up to £193 a
Peterhouse students have been hit by
the largest rent increases this year.
Photograph: James Appleton
week for a college-provided room in
Cambridge. Most colleges, however,
still provide accommodation within
a more reasonable range - on average
between £58 and £95 per week.
The great variation in changes to
room prices stems in part from the
different systems used to calculate
college rents. Dick Taplin, Bursar at
Downing, where rents have risen by
6.49%, explained their system:
“The overall increase is based on
an agreed basket of indices: RPI (rep-
How much does your college
trust you?
Every college asks its students to pay a certain amount
of ‘danger’ or ‘caution’ money when they matriculate.
It’s intended as a deposit to cover any outstanding
fines or damage that a student hasn’t paid for during
their time. If there’s nothing to pay, it’s supposed to
be returned upon graduation. So the more your college
asks you to pay when you start, the less they trust you.
TCS takes a snapshot view of the most and least trusting colleges.
College
Danger money (£)
Churchill
Gonville & Caius
Downing
Murray Edwards
King’s
St Catharine’s
Newnham
Peterhouse
Jesus
1400
800 (up from £600)
250
200
150
150
140
100 (up from £40)
25
resenting costs of utilities, which
are included in rent) 20%; Annual
Wage Inflation (to cover staff costs)
25%; and the Regional Building &
Construction Index (covering maintenance, repair and improvements)
55%.”
Many colleges use similar mixed
indicators to determine the economic
context within which to assess rent
changes. Processes vary, however,
not only in the data used to reach
agreement on rents, but also on the
timing of these decisions, and when
they will impact students. Indeed,
Downing is itself among those colleges considering a ‘flat-rate’ system,
similar to that currently adopted by
Girton, for example.
Girton’s JCR treasurer, Andy Russell, told TCS:
“At Girton we just have one flat
rate of rent which is fixed for your
first three years as an undergraduate…there is a rent rise each year
in line with various inflation figures
and expected figures for the next
couple of years (due to the flat rate
system) but the idea is that people
know exactly how much they will be
paying at the start of their course
and so rent can’t be raised once you
are here.”
It is suggested that such a system
mediates the impact of rent changes,
as students don’t face unexpected
changes in the rents they will be
charged each year. The disadvantage,
though, is that such a system essentially requires the college to ‘bet’ on
inflation of the various costs contrib-
uting to accommodation prices. As
such, this system has not yet been
adopted widely by colleges.
In defence of current systems, several colleges were keen to assure TCS
that, whichever they were using to
determine rent rises, there was usually consultation with the student
body via the JCRs. Many suggested
that it was this consultation that
avoided greater levels of confrontation between the college and the
student body over rents.
‘Everyone
wants an ensuite room for
£25 a week...
student rents
don’t even
cover half the
real costs’
At Newnham, where complaints
over rent rises were high last year,
Freya Morrissey, JCR President, clarified that:
“Much of the problem was caused
by a lack of communication, as
much as the increase itself…Productive meetings have taken place this
year to try to ensure the same thing
doesn’t happen again.”
When asked by TCS about the level
of consultation with students over
changes in rent, all who replied, from
Trinity to Homerton, described meetings between the JCR or Student’s
Union and college committees. Colleges assured TCS that, whilst these
meetings were not necessarily decisive, their conclusions were considered closely when final decisions on
rent were taken.
But a former JCR President, who
did not want to be named, suggested
that this was far from being the case.
He told TCS:
“In my experience, debating fees
and charges with College is a horrible
thing to do and rent negotiations, in
particular, are a huge source of friction. When the Master calls you to
tell you you’re doing a bad job by
simply trying to secure a fair deal
for students, you know things have
got serious. You’d be surprised how
petty it can get when there’s money
involved.”
College administrations have been
adamant in their correspondence
with TCS that pricing fairly reflected
the service students receive.
“There are always complaints
about rent increases.” Dick Taplin
argues.
“Everyone would like to have an
en-suite room for £25 a week or less.
However, the reality of the situation
is that student rents probably do not
even cover half the real cost of maintaining, heating, lighting and cleaning their accommodation.”
Whilst formal complaints have not
been particularly high following the
latest round of rent rises, many students remain quietly disgruntled at
the failure of college’s to subsidise
accommodation further, with very
few negotiating rent rises below inflation.
Ant Bagshaw, Deputy President of
CUSU, told TCS that he felt such rises
were not justified by increased costs
to colleges. In response to the latest
developments in rent prices, he commented:
“Some of the rent increases are
ridiculous: why should anyone, especially students, be forced to swallow
such obscene above-inflation price
increases?
“Students should be seen as a
long-term investment - the rising
power of development offices in colleges means that ever greater emphasis is placed on the importance of
old members’ donations - maybe colleges shouldn’t unilaterally enforce
huge rent increases with a view to
students giving more in the future.”
Shamir Shah gives TCS readers a glimpse
into one of Cambridge’s finest sets
Backing on to the lawns of Downing College, this undergraduate set
complete with kitchen and dining
area, was designed for entertaining. Recently refurbished with
a cherry wood finish, and in an
“A**” rent band, this academic
abode is far from humble.
Long summer afternoons are
salubriously catered for by the
garden’s barbeque pit, whilst the
armchair by the fireplace (alas, no
longer fully functional) is the optimum place to repose in winter,
with a snifter of Cognac from the
decanter.
The kitchen features an oven,
fridge (stocked with both Hildon
and Evian) and espresso machine,
vital necessities for the modern
host.
Whilst the cigarette may be the
perfect pleasure, college fire regulations prohibit the activity in-
doors; however the quasi-orangery
by the entrance provides ideal
shelter from the rain. For those for
whom this proves inadequate, the
only cigar shack in Cambridge is
but a short stroll away.
With its well stocked bar, if you
do happen find yourself at a soirée
in this lair of opulence, you may
well need to read the pages of this
publication to remind yourself of
the amenities on offer...
Biggest rent rises since 2007
College*
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Peterhouse
Selwyn
Christ’s
Newnham
Churchill
Murray Edwards
Robinson
Queens’
Sidney Sussex
Fitzwilliam
Downing
Corpus Christi
Pembroke
Girton
Trinity
Gonville & Caius
Trinity Hall
St John’s
St Catharine’s
Magdalene
Jesus
Homerton
Emmanuel
Clare
Maximum
Minimum
Rise on
termly rent (£) termly rent (£) 2007 (%)
1930
1098
829
740
959
890
837
853
781
897
1060
907
898
747
1179
1000
980
960
820
830
873
685
792
995
653
592
525
740
400
410
490
513
593
490
600
485
573
747
616
700
512
658
503
550
542
633
538
667
9.2
8.5
8.5
8.5
8.0
7.5
7.0
6.7
6.6
6.5
6.5
6.3
6.0
5.9
5.5
5.5
5.5
5.0
5.0
4.5
3.5
3.5
3.0
2.9
*Source: college accomodation officers. Data was not available for all colleges.
Photo: Shamir Shah
Cambridge rents may be rising once
again, but students at Clare can
rest safe in the knowledge that
their college has delivered the lowest rise of all those who responded
in this investigation.
Clare’s Bursar, Mr Donald Hearn,
told The Cambridge Student (TCS)
that the particularly low rate of
rent increase this year stemmed
from the economic model used by
the college to assess rents, which
bases changes entirely on the costs
of accommodation, largely affected
by the costs of refurbishment. He
explained that an increase in longer lease agreements between the
college and students, many now
opting for 9-month leases, also
helped to spread costs.
improving college accommodation
for the benefit of conference attendants, rather than students, and
that this cost has been reflected in
student rents – up until now.
Tom Hegarty, Treasurer of the
Union of Clare Students, explained
that, despite these concerns: “The
Bursar believes student services
such as accommodation, energy
and catering should not be subsidised by the College, so Clare’s
rents are high, but increases are
generally in line with inflation, so
are uncontroversial.”
He did point out, though, that:
“Some of Clare’s undergraduate accommodation is of an extremely
high standard - a standard aimed
at conference guests, and far beyond the needs of students.”
This year is an unusual one for
Clare accommodation in more ways
than one. As a result of redevelopment, several students currently
living in ‘the Colony’, a Clare accommodation block near Magdalene,
will be moving into a new building opposite the University Library
next term. There isn’t, though,
quite enough room to house all of
them in this new building, so some
have volunteered to take part in
a ‘cosy-doubling’ scheme, seeing
pairs of students share what are
usually single-occupancy rooms in
Clare’s Old Court.
One future “cosy-doubler” told
TCS: “There is no compulsion to
cosy double, I am choosing to share
and who I’m sharing with. It is far
from ideal as your room is sometimes the only place where you can
find a little peace at Cambridge.
However the college have sweetened the deal by halving our rent
while we’re sharing and the Old
Court rooms are the best accommodation in Clare.”
It seems that, despite some cosy
rooms, Clare students feel the college has got rents right – for this
year at least.
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 761 685
18|Editorial and Letters
The
CambridgeStudent
A pause, lest we forget
The fifth week of the Full Term,
that which we have just lived
through, can for many be a troubling, stressful and just generally
depressing time. The work that
has been done was exhausting; the
end of term still over the horizon,
obscured by the even larger mountains of work still to be conquered.
It can seem like a lot has to be sacrificed upon the altar of Tripos in
order to keep up.
But in in the middle of every
Michaelmas term there is the opportunity to pause, recollect and
consider a sacrifice that is far beyond the bounds of what we are
even able to imagine.
This Sunday, and again on Tuesday, all around the city of Cam-
bridge, this country and across
the world, our kin stopped and
remembered the millions of lives
that had been lost in the Great War
and those conflicts since.
There is a risk that we as students are in danger of disregarding
the value of Remembrance Sunday.
We are too far removed from the
horrors of the first half of the last
century, and the vast majority of
us have been blissfully untouched
by the casualties of the conflicts
since.
There are those who might fail to
see the importance of marking this
90th anniversary of the Armistice,
or trivialise the simple statement
being shown by those who choose
to wear a poppy.
Volume 11 Issue 7
Old Examination Hall, Free School Lane, Cambridge CB2 3RF
Tel: 01223 761685
They deserve pity. This editor
stood on Sunday, as he has for as
long as he can remember, and sang
the indescribably moving hymn
Abide with me. A simple wreath
of poppies was laid at the foot of
the names of those who served and
died.
He will continue to do so for as
long as he is able. For in those poingant moments, one not only remembers the sacrifice of those who
have gone before us, but finds a
moment of peace and perspective
in what can be a painfully hectic
and introspective life.
This is not the only motivation
to mark the Armistice each year,
but it is an immeasurably valuable
one.
Crossword
By Apis
Answers in next
week’s edition
Down
2/16. Follow Don and slope towards gas works (4,2,9)
3. In very deep sleep, minute’s a brief pause (5)
4. Brutish people are the recipients of badly-aimed
pearls (5)
5. Posh sort lovely on the outside, in the style of the
aristocracy (5)
6. Pixies begin strange, quiet ceremonies (7)
Send your letters to [email protected]
Hammond Disgrace
CUSU officer Emily Hammerton
Dear Sir,
I am writing to express my utter shock and dismay upon reading Dr Hammond is to return to
work here in Cambridge in April
following his conviction of possession of child pornography.
Sexual abuse, especially towards children, is so wholly unnatural and disturbing that any
person inclined to commit such
an offence must be dangerously
mentally ill. If Dr Hammond were
to apply afresh for a position in
Cambridge, this fact coupled with
his criminal record would most
certainly guarantee a rejection.
The fact that he will return to
work not only displays an abject
insensitivity of the University
towards its members with young
children, but sends out a most
unsettling message to the rest
of the world. We must seriously
question any institution that
overlooks such a disturbing violation of innocence.
Maria Johnstone
Downing College
A Protest!
Across
1. Upset dentist sacks
son that may break bones
(6,3,6)
9. What certain knights
say after a louche,
unintelligent miser
initially graduates (6)
10. 7’s taking hold of
Republican quarters (8)
11. Wisely going round
museum in a fierce
manner (8)
14. Fairground ride in
which there may be a
storm (6)
17. Fizzing, wild fever note
has vital quality, by the
sound of it (13)
20. Henry’s colours mixed up at kindergarten (7,6)
23. Swallow metal after damage (6)
25. Honestly? Wrong! (2,3,3)
28. Nine slam befuddled referee’s assistant (8)
29. In that case, it’s all about what’s given (6)
30. Changing position, Sutra fan’s led Ana - along
such lines the earth moves (3,7,5)
Your Letters
Dear Sir,
That a joint protest between
students from four different universities with a combined student
population of over 70,000 manages to attract only 150 students
could be heralded as a success
by its organisers beggars belief.
Despite the protestations of the
socialists, anarchists and remaining malcontents that make up the
free education movement, this
protest reveals how out of touch
with the views of the majority of
students CUSU is. The attitude of
7. 44, 0, 300, 1, 1000, 1 (5)
8. Like one struggling in the underworld, we hear
wimp push - extremely low, missing the top. (9)
12. Blunder stops boss short (5)
13. Woman has right to be fat. (5)
15. River’s come out of sexual duct (5)
16. See 2
17. Fear losing head and making 12 (5)
18. Released prisoner’s swindle gets a little extra on
top (2-3)
19. Hot on the tail of idiot for material (5)
21. Having changed title, grass chap up inside. (7)
22. A steady qualification (1,5)
24. Time he cheers character (5)
25. Oz let you in on a single occasion (5)
26. Secures depressive’s head in highs and lows (5)
27. Confused about tax bonus (5)
Last week’s solutions: Across - 5. Breast, 6. Silent, 9. Presto, 10. Vultures, 11. Beta, 12. Terminator, 13.
Metaphysics, 18. Threesomes, 21. Ezra, 22. Waterloo, 23. Chippy, 24. Sights, 25. Always, Down - 1. Seascape
2. Escort, 3. Villains, 4. Medusa, 5. Barber, 7. Tremor, 8. Over the moon, 14. Absolute, 15. Clerical, 16. Cheats, 17.
Tripos, 19. Energy, 20. Sickle.
is revealing: 100% committed
to free education, so long as it
does not interfere with her paid
education or require her to be inconvenienced to stand up for her
cause. It is difficult to see how the
protest could have been any more
cliché or marginal.
In my experience most students
accept that, while we might like a
free lunch, the realities of the rising costs of world-class education
and research make hoping for an
exclusively government funded
education system as naive as calls
to “tax the rich” or “stop paying
for stupid things like nuclear missiles”. It is undoubtedly true that
the current system is inadequate,
but CUSU should be debating how
to best serve students in the 21st
century rather than supporting
socialist publicity stunts, that
look antiquated and irrelevant to
the realities of today.
Alasdair Pearce
St Catharine’s College
Corrections & Clarifications
Last week’s article “Strawberry
Fair forever?” was wrongly credited to Gregory Lewis. It was written by Sita Dinanauth.
In the article “ADC reopens after
£2.2m revamp” in our 9th October
issue, we stated that women were
banned from performing until
1995. In fact it was 1965.
The Cambridge Student endeavours to be as accurate as possible in its reporting. It is possible for inadvertent errors to
creep in and we are very happy
to issue corrections. Please e-mail
us at [email protected].
The Team
Editor Matt Horrocks [email protected] Thursday Editor Ryan Roark thursday@
tcs.cam.ac.uk Associate Editor Alex Coke-Woods [email protected].
ac.uk Subeditors Jess Touschek, Leah Holroyd and Chris Lillycrop [email protected].
ac.uk News Editor Katie Spenceley [email protected] Deputy News Editors
Alexander Glasner, Owen Kennedy and Anna Croall International News Editor Carly
Hilts [email protected] Design Editor Dan Strange [email protected].
ac.uk Design Dmitriy Myelnikov [email protected] Comment Editors Daniel
Heap and Peter Jefferys [email protected] Investigations investigations@
tcs.cam.ac.uk Interviews Editor Shane Murray [email protected] Theatre
Editor Dan Grabiner [email protected] Film Editors Nicholas Day and Emma
Dibdin [email protected] Music Editors Kristina Ooi and Saul Glasman music@tcs.
cam.ac.uk Sport James Jones and Chris Lillycrop [email protected] Puzzles
Simon Jackson [email protected] Photo Editor Dina Verkhratska Features
Editors Ploy Radford and Korlin Bruhn [email protected] Fashion Editor
Amy Mulvenna [email protected] Fashion Claire Wilkinson [email protected].
ac.uk Science Editors Philip Ashworth and Kate Crowe [email protected] Arts &
Literature Editors Harriet Wragg and Tom Lyttelton [email protected] Food & Drink
Editor Hannah Thompson [email protected] Board of Directors Amy Blackburn
(Chair), Mark Curtis (Business), Adam Colligan (CUSU Coordinator), Matt Horrocks, Sven
Palys, Chris Lillycrop and Alex Coke-Woods [email protected].
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THEATRE
REVIEWS
Parade
David Ward
I
A
fter the Committee and Virgin
Smokers, it was
back to business
as usual this week,
with the usual mix
of Footlights veterans and fresh
faces vying for laughs. As ever, it
was a slightly mixed bag, moving
from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again.
The show was front-loaded
with its strongest material, as
Photo: John Linford
may not agree with director Eberhardt that Parade
contains “a truth and sincerity” that is missing from
modern musical theatre,
but this is certainly a play
and production that has ‘serious
musical theatre’ written all over it
- from its programme notes to its
monochrome publicity picture.
This is a production that is
dramatic, hard-hitting, and serious, but certainly not tedious. It
is dynamic, forceful, and gripping
theatre, with an evidently talented
cast and creative team.
Tom Cane plays Leo Frank, the
manager of a pencil factory in the
American state of Georgia, who is
selected as a scapegoat when the
local community is looking for
someone to condemn for the murder of a 13-year-old girl who has
been found dead in Frank’s factory.
The musical follows the attempts
by him and his wife [Lucille] to
clear his name, and there is a strong
sense of the narrative in Eberhardt’s
production. The pace is unrelenting, the passions heated, and the
hatred palpable; it is a play that
hangs on the production’s ability to
engross its audience in the subject,
and it does so commendably.
When this production aims to
hit the dramatic heights it rarely
misses. The depth and quality of
the vocal chorus is striking, and the
central pairing of Cane and Gellert
is moving without being sentimental.
Gellert’s performance as Lucille
is particularly affecting:she maintains both strength and fragility
throughout, and her vocal is deeply
emotive. This is truly an ensemble
musical though, and this is a uniformly impressive ensemble.
The audience witnesses a community of people of different ages,
races, and classes, who are united
by a common goal to form a homogenous whole.
They are frighteningly driven,
constantly manoeuvring menacingly around the stage. Director Eberhardt does not allow this necessary
tension to wane, and the chorus’
motivations, though perhaps simplistic, are carefully managed and
demonstrated.
Another element of this production that “manoeuvres menacingly” is the set which often flies
in from above with alarming danger. I’m all for quick and seamless
scene changes; however, several of
the pieces of set flown in seemed
not so much practical as cumbersome. What does appear on stage,
though, is effective.
The stage is never unnecessarily cluttered with furniture, and
the construction at the back of the
stage - and the way in which it is
illuminated - makes for an inspired
visual.
Its position does mean, though,
that it can be difficult to hear the
action that occurs around it, a problem that will hopefully be resolved
for later performances this week.
It pains me to end this review by
mentioning the inevitable openingnight technical hitches, but I must
do so, because they did unfortunately mar my overall enjoyment of
this performance. I have no doubt,
however, that these will have been
ironed out by Wednesday night’s
performance. I hope too that the
noticeable moments of uncertainty
on the part of the chorus will be
avoided.
There is certainly another notch
that this production could climb,
and I truly hope that the diligence
and craft of the cast and crew will
be rewarded with the level of success they deserve.
Because this is a production that
is acutely directed, excellent in its
musicality, and a credit to theatre
in Cambridge.
CUMTS , ADC Theatre
12th Nov - 15th Nov
£7 - £10
Smoker
Ed Rowett
Liam Williams’ self-deprecating
stand-up got the show off to a
cracking start. It was followed by
a hilarious one-two punch: James
Moran and Lucien Young’s sketch
about video game characters at
a party, and a wonderfully crude
piece about the joys of fingering.
The former was distinguished by
Moran’s dead-pan disgust at the
antics of his computer-generated
companions (Donkey Kong was
drunk and up on the roof throw-
ing barrels at passers-by), while
in the latter Liam Williams scored
one of the biggest laughs of the
night for his cheerful explanation of his arrival on stage.
This high standard unsurprisingly proved impossible to
maintain, and the show quickly
slowed down to a more comfortable pace. There were several acts
that would have benefited from
slightly more judicious cutting,
in particular sketches involving
James Brown buying a house, an
over-zealous clothes shop assistant, and Joey Batey’s stand-up
act. All contained strong ideas,
but were allowed to run on a
little too long and would have
packed more of a punch in a
slightly condensed form.
Other highlights of the evening
included a sketch that came in
several instalments on the art of
conning which served to bring
the pace back up whenever it had
dropped.
Alastair Roberts (sporting a
truly spectacular hairstyle) made
for a hilariously ineffective conman, reduced to borrowing loose
change from passers-by. Daran
Johnson also struck gold with
his monologue about waking up
with a girl, which required the
audience to keep up with some
high-speed wordplay. Elsewhere
Matt Bulmer managed to do a lot
with very little, as the mute subtitler of a bizarre film, wringing
laughs out of nothing more than
a slightly raised eyebrow or a resigned shrug.
It is a difficult task to rate a
Smoker, as the material is often
so variable; there was comedy
worthy of five stars on show on
Tuesday, and just occasionally
a one star-worthy lack of it. As
ever though, even if it does not
quite provide non-stop hilarity, a
Smoker is still one of the most
consistently entertaining hours
you can have in Cambridge.
ADC Theatre
11th Nov
|20-21
Theatre editor Dan Grabiner finds new writing
alive and well in Cambridge as TCS enters the
intriguing world of Claire Wells’ Empty Portrait
I
S
Photo: ADC
am the outsider as I enter
that most intimate arena,
that weird and wonderful
creative laboratory which
is the play rehearsal.
Weirder still, the playwright herself, Claire Wells, is in
the room, laughing alongside director Tom Attenborough and the
two actors, Joe Bannister and Greer
Dale-Foulkes.
Bang. The rehearsal starts and
the light-hearted atmosphere dissolves, replaced by an electric
tension as the sexual anxiety and
awkwardness between Jamie and
Raphaella is conjured up magnificently by the two actors. And this
is just a rehearsal. A weird one at
that: scribbling journo in one corner, watchful author in the other.
But is there not something inherently comforting about working
with new writing?
“You would suppose it’s less pressure, because when you put on a
Shakespeare play everyone knows
it,” Attenborough says, “so they’re
looking at the production, not the
play. With “Empty Portrait”, they’re
going to be looking at both.” The
cast sees this as a welcome responsibility. “There have been a couple
of occasions when I’ve spoken with
Claire about the character, but at
the same time, the challenge has
been working out the character
for myself and coming to my own
conclusions,” Bannister says. DaleFoulkes admits that “the pressure
is on both of us, and it’s quite
nerve-wracking because we want
to do justice to Claire’s play,” but
stresses her faith in Wells’ work.
“It’s a great piece of writing. We
haven’t had to do much asking
about the characters – they are
there for us, fully formed in the
dialogue.”
This isn’t surprising, Wells having spent the last year working
on the script, persuading family
members to run through dialogue
with her, and working closely with
Attenborough before rehearsals began. “She first sent me the script in
late-April, early-May,” he remarks,
before Wells interjects:
“Still a work in progress! There
have even been changes to the
script between the first readthrough and the first rehearsal,
and that’s following all the work
that went in before even casting
it – over the summer we did a lot.
It’s very, very different from that
first draft.”
The rehearsal is slick, the subtle
notes from Attenborough (“Joe
that tone you just had… that
needs to be the tone” or “there
wasn’t enough progression from
the last scene”) recognisable in the
polished speeches when repeated.
But what is the play, billed as “psy-
chologically captivating” by the
ADC, actually about?
“It’s a perverted love story,”
Wells decides. “It questions identity and social constructions”. “It’s
the story of a woman,” Attenborough elaborates, “in a “typical”
city marriage – content but not
happy, job pays well but doesn’t
thrill her – who commissions Jamie to paint a portrait of her for
her husband’s birthday” The conclusion, predictably, is that you’ll
have to come and see it to find
out. Not a bad idea if you ask me.
Attenborough is sure that we will
come away intrigued, the unique
twist in Wells’ tale flipping the
piece on its head in a way which
has never been seen before.
Empty Portrait is this week’s ADC
lateshow. 11pm. Thurs 13th Nov –
Sat 15th Nov. £4 - £6.
Week Six
o it’s six weeks into the
course and you realise
you should have read
the course outline. I’m
supposed to be writing
a 10,000 word portfolio
about my ‘learning journey’ of this
term. But why didn’t anyone tell
me about this at the beginning? I’m
struggling enough with my ‘actor’s
diary’. The Keen Beans have already
written most of it no doubt, peppered with witticisms from their
tutors to impress… their tutors.
Always a good trick that one.
10,000 words is a bit steep, I
must say. It can be creative and apparently one guy submitted a series of video diaries, which seems
a bit of a wheeze to me – do you
have to count the words that you
say? Someone also once handed in
10,000 words of emails between
him and his ex-wife about his ‘journey’. That guy failed though, so I’ll
bin that idea too. I think I’d find it
less of a millstone if the title wasn’t
‘learning journey’. It sounds like
some new-Labour education document for the dimmos at the back of
the class. “So, how was your learning journey this week, Timmy?” Mr
Balls asks, before getting one right
in the kisser.
I’m wondering if I should invent
Grotowskiesque antics of having spent my weekends running
through woods to exhaustion and
nearly flaying myself alive in the
name of theatre. He sounds like an
absolute maniac by all accounts:
pushed people to the limits but
they loved it. Bloody actors, never
know when to stop: such vanity. He
Love and Other Fairy Tales - Downing Dramatic Society
C
haucer’s Canterbury
Tales famously opens
in April with a flurry
of rain showers and
spring breezes. Love
and Other Fairy Tales
opened on Monday night but had
it had till April to rehearse, I suspect it would still have been as
dull and thin as it was this No-
vember. The brief is promising:
while en route to Canterbury the
voluble Chaucer (Alex Lass) finds
his narrative hijacked by Alison,
the man-eating Wife of Bath
(Jenny Marshall) four times married and open to new applicants.
As Alison tells her tale, the other
pilgrims - Squire, Pardoner, Nun
and Prioress - find themselves
drawn into the plot as reluctant
players. The plot hinges on the
perplexed and irritated Chaucer,
sidelined by his own characters,
and desperately trying to seize
the reins. But no sense of dramatic tension ever arises. Chaucer
barely puts up a fight. Marshall’s
Wife of Bath takes the lead and
Chaucer grumbles along behind.
Lass would make a superb Franklin but as Chaucer he is an unlikeable figure, self-satisfied and
lacking the charm to lead a party
of pilgrims to Canterbury. Marshall as the Wife of Bath is the
strongest stage presence but she
could have been sexier, bawdier,
and more voracious in her flirtatious asides to Chaucer and the
Squire (Nick Skliar-Davies). To
conjure a sense of pilgrimage,
the cast enter at a lop-sided trot
which they maintain throughout
the performance, gently clopping on the spot. The rhythm
of the dialogue is accompanied
by a basso relievo strain of feet
arhythmically hitting the boards
that becomes irritating after five
minutes and remains so. Despite
this earnest clip-clopping, the
play is curiously static. The six
players are ranged in a line, like
fourteenth-century Usual Suspects, and deliver their lines facing the audience, rarely turning
to address each other. Occasionally they break rank to illuminate
a vignette from the Wife of Bath’s
tale, but instantly regroup and
trot afresh, thumpety-thumpety-thump-thump-thumpety. To
break the monotony, a recorder
plays period music which whines
in a melancholic way throughout
the play. It is all so amateur: a
Nativity play in the school hall.
The girls wear tea-towels on their
heads and the Pardoner (Abby
didn’t even seem to care that much
about the audience, which strikes
me as rather remiss. No Christmas
pantos for him then. However, I
think the viva with my tutors,
whilst they gaze on my paunch,
wouldn’t really cut it – the austerity and starvation of absolute poor
theatre doesn’t hang easily around
my bourgeois wine-soaked velvet
jacket-wearing shoulders. So, best
not fib then.
Oh, talking of paunch, went to
see Forced Entertainment’s ‘Spectacular’ last night. The most unspectacular show you’ve ever seen
– see how they did that. Now that’s
dramatic irony! An intellectual discussion about the nature of theatre
and death (except it wasn’t that
intellectual), for 80 minutes, from
a fat man in a skeleton suit. A sure
case of substance over style. They
could have got away with it for
45 minutes, but the bar was calling after that point. Anything was
calling.
I know what you’re thinking:
what am I doing in theatre? I don’t
like anything I see. I’m too lazy to
write about my ‘learning journey’
and the only thing I’ve auditioned
for so far has been a Christmas
panto. But I feel I ought to prove
to you that I am not a total cynic.
William Forsythe. A man of genius.
Now that’s a reason to be in theatre,
or possibly, in my case a reason to
give up now and go home realising
you’ll never be more than an audience member. Impressing the Csar.
Sadler’s Wells. This week. Extraordinary. Funny. Beautiful. Clever. Yes,
we can!
Laura Freeman
Dean) is inexplicably made up
like Pierrot the Clown. The Nativity play is only tolerable because
it is your darling progeny/sibling
playing Sheep #7, but the noroom-at-the-inn stable of drama
loses its lustre after the age of six
and at nineteen it is unforgivable.
I wanted to like Love and Other
Fairy Tales. Nothing delights me
more than a good-natured Chaucer
pastiche; Heath Ledger’s Knight’s
Tale is an all-time favourite [see
Paul Bettany doing a star turn as
Geoff Chaucer]. But this was so
slow (only half an hour, but it
felt longer), unimaginative and
unmemorable that when the curtain fell, I was more than ready to
clip-clop my way home.
FILM
Dubya: no he couldn’t
Photo: piceslect.com
Oliver Stone give us his latest, and least successful , presidential drama
Dubya (Josh Brolin) gets a moment of down-time as Karl Rove (Toby Jones) plots world domination on his Blackberry. Allegedly.
Emma
Dibdin
W.
(15, 129 mins)
I
★★☆☆☆
t’s official, boys and girls.
Oliver Stone, career controversialist and self-confessed “contrarian”, has lost
his edge. That is if he ever
had one, and anyone unfortunate enough to have seen Alexander or World Trade Center might be
forgiven for feeling some sense of
doubt. This would-be satirical biopic
of the never-more-obsolete Bush Jr
(Josh Brolin), the third entry into
what might be considered Stone’s
“presidential biopics trilogy”, feels
as half-baked and ill-equipped for its
task as the titular man himself.
Stone has described Bush’s story
as “the greatest of our time,” a fascinating, twisted Cinderella tale;
the no-hope bum transformed into
the most powerful, and perhaps
most hated, leader in the Western
world. No argument here, but Stone
doesn’t really seem interested in
showing how this progression unfolds on screen, and the film’s tired
non-linear structure ensures that
nothing of the kind is even possible. The script (notably not penned
by Stone himself) offers us, in literally no particular order, Bush as unappreciated son, Bush as tearaway
youth, Bush as religious convert,
Bush as loving husband, Bush as
“misunderestimated” speechmaker,
Bush as political puppet, Bush as
blasé jingoist, and so on. While
some of these renderings are more
effective than others, every potentially interesting plot thread is undermined by the script’s frustrating
refusal to commit to a thesis on its
undeniably fascinating subject.
The most successful recent
biopics have been those which take
stock of a life, pick out an interesting focal point and stick to it,
focusing on a person’s most historically interesting years rather than
attempting an inevitably shallow
overview. So Burton’s Ed Wood focused on Wood’s partnership with
Bela Lugosi; Capote on the writing
of In Cold Blood; Good Night and
Good Luck on Edward Murrow’s battle with McCarthy. W, by contrast,
flits between life events and nonevents like some kind of ADHDafflicted moth, endlessly holding
a mirror up to disconnected fragments of reality without ever commenting on them or justifying their
existence in the narrative.
So if the film’s greatest shortcoming is its failure to commit, it
fortunately also fails to commit to
being wholly uninteresting. It is,
for starters, very well shot, in spite
of the rushed editing process it reportedly went through in order to
secure a pre-election release across
the pond.
Brolin gives an impressively nuanced performance, proving once
again that playing “dumb” convincingly actually requires a great
deal of intelligence. In a culture
saturated with Dubya impersonators, where every flub is immortalised on YouTube and it’s impossible
to browse any poster rack without
coming across a printed collection
of “Bushisms”, the temptation to
resort to caricature is overwhelming, and it’s to Brolin’s credit that
he appears cerebrally invested in
his character throughout. Here is
a man whose political philosophy
boils down to near-calculated negligence (“Don’t think too much, it
just... it screws you all up”) and yet
in Brolin’s hands he becomes, if not
sympathetic, at least psychologically recognisable.
Nowhere
close to being
incisive or
focused enough
to call itself
satire
James Cromwell, adding Bush Sr.
to an impressive character resume
that already includes Prince Philip,
Bobby Kennedy and Farmer Hoggett, is reliably strong, bringing
an edge of genuine sorrow to what
might have proved a hackneyed
“disapproving patriarch” role. He
and Richard Dreyfuss’ subtly Machiavellian Dick Cheney are so compelling that they border frequently on
overshadowing our eponymous protagonist; one scene wherein Cheney
addresses the board room with his
vision for oil procurement and a
“new American empire” is both
genuinely chilling and depressingly
plausible.
The rest of the eclectic supporting cast prove something of a disappointment. Toby Jones barely
registers as Karl Rove, while any
interest held by Jeffrey Wright’s Colin Powell is more thanks to Powell’s
recent real-world endorsement of
Barack Obama than anything inherently compelling in the writing or
performance. The less said about
Thandie Newton’s overly mannered
Condoleezza Rice, the better.
Perhaps most frustrating is the
sense that any one of the film’s
minor characters could have justified two-plus hours of big screen
exploration better than Bush
himself. Take Laura Bush (Elizabeth Banks, doing her best with
paper-thin characterisation), for
|22-23
notably in two clumsily conceived
montages of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, overlaid with patriotic
music or, more bizarrely, a recurrent ‘Robin Hood’ theme tune. The
latter does offer a surreal chuckle
or two, but much like the on-screen
dramatisation of Bush’s infamous
pretzel choke, it’s hard to discern
what purpose it serves.
The temptation would be to
write off these scenes as pure ridicule, were it not for the fact that
the film doesn’t seem to want us
to see Bush as an absurd figure; indeed, we’re encouraged to pity him.
He’s ultimately painted as nothing
worse than ill-qualified, deeply naïve but essentially well-meaning,
and while this may be the closest thing to the truth, such a frequently sympathetic portrayal sits
at irreconcilable odds with Stone’s
apparent polemical aspirations. It’s
difficult to say whether he sets out
to say too many things and ends up
saying nothing, or doesn’t aim to
say anything in particular and succeeds spectacularly.
Given its calculated release as
the Bush era draws to a close and
murmurs arise about stem cell and
oil policies being overturned, it is
perhaps best to see W as a museum piece of sorts, a testament to a
now-bygone political era. Nonetheless, one can’t help feeling that the
film’s title might serve quite appositely as a review of itself, with
the addition of an H, a Y, and a few
question marks.
PLEASE CUT
FREE SCREENING
Wednesday 19th November, 6.30pm
TCS is offering you the chance to see the soon-to-be-cult film Choke, described by
Entertainment Weekly as “a dirty-minded satirical-psychotic comedy”, for FREE before
its official release on 21 November.
Simply cut out this voucher and take it along to Cineworld in Cambridge on Wednesday
19th November for free admission. 6pm for 6.30pm start.
Voucher admits one. Numbers are limited and seats will be allocated on a
first-come-first-served basis; arrive early to avoid disappointment.
5
US Political
Films
Proving that
truth isn’t
always stranger
than fiction.
Mr Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
This is the definitive tale of
populist triumph in America, told
with the feel good factor unique
to Frank Capra. When Mr Smith
(Jimmy Stewart) is unexpectedly
appointed a Senator, he starts out
naive to the ways of D.C., but he
soon learns of its vices. The climax is Stewart’s dramtatic speech
on the floor of the chamber in a
desparate attempt to save his seat
and the dignity of the Senate.
Photo: image.net
example, and her transformation
from a well-spoken Democrat librarian with nothing but scepticism for
her then-boyfriend’s partisan rhetoric, to the demi-Stepford cheerleader at his side in later years. Then
there’s Cheney, the puppet master,
or Jeb Bush, the straight-A, consistently successful brother thrust
unexpectedly onto the sidelines.
The “special relationship” between
Bush and Blair (present here in a
blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo from
Ioan Gruffudd) is just crying out for
a turn under the scriptwriter’s magnifying glass.
There are, admittedly, one or
two engaging insights to be had,
in particular some discussion of the
fact that Bush, for all his farm-boy
posturing, is not from Texas and
was initially viewed with mistrust
by the state’s voters; but even
this is hardly breaking news. The
facts of Bush’s life and presidency,
are simply too fresh in the public
mind to justify such a slavish transcription to the screen. Some new
insight is demanded, and remains
frustratingly lacking.
W has been generally marketed
as a satire, which implies that it
aims both to hold a mirror to reality, and to comment upon it. If
Stone achieves the former, largely
thanks to solid performances, he
misses the boat entirely on the latter - this is nowhere close to being
incisive or focused enough to call
itself satire.
It’s easy to see the attempts,
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Released amid the Cuban Missile Crisis, this thriller of paranoia,
conspiracy and brainwashing is still
essential viewing. Frank Sinatra
plays Bennett Marco, who becomes
increasingly convinced that there
is something suspect about a former comrade’s sudden acclamation
by the military. When said comrade
becomes a presidential candidate,
things go deliriously haywire. Also
features Angela Lansbury as the
ultimate psycho mother.
All The President’s Men (1976)
This classic telling of the uncovering of the Watergate scandal, starring Robert Redford and
Dustin Hoffman as the enterprising journalists who lifted the lid,
is supremely tense, yet the climax’s refusal to resort to Hollywood pyrotechnics is a testament
to Pakula’s respect for his subject
matter. A must-see for anybody
remotely interested in investigative journalism, political scandal,
or mysterious men called Deep
Throat.
The American President (1995)
An old-fashioned romance, but
the male protagonist is the most
powerful man in the world (Michael Douglas). Aaron Sorkin’s second feature screenplay is a little
known gem, popular with political
afficionados and rom-com junkies
alike. Nor does it hurt that the
film is littered with ‘Capra-esque’
references to that most legendary
of all American politcal films, Mr
Smith Goes to Washington.
Nixon (1997)
Back when Stone still knew how
to direct an even-handed, engaging film reappraising the life of a
widely disliked president, he made
Nixon. There is an inherently more
compelling story here, not to mention the combination of Stone’s
script and Antony Hopkins’ careerbest performance, while the use of
Nixon’s tapes to tie together the
non-linear narrative works far better than the scattershot approach
taken in W.
MUSIC
REVIEWS
Japanese rock
DIR EN GREY
Uroboros (The End)
Out Nov 11
Acoustic soul
TRACY CHAPMAN
Mari Shibata
One often hears young Japanese diehard rock fans say, “Dir en Grey is the
band that we are proud of; they represent our country on the international
rock scene.” True, they were indeed
the first J-rock band to sign a contract with a US label, a culture which
many J-rock bands followed. Last
year they hit the international stage with Marrow of a Bone,
making it a dream come true to many Western youngsters;
it wasn’t just the cosplay photographs on the internet any
more: they were able to enjoy the full experience, attending
the shows extravagantly dressed just like the band.
Uroboros brings shock, stripping away the visual kei costumes; the “shocking” factor is transferred to the music. After the atmospheric haunting sounds of ‘Sa Bir’, the album
unexpectedly opens with ‘Vinushka’, a giant ten-minute
song illustrating their new sound covering opposite ends of
the spectrum: heavy and melodic. ‘Doukoku No Sarinu’ must
have been composed to attract emo kids who will likely
spend their entire pocket money on Dir En Grey.
‘Gaika, Chinmoku Ga Nemuru’ powers through heavy yet
technically challenging riffs, and outbursts of anger appear
at surprising moments in ‘Red Soil’. What Dir en Grey have
always been good at is delivering strong melodies; I guarantee that you will have ‘Toguro’ and ‘Inconvenient Ideal’
on repeat. Singles ‘Glass Skin’ and ‘Dozing Green’ challenge
frontman Kyo to sing the songs entirely in English. Language enthusiasts should listen to them in the original
Japanese and explore the double meanings behind the kanji
characters.
Despite the changes to satisfy international media, Uroboros manages to maintain some of Dir En Grey’s original
sound, making it an enjoyable record for diverse rock/metal
listeners. Whether they successfully delivered visual kei
across the world is debatable.
Our Bright Future (Elektra)
Out Nov 10
Art rock
PARTS AND LABOR
Receivers (Jagjaguwar)
Kristina Ooi Out Nov 11
“One. Two. One, two, three, four,”
gasps a gentle, wispy voice, and so
begins Our Bright Future. Tracy Chapman is one of those rare beings who
is almost painfully famous (if you
know ‘Fast Car’, ‘Give Me One Reason’
or ‘Talkin’ Bout A Revolution’, then
you know a Chapman tune) but has
somehow escaped wide-scale celebrity status. A veteran of
the industry, and one of its dirty little secrets, she’s an artist you want to keep to yourself and share with everyone at
the same time.
Listening to this on a rainy, dark and depressing Cambridge evening is a massive hit of much-needed endorphins.
On the surface, this is just another album of slushy, clichéd
ballads, ready to dish out on Mother’s Day. But right from
the first blissful track, ‘Sing for You’, you realise this isn’t
just another singer-songwriter. There’s just a tinge of tragedy hidden in the yearning sweetness of her voice, hinting
at some kind of mysterious pain: definitely enough to keep
me listening to the very end. Chapman’s skilful songwriting
and heavenly voice more than compensate for the distinctly
lacklustre production on this record; anything more would
have obscured the beautiful, understated simplicity that
has been her trademark for the past twenty years.
Tracy ain’t resting on her laurels though. While she doesn’t
stray far from her comfort zone, tracks such as ‘Something
to See (No War)’ have a bittersweet political edge, juxtaposing outspoken lyrics such as “They count the targets and
the bombs / But they do not count the dead” with hopeful
statements like “No war... that would be something to see
/ I hope I live that long.” Reminiscent of Obama’s uplifting
mantra “Yes We Can!” (with the new President elect also
receiving a name-check on this record), Chapman is still
relevant, a voice of hope for legions of fans everywhere. The
future’s definitely bright; the future is Tracy Chapman.
Saul Glasman
It is very easy to fall in love with Parts
And Labor at first listen. The New York
art-rock four-piece’s frenetic, alluring
drumlines and turbo-charged shoegaze
showboating switches on the listener’s
attention and imagination right from
the start. And they really are too cool
for school, with sizeable stacks of critical acclaim piling up in the attic and an auspicious collaboration with Tyondai Braxton of Battles behind them. The cover
design of Receivers also deserves a mention. Thematically
united with their aural aesthetic, it depicts a quasi-Dadaist
collage of shards of light, colour and machine.
The problem, however, is that creative instrumentation especially if it’s the same creative instrumentation on every
song - is no viable stand-in for consistent songwriting, and
here Parts And Labor are unreliable. I did get the distinct
impression that their principal mode of production involves
writing an indie twanger of variable unremarkability, putting it in a magic black box and pressing the giant green
and yellow button marked “APPLY PARTS-AND-LABORIFYING
ALGORITHM”. Receivers is just a pleasant, but strictly usual,
guitar rock album, as seen through the fractious lens of the
band’s instrumental style. It doesn’t help that the downtuned
one-man-choir effect with which Parts And Labor lather their
vocals renders their lyrics largely indecipherable.
So at their best, Parts And Labor infuse their songwriting
with a proper emotional hit. There’s something both regal
and intimate about the vocal melodies of ‘Prefix Free’ and
‘Nowhere’s Nigh’ is a surreal celebratory romp, like a birthday
party in a technicolour patchwork steel desert. At its worst,
Receivers is a bifurcating, toric mound of unfolding tedium.
Even after a couple of listens, I barely have any memory of
‘Little Ones’ and ‘The Ceasing Now’. Listen to Receivers once.
There is no other band that does what Parts And Labor does,
but this album is unlikely to find a place on your playlist.
Sentenced to rock
Six of the best tracks by bands whose names are full, grammatical sentences
We Are Scientists - The Great Escape
I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness - The Owl
I sometimes whistle this to myself as I count down the minutes until I can run away from my department. If only I had
someone as beautiful as Keith Murray to stare at in my lab all
day long. Never have grey hair and green goggly eyes looked
so damn fine.
A desperate, crazed raven struggles against its leash in a
pitch-dark room as a gothically statuesque owl observes its
travail in the video for this subtle, calmly oppressive postrock vignette. If you’ve been feeling a bit too cheery this
week, here’s a little something to drag you down.
I Was A Cub Scout - Pink Squares
Pretty Girls Make Graves - Parade
I was never a cub scout. Never a Brownie, or a Girl Guide, not
even a Rainbow. I feel like I’ve missed out on an essential
part of British childhood. But this band is enough to recreate
the experience, albeit in the form of lush synthpoppy beats.
Light the campfire and pass the smores - this girl’s going back
to camp.
A spectre is haunting Europe, and it is the spectre of Pretty
Girls Make Graves. Are you OK with what you’ve got? If not,
throw down your push broom, paint this song on a placard
and hit the streets. The now-defunct Seattle eccentro-rockers
hit it out of the park with this simple and instantly distinctive song about, it seems, workers’ action.
Look What I Did - The Fox Eats TV Ishmael
Small Leaks Sink Ships - Dear Dictator
TCS MIXTAPE
[With Love And Squalor, 2005]
[I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope, 2008]
[Minuteman For The Moment, 2005]
Steaming from seedy bar-room jazz to flagstone-cracking
metal to swaggering alt-rock chorusmongering in one unhinged opus, Look What I Did is truly a giggling maniac
among bands. Imagine the Beach Boys sharing a stage with a
burlesque troupe, Metallica and an especially angry concrete
gorilla and you’ve got some idea of what’s at stake.
[Fear Is On Our Side, 2006]
[Élan Vital, 2006]
[Until The World Is Happy; Wake Up You Sleepyhead Sun,
2007]
Modest Mouse, Minus The Bear, The Mars Volta and several
litres of molten gorgonzola all meet in eclectic indie-pop
band Small Leaks Sink Ships. Due to a loophole in a UN musical directive concerning pretension and endearing musical
incoherence this album had to be given two names, but we
love it anyway.
|24-25
Wild Thing
Kentucky rockers Cage The Elephant show Cambridge how to party
Lauren
Babcock
D
id you know that
the elephant can
eat for at least 16
hours a day? Did
you know that the
elephant has the
largest brain of any mammal? Dull
and mundane, no? Well, tonight
Cage the Elephant is anything but
dull. The Junction sees these five
Kentucky rockers receive the first
encore of their blossoming career,
and it’s not difficult to see why. Tonight, Cage The Elephant triumph;
tonight, Cage the Elephant is miles
ahead of the herd. Forget
the ridiculous Kings
of Leon comparisons
and believe nothing
but their rave live
reviews. Cage take
to stage like ducks
to water, or, well,
elephants to the
Serengeti. Their
self-proclaimed
intense
performances live up to and
surpass the hype; they
own the stage and bloody
destroy it.
This is a band that flourishes
live; rawer, more honest, and more
powerful than on record. Ask
them to describe their sound,
and what do they come up
with? “Fuckin’ hell!” Awesome. You can tell that these
guys live and breathe music:
“I’ve always just seen a guitar sitting around that I could
just pick up, [music’s] always
been there,” proclaims bassist
Daniel. Singer Matt flails around
the stage with such presence
and energy that it is completely
impossible not to become utterly
mesmerised. He has the makings
of a great front man; perfect arro-
‘an infectious
orgy of
inebriation,
leaving
the crowd
salivating...’
gance, poise and a healthy dose
of microphone twirling, yet he’s
gawky and humble enough to stop
performance from becoming just a
little bit too Mick Jagger. Charisma
oozes from his pores as he thrashes
across the stage, flamboyant and
crazed. He falls into the arms of the
front row, and as the lights flash
frantically behind him, I’m finding
it difficult to dispel comparisons
to Jesus. Lead guitarist Lincoln is
transformed from animated school
boy to powerful warrior as he steps
onto the stage, while Brad thrashes
his guitar with invigorating passion. Yet it’s the elephant clad audience member who really steals the
limelight, as he is invited to the
stage and dances like he’s having
the time of his life.
Despite a slightly slow and subdued start with a few album tracks
falling a little flat on the indie
tweenster audience, this turns into
an infectious and rampant set. Singles ‘In One Ear’ and ‘Ain’t No Rest
For The Wicked’, resonate through
the venue with unadulterated passion and craze. A hazy sea of bodies jumps to every beat like
their lives depend
on it. Forthcoming single ‘Back
Against the
Wall’ already
sounds like
a hit, des-
tined to be their new festival anthem, warranting sing-a-longs that
would make Snow Patrol jealous.
They finish their set with ‘Free
Love’, resulting in an infectious
orgy of enthusiasm and inebriation,
leaving the crowd salivating and
craving more. Cage the Elephant
return with a raunchy cover of
Iggy Pop’s ‘I Want To Be Your Dog’.
These guys might not have the biggest back catalogue of songs, but
who knows what they’re capable of
when they have more than 10 days
to record an album? “We’re more
developed musicians… the last
one, we just went in and recorded,
it was just raw,” the band explains.
“We’re definitely more excited
about this next album; we’ve got
a lot to prove… show people we’re
here to stay.” This is a band that in
the space of a few short months has
won over the hearts (and lungs) of
the young British public. Needless
to say, these guys won’t be playing
for peanuts any time soon.
Lost in music
Stuart Mason takes a stroll through the
post-punk-funk graveyard and reminds us
of ESG’s A South Bronx Story
W
ere my surname Scroggins,
and
were I in a
band
with
three of my
Scroggins sisters, the first thing I
would do is not call our band The
Scroggins Sisters. Then I would invite a non-Scroggins, neighbourhood friend into the band as the
second conga player (you can never
have enough conga players) so that
people wouldn’t be able to call us
the Scroggins Sisters. Then I would
play the baddest post-punk-funk
ever to make you wiggle your hips
and nod your head like a chicken.
A South Bronx Story is sixteen
tracks long and collects together
most of the good stuff ESG recorded, from their first EP released in
1981, their first full-length album
released in 1983 and a few tracks
from their return in the early 90s.
The three tracks taken from their
first EP are a brilliant indication of
how an almost identical template
can yield strangely diverse results.
These three songs (in fact, all of
ESG’s songs) rely almost entirely
on the rhythm section and prominent, propulsive basslines especially. The EP was recorded and
produced by the Factory Records
producer Martin Hannett, and his
style is all over it, creating what
could be called, for ease of reference, a Joy Division sound: echoey,
eerie, empty, all drums (and congas)
and bass. ‘You’re No Good’ sounds
like Diana Ross and the Supremes
had accidentally ordered Joy Division’s rhythm section as a backing
band. ‘Moody’ is one of the most
archetypally post-punk records
around, and was a dancefloor classic when house music was kicking
off in Chicago and New York. The
instrumental (in both senses) ‘UFO’,
on the other hand, has been mercilessly sampled by hip-hop producers, and makes brilliantly unnerv-
ing, though rhythmic, use of sirens
and other noises.
The songs from the 1983 album
are in a similar vein, even without Hannett producing. Highlights
from this section include ‘It’s Alright’ (they really should have used
congas more often), ‘Tiny Sticks’ (in
case you were offended that they
hadn’t yet used a cowbell), ‘Chistelle’ (which should be a theme
tune for something; The Go! Team
as they pilfer theme tunes, maybe),
and ‘Dance’ (which bears out lead
singer Renee’s love of James Brown
and contains some pretty impressive yelping on her part). The 1991
tracks are, surprisingly, some of the
strongest tracks, and pleasingly
different to their earlier stuff. The
production is less idiosyncratic, and
keyboards and guitars are incorporated (without ditching the rhythm,
of course). Ironically, ‘Erase You’ is
heavily influenced by hip-hop and
‘Hold Me Right’ by latter day R’n’B,
while ‘Get Funky’ and ‘I Can’t Tell
You What To Do’ are both rather
reminiscent of the earlier stuff, but
a little, well, funkier.
In High Fidelity, John Cusack’s
character turns to his colleague and
says “I will now sell five copies of
The Three E.P.s by The Beta Band.”
He then puts the album on and the
camera pans round the record store
as the customers start nodding, involuntarily at first, and then with
approval. I imagine that A South
Bronx Story would get a similar reaction; the songs sound like you’ve
heard them before but you don’t
know where (probably earlier on
the album, actually). It’s no coincidence that this compilation was
released in 2000, just when the
post-punk revival was kicking off
with bands like The Rapture, Le
Tigre and The Gossip. This album
isn’t worth getting because it’s influential, though; it’s worth getting
because every time you wiggle your
hips an angel gets its wings.
LISTINGS
13
Thu
14
Fri
15
Sat
16
Sun
17
Mon
18
Tue
19
Wed
FILM
THEATRE
MUSIC
The Presidency of the United States
- a dog’s life?
Better then ‘Hero’? Check out the
ADC’s new musical this week.
Metal legends Motörhead hit Cambridge this week.
Let’s Talk About the Rain (12A)
Arts Picturehouse, 12:30, 16:30,
18:50, 21:15
Of Time And The City (12A)
Arts Picturehouse, 14:45, 19:00
Quantum of Solace (12A)
18:30, 21:00
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Corpus Christi Playroom, 19:00
Parade
ADC Theatre, 19:45
Hay Fever
Fitzpatrick Hall (Queens’), 19:45
East
Judith E. Wilson Studio, 20:00
theCOLOURS @ Man On The Moon
18:30, 21:00
Burn After Reading (15)
18:30, 21:00
The Baader-Meinhof Complex (18)
Arts Picturehouse, 14:10, 17.30,
20:30
Parade
ADC Theatre, 19:45
Hay Fever
East
Sticky Floor Smoker
Pembroke New Cellars, 22:00
John Martyn @ Corn Exchange
18:00, 21:00
20:30
W. (15)
Cineworld, 12:15, 20:45
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Parade
ADC Theatre, 14:30/19:45
Hay Fever
East
The Indie Thing @ Kambar
20:30
18:30, 21:00
W. (15)
Cineworld, 12:15, 20:45
Naked Stage
B Bar, 19:00, £3
Uriah Heep @ The Junction
20:30
18:30, 21:00
W. (15)
Cineworld, 12:15,
Naked Stage
B Bar, 19:00, £3
NIE
The Junction, 20:00, £6 - £12
20:30
21:00
W. (15)
Cineworld, 12:15, 20:45
Richard III
Troilus and Cressida
School of Pythagoras (John’s), 19:30
Spring Awakening
ADC Theatre, 19:45, £6 - £9
Scenes of Mild Peril
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra @
Corn Exchange
20:30
18:30, 21:00
W. (15)
Cineworld, 12:15, 20:45
Richard III
Troilus and Cressida
School of Pythagoras (John’s), 19:30
Spring Awakening
ADC Theatre, 19:45, £6 - £9
The Kills @ The Junction
Electro indie band theCOLOURS have
just finished a 6-week UK tour of
their own after previous supports
with The Wombats, Ida Maria, and
Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius.
Martyn’s music has romanced generation after generation for more than
40 years, with his powerfully heartfelt songwriting as relevant now as
ever thanks to the homage paid by a
new movement of folk artists.
With music from: The Strokes, Young
Knives, Nirvana, Foals, The Killers, Fall Out Boy, We Are Scientists,
Babyshambles, Klaxons, Super Furry
Animals, Maxïmo Park, and a whole
host more.
In their 70s heyday progressive
heavy metal band Uriah Heep became one of the UK’s most popular
exports.
Ryan Adams And The Cardinals @
Corn Exchange
Motörhead @ Corn Exchange
One of the UK’s most legendary rock
bands return to live action to sonically shake the Corn Exchange to its
foundations.
|26-27
OTHER
Start the countdown to Christmas
- the lights are lit on Sunday!
The Living Room
CB2, 5-7 Norfolk Street
20:30
NME calls it´the premier acoustic
night in Cambridge´! Hosted by Lord
Bridge in his own living room, this
is a chance to enjoy wonderful music
the way nature intended.
Stephen K Amos
Junction, Clifton Way
20:00, £14/12
The embodiment of charisma, Stephen K Amos is supremely warm and
wickedly funny. He´s appeared on
BBC´s Live At The Apollo and Have I
Got News For You.
Churchill Jazz Band
Wolfson Hall, Churchill College
20:00
£4/2
Come and enjoy an evening of jazz
as one of Cambridge’s top big bands
kicks off its 08/09 season.
Christmas Light Extravaganza
Market Square/Lion Yard/Grafton
Centre
11:00 - 19:00
A day of festive entertainment leading up to the switching on of the
City’s Christmas lights at 5pm.
Cambridge on Ice
Parker’s Piece
09:00 - 21:00, £8.95/6.50
Come and soak up the fun at this
impressive outdoor floodlight rink,
with an onsite licencesed café bar.
2-3pm: Ice bumper car rides!!!!
As part of the Cambridge
International Concert Series 20082009.
The Kills are a boy/girl duo who
have a growing reputation for their
original brand of sleazy blues-rock
and their sexually charged live performances.
Boris Bereznovsky at the Union
Union Society Building
20:00
The Russian business man, billionaire
and bête noir of Vladimir Putin will
discuss his views and experiences
over the course of what is sure to be
an electric evening.
Eagles, towers and swords: The
coinage of the Transylvanian
princes
Fitzwilliam Museum
13:15 - 13:45
The Senior Assistant Keeper of Coins
and Medals, Adrian Popescu, dispenses his accumulated wisdom.
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 761 685
Sport|29
Saints ease past Blues Cambridge draw
21
SAINTS
29
Jamie Jones
After last week’s encouraging display against Crawshay’s Welsh XV,
the Blues were looking to put in an
equally solid performance against
Premiership outfit Northampton
Saints.
Despite only just returning to
the top flight this season after
suffering the ignominy of relegation in 2007, the Saints have
made an impressive start to the
new campaign; they await a semifinal against Cardiff in the EDF Energy Cup and top their Challenge
Cup group, throughout which
they remain unbeaten at home.
Northampton seemed intent on
continuing this good form, naming a strong line-up boasting a
plethora of Premiership stars and
most notably, the legendary All
Black, Carlos Spencer.
The Blues were
struggling to
cope with the
dynamism of
Saints’ passing
As has become the norm in recent weeks, Cambridge got off to
a sluggish start and allowed the
Northampton backs to play a fluid, attacking game.
After a period of sustained
pressure, Saints winger Grant Anderson touched down in the corner for the opening try which was
duly converted by full-back and
former London Irish star, Barry
Everett.
Saints continued to put pressure on the Blues forwards, who
were struggling to cope with the
dynamism of their passing and
down the right culminated in the
ball being spread out quickly to
the left flank for the ever-menacing Nick Greenhalgh at outside
centre to score his first try of the
game; just rewards for his threatening runs in the first half.
Cambridge refused to lie down
though, and hit back with a consolation try on 70 minutes; the
ball being spread out wide following a 5-metre attacking scrum for
Hughes Hall legend James Greenwood to cross the line. Not to be
outdone, inside centre Mark Randy
blocked an attempted Northampton clearance and touched down
under the posts in emphatic camera-posing style; Scott MacLennan was on hand to convert both
tries.
The comeback was not to prove
a fairytale ending for the Blues
as the game closed out 29-21 to
Northampton.
The Blues can take great pride
in their resurgence in the final
quarter of an hour but in truth,
Northampton were always in control and could have had the game
beyond doubt in the first half had
they been more ruthless with the
ball in hand.
Interested in joining the TCS Sport team? Email [email protected]
CAMBRIDGE
movement around the backs while
Saints’ forwards put in the effort
at the rucks. An attempted chipand-chase was superbly defended
under the posts by Alan Daniel
at loose-head. Another chip-andchase from the Saints had to be
touched down by the Blues and
the resulting 5-metre scrum led
to Northampton’s second try. The
play was quickly spread out wide
on the left for Saints’ other winger Neil Starling to cross over.
Saints were in the ascendancy
and continued to dictate the pace
of the game. However, it was Cambridge who scored next to register
their first points. A crucial knockon by Saints on the Cambridge
twenty-two was pounced on by
the Cambridge backs. The ball was
fumbled by the covering Saints
full-back and Chris Lewis was on
hand to kick on and touch down.
James Richards converted.
The Blues went in search of
another try but the power of the
Northampton forwards was proving too much for the Cambridge
pack. Their try aside, the Blues
saw little of the ball during the
half; the opposition forwards
causing all sorts of trouble in defence and gaining crucial territory
through a number of penalties.
As they tried to hold off the
Saints dominant forwards, the
Blues pack collapsed the rolling maul and a penalty try was
awarded, leaving the easiest of
conversions for Everett.
Andy Daniel was sin-binned
shortly before half-time and
the resulting penalty led to a
third Saints try from prop Soane
Tonga’uiha. A subsequent penalty was criminally put wide and
Saints entered the half-time interval with a healthy 24-7 lead.
With the Blues tiring due to
Saints’ dominance, the second half
saw regular changes to the Blues
line-up. Despite the introduction
of fresh legs, the inexperienced
Cambridge side still struggled to
gain a foothold in the game.
Despite having the best of the
play, Saints struggled to make
good use of their possession until the hour when a breath-taking
50 metre break by Carlos Spencer
CAMBRIDGE
3
STEVENAGE
3
Vicky Clarkson
An excellent comeback from 3-1
down at half time saw the women’s Blues pick up a valuable first
point of the season against Stevenage, one of the best teams in
the league.
With players coming back from
injury, the Blues confirmed that
women’s football at Cambridge is
getting stronger and stronger.
Having conceded an early goal,
Cambridge quickly pulled one
back, with an accurate strike from
Tory Clarkson (New Hall). However, Cambridge were up against
it before the interval, with Stevenage scoring two more goals, from
corners, courtesy of Madden and
Goldbeer.
It was not looking good, although the Blues had played some
good football and were unlucky
not to cap their possession with
another goal before the break.
Thanks to the superb skills of
Josie North, Stevenage put intense pressure on the Cambridge
backline at the beginning of the
second half. However, a good performance by the defence, marshalled by the captain, and birthday girl, Cat Murphy (Robinson),
meant that Stevenage could not
find a way through to goal.
A Lindsey Cameron (New Hall)
pass from a throw in, put in Clare
Ross (Trinity Hall) to score and
bring Cambridge right back into
the match. Then, a few minutes
later, Tory Clarkson scored her
second of the match to put the
Blues level.
Stevenage began to panic as
they saw the match slipping away
from them, but they continued
to play very well, defending brilliantly with last ditch tackles, and
continuing to attack fiercely.
At the final whistle, Cambridge
had held off the team that was
third in the table going into the
match, although a few missed
opportunities near the end suggested that the Blues could still
improve.
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 761 685
30|Sport
Norman the (non-league) Conqueror
Jamie Jones
the students have been neglected
for so long. The city is famous for
its University, its student population and its sporting heritage ...
but there’s almost been a them
and us mentality which is all
wrong. Hopefully we can start to
put it right and attract fans, who
either support Cambridge or can’t
get to the team they usually support. If we can help [students],
you can hopefully help the team
with your support.”
Norman, the management and
the Cambridge staff clearly have
their work cut out. Ambitious
plans outline the necessity of
League football by August 2010,
getting the club making profits
by this time, increasing supporter
numbers by 10% a year and perhaps most ambitiously, getting
three youth players a year into
the senior set-up. “It’s all going
to plan so far. We just missed out
on promotion last year and supporter numbers are up over 9% ...
and we’ve had 3 or 4 lads from the
youth set-up playing regularly
this season.”
When probed whether this
youth policy might have a negative effect on the club due to
interest in players from bigger
clubs, Norman remained pragmatic; “There’s not much we can do
really when a bigger club comes
in, say from League1 or 2. On a
financial level there’s just no competition It does reflect well on the
club though.”.
Cambridge alumni include
Steve Claridge, Dave Kitson, Jody
Craddock and Hull’s Ian Ashbee,
whilst Dion Dublin and Andy
Sinton represented England. The
most recent product of Cambridge’s youth system is 20 year
old Michael Morrison who after
making over 100 U’s appearances
has made himself a regular in the
Leicester City line-up; attracting
attention from Premiership clubs
for his commanding defensive
performances.“It will take time to
get where we want but we have
the structure and the personnel
in place now”.
Norman speaks with the passion of a man who has supported
the club for over 30 years, through
all the highs and more recently,
lows. The manager himself was
out house-hunting on my arrival,
a sign perhaps of his intention of
staying for the long haul. Whatever happens to the club though,
let’s hope we all play a part in the
club’s success. Whether it be for a
year, three or even longer, Cambridge is our city. And Cambridge
United is our club.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
OH NO NO NO NO NO!
HOCKEY
BLUES BLUNDER
WATER POLO
DOUBLE DEMOLITION
TOWN FOOTBALL
HISTON IN GIANT KILLING
BOXING
CALZAGHE CLASS
A contentious late penalty gave
Queens’ the edge in a pulsating 4-3
victory in the Cuppers 1st Round
away at Churchill. Queens took the
lead in a mere 13 seconds only for
Churchill to equalise early in the
second half. Churchill equalised
again and with the game nearing
extra time the 82nd minute penalty secured Queens’’ victory.
Hoping to build on an encouraging 3-all draw the previous week
against Bath, the Women’s Blues
failed to overcome a strong Exeter
side; the visitors securing a comfortable 4-2 victory to leave the
Blues with one win in four and
joint bottom of their division.
Cambridge Blues comprehensively
outplayed their Essex opponents
with both teams extending their
unbeaten records in the newly created UPolo competition.
The men strolled to a 27-0 victory
whilst the women could relax late
on as they similarly strolled to a
16-1 victory.
A 65th minute strike by Daniel
Wright gave Histon, but a mere
village outside Cambridge, a stunning victory over former Premiership team Swindon Town in the
FA Cup 1st Round. The deserved
victory has been rewarded with
a 2nd Round showdown with
League 1 big-boys Leeds United or
Northampton Town.
Joe Calzaghe extended his unbeaten
professional record to 46-0 with a
comprehensive display in outclassing Roy Jones Jr. In front of a huge
British following at Madison Square
Gardens, the Welsh legend cemented
his place amongst the boxing elite
unanimous 118-109 points decision.
Norman Gautrey, Cambridge United CEO. The name conjured up images of a 1960s flat-cap wearing,
pipe-smoking footballing veteran
but what I found was an experienced, straight-talking businessman and more importantly, a Cambridge United fan, who has a clear
and definitive vision of where the
future of Cambridge United lay;
namely in League football.
Only two years ago that Cambridge United were on the brink of
bankruptcy. A brand new £1million
stand built in 2002 and the untimely demise of then Football League
sponsor ITV Digital, the club teetered on the brink of football extinction. Only an 11th hour intervention from then Sports’ Minister,
Richard Caborn, prevented the club
and its rich footballing heritage going under.
‘There’s
always been
a them and
us mentality,
which is all
wrong’
Despite haemorrhaging cash
before his arrival, Gautrey, with
his background in the construction industry, has laid the foundations for the club’s revival in
little over a year. The club lost 1-0
in the play-off final to Exeter last
year and taking that next step
remains the foremost thought in
Norman’s mind. “As long as we’re
in the mix come the end of the
season, I can’t see [Cambridge]
failing again ... last year was unbearable. Exeter (currently 4th in
League 2) has shown what’s possible once you get up there”.
It is both surprising and shocking that a club in a city the size of
Cambridge should struggle to fill a
stadium on a Saturday afternoon.
There is a huge population, both
Photo:Cambridge Utd FC
permanent and student, many of
them avid football fans. A lack
of supporters at match days has
left the club with difficulties in
fulfilling interest and loan repayments and leaves Gautrey with
the unenviable task of balancing
the books following his predecessors’ mismanagement. “The South
Stand was a stupid idea ... why
they did it I’ll never know, it was
never going to work. It has been
a total white elephant and only
now are [Cambridge United] managing to get back on track”.
The club’s present and future
plans now focus on utilising this
“white elephant” for the benefit of
both themselves and more importantly the community which has
supported them through difficult
times. What has become known as
the “South Stand Initiative” (SSI)
involves encouraging new groups
of fans to fill an otherwise empty
stand.
“When we were in the League,
you’d get maybe one or two thousand travelling fans. Now you’re
lucky if you get several hundred,
unless we’re playing Histon of
course.” He added, “It has become a great opportunity for us
to help the community and for
them to help us ... particularly
in getting people to the football
who wouldn’t usually come”. In
recent months, free tickets have
been distributed to local junior
football teams, the emergency
services, Addenbrookes hospital
and the Army. Norman is particularly proud of the club’s efforts to
reach out to the local community
and hopes it reaps rewards for
both sides in the future.
“We’ve targeted those” he added, “who might not get the chance
to come to games, whether that be
because of work, illness, or having to rely on parents. All of these
people deserve a bit of something
back for everything they give to
the club and the community and
although it’s only a small token, I
hope they can take advantage of
it”.
When asked about why students are now being targeted, he
commented, “It’s funny really how
Sport in brief
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 761 685
Sport|31
Let’s bring football home
Comment
Jamie Jones
I
Photo:Gordon McMillan
for one would be a hypocrite
if I said that you should only
support your local team.
Why should geographical
proximity limit the football
team, indeed any sports team that
you support? You’ve all heard the
one about the football-supporting
Londoner derided by the British
public for travelling 200 miles to
watch a “home” game. That would
describe about 90% of Manchester United supporters wouldn’t it?
The rest coming from either Asia or
Manchester? As a Red, I’ve heard
it all too often myself and I can
claim the moral high ground of at
least living near Manchester, although the sleeping giants known
as Stockport County just about
class as my local league side.
But maybe these people have
a point somewhere amidst their
bitter jibes after yet another defeat to Sir Alex’s men. Maybe you
should support your “local” team.
I’ve come to ask myself in recent
weeks why I have been neglecting
one United – Cambridge, in favour
of the redder, Manchester variety. Cambridge now after all is my
local team. Why have I been missing out on watching live football
when I could be watching Cambridge United striving for League
status? Supporting Cambridge, or
indeed any local team, brings with
it an increased sense of euphoric
glory with every triumph and an
even bitter despair with every defeat that can’t be replicated in the
top division.
It is at this local level where the
heart and soul of football can still
be found - your local teams and
in your local area; where scores
of youngsters up and down the
land seek to fulfil their footballing dreams, whether for their Colts
side or whilst playing Wembley singles. This is where football started
out. This is where football will end.
Increasingly it is the only way your
average Joe Plumber and his family
can experience the thrill that live
sport can bring and often represents our only chance a students,
often living miles away from home
and far too often skint, a taste of
what real football is like; not sitting in the pub pint in hand, but
living and breathing every moment
live on the field of play. And who’s
to say it is any less meaningful?
Long gone are the halcyon days
of the working-class hero spending his hard-earned Saturdays off
down at the footy cheering on his
beloved team; no booking offices,
no touts, just through the turnstiles and straight onto the terraces. We all know the problems
that became synonymous with
terraces and British football fans,
but there’s little doubting that this
was where the real heart of football lay. The cost alone now for a
Premiership game is eye-watering.
A ticket, £40+; the programme,
£5; food, £10; travel, £10+. Multiply that by 20 and you can see the
pound signs in the executives’ eyes
and the holes burning in your pockets. Match day at Abbey Stadium –
a ticket, £10; the programme, £3;
food, £5; travel, £0+ and you can
get to the pub and home again in
no time (should you want to of
course). You only have to see the
beaming pride of the mascots, boys
and girls alike, come 3pm on Saturday to see what it means to them.
Nick Hornby recounts vividly in
his first novel, Fever Pitch, his experiences of watching Cambridge
United whilst studying in the city.
Too much hassle to travel to watch
his beloved Arsenal, Hornby instead feasted on the talents of
lower league football. He wasn’t
merely an Arsenal supporter; he
was a football supporter.
Herein lays the very essence of
what supporting your local team
is all about. Bar a stunning decade-or-more long run of incredible
management and equally incredible players (or an improbable takeover by Andrew-Lloyd Webber in
his search for Britain’s next footballing talent), the chances of
making it to the Football League,
let alone the top flight of English
football, is but a pipe dream for
most. It lies in the camaraderie,
the inextricable bond with your
hometown or even Univeristytown club. A tightly-knit clan of
management, players, directors,
backroom staff and priceless volunteers make it as much a community, a family even, than any club
in the upper echelons of football
could ever dream of. They can have
their worldwide supporters’ clubs,
their Middle-Eastern benefactors
and their equally exotic shirt sponsors (apologies to West Ham and
West Brom supporters), but where
will you find such an eclectic mix
of untried youths and tough-tackling veterans? The football isn’t
quite from the Arsene Wenger
school of philosophy but there lies
a beauty in all types of football.
This is where schoolboy fantasies
are borne. This is the base upon
which all levels of football up to
the Premiership have been built.
Local football?! It’s all about
me...and it’s all about the U’s.
Crews reveal early form
Graham Wilson
The first inter-collegiate race of
the year on the river produced
some good competition at the top
end.
Rowed in boats of four rowers,
unlike most races in Cambridge,
the University Fours provides the
first real insight into who will be
the stronger and weaker colleges
this year, and particularly who
will take the prizes in Fairbairns
at the start of December.
The men’s competitions started
off with few surprises, although
Fitzwilliam were the unexpected
fastest on the first day, continuing their fine form from Easter
term. Four strong crews (Fitz,
Christ’s, Caius and First & Third
Trinity) made their way through
to the semi-finals in near-identical times, making close racing
likely.
In the men’s coxless event,
Lady Margaret (St John’s) comfortably beat a decent Jesus crew
in the first round while First &
Third surprised everyone (including themselves) by beating a good
Clare boat. Both these crews triumphed again over fancied opposition in the semi-finals, LMBC
setting a impressive time, to leave
an intriguing final at stake.
In the women’s events, Christ’s,
Downing, Jesus and First & Third
continued their strength from the
past year and put their top crews
into the semi-finals, although
Downing’s and Jesus’ second boats
put up impressive fights against
physically stronger opposition.
This year saw a change of format for finals: in most events,
semi-finals and finals were raced
on the same afternoon, really
testing crews’ endurance to the
limit. Thursday saw men’s finals,
with the second division first up.
Emma’s second boat beat Christ’s
second boat by just 5 seconds and
then went on to convincingly win
the final - impressive for a club
that had struggled at the end of
last year.
In the first division, Fitz took a
narrow victory over Christ’s, while
First & Third and Caius dead-heated - a result neither wanted. Caius (unusually fast for this point
in the year) triumphed in a shortcourse sprint re-row and promptly
dead-heated again with Fitz in
the final, but here the prize was
shared! The men’s coxless final
saw LMBC continue their form
of earlier rounds, again showing
their speed in the second half of
the race to win easily.
In the women’s finals, First &
Third and Downing appeared the
strongest crews from times in earlier races. Downing took a clear
12-second victory over Christ’s
but a powerful Jesus crew pushed
First & Third all the way to the
line, losing by just four seconds.
Downing appeared the bigger crew
and gradually extended their lead
throughout the final to triumph.
In the second division, Christ’s
and Emma second boats were
neck-and-neck for over half the
final - but as Emma started to
move towards the lead, blades collided and Christ’s race was over,
but Christ’s were off their station
and so Emma were awarded the
win.
So who looks strongest for
Fairbairns? Both competitions are
wide open, with Christ’s and First
& Third promising quick eights on
the men’s side, with Caius’ and
Fitz’s other four rowers being unknown quantities.
Downing and Christ’s look
strong on the women’s side, with
First & Third not far behind. And
never forget Jesus - they’re always
strong and inevitably pull something out of the bag for what is
their own race.

thursday - The Cambridge Student

Transcription

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