gair rhydd - Cardiff Student Media

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y
In this week’s issue: The importance of
menopausal whales, continued trouble within
the Welsh NHS, assessment cheating on the
rise, and a complete guide to the Cardiff Fringe
Monday March 16th 2015 | freeword | Issue 1048
Student “urinated on dinner” in public
t An unidentified medics rugby player is alleged to have committed act while on tour
t P&O Ferries confirms incident took place; Cardiff University investigating
EXCLUSIVE
Anna Lewis
Cardiff University Medic’s rugby team
have been banned from P&O Ferries,
after one student allegedly “urinated
on a table where a family were eating”.
The incident is confirmed to have
taken place on February 12th on the
23.15 departure from Dover. According to a number of individuals familiar
with the incident, the incident saw a
drunk member of the rugby team urinate on-board the ferry in an area surrounded by families and children.
Reports claim that the student was
wearing a Cardiff University hoodie at
the time during the team’s journey to
Amsterdam for their tour.
“I was told that one rugby player
Will the war in Syria ever end?
P16 >>
got so drunk they pissed in someone’s
food,” one anonymous student commented.
“It was 100% a medic student that
did it,” another student confirmed.
“Although I’m not sure whether they
actually pissed in the food or just on
the table.”
Various other sources have corroborated these accounts, although
none have offered anything that might
identify the individual who mounted
the table.
A P&O spokesperson confirmed
than an incident involving Cardiff
Medical students had taken place, but
did not confirm any specific details.
The spokesperson did explain that ‘the
behaviour of this group meant that we
banned them from returning with us.’
According to the spokesperson,
the students involved have not been
reported to police. However, they explained that the company would ‘reconsider’ if the university felt it to be
necessary, hinting that an offence may
have been committed.
The student responsible for the incident has not been named, with the
rugby team allegedly refusing to identify the culprit in order to prevent disciplinary action against the individual.
When queried about the incident,
Cardiff Medics Rugby declined to
NUS Wales Conference roundup
P4 >>
comment.
As healthcare students, reluctance
to name the student responsible is
concerning. If P&O reconsidered and
a police investigation was initated, this
would likely cause the individual to be
judged as unfit to practice.
A Cardiff University spokesperson
explained that the University had been
made aware of ‘an incident involving
Cardiff Medic’s Rugby Team’. However, no formal complaints have yet been
made to the University.
The circumstances involving the
incident are now being investigated
in order to determine the University’s
course of action.
Pictured:
A P&O Ship
(Photographer:
Paul Smith)
Continued on
page 4
Why we need a full-time Welsh officer
P14 >>
THE FREE WORD
EDITOR
Michael O’Connell-Davidson
Don’t forget the individual
GAIR RHYDD CO-ORDINATOR
Elaine Morgan
NEWS
Georgia Hamer
Katie Evans
Alexander Norton
Anna Lewis
ADVICE
Kirsty Fardell
COMMENT
Anne Porter
Gareth Evans
Olivier van den Bent-Kelly
COLUMNIST
Jason Roberts
POLITICS
Carwyn Williams
Lauren Boyd
Rhiannon Tapp
SCIENCE
Shanna Hamilton
Meryon Roderick
SOCIETIES
Hannah Sterritt
TAF-OD
Steffan Bryn Jones
Morgan Owen
SPORT
David Hooson
Rory Benson
Joe Atkinson
PRODUCTION EDITOR
Sum Sze Tam
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Jack Boyce
Eleanor Parkyn
DIGITAL EDITORS
Jordan Adams
Gregory McChesney
SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR
Maria Mellor
Want to join the team?
Editorial conferences are each
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takes place on Thursdays at
6PM in the media office during
print weeks.
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At Gair Rhydd we take seriously our responsibility to maintain the highest possible standards.
Sometimes, because of deadline pressures,
we may make some mistakes. If you believe
we have fallen below the standards we seek
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You can view our Ethical Policy Statement and
Complaints Procedure at
cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk/complaints
Opinions expressed in editorials are not reflective
of Cardiff Students’ Union, who act as the
publisher of Gair Rhydd in legal terms, and
should not be considered official communications
or the organisation’s stance. Gair Rhydd is a post
office registered newspaper.
S
ince my team told me that few read this page
for political analysis or my views on the world,
I’ve used this page to applaud those people who
have contributed to this newspaper in various capacities.
Today isn’t much different, although I’d like
change my thrust a little. Various members of my
team (and that goes beyond just editors; contributors are part of this project just as much as anybody
whose name sits to the left hand side of the page)
have expressed a degree of concern about the way
people have come to take their work for granted.
One of my most valuable said it best: “Every week,
we put so much effort into producing the best publication we can and there’s always someone who has
to publicly point out the smallest gripe with it, and
it upsets me.”
Now, Twitter trolls are Twitter trolls. If you’ve
been reading these editorials for a while, you’ll know
that when I took on a dedicated social media editor I
was concerned that we’d end up seeing them subject
to a relentless cacophony of assholes. It’s a lot better than I expected; we’ve received plenty of lovely
messages, including bits and bobs from alumni,
members of minority communities, and your bogstandard Joe Fresher type of guy. That’s great, and it’s
really important to everyone here.
You get the odd person here and there with a chip
on their shoulder and we can deal with that, I think
(I certainly can - I relish in it). What bothers me far
more is people who are elected officers - public figures - who should know better. What bothers me
is people not even doing basic research before they
take to Twitter and vent their frustrations about the
newspaper.
What bothers me is when the people who submit
terrible barely-proofed bullshit to us are the very
same who end up dropping us emails and messages
with barbed ‘jokes’ and stupid hashtags. Honestly,
at least two elected officers have sent me messages
with ‘#poorediting’ in there somewhere, and it’s absurd because most of the sabbs I’ve met have been
barely literate.
Let me be absolutely clear: everybody on this team
is a volunteer. I can handle it, because I’m a bit of
an asshole, and I get paid a stipend to stop me from
starving; while some members of the student political body seem to be inclined to think that I get paid
sabb wages (£18,000+!), it works out far, far less than
minimum wage because I’m in the office for 40 to
60 hours each week. I’m not complaining, but when
you work that long, you literally cannot get another
job. But there are people on this team - good people
- who get nothing but the appreciation of their peers
and extra entries on their portfolio.
To have their work denigrated by self-important
assholes (public figures or not) is endlessly frustrating, and their words are often borne of a braindead
view. Our production tool, InDesign, is a highly complex program with a barely-functional spellchecker
that requires a huge amount of human agency to
function correctly. Our liveblog had over 12,000
words on it by the end of the week, and yet some
morons split hairs over minor typos of their own
names when it’s nearly always clear who the person
we’re speaking about is. Get it together - there are
things more important than your own names.
Perhaps you guys don’t read professional newspapers, but they’re often worse. The i today carries a
typo in the titles of an articles. The Guardian is notorious for howlers, including running a standfirst
(the secondary title that some articles have) that said
Glasgow was the capital of Scotland. Not only are
people paid to make those, but people pay to read
those newspapers.
So before you go on social media and vent your
spleen, consider two things. The people who make
this newspaper really are people, and they are all individuals, who bleed, sweat and cry like everybody
else. And as even our paid counterparts prove, it can
be - and, in terms of Gair Rhydd history, it has been much worse. We’re much more inclined to deal with
feedback that isn’t cloaked in self-importance, so do
yourselves, myself and the student body a favour: if
there’s something that needs fixing or that you’d just
like to say to the team, email [email protected]
with any questions, corrections or comments and
I’ll get back to you in 24 hours. Don’t mess with the
people that make this possible; I won’t stand for that.
(Unless, of course, it’s me, because I do suck.)
I’d like to stress again that the vast majority of
feedback we receive is endlessly positive. In fact, the
reason we don’t run a letters section is because it
would look sycophantic to people who weren’t entirely familiar with what we do. I was hoping we’d get
more opinionated letters and emails, but I think the
reason we don’t is that anybody can write for us, and
most of everybody does. Both our newsroom and
our content comes from a group of people far more
diverse than many local and national newsrooms,
and long may it continue.
If you’re one of those people that is kind and respectful, then thank you, because both kindness and
respect do mean a lot. We fuck up from time to time,
but we’re human beings that are aware of the odds. If
nothing else, British media law is very strict indeed.
We can’t print lies or false assertions. Lord knows
our lawyer (who used to be one of my lecturers)
would come to the office and gut me if we did.
I’ve seen more people reading Gair Rhydd this
year than I have in any previous year. For the first
time in a long time - perhaps ever - we have more
readers online than we do print copies of the newspaper. We’ve been giving this publication a new lease
of life, fighting tooth and nail for the study body’s
respect, and I don’t think anybody could ask much
more of the people here. I know what we’re doing
is working; so if you’re a keyboard warrior, don’t get
left behind.
- MOCD
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: GAIR RHYDD 737
17/3/2003
This time 12 years ago, 301 issues ago in Gair
Rhydd history, students were ‘jubilant’. The lead
article, titled ‘No top up fees for four years’ told
of the announcement that students at Welsh Universities would not be required to pay top-up fees
for at least a year longer than those who study in
England.
The idea of far lower tuition fees is just a pipe
dream for us in the present day, and so 2003 is
looking like a pretty good time.
Jane Davidson, Minister for Education & Lifelong Learning, made students across Wales very
happy: even if the prospect of fees was on the horizon they were allowed to live with slightly less
debt for a few more years. (Few could predict the
distant nightmare of £9,000 fees English students
would end up paying.)
Caz Noyes, the Students’ Union President at the
time, was featured on the front page with a gang of
students clearly having fun, including one incredibly happy man proudly holding his beer up for the
camera. We try not to pass judgement here, but the
choices of headwear in 2003 were certainly questionable.
It happened to be election time in March 2003,
when Gair Rhydd was reporting a scandal. A candidate in the Students’ Union elections was disqualified, ‘only to be reinstated 24 hours later’, all
because the Union forbid candidates from cam-
paigning via email. Those of us receiving a constant
stream of Labour / Liberal Democrat pamphlets
through our lettterboxes probably don’t consider
email campaigning to be too much of a burden on
society, but the Union’s administration at the time
clearly didn’t like it.
She sent an email to a friend, telling them to ‘get
EVERYONE to vote’, and her disqualification was
because this was labelled as ‘disgusting’ and led to
an ‘outpouring of emotion’. Shock! horror!
Interestingly, the candidate in question was not
named in the article, maybe as the Union President
advised Gair Rhydd not to include it, knowing that
we would be digging up the story and attempting
to find them 12 years later.
Issue 737 also included pictures of a man covered in baked beans, and rumors of Cardiff students working in a ‘sex-free’ escort agency, as well
as a crossword and quiz. For the younger generations, a crossword was a sort of strange word puzzle our forefathers entertained themselves with
before YouTube.
2003 was a pretty fun time, it seems, but the
main thing that has changed since then is that we
no longer use Word Art (or what looks like Word
Art) to edit and decorate the paper. (Ed: As I understand it, they used QuarkXpress, which is like InDesign’s inbred cousin. It was a darker time for us subs.)
- MM
3
EDITORIAL
Campus In Brief
Joe Atkinson
It was a ‘good’ week for lads, but perhaps not
such a good one for the reputation of Cardiff
University sports teams. As revealed by Gair
Rhydd, it has been alleged that a member of the
university medic’s rugby club urinated on the
dinner of a fellow passenger on a P&O ferry,
while on a club tour. The club has seemingly
rallied around the as yet unnamed member, while
P&O Cruises have perhaps unsurprisingly opted
to ban the club from returning on their cruises.
Elsewhere, members of the AU cricket club
were disciplined for hanging what were described
as ‘sectarian’ flags outside of Koko Gorillaz on a
social. Among the flags was an Union flag with
the slogan ‘no surrender’ on it, and a St. George’s
flag adorned with ‘UVF’ – the abbreviation for
Ulster Volunteer Group, a militant group active
during the troubles in Northern Ireland. The
offending students have been banned from future
club activity and distanced from the club.
To round off a fine week for sports clubs,
a video emerged of several students affiliated
with the Cardiff University Hockey Club, out
on a social dancing around the Julian Hodge
library completely naked. The video shows them
running, laughing and chanting “Let’s go fucking
bonkers”. The students’ union’s ‘anti-lad culture’
policy could clearly not stand up to the banter.
Public Health Wales confirmed that a patient
was being tested for Ebola at Cardiff University’s
Hospital of Wales. The director of health
protection at the organisation, Dr Marion Lyons,
was quick to assure the public that there had yet
to be a case of the disease in Wales and that the
risk of contraction is very low.
Members of the public have been given access
to the construction site of the university’s
new £44million brain research imaging centre
(CUBRIC) on Maindy Road. Expected to open
in the Spring of 2016, the site will be a worldleading centre for research in brain mapping.
National
The ‘match commander’ in charge on the day of
the Hillborough disaster in 1989 admitted that he
lied about fans forcing an exit gate open in order
to gain access to the ground. David Duckenfield
apologised to the families of the 96 victims of the
disaster, and admitted that police had opened the
gates on the day in question.
Nigel Farage put the rise in popularity of his party
down to people’s suspicions that Muslims want to
form “a fifth column within our country, who hate
us and want to kill us”, in an interview with former
equality and human rights commissioner Trevor
Phillips. The UKIP leader also spoke on behalf
of a “migrant group” that “fundamentally wants
to change who we are and what we are”, before
suggesting that anti-discrimination had become
irrelevant and that he would like to remove “much
of it”.
Legislation was passed to introduce standardised
cigarette packaging featuring only brand names
and health warnings on them. The House of
Commons voted 367 to 113 in favour of the change
which will come into force in May 2016, meaning
all cigarette packaging sold in England will have
to be uniform in size, shape and design. While the
vote only applies to England, there has been talk of
similar moves in other parts of the UK.
Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson was
suspended, along with the airing of his show,
after he was involved in a ‘fracas’ with one of
the program’s producers. Clarkson has in the
past alleged to have insulted, among others: the
disabled, gay people, black people, lorry drivers,
and the nations of Argentina, Thailand and
Mexico. Depressingly, a petition set up to save
Clarkson’s job quickly gained more signatures
than one to ‘save the NHS’ from privatisation, and
is still rising.
International
The UN outlined plans to relocate thousands of Syrian
refugees from strained southern European countries
to richer ones in the north of the continent. The head
of EU foreign policy Federica Mogheini, along with
commissioner for home affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos
outlined the plans, with more than three million
refugees estimated to have fled the North African
country in the past four years.
South African president Jacob Zuma came in for
criticism and faced calls to apologise after he suggested
that teenage parents in the country should be separated
from their children and educated on “Robben Island or
any other island” in order to learn how to properly bring
up kids. Considering that Robben Island was notorious
as an apartheid-era prison, it comes as no surprise that
that Zuma once again generated controversy.
Ten people were killed in a helicopter crash in
Argentina, in what was described as the deadliest
accident in the history of reality television. Those
killed included three French athletes, two of whom
had competed at 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Five other French nationals also died, along with two
Argentinian pilots.
72-year old actor Harrison Ford suffered apparently
life-threatening injuries after being involved in a
light-aircraft crach on a golf club in Los Angeles.
Ford, billed to star in the upcoming Star Wars sequel
trilogy, sustained a broken pelvis among other cuts and
bruises, but is expected to make a full recovery.
Controversy surrounding 2013 hit ‘Blurred Lines’
returned, as the children of legendary American singer
Marvin Gaye were awarded almost $7.4million to be
paid by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, who were
found to have breached the copyright of Gaye’s song
‘Got to Give It Up’. ‘Blurred Lines’ was banned from a
number of university radio stations, including Xpress
here at Cardiff, with activists claiming that it trivialises
and encourages rape.
Pictured:
Julian Hodge,
being used for
its intended
purpose.
Not pictured:
A bunch of
naked dudes
having a great
time at the end
of the sports
season.
“
Depressingly,
a petition set
up to save
Clarkson’s
job quickly
gained more
signatures than
one to ‘save
the NHS’ from
privatisation,
and is still
rising
”
NEWS
tweet us @gairrhyddnews
email us [email protected]
or visit us online at gairrhydd.com/news
Cont: Medic allegedly ‘urinated on dinner’
Continued
from front
page
The spokesperson continued: ‘The alleged behaviour is certainly not the
behaviour we expect of our students’.
With P&O Ferries constituting a
popular method of transport for societies and sports teams within the
University, the incident may provoke
consequences for students wishing to
travel using the company.
This is not the first time that P&O
have encountered misbehaviour from
university students. In 2012, over 200
Manchester University students were
banned from using the ferry service
after boarding the ship whilst drunk.
During the voyage, multiple fights
broke out on board, culminating in
all non-university passengers being
evacuated to a separate all-inclusive
lounge.
According to P&O, Manchester the
students were forced to find their own
way back after their trip to Lloret de
Mar using a different ferry company.
In a bid to try and to prevent excess
drinking from students using the ferries, during the Christmas tour to Val
Thorens in France members of Cardiff University Snowsports trip were
prevented from taking any objects off
the bus onto the ferry.
This misbehaviour of Cardiff
sports teams follows last year when
the University Football Club were
prevented from taking place in the
Varsity match against Swansea Uni-
versity, after members presented a
slideshow during a social teaching
students how to target girls with low
self-esteem.
During the joint social with FAD
dance group, the audience were subjected to speeches alluding to domestic abuse and the spiking of girls’
drinks. Described as a ‘gross breach
of University code, the incident was
condemned by national press.
This week, Gair Rhydd also reported of controversy caused by Cardiff
University Cricket team, who flew
flags linked to the Irish paramilitary
group UVF outside pub Koko Gorilaz
last week. Such incidents pose an important question over the inappro-
priate conduct of some sports teams
within the University, and this incident was also covered by the national
press, with outlets including the Mirror offering reporting on the subject.
In order to try and combat the issue
caused by irresponsible alcohol consumption, the Student Senate proposed a motion in November 2014
calling for society and sports club
committee training to incorporate
greater focus on sensible drinking.
Questions remain as to whether alcohol is the problem, however. Many
of the university’s non-athletic societies have an ingrained social drinking
policy, and do not seem to cause as
much disorder.
Students’ Union sabbatical team named Officer
Team of the Year at NUS Wales 2015 Conference
Pictured:
NUS Wales
Conference
Anna Lewis
C
ardiff University Students’ Union officers have been named
‘Officer Team of the Year’ at
the 2015 National Union of Students
Wales Conference.
The annual meeting, which took
place on 11th-12th March, saw Cardiff ’s seven elected officers recognised
for their work over the course of the
last year.
A representative of Cardiff University also came away with an award for
‘Best Campaign’, with third-year Journalism, Media and Culture student
Vicky Chandler recognised for her
campaign to prevent Dapper Laughs
performing at the Students’ Union.
Around seventy delegates attended
the event, including four elected officers from Cardiff University Students’
Union in addition to the Students’
Union President Elliot Howells and
Welsh Language Officer Steffan Bryn
Jones.
Howells thanked the staff at the Union for their support after winning the
award, which saw Cardiff beat rival institutions from around Wales.
“I’m extremely proud of all that we
have achieved this year and to have
won NUS Wales Officer Team of the
Year is a fantastic culmination of this”,
he said.
The outgoing Students’ Union President, who will be replaced by Claire
Blakeway next year, also thanked the
University for “welcoming such a
strong partnership between the University and the Union.”
“I look forward to building on what
we have achieved over the next few
months as we prepare to welcome the
new team of officers,” he added.
After failing to emerge with any
awards from last year’s conference,
the University also walked away as
runner-up in the Education Award
category.
Following their success, Cardiff
University Students’ Union plan to
submit nominations for the UK-wide
National Union of Students awards
that will take place in May.
The awards ceremony also saw Bangor University in north Wales recognised for the quality of its Students’
Union, winning Students’ Union of the
year for the second consecutive year.
The two-day event saw current NUS
Wales President, Beth Button, narrowly re-elected to the position for a
second term, narrowly triumphing
over a strong movement to re-open
nominations.
Commenting on her re-election,
Button said: “I’m really proud to have
been re-elected president for another year, and for what’s going to be
a tough but exciting time for the student movement, with an education
funding review and the assembly elections where we have an opportunity
to reclaim the political agenda for the
needs of students.”
She also praised the elections for
being “political, and based on actual
choice and debate”, expressing that it
was “essential that our organisation
and movement is political.”
The NUS Wales President had previously served as VP Education at
Cardiff University in 2012, before being elected to the role of NUS Wales
Deputy President the following year.
Other positions also saw elections,
with Ebbi Ferguson re-appointed to
the role of NUS Wales Deputy President, after running against current
Bangor University Students’ Union
President Rhys Taylor.
This election saw some controversy,
with Button publicly emphasising Taylor’s credentials for the position despite working alongside Ferguson for
the last twelve months.
In a continuation of Cardiff University Students’ Union’s success, newly
re-elected Welsh Language Officer,
Steffan Bryn Jones, was elected for an
open place on the National Executive
Council.
The nineteen motions submitted
to the conference were discussed in
record time, with proceedings concluding in under one hour. Of the
nineteen, Bangor University Students’
Union’s ‘Beyond the Wall’ motion provoked the most discussion.
The motion, which called for five regional reserved seats on the Welsh National Executive Council, failed after
delegates felt it was unfair only to have
one place allocated to north Wales.
Concerns were raised that, owing
to differing responsibilities between
higher education and further education, it would be unfair to assign the
entirety of the role to one delegate.
Other activities that took place in
the conference included workshops to
help tackle ‘lad culture’, student housing issues and student sex issues.
The keynote address at this year’s
conference was given by Sir Ian Diamond, Principal and Vice Chancellor
of the University of Aberdeen. In his
speech, Sir Diamond encouraged the
Welsh Government to adopt its own
view on how to fund higher education
in Wales.
Diamond is currently chairing a review into higher education funding in
Wales.
When asked about the possibility
of continuing cross-border subsidies,
allowing Welsh students studying in
England to received funding, Diamond reported that it “was too early to
tell whether or not the review would
continue this in future.”
“
Beth Button
was narrowly
re-elected for
the second
year running
after beating
calls to re-open
nominations by
a slim margin
”
NEWS 5
Reveller banned from Y Plas for ‘aggressive dancing’
Estate agent “dragged out like a criminal” after Tempa T tribute
Pictured:
Students
in Y Plas
(Photographer:
Cardiff Students’
Union)
Alexander
Norton
A
Hertfordshire-based
estate
agent has complained over
his treatment at the hands of
Cardiff Students’ Union security after
being thrown out of Y Plas club night
‘Flux’.
Karl Warman came to the Welsh
capital in order to visit his girlfriend,
a student at Cardiff University, during
the last weekend of February.
On Saturday 28th, they and a group
of friends decided to go to Students’
Union venue Y Plas for “a quiet night
out”.
Having spent “most of the night”
waiting to be served at an overcrowd-
ed bar, he and his friends then made
their way to the front of the stage
where there were a large number of
other people “dancing a little excitably.”
Warman, who claims that he is wellknown for moves including “the classic pinball machine, shopping trolley
and lawnmower” then started emulating the moves of grime artist Tempa T.
He claims that “a few seconds after
this was executed” he and his friends
attracted the attention of seven or
eight members of the Union’s security staff – one of whom “put his arm
around my neck and dragged me out
of the Club”.
Ironically, he and his companions
were then hit with a two-week ban
which prevented them from returning
to see ‘The Stranglers’ at the venue on
March 10th.
Despite this treatment, he insists
that his dancing was “at no point aggressive” and did not warrant “being
dragged out like a criminal”.
He did, however, see the funny side
of the event; Warman claims that
those he was with “formed a bond”
over their experience.
But whilst the ejection itself did little more damaging than “cut my night
short”, he revealed that he wasn’t completely out of trouble as “my girlfriend
had a go at me” when he they were reunited.
Cardiff University Students’ Union
said that they did comment on individual cases.
However, a spokesperson was quick
to emphasise that “security staff are
employed to ensure the safety of students and other customers in our venues” and “not to spoil anyone’s enjoyment”.
“They will only interject if they believe an individual or those around
them are at risk,” they added.
“
His dancing
was “at
no point
agressive”
and did not
warrant being
“dragged
out like a
criminal”
”
Get on board:
#NoVoteNoVoice
campaign comes to
Cardiff
Pictured:
No Vote No
Voice bus in
Cardiff
(Photograph:
Katie Evans)
Students across Cathays encouraged to
vote in the upcoming General Election
Katie Evans
A
n army of volunteers were out
in force last week when a national campaign event to get
people voting arrived in Cathays.
In the countdown to the General
Election, locals, students and national volunteers canvassed the Cathays
area with the aim of getting its student population registered to vote.
On Saturday, March 7th, the #NoVoteNoVoice campaign arrived on
Woodville Road on day seven of it’s
fifteen day whistle-stop tour of the
country. The volunteers were accompanied by a red, double-decker bus
that turned heads throughout the
student area before moving on to the
city centre.
National newspaper The Mirror led
the event in collaboration with other
organizations such as the community
campaign group Hope not Hate, as
well as several advocacy groups and
union organisations.
Joelle Chess, an organiser from
Hope not Hate’s national headquarters, claimed that, on the whole, people were receptive to their efforts.
According to Chess, “the most
amazing thing is when you get people
who wouldn’t otherwise have registered.”
Last month, statistics showed that
14,000 students had dropped off the
electoral register in Cardiff alone,
whilst 23,000 of the city’s wider popu-
lation of 325,000 were not registered
– approximately one in 14 people.
Thomas Godwin, organiser for the
local Hope not Hate branch, spoke to
Gair Rhydd about the day’s success:
“Saturday was the highlight of a
variety of actions over the last few
weeks. There are some amazing people in Cardiff, and this weekend we
saw a local coalition of groups standing side by side with Hope not Hate’s
strong national coalition.
“We made a massive impact on Saturday, but this is only the beginning.
With just a few weeks until the Easter break, and the voter registration
deadline fast approaching, we have a
lot of work to do to give a voice back
to the 23,000 people who have fallen
off the electoral register in Cardiff.”
When asked about the group’s upcoming plans, Godwin said: “We have
student activists out on the streets
every day of the week and are already
planning our next big action.”
Last month, Hope not Hate’s south
Wales branch worked alongside Cardiff University students in staging a
silent demonstration to raise awareness of the issue of voter registration
among the city’s student population.
The event also marked the launch
of a ‘suffrage movement’ here at Cardiff University which aims to mobilise the student vote in May’s general
election.
“
Statistics
showed
that 14,000
students
dropped off
the electoral
register in
Cardiff alone
”
6
NEWS
Forty-eight arrested as police swoop on Cardiff cannabis farms
Anna Lewis
F
orty-eight people have been
arrested in Cardiff after police
uncovered three cannabis factories in an early morning raid.
The raids took place in the early
hours of the morning on Wednesday,
11th March, unearthing a factory
with a street value of £220,000.
Of the 18 raids carried out, 17
were successful. Police arrested
34 men and 14 women from areas
across Cardiff including Rumney, Ely
and Canton.
During the raid, South Wales Po-
lice kept the public informed using a
series of tweets, including pictures of
the confiscated drugs and the sniffer
dog, ‘Cracker’.
Eight offenders were charged and
remanded in custody for a number
of crimes, including breaching restraining orders and the supply and
possession of drugs. Of the 48 arrested, one was taken back to ‘prison
on recall.’
18 people in total were released on
bail until further inquires can be investigated.
Thousands of pounds of cash and a
number of mobile phones were also
confiscated at the scene of the crime.
The co-ordinated raids were collectively named Operation Fulcrum
and were created in order to investigate drugs trafficking and sex offenders.
Speaking to WalesOnline, Superintendent Andy Valentine said the
raids were only the start of a series
of searches set to take place in future.
He stressed that despite the large
number of people arrested, Cardiff
remains a “safe place for us to live in.”
However, this latest raid follows a
long sequence of cannabis unveiled
in Cardiff during the last year. In
December, Gair Rhydd reported that
three cannabis factories were uncovered in Cathays alone, whilst a
drugs base in Roath was found after
the building caught fire earlier last
month.
In a similar event, a cannabis factory caught aflame on Crwys Road
last year in a reflection of a growing
drug issue in the Welsh capital.
“
Police arrested
34 men and 14
women from
areas including
Rumney, Ely
and Canton
”
Caught out: record numbers set to flout exam rules
Figures still below those of rival Cardiff institutions
Thomas
Bamford
T
he number of Cardiff University students caught cheating
in order to attain good grades
is set to reach record levels for the
2014-15 academic year.
More than 252 counts of plagiarism have been recorded across oneand-a-half semesters to date, with
summer deadlines looming and exams yet to occur.
This compares to the 282 cases reported across the whole of the previous academic year.
According to the outcome of a
Freedom of Information request submitted to Cardiff University, 137 Undergraduates at Cardiff were found
to have broken examination rules
this year - whilst a total of 130 Postgraduates also fell foul of the rules.
A total of 75 of these incidents
took place in exams, with 146 counts
of cheating recorded in course modules and dissertation work.
However, the number of Cardiff
students caught cheating is yet to
reach levels recorded at both the
University of South Wales and Cardiff Metropolitan University, with
259 and 316 cases recorded respectively.
In the year 2011-12, a record number of 957 cases were recorded Car-
diff Metropolitan in one academic
year, in spite of the fact that the institution has just 12,000 students
enrolled - less than half the figure of
Cardiff University.
According to the statistics unearthed, the most popular methods of cheating were plagiarism in
coursework modules, with 173 offenders.
Despite this, those caught cheating
have received less than harsh punishments to date. Only one student, a
postgraduate, was stripped of marks
in all modules and units for their
year of study.
According to a Cardiff University
Spokesperson, the University takes
‘all cases of unfair practice and plagiarism extremely seriously and
takes firm action whenever such
cases arise.’
Despite this, they claimed that
these cases involve ‘a small minority’
of students from more than 100,000
individual exams.
Current University examination
practice reviews cheating figures annually in order to review establised
procedures.
The spokesperson attributed the
growing figures to increased student
awareness, changing assessment
tasks, more formative use of software, increasing student referencing
and information literacy skills used
in order to help identify plagiarism
and unfair practice.
Between the years 2010-12, more
than 45,000 students at 80 UK institutions have been found guilty
of ‘academic misconduct’ - ranging
from bringing crib sheets or mobile
phones into exams to paying private
firms to write essays for them.
According to University bosses,
the prevailing financial climate has
played an important role in the rise of
plagiarism with increasing economic
pressure to attain good grades.
“There is just so much pressure on
us now to get a 2:1, otherwise we will
be glossed over when applying for
graduate schemes,” a Cardiff University business student alleged.
“I paid £170 for a private firm to do
my essay and got 69%.
“It’s money well spent in my view
because it was in a very difficult
module.”
This rise in plagiarism has also followed the rise of numerous Internet
site offering professionally written
presentations, essays and even PhD
theses.
“
The most
popular
methods of
cheating were
plagiarism in
coursework
modules,
with 173
offenders
Fears grow as fresh attacks reported in Cathays
Alexander
Norton
“
All I remember
is there being
some guy in
my face and
then we were
fighting. There
were chips all
over the floor
”
T
wo students claim to have fallen
victim to seperate late-night attacks on the streets of Cathays.
There have been a number of incidents in the district in recent weeks,
with Gair Rhydd having reported incidents of physical assault (February 9th)
and a “ramming” incident involving a
student enduring a near-miss with a car
(March 9th).
Last month, two men were arrested
in connection with assault and attempted forced entry to a student’s home,
both of which occurred as the victims
returned from Y Plas club night ‘Flux’.
In the case of these new attacks,
two students – who wished to remain
anonymous – were also returning from
respective nights out when they were
surprised by multiple attackers.
Both allegedly took place on Senghennydd Rd, the street that runs along-
side the back of Cardiff University
Students’ Union and Sherman Theatre
Cymru.
One reportedly occurred close to
the small park which lies adjacent to
a local sandwich shop, approximately
one-hundred metres from the popular
student pub ‘The Woodville’.
The individuals involved claimed to
have reported the incident to the police,
but were not able to provide a description of their assailant.
One, who admitted being inebriated,
gave their recollection of the incident to
Gair Rhydd.
“In all honesty, my memory is terrible. All I remember is there being some
guy in my face and then we were fighting – there were chips all over the floor.”
The second person declined to speak
directly to Gair Rhydd.
The assault reportedly came to an
end when the victim provided physical
resistance, eventually landing a blow on
one of the attackers, that saw them run
off.
Police were unable to provide further
details upon being contacted by Gair
Rhydd, but pledged to investigate the
reports further.
However, with attacks on students
becoming a more frequent occurrence
in the past year, the authorities have reiterated their call for students to maintain vigilance.
Whilst the overall odds of being attacked remain low, people should exercise caution when walking alone in
Cathays and Roath – particularly late
at night.
If you fall victim to crime or spot
anything suspicious, call South Wales
Police on either 999 (emergency) or 101
(non-emergency).
”
Pictured:
Cathays is
the scene of
an increasing
amount of crime.
7
NEWS
Cricket Club ‘deeply embarassed’ by pro-terror flags
Member ‘celebrated’ paramilitary group responsible for ‘over 1,000 murders’
Pictured:
The flags hung
outside Koko
Gorilaz by
the Cardiff
University
Cricket Club
Georgia
Hamer
“
The display
of the banner
is not only
offensive,
but at odds
with the
multicultural
nature of the
University
”
T
he Cardiff University Cricket
Club has apologised for the
actions of one of their members who hung up an Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) flag outside Koko
Gorilaz.
A student told Gair Rhydd that
they were ‘disgusted’ by the clubs
‘celebration’ of the Northern Irish
Protestant paramilitary organisation who ‘committed over 1,000
murders during the course of the
well documented Northern Ireland
‘troubles’ and “waged a sectarian
war against the Catholic population
and committed various atrocities
both North and South of the border
in Ireland.”
They added: “The display of such
a banner is not only offensive, but at
odds with the multicultural nature
of the university.”
“The celebration of this group is a
symbolism of hate and anti-Catholicism; I am confident both the Athletics Union and Cardiff University
as a whole share my dismay and offence at the sentiments demonstrated by this banner.”
A further complainant said:
“These flags erected by the cricket
team are deeply offensive to me and
many others as I am a nationalist
from the north of Ireland.”
“The UVF are a paramilitary
group that brought great atrocities
not only to my land but also to my
family during the course of conflict
in the occupied six counties. These
flags are anti-Irish, sectarian and
promote violence.”
Jay Shah, owner of Koko Gorilaz
reportedly said that the individual’s
actions had “broken their trust”,
built up over a “strong five year relationship” between the bar and the
sports club.
In a statement a spokesperson for
the Cardiff University Cricket Club
(CUCC) said the club is ‘shocked’
and ‘deeply embarrassed’ by the actions of one of their members and
they would ‘like to make it clear
that it condemns the display of this
[flag]’.
In a statement they said: “On
Thursday the 5th March a number
of Cardiff University Cricket Club
members were present at Koko Gorrilaz. As is not uncommon at Cricket Club events, the club flag was on
display. On this occasion, two other
flags were brought and displayed by
one club member including one flag
that has caused significant upset to
members of public including other
students of Cardiff University.
“The Cricket Club is a sports club
for enthusiastic cricketers and does
not support or condone the actions
of any such organisation and would
like to apologise on behalf of its
members for the offence caused.”
The club reported that they are
in the process of working with the
Athletic Union to ensure appropriate disciplinary action is taken in
respect to the individual involved.
Commenting on the clubs actions,
a Cardiff University spokesperson
said: “The University is aware of an
incident involving the Students’ Union cricket club.
“We are in close contact with our
Students’ Union who have investigated and are taking disciplinary
action. We are also aware that the
cricket club has apologised, unreservedly, for the incident.
“As a University we take incidents
like this extremely seriously. We
aim to establish an inclusive culture
free from discrimination and based
upon the values of dignity, courtesy
and respect.
“The University continues to
work in consultation with the Students’ Union on this matter.”
Pictured:
Members of
the cricket
club holding
up flags inside
Koko Gorilaz.
“No surrender”
is reported to
be a popular
slogan of loyalist
paramilitaries in
Northern Ireland
Patient tests negative for Ebola at University Hospital
Alexander
Norton
A
patient with “a history of
travel to west Africa” has
tested negative for Ebola at
the University Hospital of Wales in
the Heath district of the Welsh capital.
Sky News drew national attention
to the case – first on their Twitter
feed and then on their twenty-four
hour rolling news channel – by
quoting doctors at the facility saying
that a person was under assessment.
The current outbreak, which
spreads between humans through
direct contact with bodily fluids, has
seen in excess of 24,000 recorded
cases worldwide.
The unprecedented size of the
epidemic has resulted in more than
9,900 deaths, although with the exception of two fatalities in the US,
the latter have occurred exclusively
in west Africa.
If the test had been positive then it
would have marked the first case of
Ebola to be recorded in Wales.
The University Hospital of Wales
is the main teaching hospital for students at Cardiff University’s School
of Medicine, with those at the Heath
Park campus sent on placements to
the facility.
However, it is thought to be highly
unlikely that any students were in-
volved in dealing with this particular
case.
The patient, reportedly a resident
of Barry, is no longer considered a
risk to public health and is set to be
discharged shortly.
Dr. Marion Lyons, who works as
Director of Health Protection for
Public Health Wales, downplayed
the incident in a statement issued by
the body.
“Public Health Wales can confirm
that an individual tested for Ebola on
Tuesday 10 March at the University
Hospital of Wales in Cardiff does not
have the disease,” she said.
“It is important to remember that
to date, only one case of Ebola has
been identified in the UK and there
has been none in Wales.
She concluded: “The risk to the
public from Ebola remains low.”
Wales’ largest hospital continues
to endure a difficult time; in December an elderly man fall to his death
from a car park structure, whilst in
January a senior nurse suggested
that working at the institution’s A&E
facility was ‘worse than a war zone’.
Last year, medical students on
placement at the University Hospital
of Wales spoke to Gair Rhydd over
an alleged lack of contact hours and
one-on-one tuition.
“
If the test had
been positive
then it would
have marked
the first case
of Ebola to be
recorded in
Wales
”
8
NEWS
On a hot streak:
Pictured:
Members
of Cardiff
University
Hockey Club
flouting quiet
study rules last
week
(Credit: Oli
Dugmore)
Hockey ‘lads’ run wild
in study room
Georgia
Hamer
L
ast week a group of male students affiliated with the Cardiff
University Hockey Club, interrupted studying students, when they
ran through the Julian Hodge study
centre naked.
In a video first posted on The Cardiff
Tab, members of the club, who were reportedly celebrating a match win, can
be seen running naked around desks in
the 24-hour study space shouting “let’s
go fucking bonkers”.
The video was filmed by a masters
student who wanted to “share [the
event] with his friends”.
The incident took place at approximately 10pm. A student who was studying in Julian Hodge at the time of the
incident, said: “I was quite cross that
people were disrupting my studies, it’s
a difficult time of year.”
“I looked up and I couldn’t believe
my eyes. These lads were stark naked.
“Anything else and I’d be annoyed
but in this instance you have to laugh.”
The student reported that the whole
event was over relatively quickly and
before exiting one of the individuals
shouted “thank you, thank you. Sorry
everyone”.
This incident comes just weeks after
Gair Rhydd reported that a number of
incidents of ‘unacceptable behaviour’
involving students had been reported
in the Julian Hodge study centre over
the January exam period.
Incidents included students consuming alcohol in the study centre, littering workspaces and making excessive noise.
“
I looked up
and I couldn’t
believe my
eyes. These
lads were stark
naked
”
Gimme Shelter: Wheels fall off bus stop motion
University Halls’ students cry ‘no fare’ over failure to build structure
Pictured:
The site of the
proposed bus
stop on Park
Place
Alexander
Norton
Anna Lewis
A
Student Senate motion to install a bus shelter outside of
the Students’ Union building
on Park Place has failed to come to
fruition, more than two years after
being passed.
In November 2012, the body resolved that students waiting for the
hourly bus to University Halls residences in Roath would receive a permanent shelter to protect them from
the elements.
The Senate also determined that
building the shelter would ease the
congestion around the front of the
building at peak times of the day,
with crowds of travellers often blocking the steps at the building’s front
entrance.
However, some 29 months on, the
structure has yet to be built – and appears to be on indefinite hold as plans
to redevelop the front of the Students’
Union building are formulated.
One third year student, who was
a resident at University Halls at the
time that the motion was passed,
spoke to Gair Rhydd.
“In my first year I used the bus
almost every day, so I was really
pleased when I heard they agreed to
build a shelter – but it didn’t happen
and eventually I forgot about it” they
said.
“I’ve moved house twice since
then.”
Lydia Kessell, a second year
MLANG student added: “Last year,
when it rained, we often blocked the
entrance to the Students’ Union. And
let’s face it, in Cardiff it does rain a
lot.”
A statement from Cardiff University Students’ Union sought to address any confusion over the lack of
construction work at the site.
“Our Welfare and Community Officer was tasked with approaching
the university to make this happen.
Following this, our Officer reported
back to the Scrutiny Committee that
the University wished to wait until
the plans for the re-developed front
of the Union building were finalised.
“These plans are still ongoing, and
as an organisation we will continue to
work with the University to feed in
students’ views,” they said.
Students’ Union President, Elliot
Howells, suggested that the cost of a
potential bus stop was estimated at
£30,000 - a significant figure in light
of the costs of renovation.
The development is likely to be included in plans for a multi-million
pound redevelopment of the Students’ Union building, as reported on
by Gair Rhydd in last week’s issue.
Gair Rhydd requested the voting
records for the Senate meeting, but
only information from 2013-2014
were available as we went to print.
“
It didn’t
happen and
eventually I
forgot about
it. I’ve moved
house twice
since then.
”
Union
ADVICE
Welcome to our Advice section, where we
bring you tips for surviving Cardiff University life
Email us: [email protected]
Considering living and working
abroad for the summer and beyond?
Why not spend time teaching English abroad
and gain a TEFL qualification?
Pictured:
A class in Japan
with a JET
programme
participant
Kirsty Fardell
I
f you’re trying to plan something
exciting for your summer, or you’re
graduating and want to spend time
abroad, living and working could be
the best option for you. There are
a variety of organisations that offer
placements teaching abroad with paid
placements as well as volunteering
that provide a TEFL qualification and
the opportunity to immerse yourself
in another culture.
Jet Programme
Find out
about the
incentives at
www.jet-uk.
org
One way of living and working abroad
is by gaining a place on the Japan
Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme, an official Japanese Government scheme aiming to improve foreign language teaching in schools and
to promote international understanding. It gives graduates an opportunity
to live in Japan and work as an assistant language teacher (ALT).
There are currently 4,400 graduates
on the programme from 40 different
countries, one of which is Phil Hamill,
a German and Japanese graduate from
Cardiff University who is currently in
her second year as a JET participant
working in Yamagata Prefecture in
the north of Japan. Talking about
her experience so far, Phil says ‘It’s
been awesome – I’ve made so many
friends here and have been astounded
and humbled again and again by how
kind people can be when you’re in an
unknown environment. I’ve grown
and changed so much in the past two
years and can only encourage people
who have a genuine interest in Japan
to apply.’
As for her experience in the classroom she said ‘Everyone’s experience
is different. Elementary, junior high
schools and senior high schools are all
hugely different. As we’re assistants,
we rarely teach a class alone and accompany a main English teacher. This
can be by creating warm-up games,
helping pronunciation, marking, helping role-plays, and a lot more. Sometimes it goes awfully, but when it goes
well, it feels really good.’
Although Phil has a degree that
includes Japanese, the programme is
open to anyone with any bachelor’s
degree, so you can have little or no
Japanese knowledge and still apply to
become an ALT with no disadvantage.
For those who do have a strong grasp
of spoken and written Japanese there
are positions for Co-ordinators of International Relations who assist international activities at a local level.
JET arrange all participants with
accommodation and you are paid
monthly for teaching 35 hour weeks
with 10-20 days annual leave. The programmes run for anything between
one and five years. After one year
if your contracting organisation are
happy with your performance you will
be eligible to apply for a further year.
To find out all JET information visit
their website at www.jet-uk.org.
Hands On Tefl
Perhaps you don’t want to commit to a
year abroad and are looking for something shorter, and closer to home. By
applying through ‘Hands on TEFL’
you could spend three months abroad
in a city in Spain teaching English and
receive a TEFL certificate at the end
of it.
When applying through their internship scheme the partnership
schools provide you a single room
flat share accommodation with other
participants as well as utility bills allowance, basic medical insurance
and one-to-one Spanish lessons. A
head teacher will also monitor you
throughout the placement for extra
help and guidance.
They offer placements in Madrid,
Barcelona, Bilbao, Sevilla and Valencia. Although you are not paid for the
internship you will receive a TEFL
qualification that you can later use to
teach in countries across the world,
a certificate that would usually cost
several hundred pounds. You do not
have to have completed your degree
to apply through Hands On TEFL or
any teaching experience, so the application is open to everyone. Visit their
website for information on applying at
Tefl Courses
www.handsontefl.com.
Maybe you’re looking to make a
long term commitment to teaching
abroad. Completing a TEFL course
is an essential requirement, so rather
than spend three months working
abroad to receive the qualification you
can go through TEFL themselves to
gain the qualification in three days.
This could open doors to any of their
available jobs in America, Europe, Africa or Asia.
They offer a variety of different
types of courses to suit everyone’s
schedule. They have the option to
complete the course during three
weekdays or during the weekend.
There is also a course conducted online only if you’re unable to commit
the days required.
The price of the course starts at
£199 for a basic course, and increase
with additional involvement hours
and more detailed and varied methods of teaching included. The courses are available in most areas of the
country so it won’t mean travelling to
one place and incurring extra costs.
Once completed, all of the courses will
mean that an applicant is TEFL qualified, so even the shortest course offers
the opportunity to teach abroad.
For current students and recent
graduates a 20% discount can be ap-
“
A TEFL
qualification
is essential
for teaching
English
abroad
”
What do
you think?
Have your
say: advice@
gairrhydd.com
11
ADVICE
Continued
from the
previous
page
plied to the cost of the chosen course,
so it is the best time to get a TEFL qualification. Once qualified, you will be
eligible to apply to many of the advertised jobs on their website that range in
duration, with most being nine months
or longer. Almost all of the jobs are paid
and include provided accommodation,
varying from locations such as Mongolia, China and Indonesia to Honduras,
Mexico and Brazil. They also offer summer schools throughout Europe available to anyone with a TEFL qualification. They can range from 3 weeks to 4
months and most are paid placements
with accommodation provided.
For all information about TEFL
courses and jobs visit their website at
www.tefl.org.uk.
Pictured:
A TEFL
teacher with
a group of
children in
Japan
Rather become a qualified teacher in the UK?
Kirsty Fardell
Pictured:
A PGCE
student from
Cardiff Met
with his pupils
Find out
about the
incentives
at http://
tinyurl.com/
qhd5ncm
P
erhaps the love of your subject
is driving you towards sharing
your knowledge and teaching
it in a secondary school day in day
out, or you’re desperate to relive
your primary school days in front of
the class. If so, then a postgraduate
certificate in education (PGCE) could
be for you.
It is not always easy to get accepted
on a PGCE course and often require
a lot of experience in a school to get
on to. The closest university to offer
a PGCE in primary or secondary
education is Cardiff Metropolitan,
while Cardiff University offer a postcompulsory education and training
(PCET) course for those wanting to
teach post-16 education, including
further, adult, nursing and vocational
education.
For a PGCE in primary education
the typical requirements are a grade B
or above at GCSE in english language
and maths and a grade C in science.
as well as a degree in a relevant
primary subject at 2:2 or above.
When accepted onto the course all
applicants have to complete literacy
and numeracy tests to ensure they
are at a high enough level to teach
these core subjects.
For a PGCE in secondary education,
the requirements are typically the
same GCSE requirements as for
a PGCE in primary education.
However they must have a degree in
the subject area they wish to teach, or
at least a degree of which the desired
subject has a major part.
The payment and loan process
works in the same way your degree
does – you apply for funding through
student finance and you will receive
a normal student loan as you have
previously. However, there are
incentive schemes to entice high
acheiving students into teaching.
There are several training grants
available depending on the grade of
your degree and the subject area you
want to teach. For example, if you
received a 1st in maths, chemistry,
physics or welsh and go into PGCE
secondary to teach any of these
subjects you will receive a £20,000
grant. This amount drops to £10,00
for a 2:1 and £6,000 for a 2:2. This is
due to these subject areas being high
priority so the system is in place to
entice students into applying.
There are also medium priority
subjects including modern language,
computer sciences, and other subject
Pictured:
APGCE
student
teaching her
pupils
areas, and primary PGCE students
with a 1st typically receive £3,000.
There are also bursaries available
from each university with their own
criteria.
Every application for a PGCE must
include a personal statement that
explains why you should be accepted
onto the course, similar to the one
written to get onto your degree. The
best way to make these stand out is by
gaining experience in the appropriate
type of school and subject area. Many
universities ask for this as an entry
requirement, so the more you do the
more committed you will look.
Former Cardiff Met student Rhys
Evans knows the importance of
gaining experience before applying.
He finished an undergraduate degree
in Educational studies, Sport and
Physical Education and is now doing
a PGCE in primary education at the
University of Gloucestershire. Talking
about his experience applying, he
said ‘I originally applied for a PGCE
in secondary education teaching
P.E. straight after finishing my
degree. However my application was
declined due to a lack of experience.
This turned out to work in my favour,
as after speaking with some teachers I
knew, I took their advice to complete
work experience in a primary school.
This was the best thing I could have
done, as during those two weeks I
gained a better sense of fulfilment
and enjoyment than I ever did in the
three months work experience I did
in a secondary school.’
He then pursued a PGCE in
primary education by gaining more
experience working with children,
spending two summers working in
California as a football coach for
children aged 2-18, and then returned
to the UK to be a teaching assistant in
a primary school.
Regarding the PGCE application
process, Rhys said: ‘During the
interview I had to show a product or
resource which I had previously used
and have a positive experience in the
classroom with. I chose cuisenaire
rods used to show young children
fractions and had to demonstrate
their use in the classroom. I wouldn’t
have known about these had I not
spent sufficient time in a primary
classroom.
‘There was also a one-to-one
interview in which I was asked
questions about myself and had
to identify my strengths and
weaknesses. Luckily I had enough
experience working with children to
be able to do this effectively, so I was
successful getting onto the course.’
This goes to show that despite
some experience in a school you
may not be accepted onto a PGCE
course, or you may not have enough
experience to be sure of the age you
want to teach. Therefore gaining
ample work experience in a school is
vital to getting onto a PGCE course
as well as determining if it is really
what you want to do.
For more information about
PGCE courses at Cardiff Met visit
http://tinyurl.com/nocs5tt
and
for information on the incentives
for Wales visit http://tinyurl.com/
qhd5ncm.
“
There
are grant
incentives
of up to
£20,000 for
high priority
subjects
”
COMMENT
tweet us @gairrhyddcomment
email us [email protected]
or visit us online at gairrhydd.com/comment
Pictured:
Photos from the
‘Still Not Asking
For It’ Project
(Source:
Rory Banwell
Photography)
Is it possible to teach consent?
Under new government plans, sexual consent lessons will be taught to eleven year olds
Em Gates
T
he Personal, Social, Health
and Economic Education
(PSHE) Association have
drawn up a document hoping to
enhance “healthy and non-abusive
relationships” in young people. The
government wants to change the
mindset of young individuals to
change their attitudes towards one
another with regard to sex by teaching eleven year olds the importance
of consent. I think sex education is
an essential that society needs to
build on, so welcome this addition to
the curriculum.
The focus of these specific lessons
is teaching children about sexual
consent. Age eleven might be too late
– but these consent lessons are ones
we can ill afford not to have. To illu-
minate the scale of this issue, universities all over the country, including
Cardiff, have zero tolerance policies
regarding sexual harassment. Specifically, however, the idea of this new
legislation is to tackle the fact that if
young people haven’t learnt that no
means no by the time they leave for
university, perhaps they should be
targeted at a younger age.
As a child, when caught stealing
you are taught that it is wrong to
take what isn’t yours. When caught
cheating you are taught it is wrong
to lie. But when a small boy is caught
pushing a girl over in the mud, well,
he is talked of as liking her but not
knowing how to show it. This carries
on throughout their socialisation,
and in turn creates a society where
if a person is wearing a provocative
outfit or flirted with them prior, well
the aforementioned person is pretty
much fair game. This is the behaviour the legislation is setting out to
stop.
And it’s not just children who are
being taught right from wrong. We
live in a country where our most
prestigious universities, such as Oxford and Cambridge, have mandatory sexual consent workshops. While I
agree that the zero tolerance policies
at universities are fundamental and
valuable to the safety of students, I
personally believe that we’re in a
pretty bad situation to need them in
the first place. No one should have
to be taught that no means no, just
as much as you don’t need to be re-
minded that murder and theft are
wrong as well. This is what needs
to be taught to children at a young
age so that they can understand what
is a healthy relationship and what is
an unhealthy one before they themselves are part of one.
There have been many discussions regarding whether consent
can be taught, but truly, isn’t there
one major way to find out? Wouldn’t
you rather your child is taught about
the emotional aspects of sex before
they race to go do it? Maybe if many
people my age had that information, perhaps there would be fewer
incident of attacks at university, and
maybe fewer ‘mandatory workshops’
teaching people the simple fact that
no means no.
“
No one should
have to be
taught that no
means no, just
as much as
you don’t need
to be reminded
that murder
and theft are
wrong as well
”
Don’t support Crufts
The former president of the Protection for Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
discusses how the world’s largest dog show doesn’t celebrate dogs
Sam Iles
T
he Crufts dog show has hit the
headlines over the last week
following the poisoning and
death of Jagger, an Irish Setter. It’s a
grim story, but it represents only a
small part of the wider suffering felt
by the purebred dogs who compete at
Crufts.
The show has long been mired
in controversy. In recent years,
charities including the RSPCA and
the Dog’s Trust have withdrawn their
sponsorship of Crufts, citing concerns
over the health of competing dogs.
The centrepiece of Crufts is its
conformation show, in which dogs
compete based on how well they
conform to established standards
for their breed. Appearance is the
primary factor: muzzle length, eye
placement, bite position and even the
length of toes are judged. This intense
competition between owners has
created a breeding pattern in which
appearance is the first, and often only,
concern. Sadly, the impact on the
dogs is dire.
Modern breeding of purebreds is a
meticulously planned and controlled
eugenics programme, and dogs who
don’t meet the standard are quickly
removed from the gene pool. Only
visually perfect dogs are bred, and
undesirable puppies are ‘culled’. This
can mean neutering the puppy, or
selling it as a pet to people looking for
companionship rather than pedigree.
In some cases, perfectly healthy
puppies may even be euthanised.
Inbreeding is common. Breeding
with close relatives may yield pleasing
visual characteristics, but it results
in serious genetic conditions. An
Imperial College study found that
10,000 pugs in the UK are so inbred
that their gene pool is the equivalent
of only 50 individuals. This tiny gene
pool creates a genetic downward
spiral through the generations of
worsening inherited disease.
The Crufts Best in Show winner
in 2003 was a Pekingese with the
elaborate name of ‘Yakee A Dangerous
Liaison’ - otherwise known as Danny.
The dog’s characteristically flattened
face is part of its breed standard, but
often causes breathing problems.
Danny had to sit on an ice pack when
having his photo taken to stop him
overheating. He went on to sire 18
litters.
Purebred Cavalier King Charles
Spaniels are prone to a painful spine
condition called Syringomyelia. The
owners of one Best in Show winner
with the condition were advised by
vets not to breed it. Despite this, he
went on to sire 26 litters.
This selective breeding is a kind
of ‘unnatural selection’ that favours
appearance above all else. Health
concerns are outright ignored, and
owners knowingly breed dogs with
hereditary illnesses, even when it goes
against the advice of vets. Simply put,
competitive dog showing is directly
responsible for a lot of unnecessary
suffering.
Crufts is the largest show of its
kind in the world, and has the power
to define how we show dogs. It should
be a celebration of all dogs. There is,
after all, a lot to celebrate. But the
health of dogs must be the absolute
first priority in judging and breeding.
Until that happens, Crufts will
never be the celebration our canine
companions deserve.
“
Modern
breeding of
purebreds is a
meticulously
planned and
controlled
eugenics
programme
”
COMMENT 13
Tell me a joke about ISIS
Satire and mockery are vital tools in the war against
dogma - so don’t be afraid to point and laugh
Gareth Evans
“
It’s frustrating
to see that
these huge,
glowing,
targets,
can roam
essentially
untouched
through out
political
landscape
”
E
arlier this month, Dakota Johnson appeared in a Saturday
Night Live comedy skit about
the extremist group ISIS. In it, she
is dropped at an airport by her emotional father who offers a teary, if not
clichéd, farewell. She could easily be
returning to college, heading off travelling, or leaving to start a new career
in some distant country. Yet, these
assumptions are proven false when a
flat-bed truck laden with ISIS fighters
pulls up alongside them. As she says
her final goodbyes, the father makes
eye contact with one of the militants.
“Take care of her” he says, “Death to
America” the man responds.
It’s pretty funny. For contextual
reasons, it’s important to note that
this is in fact a parody of the Toyota
Superbowl commercial of the same
narrative. The difference being that,
in the original version, the girl joins
the American army. It could be argued, then, that this sketch seeks to
expose the cognitive bias involved in
our perceptions of the military and
war. After all, who decides the enemy? Furthermore, from the contrary
viewpoint, are we not in fact considered the villains? I am reminded of the
above Tom Gauld cartoon which was,
coincidentally, printed in the Guardian on the same day that this sketch
was aired, and articulates this point
far clearer than any words could do.
I admit that this could just be the
reading of an English Literature student; too deep, too complex, and ultimately missing the point. However
it is impossible to dispute the topical
relevance of this sketch. It was reported as recently as last week, for
example, that two Austrian girls had
runaway to join ISIS. Much has been
written about the three London girls
who did the same, and it is alleged
that extremists are in fact targeting
young British girls with the allure
of ‘attractive jihadists’. Like all good
satire this is current. It finds comedy
in seemingly un-comedic news but,
more importantly, it seeks to make a
point about it. Given the setting and
the sterile normality of her Father’s
goodbye, this sketch makes the absurdity of the girl’s decision clear.
Through comedy, it begs the same
question that everyone is asking; why
would anyone choose to do this?
Not everyone has viewed it this
way however. The sketch has garnered a great deal of controversy,
with many of its critics arguing that
it went ‘too far’ by mocking an extremist group that is responsible for
so many deaths. Viewers branded it
‘depraved’ and of ‘horrible taste’. One
CNN news anchor asked whether
it was “too soon” to be joking about
the subject considering that there
are “families who have just seen their
kids leave” to join ISIS “right here in
America.”
What these critics have failed to
realise is that this is exactly why this
sketch is so good. Satire and political comedy cannot come ‘too soon’.
In fact, they actively strive to be as
current as possible. What’s the use in
satirising a political figure once they
have retired? Why mock a political
policy once its been replaced? This
form of comedy thrives on the present and the topical and as a result it
provides us with a commentary like
no other. If history were written by
satirists then we’d all look like the idiots that we truly are; and that’s something to value.
Closer to home, it is disappointing
that there is not more of it. It can’t be
said that the lack of British satire is a
result of a material drought because,
in political terms, we live in a satirist’s
dream world. We have Farage and
UKIP, the failed coalition, the ineptitude of Miliband, the death of the Lib
Dems, and the discontented Scots
to name a few obvious targets. It’s
frustrating to see that these walking
punch bags, these huge, glowing targets, can roam essentially untouched
through our political landscape.
This shouldn’t be allowed to happen. If you look hard enough you’ll
find that our chief satirists include
the likes of Stewart Lee, a supremely
talented comedian, who writes the
occasional Guardian column which
often ‘out-Guardian’s’ the Guardian
itself and falls flat. Charlie Brooker
has been more successful, and his
third series of ‘Weekly Wipe’ is currently airing to a large audience and
to widespread praise. There is undoubtedly an appetite for political
comedy; we just need more people to
stand up and deliver.
This is because satire is about more
than just making people laugh. It’s a
crucial component in a healthy and
functioning democracy. It exposes
the insanity of power, the absurdity
of government, and the stupidity of
politicians with clarity and precision.
Those in power attempt to assert their
authority under a guise of seriousness
and of irreproachable righteousness.
Shattering this veneer and exposing
the truth beneath is a service that satire can offer alongside the likes of investigative journalism and informed,
prying, interviews. I believe that the
BBC and other television companies
have a duty to democracy and must
commission and encourage more political comedy of this nature. The internet is well ahead of these
television companies anyway. There
are memes and vines that expose everything from MP’s low attendance
to Miliband’s failure to conquer a bacon sandwich. These get widespread
attention and provide further proof
that people want and enjoy political
humour. It is a truth long embedded
in our history, and apparent in everything from Shakespeare to Twitter,
that we love to laugh at politicians
and those, like ISIS in the original
example, who thrive off both fear and
being taken seriously.
This is because they are not like
us. They didn’t used to try and hide
this either. For example, politicians of
previous eras would have no qualms
about exercising their wealth and status in front of you and I; the pauper.
These days they don a fluorescent
jacket or grimace over a pint and
think they’ve blended in. They say ridiculous things, they think ridiculous
things and, let’s be honest, they usually look ridiculous. So don’t be afraid
to point and laugh, it’s a democratic
right and one that has too often been
neglected of late.
So I say, let’s bring it back. We had
‘Spitting Image’ in the eighties, Punch
Magazine in the 19th Century, but
what now? It’s time to find it.
Pictured:
Tom Gauld’s
cartoon
‘Our Blessed
Homeland’
(Source:
Guardian
Review)
“
Satire is about
more than
just making
people laugh.
It’s a crucial
component in
a healthy and
functioning
democracy
”
14 COMMENT
We need a Welsh Language Officer
Non-Welsh students need to start understanding the importance of
the upcoming SU referendum - here’s why
Morgan Owen
“
The English
language
is taken for
granted,
and is by no
means under
threat: it is
the language
of prestige in
this country
”
L
ast week a milestone was
reached in the history of the
Welsh
language
atCardiff
University, though few would have
noticed. A petition initiated by the
University’s current Welsh Language
Officer Steffan Bryn Jones calling for
a referendum on making the role of
Welsh Language Officer full-time
within the Union passed by a narrow
margin of 13 votes, just over the 500
needed.
Currently, the role is part-time,
along with a host of others, but
the case of the Welsh language is
fundamentally different to the rest,
and the principles of democracy
and minority rights are at stake. It
is a fraught subject, and one that is
plagued by misunderstandings and
prejudice, and I therefore welcome
the opportunity to explain here why
the referendum is vitally important
to the Union and the University.
The majority of students at
Cardiff University do not come from
Wales. The majority have come from
England, and there is a large body
of international students. It is to
the English students primarily that
I address this piece, as international
students are normally at least
bilingual already, often multilingual,
and will be aware of the complex
situation of minority languages.
Wales is an officially bilingual
country, with equal status afforded
to Welsh and English, and this is
manifested all around you, as you
have no doubt noticed, on signs,
notices and letters and so forth.
Welsh is the indigenous language of
Wales, and, at one point, was spoken
throughout the island of Great
Britain. Moreover, it is still spoken as
a first language or to native standard
by hundreds of thousands in Wales.
Welsh is an inherent part of Wales
and its culture. It cannot be denied,
therefore, that the Welsh language
is by no means foreign, and is the
national language of Wales.
It may shock you to learn that
Cardiff University, along with
Swansea, are the only universities
in Wales not to have a full-time
Welsh Language Officer. Some may
ask what difference does this make.
Quite a lot, as it happens.
Speakers of minority languages,
such as Welsh, have grown up in
an environment dominated by a
larger, more powerful language, and
any deviation from the dominant
language is seen as perverse,
threatening or narrow-minded.
There is hardly a Welsh speaker that
hasn’t been told, sharply, to ‘speak
English!’ The English language is
taken for granted, and is by no means
under threat: it is the language of
prestige in this country. Welsh is
slowly gaining a measure of authority
and prestige through official status,
and as speakers of a minority
language become used to seeing
it on signs, in official documents,
and being used in an official or
professional context, they slowly gain
the confidence to use their language
without fear of stepping beyond the
bounds of normativity. Having a fulltime Welsh language officer in the
Union is a step towards normalising
the language in the Union and the
University.
It is remarkable that Welsh
speakers
attending
University
in their capital city must put up
with poor translations, an almost
complete lack of services and an
arrogant, dismissive attitude towards
their own language. Having a fulltime Welsh Language Officer would
enable us to always have someone
to pass on our feedback and ensure
that the necessary steps are taken to
accommodate our needs. It would
ensure that the language would
be included in official discussions,
and that Welsh speakers would be
represented as a body of students.
As it stands, we are an invisible
minority.
After all, the people likely to object
to this would never dream of denying
the speakers of a native language of
another country the right to use that
language in their biggest university. I
therefore call upon the level-minded
amongst you to vote ‘Yes’ in the
referendum, whenever it may be,
and help make possible a huge step
forward for democracy and minority
rights in this University.
Together, we can elevate the Welsh
language to its rightful place here in
Cardiff as the national language of
Wales. Diolch am wrando; bydded i’r
hen iaith barhau.
Pictured:
Welsh signage
is not enough:
the Welsh language needs an
equal stance
(Source: Still
ePsiLoN,
Flickr)
15
JASON ROBERTS VS THE WORLD
Star Power
Our current government is fucked, and the next one’s going to be
worse. Only celebrities can save us now.
Jason
Roberts
“
American
celebrities
don’t just
participate
with their
vote; it’s
common
practive for
them to run
office
”
O
n St. David’s Day, Michael
Sheen delivered a brilliant
speech in Tredegar, championing the NHS and lambasting career politicians. It was a beautiful
evisceration, capturing everything
wrong with Westminster, and it was
even better to see a celebrity who
used his public standing to say something worthwhile instead of trying
to flog a skin cream or whatever. It
was the sort of speech that made you
wish that the Health Secretary were
actually Michael Sheen instead of
some ballbag who wants to start selling the freezer space in the morgue.
And that got me thinking about
celebrities and politics. Compared to
their counterparts in the US, British
celebs are generally pretty guarded
when it comes to their political viewpoints. American celebrities don’t
just participate with their vote; it’s
common practice for them to run for
office, or at the very least consider it.
Perhaps the structure of the UK
political system makes it harder for
celebrities over here, but it’s rare for
any of them to even entertain the notion of standing as an MP, let alone
actually try. Except Al Murray. Nice
one, Al.
This is a bit weird, considering that
one of our Great British Pastimes
seems to be going around making
Facebook pages like ‘JEREMY KYLE
FOR PM’, every time someone does
something remotely funny or inspir-
ing. For fucks sake, Jeremy Clarkson
alone has about ten pages, and he
only created four of them himself.
And why do we want so many people
called Jeremy in power? Jeremy is a
stupid name for stupid people, with
the notable exception of Geremi,
who should be put into all the positions of power.
So what if we really did put celebrities in power? I think Michael Sheen
would make a fine Health Secretary,
but why stop there? There’s plenty of
celebrities that would do a good job
in government; or at least a better
one than whoever falls ass-backward
into Downing Street come May.
Urgh. May is going to suck.
First, the top job: Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister should represent
every single British person. Therefore, it’s important that we’re able
to look at them and say, “You’re not
a twat. I’m happy you represent my
country on the world stage. You make
me proud to be British.” Which is
why there’s only one obvious choice:
Jessie J. I don’t like her music, in fact
I think her music is truly, truly shitty.
But as a person, she’s great. Perhaps
the best thing about her is that she’s
in touch with the public, which is
more than can be said for not only
the current government, but also the
overwhelming majority of MPs. Jessie J is our new lord and saviour.
Next up: Chancellor of the Exchequer. Since Jessie J fervently re-
jects the idea of money, we need
someone with a sharp financial mind
to counter this. How about Martin
Lewis, chancellor of Cardiff University founder of MoneySavingExpert.
com?
Here’s a man who’s not only saved
the entire nation money all while giving the finger to BIG BUSINESS, he
managed to sell his website for 87
million pounds. That’s a lot of money
for a website that gets 99% of it’s traffic from mums.
Now that we’ve got the hearts and
minds of the people, and everyone’s
loaded, we need to defend ourselves
from everyone who wants to destroy
our new way of life. Normally, we’d
pick the most paranoid, warmongering xenophobe to be our Secretary
of Defence, but the times they are
a-changin’. Our new Secretary of
Defence is going to be measured on
their ability to maintain the peace,
but also how quickly they can turn
our enemies into a fine purée. Step
forward Dame Judy Dench. Not only
could she kill you just by staring at
you, she’s already well affiliated with
the working operations of our secret
services, so we don’t even have to
train her. She’s probably already got
the nuclear launch codes committed
to memory.
Business Secretary? Look no further than Keith Valentine Graham
Bilal Musa. Or Levi Roots, to you and
I. He has, essentially, made millions
of pounds because he had the novel
idea of making HP sauce a little bit
spicy. That not only proves that the
business world is easy, but that our
nation is full of stupid people with
too much money. Plus, he’d never,
ever, give a boring press conference.
For the last five years, the Department of Work and Pensions has been
coming up with new and exciting
ways to make people work longer
for less, while simultaneously taking
away the benefits that people need
to survive. In a horrible government
it has been the most detestable department, which is really quite an
achievement. So to make up for five
years of total misery, we’re going to
put Josie Cunningham in charge. Free
boob jobs for everyone, and a massive fuck you to Iain Duncan Smith.
You could go on forever, because
honestly, we need to broaden our
search for better politicians. One
of the many, many reasons that we
need to do that is because government is filled with politicians who
have no experience of the world
outside Westminster. It appears that
the most necessary skill for a politician nowadays is the ability to sit
through boring fucking meeting after boring fucking meeting. That’s
not a skill, that’s the total absence of
skills. We should start putting celebrities in power, not because they’d be
good, but because we’d know at least
they’re good at something.
Pictured:
Judi Dench,
from M to
Secretary of
Defence
“
I think Michael
Sheen would
make a
fine Health
Secretary,
but why stop
there?
”
POLITICS
tweet us @GairRhyddPol
mail us [email protected]
or visit us online at gairrhydd.com/politics
The state of Syria, four years on
James
Griffiths
Lauren Boyd
“
More than
220,000
people have
died and over
15 million
require
humanitarian
assistance
”
F
our years have passed since unrest
began in Syria, with citizens taking to the street in anti-government protests. Many of the country’s
citizens, inspired by similar uprisings
elsewhere in the Middle East and North
Africa, took to the streets in angry
protest against the tyrannical rule of
Bashar al-Assad. Syrian citizens hoped
that they could depose al-Assad just as
the Egyptians had deposed President
Hosni Mubarak only a month earlier.
The state respondeded with the use
of force. On March 23rd, 2011, over
20 people were killed when Assad’s
forces fired at protestors and raided a
mosque. Yet this initial skirmish only
led to much larger anti-state protests
elsewhere, spurred on by the injustices
of Assad’s regime,. Parts of the citizenry took up arms against state forces,
violence escalated, and Syria descended
into civil war.
Four years on, more than 220,000
people have died and over 15 million
require humanitarian assistance as
a result of the violence. The political
picture has intensified dramatically
with many groups and nations now
involved, characterised not least by the
rise of ISIS in the east, leading to the
coalition air strike campaign involving the US and the UK, among many
others, against the jihadist extremists
in Syria and Iraq. Assad and ISIS have,
according to the UN, committed war
crimes. Assad has used barrel bombs
containing chlorine.
In amongst this brutal violence, a
refugee crisis has unfolded. 7.8 million citizens are internally displaced
in Syria and nearly 4 million have fled
to neighbouring countries. Thousands
flee the country every day to camps
like Za’atari and Azraq in Jordan, both
of which are run and supported by the
UN in conjunction with the Jordanian
government yet are struggling with the
high refugee intake, mostly comprised
of women and children. Camp Za’atari,
for instance, is now Jordan’s fourth largest city.
The majority of refuges however
(70%, according to MercyCorps) cannot reach these official camps, often
because they are not favourably located
to access Jordan. As a result they travel
elsewhere, with those entering Leba-
non having to seek shelter in makeshift camps or derelict buildings whilst
those fleeing into Turkey must survive
by embedding themselves into urban
communities and trying to find work,
despite the language barrier.
Army is in a much weaker position
than it has been previously and ISIS
controls half of Syria’s territory.
Critics have accused the US of offloading the Syria problem on Assad’s allies: Russia and Iran.
Professor Stefan Wolff and Professor Scott Lucas, both of the Institute for Conflict, Cooperation,
and Security at the University of
Birmingham have outlined a possible plan to deal with the Syria
situation. They suggest protected
no-fly zones in northern Syria in
areas controlled by insurgents.
They recommend the US and British government does not exclude
Syrian opposition groups they consider extremist. It is estimated that
70 percent of one such group, Jabhat al-Nusra, are Syrians who only
joined jihadist factions because
other groups lack weapons, money,
and resources.
They expect that their plans
could reduce war profiteering
through better control of supplies
and resources. It should also allow
co-operation with the Gulf States,
notably Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Given the likelihood that the conflict will not be resolved anytime
soon, developed countries should
take in more Syrian refugees. The
EU should not allow refugees to
drown in the mediterranean.
Pictured:
Homs, Syria
(Source: WFP/
Abeer Etefa)
Hope for peace in Syria?
The US is no longer demanding that
Assad steps down immediately, because they believe a vacuum would
be created and further chaos would
ensue. Some figures from the regime would have to remain for any
successful transition.
The US shares airspace with the
Syrian military targetting ISIS.
There have been 1.224 air strikes
thus far.
The American backed Free Syrian
No reply from @David_Cameron
Sarah
Barltrop
“
UKIP, the
Green
Party and
Plaid Cymru
engage much
more with
their followers
”
R
ecent research by Demos into
politician’s tweeting habits
found that only 17% of the
60,000 tweets analysed were an “@
reply” to the public. The study used
tweets from the 28th of January—6th
of March. Why are politicians using
an engaging social network, yet not
actually conversing with the public?
The presence of political figures on
Twitter has increased dramatically
over the past few years, and the vast
majority of tweets are simply used to
promote their brand image, as opposed to what many people would
consider Twitter is used for; to connect with those whom you wouldn’t
normally reach. Smaller parties have
fared much better within the data,
with UKIP, the Green Party and Plaid
Cymru engaging much more with
their followers than Labour or the
Conservatives. This may come as a big
hit to the three main parties, with David Cameron appearing to engage the
least with followers; tweeting 45 times
in the period of the data, yet not one
was in an “@” response to the public.
It links to the notion that a brand
image is an imperative accompaniment to any politician in the current
economy, with the days of simply pro-
moting political strategies and manifestos settled far in the past. Surely the
public would prefer to see politicians
using twitter to answer questions
about their action plan?
A study by Parmelee and Bichard,
found that people who follow elected
officials only, as compared to a range
of politicians, are less likely to engage
with the politicians. Those who are
interested in observing the tweets of
a range of leaders, are more likely to
engage and send tweets to the politicians, and these people are those who
are arguably on the cusp of a decision
as to where their vote should be cast.
Surely politicians who interact and
show sincerity by responding, would
promote a much better image and get
a clearer picture across, than those
who simply tweet at the public.
Those aged 18-29 made up 37%
of Twitter users in 2014, so it would
seem an obvious choice when trying
to really engage younger voters. Twitter therefore could be utilised in a
more productive way.
Politicians are more than aware
that a single tweet can ruin their career and this may be an obstacle to
the extent they use twitter. Take Emily Thornberry for example, who had
to resign after tweeting a picture of a
house that was flying three England
flags, because she was accused of
mocking the people, and was branded
a “snob”. However, most parties have
their own social media team, which
are trained to avoid this sort of fiasco.
Instead of simply tweeting cliché pictures, or promoting the idea that politicians are just ‘normal people’, they
could utilise Twitter’s potential. This
could involve answer ing the public’s
questions and enlightening those who
want to make an informed decision
as to where their vote should be cast.
Whilst there are people seeking answers from politicians, those that take
the time to respond should always
fare better than those simply talking
at the public.
Pictured:
David
Cameron
addresing a
crowd
POLITICS 17
Not Russian to improve:
25 years since the fall of Soviet Union
Louisa Idel
“
Putin admits
his plan to
annex Crimea
had developed
weeks before
the referendum
took place
”
T
he Soviet Union collapsed
25 years ago this week. With
Russia’s recent attempts to reassert its power on the international
stage, however, concerns in Europe
and the US are growing about similarities between Russia today and the
USSR.
While the USSR was a single-party
state with no opposition to the ruling Communist Party, contemporary Russia has a multi-party system.
However, Russia remains an oligarchy
in which critics of the Kremlin are unwelcome, as the recent assassination
of Boris Nemtsov highlighted.
Moreover, Russia’s foreign policy
has often been described as ‘neo-Soviet’. In an attempt to retain influence,
the Commonwealth of Independent
States was established as a regional
supranational organisation following
the fall of the Soviet Union.
More recently, Russia has engaged
in a new geopolitical power play. To
reassert its influence in the face of
growing competition with a European Union that has expanded onto
its doorstep, Russia drove forward the
formation of the Eurasian Economic
Union, comprising Russia and four
soviet states, which came into being
in January 2015.
While Moscow sees the union as
a mirror of the EU in its own sphere
of influence, critics fear its main aim
might be to restore Soviet-style dominance in the region. However, such
a reassertion of power is necessarily
limited, as several former Soviet states
have joined the EU and NATO or are
aspiring members, such as Georgia,
for instance.
Although Putin himself denies
wanting to return to Soviet-style politics, others are more straightforward.
Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov, for
example, is willing to fight for the
USSR’s return, saying: “the rebirth of
the Soviet Union in new forms is necessary, crucial and urgent.” Many of
those sharing Udaltsov’s view, regard
the use of force against Ukraine as a
crucial step in resurrecting Sovietstyle conditions.
Putin claimed that the Crimean
referendum had been held “in full
compliance with democratic procedures and international norms” and
that more than 96% of voters “spoke
out in favour of reuniting with Russia”.
While Putin asserted last year that
his final decision about Crimea was
made after seeing opinion polls that
Pictured:
Russian police
working at
Nemtsov rally
(Source:
Evgeniy Isaev /
Flickr)
indicated over 80% of Crimeans favoured joining Russia, new evidence
suggests the opposite is true. In a
Crimean documentary trailer to be
shown on Russian state television,
Putin himself admits that the plan to
annex Crimea had been developed
weeks before the referendum took
place, showing Russia’s longstanding aspiration to reassert its regional
dominance.
Fearing a further degradation of
its status as an important regional
power, Russia instrumentalises the
Ukrainian conflict and alliances such
as the Eurasian Economic Union to
reassert itself as much as possible.
The process of democratisation, however, has made little progress since
the fall of the USSR nearly a quarter
of a century ago, with threats against
critics remaining a means of securing the political elite’s power. And as
long as Russia continues to look backwards for inspiration, this is unlikely
to change.
Plaid Cymru Conference:
Party promises to drive austerity out of Wales
Carwyn
Williams
“
Plaid Cymru
would never
support a Tory
government,
and Tory
policies, such
as austerity,
whether wearing red or blue
rosettes, need
to be driven
out of Wales
Leanne Wood
”
I
n their spring conference last
week, Plaid Cymru leader Leanne
Wood gave a rousing speech calling for Wales to have greater parity
with Scotland, and for communities
in Wales to be treated equally in a ‘devolution dividend’. In a speech containing a range of issues, she stated
that the whole of Wales needs to benefit from devolution, and from money
spent by the Welsh Government, saying it was not fair for a billion pounds
to be spent on one stretch of motorway in one corner of Wales.
Wood announced that she has
had enough of the poor treatment of
Wales and that the ‘St. David’s Day
Agreement’ was not good enough, in
consequence she is taking back her
support for a referendum on tax powers. This is iconic, as news comes that
Manchester will be getting powers
over the NHS, without a referendum,
Scotland is being offered much more
than Wales, without a referendum,
and Northern Ireland already has
much more than Wales, without a referendum since 1998. A referendum
in Wales was last held in 2011, where
63.5 per cent of people agreed to law
making powers for the assembly.
In her speech, she also outlined
new plans for a national panel for new
drugs and treatments, covering not
only cancer patients, as in England,
but sufferers of all diseases to access
new drugs fast and without variances
in access across Wales.
Wood also emphasised the lack
of credibility in Labour’s ‘vote Plaid,
get Tory’ campaigning, saying Wales
has never given the Tories a mandate
to rule, but we’ve still ended up with
them. She again stated Plaid Cymru
would never support a Tory government, and that Tory policies, such as
austerity, whether wearing red or blue
rosettes, needs to be driven out of
Wales. She emphasised Wales need
to be a little less well behaved, to gain
a better settlement, and that voting
Plaid would guarantee that. Back in
January, Nick Clegg described Plaid
Cymru as a threat to the UKs economic recovery, as Plaid are canvassing hard to win Ceredigion from the
Lib Dems this May.
Lord Dafydd Wigley, former President of the party, described Wales’
financial treatment as scandalous,
claiming that this is the issue that
should dominate the General Election, and Plaid Cymru are targeting
three extra seats, a difficult task but
all winnable, to send a strong team to
Westminster.
Wigley also claimed that the SNP
back his party’s claims for fairer fund-
Pictured:
Leanne Wood
speaking at the
conference
ing for Wales, despite the parties being at odds over funding in the past.
The party conference came on the
same weekend it was announced that
the Green Party, Plaid Cymru and the
SNP have held talks on a possible alliance in the event of a hung parliament, who could be the ‘kingmakers’
after the election with a team of up
to 60 MPs between them. On Tuesday, BBC Three are hosting a discussion with Plaid Cymru leader Leanne
Wood, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon
and the Green Party leader Natalie
Bennett, which should bring to light
these parties plans to co-operate as
well as highlighting the parties’ differences.
18 POLITICS
The debates debate continues
Pictured:
David
Cameron, Nick
Clegg and Ed
Miliband
Cameron declines head to head with Miliband
Robert
Thomas
Kieran Lewis
Prime
Minister’s
Questions
E
d Miliband has accused the
Prime Minister of “running
scared” of the televised debates since his declaration earlier this
month that he would not commit to a
head-to-head battle a week before the
election.
At present, the broadcasters plan
to stage two debates featuring the
leaders of the Conservatives, Labour,
Lib Dems, UKIP, the Green Party,
the SNP and Plaid Cymru on the 2nd
and 16th of April; shared between the
BBC and ITV. A third head-to-head
clash between David Cameron and Ed
Miliband on 30 April, a week before
polling day on 7 May is also planned,
to be aired by Sky and Channel 4 simultaneously.
Speaking at a campaign event in
Isleworth, west London, Cameron
said: “I am trying to break the log jam
because I am proposing a television
debate before the campaign gets under way. I won’t be changing my opinion about the other proposals.” So, it
seems that Cameron is worried about
the debates becoming a distraction. In
reference to the 2010 debates, the PM
has previously said that they had the
effect of “sucking the life” out of that
campaign.
Although, in a letter to Cameron’s
media boss Craig Oliver, the four
broadcasters stated: “We believe that
the formal election period is the right
time to hold election debates. It is the
point at which the parties have published their election manifestos and
the point at which the electorate as a
whole is most engaged with discussion
of election issues and the public debate about the future of the country.”
The broadcasters have said that the
debates will definitely go ahead, anticipating millions of viewers, affirming
that their invitation will be open to
all invited party leaders right up until broadcast. Broadcasters have also
confirmed that they will be forced to
‘empty chair’ those who do not show
up.
Ed Miliband has said: “The broadcasters have proposed a live head-to-
head debate between the prime minister and me…I will be at that debate.
Will he be at that debate?” The Labour
leader has also stated that the PM is
“cowering from the public”.
Conversely, there is an argument
for not airing the debates at all: that
debates themselves are much better at
generating sound bites and headlines
than votes. The UK has previously
only had one live televised election
debate, which led to the “I agree with
Nick” meme and a surge in popular
vote share for the Lib Dems in 2010.
As well as this, the argument for a
head-to-head debate between parties
who make up little more than 60 percent of voting preferences is itself an
issue of contention.
Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg
goes as far as saying that the PM is
right to refuse the debates because the
“BBC is well-known for its left-wing
views and it seems to want to have
sets of debates that support left-wing
parties”.
Here’s some history. John Major
challenged Tony Blair to a televised
election debate in 1997 which he refused, going on to win the most seats
in Labour’s history. Five years previously, Major rejected Neil Kinnock’s
challenge for a TV debate, explaining:
“Every party politician that expects to
lose tries that trick of debates, and every politician who expects to win says
no.” Is this now Cameron’s attitude as
well?
Ultimately, as the Guardian’s Matthew d’Ancona writes: “Voters may
not feel too strongly about debates,
but this could change with dangerous speed if they sense they are being
taken for a ride, or taken for granted.”
On Wednesday, a campaign for an
online debate, by The Guardian and
You Tube announced they would be
willing to bring forward the date of
that debate, to make it before the official election campaign. David Cameron should be wary of refusing to
debate: if the broadcasters don’t back
down, his decision may be a detriment
to his campaign.
A
Miliband’s questions were aimed and
this should have given Mr Cameron
an advantage.
Despite this, the Prime Minister appeared to not make too much
sense himself and appeared tangential when launching attacks on Labour relating to jobs and unemployment from questions about television
debates. Mr Cameron managed to
deflect a question from a Labour MP
about unemployment in the North of
England by quickly citing statistics
which showed a drop in the claimant count. However, there was not a
specific reference to a drop in unemployment itself which seemed a bit
bizarre.
The general atmosphere in the
House of Commons was rowdy, with
MPs continuing to cause disturbances
and shout each other down even after
the Speaker had intervened. At one
point, the Speaker had to warn Chief
Whip Michael Gove to stop smirking,
but it did little to defuse the situation.
Claims that Labour were considering
working with the SNP to prevent the
Conservatives coming to power were
met with widespread opposition and
caused uproar in the chamber.
UKIP were also involved, with
Conservative defector Douglas Carswell questioning the Government’s
record on immigration. Mr Cameron
gave a brief answer as if to suppress
the issue. However, the Conservatives need to be careful about avoiding immigration as this is something
UKIP are likely to centre their campaign around, and this may heighten
existing divisions over Europe within
the Conservative Party.
Elsewhere, to mark International
Women’s Day the creation of a committee for women was proposed. The
Prime Minister said the Government
was committed to eradicating the pay
gap and increasing equality, but admitted there was still a long way to
go.
In this week’s PMQs it appeared
that both sides were desperate to get
their point across at the expense of
any substantive debate. With three
PMQs left, both Labour and the
Conservatives are likely to focus on
point-scoring. It is clear the General
Election is fast approaching as both
sides were doing more than ever to
cause disruption, which may make
any meaningful debate appear lost
amid all the chaos.
debate that seemed to go
nowhere: this sums up this
week’s encounter between
the Prime Minister and Ed Miliband,
where issues surrounding television
debates directed the agenda.
Ed Miliband criticised the Prime
Minister for apparently ruling out
a head-to-head debate ahead of the
General Election, claiming Mr Cameron was too scared to enter the debates after Nick Clegg “won” the last
set ahead of the 2010 election. This
did seem a bit of a strange move
and implicitly criticised the performance of his own party. However,
Miliband’s criticism seemed a bit
confused when the Prime Minister
claimed that he had agreed to such
a debate, albeit on his own terms.
Therefore, it was not too clear where
“
Every party
politician that
expects to lose
tries that trick
of debates,
and every
politician who
expects to win
says no
John Major
”
POLITICS 19
100,000 medical “blunders” by NHS
Daniel Heard
“
On eight
occasions
surgical
equipment
was
accidentally
left in a
patient’s body
following
surgery
”
M
ore than 100,000 patients
have been injured or killed
by medical “blunders” in
the Welsh NHS since 2010, new figures have revealed. Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that patients were
injured on at least 102,807 separate
occasions at Welsh hospitals, and
an astonishing 1,742 of those led to
major harm, or even death. The seven Welsh health boards, which have
each developed their own criteria
for reporting incidents, say they are
committed to saving lives, reducing
harm and are encouraging “openness
and transparency” for staff to report
incidents.
On average, one Welsh NHS patient
was harmed every 30 minutes as a
result of doctors or nurses making
mistakes over paperwork, misusing
drugs or equipment, or providing
negligent treatment within this time
frame. In the last four financial years
alone, Welsh NHS trusts have paid
out nearly £210m in medical negligence compensation. This is a significant proportion of what the Welsh
NHS receives in funding as a whole.
Health Minister Mark Drakeford,
who in October last year infamously launched a stinging attack on the
Conservatives for telling a “tissue
of lies” about the state of the Welsh
NHS, has defended the figures, insisting that Wales has far more
comprehensive patient safety proce-
dures than those being introduced
in England by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Mr. Hunt told MPs that
for every English patient treated in
a Welsh hospital, five Welsh patients
were treated in England, creating a
“huge pressure” for English hospitals, while also claiming that Labour
was trying to prevent publication
of a much called-for independent
study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) comparing the four
different NHS systems in the UK. Mr
Drakeford wrote an angry response,
accusing him of attempting to “subvert the process” of publication of an
independent report.
Now, that process has come to
fruition, as FOI requests were sent
to the seven health boards in Wales,
as well as the Cardiff-based Velindre
NHS Trust which provides services
to cancer patients. The figures have
led to calls for Welsh laws on accident reporting to be reformed. Incidents included a right-sided knee implant was fitted into a patient’s left leg
at Abertawe Bro Morgannwg, a feeding tube was wrongly inserted into
the lungs of a patient, and eight occasions where surgical equipment was
accidentally left in a patient’s body
following surgery. Hugh Williams,
deputy chief executive of the charity
AAMA, said: “When things go wrong
it is essential there is an open culture
where the matter is properly investi-
Pictured:
A surgery
ongoing
(Source:
qmedicine.
co.in)
gated and lessons can be learned.
“We believe a key component
in achieving this is to implement a
statutory requirement to tell patients
or their families if they have been
harmed in healthcare.”
These figures include 26 “never
events” since 2012, severe negligence
incidents that NHS guidelines regard
as “largely preventable”. Abertawe
Bro Morgannwg paid out a staggering £45m over four years, the most
of any health board in Wales. Cardiff
and Vale UHB, which runs the 1,000bed University Hospital of Wales, re-
A week in the Senedd with Carwyn Williams
Struggles facing rural GP practices
were also discussed; Mr. Jones confirmed that new changes will take up
to seven years to be implemented,
and urged surgeries to discuss any
changes they were considering with
their local health board.
First Minister’s Questions
Following her announcement of a
new national board to fund new
drugs and treatment for Welsh NHS
patients, Leanne Wood questioned
the minister whether he agreed
that inconsistencies between health
boards were acceptable. Mr. Jones
admitted that there needs to be greater consistency in decisions regarding
the Individual Patient Funding Requests, which can currently change
between health boards, with the minister agreeing with Wood that she had
“a good point”. Wood was unhappy
with the minister’s answer, and was
disappointed that the minister was
unable to reassure patients that this
‘postcode lottery’ would be abolished.
The First Minister replied to Kirsty
Williams by saying that his government commissions reviews in order
to make things better, as is what hap-
pened with the review on teacher
training. The Lib Dem leader said
we need “the very best teachers, delivering the very best curriculum”,
with Mr. Jones agreeing, saying that
the changes will be implemented together.
Carwyn Jones also admitted that
he is not opposed to the principle
of setting in law a statutory footing
to guarantee patients and families
are informed of medical mistakes in
the NHS, agreeing with the leader of
the opposition. Jones also brought
knowledge from his law background
to the assembly saying health boards
need to resist some compensation
claims, and resist settling when a patient’s case is not strong enough.
It was pointed out that the Welsh
Government spends £428, 500 to
combat loneliness in Wales, and the
work of volunteers was commended.
Assembly Members claims of
bullying
The Violence (Wales) Bill was passed
last week, which will oblige Welsh
Ministers, County and Borough
Councils and Local Health Boards to
prepare and publish strategies aimed
at ending domestic abuse, genderbased violence and sexual violence.
Jocelyn Davies emphasized the importance of education in matters like
this.
Several members mentioned concerns that they were bullied by third
sector organizations that were lobbying for this bill, with Antoinette
Sandbach calling the lobbying process appalling and deeply regretable,
adding the matter made her very upset, remembering these organisations
are funded by the government. Minister Leighton Andrews responded to
these claims saying that the organisations were passionate about this bill,
and their lobbying was passionate,
saying he had experienced their lobbying and would not regard it as bullying. Mr. Andrews however refused
to look at the matter further, although
it was clear Sandbach was upset over
the issue.
ported the highest number of patient
injuries, with 26,054, and received
7,862 formal complaints. The Welsh
Government said all deaths in acute
hospitals across Wales are reviewed.
Cases where issues of “sub-optimal”
care are identified are then subjected
to a more in-depth investigation to
help identify areas for improvement
both locally and nationally. However,
with the Welsh government accusing
Jeremy Hunt of deception and discourtesy at every turn, this investigation could in fact be very extremely
hard to establish.
NHS Commission Scrapped
A planned cross-party commission on
the NHS, which was due to start next
month, has been scrapped, with Kirsty
Williams saying: “this is disappointing
as it was a real chance to take some forward steps in improving our NHS.” The
Conservatives have called for a full public enquiry, Plaid Cymru said that this
was not the right time for such a commission, and the Welsh Government
blamed the Liberal Democrats for the
proposal’s collapse.
No Women, No Money
A group of AMs, led by Presiding Officer Rosemary Butler suggested last week
that organisations without women on
their boards should not be given grants
of over £250, 000, as women’s voices
were “not being heard”.
The Welsh Government has rejected
this call, saying it would be illegal to ban
companies from the procurement process.
30% of teens believe politics does
not affect them
A new poll published last week asked
16-17 year olds on their opinion on
politics, with 30 percent saying politics
didn’t affect them at all.
Stephen Brooks, Director of the Electoral Reform Society in Wales said “The
way politics is taught in schools across
Wales is really, really patchy”, adding “Politicians need to think seriously
about how they interact with younger
people” to engage with this generation.
SCIENCE
tweet us @gairrhyddsci
email us [email protected]
or visit us online at gairrhydd.com/science
Trials for stem cell
cancer treatment
begin in UK
Shanna
Hamilton
Got a story
idea? Let
us know:
science@
gairrhydd.com
A
n innovative new treatment
combining the use of stem cells
with gene therapy will be tested
in lung cancer patients this year. By using undifferentiated, immature stem
cells, researchers can deliver a gene directly into a patient’s cancer. It causes
a spiral into self-destruct, obliterating
cancer cells but leaving healthy ones
behind.
Lung cancer kills over 34,000 people
a year in the UK alone, and according to
Professor Sam Janes of UCL/UCL Hospital, its notoriously difficult to catch in
time for a good prognosis. “Lung cancer
is very difficult to treat because the vast
majority of patients are not diagnosed
until the cancer has spread to other
parts of the body. One therapy option
for these patients is chemotherapy, but
even if successful this treatment can
normally only extend lives by a handful of months. Chemotherapy can also
cause widespread toxic side-effects,”
he said. Over 90 per cent of cases are
caused by smoking, with 95 per cent of
those diagnosed dying within 10 years.
The need for a new treatment is clear.
So In the first UK clinical trial of its
kind, Professor Janes will lead the research, backed with over £2 million of
Biomedical Catalyst funding from the
Medical Research Council. Explaining the process, Janes said, “We aim
to improve prospects for lung cancer
patients by using a highly targeted therapy using stem cells, which have an innate tendency to home in on tumours
when they’re injected into the body.
Once there, they switch on a ‘kill’ pathway in the cancer cells, leaving healthy
surrounding cells untouched. If clinical trials are successful, our treatment
could be transformative for the treatment of lung cancer and possibly other
types of tumour in the future.”
The treatment takes advantage of
the special properties of stem cells that
Gair Rhydd discussed in last week’s issue – the ability to differentiate into any
cell type in the body, including lung
cells. By genetically modifying stem
cells taken from a donor, James’ team
at UCL have managed to introduce
Pictured:
A scanning
electron
microscope
image of a
cancerous lung
cell.
(Anne Weston,
Wellcome Trust,
Flickr)
an anti-cancer protein called Tumour
Necrosis Factor related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand, or more easily known
as TRAIL.
TRAIL kickstarts the self-destruct
pathway in cancer cells leaving healthy
cells to thrive. Tests in mice have so far
been successful, reducing the size of
tumours in most, and in 38 per cent of
cases completely clearing the cancer.
The next stage is to trial the therapy in
humans and it will be given to 56 NHS
patients. Patients will receive three infusions of billions of the modified cells,
along with chemotherapy. Fortunately,
because the stem cells are heavily genetically modified, they can come from
any donor and are unlikely to provoke
any immune reaction that can be seen
in other transplants.
Chris Watkins, Director of Translational Research who oversees the funding provided to the trial by the MRC,
is excited to see the outcome of the
research: “Lung cancer kills more men
and women than any other cancer and
improving the outcome for patients
with this terrible disease is one of the
biggest challenges we face. This new
therapy, which uses modified stem cells
to target the tumour directly is truly at
the cutting edge and will draw on the
UK’s unique position as a leader in the
field of cell-based therapies.”
“
Lung cancer
kills over
34,000 people
a year in the
UK alone
”
Compounds in mud preserved
2600-year-old brain
Antonia
James
“
In this case,
as the head
was severed
and drained
of blood the
bacteria had
no chance to
contaminate
it
”
Y
ou may be forgiven for mistaking the headline for an introduction to the latest zombie
movie at the cinema but in fact it
was recently confirmed that in 2008,
York Archaeological Trust unearthed
a 2600 year old skull complete with
jawbone, two vertebrae and a brain!
The Heslington brain, named after
the area in which it was discovered
in Yorkshire, has spent the last seven
years being studied by researchers
to understand how it was preserved.
Sonia O’Connor from the University
of Bradford explained that ‘the survival of the brain remains, where no
other soft tissues are preserved is extremely rare’.
It is astonishing that the brain survived for so long but it is miraculous
that is survived in an area than has
been farmed consistently for the last
2300 years, the site itself shows evidence that is was in use as far back as
the Mesolithic and Neolithic.
Rachel Cubitt from York Archaeological Trust explains her surprise at
her discovery ‘I peered through the
hole at the base of the skull to investigate and to my surprise saw a quantity of bright yellow spongy material,
it was unlike anything I had seen before.’
Radiocarbon dating from the jawbone has placed the specimen firmly
in the Iron Age. Meanwhile forensic
osteoarchaeologists believe the skull
belonged to a male aged between 2645 years old. Unfortunately they have
concluded, based on an examination
of the vertebrae that the victim was
struck hard on the neck, decapitated
with a sharp knife, and then buried
face down without the rest of the
body.
The question on many peoples’
minds must surely be how did this
brain survive? You don’t need to be
a scientist to know that soft tissues
are usually the first to decompose as
the fatty tissue provides a feast for
the microbes in the soil. However,
under the right conditions preservation is possible. For decomposition
to occur, three elements are required:
oxygen, water and a temperature that
bacteria can survive in. Without one
of the three components the object
will be preserved.
Immediately following the decapitation the head must have been buried in the clay pit; the outside of the
head then rotted away as normal but
the fine grained sediment provided
the oxygen free environment that
prevented bacterial decomposition
and preserved the brain. Although
the brain shrank by 20% when the
fats and proteins linked together to
form a mass of large complex molecules, it still held its shape remarkably well, preserving the microscopic
features. The severing of the brain
from the body may have further
aided the preservation. The human
body decomposes using bacteria
from the intestines. In this case, as
the head was severed and drained of
blood the bacteria had no chance to
contaminate it.
The reasons for the man’s death is
unclear, although it has been suggested that he was hung and destined to
be used as a ‘trophy head’, a practice
that is evidenced by other Iron age
sites nearby, the head however shows
no evidence of smoking or other
preservation methods. The skull was
deposited immediately and from the
archaeological context this may suggest it is possible it may have been a
ritual or sacrificial killing.
Whatever the reasons behind his
death, this valuable resource will continue to be studied extensively; Prof
Brian Cantor of York University, said
‘The skull is another stunning discovery and its further study will provide
us with incomparable insights into
life in the Iron Age’.
Pictured:
The Heslington
brain, thought
belong to an iron
age man.
SCIENCE 21
LSD offers potential cure for depression
Michael
Arnott
“
If vents like
these also
exist on
Europa then
there is no
reason that
life could not
have sprung
up around
them
”
A
pioneering study carried out
in Cardiff by Professor David
Nutt suggests that the psychedelic drug LSD may have positive effects for those suffering from depression.
This was the first time that brain
scans have been carried out on those
under the influence of LSD. 15 men
and 5 women were given a 75 microgram dose, before undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging
and magnetoencephalography scans.
Although full results are yet to be
published, the initial findings appear
to suggest that psychedelic drugs
could reduce negative thinking.
Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, part of
the team that conducted the research,
said that the brain scanning showed
that ‘the effects are quite profound’.
He argued for the potential importance of the findings, saying ‘we think
it’s essentially important to understand how these drugs that are widely
used and seem to have this therapeutic potential work in the brain.’
Lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD,
was first composed in 1938 from ergotamine, a chemical taken from the
fungus ergot. It is formed by a reaction between lysergic acid, which is
derived from ergot, and diethylamine,
which is produced from ethanol and
ammonia. The form consumed by users is produced when liquid solution
is sprayed onto a tablet, or tab.
Those using LSD undergo a psychedelic trip, which happens because
of the way that it affects receptors in
the brain. Specifically, cross-activation of receptor heterometers is responsible for the psychedelic effects
of the drug. LSD’s effect on dopamine
receptors helps account for its potentially uplifting effects for users.
Professor Nutt advocated the positive effects of LSD, saying ‘people in
the psychedelic trip often experience
being at one with the world or even
with the universe.’ He argued that
those in need could be given ‘a sense
of perpetuity, of permanence, of being part of the cycle of life.’
Nutt has previously carried out
a study on the effects of psilocybin,
the active compound in magic mushrooms, finding that it decreased blood
flow to ‘hub structures’ in the brain,
which could possibly explain why the
drug has a positive effect for those
with conditions such as depression.
Nutt said that this study appeared
to show a part of the brain called
Pictured:
LSD is often
available on
sugar paper
tabs that
dissolve on the
tongue.
(Kelsey Garcia,
Flickr)
‘the default mode’, ‘where your persona and your ego lies.’ He said that
psychedelic drugs could potentially
‘unlock’ the default mode, stopping
it from getting ‘locked into thinking negative thoughts, or craving
thoughts.’
Findings that psychedelic drugs reduce anxiety are backed up by a 2014
American study, carried out by giving
LSD-assisted therapy to 12 terminally
ill patients. The study suggested that
end-of-life anxiety was reduced by
LSD, with those of the patients taking a high dosage enjoying profound
positive effects.
However, despite the potential
benefits of the drug in extreme cases,
there are also damaging side effects to
take into account. A ‘bad trip’, which
may involve panic attacks and anxiety, can occur, with those suffering
from mental illnesses at a higher risk.
This was backed up by Dr CarhartHarris, who said that the LSD experience ‘can be nightmarish at times’.
If these unpredictable negative effects can be managed however, LSD
has the potential to effectively combat one of the most pervasive and serious mental illnesses affecting modern society.
Will virtual reality be the future of video games?
Theodoros
Lekkakos
“
... by creating
such consoles
players will
be completely
isolated from
the rest of
the world and
the things
going on
around them
”
T
hrough the years video game
consoles have brought us closer to living adventures in fantasy worlds. Video games have rapidly
developed in the past 20 years from
black and white to 3D games or simulators that make us pilot an airplane
or a helicopter under situations which
are as close to really flying as you can
get without actually being a pilot. It
seems not even this is enough however, as the video game industry keeps
evolving in order to bring gamers as
close as possible to actually being part
of their own gaming adventures.
Video game producers are focusing
on the main senses involved in modern gaming, sight and hearing, while
at the same time taking advantage
of the already existing technology of
motion sensing controllers. These
companies have started creating a
console that will focus on these characteristics and enhance the gaming
experience.
So, a game console was created,
which does not seem at all like a regular gaming console. It is designed to
eliminate distractions caused by external factors (like noises or objects
blocking the view of the TV) and
make the individual focus only on
the gaming experience. In order to
do that the creators have made it in
the form of huge rectangular glasses,
complete with headphones.
The leading company in the field
of virtual reality consoles was Oculus VR until the Games Developers
Conference (GDC) 2014 where Sony
presented its owns innovative designs
and in doing so established its leading
position on the market.
With the designs being made, a
race started between mainly two
competitors Sony, the company that
introduced the Play Station series,
and Oculus VR, a company that
specializes in virtual reality gaming.
These two made some adjustments to
their designs in order to strengthen
several aspects that they considered
more important and also change the
design of the device in order to fit the
“style” of the firms’ products.
However, there are many concerns
about the Virtual reality projects. First
of all, by creating such consoles players will be completely isolated from
the rest of the world and the things
going on around them. Also many
of the first models that appeared in
the earlier days of this gaming world
caused motion sickness for many. A
side effect that the console has on the
user as it has already been monitored
is if gamers spent many hours playing
with their console it may make him/
her lose track of time and reality, because of the more realistic graphics
and gameplay.
All in all, it is undeniable that this
new console will revolutionize the
gaming experience and set higher
standards for the gaming industry.
However, the project remains controversial due its potential negative
effects on the user. It is only a matter of time until the new and more
advanced model by Sony is released
to the market in 2016. Then it will be
time for the buyers to decide if this
gaming experience is what they want
for the future.
Pictured:
Looking
dignified
whilst playing
the Oculus
rift is a skill in
itself.
(Sergey
Galyonkin,
Flickr)
22 SCIENCE
Study shows men
are more narcissistic
than women
Maria
Mellor
“
... the
biggest
difference
between
genders was
that men
were far
more likely
to exploit
others and
feel entitled
to certain
privileges.
”
T
here are stereotypes when it
comes to the differences between men and women, some
more sexist than others, and one stereotype that has stuck for decades is
that women spend more time in front
of the mirror than men. Countless
times in the media this stereotype has
been taken to mean narcissism, with
a woman’s interest in make-up turning into an excessive interest in herself. Even Freud decided that it was
women were more narcissistic as he
observed that women were more concerned about their physical appearance. A study however has found that
it is in fact the other way round.
The word ‘narcissism’ comes from
the name ‘Narcissus’, a beautiful
young man from Greek mythology
who rejected the love of a nymph to
instead fall in love with his own reflection. The roots of narcissism started with a man, and the study from the
University at Buffalo School of Management, combining 3 decades worth
of data with over 475,000 participants
has found that men are on average
more narcissistic than women.
Across multiple generations and
regardless of age, researchers looked
into previous studies judging gender
differences in different types of narcissism: exhibitionism and grandiosity,
entitlement, and leadership and au-
thority, finding that the biggest difference between genders was that men
were far more likely to exploit others
and feel entitled to certain privileges.
Emily Grijalva, the lead researcher
gave an explanation about why the
study found what it did: ‘Individuals tend to observe and learn gender
roles from a young age, and may face
backlash for deviating from society’s
expectations,’ Grijalva said. ‘In particular, women often receive harsh
criticism for being aggressive or authoritative, which creates pressure
for women, more so than for men, to
suppress displays of narcissistic behaviour.’
There is also speculation about narcissism’s effects in areas of cultural
life, as the lack of women in senior
leadership roles may stem from traditional gender expectations of femininity. In the study, men were found
to display narcissism through assertiveness and a desire for power, and
it seems that elements of narcissism
leads to increased confidence and the
tendency to be seen as leader-like.
Perhaps what this shows is that in order to have equality in the workplace,
women need to be more narcissistic,
breaking away from traditional femininity to start demanding power.
Writing for The Guardian, Grijalva indicates that while narcissism
Pictured:
The male ego,
a common
site on social
media
(Source: Terry
George, Flickr)
may be the key to men’s success, the
same behaviour with women ‘violates female stereotypes’. She writes,
‘women might actually face a backlash
for displaying narcissistic behaviors
and choose instead to suppress their
leadership abilities or competitive natures.’
Future research could examine the
social, cultural and biological factors into why the study found these
gender differences. Most stereotypes
stem from some sort of truth, and
we may find that a break away from
them could see female narcissists rise
through the ranks into leadership
roles. More likely, however, is that stereotypes will remain, and the gender
differences in narcissism will continue
the pattern that has been occurring
over the past 30 years with no significant change. Women may do better to
find other ways to break into higher
levels of leadership.
Menopausal whales lead the herd
Meryon
Roderick
T
he orca whale, also known
as the killer whale, is one of
the most intelligent species
in the animal kingdom. As the study
of these fascinating and mysterious
marine mammals reveals more and
more about them, their startling intelligence is becoming increasingly apparent. Different orca whale groups,
called pods, have been shown to
hunt their prey in different ways and
to pass these methods on from generation to generation in the same way
that different human civilisations pass
on culture and information.
Another interesting thing about the
orca whale is that alongside humans
and pilot whales, they are one of only
three species in the world in which the
females go through the menopause.
For many years, the menopause was
viewed as a confusing and counter
productive biological phenomenon.
If the main purpose of life is to pass
on your genes to as many of the next
generation as possible, it doesn’t make
sense to live for decades after you stop
being able to reproduce.
Enter the concept of kin selection.
The idea behind kin selection is that
there is more than one way to pass
your genes on to the next generation.
The most obvious is by having as many
offspring as possible but you can also
do it by ensuring that your younger
siblings, grandchildren and other
younger relatives have the best chance
at survival. It’s easy to see how having
older females in a group who are free
to care for the young whilst the other
adults find food and resources would
be a useful development.
However, it seems that in orca
whales the older females don’t just
take on the role of caring grandmother. A research group analysing
video footage from the North Pacific
Ocean have found that when pods go
on salmon foraging missions they are
most likely to be led by a post-menopausal female. Furthermore, postmenopausal females are most likely to
take charge in years of hardship such
as when food is scarce or when weather is particularly bad.
This suggests that older female orcas use their years of experience to
guide their children and grandchildren in times of difficulty to ensure
their survival. Killer whales are highly
sociable animals, usually remaining in
family groups for life, sons and daughters never leave their mother’s side.
This link is so strong, particularly between mother and son, that when an
elderly female orca whale dies there a
dramatic rise in the chance her sons
will also die in the following year. This
illustrates the importance of the guidance that these females provide to
their family groups.
This discovery fits into a wider narrative as we begin to come to terms
with just how intelligent orca whales
and other members of the dolphin
family really are. Orca whales and
dolphins even appear to have names,
with each member of a group responding to a characteristic call. Several countries have already moved to
classify bottle nosed dolphins as nonhuman people which makes it illegal
to keep them in captivity. Hopefully
recent revelations regarding the orca
whale will see them included in this
group as well so that these magnificent animals are given the protection
they deserve.
Pictured:
Orca whales
usually hunt
and travel in
family groups
(Source:
Dave Govoni,
Flickr)
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SOCIETIES
What’s On
Monday 16th March
Cardiff Fringe Festival
A celebration of Welsh culture from
Societies! An incredible week of
Society events and activities based
around Wales and its talent. Support
your fellow Societies and make sure
you attend some events, full details
overleaf
13th March - 21st March
Student Advice
Student Advice Drop In
Noon - 2pm
Meeting Rooms close to the IV
Lounge
Skills Development Service
Personal Effectiveness Course In a
week!
16th March 5.30pm - 20th March
7.30pm
Nightline
Call Nightline to chat about anything
Every night 8pm - 8am
tweet us @gairrhyddsoc
email us [email protected]
or visit us online at gairrhydd.com/societies
2pm - 4pm
For location information e-mail SDS.
7pm - 10:30pm
Aberdare Hall
Thursday 19th March
Law Society
Law Society Paris Trip
19th March 9:30pm - 23rd March
1am
Paris
Skills Development Service
Deaf Awareness Session
19th March 6pm - 8pm
CSEV, 2nd floor Students’ Union
Saturday 21st March
Tuesday17th March
Cooking Society
Margherita Night and AGM
7.30pm - 10pm
Sir Donald Walters Boardroom,
Students’ Union
Wednesday 18th March
RAG
Great SVC Duck Race
Noon - 2pm
Taf River - Near Royal Welsh College
of Music & Drama in Bute Park
Skills Development Service
Short Course in Personal
Effectiveness
Expression
Fitness
6pm - 7:15pm
4A/B, Students’ Union
Student Enterprise
How to Commercialise Technology
Based Ideas
6pm - 8pm
4J, Students’ Union
Student Minds
Eating Disorder Support Group
6.15pm - 7.15pm
Room 4F, Students’ Union
Psychology Society
Quiz Night
Go Volunteering
Give it a Go Dance-Sport
7pm – 9.30pm 17th March
Salsa 7pm
Latin & Ballroom 7.30pm
Technique Class 9pm
Great Hall, Students Union
Give it a Go Ladies Cricket
5.45pm 17th March
Talybont Sports Hall
Brecon Beacons RAG Sponsored Hike
9am 21st March (£15)
See online for details
Thought, Faith & Culture
Give it a Go Touch Rugby Tournament
1pm 22th March
Talybont 3G
Give it a Go Model UN
6pm 17th March
Students Union, Room 4H
Be Creative
Give it a Go Debating
7pm 19th March
Cafe in Bute Building
Give it a Go Circus Skills
3.30pm 18th March
Meet at the front of the Students’ Union
Give It a Go Manga Library
6pm 16th March
The Lounge, 3rd Floor of the Union
Music Society
MuSoc Into the Woods Ball
7pm - 1am
The Angel Hotel
Give It a Go Creative Writing
6.45pm 17th March
Meet at the front of the Students’ Union
Give it a Go Slash Hip Hop Dance
7pm 16th March
Room 4J Students’ Union
Give it a Go Jiu Jitsu
6pm 16th March
Talybont Dojo
Sunday 22nd March
Give It A Go Medics Hockey
4pm 22nd March
Talybont Astroturf
Music, Dance & Performance
Try a Sport
Go Global!
See overleaf for more details
6:30pm - 10:30pm
The Great Hall
Give It a Go Sci-Fi
6.45pm 16th March
Meet at the front of the Students’ Union
Give It a Go Anime Workshop
7pm 17th March
Large Shandon Lecture Theatre, Main
Building
All events must be signed up for in advance.
To sign up and for more information on
any activities head to cardiffstudents.com/
GiveitaGo.
RAG
Brecon Beacons Sponsored Hike
9am - 3pm
Brecon Beacons
Heath Park
Give it a Go Healthcare Basketball
2pm 21st March
Heath Sports Hall
The Great SVC Duck Race
18th March
Taf River, Bute Park near RWCMD
Give it a Go Feed the Homeless
3pm 18th March
Beneath the Queen Street railway bridge
on Newport Rd
Get some Skills
Commercial Awareness
5.30pm 17th March
Room 4i, Fourth Floor Students’ Union
Dealing with Perfectionism
2pm 18th March
Room 2, CSEV, Students’ Union
Successful Networking
5.30pm 18th March
Room 4i, Fourth Floor Students’ Union
Time Management
5.30pm 19th March
Room 4i, Fourth Floor Students’ Union
Students’ Union Trips
PARIS TRIP £99 / £129
9.30pm 19th March
Meeting point – Y Plas. Strictly by prebooking only.
Have an
event
you
want
SOCIETIES 25
Barney’s Note
H
ello everyone! BIG NEWS:
Cardiff Fringe is here! Things
kicked off on Friday with Operatic Society holding their performance of The Fairy Queen and this
was followed by Art Society doing a
Giant Art Attack session in Y Plas on
Sunday. There is still so much to come
though so don’t worry if you missed
out. You can see the rest of the events
and shows in this section right now
so come along!
This very happy time of the societies calendar is also marked by Go
Global which is happening on the
21st. There are still some tickets left if
you are interested in attending but do
act fast! The evening promises to be
one of the most varied performance
nights in the Union calendar – it is
the kind of thing that only really happens at University so don’t miss out!
Now take a gander at the rest of the
wonderful Societies section and, as
always, let me know if you need anything from me.
Around the World with Broadway Dance Society
N
early a whole year has passed
us by at Broadway Dance Society once again, and with
that our end of year show draws ever
nearer! ‘Around the World’ as this
year’s extravaganza is duly entitled,
takes place on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st March, and you’ve guessed
it, involves a variety of dances to music from across the globe.
Broadway is one of the most varied dance society at Cardiff University, involving classes from complete
beginner to very advanced in Ballet,
Tap, Jazz, Street, Irish, American
High Kick and Pointe. Classes are
taught by members of the society,
who spend hours working on choreography, music, costumes and lighting alongside plenty else. With 18
hours per week of classes of every
Megan
Wilding
level, in conjunction with the many
extra rehearsals in the run up to the
show, the talent on display across the
two evening performances will simply be top-notch!
Still not sure? Why not take a look
at some past videos from the Dance
Society Winter Showcase on YouTube, or take a look at some pictures
from the recent dance competition,
where our Advanced Performance
Ballet class won Best Ballet for Arabian Nights! Whatever style of dance
you are interested in, or even if you
aren’t at all, we guarantee there will
be something for everyone to immerse themselves in. Whether you
fancy an African adventure, a carnival in Brazil or a romantic waltz
through Europe, you’ll be sure for a
cultural evening of entertainment if
Pictured:
Broadway
Dance Society
performance
you take a trip ‘Around the World’.
Around the World takes place on
Friday 20th and Saturday 21st March,
7.30pm at the Gate Theatre., Roath.
Tickets cost £7.70 for adults and
£5.50 for students/concessions,
with proceeds going to the charity
Danceaid.
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Get in touch
[email protected]
Find out more cardiffstudents.com/your_voice/student-senate
26 SOCIETIES
Pictured:
Baking Society
making
Welshcakes
at last year’s
festival
(Source:
CUSU)
in the week for some material collection: blue, green, grey, brown,
yellow or basically any colour materials, hoodies, old clothes, cotton
wool, paper, sticks, twigs, logs and
flowers. Last year was the Welsh
flag created from coloured plastic
bags – see picture. So if you’d like
to come along and give us a hand or
simply have a laugh watching us trip
over sticks and rocks in an attempt
to create some sort of resemblance
of a castle... then please do!
MON 16TH MARCH
THE GAIR RHYDD GUIDE
TO THIS WEEK’S EVENTS
Hannah
Sterritt
Cardiff Fringe Festival is a week of art, culture, music, drama and fun and
is a celebration of all society activity. It’s full of incredible events run by
our student-led societies, showcasing their amazing talents. From a variety
show, an original musical, an opera, and music showcases; to stand-up
comedy, a photography workshop, a bouncy castle and much more, there’s
something for everyone!
PREVIOUS EVENTS
tertainment of Purcell’s wonderful music to new audiences.
Review available in next week’s issue.
Afrogene
- African
Caribbean
Society
SUN 15TH MARCH
13th March 6pm - 10.30pm, Y Plas
Afrogene is the annual cultural
extravaganza put on by Cardiff ACS.
It is a celebration of African/Caribbean cultures through avenues such
as Dance, Music, Drama,Fashion
and even FOOD. Every year is sure
to be an educative and fun filled
night!
Pictured:
Last year’s
Giant Art
Attack by Art
Society
(Source:
Hannah
Sterritt)
The Fairy Queen
- Operatic
Society
13th & 14th March 7.30pm 10pm, The Gate Theatre, Roath,
Cardiff, CF24 3JW
In this new adaptation of Henry
Purcell’s ‘The Fairy Queen’, Cardiff
University Operatic Society have reworked the tale of Titania and Oberon into a vibrant story of vengeance
and romance with a modern twist.
With a young, enthusiastic
cast, this fun production promised to bring the vitality and en-
Giant Art Attack
- Art Society
1pm - 4pm, Y Plas
For a second year running we are
going to attempt to create a giant
Art Attack, this year of Cardiff Castle. The plan is to try to make most
of it out of natural resources or recyclable materials so we met earlier
Welshcake
Demo - Baking
Society
1pm - 4pm, SU Reception, free
Following the success of last year’s
Welsh cake demonstration, the baking society will be showcasing their
skills. Come along, learn how to
make them and finally eat them!
Variety Show
7pm - 11pm, Y Plas, £3
A showcase of our amazing performance societies! 11 societies all
in one place, what could be better?!
Join us for an evening of singing,
dancing and comedy as part of the
Cardiff Fringe Festival. The evening will feature: A Cappella Society,
Belly Dancing Society, Bollywood
Dance Society, Breakdance Society,
Broadway Dance Society, Expression, FAD, Operatic Society, Sinatra
Society, Slash Hip Hop Dance and
TCUPS.
TUE 17TH MARCH
Inner Child DayStudent Minds
11am - 4pm Y Plas, free
Embrace your inner child with a
whole day of free fun in Y Plas in
Cardiff University’s SU! Think inflatables, games, face painting and
some 90s classics.
SU Cinema:
Right in the
Childhood Film Society
5.30pm - 11.30pm, Y Plas, free
Film society is hitting you right
in the childhood, as we traverse the
musical numbers of Mulan, truffle
shuffle with The Goonies and embark upon inexplicable bus shaped
cats in My Neighbor Totoro. Or are
they cat shaped buses? Come join us
for popcorn and pints as we delve
into a Freudian paradise of films.
Screening Three Movies from
your childhood, Cardiff Film Society and Fringe are bringing you:
Mulan at 17:45
My Neighbour Totoro at 19:30
The Goonies at 21:15
WED 18TH MARCH
Light Painting
Workshop Photography
Society
7pm - 9pm, Students’ Union steps
We will be meeting at the front of
the SU (bottom of the steps) at 7pm
then will walk over to Pontcanna
fields for the light painting. Please
bring a torch, mobile phone light,
lightsaber or anything else you may
own that lights up! (coloured lights
work nicely too!) You don’t need a
DSLR to join in as we have a society camera to lend out but if you
do have one or a digital that has the
option to change the shutter speed
then that would be perfect! Otherwise, bring whatever camera/phone
SOCIETIES 27
Pictured:
Left: Operatic
Society
performing
part of last
year’s The
Magic Flute
performance
Right: A 2014
Go Global
performance
you’ve got and we can go from there.
If you have a Tripod, please bring
it! PhotoSoc are also offering £2.50
half price membership to their society for all of Fringe week.
Battle Scars: a
new Musical Act One
18th March - 21st March, doors
7pm, starts 7.30pm, YMCA Theatre, Roath, CF24 3AG, £8/7 Students
Cardiff University’s Act One Drama Society presents ‘Battle Scars:
A New Musical’, an original show
about pain, grief and the struggle of
moving on. Set to a rock/pop score
of over twenty original songs, ‘Battle Scars’ follows sixteen-year-old
Lily, still struggling to adjust to the
loss of her mother. Following a blow
to the head, Lily finds herself sectioned into a mental health unit for
young people. There, she’ll rely on
the relationships she develops with
her fellow inpatients to teach her
how to cope with her suffering and
ultimately decide her future.
Touching on issues such as selfharm, suicide, sexual abuse and
anorexia, ‘Battle Scars’ takes a close
look at the taboo and stigma that
still surrounds mental health issues.
But it is more universal topics that
the story pushes to the forefront.
“These are characters desperately
attempting to not be defined by
their illness,” says writer/director,
Alex Gatherer. “They feel love and
hate and fear in the same ways as
any of us, and the show’s ultimate
message has always been one of a
search for hope - that desperate desire to escape pain, and the often
ironic ways we employ to do so.”
The score juxtaposes hard rock
Pictured:
Left: Cardiff
Uni Big Band
at last year’s
festival.
Right:
Bellydancing
Society
(Source:
CUSU)
with swooping ballads, powerfully
echoing the anger, confusion and
vulnerability felt by its central characters. However, it is not all misery.
“Humour and heart are essential,
no matter what story you’re telling,”
says Gatherer. “We’ve been blessed
with a cast who possess immaculate comic timing, but who can then
turn around a rip your heart out in
the next scene.”
**15+ due to adult themes that
some viewers may find difficult**
Comedy Night Comedy Society
7.30pm, CF10, Students’ Union
Cardiff Comedy Society returns
to the Fringe Festival for its one year
anniversary show. Joining us again
as part of his ‘Ghost Stories Tour’
is Will Seward! Plus we shall reveal
what ha pened to the chicken after
his notorious road accident!
THU 19TH MARCH
Latin Fever 60s
Night - Jazz
Society
8pm - 11pm, CF10
Come and join us for an evening
of jazz, blues and variety acts. Fancy
dress is encouraged, so get out your
mini-skirts and flares! Come and
enjoy some Latin vibes at CU Jazz
Society’s homage to 60’s jazz featuring many different ensembles
showcasing their 60s repertoire.
The night will finish off with a jam
session, so bring along your instrument and join the fun! Entry: £3 for
non-members, £1 members.
SAT 21ST MARCH
FRI 20TH MARCH
Music
Showcase
6pm - 11pm, Y Plas
In a collaboration like no other, 7
of Cardiff ’s music societies will be
coming together to present an evening of great music and entertainment. All proceeds to the Noah’s
Ark Appeal, the only charity exclusively fundraising for the Children’s
Hospital for Wales. With 2 stages,
and several hours of music, the
evening will feature: Blank Verse,
Brass Band, City of Cardiff Concert Band, Healthcare Music Society including Healthcare Choir, Jazz
Society, including their Big Band,
Jazz Choir, Jazz Orchestra and Sax
Choir, Music Society, including
their Brass Ensemble, Male Voice
Choir, the Palestrina Singers, String
Orchestra and Wind Ensemble and
Operatic Society.
Around the
World Broadway
Dance Society
20th March - 21st March, 7.30pm
- 10pm, The Gate Theatre
Full article on previous page
7pm-10.30pm, The Great Hall, £4
Go Global is our annual festival of
culture and diversity. This evening
is all about the variety, colour and
vibrance brought to the Cardiff University community by the fantastic
international students here. Tonight
will feature multiple performances
from a wide variety of our international societies including Indian Society, Greek and Cypriot Society and
Chinese Society – we will be jumping
all over the globe this evening! With
any luck, this event will provide a
whirlwind tour of Cardiff ’s diversity
and the success of the University’s
international communities.
The programme for the evening
is as follows: Colours of Pakistan
- Pakistani Society, Fights on the
Beaches of Brazil - Capoeira Society, Cardiff to Chennai - Tamil
Society, Trouble - Chinese Society, Being Human - YUVA Indian
Society, Traditional Greek Dancing - Greek & Cypriot Society,
Shick Shack Shock/ya tabtab Belly Dancing Society, Shadow of
a Memory - Palestine Society/Expression, Bolly Feel - Bollywood
Dance Society, Flower - Chinese
Society, Diversity in Unity - Asian
Society and finally Dikir Barat Malaysian Society.
A magical, chocolate filled end of term party
Friday 27th March
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PARK LIFE
tweet us @HeathparkCSU
email us [email protected]
A note from Claire
Claire
Blakeway
Claire
Blakeway
H
ello everyone! The Students’
Union elections are now all
over and I am pleased to announce that Katey Beggan is going to
be taking over the role of VP Heath
Park Campus. Katey will be taking this
role over in July when I move on to
my new role as Students’ Union President. Katey will be telling us about her
plans for the forthcoming year in the
next edition of Park Life so keep your
eyes peeled for that! With two Heath
Park students on next year’s sabbatical team, I feel that Heath Students are
going to be even better represented
which will be fantastic for driving the
Students’ Union focus more towards
Heath Students. It’s going to be an exciting year and I look forward to working with you all again!
Aside from elections, Speak Week
has been to the campus. This is the
Students’ Union annual campaign
where student reps, elected officers and the Student Voice team go
around campus and gather feedback
from students about their university
experience. As a result of all the hard
work that Heath student reps put into
delivering this campaign, the Heath
received 115 feedback forms which is
fantastic and is a massive increase on
the number of responses received on
the campus last year. The VP Education, Rhys Jenkins, and the Student
Voice team are currently working together to collate all of your feedback,
which they will then present to the
university in the next few weeks. The
university will then work to apply this
feedback, which will go a long way to
benefiting your student experience.
In other news, I have been working
on student residences availability for
healthcare students. When applying
for halls of residence, healthcare students currently only have the option
of applying to Uni Halls, Cartwright
Court or Talybont North. This is because the majority of our healthcare
students have placements over the
summer months of their first year
and these are the only halls able to accommodate them for those months.
After successfully lobbying with university about this issue, healthcare
students will now be able to have a
wider range of choice when selecting residences and be able to apply
for halls such as Talybont Gate and
Pictured:
Clare
Blakeway, VP
Heath Park &
SU President
Elect
Talybont South. This will start from
September 2015.
One final thing from me – Park
Life section is looking for a new editor. This is a fantastic opportunity for
someone who is looking to expand
their CV, report and showcase the
wonderful activity that takes place
on the Heath Campus. If you’re inter-
esting in applying or have questions
about the role then please give me a
message on VPHeathpark@cardiff.
ac.uk. I also want to take this opportunity to thank Tim Nagle, our previous
editor, for all of his hard work and time
he put into editing the section. Tim
did a great job!
Have a great week!
Heath RAG week
H
eath RAG was bigger this year
than it has ever been before
with a variety of events raising
money for charities all week long.
To kick off the week NurseSoc organised a baked bean bath in the IV
Lounge where for a pound you could
empty a tin of beans over me or VP
Society officer Barney. Horrid, cold
and messy but worth it for the money
raised.
Healthcare Music held a fun pub
quiz at the Sports and Social Club,
Marrow had an ouch-filled sponsored
leg waxing in the Cochrane library
and the Dermatology Society sold
delicious Krispy Kremes around the
Pictured:
Top left: Medics
Rugby players
during Marrows
sponsored wax
campus to get the Heath students to
give to our charities.
Our 24-hour cyclathon was a raging
success that involved students from
across courses to give up their time
and put on their joggers to pedal their
way to raise money for needy causes.
So far between us we have raised
over £1500 and are still collating the final amount. That means thanks to the
incredible people and societies that
took part in events and the charitable
Heath students, St Jerome’s, SKIP, Anthony Nolan and Cardiff RAG charities will now benefit from the money
given on this campus. Thanks again to
all who got involved!
Top right:
Student Claire
Quinnel cycling
the last hour of
the Heath 24hour cyclathon
Bottom: VP
Heath Park
Claire Blakeway
and VP Societies
Barney Willis
post baked bean
bath
Let’s make Heath
RAG even bigger
and better!
Erin
Gillespiee
T
his year Heath RAG societies
and our VP Heath Park, Claire,
have managed to raised over
£1500 so far for St Jerome’s, SKIP and
Anthony Nolan charities. Next year
we want to double, treble and even
quadruple that amazing amount!
All of the money raised this year
was through the efforts of Heathbased societies and our VP Heath
Park. There is currently no Heath
RAG official committee dedicated to
raising money for these charities and
we want to set one up – if so much
was raised this year without a committee, imagine how much more
could be raised with a team of dedicated people behind it! That is why
we are looking for students to get involved now!
One of our most exciting plans already in place for next year is a huge
event on the 23rd October 2015.
Without letting you in on too many
secrets we can tell you it’s going to
include a lot of funk and much more
soul. With the SU as our venue, and a
completely new Heath RAG event, it
has such potential to raise thousands
of pounds for Heath RAG charities,
as well as giving hard working Heath
students the chance to have an absolute ball. We’re still on the lookout for
a few more student acts to showcase
at it so if you have any ideas or you’re
talented in the funk & soul persuasion
then please get in touch!
If you want to get involved with
the committee or the October event
(which you should, because if nothing else you’ll be able to show off your
amazing dancing skills) then send us
an email on Gillespiee@cardiff.ac.uk
or VPheathpark@cardiff.ac.uk
“
It’s going to
include a lot
of funk and
much more
soul
”
PARK LIFE 31
Friends of Irise is looking for people to
help with fundraising and campaigns
Their mission? To improve women’s lives, worldwide
Jasmine Kew
Friends of Irise
Cardiff
Co-ordinator
L
ast Sunday marked International
Women’s Day. This key date celebrated some of the inspiring
achievements of women worldwide,
illustrated the distance that gender
equality has come, but also highlighted the continuing need for a drive toward gender equality.
On a global scale, only 24% of senior
management roles are held by women.
Even in the UK, where we pride ourselves on our equality culture, the gender pay difference stands at a gaping
17.5%. Too often is feminism regarded
as inappropriate in this day and age,
when statistics like these clearly demonstrate that more change is needed
before women and men can be regarded as truly equal. As students, we
are in a perfect position to drive this
change. By challenging everyday sexism, promoting awareness of gender
equality issues and advocating for girls
and women worldwide who may not
have the voice to do so, we can join the
paving of the road to equality.
Friends of Irise are a national student-led group that aims to promote
awareness of gender equality and the
importance of educating girls worldwide. By educating and motivating
people in the UK about ways to tackle
the gender gap, and working directly
with community-based NGOs in East
Africa, we believe that a real impact
can be made worldwide. Currently,
one of Friends of Irise’s focuses is improving menstrual health. Although
Pictured:
The Friends of
Irise logo
Pictured:
Friends of Irise
campaigners at
“The Challenge”,
a charity event
that occurred in
the Peak District
in 2013
in the UK none of us like being on our
period, we don’t have to think twice
about access to products such as tampons, toilets and painkillers. Unfortunately, this is not the case elsewhere.
Around the world, girls and women
do not have access to the basic necessities needed to deal with their periods. As a result they often have to use
things such as dried leaves and rags,
which can not only negatively impact the physical health of the girl or
woman but can also have a knock-on
effect on the social and psychological
wellbeing of the woman. Periods can
also have a huge impact on the educational and employment prospects
of females as they may regularly miss
school or work whilst menstruating.
This may be for many reasons such as
culture stating when a woman is on
her period she must be confined to the
Welcome Fair for March
student nurse intake
Neil
Alexandra
I
n March, 85 student nurses joined
the Heath collective. It can be difficult for the March intake to get
their bearings and feel part of the student life as they start halfway through
the academic year. To welcome and
engage with these fresh freshers the
Students’ Union had a mini services
fair at the IV Lounge on March 2nd.
Give it a go, Student Advice, Activities, AU, Jobshop and Student Development Service were all represented
there, giving away information about
their projects as well as free sweets.
Money Doctors, who are a partnership between Student Advice from
the Students’ Union and Student Services from the University, ran a raffle
where you could win free groceries for
taking part in a colour coded survey.
They gave away over 70 prizes.
Students were also encouraged to
visit the Heath Hub in the IV Lounge
which is a mini Students‘ Union at the
Heath where you can access all the
services the Students’ Union offer as
well as buy stationary and customised
hoodies.
The Students’ Union aim was to
welcome the new students, show
them what is available and make them
feel a valued part of the student body.
house or because a woman is too worried she may leak to attend. In order
to tackle this problem, Friends of Irise
are supporting Irise International in
their project to provide East African
women with the means to improve
their menstrual hygiene management.
By fundraising and campaigning,
Friends of Irise want to make a difference to the lives of girls of women
here in the UK and globally. The Cardiff branch is an exciting new and
growing addition to the Friends of
Irise family. What’s great is they are
currently looking for casual volunteers and committee members. So
if gender equality is something that
you believe in and you want to get involved, or you just want to too find out
more, visit the Friends of Irise Cardiff
Facebook page or email friendofirise.
cardiff@gmail.com.
“
None of us
like being on
our period,
but we don’t
have to
think twice
about access
to basic
products
”
Pictured:
Nursing students
from Cardiff
University
32 SPORT
BUCS results: Wednesday March 11th
Presented by:
H/A
Sport
Team
Opposition
Result
W/L/D
H
Tennis
Men’s 1st
University of Bristol Men’s 2nd
10-2
W
H
Football
Men’s 4th
Aberystwyth Men’s 1st
0-2
L
H
Rugby Union
Men’s 5th
Cardiff Met Men’s 5th
27-12
W
H
Lacrosse
Men’s 2nd
Bristol Men’s 2nd
3-6
L
H
Football
Men’s 2nd
Cardiff Met Men’s 2nd
5-2
W
H
Football
Men’s 1st
Hartpury College Men’s 3rd
2-1
W
H
Squash
Men’s 1st
Bristol Men’s 3rd
12-6
W
H
Basketball
Men’s 1st
Aberystwyth Men’s 1st
98-67
W
H
Basketball
Men’s 2nd
Swansea Men’s 1st
42-61
L
H
Fencing
Men’s 1st
Swansea Men’s 1st
110-135
L
3-2
W
H
Hockey
Men’s 4th
University of South Wales Pontypridd and
Cardiff Men’s 1st
H
Hockey
Women’s 2nd
Aberystwyth Women’s 1st
2-0
W
H
Hockey
Men’s 3rd Medics
Aberystwyth Men’s 1st
2-3
L
H
Hockey
Women’s 6th Medics
Women’s 5th
1-4
L
H
Netball
Women’s 6th
Cardiff Met Women’s 5th
35-39
L
H
Netball
Women’s 7th
Aberystwyth Women’s 2nd
19-13
W
H
Netball
Women’s 4th Medics
80-4
W
H
Netball
Women’s 3rd
40-34
W
University of South Wales, Newport,
Women’s 1st
University of South Wales Pontypridd and
Cardiff Women’s 1st
Devils stain Steelers
record to claim
silverware
James Lloyd
T
he Cardiff Devils overcame
a late Sheffield fight back to
claim their first trophy in eight
years. Two goals in 108 seconds from
Andrew Lord and Chris Culligan
in the second period proved to be
decisive in spite of a late barrage by
the Steelers.
The Challenge Cup final, played at
the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield,
was the Devils’ first trophy since the
2006/07 season when they won the
Knockout Cup.
Player-coach Andrew Lord, who
opened the scoring on a memorable
night for the Devils, said “This is
a special group of guys and it was a
fantastic performance” he added “I
am so pleased for every single one of
them, the management, the staff and
the fans”.
After going 2-0 up in the second
period, the Steelers rallied and Devils
goaltender Ben Bowns was forced to
make a series of stops. Bowns layed
exceptionally, managing to turn away
25 Sheffield shots, but leaked a late
goal which set up a tense finish. With
7 minutes and 22 seconds remaining,
the Devils’ defence managed to see
the game home in Sheffield’s own
arena, making the victory seem even
sweeter.
In January, the Steelers thumped
Cardiff 6-0 but a month later the
tables had turned and the Devils
avenged their hammering by winning
4-0. Sheffield had beaten Cardiff 4
times this season, with the Devils
victorious in the other 3. But, the final
is what history remembers and the
Challenge Cup will be sitting pretty
in the Welsh capital for another year
at least.
With six games remaining, Cardiff
sit third in the British Elite League
and have their playoff spot already
guaranteed. The playoffs will comprise
of eight teams battling it out over the
4th and 5th April in Nottingham. The
remaining games for the Devils could
prove decisive as they look to get a
high seeding place in order to match
up against the lower ranked teams in
the quarter finals.
Over 1000 Devils fans made the
trip to the final in Sheffield and
club owner, Chris King said “What
an amazing night. Devils fans are
fabulous. The atmosphere was
astonishing. They made so much
noise it sounded like a home match.”
Despite animated celebrations after a
historic night, Cardiff captain, Tyson
Marsh remained focussed, claiming
that his team “have a lot to play for”.
Just four days after Challenge Cup
glory, the Devils were back in action.
After hitting their highest point of
the season, the Devils slumped to an
11-0 drubbing at the hands of, you’ve
guessed it, the Sheffield Steelers.
Same opposition, same ice, but the
Devils simply couldn’t shake off the
hangover and now their title hopes
have been severely dashed.
Pictured:
The Devils
celebrating
their first
trophy in eight
years.
SPORT 33
Sport’s pitch: Sexism towards staff
Jamie Smith looks at the state of sexism in sport towards female
officials and members of staff
Jamie Smith
“
The decision
to sack him
[Andy Gray]
disseminated
a strong
message that
sexism is
not tolerable
in any
environment,
whoever you
are
”
R
ecent footage of Chelsea’s first
team medic Dr Eva Carneiro
and assistant referee Helen
Byrne experiencing abuse of a sexist
nature has further consolidated
sexism’s place on an excruciating
list of discrimination in sport, which
includes both homophobia and
racism.
The incident is the latest in a
number of sexist abuses directed
at sporting staff and participants
that have taken place over the past
five years or so, highlighting sport’s
ongoing struggle in ensuring equality
and diversity.
Arguably the most prominent
of these was that which involved
Sky Sports presenters Andy Gray
and Richard Keys. Prior to a match
between Wolves and Liverpool in
2011, the pair, thinking that they were
off air, joked that lineswoman Sian
Massey and other female officials did
not know the offside rule.
Gray was also filmed conversing
with pitchside reporter Andy
Burton, describing Massey as a
“bit of a looker” and questioning
whether women knew the offisde
rule. When footage of Gray making
a suggestive comment towards
colleague Charlotte Jackson in 2010
emerged shortly after this fiasco, he
was sacked by Sky.
Considering that Gray was the
leading frontman of Sky Sports’
football coverage and was adored by
football supporters for his passionate
commentary, the decision to sack
him disseminated a strong message
that sexism is not tolerable in any
environment, whoever you are.
Nevertheless, the punishment
of Gray and the organisations that
vociferously
campaign
against
discriminative behaviour on the
basis of gender have not sufficed to
deter sexism in sport.
Exemplifying this is the fact that
Richard Scudamore, chief executive
of the Barclays Premier League, was
forced to apologise last May after
private emails sent to friends and
colleagues were found to include
sexist content. And Northumberland
County Football Association official
John Cummings was sacked last year
for telling referee Lucy May that ‘a
woman’s place is in the kitchen.’
Of course, the appearance of
film that shows Carneiro and Byrne
both subjected to abuse in separate
incidents is shocking. The occurrence
of such an incident always is. But,
taking into consideration that racism
and homophobia also continue to
scar sport despite the existence of
initiatives designed to prevent such
behaviour, perhaps these incidents
should not be so surprising.
Interestingly, just two incidents of
sexist abuse were reported to antidiscrimination group Kick it Out
and Women in Football (WiF) last
season. I say ‘just’. Two incidents is
two more than it should be of course.
However, when you compare that
with this season’s figure then two is
comparatively minor. 25 match-day
incidents have been reported this
season.
More incidents are likely to
have occurred, in addition to those
that have been reported. Not that
it matters, though. Out of the 25
reported incidents this season, not
one single supporter or club has
been punished by the governing
bodies due to a lack of evidence.
So how exactly is sexism going to
be eliminated from sport when the
perpetrators of sexist abuse know
that they can realistically escape
sanctioning? It is all very well the
FA encouraging supporters to report
incidents and saying that sexist
chanting must be tackled, but the
aforementioned statistics indicate
that reporting the abuse is rather
pointless. Instead of condemning
the behaviour, it is about time
that English football’s governing
body went to greater lengths to do
something about it.
A survey conducted by Women in
Football in March last year certainly
reveals that the FA need to try harder.
54.3% of 661 female respondents felt
there is an overemphasis on the way
women look in the football workplace,
77.8% wanted a Women in Football
mentoring scheme, and 63.7% felt
that football is less accommodating
than other industries for working
mothers. Thus, women clearly need
more opportunities to get involved
in the sport.
The governing bodies of sport are
not wholly responsible however, and
it is not just football where more
needs to be done. With only 2% of
mainstream sports coverage in the
media dedicated to women, it is clear
that the major media companies
have to graft as well.
Furthermore, the amount of
money that goes into women’s
sport is miniscule by comparison
to men’s sport. A mere 0.5% of the
cash distributed in UK sport goes to
women according to the Women’s
Sport and Fitness Foundation
(WSFF).
More media coverage of female
sport would surely act as a catalyst
for a rise in sponsorship and,
conseqently, a rise in female sport.
Just imagine what extra funding
and exposure could do for what are
already very successful female sports
teams. The England rugby team won
the World Cup last summer whilst
the cricket team conquered the
World Cup in 2009 and retained the
Ashes last year.
And in the 2012 Olympics,
numerous female athletes enjoyed
emphatic
success.
Heptathlete
Jessica Ennis-Hill, cyclists Victoria
Pendleton, Laura Trott, Jo Roswell
and Dani King, rowers Helen
Glover, Heather Stanning, Katherine
Copeland, Sophie Hosking, Anna
Watkins and Katherine Grainger,
dressage competitors
Laura
Bechtolsheimer
and
Charlotte
Dujardin, boxer Nicola Adams, and
Taekwondo athlete Jade Jones all
won gold medals in London.
Yet, women are still regarded
by some delusional individuals as
incompetent when it comes to sport.
This is rather ironic because those
females who experience sexism are
by far more competent and able than
those who give out the abuse.
If only that vanishing spray used
by football referees could make sexist
attitudes disappear as quickly as the
spray itself does. For now, the level
of female success manifested above
can only escalate with more effective
initiatives, with more media coverage
and financing, and with more severe
punishment. Then there may be at
least a slight chance of obliterating
sexism from sport completely.
Pictured:
Above: John
Terry and
Chelsea
physio Dr Eva
Carneiro
Below: Sian
Massey
running
the line in a
Premier League
fixture.
“
With only 2%
of mainstream
sports
coverage in
the media
dedicated to
women, it is
clear that the
major media
companies
have to graft
as well
”
34 SPORT
Sport’s spotlight: American Football
James Lloyd talks to the captain of the American Football club, Rhys
Romo about the club’s recent success
James Lloyd
What is your role as president?
I oversee the running of the club in
general, make decisions, organise the
committee and liaise with coaches
and captains. I try and run the club.
How long have you been involved
in American Football?
I have played it for three years. It
used to be on Channel Four back in
the nineties when I used to watch
it. I’ve been playing for the Cobras
for three years and I’ll probably go
onto play senior ball once I have
graduated.
“
The form has
been great
and I couldn’t
have asked
more from my
players: they
have been
excellent.
”
Michael
Cantillon
How has this season gone so far?
Going from two losing seasons in a
row, we have come out this season
and the form has been much better.
The squad is great and has a good
mentality. We are seven and one,
only losing to Swansea, so the form
has been great and I couldn’t have
asked for more from my players: they
have been excellent.
Whilst we made mistakes, they
capitalised on them and when they
made mistakes, we didn’t come out.
We also had the pressure of playing at
home and our defence was extremely
tired in the fourth quarter as they
spent a lot of time on the field and
our offence didn’t help out enough.
Except from Swansea, who is the
team you look forward to playing?
It used to be Aberystwyth but they
are not in it anymore. I’ll say Cuda,
the Bristol Barracuda. They are
competitive and always give a good
game.
What’s the plan for Varsity?
The plan is to apply a tense training
regiment over Easter with the run
up to it being high intensity training
and gym sessions. It’s going to be
down to effort; we just need to put in
work and that will be the difference.
We need to want it more than they
do and put in the work to get it done.
Intensity is the key.
played for five years. Toby Lock
the linebacker has stepped up this
year and rookie Harry Kirkham has
also been excellent. On the offence,
rookie Billy Rowlands has taken
on board what we want to do here
and has executed everything he has
done very well with Rick Gardner,
our Quarterback, who has just come
back after his ACL injury.
In terms of American Football in
the UK, what does the future hold?
It’ll be good, it’ll be different. It’s not
much different to having an NBA
team in Canada. It would be good
to have a team here for the sport the London NFL matches are always
sold out and there is a huge fan base
here. It would beneficial for the
sport to get more people playing it.
What went wrong at the Swansea
match?
Mistakes were made. On the day
we were probably better, but they
executed things better than we did.
Who have the key players been
this season?
Robin Ford has been a standout.
He commands the defence having
How competitive is the university
American Football league?
Every three years people graduate
and leave so it goes up and down.
In previous years, it has been down
to Bath Killer Bees and the UWE
Bullets, but this year the winners
could have easily been us, Swansea,
Cuda, Exeter and UWE. We were
let down by Bath Spa and Falmouth
Billy Millard, Cardiff Blues’ elite
performance chief has stated that
the region are close to completing
decisions on potential recruitment.
The Aussie, who worked at the Blues
previously as a backs coach, stated that
he intended to meet Cardiff ’s top brass
over the coming days to iron-out and
confirm the direction to take over the
head coach role.
Last week, prominent Wales Online
journalist Andy Howell suggested
that current caretaker coaches Dale
McIntosh and Paul John have done
themselves no harm during this
interim period and could possibly be in
a position to take the job on full-time.
Last-time out in the league, the two
oversaw a quite unbelievable climax
as the Blues, some eight minutes
into added on time at the Arms Park,
managed to score a converted try
which gave them an excruciatingly
narrow 18-17 victory over Connacht.
In truth, Connacht will feel
extremely hard done by as they were far
the better side in the first half but failed
to make the most of their superiority
on the score board. The Blues were
much improved in the second period
however, but just when it seemed the
quintessential game of two halves,
Connacht went down the other end
and scored a try through man-of-thematch Aly Muldowney to seemingly
clinch victory.
The Blues pressed on though, and
after surviving a false end to the game
when touch judge Leighton Hodges
penalised Connacht after they had
re-gathered and kicked the ball dead,
Joaquin Tuculet eventually got over for
his second score of the game.
This defeat severely harms
Connacht’s chances of finishing in that
this year as they had to forfeit their
games, but other than that all the
teams in the South West division are
competitive and it is one of the most
competitive sports in the country.
What problems do you face as a
club?
As a club, the communication
between us, the AU and the
university and using the facilities
has been a problem. As a club, the
most important thing is managing
people and keeping everyone in
the same mindset - I have very high
standards in regards to the team and
it is sometimes difficult to maintain
that.
What do you expect to see from
the club in years to come?
We look to moving forward. We
have already come a long way from
last season, so we will look to get
better. We’re losing a couple of key
players this year including, Fordy,
Ayo and Rick, but that isn’t as many
as previous years. We’ll aim to keep
building the squad and keep getting
big players in to play the sport so
we can hopefully qualify for the
Premiership in the next few years.
crucial sixth spot.
Elsewhere, the Blues confirmed this
week that they are actively seeking to
resign Rhys Patchell, whose current
deal expires at the end of the season, as
well as Wales exile Alex Cuthbert, who
has already turned down one possible
renewal. In addition to this, the
rumours circulating that Jamie Roberts
will make a return to Cardiff refuse to
go away, with Roberts himself refusing
to commit either way when asked in
the Welsh camp this week. Re-signing
the best inside-centre in Europe would
be some coup.
Pictured:
Cardiff Cobras
in action
last week.
(Photographer:
Tallboy
Images)
SPORT 35
Rugby club prepare
for Varsity clash
C
Mantej Mann
“
Cardiff will
be looking to
avenge last
year’s varsity
defeat
”
Continued
from back
page
ardiff University 1st XV have
enjoyed a successful season
with their highest placed finish
in the BUCS Premier South for 3
years. Impressive home wins against
strong teams from Exeter, Hartpury
and Cardiff Met meant that Cardiff
finished in a commendable third
place, and qualified for the national
quarterfinals. Vice Captain Alun Rees
claims this marked improvement
is down to favourable conditions at
Llanrumney and a fresh impetus from
new Head Coach Louie Tonkin.
“I don’t think teams like coming to
Llanrumney. Just little things like the
small changing rooms can be quite
intimidating, and the dynamics of the
pitch suit our style of play.
“Our new coach Louie Tonkin has
bought a lot of enthusiasm to the
group, and all of the boys have worked
hard and followed his lead.”
In the quarterfinal, the team
were drawn away to Loughborough
University.
Loughborough
are
renowned for their Rugby prowess
so Cardiff were expectant of a tough
game.
“You could tell this game had an
added edge. All the boys were a little
nervous but there was a good energy
amongst the group,” said Rees.
The game was a bruising encounter
and the Cardiff men more than
held their own with a 10-12 lead
at half time as fly half Ross Preedy
kicked four penalties for the visitors.
However, the opposition increased
their intensity after the break, and
despite a stout defensive performance
for the full 80 minutes, Loughborough
ran out eventual winners 26-15. The
final score line somewhat flattered the
hosts, who scored a converted try late
in the game as Cardiff searched for a
way back.
“We were disappointed with the
result but our defence was brilliant.
They were a good team but we didn’t
do ourselves any injustice and our
desire was evident from the start,”
said Rees.
With their involvement in BUCS
now over, all attentions turn to the
next instalment of the Welsh Varsity
against fierce rivals Swansea. The
men’s rugby fixture is always the
highlight and will take place on April
22nd. The previous 3 games have
been held at the Millennium Stadium,
but 2015 sees a change of venue as
the Liberty Stadium in Swansea has
been chosen to host the event. Cardiff
will be looking to avenge last year’s
varsity defeat, and the standings for
this season are even at 1-1 as both
teams won their home fixture against
the other during the league campaign.
2015 will be Alun Rees’s second
varsity cap, and the enormity of the
occasion is evident when he reflects
on his previous experience of the
fixture. It is also special for the Cardiff
vice captain because he is originally
from Swansea and some his friends
from home will be lining up against
him on April 22nd.
“The noise at the Millennium was
nothing like I’d played in before.
We’ve already played Swansea twice
season, but those games are not the
same. Varsity is a different buzz and
the fans are responsible for making it
such a unique atmosphere,” said Rees.
“Swansea have got a lot of boys to
bring back into the team who haven’t
played a lot this year, the likes of Josh
Hammet being one. There will be
lot of Welsh Premiership players on
either side and it will come down to
who performs best on the night.
“It will be an odd experience for me
to go home and play. It will be a hostile
atmosphere for us at the Liberty,
but I’m sure the boys will enjoy it.
Obviously it will be a close game but I
think we might just edge it.”
Pictured:
Above: Last
year’s rugby
match at the
Millennium
Stadium
Below: Vincent
Tan, ahead of
Cardiff ’s game
against Wolves
in February
Cont’d: Cardiff reveal new
Bluebird-centred crest
down to the bottom. Bluebirds getting
relegated wasn’t such an uncommon
thing years ago, but what was always
common was the prominence it had
in Cardiff ’s badge.
On Monday, however, another big
change occurred as a new badge was
revealed. Flying high in the centre
of the design was the Bluebird, with
‘CARDIFF CITY FC’ emblazoned
in a style reminiscent of that written
above the old Grandstand at Ninian
Park.
There is still a dragon present
though, however, while this can still
be viewed by some as a move to
appease the owner’s values, it was
one that is now firmly in the crest’s
background.
Yes, it would appear now however,
that Welsh tradition was being given
a platform here, as a club statement
attempted to clarify: “Projecting our
Welsh heritage, the stance was taken
from the national flag, as has been
seen on our crest or shirt for a number
of years..” and “Celebrating Asianlinked culture, design and tradition
influences, we also looked to create a
dragon that could be primarily owned
and appreciated locally.”
Tradition has been reinstated.
Now, fans can get back to doing the
toughest job recently - supporting the
team. Cardiff may not have “always”
been blue, but the fans have always
been vocal and passionate, and that
can’t be denied.
Though the introduction of a new
badge will hardly be a catalyst for any
kind of upturn in City’s fortunes on
the pitch, it will definitely bring more
of a unity between owner and fans.
The supporters of the South Wales
side have shown more “Fire and
Passion” than any dragon ever could,
and have got what they wanted, and
deserved, after too long a wait.
After the disappointing and
somewhat undeserved loss against
Charlton, Bluebirds manager Russell
Slade acknowledged his side’s
tendency to dominate possession
and dictate the tempo.
Despite statistics such as those
that showed Cardiff maintaining
62% possession in the first half
against Charlton, they were unable
to capitalise on the plethora of
chances that fell to them.
This seems to be the only
consistency that Cardiff has been
able to maintain in their recent run
of games.
Slade discussed how the sides
nearer the top of the table were able
to see out games; the 15-minute
meltdown
against
Charlton
demonstrated that his side were still
not at the level that Slade and the
fans desire them to be. The longball tactics didn’t serve well for a
rather large starting striking duo
consisting of Kenwyne Jones and
Federico Macheda, both known
more for their ability to hold the
ball up rather than their speed and
quickness on the break. The same
result occurred in the recent loss
to Wolves, as Cardiff were able to
dictate the game yet failed to pounce
on any opportunities in front of
goal. In contrast, both Wolves
and Charlton barely had scoring
opportunities, but possessed a
clinical edge that the Bluebirds did
not.
However, City
fans were
optimistic about the squad’s ability
in front of goal after a midweek
thrashing of Rotherham, which
resulted in three expertly taken
goals in the first half that allowed
the Bluebirds to cruise to a well
deserved victory. While Slade
continued to rely on his side
dominating possession once again
in this win, it should be noted that
Rotherham are struggling this
season and are firmly entrenched in
a relegation battle.
Cardiff need to shake up their
tactics. It is obvious that while
City are able to achieve these wins,
with majority of possession against
sides lower down in the table, it just
isn’t working against those that are
significantly stronger.
Jack Boyce
SPORT
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Tan-sformation complete for City fans
The re-introduction of the bluebird signals the end of Vincent
Tan’s attempted rebrand of Cardiff City
Dan Heard
“W
e’ll always be blue!
We’ll always be blue!
We’re Cardiff City,
we’ll always be blue”. So the chant rang
out around the Cardiff City Stadium
at practically every home game this
season. And the season before that.
And the season before that. In fact,
that has been the battle cry almost
of Bluebirds’ fans ever since the
decision was taken to rebrand the
Cardiff Devils win Challenge Cup
P35>>
club, changing the kit colours from
blue to red. So, on 19 minutes and
27 seconds, (City fans will know the
significance of this, and for those
of you who don’t, 1927 was the year
Fred Keenor and co. lifted the FA
Cup, and carried it back to Wales) the
monotonous, repetitive call would
rebound around the stands. From
nearly every man, woman and child,
many clad in replica blue strips from
years gone by, directed this at owner
Vincent Tan and it appeared that
these cries fell on deaf ears: until the
10th of January 2015.
After nearly four years of red
shirts and even redder faces, Cardiff
City took to the field against Fulham
wearing blue. Two weeks ago, Mr
Tan himself appeared once again,
attending his first match since City’s
final Premier League game against
Sport’s pitch: Sexism towards staff
P33>>
Chelsea (a team who haven’t done
too badly in blue), even going as
far as wearing another replica kit
again- but this time, it was blue. No
matter that City lost and slid further
down the table. No, that is a different
matter for another time. What really
made some fans feel the wrong kind
of blue, was the badge. It still had the
Welsh Dragon prominent on it, with
the beloved Bluebird relegated back
Continued on
page 35
Sport’s spotlight: American football
P34>>