VOL18ISS3

“Student Council is the most important committee that exists in any union. Members have the collective responsibility of: adopting policies that direct the work we do; consider our affiliations; ensure that all of our aims and objectives are adhered to; adopt union budgets; and most importantly, hold the elected officers and representatives accountable for their work.”Adam Flint, VP Union Development

UniVerseVolume 18, Issue 3 18th October 2010Circulation 1000 FREE

“One of the most exciting changes to Crush this year

is the introduction of Crush Underground, a separate stream in

the second studio which provides an exclusive outlet for any non-

mainstream music.”Lynnette Moore

Crush Radio Station Manager

Get involved! Students at UH. Photograph: UH Marketing & Communications

Monday 18th OctoberAn inter-hall party experience. Get your hall-mates together and customize your

white t-shirts with the name of your hall. The most creative halls stand to win

£500 worth of prizes!

Tuesday 19th OctoberExample plus special guests

Saturday 23rd OctoberPropaganda featuring The Inbetweeners’

James “Jay Buckley” (DJ Set)

Friday 22nd OctoberFlirt! Headphone Disco with DJ Paul

Eden and DJ L.A.M.B

universe.uhsu.co.uk

Sponsored by

Exclusive: First Student Council of the Year

THURSDAY 14th October saw the first Student Council meeting of the year, traditionally the first formal event in the UHSU calendar that provides a forum for the student body to feedback to the sabbatical officers about how well they believe they are doing.

The event also gives an opportunity for UHSU staff and volunteers to update all about what they have been up to both financially and logistically, imagine if you will a scaled version of the following passage from the Executive powers section of the US constitution, “He [the President] shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

A delayed printing deadline means we can bring you all the happenings as fast as possible, see Adam Flint’s full report inside.

an extra full page advert so could fund 12 pages. This week, no such luck. So please bear with us while we find a budgetary equilibrium with page count.

I know though that I have the continued support of the marketing team here at UHSU and they are pushing hard for more advertising.The UniVerse website has also temporarily been taken down for upgrading and rebranding, we are planning on putting a pdf version of the print copy until our web development team have got to work.

I’m going to throw my professional hat in the bin for a moment to thank a few people, without whom, The UniVerse in its current embodiment would not have

been either possible or the success it is turning out to be.

Thom Palser, Emma Stock, Charlotte Jones, Anne Hamilton (Accommodation), Izzy Hussain, Ila Desai, Filip Hnizdo, Tim Wilson, Nica de Koenigswarter, Yasmin Bastow, Adam Flint, Laura ‘Tweeny’ Yeoman have all contributed invaluably to making my life easier although the list is certainly not exhasutive.

Thank you,

Chris UlphEditor-in-Chief

The UniVerse is the free newspaper for the University of Hertfordshire. We will always aim to bring you the best news and reviews each week.

Written, designed and edited by students of the University of Hertfordshire.

Provided by UHSU

Editor-in-ChiefChris Ulph

Deputy EditorValentina Terrinoni

Lead PhotographerIla Desai

ContributorNica de Koenigswarter

ContributorLynette Moore

ContributorCharlotte Jones

ContributorRhiannon D’Averc

Web DirectorSam Martin

Assistant Web DirectorKenny England

Media AssistantAlastar Armitage-Brain

VP Communications & MediaThom Palser

If there is something that you feel needs to be brought to the attention of The UniVerse Staff, Media Team or even the University as a whole please write in to us and have your letters published.

[email protected]

Editor-in-chiefThe UniverseUniversity of Hertfordshire Students’ UnionCollege LaneHatfieldHertsAL10 9AB

Published byHarmsworth PrintingOld Milton RoadDidcotOxonOX11 7HH

The UniVerse, 18th October 2010

2 UniVerseEditorial universe.uhsu.co.uk

“The turnout and interest shown at the Blue Moon meeting was humbling”

Chris Ulph

In light of Lord Browne’s review of Higher Education funding, he has announced that we students should be paying more for our education, much, much, and more.

Up to £12,000 per year more.

That would put you in £36,000 worth of ‘fee’ debt, plus your maintenance on top. So your looking at £45000 up wards of debt to go to university, some graduates won’t even earn that much! If this proposal is accepted it will slash widening participation. It will put students off going to university.

Worse, students will choose where to go not based on what course is good for them or which university would be best for them. But, by how much debt they can or want to get into.

This is outrageous, and I won’t stand for it. What’s worse, is that our local MP Grant Shapps- with only 78000 registered voters in his constituency, with approx 15-18000 of whom are students- has told me he will vote in line with the Tory government! This is preposterous! we all know that this means he will vote for a rise in fees. I am petitioning him not to do

it, if you feel strongly, please come to the Sabb Office and sign the petition; we are also posting comment cards through his letterbox regularly!

It gets worse. Not only are the government going to hike up fees, but they are also about to make deep cuts to HE budgets. So not only are we going to be expected to pay more, but were going to get less for it.

Yes, I understand that we need to make cuts somewhere, but why education? We will be leaving ourselves with an unskilled workforce.

Dumbing down Britain.

We should be growing our education system, we need more opportunities and variability in the courses our education system provides so that students don’t feel compelled to go to university because they don’t know what else to do, or it seems like the next step. We need vocational courses, apprenticeships, placements and internships. That said I vehemently believe that anyone who wants to go to university to learn should be able to go.

Our government is stopping us doing that. They are creating a system, where only the rich can afford to go to the top universities and the poor can’t go anywhere, unless

Nica de Koenisgswarter

A Presidential response to HE funding cuts and national demo

that is, you are supremely intelligent and can obtain a scholarship. This leads me to another bugbear, the government is claiming that any one rich or poor will be able to go to university, because they will bring legislation in that requires universities- note, not the government- to give bursaries to students from poor backgrounds. Now this all sounds fantastic, but I want to know where that money is going to come from? The government is replacing its funding with student funding, and then cutting the budgets, so where exactly do they think this bursary money is going to appear from?

As far as I’m concerned we can kiss goodbye to widening participation.Now is the time to rise up. Now is the time to speak out. Now is the time, to fight back.

Join me on the National Demonstration on November 10th, rise up speak out and fight back.

To sign up to the demo, go to www.uhsu.co.uk, and sign up through the events listings.

From humbled beginnings...

Last Tuesday I attended a Blue Moon meeting, the first since its inception which saw the coming together of journalists, designers, photographers, feature writers and reviewers; dozens of them all wanting to become a part of UHSU media to craft and produce something amazing. I, as well as Emma Stock, Charlotte Jones and Thom Palser were humbled by the turnout, but I was not surprised. As the old adage says, “If you build it, they will come”. And that is what has happened, a truly creative outlet for students at the University of Hertfordshire.

There are a few truths that need to be put out in this edition as the astute among you will have seen the page count start at 16, reduce to 12 and now see only but 8. The first issue, I kicked and screamed so loudly that Thom (VP Comms & Media) couldn’t say no, again last week we had


3 UniVerseNews universe.uhsu.co.uk

A huge weight has been lifted from the shoulders of many prospective students across the UK this Saturday. Since the revelation from the new coalition Government of their intention to bring in a graduate tax as a means to fund university education, students wanting to attend higher education had one more worry added to the growing pile that faced them. As business secretary Vince Cable announces the abandonment of the idea, there is an almost audible sigh of relief around the country.

What was proposed? At the moment, the most common process of paying fees is to take out a student loan and then pay this back once the student has graduated and is earning over £15,000. The proposed graduate tax suggested that students would be paying for their tuition for decades, if not their entire working lives, meaning that they would pay far more than the current fees.

Students would have to repay fees as they worked, with higher earners paying more. While the time period and percentages were never disclosed, here is an example of the possible amounts graduates would have been paying:

This is calculated with a 2% tax payment over an average working life of 40 years:

A minimum wage earner: Annual wage: £12,334.40Tax: £246.69 per year Total Tax Payable: £9,867.52

A mid-scale Teacher:Annual Wage: £25,168 Tax: £503.36 per yearTotal Tax Payable: £20,134.40

Looking at the fees for 2010, three years’ education would cost approximately £9675.

Therefore it is clear that the tax would be unfair to graduates who secure well-paid jobs; they could end up paying double the fees of others who receive the same education.

Valentina Terrinoni Furthermore, university drop-outs could enjoy one or two years of free education.

Pleased the idea has been scrapped? But it’s not all good news...Instead the Government is looking to increase fees with a proposal to more than double the current amount. Students could be expected to pay around £7000 a year for their education. Is this really better than a graduate tax?

Nica de Koenigswarter, UHSU President said, “If you’re asking for my personal opinion, I think HE should be free! That said; that’s a very idealistic perspective. Graduate tax is the progressive option, so I am more inclined to go with that... However, I am in a kind of ‘yes, but!’ situation, where I still have many questions...”

She raises several other good points: ‘How much of a student’s funds come back to the university?’

‘What happens if a student does two degrees at two different universities?’

‘How do they recoup loans from EU students or students who work abroad after they graduate?’

No-one knows the proposed answers to these and as she says, “They haven’t outlined the details, and the devil is in the detail.”

Charlotte Critchell, a second year humanities student added, “Graduate tax isn’t fair, it’s an incentive for drop-outs to delay going to work and instead get a free education for one or two years. Also, the harder you work, the more you should be rewarded. Someone with the same education but a lower paid job shouldn’t pay less for the same course.”

When asked if higher fees would affect her attending university she said, “Yes it would; if the government wants to reduce the number of people attending university then this would work, but then they’d have just rich people going instead of genuine academics.”

At the moment it is hard to see the benefits of either option and it feels like we’re waiting for the Government to choose the lesser of two evils.

Graduate Tax Scrapped

Hello fellow radio lovers and welcome to a new term at Crush!

We have been off air over the summer (but certainly not idle!) and have now returned for a new and exciting term of radio! Over the summer the team has been busy getting both studios ready, re-designing the new website and thinking of ways to make Crush even bigger and better for all of you ‘big radio names’ of the future!

There have been a few changes at Crush since last term, least of all a brand new Crush Committee headed by myself-Lynette Moore, two assistant Station Managers, two Heads of Music, two Web Designers and a Programme Controller. “Why two?” I hear you ask, well I will tell you...

One of the most exciting changes to Crush this year is the introduction of Crush Underground, a separate stream in the second studio which provides an exclusive outlet for any non-mainstream music. Crush Underground will be ideal for specialist shows and also for DJs who wish to ‘mix’ because as well as having MP3 and laptop connection there are also CDJ players in the studio.

Most recently, we had an excellent time meeting all the newbies at Freshers’ Welcome Weekend and Fair and getting them pumped about joining Crush and we have just completed two weeks of Freshers’ shows from the Crush Radio studio.

Since then we’ve had a big meeting to tell people all about Crush, have signed people up to the schedules for both streams and had some training sessions for newbies.

We will be going on-air with all the new shows from Monday 18th October on both streams.

Anyone who came to this meeting and still needs to pay (which will activate your ID card for entry) will need to visit UHSU reception (in same building as the Media Centre) with £10 cash either before or at our next meeting (21st October). EVERYONE needs to have paid by this date!

You will all still need to come to the main media meeting on 21st October 6pm in B404 to complete the essential paperwork. Without doing this you won’t be able to broadcast after the 21st October. If you can’t come to this meeting but have been assigned a show then keep an eye on the Crush website to download this paperwork and remember to leave it with a member of the Crush committee when you next come in.

If you were unable to come to the meeting we had on 12th October and still want to be a part of Crush you can come along to the main media meeting on 21st October (where you can also find out about getting involved in Press and TV) but slots for Crush will be more limited by then...Alternatively email [email protected] with a show time and day request based on availability left from the schedules posted on the website.

Until your ID cards are all activated (which may take a few weeks) access may be a bit ‘tricky’! If you have been assigned an 8am slot we are advising you to not do your show until access is definitely sorted as there probably won’t be anyone around to let you in!

Everyone else, please remember to turn up for your shows and let the next person in and keep the chain going, we don’t want anyone stranded outside!

Also, very important, BRING HEADPHONES, or you won’t be able to hear your output.

If for any reason you can’t make your show (or you want to bring guests) you need to email your assistant station manager (Josh Divney-Crush Radio & Sam Recko-Crush Underground) at least 48 hours in advance. A no-show without letting us know results in a strike, 3 strikes and you may be out!

Lynnette Moore

Crush is back with a bang!

UH Graduate Ceremony. Photograph: UH Marketing & Communications


4 UniVerseSpecialReport:StudentCouncil universe.uhsu.co.uk

Special Report: Student CouncilLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed non lacus vel metus elementum ornare in ac nunc. Curabitur augue sapien, iaculis sed imperdiet ut, sagittis eget tellus. Curabitur tincidunt, lorem sed iaculis viverra, neque lectus malesuada sapien, ac viverra lacus nibh ut enim. Etiam eu mauris ac nisi ul-lamcorper iaculis et vulputate libero. Donec vitae risus erat. Quisque vehicula nulla eu elit vehicula vel dapibus mauris sagittis. Aliquam tortor ante, tempor at auctor ut, bibendum ut orci. Sed ullam-corper, augue at consectetur hendrerit, lectus metus varius mi, ac accumsan sem orci eget ligula. Aenean vulputate cursus feugiat. Vivamus enim justo, ullamcorper non ornare id, dapibus non sem. Pellen-tesque nibh dui, molestie ut ornare id, egestas quis ligula. Mauris volutpat justo sit amet felis imperdiet ultrices.

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porta, lacus lacus tristique lacus, sed in-terdum orci dolor quis sem. Aenean velit orci, commodo ut egestas non, pretium ac ante. Duis eget dui ligula, a pretium dolor. Sed venenatis elit sit amet ligula dapibus bibendum. Suspendisse imper-diet pretium aliquet. Donec mattis nulla tellus. Mauris ut nibh ipsum.

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Donec condimentum placerat libero, sed dapibus diam pulvinar et. Fusce tristique erat id felis tempor commodo. Nam aliq-uam augue sit amet elit dignissim portti-tor. Morbi sagittis condimentum massa, eu rutrum felis aliquet nec. Fusce a auc-tor eros. Vestibulum posuere vestibulum risus at imperdiet. Fusce lobortis viverra purus at eleifend. Aenean molestie eros non ante accumsan viverra. In in felis

lorem. Donec magna nulla, facilisis vitae luctus faucibus, volutpat ac est. Vestibu-lum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Nulla pharetra, risus a lobortis eleifend, elit tellus viverra elit, eu ultrices lorem est sit amet odio.

Vivamus feugiat, quam vitae varius sem-per, nisl erat suscipit ligula, id sceleris-que est tellus vitae sem. Curabitur risus metus, pulvinar suscipit aliquet id, ad-ipiscing vitae nibh. Duis orci est, gravida eget dignissim at, tincidunt eget quam. Etiam et lacinia leo. Vestibulum sagittis risus ac lacus tincidunt in rutrum enim lacinia. Ut consequat erat quis tellus porta et semper nisi semper. In hac habi-tasse platea dictumst. Etiam fringilla, dolor feugiat volutpat adipiscing, magna sem vestibulum sapien, ultrices molestie leo leo sit amet nunc. Nunc metus nibh, auctor nec dignissim eu, hendrerit ut mi. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per incep-tos himenaeos. Morbi viverra sapien sed nisl volutpat commodo. Praesent congue feugiat elit, at sodales sapien feugiat id. Vivamus commodo hendrerit arcu vel sollicitudin. Integer purus odio, volutpat vestibulum facilisis eu, tristique vel urna. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Aenean volutpat, dui sit amet mattis ultrices, mauris purus lacinia nisl, eu consectetur elit elit non metus.

Nullam sollicitudin urna ac eros molestie mattis.

Sed orci sem, consequat eu viverra et, rhoncus at tellus. Quisque a varius elit. Phasellus ultrices congue turpis et tem-pus. Ut dapibus massa et sapien rhoncus nec mollis ligula faucibus. Etiam varius erat ut erat dictum auctor. Sed neque velit, auctor sit amet vulputate eget, dic-tum ac sem. Nam tempus sagittis sapien sed tincidunt. Nulla hendrerit sem sit amet libero dignissim sed molestie augue tincidunt. Ut a pulvinar nisl. Sed dig-nissim, nisi ac molestie convallis, risus lacus viverra lectus, non egestas velit dui quis mauris. Vivamus aliquam tortor quis nunc accumsan nec euismod ipsum elementum.

Sed orci sem, consequat eu viverra et, rhoncus at tellus. Quisque a varius elit. Phasellus ultrices congue turpis et tem-pus. Ut dapibus massa et sapien rhoncus nec mollis ligula faucibus. Etiam varius erat ut erat dictum auctor. Sed neque velit, auctor sit amet vulputate eget, dic-tum ac sem. Nam tempus sagittis sapien sed tincidunt. Nulla hendrerit sem sit amet libero dignissim sed molestie augue tincidunt. Ut a pulvinar nisl. Sed dignis-sim, nisi ac molestie convallis, risus lacus viverra.


5 UniVerseYourSabbs universe.uhsu.co.uk

This week has been busy, busy, busy! With freshers’ over, I have been doing a monsterous amount of school student representative officer interviews, which took up the best part of a week. With the Browne Review being published, I have also been on the radio making comments. I also had an interview with the Welwyn Hatfield Times regarding my housing campaign this week. Hopefully our local MP will start listening. I met our UCU rep, and hopefully we will be recruiting for the national demo together. If you haven’t joined up yet sign up on uhsu.co.uk website. Finally I have had some governors meetings and prepping for the launch of our ‘Have You Heard’ campaign.

Nica de KoenigswarterPresident

Thom PalserVP Communications &

Media

Yasmin BastowVP Academic Support &

Campaigns

Adam FlintVP Union Development

Laura YeomanVP Student Activities

meeting meeting, busy busy, panic, emails, planning, sigh. #ilovemyjob

good. thank you governement, let’s just screw over students who do well....

Follow me on twitter @UHSUsupport

Do you have Wednesday afternoon timetabling that is preventing you from getting involved in extra-curricular sport and activities?I want as many UH Students to take part in clubs and societies as possible!!! It is the best part of university! The guys and girls that write this paper know that! Here at the University of Hertfordshire we are fortunate enough to a Wednesday afternoon policy to free up your timetables to give you the time to try something new! However... there is always a however... I have had a few reports that lectures aren’t fitting around this time and I want to check that this isn’t stopping you from getting involved! If this sounds like something that’s affecting you please drop me an email! [email protected]

It’s been a pleasure being your VP Comms & Media here are just some of the achievements that myself and UHSU Media Volunteers have accomplished to date: 15 Computers for the UHSU Media Centre (thanks UH!) Launched Blue Moon & The UniVerse Re-Launched in a new format. Crush Radio has launched a new website and has had over 100 peo-ple expressing an interest in joining. Crush Under-ground has also launched providing a platform for specialist djs and presenters to be on air 24 hrs a day. UnionTV are joining in with national projects around the country.UHSU SoapBox has launched with over 50 students applying to be one of our featured blog-gers. soapbox.uhsu.co.uk

I firstly revamped The Majestic 12 (the way we find out if you like our events) check out our website (uhsu.co.uk/m12) after that I worked on student council how we can make it actually interesting and relevant for students because student council is the fundamental way to make change happen here.

For more on YOUR union check out my video blog at uhsu.co.uk and let’s have a great year! see you soon, Flint

EyeOnHatfield

EyeOnHerts

Official thumbs up for Welwyn Hatfield accountsOFFICIAL auditors have given a clean bill of health to Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council’s accounts for 2009/10.

Boy hit in St Albans in grave situationThe accident occurred at Colney Heath Lane near Nicholas Breakspear at around 3.25pm. The boy was rushed via air ambulance to hospital.

Hatfield fireworks announcedGUY FAWKES’ DAY will again be celebrated with a spectacular fireworks display in the grounds of Hatfield House, which are expected to be crammed with a capacity 15,000 crowd.

Watching the headlines

Services for young targeted in council spending reviewSERVICES for the young will be targeted as Hertfordshire County Council revealed a £110 million savings package ahead of the coalition Government’s comprehensive spending review.

Two award nominations for University of HertfordshireHATFIELD’S University of Hertfordshire has been shortlisted for two national awards by The Times newspaper. The university is in the final six for two Times Higher Education awards - Entrepreneurial University of the Year and Outstanding Contribution to Leadership Development, both to be announced on November 25.

Watching the headlines

The UniVerse, 27th September 2010

6 UniVerseNews universe.uhsu.co.ukTXT


7 UniVerseNews&Jobs universe.uhsu.co.uk

4634 Part Time Sales Assistant Hatfield £5.95 per hour plus performance bonuses

Duties: Serving Customers range of Mobile Phone related products, Use of till, telephone and computer based work at times.

Time: 13 hrs per week Mon 2pm - 5pm, Thur 11am - 7pm & Fri 2pm - 4pm

Requirements: General Retail or Mobile Phone based experience necessary.

Company: Mobiles4Uni Ltd

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 07722 777227

Apply by: Email/ Phone

SBH/21918 BARISTA - Sitting Room ST. ALBANS£6 per hr

Duties: Serving customers, operating till, serving food and drinks to tables, clearing tables, keeping dinery & serving areas clean and tidy and other related duties as required.

Time: 7-11hrs per week between 7.30am & 5pm 3-5 from 6

Requirements: Dynamic, self-motivated worker, basic food hygience certificate or previous coffee shop experience is essential. Must be able to make coffees, Must be hard working and able to use own initiative.

Company: Jobcentre Plus - Sitting Room


Apply by: Please email cv FAO Dawn Wallace

4635 Website Promotion (SEO and link posting) College Lane Campus, Innovation Center £8 per hour

Duties: We are on online printing company wishing to increase its link popularity for its European websites. We are looking for a creative link poster who will set up profiles and links in different forums/blogs/directories which have to be researched before. The successful candidates will be responsible for Researching forums/blogs/directories in relation with our services. Post comments/links, monitor our online brand undertake informal translation jobs.

Time: 10 hrs per week flexible

Requirements: The candidate must be a native speaker of one of the following languages - German, French,Dutch,Spanish,Portuguese, Italian. Must have own laptop to work with. Knowledge of HTML and/or online writting expereince would be a plus.

Company: Goodprint Limited


Apply by: Email with cv & covering letter

4637 Call Operator Hatfield £6 per hour

Duties: The main purpose of the role is to telephone companies to book appointments on behalf of fitness clubs for a membership advisor to visit the company and promote their corporate memberships. There is no selling involved with this role.

Time: Part Time - 3-6 hrs between 9-5 Mon - Fri

Requirements: Ideally you will have a great telephone manner, a personal interest in health & fitness and have some experience of using leisure centres and/ or health clubs. Experience on the phone is essential as is being motivated and enthusiastic when talking to someone. Applicants must have good spoken English and able to read from a script.

Company: Momentum Business Development


Apply by: Email CV

Telephone: 01707 285019email: [email protected]

EleHouseCollege Lane Campus

Opening hoursMonday to Friday, 9am-5pm

The ITV2 programme ‘The only way is Essex’ has been hugely criticised by not only by Essex people but people all over the UK. The programme hit the screens on Sunday 10th October at 10pm and has been slated for misrepresenting Essex people.

The new reality show that claims to follow the lives of males and females from Essex has sparked controversy. A source, said, “It’s so far from reality it’s pathetic.” Members of the show’s Facebook group have manifested their discontent. That 10,170 people like the programme’s Facebook page would suggest the programme is or would be a hit.

There has been a Facebook group created as a back lash in response to the ITV2

Programme entitled, ‘I am embarrassed to be from Essex thanks to ITV2.’ The group has 12,845 members surpassing the the programmes own group.

Interviewees on the new programme said the show was to be like the glamorous American show ‘The Hills’ but set in Essex. Inderdeep Gill who has lived in Essex for all his life said, ‘it just didn’t cut it close to the Hills.’

Essex has always had an appalling stereotype.

The programme was constantly advertised in the media. Essex has been waiting for this show to break the stereotype. To people’s disappointment it only exaggerated it. A student from the University of Hertfordshire who wishes not to be named from Brentwood, Essex said “I can’t believe the programme, it was cringe [sic]. I defend myself from being from Essex all [of] the time. I feel

ashamed as people are not like this in real life.’

Kayleigh Chester, a second year Psychology student said, “I have never been to Essex and have always wondered what it is like as I am from Peterborough. The show was very superficial and scripted. To be honest it has put me off going to Essex.”

Another student Richard Scarlett said, “It is faked reality... it’s not real life it’s just extremely bad acting and no, based on the Essex people I know that’s not what they are like.”

However the show highlighted some humour in the scene with blonde Sam and model Amy suggesting that ‘Essex Girl’ is now in the dictionary. The 21st Century Dictionary does not have the definition of an Essex Girl. The programme seems to have already made up their definition.

Not the way to EssexCharlotte Jones

Typified Essex girl, Jodie Marsh Photograph: The Insider

UniVerseSport


Carl Breeze may not have won the Ginetta G50 Cup at Brands Hatch this weekend – missing out on the championship to Frank Wrathall in the penultimate race by only one point – but he is certainly no stranger to winning. His father’s career in kart racing inspired him to pick it up at the age of eleven, and after taking the For-mula Renault championship title in 2001, he has stayed at the leading edge racing in BTCC, Seat Cupra, and now Ginetta G50. With two wins and a third place at the fi-nal round of this year’s championship he has plenty to be pleased about, and he of-fered some advice for anyone wanting to get into the sport. Aspiring young driv-ers need to find themselves “a good team with good mechanics, stuff like that gives you the winning edge”, he explained, em-phasizing the importance of sponsorship as “a lot of the drivers are the same ability but the teams can make a massive differ-ence”.

Breeze also spoke about the value of hard work and putting yourself forward in or-der to get into motorsport as a mechanic: “The best way to try and get in with the teams is to write to all the teams, or come down to a race meeting. Offer your serv-ices for the weekend. We have a guy that’s in the Clio team at the moment and he did

that, he’s showed that he can work well within a team and now he’s been with us for the whole season. He’s just getting ex-perience that way.”

British motorsport proved this weekend that it can still draw a crowd, as a record forty-two thousand came to Brands to watch Jason Plato win the BTTC finale.

However, the financial climate is still not warming up, and Breeze cautioned that the structure of motorsport needs to be overhauled for things to get better. “The problem at the moment is there are so many different formulas out there, it’s a difficult decision for the teams and the drivers to know which series to go into,” he explained, indicating that the main reason behind a driver’s choice has to be the gain he will make at the end of the sea-son. “If you look at the Renault Clios a few seasons ago they had forty, forty-five cars competing. This year, they’re struggling to maybe get twelve cars on the grid. Just look at the Porsches, they are offering the best at the moment, they’ve got a full grid. It is down to the manufacturers really to try and put some of their profits onto the table to try and attract the drivers.”

He revealed that he was feeling cool and calm on the grid for the weekend, despite there being a lot of pressure on him to win. “The pressure’s not really on us this weekend compared to Wrathall, he’s got to try and get out there and score points, and all I’ve got to do is just the best I can.

Rhiannon D’Averc

Winning is a ‘Breeze’

Breeze leading the pack at the Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup. (Inset Carl Breeze). Photograph: Rhiannon D’Averc

I’ve got nothing to lose and all to gain, for me.” Unfortunately, while Breeze did his best, Wrathall also fought well for the ti-tle. However, he was not too disheartened by losing the championship, and he spoke of his hope to carry on racing “sportscars, to progress up the ladder.”

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