EDINBURGH’S UNIVERSITY NEWSPAPER ISSUE XVI WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2009

WWW.JOURNAL-ONLINE.CO.UK

GAZA: THE DEBATE WITHIN ISRAEL » 16Two leading Israeli commentators debate whether the Israeli action in Gaza is an inevitable reaction or a terrible mistake

IN NEWS

Harold PinterA look back at the life at one of the most gifted and politically vocal fi gures of his generation

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT » 20

Margo MacDonaldEvan Beswick eats venison with the outspoken independent MSP

PROFILE » 19

Fringe SundayFree event under threat as speculation mounts over Fringe festival bail-out

EDINBURGH NEWS » 8

SNP bridge climbdownScottish government forced to scale down plans for bridge over the Forth after Whitehall refuses to provide cash advance

NATIONAL POLITICS » 10

Research rankingsUniversity of Edinburgh named UK’s best for medicine, and 10th overall

ACADEMIC NEWS » 9

Bhutto daughter’s tributeEdinburgh student Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari releases rap song in honour of her murdered mother

NEWS » 6

Evan Beswick

evan.beswick@journal-online.co.uk

A PROMINENT MSP has claimed that Alex Salmond is slowing Scotland’s path towards independence, arguing that the government “has not campaigned enough” on the issue and criticising Alex Salmond’s style of leadership.

In an interview with The Journal (page 19), independent MSP for the Loth-ians region, Margo MacDonald said: “If the SNP hadn’t won the election, or if someone other than Alex Salmond had been leader, you would see this parlia-ment moving forward more as a parlia-ment, rather than the SNP staking out its position and the others fragmenting.”

She continued: “Before the last election, this parliament was moving towards a more natural state of taking responsibility for much more than this place does take responsibility for. And it was moving naturally towards a posi-tion of effective power – to do what we could do, and to do what people outside the gates expected us to do.

“And then along came the election and everyone went back into their bolt-holes again. If Alex were a more colle-giate style of leader then that might not be happening to the same extent. Some people are being driven into unionist parties who simply are not unionists.”

The Scottish government strongly rejected these claims. A spokesperson for the fi rst minister said: “Under Alex Salmond’s hugely successful leadership, the case for independence has gone from strength to strength.

Continued on page 2

Ben Judge

ben@journal-online.co.uk

UK GOVERNMENT MINISTERS are engaged in urgent talks with major white-collar employers in order to help bolster the employment prospects of the 350,000 students who will graduate from British universities this summer.

John Denham, the Skills Secretary, announced in an interview with the Tele-graph on Saturday that the government

is to intervene in an attempt to improve graduates’ prospects in the bleakest job hunt for a generation.

Under plans being drawn up by the Department of Innovation, Universi-ties and Skills (DIUS), large businesses alongside public sector institutions, charities and voluntary groups are to be encouraged to offer short-term paid internships to new graduates. What is not clear yet is whether public money will be used to fund these positions. It is understood that Microsoft and Barclays

have already signed up to the provision-ally-titled National Internship Scheme.

Ministers hope that these place-ments will lead to increased employ-ment levels among graduates or, at the very least, increase the employability of those who do take up the scheme. Mr Denham said: “At the end, they will be more employable, and some of them will get jobs. Employers won’t want to let good people go.”

Continued on page 2

Salmond stalling Scottish independence, says MSP

Internships to stem graduate unemployment

IN FEATURES

Khushi’s Fire: Popular club The Liquid Room may be closed for a year » 6JAZEK KARNICKI

As The Journal went to print, news regard-ing candidates for the position of rector of the University of Edinburgh was emerging.

Three candidates have accepted nomina-tions to stand: Labour MSP, George Foul-kes, has been nominated by the university Labour club, while award-winning Sunday Herald journalist Iain Macwhirter has been asked to stand by Edinburgh Students’ Charities Association organiser, Simon Kirkland. Controversial Respect MP, George Galloway, has also agreed to enter the race, although it is unclear at this stage who is responsible for his nomination.

Elections are to be held on 11 and 12 Feb.

» BREAKING NEWS

» Margo MacDonald criticises First Minister’s handling of debate on Scotland’s future

The JournalWednesday 14 January 200910 National News

David Stevenson

david.stevenson@journal-online.co.uk

The ScoTTiSh GovernmenT has announced cost-cutting changes to plans for a new road crossing the Forth river to resolve a funding battle between holyrood and Westminster.

Scaled-down links between the southern end of the new bridge and the m9 will save roughly £2 billion, bring-ing the total cost of the project down from an estimated £4 billion.

The new bridge will serve as a complement to the existing crossing, prompting safety concerns regarding the ageing structure.

early last week a row broke out between the Scottish Government and the UK Treasury after a request for a £2 billion cash advance to fund the proj-ect was rejected.

The SnP wanted to bring forward money that would be due to Scotland over the next twenty years, paying back the advance through smaller annual budgets.

however, chancellor Alistair Dar-ling made clear that this approach to funding would never be an option under the current administration when he spoke to BBc radio Scotland’s The Business Programme.

he said: “We will work with the Scottish Government, but their partic-ular scheme where they were asking to borrow money from budgets which are yet to be allocated over an extremely long period – that’s something that we simply don’t do.

“i think they ought to have been aware of it and they could have found out if they had asked earlier.”

The SnP’s manifesto made it clear that their administration would cease

to use the much-criticised Public Finance initiative to fund major pub-lic work and had pledged to set up the Scottish Futures Trust to replace PFi.

They have since stated that the SFT was only ever meant to support smaller-scale projects and that they had always intended to fund the new crossing through traditional public procurement.

Scottish Labour claim that the current situation proves the SFT is a failure.

Des mcnulty, Labour’s transport spokesman, has branded the whole sit-uation as “humiliating” for the current administration.

“The new crossing was the acid test for the SFT,” he said. “its failure imposes a huge burden on the capital budget in the period during which this project will have to be paid for.”

The debate was brought to a crisis point as the goverment said the cross-ing would instead need to be funded from the existing capital expenditure budget.

This would result in other construc-tion projects such as schools, hospitals and road upgrades being pushed back or shelved entirely.

Further pressure has been heaped upon the Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney for the way his depart-ment has handled securing funding for what is seen as a flagship project. The opposition has accused his depart-ment of waiting until the last minute to address the funding requirements despite having been in power for eigh-teen months.

Stewart Stevenson, the SnP trans-port minister announced to mSPs on December 10 that the bridge would be built using public procurement. how-ever, it has since come to light that

mr Swinney had only written to the Treasury on 27 november, less than a fortnight before, and, at the point of mr Stevenson’s announcement, had not yet received a reply.

Labour finance spokesperson Andy Kerr said John Swinney was guilty of incompetence and irresponsibility and called for a debate to take place.

“it beggars belief that John Swinney waited so long before contacting the Treasury on such an important project. he should come before Parliament and explain himself.

“The SnP repeatedly told us that the Scottish Futures Trust would be used to deliver the new crossing, but it has been clear for months that it is not fit for purpose. They should have opened talks much sooner to put a credible alternative in place.”

mr Swinney is now facing damag-ing accusations that he is carrying out government activity based on party grudge and grievance rather than for the good of Scotland.

instead of working together to find a mutually acceptable funding proposal, some see his approach to securing funding as an attempt to lay a political trap for the UK government, knowing that the request would be refused.

The Forth crossing became a pri-ority for Scottish politicians when it became clear that corrosion of the sup-porting cables on the existing bridge would limit its load bearing capacity within the next decade.

Work on the new bridge is sched-uled to start in 2011 with completion in 2016, a timescale that Stewart Ste-venson again committed to, despite the current row.

“The Forth road bridge will happen, absolutely. it will happen... it has to and will come in on time in 2016.”

Anthea Humphreys

anthea.humphreys@journal-online.

co.uk

ScoTTiSh LABoUr hAS demanded the establishment of an dedicated commissioner to champion the rights of victims of crime.

Accordingly, the consultation of the victims’ commissioner (Scotland) Bill is to be launched by the party within the next fortnight.

David Stewart, the Labour Party’s chief whip and advocate of the bill said, “i hope the victims’ commis-sioner will have the ability to investi-gate, challenge and raise awareness of issues affecting victims of crime.”

calls to establish a dedicated vic-tims’ commissioner have been led by victim Support Scotland as outlined in their Manifesto for Change, 2007-2011. The proposal has also garnered support from leading charities such as rape crisis Scotland.

Susan Gallagher, director of devel-opment for the charity, told the BBc: “As the leading voluntary organisation in Scotland dealing with victim issues we have long identified this need to build on the significant developments that have already taken place.

“We believe that such a post would help advance the rights of victims and witnesses of crime in Scotland”.

Sandy Brindley of rape crisis Scot-land added: “Any commissioner for victims should be given appropriate responsibilities and powers to allow them to represent victims of crime effectively and to act as a point of con-tact to address concerns over the kind of issues that impact on survivors of rape.

“Survivors of rape often feel there is an imbalance in the criminal justice system.”

campaigners identified the profits criminals can make from their illicit past through memoirs and media expo-sure as further evidence of imbalance in the Scottish criminal justice system.

Such action has provoked anger from crime victims. margaret Wilson has led a strong campaign against the notion that “crime pays” after her daughter’s murderer profited from his crime by selling his story to the press.

campaigners say establishment of a victims’ commissioner would go some way in helping to redress the imbal-ance and disappointment with victim support in the current justice system.

Labour wants the complementary commissioner for victims to have

authority similar to that of the Prison complaints commissioner.

mr Stewart said: “There’s a Prison complaints commissioner. it’s time that victims of crime had their own champion.

“We’ve already seen developments in northern ireland with four victims’ commissioners; in the republic of ire-land, there are developments towards creation of a victims’ commissioner and, in Westminster, they are motor-ing along with the creation of a stand-alone victims’ commissioner.”

The demand for victim support is high, with victim services in edinburgh alone providing help to more than 40,000 victims and witnesses, total-ling 93,083 across Scotland, according to victim Support Scotland’s annual report for 2007-2008.

Students are the group most vul-nerable to crime in comparison with the rest of the population, according to The Independent. This is due to stu-dents’ possession of a greater number of high-value consumer goods such as mobile phones, laptops and mp3 players.

Around one in three students falls victim to crime, most commonly bur-glary, with six out of ten crimes being a repeat experience for the victims.

The victims’ commissioner Bill has come in for criticism from some groups attacking the redirection of funds for the creation of position considered unnecessary, particularly given the presence of other experienced victim support services such as victim Sup-port Scotland.

Furthermore, a study conducted by the University of edinburgh offers caution to programmes that aim to support victims of crime.

The study, Youth Transitions and Crime argues that victim support organisations need to be reconsidered in light of the revelation that victims and offenders of crimes can often be the same people.

Despite these concerns, mr Stewart has expressed hope in gaining support for the bill from parliament in 2009 despite rejection by government last year.

Speaking about the legislation, a government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government is committed to putting victims at the heart of the criminal justice system and is cur-rently reviewing the Scottish Strategy for victims which is now eight years old.

“We will consider ways to ensure victims’ rights are safeguarded.”

SNP lose battle over Forth bridge Jazek karnicki

» Swinney faces criticism over partisan approach to narrowly-averted funding crisis

calls for a “victims’ commissioner” in fight against crime» Labour mSPs demand for peoples' champion to take substantive role in policy debate

eddie Fisher

The JournalWednesday 14 January 2009 Student News 11

Ben Judge

ben@journal-online.co.uk

The SNP admiNiSTraTioN in holy-rood has again failed to fulfil a major election promise to tackle student debt made in the run up to the 2007 Scottish Parliamentary elections.

a consultation paper—published in december—that addresses the Scottish Government’s election pledge to replace student loans with a sys-tem of grants has been criticised by student representatives for failing to meet the SNP’s manifesto promise.

in 2007, the SNP pledged to replace student loans in Scotland, a system the government describes as “expen-sive and discredited” with means-tested scheme involving grants and bursaries with the effect of raising the level of student income and reducing graduate debt.

however the system proposed in the 15 december 2008 paper, entitled Supporting a Smarter Scotland, falls far short of the promise which formed one of the key pillars of the SNP’s “drop the debt” campaign.

The proposals instead consist of three separate options. These include:

Beginning a transition towards »increased provision of grants through an increase of the Young Students Bur-sary for those under-25 whose paren-tal income is less than £33,000 p.a.

increasing minimum income avail- »able for students by topping up loans with grant entitlements.

Combining above options but »limiting scope to only the poorest students.

ruth Bush, president of heriot-Watt University Students’ association said: “although we are pleased the Scottish Government is consulting on the issue of student support, the proposals put forward fall shockingly short of what is needed for Scottish students.

“The options laid out in the pro-posal are severely restricted by the government’s announcement it has only £30 million to contribute to implementing them.”

edinburgh University Students’ association president, adam ramsay told The Journal: “The SNP prom-ised to turn loans into grants. They could have chosen to do this. instead they have chosen to spend the money elsewhere.

“£30 million may sound like a lot, but last week they spend £17 million on one portrait [the amount contrib-uted by the Scottish Government to the Titian appeal]. This consultation is a very long way of admitting that they aren’t going to keep their promises to students.”

in order to fund these policies, the SNP have proposed cutting state sup-port to Scottish students from families whose income totals £60,000 or more. This would mean 17% of Scottish stu-dents would receive no income other than that provided by parents or other family members. additionally, the Scottish Government is considering the refusal of support for those plan-ning to study for a second degree.

one 20 year old second year stu-dent from the University of edinburgh told The Journal: “When i voted in 2007, i was under the impression that the SNP were going to abolish debt for all graduates, regardless of family background. however, under the new proposals it seems that i’d receive no support at all because of my family background despite the fact that right now i am forced to rack up debts too.”

Fiona hyslop, the Scottish Sec-retary for education and Lifelong Learning, complained that the SNP has been heavily constrained by the Treasury, the 2008 funding settlement and the fact that there is not enough cross-parliamentary support for its proposals in holyrood.

She said: “We have to recognise that there are a number of restrictions, out-side this Government’s control, which may prevent us fully delivering on all of our commitments.”

in the run up to the 2007 election, the SNP had a three-tiered manifesto promise to tackle student debt. Firstly, they committed themselves to abolish-ing the graduate endowment, which they achieved in June 2007.

however, the other two tiers, which were both more ambitious and costly, have been significantly watered down. in addition to the replacement of student loans with grants, the SNP initially pledged to service existing graduate debt. in November 2007, this policy was among the first to be dropped as the new administration became starkly aware that it could not afford to keep its promises.

SNP break student loans promise

Emma Blinkhorn

emma.blinkhorn@journal-online.co.uk

a GoverNmeNT SUrveY has shown that parents are increasingly embracing the world of modern technology in order to stay connected with their undergrad-uate offspring.

Facebook has become one of the most popular means of keeping in touch, with parents opening up their own accounts and making “friends” with their children in order to keep tabs on their lives whilst away from home.

a poll of 1,000 parents by the depart-ment of innovation, Universities and Skills revealed that 75 per cent of them believe Facebook, texting and Skype are the best means of contacting their kids.

Students on Facebook have been fighting back with groups such as “Ban parents from Facebook – Facebook is for students not parents!” being created.

The group goes so far as to demand Facebook be once again closed off to non-students.

Student Lily Goldberg, 17, told The Guardian: “it’s like having them walk into my room.”

it is not only Facebook that has been used by parents to keep in touch with their children, with web cams and blog-ging being used to stop students com-pletely “flying the nest.”

The survey has broken down the areas of the country in which the great-est percentage of parents are using this technology to contact their children.

Parents living in Worcester have most readily embraced social network-ing, with 83 per cent “friending” their student children, compared with only a third of parents from Bristol.

in Norwich, 92 per cent of parents use some form of technology to reach their children, as do 85 per cent in Lon-don and Sheffield.

The higher education minister, david Lammy, said: “With record numbers of young people going to university, more and more families are using new ways of communicating to stay connected with their children whilst away from home.”

Facebook parents “spy” on children at university » Student leaders criticise SNP's commitment to "dropping the debt"

The JournalWednesday 14 January 2009

The JournalWednesday 14 January 200912 News Investigation News Investigation 13

Tram ChaosTram Chaos

Paris Gourtsoyannis

paris@journal-online.co.uk

“LE SOIR À Bruxelles, les étincelles des trams se voient de loin,” crooned Belgian chanssoneur

Jacques Brel. The Gallic romance that clings to Mr Brel’s preferred form of public transport could not be more foreign to Edinburgh citizens, who at the beginning of 2009 are faced with a year of the worst disruption that the Scottish capital’s unhappy tryst with its tram project has yet produced.

Edinburgh’s continental fl ing began so promisingly; the plans were designed to recast the city as a true European capital, not least after they were plucked out of obscurity in 2007 by a new SNP administration at Holy-rood eager to jab a fi nger in London’s eye.

A line sweeping from Leith through the city centre directly to the airport with Scandinavian ease and effi ciency; another, whisking tourists from the city to the coast, transforming Granton into a Glyfada for the Athens of the North; the fi nal – now defunct – spur pumping young blood into the heart of Edinburgh, shuttling dewey young things straight from classes at the Kings Buildings and George Square to the bars in time for happy hour.

Like so many hopeful jaunts in search of continental romance, how-ever, Edinburgh City Council has come down to earth having caught some-thing rather more unpleasant.

The numbers speak for themselves: when then-Scottish transport minister Tavish Scott announced the proposals in 2006, they were costed a modest £60 million. Despite the scope of the project

being reduced, the bill stands today at £512 million, with a further £96 million held in reserve. Despite a third of this money already having been spent, not a rail has been laid.

To say that management of the project by Transport Initiatives Edin-burgh (TIE) has come in for criticism would be an understatement of the kind which its critics at The Edinburgh Evening News have rarely entertained. With new chairman David Mackay – the former SRU executive who was at the helm during the disasterous spat with the Murray brothers that nearly resulted in the liquidation of the Edin-burgh Gunners – stepping in at TIE just as the council names the SNP’s Steve Cardownie – the fi ercest critic of Mr Mackay predecessor, Willie Gallagher – as its ‘trams champion’, the potential for more confl ict has only grown.

While the stewardship of work on the ground has been speculative, the public relations front has been a complete rout for the council and TIE. At every step, the project has been beset with bad press: allegations that works were delaying responses to 999 calls; campaigns to stop the removal of landmarks such as the Hearts memo-rial at Haymarket and the Leith clock; a wave of vitriol in local newspapers and on talk radio following the closure of the Mound.

Indeed, if trams begin to run up and down Leith Walk in as planned 2011, it is unlikely that enough time will have passed for local entrepreneurs to for-give the disruption that roadworks have visited on their business. If so, the fi rst commuters on the service will be greeted by the signs reading ‘Edin-burgh Trams: Ripping the heart out of local business,’ which now adorn nearly every shopfront on the street.

New Year, same trams» Whatever ideals Edinburgh's trams were supposed to embody, they've long since left the station

New Year,

thing rather more unpleasant. The numbers speak for themselves:

when then-Scottish transport minister Tavish Scott announced the proposals in 2006, they were costed a modest £60 million. Despite the scope of the project

have visited on their business. If so, the fi rst commuters on the service will be greeted by the signs reading ‘Edin-burgh Trams: Ripping the heart out of local business,’ which now adorn nearly every shopfront on the street.

CLOSED:HAYMARKET JUNCTIONWork ongoing to divert subterranean infrastructure like water and gas mains. Junction remains completely closed to and from Edinburgh Airport and Murray-fi eld Stadium; traffi c is restricted towards Darly and Gorgie roads. It is not yet known whether normal traffi c will have resumed by the time of the Six Nations rugby cham-pionships, in which Edinburgh hosts three home games.

CLOSED:PRINCES STREETDue to be closed for most of 2009 from Febuary onwards, as workmen divert water, gas and power lines buried under-neath the road. This labour-intensive work is the same as is underway at Haymarket junction; the proceedure was com-pleted in two stages on Leith Walk in 2008 to allow traffi c through using a contrafl ow system.

DIVERSIONS:QUEEN STREET& GEORGE STREET

The closure of Princes Street will result in all east-west traffi c through the centre of Edinburgh being diverted along these important com-mercial avenues. During the aborted closure of the Mound junction in 2008, diversions along two-lane George Street resulted in gridlock.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION:GRASSMARKET

Work to make the popular tourist square more pedestrian friendly and increase parking has was completed, but shopkeepers were less than pleased to learn that the newly-laid pavement is to be immediately dug up to lay a lane of fl at paving stones to facilitate disabled access over the cobbles.

Image © 1990 The GeoInformation Group

£60Minitial projected cost

0number of rails laid so far

£512Mproject cost to date

£1.2Mfall in parking revenue since start

5 YEARStotal projected length of project

Work on Leith Walk resumes 29 JAN

Services begin to run?2011

Cancelled

IMAGES (ABOVE, LEFT) ALED BESWICK

(RIGHT) WWW.THEEDINBURGHBLOG.CO.UK

Edinburgh University Students’ Association is a Registered Scottish Charity (No.SCO15800)eusa.ed.ac.uk

monday

tuesday

for just 90p you can pimp your burgerwith Bacon, Onion Rings, Chilli Beef, Mexican Chicken or Sour Cream

�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

�������������

�

�

�

��

��

��

���

�

��������������������������������������

The JournalWednesday 14 January 2009 Comment 15

CommentDiscussion&DebateCommentDiscussion&DebateCommentLouise Bamfi eld

louise.bamfi eld@journal-online.co.uk

AS BRITAIN’S FINANCIAL crisis spreads through the wider economy leaving growing numbers facing

unemployment, wealthy City types could be excused for wanting to keep a low profi le. A recent study into public attitudes towards the rich will give them fresh cause to fear for their place in the nation’s affections.

As part of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Public Interest in Poverty Issues programme, the Fabian Society is currently conducting research exploring attitudes to inequality and related policy responses. Early fi ndings of the research so far (taken from a Fabian-YouGov opinion poll conducted last month and discus-sion groups held in London, Bristol, Sheffi eld and Glasgow over the last six months) provide some clues: there are signs that media exposure of corporate excess and rewards for failure has started to shift the public mood, open-ing up space for political action, such as a heavier tax hit for high earners that even three months ago would have looked untenable. But a hardening of attitudes towards the rich does not necessarily mean a softening of views towards the poor. Temporarily at least, there are signs of greater sympathy towards people who are losing their jobs, but as yet, this is not shifting the old negative stereotypes about those on lowest incomes.

In focus groups conducted before the current recession took hold, participants have not generally been opposed to high rewards, expressing only partial support for the idea of setting a limit on how much people earn. There was a strong tendency to assume that people at the top generally deserved their high pay. High salaries tended to be seen as compensation for the time, stress and worry that extra responsibility entails. Furthermore, compared to those on lowest incomes, people are far more willing to give the benefi t of the doubt to those at the top. Asked to guess the number of benefi t cheats and tax dodger, for example, people tend to massively overestimate the numbers making false benefi t claims, while signifi cantly underesti-mating the number of wealthy people who cheat the system through tax avoidance.

What has changed, mid-credit crunch, is that the size of the “unde-serving rich” has expanded in the pub-lic’s mind. Bankers and traders have joined footballers and socialites at the

bottom of the public’s deservingness list. Asked to assess the pay of people in different jobs and professions, 87 per cent of respondents in the poll view City bankers as overpaid, second only to Premier League footballers at 96 per cent. By comparison, the sala-ries of lawyers, MPs and estate agents all attracted less disapproval.

But unlike footballers, City bankers are widely held to be personally to blame for behaviour that has had a direct negative impact on other people. People point to evidence of underper-formance and, in some cases, blatant mismanagement within banking through reckless, irresponsible lend-ing. Participants have also highlighted excessive rewards given for market failure, viewing banking executives as profi teering at the expense of ordinary

people. By being seen as violating a basic

rule of fair reward, bankers have exposed the vagaries in pay and remuneration processes at the top. As a result, a clear majority of the public want to see tighter rules on corporate pay: more than three quarters agree that bonuses should reward long-term success rather than short-term performance. 56 per cent of Britons approve of a more radical proposal – to make executives of failed companies pay back their bonuses from the last two years.

The government appears to have captured this popular mood by intro-ducing a new higher top rate of tax of 45 per cent for people earning over £150,000 – a move supported by more than three quarters of the public. There

is some evidence that the government could have gone further, with almost seven in ten respondents expressing support for a new top rate of 50 per cent for people earning over £250,000.

But while the extraordinary events on the global fi nancial markets have focused attention on people working in banking and related fi nancial sectors, they have not yet resulted in a wider debate about economic inequality. As the threat of unemployment spreads more widely than at any point over the last decade, we have seen greater sym-pathy and support being expressed for people affected by the downturn, and, temporarily at least, greater empathy and understanding towards those who have been laid off.

Yet despite this shift, we still see the same expectation as before: that

anyone who is out of work will dust themselves off and get back into work as soon as possible. People are still blaming the poor for not having the wherewithal to “pick themselves up” and lift themselves off the breadline. Thus, while a new category of villain has emerged in popular discourse, the old stereotypes about the feck-less, undeserving poor are still alive and well. To win the public argument for tackling inequality at both ends of the income spectrum, campaigners must broaden the debate about income inequality and about how different types of work—and different types of contribution, paid and unpaid—are valued in society.

Louise Bamfi eld is a senior research fellow at the Fabian Society

Recession Britain:

Back to the class war» Bankers would do well to keep their heads down – the credit crunch has launched a new age of suspicion

The JournalWednesday 14 January 200916 Comment

Gaza

THE CURRENT ROUND in the decades-long Arab-Israeli confl ict began in mid-Decem-ber when Hamas, who control

Gaza, ended a six-month ceasefi re. Missile attacks resumed against cities in the southern third of Israel, killing and wounding many civilians. After diplomatic efforts to halt the aggres-sion failed, no Israeli leader could avoid acting in self-defence.

The response began with air strikes against rocket storage areas, smuggling tunnels from Egypt and leading Hamas commanders respon-sible for the deaths of Israelis. One week later, ground forces entered to destroy weapons and produc-tion facilities located in and around mosques, schools, hospitals, and densely-crowded neighborhoods.

These events are only the latest in the world’s most diffi cult ethno-religious-national confl ict. For over 60 years, Israel has faced bitter opposition and frequent attacks – from Egypt, under Colonel Nasser

in the 1950s and ‘60s; from the PLO led by Yassir Arafat; and now from an Islamic coalition led by Iran, and linked to Hizbollah in Lebanon and to Hamas in Gaza. Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood – the Islamist organiza-tion that, among other violent acts, was responsible for the assassination of President Sadat of Egypt in 1981. Their objective is clear – to end Jew-ish sovereignty and self-determina-tion by “wiping Israel off the map.”

The buildup to the current fi ghting started in 2005 with the full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, hoping that the end of the occupation resulting from the 1967 war would provide a start towards peace. However, in 2007 Hamas took power from the Fatah fac-tion in a violent coup, and prepared the confrontation with Israel, using the ceasefi re to acquire hundreds of Iranian supplied Grad rockets, increasing the lethal range from 13 to 40 kilometers.

In planning this war, the Hamas leadership followed the model used by Hizbollah in 2006. That confl ict began with the killing and kidnap-ping of a number of soldiers, and the northern third of Israel was bombarded by missile attacks from Lebanon. When the war ended with

the missiles still fl ying, over 150 Israeli deaths, Hizbollah’s leadership intact, and a weak European-led UN force, they were able to claim victory. In contrast, Israel was determined to prevent future confl icts by correcting the failures of the 2006 war.

In Lebanon and Gaza, as in earlier confrontations, the propaganda war has been central to the outcome. The 2002 Israeli operation in Jenin that followed Palestinian mass terror attacks was accompanied by false claims of a “massacre,” and allega-tions of “war crimes” and “dispropor-tionality.” This pattern was repeated in the 2006 war with Hizbollah. The rhetoric of international law was used as a weapon, and the United Nations human rights bodies—dominated by such human rights stalwarts as Iran and Libya—joined in the one-sided attacks against Israel. Mass marches were organized in European cit-ies, and Israel-obsessed radicals on European campuses sought to impose boycotts. Ideological non-governmen-tal organisations (NGOS) with huge budgets, such as Amnesty Interna-tional and Human Rights Watch, joined dozens of Palestinian Solidarity groups in supporting the soft-power warfare, while violations of the human rights of Israeli civilians were

ignored or justifi ed.

The same strategy has been fol-lowed by Hamas, in the expectation that international pressure - led by NGOs and based on exploitation of human rights rhetoric and the language of international law - would force Israel to stop short. A ceasefi re would then allow Hamas to rebuild its arsenal and extend the range of missile even further, to include Tel Aviv – the center of the Israeli economy.

The key to this scenario and a Hamas victory is international pressure on Israel based on the soft power. Here again, the publicity gen-erated by NGO superpowers—Oxfam, Amnesty, and the numerous pro-Palestinian groups—play a central role. For months, these organizations have ignored the missile attacks from Gaza and use of human shields by Hamas in schools and mosques used to launch missiles. They campaigned against what they refer to as an Israeli policy of “collective punish-ment” and promoted allegations of a “humanitarian crisis.”

But the reality is quite differ-ent: the images of a power shortage and photos of Palestinians reading

by candle light were staged, and the Israeli Defence Force stated last

week that the World Food Program has halted food shipments to Gaza because storage facilities are over-fl owing. Under Hamas, Gaza’s main industry became the import and manufacture of rockets and mortars – over 6,000 have been used against Israel. Had these resources been devoted to peaceful endeavors, includ-ing the use of agricultural facilities built by Israel, life in Gaza could have been entirely different.

Thus, while many well-intentioned human rights campaigners blame Israel and call for an end to the fi ght-ing, the organisations to which they belong share the moral responsibil-ity for this tragedy and loss of life. A ceasefi re that only prepares the way for the next and more deadly round will accomplish nothing. To make a lasting and moral difference, the double standards and deep preju-dices that have eroded the essential universality of human rights, and allowed leaders of groups like Hamas to expect “victories,” must also end.

Professor Gerald M. Steinberg is chair of the Political Science Department at Bar Ilan University, and executive director of NGO Monitor

Gerald SteinbergNGO Monitor

g.steinberg@journal-online.co.uk

THE ONLY WAY to make sense of Israel’s senseless war in Gaza is by placing it under a critical lens. Israel portrays

itself as an island of democracy in a sea of authoritarianism, yet it has never done anything to promote democracy on the Arab side and has done a great deal to undermine it.

Despite all the handicaps, the Pales-tinian people succeeded in building the only real democracy in the Arab world, with the possible exception of Lebanon and Morocco. In January 2006, fair elections brought to power a Hamas-led government. Israel, however, refused to recognise the democratically elected government, claiming that Hamas was an unreformed terrorist organisation.

The US and EU shamelessly joined Israel in ostracising and demonising the Hamas government and in trying to bring it down by withholding tax revenues and foreign aid. A surreal situ-ation thus developed with a signifi cant part of the international community imposing economic sanctions not against the occupier but against the occupied; not against the oppressor but

against the oppressed. Israel’s propaganda machine per-

sistently purveyed the notion that the Palestinians are terrorists, that they reject coexistence with the Jewish state, that their nationalism is little more than anti-Semitism, that Hamas is just a bunch of religious fanatics and that Islam is incompatible with democracy.

But the truth is that the Palestinians are normal people with normal aspira-tions. What they aspire to, above all, is a piece of land to call their own, on which to live in freedom and dignity. Yet for the last 41 years, Israel has persistently frustrated their national aspirations.

The war unleashed by Israel on Gaza on 27 December was the culmi-nation of a series of clashes with the Hamas government. Its declared aim is defensive: to compel Hamas to stop the rocket attacks on Israeli towns. The undeclared aim is to drive Hamas out of power. The architects of this murderous war want the world to see the Palestin-ians in Gaza simply as a humanitarian problem and thus to derail their strug-gle for independence and statehood.

Mighty Israel claims to be the victim of Palestinian aggression, but the sheer asymmetry of power between the two sides leaves little doubt as to who is the real victim. The resort to brute military force is accompanied, as always, by the shrill rhetoric of victimhood, self-pity and self-righteousness.

To be sure, Hamas is not an entirely innocent party. Denied the fruit of its electoral victory, it has resorted to the weapon of the weak – terror. Hamas militants kept launching rocket attacks against Israeli settlements near the border with Gaza after Israel’s uni-lateral withdrawal from the strip in August 2005.

The damage caused by these primi-tive rockets is minimal but the psycho-logical impact is immense, prompting the public to demand protection from its government. Under the circum-stances, Israel had the right to act in self-defen ce but its response to the pinpricks of rocket attacks was totally disproportionate.

The fi gures speak for them-selves. In the three years after the withdrawal from Gaza, 11 Israelis were killed by rocket fi re. But in 2005-7 alone, the Israel Defence Force killed 1,290 Palestinians in Gaza, including 222 children.

Whatever the numbers, killing civil-ians is wrong. This applies to Israel as much as it does to Hamas, but its record is one of unbridled and unremit-ting brutality towards the inhabitants of Gaza.

The brutality of Israel’s soldiers

is fully matched by the mendacity of its spokesmen. Eight months before launching the current war on Gaza, Israel established a National Informa-tion Directorate. The core messages of this directorate to the media are as fol-lows: Hamas broke the ceasefi re agree-ments; Israel’s objective is the defence of its population; and Israel’s forces are taking the utmost care not to hurt civilians. In essence, this propaganda is a pack of lies.

The six-month ceasefi re brokered by Egypt in July of last year was in fact carefully observed by Hamas. It was not Hamas but the IDF that broke the ceasefi re. It did so by a raid into

Gaza on 4 November that killed six Hamas men. Secondly, Israel’s objective is not just to protect its citizens but bring about regime change in Gaza.

And far from taking care to spare civilians, Israel is guilty of indis-criminate bombing and of a three-year blockade of food, fuel, and medicines that has brought the inhabitants of Gaza to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. This is not a war but one-sided carnage. In waging this war, the Israeli soldiers have also committed war crimes such as the bombing of UN schools, ordering a hundred civilians to take shelter in a house in Zeitoun and then bombing and killing a third of them, and fi ring on ambulances and medical personnel.

The Biblical injunction of an eye for an eye is savage enough. But Israel’s insane offensive against Gaza seems to

follow the logic of an eye for an eyelash.

Avi Shlaim is a Professor of International Relations at

the University of Oxford. He is the author of The Iron Wall: Israel

and the Arab World (Norton, 2001)

An eye for an eyelash

Avi ShlaimUniversity of Oxford

a.shlaim@journal-online.co.uk

» Israel’s attempt to justify its catastrophic assault on Gaza is based on a pack of lies

Hamas have themselves to blame» Hamas have exploited human rights rhetoric to depict Israel as the villain

The JournalWednesday 14 January 2009 Comment 17

If NeW Year celebrations were somewhat muted with forecasts of further financial doom and gloom, two proposed Scottish

measures offered some respite. Last week it was announced that Scottish Labour has demanded a dedicated commissioner be appointed to look after the needs of crime victims and will soon launch a consultation on the matter.

The idea has been backed by Victim Support Scotland and rape Crisis Scotland: “Let’s face it; there is already a prison complaints commissioner. It’s time that victims of crime had their own champion,” Labour have said.

The more cynically minded will probably demur and claim that it need-lessly creates yet another bureaucratic tier in an already bloated public sector – and the incoming commissioner will certainly need to explain how taxpay-er’s money will deliver an increase in support for victims.

Proposing the bill, Labour MSP David Stewart said he hoped the vic-tims’ commissioner will have the abil-ity to investigate, challenge and raise awareness of issues affecting victims of crime. The issues, such as the recent evidence that people of ethnic minority backgrounds in Scotland are more than twice as likely to be victims of crime as others need urgent redress. But surely the priority of the Commissioner should also be to raise the actual level of support and assistance being cur-rently given to victims of crime at all stages of the criminal justice process and thereafter if needed?

Despite the commendable work being done in the voluntary and governmental sectors, there remains a large gap between supply and demand of victim support in Scotland; change is necessary and it requires leadership.

also in the pipeline is the Coroners and Justice Bill that aims to ensure that criminals in Scotland do not profit through crime. Lucrative memoirs and paid appearances will be outlawed as ministers clamp down on criminals who profit from their illegal past. The move was welcomed by victims and support groups who have spent several years campaigning for such an act. The bill is to be unveiled by the Scottish government later this month and Holy-rood leaders are confident of passing it as a UK-wide proposal. If so, surely it is an apt time for the Scottish government to simultaneously endorse the creation of a victims’ commissioner?

according to an SNP spokesman: “The Scottish government is committed to putting victims at the heart of the criminal justice system, and is cur-rently reviewing the Scottish Strategy for Victims.” This is welcome news as the Scottish Strategy for Victims, now eight years old, needs updating. Should the forthcoming consultations show that the appointment of a victims’ com-missioner is genuinely needed, it would be unwise for the Scottish government to reject David Stewart’s overtures. If it drags its heels on either proposal, an opportune moment for the Scottish government to show some real leader-ship will have passed.

Helen O’Shea is the Comment Editor of The Journal

Daniel Kenealy

daniel.kenealy@journal-online.co.uk

IN THe MoNTHS before the euro was launched in January 1999, economists in the United States—and a fair number in

europe—were busy sharpening their daggers. “It’s not an optimal currency area,” they cried. Traders derided it as a “toilet currency.” Now, as the euro marks its tenth birthday, it is a strong and well-established currency seen by many analysts as a safe haven from the financial storm currently engulfing the planet.

The story of the euro is one of a mixture of successes and failures. Chief amongst its accomplishments is its very survival – no mean feat if the naysayers of the late 1990s were to be believed. Its record of low inflation and price stability, achieved through the same policies as the old German Bundesbank, is admirable. But such stability did not come without a cost, and the cost was economic growth. The past ten years has seen little improvement in the underlying growth rate and income per person in the eurozone has remained at around 70 per cent of that in america.

None of this was according to plan. economics 101 brought comfort to the staunchest proponents of the single currency. By stripping countries of the licence to cheapen their currencies, the euro would force them to compete directly, thus fostering flexible and productive markets. It all seemed so simple. But it was also wrong. reform fatigue kicked in after 1999 and the single currency helped to mask the long-term damage such fatigue was causing by greatly reducing what investors call country risk. essentially, all eurozone members’ bonds were

regarded as being almost as good as the old German bunds. Put simply, the euro offered weak governments like Italy protection against one of the most powerful forces shaping global economics – the bond market.

one of the few silver linings of the current crisis might be an overdue market re-evaluation. In recent weeks, spreads on Italian and Greek debt over German bunds have widened sharply. This widening dilutes the protec-tion and will apply pressure to the governments with the worst reform records, the weakest public finances and the least competition to buck up. Where the single currency failed to spur on change, the markets might just succeed.

But that silver may line an incred-ibly dark cloud. The euro could be heading into the toughest times and tests of its young life. Job losses in the eurozone will climb and more busi-nesses will be lost through 2009. In the places that suffer worst, the voices calling for exit from the eurozone may get louder and more numerous. a breakup seems highly improbable though. If, say, Italy or Greece were to make for the door they would find, on the other side, heavier borrowing costs, devaluation, and perhaps even default. Such costs far outweigh the loss of monetary autonomy associated with staying in.

and what of the prospects for British entrance? It seems improb-able. Public and political opinion has not shifted significantly on the issue and Britain may well be better placed outside the euro. With its large financial sector, a huge housing boom (now bust), and indebted households, Britain has been hit hard but is suf-fering from what economists call an “asymmetric shock.” Such shocks are notoriously difficult to adjust to

within currency unions. Britain has been able to soothe the pain by cutting interest rates and allowing the pound to fall, two options it could not have pursued inside the euro.

These facts make alex Salmond’s recent statements supporting euro membership for Scotland somewhat baffling. It is hard to see the logic of his position, economically or politically. economically, a Scotland saddled with the euro right now would face higher interest rates and run the risk of pricing itself out of its biggest export market, the rest of Britain. Politically, as the only separat-ist party in the eU, the SNP runs the risk of intellectual incoherency by advocating independence from Britain on the one hand and a transfer of monetary sovereignty to frankfurt on the other. With polls indicating over 70 per cent of Scots are opposed to euro membership the first minister is braving strong political winds – but his recent words stand in contrast to his announcement, prior to last year’s Holyrood elections, that an indepen-dent Scotland would keep the pound. Clarification by the SNP of their posi-tion would be welcome.

Those pondering the wisdom of an eventual British entry into the single currency will watch the next decade with interest. first the euro must weather the current storm and that means ensuring that its constituent economies become more flexible and competitive. If it succeeds in this, the euro’s next ten years should be as successful as its first ten. If not, then the next decade will be considerably tougher.

Daniel Kenealy is Sir Bernard Crick Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Edinburgh

Show leadership over victims

Helen O’SheaComment Editor

helen.oshea@journal-online.co.uk

The euro at ten:

Challenges ahead

Tom HunT

Bonds are interest-bearing securities issued by a corporate or governmental agency in order to raise funds. The issuer compensates bondholders by pay-ing interest for the life of the bond. at maturity, the bondholder will be repaid for the funds lent. Maturity dates vary, but bonds are most commonly used for long-term debt.

although bonds are among the safer investments, there are several risks associated with them, which have an impact on their value at sale. Probably the biggest risk to the investor is market risk, which is the risk an investor faces should interest rates rise after the bonds have been purchased. If, for example, an investor bought bonds that were yielding 6 percent, the return is 6 percent as long as the bonds are held, possibly until maturity. If interest rates rise above 6 percent, however, the bonds are no longer paying the market rate of interest. fur-thermore, if the investors were to sell the bonds, they would sell for less than what was paid for them.

another risk associated with investing in bonds is the credit risk of the issuer. Since a bond is a loan, a bondholder has to assess the likelihood that the issuer will be able to pay the periodic interest pay-ments and the bond's par value at matu-rity. Whilst this is usually only relevant to corporate bonds where a company may declare bankruptcy, investors usually have full faith in national governments. However, following recent government investment in banks and other industries, something that exposes them to a greater degree of risk, this is a factor that bond traders have increasingly had to take into account.

In spite of the risks mentioned, bonds are still considered an attractive investment for many investors. Prices of bonds are much less volatile when compared to prices of stocks and defaults on bonds are also quite rare. [Chris Williams]

» In BrIEf: BOndS

The JournalWednesday 14 January 200918 Editorial

Edinburgh’s univErsity nEWspapEr | issuE Xvi

Crossword#8 - Cryptic

ACROSS 8 nothing in a smashed beam but a tiny organism (6) 9 Let out of renewed contract (8) 10 “Wait,” we hear, “i’m inside a branch” (4) 11 nice bridle is torn - unbelievable! (10) 12 What’s left behind in city outskirts after a goo retreats (6) 14 stimulate English sex (8) 15 down-payment for novel i posted (7) 18 great art gallery is made from plastic (7) 20 Loyalty from Cuban leader? i thank you (8) 21 american romantic attempt at verse (6) 23 arrange cannon and halt, unconcerned (10) 24 skirt worn by ballet dancer and archbishop (4) 25 terracotta urn, emptied of earth, hides traitor (8) 26 groom at war (6)

DOWN 1 i’m wearing a napkin before start of evening drinking (6) 2 her breasts contain an aromatic (4) 3 Calming little ocean, yes? (6) 4 reach at broken pipe (7) 5 the French garlic makes one hypersensitive (8) 6 puppet sprite has wrong doctrine (10) 7 run fleet at sea, ebbing away (8) 13 the smell of a layabout or a young person perhaps? (10) 16 ps: record one record and add to end of queue (8) 17 Fraud has 1001 in single fake tarot (8) 19 tv show in a powerful series (7) 21 put early schooling into revolution (6) 22 One in odd ultra-religious ceremony (6) 24 boy has note - it’s grave (4)

Lettersletters@journal-online.co.uk

GET lAST iSSuE’S SOluTiONS ONliNE AT WWW.JOuRNAl-ONliNE.CO.uk

sir,

Re: ‘Scottish universities could fall behind, warns report’ – Issue 16

the british government was only able to impose top-up tuition fees on English univerities through the votes of scottish Mps. Msps decided that scotland would not follow this exam-ple. Why, then does prof. trainor write that “it’s important for the bodies responsible for England to remember to take account of the concerns of the devolved governments and funding agencies.” Why should they?

prof. trainor can only make his comment because the uK government takes all the decisions in England. democratically, should it not be the other way round? the English should decide for themselves how they want to fund education in England and the scots, Welsh and northern irish should have no say in the matter.

Ian Campbellvia www.journal-online.co.uk

sir,

Re: ‘Student activism: What’s our problem?’ – Issue 15

apathy is not only assumed of people of our age, it is conditioned into us.

We have grown up to see the giant protests against the war in iraq ignored. the terrorism act now gives police superfluous powers to stop protests on very minor grounds. protests are now banned outside Westminster without consent. the society we’ve grown up with hints that democracy seems to be dead.

before people take to the streets and protest again, a whole new wave of enthusiasm needs to be broadcast to today’s youth. We find ourselves in yet another opressive era and until the public regain confidence that they can change things, we face the serious threat of staying that way.

Ross Buttervia www.journal-online.co.uk

iF WE havE learnt nothing else from the torrent of information concerning the credit crunch disseminated over the past few months then it must surely be that promises are easily broken – espe-cially when it comes to money.

With 370,000 current and former students now owing more than £2bn to the student Loans Company in scot-land, the snp was right to promise a return to the much yearned for student grant in their 2007 manifesto. however, rather than experiencing a slow down in the growth of student debt over the 18 months since alex salmond took office, scottish students have in fact seen their rate of debt acquisition increase by eight per cent.

For those who read with scepticism the snp flyers promising a government that would dispense with “expensive and discredited” student loans—widely distributed on scottish campuses before the 2007 election—it will not have come as a shock that, shortly before Christ-mas, that vision was more than slightly scaled back. Education secretary Fiona hyslop is now considering three options for the future of student finance: loans may still be scrapped slowly over an

indefinite period of “transition”; oth-erwise, loans may merely be supple-mented with grants with or without full grants being made available to students from the poorest of households.

having now announced that the amount of money pre-allocated to stu-dents from 2010 will only increase by £30m—far too little to scrap loans entirely—those studying in scotland can be sure that any move towards full grants would be very slow indeed.

as always, there is an excuse: “there are a number of restrictions outside this government’s control which may prevent us fully delivering on all of our commitments.” hampered by her inabil-ity to control the volume of cash lent to students by the Westminster treasury, Ms hyslop claims her hands are tied.

but this is not the only snp policy facing an uncertain future this week ostensibly at the hands of Westminster. the urgently required second Forth road bridge may well fail to leave south Queensferry as Chancellor alistair dar-ling quashed scottish finance minister, John swinney’s plans to borrow money for construction from future scottish budgets: “their particular scheme…is

something that we simply don’t do,” he said. “they ought to have been aware of it and they could have found out if they had asked earlier.”

in light of this, it is difficult to argue with Labour Msps who have accused Mr swinney of submitting plans he knew would be rejected in order to supply himself with political ammuni-tion in the quest for independence. and indeed, the strategy of announcing an unachievable policy before blaming its failure on some action of the Westmin-ster government has been well used by nationalist ministers.

it may be too much to expect alex salmond to admit over-enthusiasm in his profusion of promises to students, pensioners, school children, prisoners, victims, patients and healthcare work-ers at the last election. however, Labour parliamentarians are right to require that snp ministers cease using their own failure to draw up an achievable manifesto as a reason for destruction of the union. the snp’s mistakes are their own and—despite the valid argu-ments which may be made for indepen-dence—it will not solve government imprudence.

snp excesses:not a cause for secession

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9

10 11

12 13 14

15 16 17 18

19

20 21 22

23 24

25 26

FOrEign JOurnaLists havE not been allowed to enter the gaza strip during israel’s offensive. While this is no doubt a violation of the principle of freedom of the press which, in turn, undermines the international commu-nity’s ability to scrutinise the conflict and the violations of human rights which have clearly taken place, one may discern, in the reporting of the conflict, some positive effects.

palestinians, for better or for worse, have been forced to tell their own story. the most reliable sources of informa-tion have therefore not been the bbC, The Guardian, The Times, or Cnn – all of whom have been forced to some extent to bend to the will of the israeli military press machine. indeed, the mainstream media outlets have been living off the same sources as the rest of us.

these have been the testimonies of those suffering behind the battle lines, conveyed using the latest in networking

technologies, which have proved far more capable of crossing the front than conventional means of communication.

QassamCount and its pro-pales-tinian counterparts have kept the con-flict real in the consciousness of the Facebook community, while blogs and news feeds from the likes of action pal-estine and the birzeit university right to Education Campaign’s website have allowed stories of strife and surival as compelling as any told on a network news broadcast to come forward.

those who wish to see for themselves the truest portrayal of the conflict, how-ever, should sign on to the photo shar-ing site Flickr. the online community of amateur and professional photogra-phers makes no allowance for israeli blockades; the lives of ordinary gazans are depicted with absolute honesty, no matter how gruesomely appalling their living conditions might be.

the result is harrowing: The Journal

weighed the customary questions of bal-ance and taste when preparing its cov-erage of the gaza conflict. but, despite a heartfelt desire to do the subject the fullest justice, there were some images that could simply not be published.

this is not because they are any less true, or their stories any less wor-thy of being told. the world needs to see that life in gaza today is a toddler held by a paramedic, two bullet holes in his chest; a crying child being com-forted by his mother’s bloodied hand on his cheek. but in the next frame she is dead, and he is utterly alone. a gravel lot, filled with lifeless bodies; an infant, decapitated.

these images are real, and anyone who has wondered what it must feel like to run for their life to a bomb shel-ter a dozen times a day should also con-sider what effect witnessing scenes like these might have on them.

now, you can find out.

gaza: Citizen reporting comes of age

the Wednesday poem:inspirationLightning rarely strikes in the same place twice.Writers defy nature, by being the excep-tion to this rule. its unpredictability lies within each creator,for one cannot forecast when the electrify-ing idea will occur.however, we can be certain about the fact that it will come. Every once in a while,the universe synapses with us.

a world-wide connect the dots game is on,and we are driven into a state of total awareness,where a feeling of thundering understand-ing takes hold. Clear skies become cloudy,air turns into heavy wind,and rain bathes the writer’s blank page,turning water into ink.. but all this cannot be accomplishedwithout being an active player in nature’s game.

With each flash of light, secret spaces are revealed,and it is up to us to cross their thresholds,and find that hidden treasure, the super-glue cluewhich will allow us to write our world accordingly. still, it is what we do with our raindrops that matters,for no two are ever alike.

Natalia Herrerowww.readthismagazine.co.uk

The JournalWednesday 14 January 2009 Profile 19

Still independentEvan Beswick

evan.beswick@journal-online.co.uk

“NoW, I NoW I’m not going to be able to eat all of this, so I’m going to give you a piece of

it, right?” insists Margo Macdonald, passing a fat slice of red meat across the table.

I’ve been easily persuaded by the MSP to order three courses off the menu in the Scottish Parliament’s members’ restaurant. We’ve both plumped for ven-ison, and MacDonald seems prepared to go on record that the combination of the fillet plus a suet dumpling is “delicious.” I agree, and then pursue the issue which seems set to take up the bulk of our con-versation hereon in: the MSP’s spear-heading of the assisted dying bill.

In truth, I’m unsure how to proceed, unused to discussing matters of life and death with someone...“so old and decrepit!” she interrupts, uproariously. “Don’t worry, you won’t be as insensitive as some of the ones who have talked to me about it.”

So, a little relieved, I tentatively ask what stage her illness is at. “That’s insen-sitive!” she snaps, before again laughing easily. It is, undoubtedly, an unortho-dox introduction into how not to tiptoe around the issue of terminal illness.

Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease over a decade ago, the independent MSP has attracted broad attention as a spokesperson for Scotland’s assisted dying bill, which seeks to give termi-nally ill individuals the right to choose the time of their death. Currently in what she terms a “concentration period,” the real possibility of a members’ bill arose somewhat unexpectedly during a debate last March, when MacDon-ald gave an impassioned speech in the chamber. Despite having intended not to speak, the volume of letters she received afterwards convinced the former broad-caster to dust off her journalistic skills, resulting in a BBC Scotland documenta-ry—My Right to Die—which charted her research into euthanasia.

“No two cases of Parkinson’s are the same, and no two people are the same,” she explains. “Walking down the street you wouldn’t say ‘what’s wrong with her,’ you’d probably say ‘oh, I wonder what age she is!’” But while her symp-toms remain almost unnoticeable, Mac-Donald’s fun, easy manner perhaps downplays the degenerative effects of the condition – a condition which acts upon the central nervous system and for which there is no cure. “I’m tired at the moment, so the tremors are back a bit,” she admits.

Has she, then, considered the pos-sibility of when she may have to step down from parliament? “No! I’ve got too much to do! The doctor yesterday said he thought I had another parliament in me. But I’m not sure there’s another husband who would put up with me!” she jokes.

This might well be an understate-ment: one needn’t spend too long in the company of the staunchly pro-indepen-dence MSP to develop a keen respect for the number of parliamentary tasks she currently juggles. “My diary’s always

cluttered,” she says, without a hint of regret. There’s a sexual offences bill to cover prostitution (“the dingbats think it can be abolished”), progress to be made in youth sports (”community sport will suffer, unless someone pays it some attention now”), as well as her former party to keep on their toes over indepen-dence (”[turning student loans to grants] was a laudable objective, but before that objective could be realised, this place had to have total economic and financial power”). In the end, it isn’t the assisted suicide bill which ends up filling the majority of our conversation.

A easy interview would run some-thing along the following lines here: Margo MacDonald is terminally ill. So, summoning the last of her strength, she sets herself the mammoth task of cross-ing off all unfinished business. This hack gets to write a nicely uplifting arti-cle with MacDonald depicted as a par-liamentary legend – as far as devolved politics allows, that is. Frustratingly, though, that won’t fit here. one can’t shake the feeling that this just politics as usual for the Lothians MSP.

Indeed, this appears to be the case even regarding the bill to which she has been portrayed—sometimes in decid-edly unfriendly terms—as being most personally attached: “Because of what I’m going through from the neck down, I’ve maybe got more of a perception of what life is really like [for more acute Parkinson’s sufferers]. But as regards to campaigning on the issue, I’m doing that as a politician.” of course, that’s not to diminish the politician’s strong personal beliefs on the issue: “I know I do not want to get to the stage of double incontinence,” she says bluntly.

This rather practical desire to get things done crops up a number of times over the course of lunch, and it’s an enthusiasm which translates equally to more prosaic—but no less important—issues. on the subject of public housing, for instance, she turns to her husband, former SNP big-wig Jim Sillars, and the pair move straight into a familiar debat-ing mode: “I got hold of Alex Salmond [at the end of a meeting] and I said to him...”

What ensues is a discussion on the odd discrepancy between the borrowing powers of local and national government in Scotland (the council can; the parlia-ment can’t), and whether enough cross-party support can be garnered to take the matter to the Treasury (it’s, appar-ently, feasible). This simply isn’t suitable material for my dramatic fable.

Nor is her failure to provide theat-rics via any juicy animosity towards her former party – a party which forced her off the regional list back in 2003. So she ran, instead, as an independent. An old-school nationalist, she is undoubtedly critical of certain SNP policies, as this publication’s front page demonstrates. But her approach remains, in the main, pragmatic. Speaking about the Scottish Homecoming, for instance—a Labour idea which the SNP stand to either pull off with aplomb, or bungle dreadfully this year—she reasons: “I don’t want to see the SNP punished for it. Nor want to see Labour punished for it, either,

» With so much to do, independent MSP Margo MacDonald isn’t about to become a patient instead of a politician

Lewis KiLLin

because it’s one of those cases where Scotland loses if it’s bad.”

But, in reality, this isn’t surprising. Far from being a parliamentary outsider in the vein of George Galloway or Mar-tin Bell, Margo MacDonald maintains an especially privileged position within the Scottish government. In a parlia-ment which, as one Holyrood worker tells me, is controlled by party whips to a far greater degree than its Westmin-ster counterpart, the sole independent MSP maintains an enviable freedom to vote—or speak—in whichever way she sees fit.

Moreover, she’s able to navigate cross-party dealings in a quite unique way. Again on the subject of Homecom-ing 2009, for instance, she reveals: “I’ve been speaking to people across the par-ties and warning them within an inch of their lives not to use this as a political football.” only the next few months will tell how effective this coordination will have been.

So, it seems, MacDonald’s is a posi-tion which she looks set to use as vig-orously as usual, at least for the rest of this parliament. Beyond that, “they still have to vote for you, you know!”

And it’s no mean task she has set herself. on the assisted dying bill, she observes sagely that “finding legislation which is right at the interface of moral-ity and public policy is difficult enough. But when you then add in the multiplic-ity of equally valid points of view then it becomes extremely difficult.”

Fortunately, that hefty to-do list offers plenty of opportunity for success. And if Margo’s enigmatic ”hmmm, you’re making me think” over pudding and dis-cussions the EU of is anything to go by, there’s room on the list for a couple more of those to-do’s.

The JournalWednesday 14 January 20092 News

This week aT JourNal-oNliNe.co.uk

MoaZZaM BeGG: if camp X-ray really is to be closed, then it’s not before time, says the former Guantanamo detainee www.JourNal-oNliNe.co.uk

ediNBurGh fiNally has a happy New yearAfter successive disappointments, council leaders are cheered as over 100,000 pack into city centre to ring in Hogmanay

scoTlaNd slippiNG iN MaThs aNd scieNceSNP struggles to stop the rot in primary and secondary schools as an international study warns of declining standards

reTail TherapyPost-Christmas sales give Edinburgh stores a boost

BalaNce of power?Lib Dems summoned to Whitehall ahead of election

The Journal is published by The Edinburgh Journal Ltd., registered address 52 Clerk Street, Edinburgh EH8 9JB. Registered in Scotland number SC322146. For enquiries call 0131 662 6766 or email info@journal-online.co.uk. The Journal is a free newspaper for and written by students and graduates in the City of Edinburgh. Contact us if you’d like to get involved. Printed by Morton’s Printers, Licolnshire. Copyright © 2008 The Edinburgh Journal Ltd. Elements of this publication are distributed under a Creative Commons license - contact us for more information. Distributed by Two Heads Media, www.twoheadsmedia.co.uk. Our thanks to PSYBT, Scottish Enterprise, and all who make this publication possible.

editor Evan Beswickdeputy editor Chris Williams

art director Matthew MacLeod

Board of directorsBen Judge Devon Walshe Matthew MacLeod

deputy editor (News)

Paris Gourtsoyannis deputy editor (comment/features)

Simon Mundy deputy editor (sport)

Graham Mackay

design assistant Luke Miller

copy editors Helen Broadfoot, Laura McCaffrey, Alex Reynolds,

Lizzy Wilkinson, Lotti Fyfe, Andrew Fergusson

General News Sarah Clark edinburgh News Nick Eardley

academic News Rob Church-Taylor student News Matthew Moore student politics Megan Taylor National politics Ross Melton

comment Helen O’Shea

Music Jacqui Kavanagh Theatre Lucy Jackson art Colleen Patterson

football Elvira Kemp rugby John Geddie hockey Emily Glass

crossword Junta Sekimori chief illustrator Lewis Killin

photo editors Giulia Frontini & Silvia Pavlova Fotevaweb editor Marthe Sandvik

editorial assistant Abi Buglass

FOR ADvERTiSiNG iNFORMATiONcall our sales department on 0870 919 4909

or send an email to ads@journal-online.co.uk

EDiNBuRGH’S STuDENT NEWSPAPER

correcTioNs & clarificaTioNs

in an article, ‘The spirit of ‘68’, it was wrongly suggested that the then principal condoned the use of drugs. He did, in fact,

condemn their use.

Continued from page 1

in an interview on the BBC’s News-night, Shadow skills secretary, David Willets argued that the proposal did not go far enough. “A small number of businesses taking on graduate interns is welcome but this does not match the scale of the crisis facing young people trying to find jobs.”

The minister added, however, that the size and scope of the scheme had yet to be announced.

There is a growing consensus among governing bodies, economists and the media that the job market will be as harsh this summer as it has been for decades – The Guardian has already labeled those in the class of 2009 “Generation Crunch.”

The situation for those competing

in the graduate jobs market is exacer-bated by the major blow dealt to the financial services sector. The collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market and the subsequent international credit crisis has added to toughened compe-tition caused by year-on-year increases in the number of students attending universities.

According to the Telegraph, univer-sities are reporting that many firms, in particular investment banks, are can-celling their recruitment drives across university campuses, while others are limiting themselves solely to the so-called elite institutions.

The government fears that many of the 350,000 graduates will add to the already rapidly growing levels of unemployment in the uK. The Bank of England economist, David Blanch-flower has predicted that of the 3

million people expected to be out of work by the end of the year, a third will be between 18 and 25. Of the 137,000 people who lost jobs between August and October last year, 55,000 were 18-24 year olds.

Blanchflower warned in The Guard-ian that “a spell of unemployment when you’re young has a very differ-ent effect than when you’re older.” The effect, he says, is more akin to a “per-manent scar” than a “temporary blem-ish” that can have a long-term damag-ing effect on the young.

Studies show that long-term unem-ployment among young people can result in them finding it difficult to reconnect with stable career jobs. “it’s important to get a foothold in the labour market,” says Blanchflower. “if you don’t get in, life becomes very hard.”

internships to stave off surge in graduate unemployed

Continued from page 1

“Since the election of the SNP govern-ment 20 months ago, the gap between support for the union and independence has halved to just eight points.”

“The case for independence has been brought to the very centre of political and public debate in Scotland by this Govern-ment and by this first minister.”

Referring to the timetable set for a debate on the issue, he added: “The first minister and the Scottish government are committed to bringing forward an inde-pendence referendum bill in 2010 so that every voter has the opportunity to vote on Scotland’s future. That is the timetable we have set, that is the timetable we will adhere to – and we hope Margo will sup-port the Referendum Bill when it comes forward in Parliament.”

This is not the first time Alex Salmond

has been called out over his apparent coyness on the issue of Scottish indepen-dence. Following Labour’s much reported u-turn in May 2008 when, under Wendy Alexander, the party dropped their oppo-sition to a referendum, there ensued an exchange of words from which little, in reality, materialised.

When approached this week, Scottish Labour restated their commitment to the union. A spokesman said: “it’s unsurpris-ing that the SNP are split on the indepen-dence issue. The SNP leadership know that the vast majority of Scots see the benefits of being in the union and don’t want separation.

“The problem for the SNP is many of their hardline supporters and represen-tatives will continue to try and split the uK. The ball is in Alex Salmond’s court but it looks like he’ll have to deal with his own party before coming to the people.”

Joseph Kisolo-ssonKo

Salmond stalling independence

The JournalWednesday 14 January 200920 Arts & Entertainment

Harold Pinter, tHe playwright who inspired and shocked a genera-tion, died in december at the age of 78. despite an early desire to be an actor and work as a director, it is for his writing that he will be remembered, and his creation of bleak, dark poetry out of demotic speech.

despite the public dismissal of his early forays into theatre—The Birthday Party was almost universally disre-garded by critics, and taken off the stage within a week—Pinter developed a towering literary reputation, and is recognised as one of the most original talents of modern British theatre. His work never failed to gain a reaction, but rather than relying on shock tac-tics, he combined elements of comedy with dark violence to produce works that could never be neatly resolved or concluded. His relevance and durability in the theatrical canon must be viewed as a result of the highly political nature of his work. a suspicion of authority haunts his plays; having been called up for national Service in 1948 he refused, risking imprisonment – an act that demonstrated his independence of spirit and refusal to conform to the hegemony of the state.

although Pinter’s plays are associ-ated with the menacing, inexplicable world of the theatre of the absurd, his plays are set in a far more recognis-able locale than Beckett’s or ionesco’s. He was renowned for frustrating the audience’s realistic expectations of the characters, enabling him to make a much more direct critique of social power relations – a technique he refined to staggering effect in The Homecoming. While the audience may be presented with an ordinary domestic scenario, populated with an apparently average family group, Pinter uses the sense of familiarity this situa-tion creates to subvert and question the morality of the characters’ actions.

But perhaps the most distinctive element of Pinter’s work is the way

in which the spare, oblique dialogue makes the characters’ intentions and motives almost unreadable, despite the violence with which they are often expressed. rather than a poverty of language suggesting the moral and emotional emptiness of his characters, Pinter’s drama chooses this mode of expression to address their potential to erupt. Pinter used the language of the living-room, the pub and the bus stop to confront social issues, and his characters struggle for dominance over one another linguistically as well as physically. the verbal and the non-verbal are equally important; emphasis of the gaps in conversation marks out the subtlety of Pinter’s craft, illuminat-ing the linguistic ambiguity inherent in our daily conversations.

this combination of exquisitely observed natural speech and a strong sense of the poetry in the language revolutionised notions of the ability of theatre to express the repressed anger and frustration of everyday social interaction. Pinter’s techniques have influenced many of our contemporary political playwrights—Martin Crimp and Caryl Churchill to name but two—who have not only adopted the famous pause but taken the imitation of real speech to new levels in an attempt to increase identification with real-life situations in their plays. Writing around the time of theatrical upheaval associated with the 1950s and the rejection of neat, élite drawing-room drama, he was also associated with the experimental new generation at the royal Court theatre.

despite his early critical damnation, Pinter’s exploration of the functions of speech in drama was to pave the way for a new stylistic era. it was only in the mid-1980s that Pinter began to use his talent for addressing domestic power-play to address his feelings on state abuses of power, torture, human rights and the hypocrisies of Western democracies. He should be

remembered as one who attempted to give a voice to marginalised writers and speakers throughout the world. His 1988 play Mountain Language was provoked by the turkish repression of the Kurdish language, but also had bearings upon thatcherite restrictions regarding expression in Britain. Sparse and brutal, it plays on the relationship between freedom of expression and physical violence and oppression.

refusing to be swayed by pub-lic opinion or even his own wane in popularity as a result of his views, Pinter lost no opportunity to attack

governmental injustice where he saw it. in his 2005 nobel Prize for literature acceptance speech, he made an impas-sioned attack on the foreign policy of the United States, using his position to express what he felt people should hear. Mel Gussow, author of Conver-sations with Pinter noted of him: “in the broadest sense, Pinter has always been a conscientious objector, even as people keep trying to tell him what to do.” What made him such a remarkable playwright—and political activist—is that he held on to his unrelenting non-conformity to the end.

Feature

Harold Pinter: A look back

one oF tHe MoSt iMPortant WriterS oF HiS Generation, Harold Pinter’S literary GeniUS and tireleSS PolitiCal aCtiviSM Will ContinUe to MaKe a ForMidaBle iMPaCt lonG aFter HiS deatH

Anna Fenton & Lucy Jacksonarts@journal-online.co.uk

SCottiSH Ballet’S SLeePing Beauty—the brain-child of ashley Page and antony Mcdonald—is in its second year of touring the UK. the familiar fairy tale has been given an invigorat-ing re-telling, set against the classical compositions of tchaikovsky.

as a baby, Princess aurora (Claire robertson) is cursed by the jealous evil fairy Carabosse (victoria Willard) to be met with disaster upon her 16th birthday. Fortunately, the good lilac Fairy (Soon Ja lee) is able to avert total disaster by changing the result of the finger-prick to a deep sleep, and then to bring the handsome Prince (erik Caval-lari) to where she lies.

ably conveying subtle plot changes and complicated psychologies through the medium of traditional ballet, the expressive movements of the dancers and the emotive music (conducted by nicholas Kok) help to clarify the already familiar story to the audience.

But most striking about this produc-tion is the splendour of the costumes. With acts set in the victorian era and post-War 1940s, as aristocrats and roy-alty brush shoulders with fairies and

fairytale heroines, the costume design department have evidently relished the task of creating vivid and lavish outfits. the ladies’ dresses float and twirl enchantingly as they dance. there’s also plenty of precarious headwear in the final act, which certainly adds to the colourful and adventurous costumes.

the dancing itself in fact seems more subdued, less obtrusive, com-pared to the outfits. However the intricate patterns created by the danc-ers are often breathtaking: the scene in which aurora is invited to choose between four princely suitors is cleverly executed with seemingly incidental movements which combine for a slick and enjoyable sequence.

regretably, the third and final act of the performance—celebrating the mar-riage of aurora to her Prince Charm-ing—drags on as the principal dancers perform somewhat contrived solos and duets. nevertheless Scottish Ballet’s production is extravagant and colour-ful with plenty of grace and charm – a winning and magical combination of traditional balletic conventions and contemporary flamboyance.

theatre

Scottish Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty

extravagant and colourful with plenty of grace and charm

FeStival tHeatre

7-10 JanUary

Claire L Jarvisclaire.l.jarvis@journal-online.co.uk

The JournalWednesday 14 January 2009 Arts & Entertainment 21

The BBC reCenTly announced their hot musical tips for the coming year, and, with a similar eye on the future, The Journal makes its way to henry’s Cellar Bar, where some hotly touted Scottish bands are on show. I arrive towards the end of the opening set from lions.Chase.Tigers – a four piece from Stenhousemuir who look like they could still be studying for their GCSes.

Their song ‘Pictures Memories’ encapsulates their style of performance – a heavy melody-laden track that con-tributes little new to the genre of alter-native rock. The most obvious weakness lies in their vocals: their chart Indie-influenced accents dwindle uncomfort-ably into contrived American drawl far too often. Introducing their nameless final song, a guitarist announces: “This is for anyone who likes Aereogramme.” even for their dedicated followers, this is too much. A tirade of unlistenable screams and instrument bashing later, and the band are thankfully off.

Things pick up with the next act, I See Shapes, apparently named in hom-age to Scottish indie proggers Idlewild. This influence is evident in some of the complex guitar plucking in songs like ‘Czech Please’ and in the thoughtful and abstract lyrics in numbers like ‘you

Are More Than The Sum Of These Parts’. Otherwise, at their best, I See Shapes handle well-structured, delicate build ups, but frustratingly the boys lapse into melodramatic and predictable. On an aesthetic note, I’m perplexed by the odd arrangement of the band with the two vocalists either side of a seemingly stranded bassist, pushed awkwardly forward by the imposing drum kit.

Another half hour, and yet another four-piece guitar band tries their luck. The Void are tonight’s headliners. Unfor-tunately, though, each alt-rock song sounds like the last, and ironically their big single, ‘Falling Backwards’, does just that. Frontman and bassist ewan tries to engage with a crowd that lost its appetite for music two acts ago, and his desperate chirpy appeal to “smile! This is a smiley song!” sits oddly with the band’s black apparel and dark lyrics.

One hopes this gig isn’t represen-tative of Scottish musical prospects for the coming year. The likes of Biffy Clyro have been able to break into the mainstream with great success, and maybe there is a niche market for this American-imported genre. But on the evidence of this show, that’s not the direction young Scottish hopefuls should be heading.

Music

The Void; I See Shapes; Lions. Chase. Tigers.

young Scottish hopefuls need to find their own style

henry’S CellAr BAr9 JAnUAry

Dan Mossdan.moss@journal-online.co.uk

AT The STArT of a series of concerts commemorating Felix Mendelssohn’s 200th birthday, the SCO bring us his overture The Fair Melusine alongside two equally expressive orchestral works from Mozart and Schubert. An interesting initial observation lies in the size of audience: the recession may be seeing many a well-established British company close its doors, but apparently it still can’t put us off clas-sical music.

The Fair Melusine takes us through beautifully flowing contrasts, punc-tuated especially well at its opening by the woodwind. The string section achieves perfectly weighted dynamics throughout and the delicate contrasts existing across the piece are well emphasised by the ensemble as a whole.

In the piano concerto, the players really breathe life into Mozart’s work. Soloist Paul lewis portrays a delicate passion in his lyrical treatment of the piece while cascading passages pos-sess the smoothness and even tempo required by the moving work. The ensemble supports lewis’ technique with excellent balance and demon-strates a new and distinctive side to the works of Mozart.

The opening of the second half brings a surprise addition to the programme which continues the Mendelssohn theme: an orchestra-tion of the Scherzo from his renowned string octet. Contrasting melodic lines flow together despite the doubling and tripling of instruments, and the work’s playful intricacies translate well into the orchestral setting.

The required delicacy remains flawless right up to the closing bars, during which a beautifully articulated flute solo leads us to a subtle finish. Schubert’s Fourth Symphony follows, heralding a growing dramatic mood which is portrayed well throughout by conductor Andrew Manze. The finale is particularly noteworthy, as the com-bination of its underlying pulse and various melodic elements maintains the inevitable pull towards an eventual climax.

If tonight is anything to go by, the SCO’s celebration of Mendelssohn is set to be something special. As Manze declares during an introduction to the second half, the coming concert series is a must for Mendelssohn fans and newcomers to his work alike.

The KInG’S TheATre’S production of Aladdin, written and directed by Paul elliott, pulls out all the stops in this ver-sion of the classic Arabian nights tale. Providing the audience with special glasses, the production uses “magical” 3D effects to create the Genie and hurl spi-ders, snakes and flying rocks straight at the audience; judging by the screams and squeals this is well received.

So, the evil magician Abanazar (radio Forth DJ Grant Stott) intends to gain con-trol over the universe, but needs the assis-tance of the “chosen one” Aladdin (come-dian Johnny Mac) to obtain a magical lamp. Aladdin himself is already beset by difficulties: he has fallen in love with a for-bidden Princess Jasmine (nieve Jennings, the former Miss Scotland), and is being chased by sexy acrobatic police officers (led by the dominatrix-inspired Jo Freer) while his mother Widow Twanky (Allan Stewart) flirts with unsuitable men.

On top of the flashy new technology,

though, Aladdin serves up a decent help-ing of traditional theatrical entertain-ment. Woven throughout the thin plot lines are singing, dancing and plenty of jokes at the audience’s expense. The musi-cal score includes The Proclaimers, as well as original music and the Disney sound-track. The gymnastic ability of the danc-ers is impressive; they somersault over and across the stage clad in mini-skirts or extravagant and colourful costumes.

But judging by the tight PVC outfits of the police squad, it seems that this pantomime is aimed quite clearly at an adult audience. The jokes swiping at edinburgh are also likely to pass over the heads of younger members of the audi-ence, although there are plenty of simpler gags.

On the whole, Aladdin is an entertain-ing and appealing panto with a lot of energy and chemistry – it’s hardly Pinter, but it is a surefire way to banish those post-new-year January blues.

Theatre

Aladdin

An entertaining and appealing panto

KInG’S TheATreUnTIl 18 JAnUAry

Claire L Jarvisclaire.l.jarvis@journal-online.co.uk

Music

Scottish Chamber Orchestra: the Mendelssohn celebration begins

The SCO’s celebration of Mendelssohn looks set to be something special

QUeen’S hAll8 JAnUAry

Sarah Mitchellsarah.mitchell@journal-online.co.uk

On the horizon...ArT

Turner in January Royal Scottish Academy Building 1 - 31 January, free

An annual exhibition of Turner water-colours from the collection of henry Vaughan. These works are so delicate that they are only shown in January, when daylight is weakest, so as to retain their wonderful colours and beauty.

Claire Barclay Fruitmarket Gallery 7 February - 12 April, free

Solo show of Scottish artist Claire Barclay, showcasing her precise, unique and site-reflexive sculptures.

MuSICFranz FerdinandPicture House14 January, £17.50

Mercury Prize-winners back in town to promote new album Tonight.

Sharleen SpiteriEdinburgh Playhouse25 January, £30/25

Texas frontwoman tries out life as a solo artist.

ThEATrE

The Man Who had All The Luck Royal Lyceum Theatre 16 January - 14 February, £9-26

Set during the Great Depression, Arthur Miller’s moral drama examines the American Dream and questions how one man can fail while another, though no more capable, can prosper in life.

Fame Edinburgh Playhouse 9-17 January, £22

The original high school musical, following a group of star struck students in new york’s school for the performing arts.

gET MOrE upCOMIng EVEnTS AT JOurnAL-OnLInE.CO.uk

Pro

per

ty

PROPERTY LISTINGS PROVIDED BY WWW.CITYLETS.CO.UK

Abbeyhill Piershill Place, 735, 2, 2D, 0870 062 3700

Bellevue Hopetoun Street, 950, 3, 3D G CG P, 0870 062 2014

Broughton Dunedin Street, 650, 2, 2D G CG Z, 0870 062 9592 Broughton Road, 495, 1, 1D G CG O, 0870 062 6604 Broughton Road, 450, 1, 1D CG O, 0870 062 9320

Bruntsfi eld Bruntsfi eld Place, 900, 3, 3D G CG Z, 0870 062 9334 Viewforth, 1325, 4, 2S 2D, 0870 062 3700 Gillespie Place, 1260, 3, 3D G O, 0870 062 9324 Bruntsfi eld Place, 1100, 3, 3D G O, 0870 062 8252

Canonmills Canonmills, 675, 1, G, 0870 062 9326 Beaverbank Place, 400, 1, 1D CG Z, 0870 062 9334

Central Tron Square, 800, 3, 3D G Z, 0870 062 9688 Rose Street, 750, 2, E O, 0870 062 6604 West Bow, 750, 2, 2D G Z, 0870 062 9478 Blandfi eld, 600, 2, 2D W CG P, 0870 062 9448 West Montgomery Place, 575, 2, 2D, 0870 062 3700 Rose Street, 545, 1, 1D G O, 0870 062 6604 Bread Street, 500, 1, 1D 1B, 0870 062 9316 Hillside Street, 500, 1, 1D G CG Z, 0870 062 9474 Howden Street, 495, 1, G Z, 0870 062 9328 East Crosscauseway, 400, 1, E Z, 0870 062 9382 North Bridge, 400, 1, 1D E, 0870 062 7736 North Bridge, 350, 1, 1S E, 0870 062 7736 Parliament Square, 1400, 2, 2D G Z, 0870 062 9478 South Charlotte Street, 1200, 2, 2D G Z, 0870 062 9478

Clermiston Clermiston Place, 650, 2, 2D G PG P, 0870 062 1876 Ardshiel Avenue, 635, 2, G CG O, 0870 062 9234

Colinton Mains Firrhill Crescent, 620, 2, 2D G PG O, 0870 062 9302 Colinton Mains Drive, 550, 2, 2D G PG P, 0870 062 9456

Comiston Comiston Road, 950, 3, 3D G CG Z, 0870 062 9478

Corstorphine Chesser Crescent, 680, 2, 2D G CG P, 0870 062 9388 Carrick Knowe Av-enue, 620, 2, 2D G PG O, 0870 062 9488 Gylemuir Road, 550, 2, UF 1S 1D W CG P, 0870 062 9388

Crewe Toll Ferry Road Drive, 625, 3, 3D G CG O, 0870 062 9384

Dalry Murieston Crescent, 675, 2, 2D, 0870 062 3700 Cathcart Place, 650, 2, 2D, 0870 062 3700 Cathcart Place, 475, 1, 1D G CG Z, 0870 062 3768 Torphichen Place, 450, 1, 1D G Z, 0870 062 9478

Davidsons Mains Ferry Gait Crescent, 650, 2, 2D, 0870 062 6450

Duddingston Lady Nairne Cres-cent, 625, 2, 2UF D G PG O, 0870 062 3872

Easter Road Easter Road, 530, 2, 1S 1D G CG Z, 0870 062 9424 Thorntree Street, 475, 2, 1S 1D E, 0870 062 9326

Edinburgh Hamilton Place, 735, 2, 2D, 0870 062 3700 Colinton Mains Drive, 625, 2, 2D G PG P, 0870 062 9478 Brunswick Road, 570, 2, 2D, 0870 062 3700 East Claremont Street, 1750, 5, 5D, 0870 062 3700 Broughton Street, 1650, 5, 2S 3D, 0870 062 3700 East Claremont Street, 1625, 5, 5D, 0870 062 3700 Montgomery Street, 1330, 4, 4D, 0870 062 3700

Ferry Road East Pilton Farm Crescent, 700, 2, 2D G P, 0870 062 9320

Fettes North Werber Place, 700, 2, 2D G P, 0870 062 9558 East Pilton Farm Crescent, 1200, 3, 3D, 0870 062 2018

Fountainbridge Upper Grove Place, 525, 2, 2S W O, 0870 062 9326 Mcneill Street, 515, 1, 1D G CG Z, 0870 062 9312 Leamington Terrace, 1200, 4, 4D, 0870 062 6450

Gilmerton Gilmerton Dykes Terrace, 625, 2, UF 2D G, 0870 062 1876 Gilmerton Dykes Road, 600, 2, 1S 1D W P, 0870 062 9478 Ravenscroft Place, 520, 1, G, 0870 062 9384

Gorgie Stewart Terrace, 525, 2, 2D G CG O, 0870 062 9558 Gorgie Road, 480, 1, 1D G CG O, 0870 062 9238 Westfi eld Street, 475, 1, 1D E CG O, 0870 062 8252 Wheatfi eld Street, 450, 1, 1D CG O, 0870 062 3768

Stewart Terrace, 430, 1, W CG O, 0870 062 9688

Granton Lower Granton Road, 725, 2, 2D G P, 0870 062 9460 Waterfront Park, Ed-inburgh, 495, 1, UF 1D G P, 0870 062 2414

Grassmarket West Port, 625, 2, 2D W Z, 0870 062 9314 West Port, 530, 1, 1D W CG Z, 0870 062 9558

Haymarket Grove Street, 1650, 5, 5D, 0870 062 3700 Grove Street, 1150, 4, 4D, 0870 062 3700

Hillside Montgomery Street, 610, 1, E CG O, 0870 062 4830 Hillside Street, 550, 0, , 0870 062 3700 Blenheim Place, 1650, 5, 5D, 0870 062 3700

Holyrood Viewcraig Street, 900, 3, UF 3D G, 0870 062 1876 Royal Park Terrace, 700, 2, 2D G PG O, 0870 062 4830

Leith Lorne Street, 980, 3, 3D, 0870 062 3700 Cables Wynd, 925, 3, 1S 2D G CG P, 0870 062 9460 Pitt Street, 900, 3, 3D, 0870 062 3700 Dudley Avenue South, 875, 4, 4D G O, 0870 062 9592 Ferry Road, 735, 2, 2D, 0870 062 3700 Cadiz Street, 650, 2, 2D, 0870 062 3700 Mcdonald Road, 650, 2, 2D G CG O, 0870 062 9522 Spey Terrace, 650, 2, 1S 2D G Z, 0870 062 9478 Giles Street, 625, 2, 2D E P, 0870 062 9456 Wellington Street, 625, 2, 2D G Z, 0870 062 9478 Albert Street, 605, 2, 2D G Z, 0870 062 9478 Sloan Street, 599, 2, UF G O, 0870 062 9384 Edina Street, 575, 2, 2D, 0870 062 3700 Giles Street, 575, 2, 1S 1D G O, 0870 062 6772 Leith Walk, 550, 2, 2D, 0870 062 3700 Prince Regent Street, 550, 2, 2D G CG O, 0870 062 9688 Lorne Street, 525, 1, UF G CG O, 0870 062 9434 Dickson Street, 515, 1, G CG O, 0870 062 6604

Halmyre Street, 475, 1, 1D G CG, 0870 062 9320 Annfi eld, 450, 1, 1D, 0870 062 3700 Dickson Street, 450, 1, 1D PG O, 0870 062 9316 (1F2) Lorne Square, 440, 1, UF 1D CG O, 0870 062 9434 Madeira Street, 1240, 5, 5D, 0870 062 3700 Easter Road, 1150, 4, 3S 1D, 0870 062 3700

Leith Walk Haddington Place, 850, 4, 2S 2D G CG O, 0870 062 9688 Dicksonfi eld, 690, 2, 2D G P, 0870 062 9302 Pilrig Heights, 660, 2, 2D G P, 0870 062 9488 Elliot Street, 620, 2, 2D E P, 0870 062 9302 Coburg Street, 600, 2, 2D G P, 0870 062 9488 Iona Street, 595, 1, 1D G CG O, 0870 062 9594 Brunswick Street, 475, 1, 1D E CG Z, 0870 062 9424 Croall Place, 1300, 4, 1S 3D, 0870 062 3700 Crown Street, 1290, 4, 4D, 0870 062 3700

Liberton Old Burdiehouse Road, 625, 2, 2D G P, 0870 062 9460 Alnwickhill Grove, 525, 1, 1D G PG P, 0870 062 9424 Carnbee Crescent, 525, 1, 1D W P, 0870 062 9424

Lochend Bethlehem Way, 675, 2, 2D G CG P, 0870 062 9558 Bethlehem Way, 599, 2, 2D G P, 0870 062 9456

Marchmont Livingstone Place, 900, 3, 3D G CG Z, 0870 062 9322 Warrender Park Road, 700, 2, 2D G CG Z, 0870 062 9334 Moncrieff Terrace, 650, 2, 2D G Z, 0870 062 9334

Meadowbank Meadowbank Ter-race, 625, 1, 1D, 0870 062 3700 Allanfi eld, 480, 1, 1D, 0870 062 3700

Meadows Melville Terrace, 1200, 4, 4D G CG Z, 0870 062 9334

Morningside Balcarres Street, 800, 3, 3D G CG O, 0870 062 9688 Balcarres Street, 750, 3, 2S 1D G CG O, 0870 062 8252 Falcon Avenue, 725, 2, 2D, 0870 062 3700

Balcarres Street, 560, 2, 2D G CG O, 0870 062 9334 Morningside Road, 1500, 5, 5D, 0870 062 3700 Morningside Road, 1300, 5, 2S 3D, 0870 062 3700

New Town Union Street, 950, 2, 2D G Z, 0870 062 9300 Bellevue Street, 895, 3, 3D G, 0870 062 9422 Barony Street, 780, 2, 2D W CG Z, 0870 062 9688 St. Bernards Cres-cent, 750, 2, 2D W CG Z, 0870 062 9456 Rose Street, 435, 1, 1D Z, 0870 062 9316

Newhaven Newhaven Place, 675, 2, UF 2D G P, 0870 062 9488 Annfi eld, 550, 2, 2D G PG O, 0870 062 9460

Newington Lutton Place, 99, 5, 5D G CG Z, 0870 062 3704 Rankeillor Street, 960, 3, 3D 1B G CG Z, 0870 062 9434 Buccleuch Terrace, 950, 3, 3D, 0870 062 3700 Blackwood Crescent, 750, 2, 2D G O, 0870 062 9488 St. Patrick Square, 720, 2, 2D W CG O, 0870 062 6458 Blackwood Crescent, 650, 2, 1S 1D G CG Z, 0870 062 9688 Buccleuch Street, 650, 2, 2D W Z, 0870 062 9334 St. Leonards Street, 650, 2, UF 2D G CG O, 0870 062 6772 Ross Gardens, 625, 2, 2D W PG O, 0870 062 9478 Bernard Terrace, 600, 2, 2D G PG Z, 0870 062 9424 Cowan’s Close, 525, 1, 1D P, 0870 062 9234 St. Patrick Square, 525, 1, 1D G Z, 0870 062 9558 East Preston Street, 1875, 5, 5D, 0870 062 3700 Dalkeith Road, 1800, 5, 5D, 0870 062 3700 West Preston Street, 1650, 5, 5D, 0870 062 3700 Bernard Terrace, 1620, 5, 5D, 0870 062 3700 Montague Street, 1350, 4, 4D, 0870 062 3700 South Gray Street, 1300, 4, 4D, 0870 062 3700

Old Town Upper Bow, 450, 1, 1D Z, 0870 062 9316

Oxgangs Oxgangs Crescent, 595, 2, 2D G CG O, 0870 062 6782

Pilrig Hawthornden Place, 650, 2, 2D E CG P, 0870 062 2014 Pilrig Heights, 575, 1, 1D G O, 0870 062 2414

Pilton Crewe Crescent, 580, 2, 2D G CG O, 0870 062 9488 West Pilton Cross-way, 495, 2, 2D W, 0870 062 9468

Polwarth Bryson Road, 550, 1, 1D G CG Z, 0870 062 3768 Temple Park Cres-cent, 525, 1, 1D G CG Z, 0870 062 3768 Bryson Road, 420, 1, W CG O, 0870 062 9688 Murieston Crescent, 1240, 4, 4D, 0870 062 3700

Portobello Kings Road, 600, 1, CG O, 0870 062 9688 Kings Road, 590, 2, 2D W CG O, 0870 062 9688

Powderhall Powderhall Rigg, 700, 2, 2D G P, 0870 062 9592

Restalrig Restalrig Crescent, 500, 2, 2D PG, 0870 062 9326

Roseburn Roseburn Terrace, 675, 2, 1S 1D G CG Z, 0870 062 9478

Saughton Saughton Mains Street, 600, 2, 2D G CG O, 0870 062 3768

Shandon Ashley Terrace, 850, 3, 3D G CG Z, 0870 062 9592 Slateford Road, 700, 2, 2D E CG Z, 0870 062 9558 Hermand Crescent, 600, 1, 1D G CG O, 0870 062 3768

Sighthill Sighthill View, 950, 4, UF 4D G, 0870 062 1876

Slateford Slateford Road, 650, 2, 2D W P, 0870 062 3768 Moat Terrace, 500, 1, 1D G O, 0870 062 3768 Moat Street, 495, 1, 1D G CG O, 0870 062 9312

Hutchison Cottages,

1000, 1, UF G PG P,

0870 062 9522

Stenhouse Stenhouse Drive,

650, 2, 2D G CG O,

0870 062 6604

Stenhouse Street

West, 575, 2, G CG O,

0870 062 9326

Stockbridge Dean Bank Lane,

725, 2, 1S 1D E Z, 0870

062 9558

Dean Park Street,

575, 2, UF 1S 1D W CG

O, 0870 062 8252

Dean Street, 560, 2,

1S 1D G CG Z, 0870 062

9456

Bridge Place, 525, 1,

1D G Z, 0870 062 9424

The Shore Tower Place, 850, 3,

3D G P, 0870 062 9488

Commercial Street,

750, 2, 2D E P, 0870

062 9594

Tollcross Lauriston Place, 700,

2, 2D, 0870 062 3700

Torphichen Place,

675, 2, 2D, 0870 062

3700

Lochrin Buildings,

625, 1, 1D G CG, 0870

062 9464

Lauriston Gardens,

1875, 5, 5D, 0870 062

3700

Valleyfi eld Street,

1360, 4, 4D, 0870 062

3700

Trinity Newhaven Road, 550,

2, 1S 1D G CG O, 0870

062 9334

West End Palmerston Place

Lane, 725, 1, 1D G Z,

0870 062 9478

Haymarket Terrace,

1650, 5, 5D, 0870 062

3700

Grove Street, 1600, 5,

5D, 0870 062 3700

West Maitland

Street, 1300, 4, 1S 3D,

0870 062 3700

Roseburn Place,

1200, 4, 4D, 0870 062

3700

Wester Hailes Calder Crescent, 599,

3, UF 1S 2D G CG O,

0870 062 9422

HOW TO USE THE LISTINGS Meadows

Buccleuch Street, 750, 2, 2D W CG Z, 0870 062 9434

Location

Monthly Rent

Bedrooms

Agent phone number

Area

Bedrooms: S Single D Double T Twin B BoxHeating: G Gas Central W White Meter E Electric Garden: PG Private CG CommunalParking: Z Zone O On-Street P PrivateFurniture: UF Unfurnished

The JournalWednesday 14 January 2009 Sport 23

EMPLOYEES OF CHELSEA Football Club could be forgiven for wondering why on earth the media decided

to storm Stanford Bridge on a quiet afternoon last Thursday. That is, until it became apparent that former England cricket captain Kevin Pietersen was releasing the stress of a turbulent week with a work-out at the club’s fi tness centre, where he’s been known to pump iron with his pal Frank Lampard.

Indeed, Pietersen may well need to look to sports outside of cricket if he is to fi nd support from an England inter-national, as he is clearly not as popular with the national team’s playing staff as his enormous ego would have him believe.

Last week, the England Cricket Board was found in the midst of catastrophe heading into a tour of the Caribbean following the resignation of Pietersen—who has been throwing his toys around since England’s ill-fated tour of India last year—and the sacking of his arch-nemesis, head coach Peter Moores.

As a result of the on-going public spat between Moores and Pietersen, the ECB is now less than two weeks away from the opening match against West Indies, with no hope of securing a full-time coach until the team returns from their Caribbean tour. What’s more, if England are going to stand any chance of avoiding a repeat of 2007’s 5-0 whitewash humiliation when Auss-ies arrive this summer for The Ashes series, things are going to have to be sorted out sharpish.

Phase one of the ECB’s plan to resolve the present shambles that is English cricket was to swap one South African for another, appointing Andrew Strauss as Pietersen’s succes-sor, both as Test series and One Day International captain. Some might call this decision controversial, given that Strauss has not been part of Eng-land’s ODI setup since the 2007 World Cup, but at least we can assume that a seemingly modest player like him understands the concept of captaincy.

Whoever said “there is no I in team” clearly couldn’t get close enough to Pietersen to inform him.

Unsurprisingly, the ex-England skipper’s over-infl ated ego eventually proved to be his downfall as, in a ges-ture of fl agrant audacity, he remained on holiday in South Africa whilst the ECB sweated buckets over their options, having received Pietersen’s ultimatum to sack Moores or lose him permanently as captain.

Moreover, his blissful unawareness of the fact that infl uential members of the England team—such as Andy Flintoff and Steve Harmison—had in fact grown tired of his constant whin-ing and turned against him, served to highlight the extent of his big-headed attitude.

Then came Pietersen’s brazenly self-centred parting statement, in which he made clear his belief that he had much more to offer as England captain, and

that his reasons for stepping down were purely self-motivated, without offering a word on the impact that his petulant uproar had on the team as a whole, or mentioning how English cricket may somehow dig itself out of this fi asco under the leadership of a new captain.

The proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back” in the Pietersen-Moores saga is believed to have been the non-inclusion of Michael Vaughan in the squad to face the Windies later this month, with Pietersen having specifi -cally requested a place in the side for the former-captain. When Vaughan’s name did not appear on the squad list for the upcoming tour, Pietersen decided to take matters into his own hands by publically announcing his feud with Moores in his News of the World column on 4 January, a decision that was never going to lead to any-thing other than a media-fuelled crisis that would rip the side apart. Just ask ex-Arsenal skipper William Gallas if he’d go public over his tiff with team-mate Robin van Persie, given a second chance. I’m guessing the answer would be “no.”

I am not criticising Pietersen for having a problem with his coach; issues like this are unavoidable in sport, and need to be addressed. It’s just that there is clearly a right way and a wrong way to go about address-ing them, and ringing up your boss whilst on safari to tell him that he either sacks the guy or you’re walk-ing just isn’t going to help anyone. The truth is that if you are up against someone whose point of view you disagree with, you don’t jet off to the other side of the world in a hissy-fi t like Kevin Pietersen; you man up, fl ex your muscles and show the world that you are the right man for the job, like, I don’t know... Barack Obama. Then again, great as he is, the US president-elect isn’t exactly a case study in not using the media to get one up on your opposite number in the midst of a vicious power struggle.

But enough of politics, the fact is that England have got an Everest of problems to overcome before the holy cow of Test cricket gets underway against Australia in June. The Ashes are a certainty, though whether there will be an English phoenix to rise from them is a very different story.

England none-for-two at the start of a shaky inningsHope the safari was worth it, Kevin...

Graham MackayDeputy Editor

graham@journal-online.co.uk

Lewis Mallen

lewis.mallen@journal-online.co.uk

EDINBURGH DEFEATED HIGH-FLY-ING Ulster at Murrayfi eld on Friday night thanks to a spirited opening dis-play that saw the home side score all but three of their points in the opening 20 minutes.

Edinburgh went ahead within two minutes after Ulster were penalised for being offside and Phil Godman converted the easy kick.

Only four minutes later, quick think-ing from captain Mike Blair released the Edinburgh backs, allowing wing Andrew Turnbull to scythe through the visiting defence and make 60 metres to take the home side into the opposi-tion 22. From the resultant ruck, quick hands through the back line saw Hugo Southwell score one of the easiest tries of his career in the corner. Phil God-man converted to give Edinburgh a 10-0 lead after 8 minutes.

This was not the start Ulster had envisioned after their 37-11 victory over Munster the week before. Their win signalled the end of Munster’s unbeaten home record that—amazing-ly—stretched back to 1995.

Ulster stand-off Ian Humphreys and Godman exchanged penalties before Jim Hamilton extended the home side’s lead with a try. Blair’s kick ahead was snatched at by Ulster winger Mark McCrea who fumbled the ball for Edinburgh centre John Hous-ton to pick up only eight metres from the Ulster line. Roddy Grant, earning his fi rst Edinburgh start of the sea-son, drove the ball up to the line and popped the ball to the 6’8’’ Hamilton who only had to drop over the line to score.

However, Ulster were soon let back into the game by an undisciplined Edinburgh defence that gifted Hum-phreys with two more penalties before half time.

A penalty a piece for Godman and Humphreys were the only highlights in the fi rst 39 minutes of the second half where both teams failed to exert any sustained pressure on the oppositions defensive line. Edinburgh kept the vis-itor’s in their own half through some astute tactical kicking and Ulster’s inability to catch a single kick fi elded by the home side.

Ulster will be buoyed by a last min-ute successful penalty by centre Paddy Wallace which gained them a losing bonus point for staying within seven points of the winners. Conversely, Edinburgh will be satisfi ed with a win in what was expected to be a much tougher match. The four points keeps them in contention for the Magners League title – although they may be left to rue gifting Ulster the losing bonus point come the end of the season.

Edinburgh head coach Andy Robin-son appeared in jovial spirits after the game claiming: “I would have switched off the television at half-time.”

Robinson conceded that the sec-ond half performance was below par for both teams, however reiterated his belief that his side deserved the four points: “It was an ugly second half from both sides; however I felt we deserved the win as we scored the two tries.

Edinburgh seal victory over Ulster with explosive onslaught

RugbyEdinburgh 21

Ulster 15

GET THE LATEST MATCH RESULTS ONLINEJOURNAL-ONLINE.CO.UK

The JournalWednesday 14 January 200924 Sport

Sport

Lewis Mallen

lewis.mallen@journal-online.co.uk

Since Joining edinburgh in 2002 Mike blair’s professional career has gone from strength to strength: the current edinburgh rugby captain and Scotland captain already has 50 inter-national caps to his name, and is now being hotly tipped for the starting scrum-half jersey on this summer’s Lions tour to South Africa.

he is, it seems, a player who can do little wrong at the moment. So, i give the 28-year-old edinburgher a brief respite from training to talk about his club side, the Six nations and his Lions ambition.

edinburgh currently occupy second place in the Magners League and are hoping to build on their best previous finish of forth last year in the remain-ing eight fixtures of the season. but what’s still exciting the scrum half is the previous week’s boxing day 39-6 win over Scottish rivals glasgow which, says blair, was best perfor-mance by edinburgh so far.

“i think it was the best concerted effort we have had this season,” he says, adding that “as an 80 minutes it was definitely up there with the best this season.”

After the terrific victory over glas-gow, edinburgh lost the return fixture

a week later – but still lifted the david Lloyd cup thanks to their overall aggregate win.

despite lifting the silverware, the edinburgh captain is quick to play down it’s importance but admitted it was good to win it for the fans.

“having taken the bragging rights is a good thing. it was great for the club and the supporters for us to lift the trophy but ultimately it is where we finish in the league and how we progress year on year league wise that is important.”

edinburgh have been criticised this season for not being clinical enough to win the bonus points that could make all the difference to their final league standing. Mike believes this criti-cism is unfair and that their inability to score bonus points is testament to the competitiveness of this year’s league rather than any edinburgh underachievement.

he reasons: “All teams have lost games they could have won. There is so little between the league positions that if we can produce some consistent results then we will definitely be chal-lenging at the top end.”

despite edinburgh’s commendable league position, their european efforts in the heineken cup have so far come up short. having won their first away game in France against castres, the Murrayfield men fell to consecutive

defeats at the hands of reigning eng-lish champions, London Wasps.

but blair staunchly defends edin-burgh’s performances: “The quality of the european cup is such that you need to be on the top of your game all the time and you need a couple of things to go for you.”

he adds: “if you make one slip-up then you’re out of the competition and that’s where we find ourselves now.”

With glasgow only six points behind top spot in the Magners League, the Scotland captain is confident the national side can do well in this year’s Six nations.

“We’ve moved on as a national side. We have a better depth of squad now. in previous years if guys couldn’t play there wasn’t the quality to back them up. but now we have 30-35 players all capable of playing at international level. it’s now up to the players to respond to that and play at a level the coaches and the supporters are happy with.”

blair is particular about the impor-tance of a balanced and consistent

squad: “a settled squad breeds suc-cess,” he argues. Perhaps unexpect-edly, he draws on one of Scotland’s recent failures in positive terms, high-lighting Argentina’s 2007 World cup success—which included a 19-13 win over Scotland in the quarter finals—as testament to what a small country can do with a consistent squad.

“They had been together for six years and almost performed like a club team as they knew each other that well. That’s where we are trying to get to with Scotland. We have a young squad with an average age of around 26 so hopefully this squad will stay together and build success from this.”

Alongside Wales’ Mike Phillips the Scotland captain is favourite to take the Lions number nine jersey this sum-mer in South Africa but he claims this won’t put any extra pressure on him during this years Six nations.

“You can only do your best in the games you are playing in. i think a lot of the lions selections will depend on how counties perform in the six nations.”

it’s this pragmatic approach to the game which is shown by his emphasis on team performance rather than indi-vidual excellence: “it is about the team and not individual battles,” he declares confidently.

“if you work well as units then that pushes you as an individual forward and that’s what i will be concentrat-ing on.”

Should he be named in the provi-sional Lions squad released at the end of January, the scrum-half would be honoured with the opportunity to play alongside the best players britain has to offer.

““i think the honour of being chosen as the best player in the british isles is a massive honour to have...As a player it is something you aspire to.”

With edinburgh in position to con-test for the Magners League title and Scotland having a settled squad for this years Six nations, it is going to be a busy few months for the number nine. but, certainly on current form, he appears to be more than up to the challenge.

Captain fantastic

Elvira Kemp

elvira.kemp@journal-online.co.uk

chriSTiAn nAde And gary glen led hearts to a convincing win away to hibernian in a scrappy Scottish cup affair. hibernian’s Steven Fletcher was sent off for a reckless two-footed challenge on hearts captain chrispher berra after half an hour, while nade turned Andrew driver’s curling cross into the home side’s goal on 36 minutes.

glen finished the cup tie off by way of a tap in toward the end of the match.

hibernian came out of the blocks looking sharp and confident but Fletch-er’s dismissal turned the game on its head.

in the 10th minute hibs seemed bound to take the leader after ex-West brom midfielder Souleymane bamba played in Fletcher. Fletcher then tried to round Janos balogh but the keeper guessed right and managed to snatch the ball from the striker’s feet.

hearts’ spell of pressure finally mounted on the hibs goal when deivi-das cesnauskis snuck in behind the home defence. but his clipped cross just evaded nade. Lewis Stevenson then

hesitated with hibs flooding forward in strong numbers and a good counter-attack opportunity fizzled out.

however, hibs were soon dealt a massive blow to their cup dreams when Fletcher was shown a straight red card for a clumsy tackle on berra. The hibs striker lost possession from a long Lewis Stevenson pass and in his frustration he left his foot in against the hearts skipper, leaving referee craig Thomson with little option but to send him off.

With the easter road outfit reeling from the ordering off, hearts made the numerical advantage count in ruth-less fashion. The cup tie had swung in favour of the Tynecastle side and more

good news emerged for the visitors when hibs’ Ma-Kalambay was left in the dressing room at the interval with a reported hamstring injury.

early in the second half hearts were almost gifted a second goal cushion when Lee Wallace’s shot was deflected into the path of hibs defender david van Zanten, whose misjudged pass-back was goal bound up until substi-tute keeper grzegorz Szamotulski raced to stop his effort with an outstretched foot. hearts continued to dominated possession in the middle of the park but failed to convert their efforts into the final third.

hibs brought on colin nish and Alan o’brien for Johansson and derek

riordan in the 65th minute with rior-dan being shown a yellow card on his way off for gesturing to the hearts supporters. The double substitution gave the home side renewed impetus as they went all out for the equaliser. As hibs pushed forward, the Leith side left holes in their defence but were let off the hook in the 77th minute when nade’s header from driver’s swinging cross was saved comfortably by Polish goalkeeper grzegorz Szamotulski.

The final minute of injury time saw hearts substitute glen make sure of a place in the fifth round when he con-verted a pass from Karipidis before rounding Szamotulski and knocking the ball into the empty net with ease.

Footballhibernian 0

hearts 2

hearts beat 10-man hibs to secure Scottish cup derby victory

Lewis Mallen speaks to edinburgh and Scotland captain Mike blair about edinburgh, the Six nations and his Lions ambitions

The JournalWednesday 14 January 2009 News 3

Drunken philanderer to front Homecoming» Historian Michael Fry questions the suitability of Scottish bard Robert Burns as the centrepiece of the Homecoming celebrations

Evan Beswick

evan.beswick@journal-online.co.uk

IT WAS NEVER meant to be particularly controversial. One might reasonably have suspected that the positioning of Robert Burns alongside whisky, clans and golf as the PR face of Scotland’s Homecoming 2009 would have attracted little atten-tion other than the derision of those who have, for years, railed against the inten-sifi cation of so-called “tartan tat.”

But remarks from one historian last week, who described Robert Burns as a “drunk, misogynistic, racist philanderer” have fl ung open the doors of debate as to the fi tness of the Scots poet to front the celebration of Scotland, past and present.

Somewhat controversially, the histo-rian said: “Perhaps he was not untypical of Scots, but we have to wonder whether this is the right image for the modern Scotland. By all means, let us celebrate the poetry according to its merits. But, in the same critical spirit, let us deal honestly with the man who wrote that poetry.”

Paraphrasing how Scots might fol-low Burns’ lead, he continued: “We could repeatedly get drunk. In this condi-tion, the males among us could ‘lay’ one woman after another, following discus-sion of their respective merits in dirty talk with our drouthie cronies.

“Needless to say, this would be unprotected sex performed in a spirit of utter indifference to potential pregnan-cies, amang the rigs o’barley perhaps. Irksome consequences would be the females’ own silly fault.”

On this basis, claims the historian “[Burns’] example, in a practical sense, could well send Scotland straight down the tubes.”

Organisers of the event have, however, rejected Mr Fry’s disparaging remarks. A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Robert Burns is an international cul-tural icon and one of Scotland’s favourite sons. He was both a man of his time and of all time. He wouldn’t have been human without fl aws, and his egalitarian ideals have helped cement his universal and timeless appeal.”

Scottish poet Liz Lockhead was some-what less restrained, retorting: “This is complete rubbish.

“It’s not relevant to his poetry, it’s not the point. We don’t look at him for a way to live our lives. We should enjoy Burns as a great poet whose work means a lot to a lot of people.

“Burns’ poetry spoke about the wealth of human experience. Of course, I wouldn’t look to him as a feminist role model, but he’s not a role model, he’s a great poet.”

Mr Fry comes, by no means, from an unbiased point of view: he has, over the past decade, demonstrated a turbulent relationship with Scottish nationalism. A failed Scottish Conservative candidate in the fi rst Holyrood elections in 1999 (Glasgow Maryhill), Mr Fry has written extensively on the need to maintain the

Union between Scotland and England. Equally controversially, he has ques-

tioned whether the forced displacements of the eighteenth century known as the “Highland Clearances” actually occurred, downplaying the extent to which such events shaped the modern Scottish nation. Alistair McIntosh, an academic from the University of Ulster has, in the past, accused Fry of seeking to protect the landed aristocracy who did so well out of the Union, claiming in 1999 that Fry’s writings mark a “highly politicised attempt to turn back...the tide of his-torical revisionism that has undergirded land reform as the fl agship policy of our new Scottish Parliament.”

Throughout his writings on Scot-tish history, Mr Fry has taken little truck with romanticised images of pre-Clearance Scottish life. In Wild Scots, for instance, he praised the management of the “humane, liberal, progressive land-lords,” in comparison to the “primitive communism” of tribal loyalties. So, Mr Fry’s unwillingness to accept the leg-endary position Burns maintains within Scottish literature, perhaps comes as little surprise.

But, in an unexpected transforma-tion, a Prospect article in late 2006 saw Mr Fry reject his lifelong-attachment to Unionism and embrace independence as a viable solution to Scotland’s problems. This might perhaps serve to explain his recommendation of Bonnie Prince Char-lie Robert the Bruce or William Wallace as more appropriate symbols for the Homecoming. Mr Fry, however, retains his scepticism over the characterisation of the Highland clearances as disastrous national events.

The 2009 Homecoming Scotland—which kicks off next week on the eve of the 250th anniversary of Burns’ birth—marks a series of events continuing all the way up to St Andrews day in Novem-ber. Designed to encourage those with Scottish ancestry to strengthen their links with the nation, the Homecoming, it is hoped, will boost tourism through-out what looks set to be a diffi cult year. Key events include a gathering of the Clans, a debate on “the role of the clan in the 21st century,” and a special Burns’ night for this anniversary year.

The event has been further over-shadowed, however, by a spat between two eminent Burns scholars, Patrick Scott Hogg and Gerard Carruthers. The former has accused Carruthers—head of English and Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow—of waging a smear campaign against him, includ-ing vitriolic criticism of the biographer’s work in academic papers and on internet forums.

Carruthers has responded with claims that Hogg made abusive calls to his home – a claim Hogg disputes. He said: “I have tried to avoid what he has written about my work, but a few months ago I contacted him and he said I should read what he had written. I was abso-lutely horrifi ed at the level of invective.”

The dispute appears increasingly likely to be resolved in court.

What’s wrong with Robert Burns?

It’s Burns’s tone and poetic deftness which make him not just one of the world’s greatest love poets but also the master-poet of democracy. The way he usurps the position of the king and jauntily (but also self-mockingly) proclaims himself in Mauchline, Ayrshire, “by virtue of a Warrant from NATURE, bearing date the Twenty-fi fth day of January, Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and fi fty-nine, POET-LAU-REAT and BARD IN CHIEF” gives a fl avour of his vitality and sense of humour.

In life he was charismatic, some-times manipulative, and he almost went to work on a slave plantation: few poets led a more remarkable or controversial existence. Whatever

you think of Burns the republican or Burns the adulterer, in his poetry the life is transmuted with a nimble-ness and passion that are very hard to resist – not just because of his vernacular sense of fun and lyicism, but sometimes because Burns says things not everyone wants to hear. Anyone tempted to suggest Burns is irrelevant to 2009 might like to start by rereading ‘To a Mouse’:

I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion Has broken Nature’s social union

Robert Crawford is a professor of Scottish literature at the University of St Andrews. His biography of Burns, The Bard, has just been pub-lished by Cape.

National pride or tartan tat?

Amy Grant

amy.grant@journal-online.co.uk

IT IS, ACCORDING to the now substan-tial mountain of PR material, ostensi-bly an event to celebrate Scottishness. But reactions to Homecoming Scotland have proved, at best, mixed, with criti-cisms of politicisation, tokenisation and profl igacy taking a little of the shine off the tartan-packaged festival.

The Labour Party, for one, have con-tinuously expressed concerns that the SNP are using the project to promote nationalism in advance of the 2010 referendum on independence, rather than to boost tourism. Former fi rst minister, and the brains behind the concept, Jack McConnell said: “It was never meant to be an internal publicity campaign for Scottishness, instead of being a great investment for our future. This advertising campaign is a waste of money. The fi rst minister has been hijacking the campaign for his own personal crusade. Scotland should be outraged. I am.”

The publicity for Homecoming Scotland 2009 fi rst attracted notori-ety as far back as December after a promotional poster of an exclusively white crowd marching cheerily behind a bagpiper was doctored to include a sole Asian male – despite the original having received no complaints. The spot-the-difference posters resulted in accusations of “tokenism” by racial equality groups.

In addition, last month’s £200,000 television advert, comprised of nota-ble Scots singing lines from the Dou-gie Maclean song ‘Caledonia,’ also came under fi re after it was revealed that many of the contributions were fi lmed outside Scotland. Moreover, the slogan—“the whole world’s invited”—appeared somewhat ironic once it was revealed the advert would only be broadcast in the UK and Ireland. Vis-itScotland defended their advert, call-ing it a “viral campaign” designed to inspire Scottish people to “extend the invitation.” However after ministers donated an extra £500,000 towards marketing—a 40 per cent increase from the original £1.25 million budget—the advert will now be broadcast on PBS, BBC America and the Discovery Chan-nels in North America, as well as run-ning for an extra week in the UK.

But to claim that reactions to Home-coming Scotland have been wholly negative is to grossly underplay broad support for the event as a fun and ultimately entertaining celebration of the celtic nation. Advocates remain hopeful that the initiative will fulfi l its intent to promote Scotland as a holiday destination.

Tourism minister Jim Mather said: “There is no doubt that the global downturn is affecting Scotland, but tourists, from both home and overseas, can help breathe fresh life into Scot-land’s economy in 2009.” Tourism is Scotland’s largest industry, responsible for at least nine per cent of employment and generating around £4 billion reve-nue each year. The Homecoming project aims to produce an extra £40 million along with 100,000 more tourists.

Alex Salmond said: “[Homecoming] is about reuniting Scots and friends of Scotland with the aspects of common-ality that bind them together, allowing them to share the pleasure and pride of our culture and heritage.”

The Homecoming celebrations will begin on 25 January to coincide with Burns Night and continue until St Andrew’s Day on 25 November.

The JournalWednesday 14 January 20094 News

Chris Williams

chris.williams@journal-online.co.uk

University of edinbUrgh gradu-ate benjamin rosoux has been released without charge by french police follow-ing his arrest in connection with terror-ist activity in 2008.

the belgian-born 30 year old was taken into custody on 11 november fol-lowing six incidents of sabotage perpe-trated on france’s railways. three other men and five women were also arrested in dawn raids in tarnac, a village in

central france that has become home to a community of left-wing libertarians.

the attacks, which involved iron bars being attached to power cables above train tracks—including those of the eurostar—and the placing of concrete blocks on tracks, took place over october and november 2008 in northern and cen-tral france. no one was killed or injured but significant disruption was caused on the french railways, with delays to 160 tgv trains. investigators believe that the perpetrators must have had access to the train network and engineering equip-ment overnight when power is switched

off for maintenance work. Much controversy has surrounded

the arrests, with seven of the nine origi-nally arrested now having been released due to lack of evidence. rosoux, who runs a grocers and bar-restaurant in tarnac, told the french magazine Lib-eration following his release that he believed bullet-proof vests found in his apartment and used to suggest his involvement in the plot were planted there by police.

Julien Coupat, the alleged architect of the attacks, remains in custody and awaits trial.

Corinne Redfern

corinne.redfern@journal-online.co.uk

the biCentennial anniversary of louis braille’s birth was marked last week by the launch of 2009’s national braille week. edinburgh celebrated the occasion as 12 pages from ian rankin’s crime novel Fleshmarket Close, featuring inspector rebus, were translated into braille and embossed onto a plaque, which has been pinned along its name-sake street in the city – the setting for his renowned detective novels.

rankin, whose son, Kit, attends the edinburgh royal blind school, used the presentation as an opportunity to pres-ent his new campaign, the royal blind appeal, to increase the publication of fiction and non-fiction texts in braille for the visually impaired.

Current figures show that 96% of novels published in britain never make it into braille or other formats acces-sible to the visually impaired, such as large print, or audio. there are 500,000 people in britain who are registered blind and who, consequently, are unable to read standard print style. 50,000 of these have no alternatives to louis braille’s 178-year-old system of embossed dots.

the bestselling author has worked with the bbC’s disability magazine Ouch! to produce a downloadable pod-cast explaining the importance of the appeal.

he said: “the gateway to educa-tion and inspiration that braille rep-resents can never be under-estimated. the braille Press needs new premises and new equipment so that, in the 21st century, braille can continue to be as important to blind people as it is just now.”

Mr rankin continued: “it gives employment to a lot of disabled and visually impaired people. it is vital that we support organisations like the braille Press and the royal blind and the role they fulfil for people all over the country.”

the appeal is calling on writers, publishers and retailers to unite to improve the accessibility of texts for those with sight problems across 120 countries worldwide.

Mr david Mann, Campaigns Man-ager for the royal national institute of blind People commented earlier in

the week: “it is incredibly frustrating to hear a book recommended on the radio or by a friend and to know that it won’t be available in a bookshop – or if it is, not until a couple of years down the line.”

in addition to the campaign, Mr rankin is working with the royal national institute of blind People to raise two million pounds in order to refurbish the nation’s primary braille printing press. the scottish braille press, which was built in edinburgh over forty years ago, still uses its origi-nal materials to publish books, maga-zines and other media. as demand for materials in braille increases, so the necessity of state-of-the-art equipment becomes even more essential.

Mr richard hellewell, chief execu-tive of the royal blind school com-mented on the campaign: “the ability to read and write is an extremely impor-tant gateway to opportunity for blind or partially sighted people, enabling them to be more independent. national braille week is a great way to raise awareness, which we hope will inspire interest and support for braille”.

despite the existence of schools such as the royal school for the blind in edinburgh, which supports 139 stu-dents, thousands of people who are reg-istered blind do not receive adequate education and training as a result of shortfalls in resources and accessible materials.

louis braille developed the system of raised embossed dots in 1821 while he was a student at the royal institute for blind youth in Paris, the world’s first school specialising in the education of blind children. since then, the approach has required little revision – save the addition of the letter “w”, which did not exist in the nineteenth century french alphabet.

there are currently two grades of braille taught to the visually impaired: grade one has a braille cell equivalent to every letter of the alphabet, whereas grade two, described as a “form of shorthand”, condenses groups of letters or words into a single cell of six dots.

Further details of the campaign to raise both awareness and funds for the Braille printing press can be found at www.nationalbrailleweek.org and donations can be made through the website, or by calling 0300 321 0000.

» rebus author marks bicentennial of blind written language with call for more braille publishing

Rankin pushes for more brailleflickr.com/lissaloou66

edinburgh graduate released from terrorist charges

The JournalWednesday 14 January 2009 News 5

Paris Gourtsoyannis

paris@journal-online.co.uk

When Dan Peguine came up with the idea for QassamCount on December 21, he was fairly clear about what was going to come next.

“I knew that was going to happen – it was created with that in mind,” he says, speaking to The Journal.

He is not, of course, referring to the ongoing battle between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which began a week later. The plan he had in mind was to stimulate conversation and debate on the Palestinian-Israeli confl ict through the medium of the world’s most perva-sive social networking platforms.

As QassamCount spreads online with a disregard for borders that only Facebook allows—gaining followers, soliciting angry responses and spawn-ing copycat counter-applications—one has to accept that he’s succeeded.

Originally created as a Twitter feed,

QassamCount was adapted as a Facebook application by Mr Peguine once the confl ict began. Based on an idea fi rst used during the US elec-tion campaign—”donating” your Facebook status to an issue, and thereby publicising it amongst your Facebook friends—Qassam-Count automatically relates news of a rocket strike by Hamas ter-rorists against Israeli targets as and when they hit.

“I wanted to bring informa-tion to the fore that some peo-ple would otherwise ignore,” says Mr Peguine, a French-Israeli web entrepreneur.

“It’s been a success – now people ask me about the confl ict, about what a Qas-sam is... the fact that the information comes from friends lends it credibility for people.

“It has become a genuine source of information. In the same way that people check the news, some people now also check their Facebook feed for

updates.” While Mr Peguine is

reluctant to qualify his creation as “citi-zen journalism”—“you can’t have every-one being journalists”—he nonetheless has a compelling vision of how the principle could be applied more widely: “Imagine if someone on the ground in Darfur had a Twitter feed or a Facebook profi le?”

Thousands march for GazaParis Gourtsoyannis

paris@journal-online.co.uk

4000 PEOPLE HAVE marched on the US consulate in Edinburgh in support of Palestinians trapped by the Israeli assault on the Gaza strip, and to demand an immediate end to hostilities.

Despite being planned and executed as a peaceful protest, violence fl ared outside the consulate, with a handful of protesters hurling missiles—most nota-bly shoes—at police manning crash bar-riers protecting the diplomatic mission.

In a statement, Lothian and Bor-ders Police said: “While we recognise people’s right to protest, this should be done in a lawful manner, and we are extremely disappointed at the violent behaviour shown today by the minority whose obvious intention was to cause trouble.

“At the same time, we would like to praise the conduct of the vast major-ity of protestors, whose behaviour was commendable.”

Sticks, shoes—recalling the recent attack by an Iraqi journalist on US Pres-ident George Bush in Baghdad—and, in one case, a ski boot were all directed towards police by roughly 60 protest-ers. Three offi cers recieved minor inju-ries; no arrests were made.

Further protests are planned for this week as student groups and activists put mounting pressure on the UK gov-ernment and international bodies to intervene in the Gaza confl ict. Wednes-day 14 January will see the fi rst weekly silent vigil in Bristo Square by Palestin-ian women dressed in black in honour of the casualties in Gaza. The following day at 1:30pm, a one-off protest rally hosted by the Edinburgh University Palestine Solidarity Society on the same site will be open to all.

As the Israeli offensive in Gaza against Hamas escalates, a number of academic associations have lent their voice to the growing public outrage at the confl ict’s mounting civilian toll. The Scottish Committe for the Universi-ties of Palestine (SCUP), an association of academics calling for a boycott of Israel in solidarity with fellow univer-sity lecturers and staff in the occupied territories, has called for a grassroots campaign of activism to demand action to end the confl ict.

“We call for all members of Scottish civil society to support all demonstra-tions against this atrocity, to join lob-bies and write to representatives, and to contribute to medical aid through vari-ous organisations,” a statement, pub-lished on the Birzeit University Right to

Education Campaign’s website, reads. The SCUP statement and campaign

group Action Palestine also highlight the lack of transparency regarding human rights abuses in Gaza caused by Israel’s ban on international journalists entering the confl ict area. On its web-site, Action Palestine alleges that Pal-estinian journalists operating within Israel have been targeted for reporting the confl ict.

International correspondent Khader Shahin of Al Alam TV was arrested by Israeli police in Jerusalem on January 6, along with producer Mohammad Sar-han and cameraman Ahmad Jalajal, on the charge of “breaching the media code of ethics” for reporting on the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) ground offensive in Gaza before it had been offi cially announced. While Mr Jalajal has now been released, Mr Shahin and Mr Sar-han now face trial for their activities.

Action Palestine maintains that their treatment is in contravention of the right to a free press outlined in Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 79 of the 1977 Additional Protocol, stating that “journalists are entitled to the same protection as civilians and may not be deliberately targeted.”

The SCUP statement also attacks Israeli media policy: “We seriously urge the BBC to speak out against the Israel’s concealment of its atrocities, away from the world’s media.

“Again Israel defi es international law and its own legal system. We say this is not the action of a democracy. Israel cannot be allowed to conceal its war crimes.”

On 9 January, 300 academics from across Canada called on their govern-ment to condemn the Israeli incursion, on the grounds that “the attack consti-tutes a war crime in that it is completely disproportionate to the threat posed, and violates international humanitar-ian law on at least three grounds: col-lective punishment; targeting civilians; disproportionate military response.”

Israeli strikes in Gaza have repeat-edly targeted universities and other educational institutions. On the fi rst day of Israel’s air assault, an air-to-ground missile destroyed the Gaza Train-ing College, killing eight students and injuring twelve. The Islamic University of Gaza—the territory’s largest higher education institution—was bombed on December 29, allegedly due to the use of its science lab as a “research and devel-opment centre for Hamas weapons.”

Other educational infrastructure damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks include the American School of Gaza—where a security guard was killed by an airstrike—the Agricultural School of Beit Hanoun, and the Omar Ibn Al Khat-tab School in Beit Lahia.

In addition, on 6 January, 42 civil-ians were killed in airstrikes on three United Nations Relief and Works Agency school buildings which were being used as shelters.

As The Journal went to press, the number of casualties in the Gaza con-fl ict stood at 846 Palestinians killed—mostly civilians, including over 125 children—and roughly 3,200 wounded. Israeli civilian casualties from rocket attacks and military casualties in Gaza combined numbered 13 dead and 62 injured.

» Edinburgh protesters attack police with shoes» Academics condemn strikes on educational infrastructure and freedom of the press

QassamCount was adapted as a Facebook application by Mr Peguine once the confl ict began. Based on an idea fi rst used during the US elec-tion campaign—”donating” your Facebook status to an issue, and thereby publicising it amongst your Facebook friends—Qassam-Count automatically relates news of a rocket strike by Hamas ter-rorists against Israeli targets as

says Mr Peguine, a French-Israeli

“It’s been a success – now people ask me about the confl ict, about what a Qas-

updates.” While Mr Peguine is

reluctant to qualify his creation as “citi-

Facebook tallies Gaza's grisly toll » The Journal speaks with the creator of one of the Gaza confl ict's scorekeepers, QassamCount

AMIR FARSHAD EBRAHIMI

The debate within IsraelIsraeli commentators Gerald Steinberg and Avi Shlaim debate the Israeli action in Gaza

JOURNAL COMMENT» PAGE 16

MICKAEL BINONALED BESWICK

Protesters gather before their march in Edinburgh (above, right)

The devastation in Gaza, captured by local photojournalists (below)

The JournalWednesday 14 January 2009

Ishbel Eunson

ishbel.eunson@journal-online.co.uk

THE ELDEST DAUGHTER of the assas-sinated Pakistani president, Benazir Bhutto, has posted a rap video dedi-cated to her mother on the video shar-ing website YouTube.

The song, entitled “I would take the pain away,” was written and performed by 18-year-old Bakhtawar Bhutto Zard-ari, who is currently studying in her fi rst year at Edinburgh University.

In a faux-Brooklyn accent, Bakhta-war pays tribute to her politician mother, singing: “You have beauty and intelligence.”

The song continues: “Shot in the back of your ear, so young in 54th year, murdered with three kids left behind, a hopeless nation without you, you are in all their hearts.”

Ms Bhutto, who had just returned to Pakistan after nearly a decade of self-ex-ile, was killed while campaigning for the 2008 elections. The blast killed at least 23 other people. A previous attempt on her life earlier in the campaign resulted in the death of 139 people.

The video which accompanies Bakhtawar’s rap comprises footage and pictures of her mother, including foot-age from the rally where Ms Bhutto was killed. Written lyrics are also dis-played running across the bottom on the screen, reinforcing the sentiments expressed by Bakhtawar.

The song itself has received mixed opinions. While the majority of the press has praised her creativity in produc-ing this unique tribute to her mother, some papers have criticized quality of Bakhtawar’s voice.

“Bhutto would’ve been better off get-ting an all-star group to record a tribute single,” declares the National Press. It continues: “…musically, the 18-year-old would be better off doing a guest verse than trying to carry a full song.”

However, not all reviews have been

so unenthusiastic. Many articles have pointed out that Bakhtawar has not set out to win any awards with the song, but has instead produced a moving and emotional accolade to a devoted mother. Her voice has also been likened to that of London’s own rap star, M.I.A.

Although it is reported that Bakhta-war has long been interested in rap music, a former aide to Ms Bhutto has claimed that the student has no wishes to pursue a career in the music industry.

Talking to Reuters UK, Pakistani information minister Sherry Reh-man said the song was “a tribute of a

grieving daughter to her iconic and lov-ing mother.”

Bakhtawar has not yet ruled out fol-lowing in her mother’s footsteps into politics. In June of last year, she was appointed to head of the Pakistan Peo-ples Party’s (PPP) women’s wing, where she has promised to play a promi-nent role in the campaign for women’s equality.

Bakhtawar’s elder brother Biawel, who is currently studying in Oxford, has also become involved with the party replacing his mother as chairperson of the PPP. The youngest daughter is also studying abroad.

6 News

Bhutto daughter releases rap tribute to slain mother

Megan Taylor

megan.taylor@journal-online.co.uk

FORMER SCOTSMAN JOURNALIST, Colin Freeman was released unharmed early this year along with Spanish pho-tographer Jose Cendon by their Somalian captors.

The two men were held captive in the volatile mountainous region north-west of Boosasso where journalists are fre-quently taken hostage for ransom. The men were missing without a trace for fi ve days until Mr Freeman was allowed to call his news desk.

The freelance pair had been research-ing a story on piracy in the Gulf of Aden for The Sunday Telegraph when, on 26 November, they were kidnapped by their own bodyguards as they left the hotel in Boosasso and travelled to the airport.

Following his release on 4 Janu-ary, the British journalist described the moment of terror when he and his Span-ish colleague fi rst realised they were being taken hostage.

“The pickup truck carrying our armed escort of eight Kalashnikov-toting gun-men suddenly pulled ahead of us, one of them cocking his weapon and fl ashing a vicious snarl in the direction of the driver of our own car.

“For a fl eeting second I thought they were just having a bad-tempered argu-ment over which road to take: in wild, lawless Somalia, the people you hire to protect you are often only just on the side of the angels, as volatile and scary as anybody else.

“Then, as his companions leapt out of the pickup and surrounded us, forcing

open the doors of our car and pointing their guns in our faces, came the awful realisation that this time, we’d backed the wrong side altogether.”

Freeman, 39, worked as a foreign cor-respondent at the Scotsman from 2003 to 2005 and is now chief foreign correspon-dent for the Sunday Telegraph. The expe-rienced journalist is no stranger to dan-ger as in 2004 he was shot by members of the al-Mahdi army militia after being accused of working as a British spy.

He feared the worst after remember-ing the horror stories of other freelance opportunist abductions.

“Grim memories of the half-dozen colleagues who were abducted in Iraq danced into my head. While all had been eventually released, some had been held for months, their haunted, terrifi ed faces paraded on terrorist video nasties released on the internet.”

According to an offi cial in the north-ern province of Puntland, it was due to the efforts of local elders that their 40-day ordeal has come to an end.

A spokesman for the Telegraph Media Group said: “This is wonderful news and we are delighted that the two journalists will soon be reunited with their families, friends and colleagues.

“On behalf of their families, we would like to thank all those involved in assist-ing in the release, including the authori-ties in Puntland.”

Freeman described his elation at his lucky escape: “We’re absolutely fi ne and delighted to be out… we are now safe. I am only tired and I am very eager to see my family. I gave up smoking in 1992 and somehow decided now would be a good time to start up again.”

Scottish journalist freed in Somalia

Sheridan faces the toughest vote of allMegan Taylor

megan.taylor@journal-online.co.uk

AGREEING TO APPEAR on any reality tv show is always a risk nowadays for any struggling star, but when a politician decides to place himself in the tireless scrutiny of the public eye they have to be a brave one.

On 2 January 2009 the former MSP Tommy Sheridan stepped up to the mark and entered the Celebrity Big Brother House.

Reports suggest that his fee for appearing on the long-running Chan-nel 4 show is in the region of £100,000 and it was evidently a tempting enough offer for him to agree to particpate. When asked to justify his decision he simply replied: “Why not? It’s an honest offer of employment. I’m not crossing a picket line. I’m not hurting anyone.”

However, his critics have begged to disagree. They believe he will indeed be hurting someone – namely himself. His already tarnished reputation may pre-ceed him as he enters the House whilst remaining on bail for charges of perjury.

The bookies certainly predicted

this. Spokesman Robin Hutchison said: “Tommy is about as popular as the plague at the moment. We didn’t expect a politician to set the heather on fi re with the punters.”

On entering the house the odds of him being crowned winner were a dis-mal 33-1. At the time of press, those odds could be found as high as 129-1.

His presence in the House has reminded the audience of the ludicrous antics of fellow Scot George Galloway in 2006. The humiliating scenes of the once respected British politician dressed in a skin-tight leotard crawling on all fours imitating a cat were broadcast, never to be forgotten, across the nation. There are genuine fears that Sheridan could just as easily lose composure.

However, at the time of going to press, Mr Sheridan’s activities in the house appear to have been as normal as might be expected given his strange surround-ings, although he has voiced concerns about being portrayed as a fl irt. After an innocent enough dance with fellow contestant Michelle Heaton a degree of paranoia appeared to set in as the former MSP made an issue out of nothing.

Fellow housemate Ulrika Johnson

summed up the recent events nicely by whispering to housemate Michelle Heaton: “If you hold yourself as a serious politician, I don’t believe you would put yourself in a showbiz environment.

“We’re in a showbiz environment because we’re in showbiz. You can’t go in this environment and think you can con-trol it because we can’t control it.”

Doubts regarding his “celebrity” sta-tus have also been shared amongst his American housemates. Following Mr Sheridan’s departure from a lenghty chat with Verne Troyer (aka mini-me) and Michael Jackson’s sister La Toya, Jack-son whispered “Who was that?” to which Verne replied “I want to say Michael.”

But, as Rupert Adams, from book-makers William Hill points out: “Histori-cally, politicians have tended to do badly, because they don’t appeal to the genera-tion that watches Big Brother. If you are opinionated, as Tommy is, you are also in trouble.”

Mr Sheridan’s opinions have already begun to show through: during a heart-felt speech last week he proclaimed “I think America is the single biggest threat to stability in the world.”

He went on to say that he “tried to

speak the truth of power,” at which point fellow housemate Tina Malone cried: “Tommy for Prime Minister!”

These fears are echoed by his wife Gail: “I told him I was totally against it and I didn’t care how much he was get-ting paid for it, he shouldn’t do it. We knew how he could be portrayed by the edits – and people go stir crazy in there.”

She added that he would struggle to win the English vote. “He has already said he is anti-royalist, he’s Scottish and socialist, so there is no way the English will vote for him.”

In one particular task in which the housemates had to pretend to be each other for an hour, Ben Adams exclaimed “If La Toya has to be Tommy, SHE HAS TO SPEAK AT THIS LEVEL ALL THE TIME!!”

Mrs Sheridan was all too aware of the trait: “That fi rst night he went in, he had that big voice, I said, ‘Oh my God, listen to that.’ He is really loud. We told him he would need to ‘anglify’ his voice.”

Tommy is currently one of two conve-nors of Scottish Socialist Party Solidar-ity. He was MSP for the Glasgow region for eight years from 1999 until May 2007 when he failed to get re-elected to Holyrood.

DOMINIQUE NATANSON

The death of Benazir Bhutto (right) made front pages worldwide and prompted daughter Bakhtawar’s rap tribute (above)

On the web...THE JOURNAL ARCHIVEGet back issues of The Journal with our new archive reader

WWW.JOURNAL-ONLINE.CO.UK

The JournalWednesday 14 January 2009 Edinburgh News 7

Elise Carter

elsie.carter@journal-online.co.uk

The increasing number of sick days taken by edinburgh council employees has cost taxpayers around £64 million over the last four years, according to recently released figures.

in the last financial year alone 211,901 days off were taken by edin-burgh council employees, a signifi-cantly higher figure than the 176,008 total recorded in 2004-5.

These statistics mean that council workers took an average of 13 sick days off over the last twelve months.

among the main professions reported to be taking time off for ill-ness are social workers and teachers.

according to city leaders, steps have already been taken to deal with the sit-uation. councillor gordon mackenzie, convener of the Finance and resources committee said: “absence levels have been rising for several years and we find that unacceptable.

“During the last twelve months we have initiated actions to address the problem.

“The indications are that long-term absence is on the decline but we are

determined to follow this approach through until we have sustained improvement across the board.”

however, promises to curb the growing “sick note” culture have been greeted with scepticism by opposition politicians.

The city council’s Tory leader, coun-cillor iain Whyte said: “We have all heard lots of tales of the council get-ting tough on sickness absence and once again it appears to have no effect at all.

“They really need to clamp down on those employees who have the monday off after a heavy weekend, but also the long-term sick because the situation is not good for either party.”

The council management team has implemented absencesTaT, a com-puterised system that will enable the council to monitor trends and patterns of absence more closely.

a council-wide absence target of five per cent has been set for 2008/09. achieving this target would place edinburgh above the scottish average and close to the best-performing local authorities.

if the target is achieved, it could also potentially save the council over £2 million in associated costs.

Edinburgh University Students’ Association is a Registered Scottish Charity (No.SCO15800)eusa.ed.ac.uk

monday

tuesday

for just 90p you can pimp your burgerwith Bacon, Onion Rings, Chilli Beef, Mexican Chicken or Sour Cream

�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

�������������

�

�

�

��

��

��

���

�

��������������������������������������

council sickies cost taxpayers £64 million

Edinburgh University Students’ Association is a Registered Scottish Charity (No.SCO15800)eusa.ed.ac.uk

monday

tuesday

for just 90p you can pimp your burgerwith Bacon, Onion Rings, Chilli Beef, Mexican Chicken or Sour Cream

�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

�������������

�

�

�

��

��

��

���

�

��������������������������������������

Evan Beswick

evan.beswick@journal-online.co.uk

Organisers OF The popular charity event, the meadows marathon, remain in the dark this week as council officials continue to withold their permission for the annual ten kilometre run.

Despite being promised a decision in December, organisers are becoming increasingly frustrated by the refusal of edinburgh city council to set a date for a final decision on whether the event, co-ordinated by the edinburgh students’ charities association (esca), may use the perimeter of the meadows as a track for around 1000 runners in march.

The dispute centres around the council’s desire to give the surface of meadows a necessary recovery period following intensive use over the past year. esca have pointed out, however, that the run uses only the tarmac route surrounding the meadows, not the dam-aged turf.

speaking last week to The Journal, student coordinator for the chari-ties’ appeal, simon Kirkland, said: “We have been in contact with the council since last august with regard to the 2009 meadows marathon. but, it was

not until October that they raised the issue regarding cancelling events in the meadows.

“We were told then that an answer would be given no later than December. however in the first week of January we were told that the decision was to be pushed back to February, obviously this is far too late as our event is in march and, from previous experience, we can-not assume that by February they would come to a definitive answer.”

mr Kirkland expressed concern that delay will have repercussions in terms of the number of runners taking part and the amount of money raised for charities as a result: “The key prob-lem that we are facing is that we are unable to take any decisions regarding the event and cannot take any positive steps towards promoting the event.”

at the time of print, a meeting between esca and edinburgh city council had been scheduled for mon-day 12 January. a spokesperson for the council said: “There’s a meeting taking place to discuss events in the mead-ows. That’s to discuss all sorts of events and how [access for large events on the meadows] is going to work from now on. so that’s what’s caused the delay in the charity not hearing about whether

the event can go ahead.” however, pressed further on why a

decision had been promised for Decem-ber, but delayed until January, the spokesperson admitted that the indi-vidual responsible for the decision had been ill, though would not be drawn as to why no contingency plans had been in place.

a fixture of the edinburgh calen-dar for the past three years, the mead-ows marathon sees both students and residents completing nine laps of the meadows in order to raise money for any desired charity. Past years have traditionally seen competitors dress in a variety of outlandish costumes: the 2007 winner staged his victory wear-ing a pair of fairy wings and a tutu. The coming days will see event coordina-tors forced to gamble upon whether to continue to wait for the possible coun-cil nod, or to put alternative plans into action.

mr Kirkland said: “One option is to move the event to Peffermill [the sports ground owned by the univer-sity of edinburgh], however this greatly hampers our promotion campaign and brand image. The meadows marathon loses its effect if its not actually held in the meadows!”

meadows runners hold their breathas council delays decision

The JournalWednesday 14 January 20098 Edinburgh News

Nick Eardley

nick.eardley@journal-online.co.uk

Fringe Sunday, the largest event at the edinburgh Festival Fringe is fac-ing cancellation in 2009 due to funding problems.

despite attracting over 250,000 in 2008, the free event looks set to be axed due to the lack of income.

the event, which costs around £70,000 to host, has been without a main sponsor since the Bank of Scotland’s deal ended in 2006. the move comes amid speculation in the press that the edinburgh Fringe festival will require a £600,000 bail out in 2009.

despite attempts to strike a new deal, the bleak economic climate has raised the likelihood that, barring a last minute deal, the event will be pulled.

a Fringe spokesperson confirmed that the future of the event would be decided soon: “a review of all Fringe events and activities, including Fringe Sunday, is currently taking place and a final deci-sion has yet to be made on the staging of the event.

“We are assessing the costs and likely income produced by the event before making that decision.

“the most recent cost of the event has been in the region of £70,000, which represents an increase of 16 per cent on 2007, due to rising transport costs, hire of marquees and other equipment.”

Fringe Sunday was first held in 1981, and has had to move location twice to

accommodate high demand. it was origi-nally staged on the high Street, but soon moved to holyrood Park before switch-ing to the Meadows.

Over 150 acts took part in last year’s event, the most successful to date in terms of attendance.

One former Fringe Society executive told The Scotsman that any decision to scrap the event would be a loss for the local population.

“the whole idea of Fringe Sunday

was a party thrown by the Fringe for the people of the city as a thank-you for put-ting up with the Fringe,” he said.

“For that very reason it would be a great tragedy if it goes and, to be hon-est, you would have thought the Fringe would want all the friends it could get.”

he also expressed concern that the Fringe could lose some status if the event is axed. “it’s also important for the Fringe because all the other festivals have some big set-piece event: the fireworks for the international Festival, Jazz on a Sum-mer’s day for the Jazz Festival, the street party for hogmanay.

“it would be a great shame if the most open of all the festivals couldn’t throw a big event.

“it does a great job for the performers, showcasing their acts, it does a job for the Fringe in giving something back to the city, and for the public it gives them a taster of the Fringe, when many of them won’t go to anything else in the festival.”

the problem of funding the event is only one of a number of financial dif-ficulties faced by the Fringe in the past eight months.

the newly-introduced online tick-eting system crashed within hours of opening in June, and many shows have claimed that box office glitches were responsible for a 10 per cent decline in ticket sales.

a £250,000 rescue package was recently announced, but reports have indicated that this will need to rise to up to £500,000 in the next few months if fur-ther crises are to be averted.

Nick Eardley

nick.eardley@journal-online.co.uk

the Liquid rOOM bosses have said the club could remain closed for up to 12 months in the aftermath of the fire that gutted Khushi’s indian restaurant in december.

Lothian and Borders Police have said that they are not treating as suspicious the blaze which also led to the closure of Finnegan’s Wake.

Following the fire, it took over a fort-night to make the Victoria Street build-ing safe. eyewitnesses describe 20 foot high flames shooting from the roof of the building.

Owners were only able to make an initial assessment of the property on 9 January. though it had been hoped that the Liquid room would reopen sooner, the extent of the water damage has put paid to early expectations.

Both Khushi’s and the Liquid room suffered internal collapse after the fire, but no injuries were reported.

a police spokesperson said last week: “initial reports show the Khushi’s fire was not suspicious.”

hundreds of people had to be evacu-ated from the building after the alarm was raised shortly after 8pm on Friday 19 december.

revellers had packed out the Liquid room to see the Sensational alex harvey

Band, whose show was interrupted just as they took the stage.

a repeat performance was scheduled for Studio 24, but reports on the band’s website suggest that most of their equip-ment was ruined during the blaze.

the Liquid room’s regular club nights, including evol and Luvely, have been temporarily moved to Faith night-club on the grassmarket.

all planned gigs will now be hosted by various other venues around the city.

a statement on the club’s website says: “it is with great sadness that we announce that the Liquid room is no more… for the time being.

“after the horrendous fire that ripped through Khushi’s recently, we have unfor-tunately been the victim of severe water damage and internal structure collapse.

“as you can imagine we are all in shock and deeply saddened by the loss of an edinburgh institution.”

the statement continues: “We are looking to the future and will be back in 2009, bigger and better than before.”

no details on the numbers evacuated from Khushi’s have been made available, but it is believed that the popular restau-rant was very busy with pre-Christmas diners.

the last Friday before Christmas is often referred to as “Black Friday” by emergency services and the hospital-ity industry, due to the high volume of Christmas parties and outings.

Your University, your views

Don’t miss the chance to help shape the future of your University.

The National Student Survey (NSS) aims to gather feedback from fi nal year undergraduates throughout the UK on the quality of their university course. The results are available online to help future students choose what and where they would like to study. The information is also fed back to the University so that we can continue to improve what we offer.

Last year there was an excellent response from the University of Edinburgh students and we are hoping to get even more student views this year.

You will soon receive details of the survey direct from NSS and if you complete the survey before 10 February you will be entered into a draw to win one of fi ve £30 Amazon vouchers.

Liquid room closed for a year after Khushi’s blaze

Fringe Sunday faces £70,000 shortfall

Fringe Sunday 2008

Remy Pascal

The JournalWednesday 14 January 2009 Academic News 9

THE UNILEVER GRADUATE LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME

LIVE LIFE'S BIGGER CHALLENGES!

The Unilever Graduate Leadership Programme is all about potential. As one of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers, our two-year

programme is designed to turn creative, talented and ambitious graduates into the future senior managers of Unilever.

We work with some of the world’s biggest and most popular brands.

WE ARE CURRENTLY RECRUITING FOR POSITIONS IN MARKETING, CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT, SUPPLY CHAIN, FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT,

HR & INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY.

APPLICATION DEADLINE CLOSES:

FRIDAY 16TH JANUARY

GO TO WWW.UNILEVER.CO.UK/CAREERS TO APPLY

Anthea Humphreys

anthea.humphreys@journal-online.co.uk

A divinity lecturer at the univer-sity of edinburgh has won an interna-tional theology prize in recognition of his position as one of the world’s most promising young theologians.

dr Paul nimmo, a native of edin-burgh and recent addition to faculty staff, won the John templeton Award for “theological Promise.” He will receive a prize of $10,000.

A regular guest lecturer in reformed theology at the Georg-August-univer-sität in Göttingen, Germany, dr nimmo will be given an additional $10,000 to fund a series of lectures at interna-tional universities.

the official prizegiving ceremony will take place at the university of Heidelberg in May.

the prize was awarded to dr nimmo for his doctoral research and book on Swiss theologian Karl Barth, Being in Action: The Theological Shape of Barth’s Ethical Vision.

Karl Barth is considered to be one of the 20th century’s most important

thinkers. His sense of liberal Protes-tantism’s ethical failure in responding to the First World War greatly affected his theology.

Barthian ethics resist the expansion of particularity to generality in moral principles, making them both refresh-ing to the realist while remaining palat-able to the idealist.

established in 2005, the John tem-pleton Award for theological Promise is given annually to 12 scholars from any area of religious studies.

the awards are assigned jointly by the research centre of international and interdisciplinary theology at the university of Heidelberg and the John templeton Foundation.

this year, dr nimmo was the only uK entrant to win an award in this prestigious competition.

the John templeton Foundation states that the prize is awarded to “identify ‘entrepreneurs of the spirit’ – outstanding individuals who have devoted their talents to those aspects of human experience that, even in an age of astonishing scientific advance, remain beyond the reach of scientific explanation.

Neil van Beinum

neil.vanbeinum@journal-online.co.uk

univerSity oF edinBurGH research-ers studying the effects of the misuse of prescription drugs are claiming find-ings which could help save the lives of hundreds of overdose victims.

Patients suffering the worst effects of liver damage following a paracetamol overdose have higher levels of a particu-lar protein in their urine, scientists have discovered.

Scientists hope that the identifica-tion of this protein, known as cyclophi-lin A, may lead to better treatment if its effects can be counteracted.

the findings could also help doctors to identify patients at the greatest risk of liver failure and to put them on a liver transplant waiting list sooner, increas-ing the chance of a compatible organ

donor being found in time. Paracetamol overdoses account for

48 per cent of poisoning admissions to hospital in the uK and lead to around 100-200 deaths annually.

dr James dear, leader of the research and lecturer in clinical Pharmacology at the university of edinburgh, said: “Around 30 per cent of patients who have developed significant liver injury following a paracetamol overdose die.

“if we can find a way to block the protein cyclophilin A, we would hope to limit further damage to the liver.

“Alternatively, measuring levels of the protein could indicate straight away which patients will need a liver transplant.

“Waiting a number of days means that valuable time is lost in trying to find a suitable match.

“even gaining an extra day or two could save a life.”

Chris Williams

chris.williams@journal-online.co.uk

reSultS oF tHe research Assess-ment exercise (rAe) 2008 have placed the university of edinburgh and Heri-ot-Watt university at 10th and 42nd respectively among Britain’s research intensive universities.

the rAe, which rates the quality of research produced by universities through a process of peer review, will be used by Britain’s four higher educa-tion funding councils to allocate £1.5 billion of annual performance related funding to universities until 2013.

the exercise, which has previ-ously drawn criticism for its subjec-tive methodology and the emphasis it forces staff to place on research over teaching, has been radically reformed since it was last conducted in 2001.

the seven former ranking levels—the greatest being 5*—have been replaced by five grades ranging from 0*, or sub-standard, to 4*, or world-leading.

in addition, whereas research departments were previously assessed as a single entity—gaining a 5* ranking if anything more than 51% of research was said to be world leading—the 2008 report has given departments a more precise average score.

the rAe does not conclusively rank universities, and researchers will have to wait until March to hear the impli-cations it will have on funding, but

tables compiled by The Guardian and the Times Higher Education Supple-ment have suggested that there could be cause to celebrate in edinburgh.

the university of edinburgh is thought to have benefited from the new system, having climbed twelve places to 10th in The Guardian’s assessment and sitting comfortably at 7th in The Times. Heriot-Watt university has also consolidated its strong perfor-mance in 2001, retaining its position at 42 in The Guardian, just ten places below the university of Glasgow.

Heriot-Watt principal Anton Mus-catelli expressed his happiness with the findings, saying: “We have more than doubled the percentage of Heri-ot-Watt research results which are at or above the national average, from 24 per cent to 50 per cent, which is a ter-rific result.

“We will use these positive results to build our research base and attract increased funding from research councils and industry, and to con-tinue to grow our research student numbers.”

Star performers at the university of edinburgh included the college of Medicine and veterinary Medicine, which ranked highest in the uK for research in hospital and laboratory based clinical subjects.

english literature was another department applauded by university principal Professor timothy o’Shea, for attaining a place in the top three in the uK, with 40 per cent of its research rated as 4*.

Some controversy has surrounded this year’s results, which have not included precise information on the numbers of staff submitted by each institution for assessment, with some accusations that under-performing staff members have been swept under the carpet.

Both The Times and The Guardian have attempted to estimate the pro-portion of staff hidden from assessors in compiling their tables but this has created some wildly varying results lower down the rankings.

The Guardian has given napier and Queen Margaret universities some cause for concern in this year’s results, ranked at 102nd and 114th respectively out of a total of 116.

However, The Times places the two institutions at 72nd and 64th.

A spokesperson for napier univer-sity told The Journal: “the 102 out of 116 ranking for napier university found in The Guardian was taken from one particular publication using a single metric.

“Funding, however, is likely to be based on a combination of quality and the number of staff submitted, and on this basis we are confident that our relative position has improved signifi-cantly, as indicated by the 72nd posi-tion recorded in the table produced by the university of lancaster and pub-lished by Times Higher Education.

“We therefore look forward to much improved funding based on a significantly improved performance from the previous exercise in 2001.”

Success for city universities in research rankings

edinburgh theologian wins international prize

edinburgh research to aid paracetamol victims

Join The

Journal while

you still can

www.journal-online.co.uk

On the web...THe JourNAl ArCHiveGet back issues of The Journal with our new archive reader

WWW.JournAl-online.co.uK

discoveries may result in new treatment to combat overdose-induced liver damage