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Transcript of QMessenger 14
QMessenger06 Oct ‘09 • Issue 14 • FREE
EditorsEditor: Sam [email protected]: Sam [email protected]:Bradley [email protected] & Environment:Richard [email protected] [email protected]:Gitika Bhardwaj & Rebecca [email protected]:Alex [email protected]
FREE! Pick up your FREE copy of QMessenger from any of the QMSU outlets. These include QMotion and Drapersbar, Ground Coffee Shop, The Blom-eley Centre, and The Village Shop. You can also grab a copy from the library.
Continued page 5...
Sam Creighton
FILM:
Dorian Gray, Fish
Tank + more!
ENIVRONMENT:
QMUL welcome bees to The Hive
The NUS has issued urgent calls
for politicians to shore up the UK’s
higher education system after a
report has shown it plummeting
down the world rankings.
The research published by the Or-
ganisation for Economic Cooper-
ation and Development (OECD)
placed the UK 14th out of 27 in a
list of developed countries showing
the number of school leavers achiev-
ing a degree in 2007. This placed it
below countries such as Poland and
the Slovak Republic. Even more wor-
rying, the report released figures
showing the number of young peo-
ple in the UK who are enrolled in
neither education or employment is
four times that of France and twice
that of the US.
The 39% of UK school leavers
who went on to get a degree in 2007
is actually up 2% since the last OECD
report in 2000 where the UK came in
at joint third, but since then British
education has been outstripped. An-
alysts are warning England, Wales,
Scotland and Northern Ireland that it
is their lack of “dynamism” that has
seen them slip down the tables.
Continuing practices of sexual
discrimination are also highlighted.
While the average male graduate in a
western country can expect to earn
£113,000 more across their lifetime
than a non-graduate, their female
counterparts can only hope to earn
£81,000 more than someone leav-
ing education at 16. The findings
also report that the comparative in-
crease in income a UK graduate can
expect has been falling.
Wes Streeting, NUS President,
said of the findings “In spite of the
successful expansion of higher edu-
cation during the past decade, fur-
ther expansion is required for the
long-term social and economic good
SPORT:
Freshers Crew win
team of the month
GAMES:
Suduko and
crossword
Page 10 Page 9
Page 7Page 11
UK’s higher education system plummets in world rankings
Radical over-haul of HE funding systemNews: p3
2 News06/10/2009
Got a news [email protected]
News in BriefCLUb - SoCIETy SCUFFLE
A small ruckus erupted in Drapers last
Thursday between some members of
the KEG society and the rugby team.
It allegedly kicked off when a small
number of rugby players decided to
hide the shirts of the KEG society af-
ter they disrobed during a society so-
cial event. Bystanders tried to quell the
altercation but it had escalated to such
an extent that several members of both
groups were ejected from the venue.
There are also reports that the dispute
spilled outside with a physical confron-
tation erupting between a rugby player,
who does not wish to be named, and a
member of the KEG society. The situa-
tion has since been calmly resolved.
NEW PRINCIPAL TAKES REIGNS
Last Thursday saw a changing of hands
of the reigns of our university with Pro-
fessor Simon Gaskell taking over as Prin-
cipal. Formerly Vice President for Re-
search at the University of Manchester
he is a leading mind in the field of mass
spectrometry for the biomedical scienc-
es. He is replacing Philip Ogden who
has been acting principal since Adri-
an Roberts stepped down from the po-
sition in 2008. Gaskell’s academic ca-
reer has seen him work at institutions
in both the US and UK and, according to
Sir Nicholas Montague, chairman-elect
of QM council, this experience will “en-
able him to build on the colleges suc-
cesses and strengthen our position as
one of the UK’s leading institutions”.
The change comes after the success of
QM in the RAE over the last two years
and Gaskell says he “feels both excit-
ed and privileged” to be joining such a
“prestigious” institution.
QMSU.oRG RELAUNCh
Queen Mary Students’ Union is finally
providing the cyberspace representa-
tion we’ve all been waiting for as this
week we celebrate the rejuvenation of
the ailing QMSU website. Previous in-
carnations of the university’s favourite
web space have been marred by un-
available slide-out menu bars, a sense-
less layout and an overwhelming lack
of useful information. Thankfully this
‘Milton Keynes’ of a web page and the
navigation problems therein has been
casually bulldozed aside to make way
for the virtual monument of warm neon
colours and seductive typeface we see
today. The new site boasts a host of
handy links including events and club
night information to much needed con-
tact details for all those clubs and soci-
eties you forgot to sign up to at Fresh-
er’s Fair. Log on and get yourself in the
know at: http://www.qmsu.org/
A scheme that rewards extra marks
to university students who regularly
attend classes is being introduced
across the country in a bid to im-
prove grades and to get students
back into lectures.
The idea, which has received
mixed reviews since it was rolled
out in 2007, has recently been
stepped up in what has been de-
scribed as a desperate attempt to
prevent students dropping out of
education.
Although low attendance in
lecture halls is no new phenome-
non, the recent concern has been
sparked by speculation that modern
school leavers who are under-qual-
ified and low-skilled are feeling the
pressure to make the grades in uni-
versity. By awarding marks based
purely on attendance in seminars
and lectures, academics hope it will
act as an incentive to students to
attend classes thereby improving
their overall learning experience.
However, the scheme has re-
ceived criticism with some argu-
ing that it is little more than a
safeguarding system for univer-
sity funding. Although it may act
to improve grades, it will also se-
cure funding by ensuring students
don’t drop out as a result of poor
grades. Other critics have argued
that by artificially improving stu-
dents’ degrees, the process will ef-
fectively undermine the ethic of
hard work and the true value of the
final grade.
One such critic of the scheme
is Professor Frank Furedi of Kent
University. He describes the poli-
cy as “bribery”. He explained in the
Times Higher Education supple-
ment: “The real problem with re-
warding time keeping is that it im-
plicitly devalues the work and effort
made by students who are genuine-
ly interested in regarding the semi-
nar room as a place of intellectual
engagement rather than as a drop-
in centre.”
At institutions including Glas-
gow University, Northampton Uni-
versity and the Heriot- Watt Univer-
sity in Edinburgh, ten percent of
final marks in selected courses are
based purely upon attendance. In
the English department of the Kent
University, students can a gain 5
percent mark-up simply for show-
ing up.
The strategy has been defend-
ed by some who insist the ‘marks
for attendance’ system will be ben-
eficial. A spokesperson for Glas-
gow University explained to the
Times Online the need for introduc-
ing the scheme, explaining its pur-
pose was “to encourage a culture
of attendance among new students
unaccustomed to the amount of re-
sponsibility for their studies that
university places on them”.
Head of the School of European
Culture and Languages at Kent Uni-
versity, Laurence Goldstein, said: “If
a bit of coercion awakens them to
the joys of learning, then it is prob-
ably justified.”
And just went you thought lec-
tures couldn’t get any better...
Nikki Lynch
Extra marks for turning up
And the award goes to...
Queen Mary has been nominated for
an outstanding five awards at this
year’s Times Higher Education Sup-
plement Awards.
Judges have shortlisted the uni-
versity for some of the toughest and
most prestigious categories, includ-
ing ‘University of the Year’.
The university jumped eight
places to be ranked 30 in The Sun-
day Times University league tables,
excelling in the area of graduate
prospects once completing a de-
gree.
Furthermore, Queen Mary is
now ranked in the top eight in sub-
jects such as English, beating off
stiff opposition from universities
such as Bristol and St. Andrews.
The university has been short-
listed in the category of ‘Most Im-
proved Student Experience’, based
on anonymous student feedback.
This is no doubt the return on the
heavy investment Queen Mary has
put into improving facilities for stu-
dents across the entire campus.
The university is also one of the
first to be nominated for the ‘Seren-
dipity Award’, sponsored by the Re-
search Council. Professor John Stark
from the School of Engineering and
Materials Science has been nominat-
ed for the award in recognition of
entrepreneurial spirit promoted in
the university.
In addition, Dr Paul Curzon
of the School of Electronic Engi-
neering and Computer Science has
been nominated for ‘Most Innova-
tive Teacher of the Year’. Dr Curzon
is currently part of a major new re-
search project called CHI+MED, with
the aim to improve the usability and
safety of interactive medical devic-
es.
Lastly, Dr Kairbaan Hodivala-Dil-
ke from the Institute of Cancer has
been nominated for ‘Research Proj-
ect of the Year’. Dr Hodivala-Dilke is
a leading researcher in angiogene-
sis, the process of how new blood
vessels form. All cancers rely on new
blood vessels to supply the tumour
cells, so discovering different ways
to block angiogenesis is the first
step on the road to developing new
cancer drugs.
The winners will be announced
at the awards evening on 15th Oc-
tober 2009.
Philip Keech
Queen Mary has made the shortlist for University of the Year in the Times Higher Education awards for 2009
3News06/10/2009
Got a news [email protected]
The President
Well, term has started and the
campus is vibrant and exciting,
this is my personal favourite time
of year, and I’m always upset
as the year goes on, the weath-
er gets colder, people stop talk-
ing to each other as much and
it gets really quiet. So that be-
ing said it is one of my main pri-
orities to try and keep this love-
ly vibrant atmosphere for as long
as possible. I’m going to try and
have more outdoor events, in par-
ticular the music events on the
stage outside the curve which I
think gives our beautiful campus
such a buzz. I would urge you all
to keep that positive, friendly, vi-
brant and lovely atmosphere on
campus by sticking around after
lectures for a few hours before
rushing back home or to your
rooms, and just hang out for a bit
and meet new people, lets push
our shyness aside for a bit and
not be afraid to walk up to peo-
ple and introduce ourselves, what
has the world come to when we
are afraid of perfectly normal so-
cial engagements with people we
don’t know?
Perhaps subconsciously we
are all still programmed to ‘not
talk to strangers’, but around
campus we aren’t strangers! We
are colleagues and fellow stu-
dents of higher learning so let’s
re-programme our minds to be
more warm, friendly and inclusive
of one another. We have such an
amazing campus lets use it to the
max!
Lets also remember we have
students from over 100 countries
studying here at QM, imagine the
amount of knowledge that you
could acquire through just speak-
ing to a quarter of these students,
about culture and life style! What
an opportunity!
Back to our beautiful cam-
pus, though, my personal favou-
rite spots are the library square
and the space outside the curve,
there always the most lively plac-
es on campus, and if you want
a more scenic quieter chill out,
then use the space behind France
House (the green building), the
canal and park can sometimes be
really beautiful.
Nasir Tarmann
Uni funding cuts proposed
Earlier this month Peter Mandelson
proposed, on behalf of his Depart-
ment of Business, Innovation and
Skills, a radical overhaul of univer-
sity funding in all aspects of the
country’s university system as part
of the government’s current at-
tempt to cut public spending. In
this proposal Lord Mandelson aims
to remove funding for overlapping
courses and bureaucracy as well as
changing funding to focus on more
‘economically viable’ degree cours-
es through the Higher Education
Funding Council for England.
According to Lord Mandelson
this will be “a comprehensive review
of the role played by national lev-
el institutions – such as Hefce, the
Skills Funding Agency, the Research
Councils and Technology Strate-
gy Board – and their relationship
to central government will have
the aim of cutting out overlapping
bureaucracy and duplicated pro-
grammes.” As a result of this para-
digm shift in the fundamental mode
of distributing university funding
could potentially see the humani-
ties suffering due to universities be-
ing forced to focus more on the sci-
ences and technical courses as well
as creating an even more noticeable
gap between the stronger universi-
ties and those lower down on the
league tables which will be unable
to compete for funding.
This is a concern not only to
me as a humanities student but
also due to the fact that this could
create a university system where
universities and students them-
selves are deprived of choice as uni-
versities are forced to tailor them-
selves to a government image or
face losing funding threatening ac-
ademic freedom as David Willetts,
the shadow universities secretary,
pointed out. Although in this time
of economic hardship funding cuts
for universities are inevitable the
current proposals are a radical shift
from the labour government’s pre-
vious policy of equality in univer-
sities and would create a far more
elitist university system than al-
ready exists in England today.
Edward Martin
Universities may lose students to Scandinavia
At least 4,200 degree courses are
now taught only in English in Euro-
pean countries outside the UK and
Ireland, a study by the Academic
Co-operation Association found last
year. Almost all of these courses are
based in the Netherlands or Scandi-
navia.
Anders Flodström, the univer-
sity chancellor of Sweden, predicts
that all university-level education
will be delivered in English in Swe-
den within the next 10 to 15 years.
With Sweden offering free high-
er education to all, including interna-
tional students, the UK government
seem indifferent when it comes to
studying alongside our Viking coun-
terparts. A spokeswoman for the
Department of Business, Innovation
and Skills has said “We know that
more European countries are now
offering courses in the English lan-
guage, and we recognise the cultur-
al and economic benefits that study-
ing abroad can bring. Students who
study in other countries can gain an
important understanding of other
cultures and languages, as well as
gaining skills that make them an as-
set to the UK on their return”.
Others however, are more anx-
ious. The switch to English-taught
degrees in Scandinavia and the Neth-
erlands puts UK higher education
“on its metal”, says Dominic Scott,
chief executive of the UK Coun-
cil for International Student Affairs.
Now that more than 25 countries of-
fer degrees in English, Mr Scott feels
that “We can no longer see the fact
that our degrees are taught in Eng-
lish as our unique selling point.”
Even so, Scott says, Scandina-
vian and Dutch universities are cur-
rently only seen as the third layer
of competition, after universities in
countries where English is the native
language and those in China and In-
dia. We can be comforted by the fact
that “the UK is a long way ahead in
terms of our years of experience in
designing courses for a global stu-
dent community,” he says. “Just be-
cause these Scandinavian univer-
sities are switching to teaching in
English, it doesn’t mean that they
have the infrastructure to deal with
students from all over the world.”
Matthew Gordon
Lord Mandelson has proposed cutting government funding of education
4 News06/10/2009
Got a news [email protected]
Well, it’s been a very busy time for Provide and its projects over
the last fortnight – with Freshers Fair and various information
sessions for charities and projects. Not to worry if you wanted
to come along and couldn’t make it, or you are now interested
in volunteering – its not too late! Check out www.providevolun-
teering.org for the ways in which you can get involved and reg-
ister as a volunteer.
We have some one-off volunteering coming up including:
Royal Parks Half Marathon- Sunday 11th October, 7.30am-1.30pm
Thousands of runners will be completing the 13.1 mile course
across 4 of London’s Royal parks. Provide volunteering will be
based on a water station at Hyde Park where we will be giving
out Lucozade and water to the runners and cheering them on!
If you would like to find out more or apply for this opportuni-
ty, please register as a volunteer on www.providevolunteering.
org, and search for ‘Royal Parks’ in the search box at the top
of the website.
Hope to see you there!
The CBI higher education taskforce
has struck a proposal about the fund-
ing of higher education. The controver-
sial suggestion, which involves increas-
ing tuition fees and taxes on student
loans as well as subsiding maintenance
grants altogether, has lifted the lid of a
Pandora’s Box, leaving various political
parties and The National Union of Stu-
dents fierily at each other’s throats.
For some in support of the CBI’s
claims, Britain’s tertiary education sec-
tor is a comical joke. With more and
more students applying for and gradu-
ating from, university then was the case
20 years ago; this is an issue of particu-
lar importance. As the current econom-
ic climate is head in deep in recession,
universities have been left bulging with
more students then ever before and
as a consequence of this, the funding
available per student is depleting. Not
least of all, thousands upon thousands
of students have been left stranded,
having been rejected from numerous
universities.
The Government itself has pushed
for the introduction of a plethora of job
seeker schemes, traineeships and in-
ternships to be available for the stu-
dents who have been left with no
university place, or on the contrary de-
cided that all of the current hassle,
what with proposed increases in tuition
fees and higher-taxed loans, really isn’t
worth it.
However what those of the sup-
porting public fail to realise is that this
could be a potentially dangerous situ-
ation; according to some analysts, ex-
pansion means progress and so the
Government’s successful attempts to
rocket the number of young people at-
tending university from the 14% that
it was some 15 years ago, to a figure
over 40% should be seen as nothing
less of a major accomplishment, espe-
cially as this indicates economic growth
and deals with raising the bar on ex-
pectations concerning the young popu-
lation. But the critics still circle hungrily
and believe that more is not necessar-
ily better.
As it is, we are in an era of no mon-
ey and all the major parties do agree
that spending should be cut, but sure-
ly is Higher education the prime area
for scrutiny? The rise in higher educa-
tion students has indeed reduced aver-
age expenditure per student and with
the serious gulf between state school
and private school education widening
(and therefore the ambitious students
of poorer backgrounds suffering) is this
really the best way forward?
Well for the moment the Govern-
ment feel that an increase in student
numbers is pivotal for economic de-
velopment but at the same time wish
to keep Britain’s highly-respected aca-
demic status in the world. It is certain-
ly a tricky one, and arguments for and
against pose interesting arguments,
but as a student I am obliged to con-
demning the figures proposed as the
“real” fees for university education, be-
ing something rivalling the amount
non-EU students pay, especially as I my-
self am from an under-privileged back-
ground and also face the lofty claims to
scrap Maintenance grants altogether.
It follows then, that the CBI is wrong to
recommend (as a buffer to the poten-
tial implications of scraping the Main-
tenance Grant system altogether) that
the level of family earnings at which
students qualify for full-maintenance
grants be reduced from £25, 000. This
would only fuel the earlier mentioned
gulf that separates students from poor-
er and wealthier backgrounds and will
do nothing noble for the aspiring and
talented students from such deprived
backgrounds prevalent across the
country.
But I’ll leave it up to you as it is in-
evitable that we will relate to the situ-
ation in very different ways no doubt.
But the question begs; is education a
right or a privilege? Have your say and
join the debate.
HE funding taskforceGitika bhardwaj
The debate on higher education funding rages on with the CBI HE Taskforce suggesting higher fees and taxes on loans
5News06/10/2009
Got a news [email protected]
After three and a half months of do-
ing a tremendous amount of noth-
ing, and despite the jet lag, I am pret-
ty ready to return to the salt mines
and do some learning at UCSC. Oh,
wait...there’s a strike.
Earlier this week, on the first
day of teaching at the University of
California Santa Cruz, I woke up a
scab. I had apparently crossed the
picket line in my sleep. (Apologies
to my fellow comrade students and
teachers at UCSC!).
Despite moaning earlier this
week that the University of Califor-
nia is more bolshy than Bob Crow,
the git behind the tube strikes, I
found out that the lecturers are en-
tirely justifed in their actions.
I went down to check out the
picket line and to find out what all
the commotion was about.
With scores of Toyota Priuses
all parked up like an environmen-
tally wagon circle, I found various
union members and lecturers mak-
ing speeches using a microphone
attached to a generator powered by
some poor soul on a bicycle in the
baking afternoon sun. (This sort of
greeny thing has become the insti-
gator for the phrase ‘that’s so San-
ta Cruz’). Here I learnt the predica-
ment that the students and staff of
the University of California were in.
Essentially, the state is broke.
This deficit has fallen hard on the
university, and because the univer-
sity’s main income source is now
private, this means that it has fall-
en hard on the students. There were
several tuition fee hikes over the
summer and there are plans to raise
them to $20,000. Professor Mas-
soud, a lecturer in politics in Santa
Cruz, has warned that, “If the uni-
versity would want to return to the
standards of 2001, then they would
have to charge 27,000 per student.”
Though the UK government’s
Department of Innovation, Universi-
ties and Skills is in no great finan-
cial shape and we are constantly un-
der the shadow of potential tuition
fee hikes, from doubling it, mak-
ing each university charge what they
like or some sort of graduate tax.
We complain about our tuition fees,
but i guess the predicament that
Californian students puts it into per-
spective of how bad it really could
could be.
What’s going on in America?QM’s Nick Thomson reports from across the Atlantic
of the country. In light of this report,
the Government’s restriction on stu-
dent numbers looks even more
short-sighted. We understand the
pressures on public finances, but
the Government would do well to
seek savings in other areas of pub-
lic expenditure rather than rationing
educational opportunity.” He fears
that the governments current course
will “condemn an entire generation
of young people to long-term unem-
ployment”.
The criticism comes after a dif-
ficult summer for UK higher institu-
tions as the number of students ap-
plying for university rose by 60,000
but the government only provided
funding for an extra 13,000 places.
Andreas Schleicher, senior analyst at
the OECD’s education division, says
that this discrepancy highlights the
governments policy to slow univer-
sity growth, which weakens the UK’s
chances of recovering quickly from
the global recession.
The report also cites the UK’s
policy of charging foreign students
large tuition fees as a reason for its
poor showing in the rankings, say-
ing it is forcing international stu-
dents to apply elsewhere. Sally Hunt,
general secretaty of the Universi-
ty and College Unions says “These
figures make very disturbing read-
ing...we simply cannot afford to be
left behind when it comes to fund-
ing our universities, yet we are in-
vesting considerably less of our GDP
than competitor countries.”
David Lammy, the Higher Edu-
cation Minister, feels that the nega-
tive aspects of the report are being
over-exaggerated and is quick to re-
mind the public that over 2.8 mil-
lion students are enrolled in UK uni-
versities and that, after the US, they
attract more international students
that any other country.
...Continued from front page
Guardian reporter Patrick Collin-
son made an interesting point in
his column this month: Freshers
Week is an “exercise in consum-
erism”. QMessenger took note of
this and decided to investigate the
extent to which this holds true.
On the surface of things it ap-
pears that Mr Collinson could have
a credible point. Freshers Fair in
particular is notorious for attract-
ing swathes of random intuitions
that clear an area of the rainforest
the size of Wales just to produce
enough paper for their yearly “stuff
a student with fliers” campaigns.
In consideration of the fact that
the vast majority of these fliers go
straight from rainforest to distribu-
tor to bin without passing a hall of
residence door, one could be for-
given for having some misgivings.
But are these distributors of fliers
all that unreasonable? Maybe, but at
the end of the day most of them are
advertising either club nights or in-
surance which we all attend, enjoy
or purchase anyway so “meh” is this
reporters official position.
Mr Collinson goes on to at-
tack Nottingham Univeristy for en-
couraging students to suck their
parents savings dry to indulge in a
week of reckless hedonism. Since
Mr Collingwood went to press it ap-
pears to be the case that Notting-
ham have since altered the areas
of their website which lead this im-
pression thus implying it was not
quite the image they intended to
portray. In defence of Nottingham
their range of activities does appear
to make a good effort in represent-
ing a wide range of student tastes
outside of the corporate sponsored
club nights etc so perhaps the sto-
ry there is a little tamer than The
Guardian suggests.
While a week of drunken con-
sumerist hedonism is certainly an
option at QM with various club
nights organised it is certainly not
the sole path freshers can take
with other event such as comedy
nights being just as actively pro-
moted. Students at Aberdeen uni-
versity have taken things a step
further offering an “insight into Ab-
erdeen’s more subversive side, of-
fering new and existing student’s
an alternative to the same drab
commercialism of freshers’ weeks
past” organised unofficially by
those seeking to stand out from
the consumerist crowd or “Fresh-
ers franchise” as they refer to it.
In contrast, students at QM offer a
largely indifferent response to the
pressures of freshers consumer-
ism claiming “Yes it’s an elongat-
ed excuse to get drunk, Howev-
er, it’s a good social week, So does
break down boundaries for people
who have to live with each other for
years. So i think it’s a good idea.
Just maybe sometimes excessive”.
Perhaps an obvious point to make
is that freshers fair did indeed set
aside several stalls to outside com-
panies wanting to sell us pizza in-
surance and the like. Predictably, a
representative of the student union
argues that the money these organ-
isations pay does in fact go some
way to subsidising the costs of the
freshers fair event as a whole.
Overall, it appears that there
is no easy method of assessing
whether freshers week is consumer-
ist or merely pragmatic.
British HE plummeting in world rankings
Capitalists corrupt freshersJames McMillan
HE Minister David Lammy claims problems are not as bad as they seem
606/10/2009
Queen Mary’s fortnightly student newspaper.
QMessenger
7QMessenger06/10/2009
Queen Mary’s fortnightly student newspaper.
Freshers Fortnight in pictures...
8 Comment06/10/2009
Got a comment to [email protected]
Tom Maltby
Student CommentGot something to say? Email [email protected]
Returning from the Liberal Dem-
ocrats’ party conference in
Bournemouth, my flatmates com-
pelled me to watch an episode of
Mock the Week they had recorded.
OK, I said, plodding towards the TV
with a fixed grin and a feeling of res-
ignation.
Cards on the table. Not only do
I vote Liberal Democrat and hold an
appropriately yellow party card, but
I work for the (Lib Dem) Member of
Parliament for Richmond Park. So
when David Mitchell suggested that
the Lib Dems are “unpatriotic,” be-
cause the good ideas we put for-
ward have to be ignored by the two
“real” parties, he tarnished me with
the same brush. Ditto, when Rus-
sell Howard likened Vince Cable to
an impotent, voyeuristic grandfa-
ther, because he will never be able
to put his ideas into practice. As
light hearted as the jibes may be,
they are symptomatic of a deeper
accusation: that we are at best irrel-
evant and at worst a nuisance.
The Liberal Democrats opposed
the Iraq war, warned against the ir-
responsible lending that led to the
financial crisis, campaigned for the
environment long before doing so
became trendy, and have fought
tirelessly and consistently to pro-
tect civil liberties. Despite Mitchell’s
quip, our ideas often find their way
into Labour and Tory manifestos (al-
beit without being adequately imple-
mented).
Let’s review the field. We are
presented with a red team that,
whilst ostensibly left-wing, still pre-
sides over child poverty, public ser-
vices that don’t work well enough
for those who rely on them the most,
an authoritarian state and a for-
eign policy based on bilateral pos-
turing rather than international law.
They demand that students pay for
their education and then don’t cre-
ate enough places at university (and
that’s before we consider the recent
farce with student loans). Contrari-
wise, the blue team offers a callous
indifference to human suffering, re-
pugnant social policies and a dan-
gerous antipathy towards our conti-
nental neighbours. They would pay
heterosexuals to marry and think
the state should have stood idly by
when the economy
imploded and un-
employment skyrock-
eted.
I haven’t discussed
the confer-
ence itself;
there were
the many bril-
liant seminars
and a few inspir-
ing speeches. I could
even write about the spectacle of
Paddy Ashdown on stage in his shirt
sleeves, holding a pint of Guinness
and making fart noises into a micro-
phone. By doing so I would fail to
address the elephant in the room;
the assertion that we don’t matter.
Few are Liberal Democrats by
default. Many Tory and Labour sup-
porters blindly copy their parents’
political allegiance or indulge in faux
class war- fare. Being a
Lib Dem is first down to principles.
We take as given that civil liberties
are inalienable, climate change is
the biggest challenge faced by our
generation and international law is
a fact rather than an inconvenience.
We defend people’s right to lead
their personal lives free of state in-
terference and believe that equality
of opportunity must be absolute.
We should not settle for any
less. Britain deserves better than
red versus blue.
The Liberal Democrats Do MatterGeorge McFarlane
Global warming is increasingly seen
as the most serious issue facing hu-
manity. Yet with most of the power
in the hands of big governments and
corporations, how much of a differ-
ence can we really make?
In international politics, the lat-
est news has come from the UN sum-
mit in New York. This was called
to try to build momentum towards
achieving a new deal on cutting
emissions at the UN climate change
summit in Copenhagen in Decem-
ber. As UN secretary general, Ban
Ki-Moon has said, “China and the US
will be the two key countries.” Both
are jointly responsible for 40% of the
world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The two countries have shown pos-
itive signs, with Barack Obama in-
sisting that the US commits to a new
global treaty and Chinese President,
Hu Jintao declaring that his country
would generate 15% of its energy
needs from renewable sources with-
in a decade.
It is hard to imagine Obama
travelling to Denmark and signing a
comprehensive pact without ac-
tion having first been taken
in the Senate, which
is currently focused on
the President’s contro-
versial healthcare pro-
posals. China, more-
over, is urbanising
rapidly, with its CO2
emissions from fos-
sil fuels soaring by
129% between 1990
and 2005. The de-
sire of developing
countries to indus-
trialise has been
one of the largest
obstacles to reduc-
ing emissions. In
this light, Gordon
Brown has pro-
posed a $100bn-
a-year (£61bn)
payment by
2020 from in-
d u s t r i a l i z e d
to develop-
ing countries
to combat cli-
mate change
and it
seems that a substan- t i a l
amount of money will have to be in-
volved.
What can individuals do? Cli-
mate change has gained huge prom-
inence in the public consciousness,
yet there is still a
gulf between this and the actions of
political leaders. Even French Pres-
ident, Nicolas Sarkozy has declared
that we must “transcend the role
playing, the emp-
ty speeches,
and the pet-
ty diplomat-
ic games.”
There are obvious
ways in which we can make a differ-
ence such as recycling, taking pub-
lic transport, veganism, better insu-
lation of your home, and so on. It
is, however, important that such life-
style changes aren’t adopted merely
through routine. As a species, the
mechanical-social systems we have
put in place have dissociated
people from spiritual self-real-
ization, in conflict with truths
expostulated by serious-mind-
ed thinkers from the Buddha to
D.H. Lawrence: “my individual-
ism is really an illusion. I am part
of the great whole [cosmos], and
I can never escape. But I can deny
my connections, break them, and
become a fragment. Then I am
wretched.”
As the problems exacer-
bate, humanity’s response will be
shaped by the level of self-realiza-
tion amongst individuals. Society
will have to adapt, either within the
existing mechanical and materialis-
tic society, towards authoritarian-
ism and the submission of humans
to increasingly lifeless, if more eco-
friendly routines, or we will build a
more progressive one of fully con-
scious human beings, living harmo-
niously with the world around us.
Queen Mary Autonomous Group
and ‘Green Mary’ are organising an
environmental forum on campus
on 27th October with speakers from
groups such as CCC and UKYCC.
What Can Humans Do For the Environment?
906/10/2009
Got a [email protected] & Environment
Did you know...
QM Environment
The Science Minister has offered
to begin investigations into cases
of scientists who believe they have
been misrepresented in the press.
The move came as Lord Drayson
aims to spur scientists towards
“greater public engagement.” He
further argued, to an audience at
the Royal Institution last week, that
science journalism has improved
significantly over the past 10 years
as specialist journalists were now
given the reins over science report-
ing. He commended the state of
modern media, which had moved
on from “scare stories” and now de-
served commendation for top-qual-
ity coverage of science issues. He
further went on to appeal to scien-
tists to contact him about cases re-
lated to misrepresentation.
However, Lord Drayson’s
claims were attacked by his oppo-
nent Dr Goldacre, who maintained
that scientists were in fact right to
be cautious of engaging with the
press. He encouraged scientists to
communicate with the wider world
through more direct mediums=2C
such as blogs.Speaking to the same
audience, Dr Goldacre said “the era
of scare stories and bad journalism
isn’t over” and that misrepresenta-
tive reporting of science “remains a
problem we need to talk about.”
Professor Andrew Lister, who is
Centre Lead for Medical Oncolo-
gy at Barts and The London Medi-
cal School, has been internationally
recognised with this year, Hamilton-
Fairley Award for a lifetime, achieve-
ments in clinical research and sci-
ence.
Professor Lister’s research has
contributed to a variety of medical
fields, namely improving the out-
come for patients with cancers of
the blood. The Centre for Medical
Oncology that he directs is one of
the country’s leading centres for re-
search into lymphoma and leukae-
mia. On receiving the award, Pro-
fessor Lister said, “I am delighted to
accept it on behalf of the team sup-
ported by Cancer Research UK in the
Medical Oncology Unit at Barts and
The London School of Medicine and
Dentistry. The award carries a spe-
cial significance for Professor List-
er and Gordon Hamilton-Fairley, as
both his mentor and role model.
Queen Mary, as a member of
the 1994 Group of research-focused
universities, has made a strategic
commitment to the highest quality
of research, but also to the best pos-
sible educational, cultural and social
experience for its students.
Leading expert Professor Jack Cuz-
ick, from the Wolfson Institute at
the Barts and The London Medical
School, has said that cervical cancer
could be eradicated within five de-
cades by screening and vaccination
programmes.
Calling on European govern-
ments to help eradicate this dis-
ease, Professor Cuzick claimed
that currently vaccines exist which
have the potential to protect wom-
en against two strains of the Hu-
man Papilloma Virus that causes
this type of cancer. These vaccines
alone had the potential to eradicate
a further three quarters of cancers.
However, new vaccines in de-
velopment will be effective against
all nine strains of the virus, which
raises the prospect of wiping out
the disease completely within five
decades. If they are successful
there should be no need to screen
women that have been vaccinated
at all. Professor Cuzick told a Euro-
pean cancer conference in Berlin,
“That’s the long term future: vac-
cination and no screening. After
about 50 years we could see cervi-
cal cancer disappearing.”
The news comes as the death
of a 14-year-old girl who died fol-
lowing a cervical cancer vaccine at
school is widely reported in the me-
dia. Natalie Mort on died in hospi-
tal on Monday 28th September after
receiving the jab at her school. Ac-
cording to experts, there have been
suspected reaction’s to Cervarix
from more than 1.4m doses. The
batch of the vaccine used has been
put into quarantine as a precaution-
ary measure.
Final year student Emma Hyner
said “I think that given the recent
worries it should be taken with cau-
tion but any developments that
help towards fighting cervical can-
cer should be at the forefront of
medical interest. If the current vac-
cine is ineffective or causes side ef-
fects then this new one may be ex-
tremely relevant.”
For the time being, accord-
ing to Professor Cuzick, vaccinated
women would still require screen-
ing for the rest of their lives as the
vaccine was not effective in wom-
en who had already been exposed
to the virus. He placed further em-
phasis on the importance of replac-
ing the traditional smear test which
looks for abnormal cervical cells
with automated screening for the
HPV.
nUK Scientists at the Met Office have
suggested that the global average
temperature could rise by 4C (7.2F)
as early as 2060. Good news for cur-
rent QM students who can look for-
ward to a sunny UK retirement. Bad
news for Penguins.
nNasa’s Messenger probe is about
to enter its third and last fly-by of
the planet Mercury. Passing just
228km from the surface the probe
will make use of the planet’s grav-
ity to decelerate enough to enter
into orbit in 2011. The time of the
closest approach will be 21.55 GMT
on Tuesday 29th September and as
the spacecraft and its antenna will
be turned away from the Earth dur-
ing the observations, the first data
is not expected to reach earth until
several hours later.
nResearchers at the University of
Oxford, in collaboration with teams
across the country including here in
London, have begun the first trial
of Britain’s two swine flu vaccines.
Both are expected to be licensed in
the next few weeks and QM students
could be looking forward to immuni-
zation within the year. (The new vac-
cine, however, is unlikely to success-
fully immunise individuals against
the popular Fresher’s or Man strains
of the virus)
“If the bee disappears from the sur-
face of the earth, man would have
no more than four years to live. No
more bees, no more pollination ….
No more men!” wether it is true that
Albert Einstein said this or not, it is
certainly a phrase known among the
scientists of today.
Bees are dying across the world
at an alarming rate, entire popula-
tions have simply vanished in a con-
dition known as colony collapse
disorder (CCD). Karen Mace, Head
Gardener at Queen Mary proposed
introducing a functioning Beehive
on campus and has the backing of
Hassan Falahat, Senior Project Man-
ager responsible for ‘the hive’ proj-
ect, John Elam, Environmental and
Energy Manager and Jake Scott, En-
vironmental Manager/Champion.
We now have a functioning hive on
campus and they are looking to in-
troduce more.
The population of honeybees in
the UK and throughout the world is
suffering a severe decline which is
turning into a crisis. A combination
of negative effects has contributed
to breaking a vital link in the ecosys-
tem that could threaten more than
just the production of honey.
The group study area known
as ‘The Hive’ in the catering build-
ing overlooks a small secluded gar-
den space deemed to be the perfect
setting to house a beehive. Students
would be able to look down onto the
real beehive and observe the com-
ings and goings of the bees busily
going about their business.
John Cowley, from the School
of Biological and Chemical Scienc-
es, has agreed to look after the hive.
He is an experienced beekeeper and
previously looked after two hives on
the roof of the biology building. Both
he and John Elam, as enthusiastic
beekeepers have surveyed the pro-
posed site and concluded it is safe.
There is a very low risk of people on
campus being in the flight path of
the bees and being stung.
This provides a great symbol to
QMUL’s commitment to being an en-
vironmentally friendly organisation
and directly contributes to our Envi-
ronmental Policy.
Scientists misrepresented in The Press?
Bart’s Professor wins Life-Time Achievement Award
Vaccine could wipe out cervical cancer within 50 years
QMUL welcome bees to The HiveAnna hiscocks
10 Reviews06/10/2009
Written a [email protected]
VendomeA Night in the A-Listed Underworld
Now I’m not a person who knows a lot
about football, but I can recognise a ha-
ven of WAGs dreams when I enter one.
Vendome is one of London’s most up-
market clubs located next to the Ritz
and designed to entertain only the filthy
rich. On a mission to review and free-
load on behalf of the less affluent, I leapt
at the chance to sponge a night to rub
shoulders with the bold and the beau-
tiful.
The club is seriously sexy. A billion-
dollar-budget promiscuity-promoting
RnB music video is the granny’s nipples
to this place. Just stepping into the club
would sizzle the chastity belt off any
hardcore nun. A circular DJ booth rotates
in the middle of the dance floor, illumi-
nated by a ring of technicolor LED floor
lighting with enough dazzling sequenc-
es to stun an OCD lighting designer.
Two shiny-black, chrome-accessorised
bars glisten at opposite ends of the oval-
shaped club tended by tight-shirted men
and mysterious blondes. The walls are
camouflaged by mirrors etched with the
golden swirls of Vendome’s logo and
the reflection of the dance floor lights
sparkle on the glossy black ceiling. VIP
areas furnished with white leather so-
fas and glass tables snuggle in the out-
er edges of the oval. Private-hire booths
are tunnelled into the walls of the under-
ground chamber, coated with gleaming
white wallpaper and sectioned off with
glimmering glass doors. Although rel-
atively small in comparison to the oth-
er Mayfair clubs, Vendome’s interior de-
signer evidently paid attention to every
swanky square-millimetre. Even the mir-
rored steps leading down to the club are
accompanied by a snakeskin patterned
handrail.
It would be hypocritical of me if I
were to bang on about the ‘plastic’ ste-
reotype – who isn’t partial to a lick of fake
tan? I swear by my hair straighteners and
I enjoy the notion of dress to impress.
Whether you have curves that tessellate
Beyonce or legs slimmer than twiglets,
if you have the style and confidence to
flaunt then flaunt! However, be prepared
for the consequences. The Mayfair clubs
are ‘exclusive’ and designed to cater for
a narcissistic breed - where a man’s ego
is as big as his wallet.
Would it be too discourteous of me
to presume that there is an unwritten
policy of ‘No Trolls Allowed’ on the Ven-
dome entry list? The girls inside were
not just plastic but genuinely beautiful
– their hair extensions, false eyelashes,
tan and nails may have been fake, but
their fakeries were mere accessories
to their text-book-perfection flawless-
ly sculptured frames. With mirrors for
walls – vanity would not allow a single
hair to fall out of place to ruin a perfect-
ed pose practised for potential lingering
paparazzi.
Being guest-listed has its advan-
tages as girls gained free entry before
11pm. I liked the idea of pretending to
be part of an A-lister venue, but my cyn-
ical realism knew I was just part of the
approved cattle being packed into the
club; bait dressed in tiny skirts and 6
inch heels.
Unless you have a rich daddy, com-
plete with a sky’s-the-limit credit card, its
best to befriend a promoter on the club-
bing circuit. If you are like me, an impov-
erished student wanting to experience a
night in the high-life, this is the way to
do it. Our promoter introduced himself
as a ‘Mr. ClubKing’ and insisted on wear-
ing dark shades all night - despite the
fact we were in a low-lit underground
club. He had a personalised, diamante
encrusted belt in the shape of the crown
jewels – which basically said ‘look at my
crown jewels’. But, pimped-accessories
aside, he was a nice guy who was good
at his networking job. I spent a total of
£3 all evening (which was just the taxi
fare home). With free entry, free table,
free ice buckets of 3ltr Belvedere Vodka
and mixers and two free bottles of Moet
& Chandon Champagne – it was a classy
contrast to the Sainsbury’s Basics wine
we’d glugged down in our university
halls a couple of hours beforehand.
Away from the VIP area it’s best to
order spirits or bottled beer. But if you
have money or the nerve/lack of self-re-
spect to flirt with a sugar daddy – the
cocktails are fabulous; the perfect pre-
meditated balance of flavour and alco-
hol to knock-out your taste-buds and
your overdraft.
Surrounded by the elite, it’s best
not to let on that you’re a freeloading
student, but (like a good con-artist) have
the nerve to act as stuck-up an aloof as
the rest of the self-labelled ‘exclusives’.
When approached by photographers
just drape yourself against your slinky
counterparts and pout convincingly.
When asked “who are you wearing?” re-
sist the urge to tell the truthful answer of
“Primark’s cheapest” and casually drop
some made up brand name, adding it’s
a limited edition only available in Dubai.
Nobody cares about the answer; it’s just
a polite opening for their own boast of
deluded self-worth.
If you’re willing to endure the hos-
tile atmosphere, and laugh at the DO-
judge-a-book-by-its-cover attitude, Ven-
dome is a fun night out – especially if
you’re a keen fan of the sport of peo-
ple-watching like me. No, I don’t mean
stalking, I mean observing the variety of
people displaying an array of exagger-
ated wealth. It’s fun to assume an elu-
sive identity for a night. The music is
also a stylish mix of upbeat house, un-
derground drum ‘n’ bass synched with
commercial chart toppers. The launch
party in 2008 was hosted by DJ Dimitri,
who also opened Madonna’s Paris Show,
and the club has continued to be a desti-
nation venue for DJ excellence.
Although I initially labelled the ven-
ue as ‘WAG heaven’, it became clear that
the people here were actually a level
above trying to bag themselves a sug-
ar-daddy or hook a quick fling to sell to
Heat. I bumped into politician’s daugh-
ters, investment bankers, diamond
flaunting gangsters, and England foot-
ballers.
Realising afterwards that I’d actu-
ally attended the End Of Season Play-
ers Party; I felt a bit stupid. The tall guy
my friend had danced with briefly, who
looked a bit like Peter Crouch – actual-
ly was Peter Crouch. Then again, this
is the same girl who did not recognise
Dale Winton when asking him where
the nearest loos were outside the Ritz;
exhaling a dainty puff of smoke, his I-
don’t-give-a-shit reply had been “A lady
never says loo, she says toilet.”
Rating 6/10
Rebecca Wynter
Club
Mew, No More Stories
This Danish group made a huge im-
pact on me when I picked up their
previous album on a whim two
years ago – ‘And The Glass Hand-
ed Kites’ was incredible, dark pop
fused with bombastic prog rock,
fronted by a girlishly voiced Dane.
What Mew do so well is write great,
unabashedly cheesy pop hooks,
then pin them up against high-
ly crafted, vast walls of guitar and
synth. Setting them apart is their
fantastic musicianship, with
songs encompassing all manner of
time signatures and unusual chords
in an incredibly playful manner.
Thankfully this never devolves into
self-indulgence as with the majority
of prog inspired acts.
There’s not a ton of new
ground covered by ‘No More Sto-
ries...’ comparedto previous efforts,
but the beautiful ‘Silas the Mag-
ic Car’ and ‘Cartoons and Macrame
Wounds’ with its immense swell of
vocal layers, recapture a freshness
and inspire confidence that Mew
still have much to offer, even
after this, their fifth album. In spite
of my unbridled enthusiasm, the
songs have an unabashedly cheesy,
80s feel to them that I could see be-
ing a put off for some. For those of
you not averse to enjoying heart-
on-sleeve records like The Cure’s
‘Pictures of You’ or Cyndi Lauper’s
‘Time After Time’, I wholeheartedly
suggest giving Mew a try.
Stylistically they’re out there
but underneath the veneer, a fa-
miliar style would love to give you
a great big aural hug. As for those
who dislike the aforementioned
classics, be thankful I’m not run-
ning Judgement Day.
Rating 7/10
Adrian banting
Michael Jackson, Invincible Album
‘Invincible’ is by no means Jack-
son’s greatest work, but for the
worst album of his career, my
lord is it good.
The late king of pop’s last
album was widely slated by crit-
ics, given an abysmal 2/5 stars
by the Guardian and criticised
as being too long. If you were to
ask this reviewer, he’d say that
such criticism is grossly mis-
guided. The immeasurable quali-
ty of ‘Thriller’, ‘Bad’ and his oth-
er earlier albums were as much
a curse as a blessing –creating
a huge air of expectation for ev-
erything he did. With ‘Invinci-
ble’, you should drop this expec-
tation and look at it as any other
album, NOT a Michael Jackson
album.
Throughout the album, Jack-
son’s eclectic style shines as
bright as ever before. We got
the vintage, rocking brilliance of
‘You Rock my World’, ‘Unbreak-
able’ and ‘Threatened’ to the red
hot mellow of ‘Break of Dawn’.
With the exception of may-
be ‘Privacy’, Jackson seems to
abandon the social conscience
of his music. We’re spared from
hearing such anti-society ear-
banging power ballads like
‘Scream’ (HIStory), ‘Leave Me
Alone’ (Bad) and ‘Tabloid Junk-
ie’ (HIStory). ‘Invincible’ is in-
stead a much lighter musical ex-
perience, with beautiful ballads
like ‘You Are My Life’, soft rock
tunes like ‘Whatever Happens’
and heart-warming compassion
pieces like ‘The Lost Children’.
The more up-beat tracks see
Jackson return to the style that
made him famous, ‘You Rock
my World’, ‘Invincible’ and ‘Un-
breakable’ are magnificently raw
rock tunes.
As a whole, ‘Invincible’ is
a triumphant album, selling
13 million copies and having a
stunning library of songs. Yes, it
doesn’t measure up to Jackson’s
past work but as a standalone
album, one can only sit back,
plug your ipod in and admire.
Was Michael Jackson Invinci-
ble? Without a doubt.
Rating 8/10
Music
Alexander Penn
11Film06/10/2009
Like [email protected]
Sam Creighton
Night on Earth - dir. Jim Jarmusch
(USA, 1991) - screeining october
8th
Film Soc Screening
Fish Tank
Y’know, it’s pretty hard to find films
which are so universally awful in ev-
ery respect and yet can be guaran-
teed to receive acclaim, awards and
a seal of critical approval. Well, this
is one of those films. Fish Tank has
no original ideas, not an ounce of
creativity, but a deeply cynical atti-
tude that attempts to tick every fac-
tor that could caress the egos of hun-
dreds of pretentious, high-brow film
connoisseurs. The film is ostensibly
a social realist piece and somehow
manages to squeeze every single cli-
ché of the genre into the story – our
protagonist, Mia (Katie Jarvis), is a
15 year old Vicky Pollard clone living
on a council estate (of course) with
her single mum (of course) who’s an
alcoholic (of course), swears all the
time (of course) and simply doesn’t
understand her daughter, who is ba-
sically angry and unhappy all the
time, speaks with a staggeringly ex-
aggerated accent and never says
a single line in the film that is not
shouted. Everyone is working class,
speaks with a heavy accent, is com-
pletely simple minded, angry or ma-
nipulative and listens to nothing but
R&B and hip-hop. The council estate
is a dump and is never free from the
sound of crying babies, loud music,
shouting and other generally anti-
social behaviour. But then, onto the
scene comes Mia’s mum’s new boy-
friend! (Michael Fassbender) He’s
clean cut, speaks with a normal ac-
cent, listens to Bobby Womack (don’t
ask), is generally friendly and seems
poised to free Mia from her horrible,
horrible existence. What could go
wrong?! Guess...
Basically, it’s presenting a snap-
shot of life which it ascertains to be
the very bottom end of human so-
ciety and the people who inhabit it
as being either tragically sad or sim-
ply ignorant filth. It’s the kind of
film which allows pseudo-intellectu-
al snobs to go and ease their con-
sciences over the “suffering of the
poor folks” while simultaneously rid-
iculing and deriding them. It’s ex-
ploitation of the worst kind, but to
be honest, none of that would mat-
ter if the film worked on a technical
level. But it doesn’t – the dialogue
is so utterly banal and hackneyed
as to be unintentionally comical and
steals every cliché of the working
class social realist film (at one point,
apropos of nothing, Mia’s mother
tells her “you could have been an
abortion”) without a single witty,
thought-provoking or even memora-
ble line that could have taken more
than 5 seconds and a few episodes
of Eastenders to think of. The cam-
erawork is totally uninspired, stat-
ic and lifeless. The cinematography
tries to be “REAL” in that there’s no
effort put in whatsoever – dull, docu-
mentary-like colours that have been
used in a hundred Channel 4 dra-
mas. The acting is atrocious – like I
said, every character just shouts and
gets angry, nothing else. Allegedly,
Katie Jarvis had never acted before
this film and I can believe it. As far
as metaphors and the like go, there’s
one really cringe-inducing reoccur-
ring theme with a horse on a chain
which Katie Jarvis tries to break free
(JUST LIKE SHE IS, GET IT?!)
Perhaps the thing I hate
most about this film is that it is one
of that breed of reactionary, cynical
films that revels in nihilism and neg-
ativity simply because it know that
the faux-intellectuals of the world
will smother it in praise and adora-
tion for it. This is a film that was de-
signed to receive plaudits from film
festivals and has no personality,
no ingenuity or anything approach-
ing sincerity or real passion. In this
sense, it’s worse than the worst
brainless, manufactured Hollywood
crap, because they are at least occa-
sionally entertaining, whereas this is
simply boring, offensive, worthless,
exploitative gutter trash. Avoid,
please...
RATING *
I had very high expectations of this
film but it met them with ease. An-
gela Arnold is one of the most pro-
ficient directors currently working in
this country and she succeeds again
with this sad and poignant charac-
ter study of a child lost in the world.
Some of the symbolism is heavy
handed, but the acting is phenom-
enal, with Micheal Fassbender and
newcomer Katie Jarvis really standing
out and their relationship remaining
gripping to the very end. Jarvis’s vul-
nerability and violent over-compen-
sation comes across almost pain-
fully. The closing moments are very
well worked, made even more sad
because they are hopeful. A very re-
alistic account of the everyday hap-
penings of a particular sub-culture,
some might argue that not much
happens, but then, after all, life has
no plot.
James McMillan
The overarching reason d’etre for
this film seemed unclear to me;
was it a realist study of the miser-
ies of the nations depraved? Or was
it was deliberately trying to not to
make any points at all? Personally
I don’t know. As a story though, it
was diverting if a little predictable
and minimal on character develop-
ment. Although I did find myself
rooting for the fortunes of the films
protagonists I felt the consequenc-
es of their actions were relentlessly
anti-climactic. I feel this makes the
films “success” too hard to judge as
nothing seemed so terrible that it
couldn’t be resolved so I didn’t feel
particularly depressed by their griz-
zly lives, but neither did I feel terri-
bly optimistic that things would im-
prove. As the film is clearly not there
to entertain or excite or just look
beautiful I can only conclude it was
supposed to move me which frank-
ly it didn’t.
other views on Fish Tank
This quirky comedy from the
king of the American underground,
Jim Jarmusch, takes a sardonic look
at the human condition through the
lens of five taxi rides happening si-
multaneously in different corners
of the world. Tom Wait’s throbbing
score accompanies us as Jarmusch’s
unique brand of off-kilter humour
zips from L.A. to Helsinki via New
York, Paris and Rome. Probably Jar-
musch’s most immediately accessi-
ble film, it’s also his least seen. It’s
lyrical and loose writing lends itself
perfectly to the ad-libbing of the tal-
ented cast. Robert Benigni’s hyper-
active performance as a cabbie con-
fessing his teenage indiscretions to
his priestly fare is a particular high-
light.
you only Live once - dir. Fritz
Lang (USA, 1937) - screening octo-
ber 15th
So, some context: Fritz Lang ar-
rives in America in 1936, where he
directs two films later credited with
anticipating the themes and formal
techniques of Film Noir. In particu-
lar, the second of these – You Only
Live Once – can be seen as a forerun-
ner to the ‘young lovers on the run’
subgenre, which includes Gun Crazy
and Badlands.
The film follows Taylor (Hen-
ry Fonda; frustrated, vulnerable),
recently released from prison with
few prospects, comforted only by
his wife, Joan (Sylvia Sidney; appro-
priately delicate). What must have
seemed especially subversive in
1937 is the sympathy the film gen-
erates for its criminal protagonists;
the relentless hardships inflicted
– sometimes to the point of heavy-
handedness – drive them inevitably
to desperate ends.
Their story is realised through
many striking images – including
Taylor’s cell, where shadows cause
the bars to stretch far beyond his liv-
ing space – creating an oppressive
environment for their tragic tale to
unfold in.
Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde has always been known
for his boundless wit – to see the
beloved playwright’s only novel be
adapted to the screen should be a
pleasure right? Haha, Nope not by
a long shot! ‘Dorian Gray’ follows
the story of a young English bu-
reaucrat whose blind pursuit of he-
donism lands him into a world of
supernatural trouble.
Visually, the film was stunning
- the audience were frequently daz-
zled by a myriad of immaculate cin-
ematography showcasing the ar-
tificial mess that was 19th Century
London. That was the good thing,
now let’s get onto the bad. After the
first 25 minutes, the film ran out of
steam, it transformed into a lengthy,
predictable chore. Furthermore, the
film boasts some sort of philosophi-
cal edge that is bound to make the
ears of some budding pseudo-so-
phistos to flare up. Once you get
past the obvious moral, the film is
painfully shallow. At times, the film
slid over to something you’d find in
an old, perverted Italian film rather
than a British Costume Drama. But
anyway, ‘Dorian Gray’ was a bore-
fest – I thought of calling it Sweeney
Todd’s more mature older brother
but I really wouldn’t want to place it
in such a high-flying gene-pool...
RATING **
Alex MacDonald
Alexander Penn
Cult classic:
Reflections in a Golden Eye - dir.
John huston (USA, 1967)
This is a peculiar film if there ever
was one. Released in 1967, directed
by John Huston and starring Marlon
Brando and Elizabeth Taylor, it’s a
curiously overlooked film despite all
the heavyweight names involved in
it. The plot is kind of obscure – it re-
volves around the crumbling lives of
sexually and emotionally suppressed
army Major Weldon Penterton (Mar-
lon Brando) and his flighty wife Le-
onora (Elizabeth Taylor). Various bi-
zarre occurrences, mainly involving
the strange presence of a introvert-
ed voyeuristic private from the local
barracks, eventually lead to tragedy
and psychological breakdown. Cru-
cial to the perturbing, dream-like at-
mosphere of the film is the constant
sepia-toned cinematography – the
golden eye – that gives a constant
feeling of surreal intrigue. Also key
is the acting. This film obliterates
the view that Brando was only any
good in the 50’s and early 70’s – his
performance here is one of his best,
even if his accent is even weirder
than in the Godfather. Still, that’s
when he’s in his element – subvert-
ing a potentially camp character by
injecting it with pathos and vulnera-
bility and this is one of the best ex-
amples of this. His monologue about
soldier camaraderie towards the end
is one of his finest and most sensi-
tive deliveries. Also worth noting is
Brian Keith’s tragic and understat-
ed performance as a Lieutenant suf-
fering his with a mentally disturbed
wife. All-in-all a vastly underrated
film with an ensemble cast, that is
well worth seeking out.
Alex MacDonald
12 Games06/10/2009
Sports Club & Society listings...Stuck for something to do? Get involved!
Crossword No. 2
Medium Hard
Suduko No. 3 & 4Across
1. Winged child (6)
4. Vigorous attack (5)
8. Side (4)
9. Ball of hair (8)
10. Employment vacancy (7)
12. Accumulate (5)
13. Narcotic (4)
14. Research deeply (5)
17. Tumbles (5)
20. Edible fat (4)
22. Fastening device (5)
23. Pulpit (7)
24. 8th President of the U.S. (3,5)
25. Hybrid (4)
26. Wooded (5)
27. Animosity (6)
Down
1. London suburb (7)
2. Imperial dynasty of Russia (7)
3. At the rear of (6)
5. Crossbred dog (7)
6. Burdensome work (7)
7. Ran away (4)
11. South Wales peninsula (5)
15. Apprentice (7)
16. Marry (7)
18. Best (7)
19. Like summer (7)
21. Resident of a town (6)
22. Guinea pig (4)
Medium Hard
Last week’s solution (Crossword no.1)
Last week’s solutions (Sudukos no.1 & 2)
QMUL ACS RECRUITMENT AND
INTERNShIP EVENT
QMUL ACS are hosting a recruit-
ment and internship event on Tues-
day 13th October featuring various
schemes aimed at recruitment and
diversity (these are still to be con-
firmed). Invited groups include: Rare
Recruitment, SEO, Legal Lauch Pad,
Windsor Fellowship, Law Society, Tar-
get, Civil Service Fast Stream, Reach
uni of London, Diversity Group, Di-
versity Careers Show, Deviation Net-
work and Careers Group. This event
will feature presentations alongside
an area to network, collect informa-
tion and ask questions.
LINKS’ FIRST AID AWARENESS
CoURSE PART TWo
First Aid Awareness Course Part
Two: Monday 12th Oct, 16:30 in
Mile End.
Also, member revalidation night for
all current first aid level members-
this is a must to continue on in the
coming year!
LINKS is the student branch of St
John Ambulance. We can teach you
all sorts of first aid skills, and give
you the chance to go out and prac-
tise what you’ve learned at some of
London’s top events! We’re a fun-
loving, friendly bunch, so come
along and save some lives.
CAThoLIC SoC FIRST WEEKLy
MEETING oF ThE yEAR
Queen Mary Catholic Society is a so-
ciety dedicated towards devotions
Towards God, promote a greater un-
derstanding of our catholic faith, as
Well as fellowship amongst young
catholics. We meet weekly and our
first meeting will be on the 7th of
October, Wednesday at 2pm (half
an hour after mass) for a meet and
greet amongst fellow catholics. Ev-
eryone is welcome to come!
Please let us know at
[email protected] so that we
can bring food for you!
ENGINEERING SoC MEET AND
GREET
Why not come meet us all as well at
our ‘Meet N’Greet’ event where you
can get free food!
It will be in the Whitehead Aero Lab,
Engineering building on Wednes-
day 7th October, time TBA (email
[email protected] if you’re in-
terested).
And one more thing; follow us on
FACEBOOK! Search for ‘QM En-
gineering Soc’ and voila! Join the
group and follow our activities on-
line.
QM SToP ThE WAR SoCIETy
PUbLIC MEETING
Public Meeting- “Does Obabma’s 2
state solution for Israel/Palestine
put the Middle East on the roadmap
to peace?” Time: 7pm, date: Tues-
day 6th October, place: Skeel Lec-
ture Theatre, Peoples Palace, QMUL.
Speakers include: Dr Azzam Tami-
mi, Lowkey, Lindsey German, oth-
ers tbc.
Free entry, all welcome. Called by
Queen Mary Stop the War Society.
GEoG SoC PoKER NIGhT
The Geography Society is running a
poker night on 12th October at the
New Globe pub. Games start short-
ly after 7pm. Entry £4 for members
and £6 for everyone else.
13Sport06/10/2009
Interested in [email protected]
Vratislav Domalip III
VP Activities Speaks...
VP Activities
Hey guys,
I hope you all enjoyed the epic
last couple of weeks and are
slowly recovering from all the
fun and frolics. I hope you’re
all settling into your lectures
but make sure your still having
some fun.
Wednesday and Thurs-
day saw the majority of stu-
dents descend on the Marquee
in Library Square and the Sports
Hall where we exhibited all our
sports clubs and societies. It
was a great two days that dis-
played the truly multi-cultural
university that we are. If there
was anything you were inter-
ested in, please make sure you
sign up! Being part of a club or
society will definitely improve
your time here as you will meet
so many new people and get in-
volved in loads of fun events
and activities. Our new website
www.qmsu.org now allows you
to easily pay your memberships
online; it’s really simple so when
you have some free time check
it out.
I also want to remind you of
the last Freshers’ event on the
8th October, the Freshers Ball.
It’s a great way to finish Fresh-
ers’ fortnight. Tickets are lim-
ited and are selling out fast so
make sure you get your hands
on them before they are all
gone.
Finally, are you interest-
ed in raising money for charity
at Queen Mary? If you are then
make sure you join RAG. To join,
send an e-mail to rag@qmsu.
org. RAG’s welcome meeting is
on Wednesday 7th October in
Ground (Costa Coffee) at 5pm-7-
pm. Come along for a free cof-
fee and a presentation from the
children’s charity, ‘Place2Be’.
For more information, join the
RAG Facebook group.
Remeber, if you have any
queries about clubs and societ-
ies then come and see me at the
Blomeley Centre or email me at
[email protected] and I’ll
be able to help.
There are so many ways that I feel I
could argue the issue of Twenty20
cricket: it’s not really cricket, it’s
English baseball, it’s where Foot-
ball fans go to get drunk and shout
when the Football season’s over. But
instead I have chosen to go with the
lack of romance that the game of-
fers, that it requires speed but not
haste.
Its bigger, older, more estab-
lished and more dignified grandfa-
ther, Test Cricket, is now suffering
because of the shorter bang-bang
version of the game that we all, at
some level or other, know that we
love. The majestic cover drive that
has so often brought genuine happi-
ness to those who are lucky enough
to watch it has been lost to the big
slog over cow-corner. The end result
is often the same, but the manner
in which one gets to their destina-
tion is habitually the defining factor
to how one is received.
Take, for example, the artist
who has toiled away for decades as
he slowly begins to not only under-
stand but also define his trade. His
work becomes collectable, and then
everything that he has done before
increases in value because of what
he has been able to achieve; you can
see the progression of a man’s life
as his innings reaches its peak. But
then some trumped-up graffiti artist
comes along and achieves the same
fame and popularity from seemingly
nowhere, undermining the integrity
of the profession.
In an objective sense, perhaps
it is the graffiti artist who is some-
how more powerful. He has achieved
‘greatness’ without wasting time,
money, effort and resources to get
to where he always felt he had to be,
while the true craftsmen took seem-
ingly forever, in relation, to find his
place. But as I said before, the char-
acter of the man is revealed by the
determination and transformation
experienced during the journey of
his life.
Twenty20 Cricket doesn’t offer
that to anyone. You’re in, you’re out
and you’re fielding before the sun
has come up for the next day. You
play in floodlights because people
want you to work around them, else
they’ve no interest in your success.
You are, to them, a source of enter-
tainment and nothing more.
Test Cricket affords the man the
chance to show that he is as valu-
able as everyone else, that he goes
to work each day knowing that his
task is to be doing exactly that for
much of the next week, and in a Test
Series he’s got a contract to work
all summer. People take the day off
work to come to see him, in essence
he is THE attraction, whether batting
or bowling.
As WG Grace once said, people
didn’t come to see the umpire do-
ing his job but rather him doing his.
How many Twenty20 Cricket ‘stars’
can honestly have that much arro-
gance, while justified, without then
leaving a legacy of being a bit of a
twat?
My despise of Twenty20 Crick-
et isn’t simply that it’s all brash and
colourful, but rather than the irony
of the game is lost on its casual fan.
In many ways it brings all the best
bits of cricket together over a very
brief period. The best batsmen still
play proper shots, the best bowl-
ers still tease the batsmen and the
best fielders have just as much time
to get the catch or run the batsmen
out as they would do in Test Cricket,
but unfortunately people don’t real-
ly seem to understand that. Instead
it’s just an excuse to get drunk after
work with your friends in a live ven-
ue. It’s like a pub, except you’re a
little more exposed to the weather.
We live in a society where ev-
erything needs to be done yesterday
and tomorrow’s ideas have been de-
vised three weeks ago. Test Cricket
has always been played on its mer-
its, each ball and each shot deserves
the respect of the person who has
delivered the beautiful thing. But
Twenty20 shows a blatant disregard
for humankind, and what’s worse is
that it merely encourages people to
be worse in their personal and pro-
fessional lives.
In its simplicity is its most frus-
trating characteristic, in my opinion.
It perpetuates impatience. And de-
spite what the adverts say, that is
NOT a virtue.
Darren McGuinness
The problem with Twenty20Sport Ops: Got an opinion about sport? Email it to [email protected]
Freshers Crew win Team of the MonthSports Desk
The ‘Freshers Crew’, a group of
students who give up their time
to help new students move in to
halls of residence and provide a
helpful presence on campus dur-
ing Freshers Week, won ‘Team of
the Month’ in the Students’ Union
awards.
The monthly award, given out
at the sports and society night
‘Hail Mary’, usually goes to the
club or society who have been
most active or achieved the most
success over the previous month.
The win was particularly supris-
ing as the Freshers Crew are not
actually an affiliated club or so-
ciety, and the award has never
been given to a team who do not
fall under either of these catego-
ries.
Student Activities Sabbatical
Officer Vraj Domalip, who gave
out the award and is one of the
people who decide on who de-
serves the award, had this to say
about the winners: “At our first
Hail Mary of the year, the Team of
the Month was awarded to a very
deserving crew, for the first time
in history this prestigious award
has been awarded to a group that
isn’t either a sports club or so-
ciety. It was a collection of 100
student volunteers who helped
the thousands of Freshers move
into their new homes for the year.
They helped with everything from
carrying luggage up to rooms to
giving guided tours of campus
and made many scared and lone-
ly first years feel welcome. I hope
you will join me in congratulat-
ing the FRESHERS CREW for all
their fantastic work over Fresh-
ers week!”.
Over recent years, the Fresh-
ers Crew have grown substantial-
ly in their numbers and presence
on campus, doubling from 50
volunteers last year to over now
over 100. This award is recogni-
tion for their hard work over the
last few weeks.
The Students’ Union Freshers Crew became the first ever non sports club or society to win Team of the Month
14 Sport06/10/2009
Interested in [email protected]
What do you think when you hear
the word Psychologist? People hav-
ing difficulties managing their lives
and needing help? Someone lying
down on a couch and talking about
his/her childhood whilst a “shrink”
listens thoughtfully and assess-
es the patient’s level of sanity and
solvency? These are amongst the
most common misconceptions that
people have about Psychologists,
which usually makes them reluctant
to seek advice or help from one.
You may have heard about
athletes and sports people using
Sport Psychologists to get the edge
over their opponents (including GB
and China teams, amongst others,
at the Beijing Olympics, and top
sports people, such as Tiger Woods
and Chris Hoy). In 2004, the British
Psychological Society (BPS) formed
the Division for Sport and Exer-
cise Psychology, as increasing num-
bers of athletes began to realise the
importance of the mental side of
sport, as opposed to just the physi-
cal.
So, what does a Sport Psychol-
ogist do? Well, this really depends
on the individual athletes, but the
main areas include: controlling anx-
iety; increasing motivation; increas-
ing concentration (skills from these
could also be used by students in
exam situations); increasing team
spirit and cohesion; increasing self-
confidence; preventing over-train-
ing and aiding the recovery from in-
juries.
So what can Sport Psycholo-
gy do for you? Here’s a technique
that you can use in situations where
you become nervous and feel out of
control (so this can be used in both
sports settings and in University be-
fore an important presentation or
exam):
C• lose your eyes (well, read the
other steps before closing your
eyes or this might not work!)
B• reathe in and out slowly and
deeply (through your nose, not
mouth) and concentrate on
each breath). Do this for about
30 seconds.
C• hoose an image that relax-
es you and that can move back
and forth (i.e., a wave, a buoy
bobbing in the ocean, or a cur-
tain blowing in the breeze,
girl on top etc.). Focus on
this image and make it as viv-
id as possible - include bright
colours, but keep the image
simple. Breathe in when the
image moves one way and
breathe out when the image
moves the other way.
F• inally, choose a word (such as
“relax” or “calm”) and repeat
this word (in your head) every
time you breathe out. This will
become over time your very
own mantra.
You should practice this technique
for approximately five minutes a
day (or longer if possible, or you’re
able(!)) and will be able to eventual-
ly use it for sport or University situ-
ations when you become nervous.
With practice you will be able to re-
lax yourself after just a few seconds
of using this exercise.
This technique can be tricky at
first, but with some perseverance
it can substantially decrease your
anxiety levels and lead to increases
in your performance levels. Just re-
member to keep the image strong
and if you become distracted and
your mind begins to wander, refo-
cus and start again.
Deanne Roberts is a recent Masters
graduate in Sports Psychology from
London Metropolitan University. She
is currently in the process of becom-
ing a fully-fledged Sports Psycholo-
gist, so if anyone or any Club feels
they would like her help then send
her an email to: dee11@hotmail.
co.uk
Few things mean as much to me as
Sport, so knowing that the many
Clubs that both Queen Mary and
Barts run are not only dedicated
to themselves but to the individ-
ual all the way to the institution
brings more than a tear to my eye;
it brings pride to my heart.
Whether you have signed up to
become another Great Griffin (Barts)
or wish to create a Leopards Legacy
(Queen Mary), nothing and no one
should stand in your way.
As the season fast approaches
and training steps up in preparation
for the first set of BUCS fixtures on
14th October, all teams are antici-
pating a big year for their Univer-
sities, culminating in the famous
Merger Cup.
For those who are new to the
game, the Merger Cup is THE an-
nual sporting event, much like the
Varsity competitions run between
local Universities across the coun-
try, where Barts and Queen Mary
pit their skills against one anoth-
er on the many hallowed turfs that,
for the season preceding the fix-
tures, they have lost blood, sweat
and tears fighting for that crucial
victory.
Last year Barts took back the
Cup after three years of Queen
Mary triumphs, although it must
be said that throughout the season
it looked as though the Leopards
would take the trophy based on
their performances in the numerous
competitions.
The Queen Mary Footballers
had arguably a better season last
year than in recent times, and the
Rugby boys missed out on promo-
tion by the smallest of margins (so
small that even Lucozade haven’t
produced anything that could have
given them that tiny edge that was
required). Both Men’s and Women’s
Basketball made it to the ULU Cup
finals, whilst the Squash Club and
Badminton Club both performed
brilliantly.
Barts had their fair share of
success, too, although the Hock-
ey Club for one had lost a lot of im-
portant members from the previous
season. When it came to the crunch,
though, clearly it was the sense of
comradery produced by the Medics
and Dentists that pushed them that
extra few yards and their win was
well earned.
Sports at both Universities is
more than a key part of the experi-
ence, but more a way of life. People
say that the friends you make dur-
ing your time studying will stay with
you, but the best way to build rela-
tionships is by standing toe-to-toe
with your sporting buddies, those
heroes and heroines that pull on
the same jersey as you and set out
to win, to succeed, to come home
victorious. Because without this
sense of pride, without this loyalty
to your team, then what’s the point?
Even in what some might con-
sider to be solo sports, such as
Fencing, Tennis, Squash, Badminton
and Swimming, where the winner
is much more clearly defined, they
will be able to tell you that it is the
support of their teammates, their
fellow Leopards and Griffins, that
spurs them on.
So I urge you now, especial-
ly you Freshers, if you haven’t yet
joined a team, do so. These are
the people who will stay with you
through thick and thin.
And if you really don’t think
it’s for you, why not come and sup-
port your friends and your Universi-
ty? Transport to games is available,
or they’re played locally anyway, so
there are no excuses for spending
your Wednesday afternoons not do-
ing Student Activities. After all, it’s
on your timetables.
Darren McGuinness
Make your mark at Queen Mary
Deanne Roberts
Sports psych not just for quacks
Queen Mary and Barts’ rugby clubs lock horns in last year’s Merger Cup as Barts went on to win the Cup
Don’t fall over the edge, get some help from a Sports Psychologist
15Sport06/10/2009
Interested in [email protected]
McGuinness’ Moment
Darren McGuinness
Striking the balance
As so many people will have told you,
probably most notably those who
have cared and nurtured, reared and
paid for you for a significant portion
of your life, you’re here at University
to study and attain a degree.
In my opinion that’s only a fair
assessment, and by no means is your
subject of choice the be-all and end-
all of what’s important. You cannot
be expected to develop as a person
without trying something new, you
cannot expect to be wholly employ-
able without something else aside
from your degree on your CV. Which
is why some people play Sports.
Most who represent either their
respective Leopards or Griffins on
the fields of play here at Queen Mary
and Barts’ and the London colleges
do so because they want to. And not
just that they want to, but they feel
as though they would be letting not
only themselves but also their team-
mates down.
And nothing in this world is
more important than being commit-
ted to something.
Sure, there have been instanc-
es where this loyalty is perhaps tak-
en too far and the bigger picture is
lost; from my time at the Universi-
ty of Brighton I can cite a couple of
cases where people just started to
think that the lecturers were going
to encourage them to fail their final
year in order to win leagues and tro-
phies. That was not, and never will
be, the case.
We’re not an American-style
University where Sports means ev-
erything, but nor are we simply an
academic and research institute
where people play Sports to blow
off steam. There’s a balance to be
struck, and it is in finding where you
stand on the board that will deter-
mine who you are.
Many of us are able to easily be
a part of one AND the other, some
struggle to keep up with one and
others tend to go fully into the oth-
er. It is not for me to tell you what
to do; for someone who has chosen
his path already I cannot judge you
for choosing yours. But I would run
through a few things to consider:
The degree is going to cost
more than any amounts of subs or
training fees you pay.
The degree won’t be there when
you are having problems in your per-
sonal life.
Your teammates will have de-
grees of their own.
While that perhaps hasn’t made
this any clearer for you, be sure that
you manage to strike a balance, else
you could either go tumbling down
into a spiral of academic exclusion,
or you could end up socially retard-
ed.
Dom Bell stood unopposed as the
Sports Officer last year, but in truth
it probably wouldn’t have made
much of a difference; Sportsdesk
can reveal here and now that they
thought he would have been the
best candidate even if he hadn’t
gone for the position. Find out now
why QSports backs Bell’s bid for bril-
liance…
Why did you stand as Sports Offi-
cer last year?
To be honest it was all rather a
rushed decision. I got a phone call
the day of the deadline asking if I
would like to take the job. I remem-
ber I was in the library writing an es-
say at the time and as time passed I
thought less and less about my es-
say and more and more about this
job. I didn’t really get time to think
about the issues I wanted to resolve
in becoming Sports Officer. I simply
thought, yes, I’d be good at this.
What are you hoping to achieve in
your tenure?
I’m all about performance, but I
can’t realistically push it that hard at
QM. What I do want to do is help the
Clubs support themselves, i.e. make
them money, help them fundraise,
help them advertise and teach them
how to be self-sufficient. My expe-
rience with the Clubs is that they
rely too heavily on the SU and gov-
ernment grant etc. and when they
run out of money instead of doing
something about it they just give up
and whine. SU money is more of a
starter pack, so if you want a decent
Club you have to take the initiative.
Did you learn much from the pre-
vious Officer (Nick Cowell)?
I got some pointers from Nick but I
think I want to make this my own.
I don’t think the Sports teams have
really taken advantage of the fact
that they’ve got someone available
to help them with the functioning
of their Clubs. The Clubs for some
reason see the Sports Officer as a
completely separate entity filling his
time with stuff of more importance,
but really I’m waiting for them to
speak up.
As you’re also the President for
the Boat Club this year, will you
find it hard managing the two or
risk bias towards QMBC?
It might be hard to balance the two
but that’s how I roll. I like having
my time filled. I work better under
pressure. Bias? Would you believe
me even if I said no? The fact of the
matter is there isn’t really any bias
to give. In other words I don’t even
know, as Sports Officer, how I could
bias the Boat Club.
As it stands, who is the best Sports
Club on campus in your opinion?
This is a bit of a harsh question! God
I don’t know. Definitely in terms of
performance last year the Cheerlead-
ers were the best. We hope they can
carry on their good form. However,
right now it’s too soon to tell.
Where do you hope your role will
take you next year and beyond?
Would you want to stay at Uni-
versity as a Sabbatical Officer as
well?
I have mentioned before that hob-
bies can result in careers too. It does
open up new possibilities as to what
I may do with my life. I have thought
about using this as a springboard
for a sabbatical position next year
but it’s a decision by no means set
in stone.
Who is your favourite Sports Star
or Sports Team of all time? And
if you could play anything profes-
sionally, what would it be?
When I was a lot younger I always
wanted to be a swimmer. I mean
they’re just gods aren’t they? They
look amazing and in some respects
it takes more dedication to be a
swimmer than anything else because
you have to train for so much lon-
ger than you do in any other sport.
So of late I have been swept away
by Michael Phelps. I realise he’s had
a recent blip in form but what he
achieved at the last Olympics is truly
unsurpassable.
If that hasn’t been a ‘ringing’ en-
dorsement for Mr. Bell then Sports-
desk is out of ways to persuade you,
except by making sure you pay at-
tention to his column when it ap-
pears and by keeping up with the
progress that will inevitably be made
by the Sports Clubs at Queen Mary.
who appeared alongside 007 in ‘Die
Another Day’, runs our Club. We
meet every Wednesday in the Sports
Hall from 2-5pm. There is also an
extra training session on Saturdays
for those who wish to have extra les-
sons and training.
We are one of the most success-
ful Clubs at the University, the Wom-
en’s Team being the only one from
Queen Mary to qualify for the BUCS
Championships held in Sheffield in
March earlier this year.
We may train hard, but we also
play hard! There are lots of social
events organised every term, and
we can be found in the local Weth-
erspoon’s every Wednesday evening
after a hard day’s work.
If you want any further informa-
tion, please find our group on Fa-
cebook, email qmbl_fencingclub@
hotmail.com, or come along to the
Sports Hall at 2pm on a Wednesday .
Hope to see you there!
...Continued from back page
Fencing frolics
Dom Bell: Sports OfficerSports Desk
Dom Bell (left) winning the Boat Club’s first Regatta trophy for a decade
06th Oct ‘09 • Issue 14 • FREE
Sports Editor: Darren McGuinness [email protected]
Continued page 15...
bringing you all the latest fixtures and results from the QM Sports teams
Sub Editor: Rebecca Ngakane
Blades out in East London
Queen Mary’s Fencing Club wel-
comes all keen sword-wielders, from
experienced competitor to ‘fresh-
er’. We offer all three weapons: Foil,
Épée and Sabre. For those of you
who are not familiar:
The Foil is descended from the
rapier; it is the lightest of the three
weapons. It is a stabbing sword and
the target is the chest and back.
Novices generally start on the foil,
and can progress to another weapon
later if they wish.
The Épée is a larger version of
the Foil with the target being the en-
tire body.
The Sabre, like its cousin the
military Sabre, is more of a slashing
weapon. This time the target is the
chest, arms and head.
Our coach, Jonathon Weekes,
Have you ever tried to Swash your Buckle?
Ever wanted to be the next Zorro?
One of last year’s most successful clubs tells you what they’re all about.
Frederica Sheehan-Greatorex