Students under fire: Talybont Court residents

gair rhydd
y
gair rhydd | freeword
Cardiff ’s student weekly
Issue 1061
Monday 19th October 2015
Also in this issue
Advice: Coming out at uni
P10>>
Students under fire: Talybont
Court residents criticised for slow
evacuation despite genuine risk
Comment: £12m Assange police
presence needed? P12>>
t Situation brought to attention after kitchen fire in University halls of residence
t University highlights “very poor” student reaction to alarm
t Students who fail to evacuate in future could face disciplinary action
EXCLUSIVE
Karla Pequenino
F
irst-year students have come
under criticism from the University after residents at Talybont Court failed to evacuate the
building at the time of a real fire.
Residents at University accommodation have been ignoring the
fire warnings after constant alarms
since the start of the academic year,
but now University Security have
warned that those who snub the
alarm or tamper the safety material
could be fined in future.
University officials confirmed that
a pan fire broke out in House Two
of Talybont Court on Friday October
9th.
Although the event was quickly
dealt with by students, security staff
and the fire service, concerns were
raised by the University over the
slow evacuation times of students.
Students were sceptical and slow
to evacuate due to persistent nuisance alarms. Firefighters arrived
quickly and no injuries were reported, but many students were still
inside the building while the professionals extinguished the flames.
A Cardiff University spokesperson
elaborated: “The fire alarm sounded
but some in the block were slow to
evacuate.”
As a result of the incident, residents received letters reminding
them of the “importance of reacting
to the alarm immediately.”
The letter described the evacuation on Friday as “very poor”. Students were also reminded that “each
time an alarm is activated residents
are required to evacuate the building
immediately.”
University halls of residence will
now be subject to a fire drill test.
Those who are slow to evacutate
could face action under the University’s disciplinary policy.
Most students thought it was yet
another false alarm as they are apparently common in the building.
According a resident, more than
once a week and often during the
early morning hours residents are
forced out of bed by a beeping siren,
only to discover there is no fire at all.
Innocent mistakes such as burned
toast, unconscious behaviour by
drunken youths, consecutive fire
drills or tasteless pranks are apparently the most frequent culprits.
Security Officers were baffled
by student’s sluggish reaction during Friday’s fire, feeling the need to
scold the slow tenants: “As soon as
you hear the alarm sound, you have
to evacuate in three minutes,” cautioned an officer who preferred not
Pictured:
House two
of Talybont
Court, the
scene of the fire
(Photographer:
Anna Lewis)
Continued on
page 4
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2 EDITORIAL
Gair Rhydd
Coordinator
Elaine Morgan
Editor
Joseph Atkinson
Deputy Editor
Shanna Hamilton
the free word
The importance of student
politics (and getting involved)
News
Anna Lewis
Shanna Hamilton
Advice
Gwen Williams
Comment
Em Gates
Charley Griffiths
David Williams
Columnist
Helena Hanson
Politics
Carwyn Williams
Luke Brett
Sam Patterson
Science
Maria Mellor
Lizzie Harrett
Societies
Aletheia Nutt
Taf-Od
Carwyn Williams
Park Life
Vacant
Sport
Jim Harris
James Lloyd
Jason Roberts
Jamie Smith
Social Media Editor
Jack Boyce
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Joseph Atkinson
S
tudent elections are often derided by a great proportion of
the student body as being unimportant, and student politics seen
as ineffectual and mlore of a populariy contest than a political process.
With the first round of student
elections having just passed us by,
and the Studnt’s Union offering each
voting individual 20p in printer credits (that wlould have been well over
£5,000 if the whole student body voted, by the way), there is a very clear
message from the SU that they want
to engage with as many studesnts as
possible and be truly representative
of the student body.
Indeed, engaging is important,
now so more than ever. Students at
the moment are being charged the
most they ever have been in tuition
fees, and will be paying back those
loan debts (and the interest on them)
for decades to come. It is of paramount importance that we as students get the best value for the considerable money we are paying, and
getting involved in student politics is
one way you can do that.
That doesn’t mean you have to
campaign to be an elected officer;
you can engage with course reps
and tell them what you want to see
improved on your course, or just
simply exercise your right to vote. I
feel as though it’s forgetten what the
Student’s Union actually is - a union for students. The Union should
always represent the interests of its
members, szo if you feel that they
don’t do that, then the only way to
provoke change is to get involved
at some leve. If you sit idly by while
feeling that the SU does nothing for
you, then you haven’t really got a leg
to stand on - it’s a two-way process
- what are you doing for the SU an d
other students?
Spending time talking to sabbatical officers of the Union, you can
tell that they definitely care about
the issues that affect studesnts and
haven’t just campaigned for election to prove thei popularity or get
a nicdely paid job. It takes a brave
and driven person to campaign for
election while dressing up in a silly
costume and handing out industrial
quantities of sweets to often disinterested students. I’d class myself as
someone who just wasn’t interested
in student politics before getting involved in Gair Rhydd. A large part of
me groans when astudent campaigning for election comes into a lecture
with a terrible gimmick and unrealistic policies that they would (try to)
implement upon election.
But ultimately, the peop0le we
elect represent all students at the
University on issues that matter to
them, so seeing beyond the sometimes-superficial nature of election
week and student politics in general is important. The reason people
dress up is so that it’s (supposedly)
more engaging to students. The vast
majority of the Student’s Union campaigns are aimed at getting more students politically active.
Political
engagement
among
younger people is one of the hot
topics every time an election comes
around; our generation is derided for
not taking enough of an interest. In
many ways, this is true, but there are
of course reasons for this. Politics
has become less accessible and more
abour hurling abuse rather than engaging in real debate.
Students critical of the student
political process have told me that
they see the sabbatical officers of
the Students’ Union as “detatched”
from the student body and generally
unrepresentative as a whole. From
the outside of the SU bubble it may
seem that the system is self-serving
and not reaching out to the wider
student body.
The Students’ Union does exist, inevitably, in a Park Place bubble where everything is centered on
the main campus. For students who
rarely visit the SU, student politics
will seem very distant and un-engaging, and this is one of the problems
the Union faces. The opening of the
Heath Campus SU Hub has attempted to address this issue, but there
will always remain issues of engagement by the nature of the moment.
Existing relatively close to the Union and engaging with it frequently
as part of the newspaper, I can say
that the intentions of the SU are
positive in getting more students
involved and trying to improve the
lives of students in general. While
they do make mistakes and elections
are difficult to engage with everyone, student politics is ultimately an
essential part of university life, and
getting involved is key if you’d like
your life as a student to be better.
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: GAIR RHYDD 905
19/10/2009
T
his week in history we go back six years to
the last time October 19th fell on a Monday. Photographs scattered throughout
the paper of David Cameron and Barack Obama
reveal that time has not been kind to the respective leaders of the Uk and US.
The front-page story concerns comments
made by former Cardiff University Catholic
Chaplain, Father John Owen, and his subsequent
resignation. Fr. John made his comments live
on BBC One, claiming that most of the sexual
assault cases against young boys in the Catholic
Church were “committed by homosexuals”. The
University were also criticised for their handling
of the situation and their apparent lack of action
in the wake of what Fr. John said.
Elsewhere, we hear that the Conservatives
were promising that “graduates in England
would be offered a 10 per cent discount on early
repayments of their student loans” if they were
elected. They were indeed elected, though there
is no sign of the proposed discount - surprise
surprise.
In World News, the headline “Head start for
Affrica” in confusedly attatched to an article
about a 16-year-old boy in West Bengal (India,
Asia) who was teaching underpriviledged children from his own back yard. Such spectacular
geographical ineptitude has to be applauded.
There’s also a small piece in World News simply
entitled “Nazi Knome invasion”.
The Features section looks at how Cardiff has
changed over the years. A photo of the current
site of Walkabout in 1891 is captioned, “Walkabout was shit back then,” while a picture of the
modern club declares, “Walkabout isn’t much
better”.
Features also attempts to salvage the student
lifestyle, asking whether alcohol is actually good
for you. There is also a feature on the effects
of so-called ‘study-drugs’ which were making
headlines at the time. Some of the said drugs are
profiled in comparison to the “most used student
staple,” Red Bull.
The ever-entertaining Listings page advertises
a Proclaimers gig at St. David’s Hall, while on the
Sunday both Chase and Status and Biff y Clyro
were to perform at the SU.
In Sport, a whole page is dedicated to the
coming weekend’s Premier League fixture between Liverpool and Manchester United. Three
of the four Sport Editors went for a United win,
but ultimately Liverpool came out on top with
goals from Fernando Torres and perhaps lesswell remembered French forward David N’Gog.
-Joseph Atkinson
EDITORIAL 3
Campus in Brief
Jack Boyce
“
The
Metropolitan
Police has
confirmed
that Wikileaks
founder Julian
Assange will
be arrested
if he leaves
the Ecuador
embassy in
London
”
A
report produced by London Economics has
found that Cardiff University contributes
£2.7 billion to the UK economy annually,
which equates to £6 for every £1 the university
spends. This comes shortly after another report
found that the University and its’ students expenditures during their studies amount to almost £1bn
per year. This newer report from London Economics takes into account the expenditures, but also
examines the wider social impact of the University.
Vice Chancellor Professor Colin Riordan stated
that, “The role of universities in underpinning
economic growth through higher-level skills and
ground-breaking research could not be clearer.”
Scientists from Cardiff University and University
of Cambridge have released studies claiming that
they may know why some people are prone to hallucinations. Their work centred around the idea
that brain has a predictive nature, meaning that
it interprets the world using prior knowledge and
predictions. Cardiff University’s Dr Christoph Tuefel explained that “Vision is a constructive process
– in other words, our brain makes up the world that
we ‘see’.” 18 people who suffered from early signs of
psychosis were compared to 16 healthy volunteers.
The study used black and white images to see if volunteers could make out the image, and then gave
them the full colour image to see if they could now
see what the black and white image was.
Cardiff nightclub Clwb Ifor Bach has been called
irresponsible for tweeting “come and be hammered” in Welsh. The Advertising Standards Authority complained that the tweet would be interpreted as inviting excessive drinking. The club
bosses said that it was a weekly feature for Clwb
Ifor Bach’s Twitter page to promote Welsh language
events, but accepted that the wording was misinterpreted and that it would be more careful how it
advertised these features in the future.
National
Players of the card game Bridge have failed in their
attempt to recognise the game as a sport. The English Bridge Union (EBU) had challenged Sport
England, after it made the decision that the game
was not a sport as no physical activity is involved.
Bridge is a card game played by four players, with
two partnerships formed. It utilises a standard 52card pack, and involves betting on the number of
‘tricks’ each side will win. The EBU was looking
to reclassify the game, as it would have made it
eligible for government and lottery funding. Alex
Peebles, an EBU representative, said, “We are very
disappointed and feel that we put forward a strong
case.”
SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon has said that even
a ‘thumping win’ by the SNP in next year’s Scottish
Elections may still not be enough to push for a second referendum. Sturgeon also called on those who
voted for “No” in the vote for independence to consider voting for the SNP. Sturgeon, on the subject
of the possibility of a referendum, stated, “It will
be down to whether we judge, I judge, that people
who voted ‘No’ last year have changed their minds.”
The Metropolitan Police has confirmed that
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will be arrested
if he leaves the Ecuador embassy in London. Ecuador’s foreign minister Ricardo Patiño has called
for Assange to have safe passage to a hospital for a
MRI scan to diagnose a pain in his shoulder. Assange is subject to an arrest warrant for an allegation of rape in Sweden, but sought political asylum
in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden. Assange’s
lawyer Carey Shenkman has accused Britain of
forcing Assange to “choose between the human
right to asylum and the human right to medical
treatment.”
International
German automotive watchdog KBA has ordered
Volkswagen to recall 2.4 million cars in Germany
after the diesel emissions scandal. Volkswagen has
admitted that it had installed software in its diesel
vehicles to deceive U.S regulators about the true level of their vehicles emissions. The recall is set to start
at the beginning of 2016, and complete fixes on their
vehicles by the end of 2016. Volkswagen had initially
told KBA that Volkswagen vehicle owners would
bring their cars back if they wanted to, but this was
rejected in favour of a forcible recall. Volkswagen are
under pressure to identify those who are responsible for tampering with emissions level figures that
could affect up to 11 million cars worldwide. Around
£4.8bn has been set aside by Volkswagen to cover
the costs of the scandal, but this figure is said to rise
by the end.
Olympic and Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius,
who was sentenced to five years in prison last year
for manslaughter after killing his girlfriend Reeva
Steenkamp, is to be released to house arrest this
week. Prosecution has appealed the verdict of manslaughter, saying he should be convicted of murder
instead, with the case to be heard on 3rd November.
Pistorius has only spent 12 months in jail, with the
rest of his sentence under “correctional supervision”.
The former president of Benin, Mathieu Kerekou,
died at the age of 82. Kerekou, hailed as the man who
ushered in multi-party democracy to Benin, and
many other African countries. Kerekou first come
into power under a Marxist regime in 1972, and
spent nearly 30 years as President before stepping
down after a democratic vote in 1991 after renouncing Marxism in 1989. Current Benin President
Thomas Boni Yayi, writing on Facebook, described
Kerekou as a “great man”.
Pictured:
Oscar Pistorius
will be released
from prison this
week
“
German
automotive
watchdog KBA
has ordered
Volkswagen
to recall 2.4
million cars
in Germany
after the diesel
emissions
scandal
”
4 NEWS
news
Editor: Anna Lewis Shanna Hamilton
@GairRhyddNews
news@gairrhydd.com
gairrhydd.com/news
Cont’d: Students under fire
Continued
from front
page
to be named when questioned later.
“If it is a real fire, we are not going
to risk our lives to go inside and save
you. You have to be adults and act responsibly”.
Members of Security warned that
students who ignore the alarm next
time will be fined, just like anyone
who is discovered to misuse the fire
extinguisher.
Although Friday’s incident was the
most dangerous so far, the fire alarm
at House 2 continues to go off. The
latest fire alarm was set-off on early
Sunday Morning due to a “prank”.
Once more, many students were slow
exiting the building.
As a result of the ongoing issue,
some have stated that they want to
transfer from Taylbont court, although no requests have been sent to
the offices yet.
“If this happens again, I am asking
to move to another house”, claims Nishad, an international student from
India.
Anastacia, who is completing an
archaeology MA program, says the
constant alarms leave her exhausted: “The alarms keep disrupting my
sleep. It is very annoying. This never
happens in the other houses.”
“Why is it always before dawn?”
and “I am sleeping through it next
time” are reportedly other common
sentences heard amongst the freezing tenants during morning fire
alarms.
When asked about what could be
done to urge students to evacuate
quicker, the response from Security
Residence was: “We might implement stricter fire drills to ensure that
every student knows how to react in
the event of a genuine fire.”
Such events have shown that
awareness should be raised: ignoring
the fire alarm drill can have serious
consequences. Students are reminded that fire alarms are still a signal
warning that the building must be
evacuated immediately.
“
If this
happens
again, I am
asking to
move
International
student
”
Sports ban introduced for misbehaviour in SU
Teams could face loss of players if they violate ‘anti-lad’ policy
James Lloyd
S
ports members could be prevented from participating in
sports fixtures if they misbehave at Union events in new rules
released by Cardiff Students’ Union.
The AU Social and Behaviour Policy refers to behaviour both “off and
on the field of play.”
It comes in the wake of a clampdown on ‘lad culture’ by the National
Union of Students. AU President,
Sam Parsons spoke to Gair Rhydd
about the new policy. He said: “This
has been bubbling under the surface
for a long time and we feel we need
to take a stronger stance on how behaviour in the nightclub and licensed
premises needs to be acted upon.”
Parsons criticised the current policy
by suggesting that the modern rules
“weren’t very effective.”
“We want to make sure our clubs,
our AU members are positive role
models for the wider student community and therefore we are looking
at that this process to ensure that
they are these positive role models.”
“We will make the process as fair
as possible, as equitable as possible
and as balanced as possible. We want
to work with clubs and work with
those individuals and not against
them. We want a positive message to
come out of our sport.”
A number of high-profile incidents involving Cardiff sports clubs
last year have given new impetus to
the AU to attempt to draw a line under poor behaviour. Such incidents
include a Medic Rugby player publicly urinating onboard a ferry, hockey players running naked through
the Julian Hodge library, and members of the Cricket Club hanging Ul-
ster Unionist flags outside popular
student haunt Koko Gorillaz.
Parsons defended the call to introduce the new policy by suggesting that the decision has not come
in the wake of any of the above incidents. “There’s a lot going on at
the moment with the anti lad culture
policies that have come down from
NUS. We are one of the pilot unions
to be doing that this year.”
It is important to note that the AU
isn’t going to ban people from playing for minor incidents.
“We’re not going to stop people
from playing in BUCS if they are just
stupid on a night out.” Parsons added: “There’s a connection between
how you behave on the field and off
it, we’re not trying to use it as an imposing measure.”
Quizzed about the policies’ link
to initiations, Parsons insists that he
trusts his committee members: “Our
policy on initiations if found in our
the activities laws.
We send that out to all the committees - our number one priority is student welfare. I understand
that initiations are big team building
events - call them what you want:
‘welcome drinks’, ‘initiations’, whatever, they are team building events,
but student safety and student welfare are at the heart of that activity
and if that’s up kept during the whole
time of that activity going on then
that is our stance as an AU.”
It’s when that line gets crossed that
intervention will take place. I have
the utmost trust in our committees;
I’ve met the committees now and I
have a lot of trust in them, with safety being the paramount importance.”
Right of response: Dean of Medicine responds to MEDIC Forward claims
Joseph
Atkinson
T
he Dean of Medicine, John
Bligh, has requested the right
to respond to last week’s front
page story regarding the MEDIC Forward scheme. The following is attributed to Professor Bligh.
Dear Editor,
On Monday 12th October Gair
Rhydd printed a front-page story on
the MEDIC Forward project.
We believe your readers were presented with an inaccurate and misleading story which failed to report
the issues in a balanced and fair way.
We were particularly concerned by
the allegations of gender discrimination.
As part of the project a comprehensive Equality Impact Assessment was
conducted for both the consultation
and re-structuring elements of the
MEDIC Forward process.
This data was presented to trade
union colleagues. It indicated no unlawful discrimination against any protected group. Despite being presented
with this information the article makes
significant allegations to the contrary.
Furthermore, allegations of discrimination are also linked to potential
funding issues and grant loss based on
Athena SWAN accreditation. We anticipate grant money increasing long
term as a result of Medic Forward.
Athena SWAN accreditation is a totally separate issue and we are working
hard to maintain this accreditation.
The article also gives the false impression that MEDIC Forward is
something students need to be concerned about based on the views of
two anonymous students.
It is disappointing that a one-sided
argument is presented to readers despite a statement from the University
that was made available to Gair Rhydd
confirming that students would not be
impacted by the changes.
We must also make clear that placing members of staff provisionally ‘at
risk’ is not a tactic to force individuals into taking Voluntary Severance. In
accordance with employment law and
under Statute XV of the University’s
Statutes we were required to place
all employees aligned to areas of proposed disinvestment provisionally at
risk of redundancy.
We strongly deny any suggestion
that this process has been used to
force staff into a particular course of
action. We believe that undertaking
such a comprehensive consultation
exercise has allowed us to consider
all possible options and to realign a
significant number of academic colleagues into the new structure.
The reduction in the numbers of
people being placed at risk of redundancy is clear evidence of a robust
and meaningful consultation process
where the views of all parties have
been considered.
We also feel that the cherry picking
of results from the 2015 staff survey
again paints a misleading picture.
The survey contains 69 questions
and it is simply not possible to make
sweeping statements around staff morale based on a few carefully selected
responses. Again we provided results
specific to the School of Medicine to
Gair Rhydd which were not used in
the article.
MEDIC Forward continues to deliver transformational change to the
School of Medicine. It has enabled us
to investigate new ways of working,
embrace positive change that delivers
real impact, build on the success that
already exists throughout the School
and focus our resources and activities
on the areas where we can realistically
aspire to be world leading.
Although change can be an unsettling time for colleagues we remain
focused on creating a Medical School
that is known for world leading research and teaching excellence.
We do not wish to stifle debate and
we would encourage Gair Rhydd to
continue to follow the story, but we
simply request that future publication
is done in a balanced and fair way.
“
We feel we
need to take
a stronger
stance on how
behaviour in
the nightclub
and licensed
premises need
to be acted
upon
AU President
Sam Parsons
”
NEWS 5
People and Planet protest outside
Students’ Union
Anna Lewis
“
Dressed in
biohazard suits
and wearing
surgical masks,
the group
voiced their
anger against
forced student
labour used
in European
University
supply chains
”
Anna Lewis
“
Shake failed
to attract
a sufficient
following to
make it viable
long term
Organisational
Spokesperson
”
S
tudent group People and Planet
have taken to protest outside
the Students’ Union, in order
to lobby the University to join workers’ rights organisation Electronic
Watch.
Cardiff People and Planet society,
which is part of a national studentled movement, congregated outside
the Student’s Union on October 7th
carrying banners and signs. Dressed
in biohazard suits and wearing surgical masks, the group voiced their
anger against forced student labour
used in European university supply
chains.
However when the group attempted to give a letter to University
management, the People and Planet
representative was refused entrance
to the building due to security precautions undertaken within the
building.
According to People and Planet
treasurer Jack Pickering the group
planned to enter the management
building “either as a group or by
sending in a representative to meet
someone from the procurement department to deliver a letter.”
“Our representative was denied
entry to the building by security.”
This was later explained by a University spokesperson who clarified
that the McKenzie House which the
group wished to enter is not a public
building.
“For the safety of those working
in the building, access is controlled
by access cards. As such, the Porters
Lodge is as far as unauthorised persons are able to go. Mail can be accepted via the Lodge, and the letter
from People and Planet was accepted
in this way,” they explained.
People and Planet now wish to
organise a formal meeting with the
procurement department in order to
persuade the University in person to
join Electronic Watch.
The meeting will form part of an
ongoing relationship between People and Planet and the University,
in which “several meetings’ have already taken place.”
Electronic Watch is an independent workers’ rights monitoring body
for the public sector. The group consists of universities and other organisations using their contracts with
suppliers to demand better conditions for workers in the supply chain.
In response to the group’s calls,
the University have stated that
much of the institute’s electronics
are purchased through “purchasing
frameworks” such as the London
Universities Purchasing Consortium
(LUPC) which is already a member
of Electronics watch and “other HE
procurement consortia.”
A spokesperson continued: “The
University believes that the improvements to worker’s rights that People
& Planet and Electronics Watch are
campaigning for, are best achieved at
a consortia level.”
The group’s protest coincided with
the UN International Day of Decent
Work and was held to raise aware-
ness towards the use of computers
within University made by Chinese
students as young as 15.
On October 5th, a report written by Electronics Watch and Dan
Watch stated that students at Chinese schools and colleges are being
made to work 12 hour days by their
teachers for periods as long as five
months to make computers and servers for some European universities.
This is in violation of both Chinese
and International Organisation Conventions.
Jim Cranshaw, a campaigner from
People & Planet said, “It’s truly
shocking that students here in the
UK are using computers and serv-
ers made by students as young as 15,
forced to labour, in China.
“Students are calling on universities should use their contracts to
insist that suppliers improve conditions by joining Electronics Watch, a
workers rights monitoring organisations set up by NGOs for this purpose.”
This latest protest forms part of a
larger series of criticisms that People and Planet have voiced against
the University. Last year the society
revealed that in 2014 Cardiff University invested £2.5 million in fossil fuwels and non-renewable energy
though figures obtained by a Freedom of Information request.
Pictured:
People and
Planet lobby
the University
to join
Electronics
Watch
Monday nights collapse at Union for second time
S
tudents’ Union club night
Shake has closed due to low attendance, only weeks after its
launch.
Cardiff University Students’ Union have confirmed that Monday
night event Shake, held by an external promoter has been cancelled,
after it failed to “attract a sufficient
following to make it viable long
term.”
The club night was launched only
a month ago during Freshers’ week,
where it initially attracted 2,000
students.
However, according to an organisational spokesperson, despite
a “busy Freshers’ period and being
well received by those who attended
it”, it failed to maintain its popularity.
“As a result, the promoter decided
to withdraw the event on an ongoing basis”.
One bar member working at
Shake reported that she returned
from her shift at only 1.30am due to
a lack of students.
“They let in a fair amount of peo-
ple in but everyone had gone on to
other places by 12.30 and it didn’t
even take long to clear up and the
end because we barely sold any
drinks.”
The night was described on the
Students’ Union website as “your
Monday music mash up: playing
anything WE want, and everything
YOU want. It’s the best way to ruin
your week.”
This is not the first time that a
Union club night has collapsed due
to a lack of attendance.
Last year alternative night Vinyl
was also launched by the Union on
a Monday night.
Despite initial feedback suggesting that the event would be welcomed by students, the night failed
to attract “the supports of students
in any substantial number”.
The night failed to gain the support of students in any substantial
number and was withdrawn based
on limited attendance.
The failure of two consecutive
Monday night events could be attributed to a number of well-estab-
lished club nights, including ‘Bump
n Grind’ and Tiger Mondays’.
In spite of the news, the Union
emphasised the continued success
of its other club nights YOLO and
Flux, which have “continued to grow
in popularity and have sold out every night since Freshers’ Week with
increasing profits going back into
developing student services.”
Pictured:
Y Plas will now
stand empty on
Monday nights
(photographer:
Anna Lewis)
6 NEWS
Student officers clash over criticism against
Welsh language provision
Welsh Language Officer continues fight to get full-time role
created after First Minister of Wales weighs in
Anna Lewis
“
The
representation
currently on
offer to Welsh
langauge
students is
insufficient
Steffan Bryn,
Welsh
Language
Officer
”
“
I reject these
comments in
their entirety
and I’m
dissapointed
that the SU
has again been
unfairly
criticised
Claire
Blakeway
SU President
”
S
tudents’ Union President Claire
Blakeway has rejected claims
criticising the representation of
Welsh language students, in response
to a statement released by Welsh Language Officer Steffan Bryn.
In a press release sent to Gair Rhydd
last week, the current part-time officer
described the representation of Welsh
language students as “insufficient”.
In response to Union’s plans to employ a full-time translator, Bryn also
commented that the idea “will not address the needs of the Welsh language
and its speaker, in the University nor
the Union.”
However, the Students’ Union President has reacted strongly against such
claims, refuting the Welsh Officer’s
criticisms: “I reject these comments
in their entirety and I’m disappointed
that the Students’ Union has again
been unfairly criticised for its Welsh
language provision.
Blakeway continued: “Over the past
few months the Union has devoted
unprecedented levels of support to the
Welsh language, including a commitment to a comprehensive bilingualism
policy, signing up to the NUS Wales’
Welsh Language Charter and the recruitment of a full time Welsh Language Coordinator.”
The initial comments made by Bryn
followed Gair Rhydd’s interview with
First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones,
who said it was “unfortunate” that a
full time Welsh Language Officer was
not appointed within the SU following
a referendum held in the last academic
year.
In addition, the First Minister questioned the use of a student-wise referendum to decide the matter: “Why
was there a referendum on that? I used
to be involved in student politics, and
never even thought about having a referendum on that, seems a bit bizarre
to have had that in the first place if you
ask me”.
Backing Jones’ comments, Bryn
then agreed that it was not “appropri-
ate” for the appointment of a full-time
Welsh Language Officer to be decided
via majority vote. The referendum
caused substantial concern amongst
Welsh language speakers last year, after it was suggested that those wishing
to influence people to vote against a
full-time officer used ‘scaremogering’
tactics to threaten students.
Now, the Welsh Language Officer
has announced that he will appeal to
the University directly to help improve
Welsh language representation and
support:
“I appeal directly to Vice-Chancellor
Colin Riordan to meet with Welsh language representatives, in light of the
First Minister’s comments, to discuss
how the University will take action in
this area.”
Normally the Students’ Union and
not the University is responsible for
ensuring that the needs of students
are addressed.
In his statement he added: “If the
University Authorities are not willing
to listen to their students, I hope that
they will be more prepared to listen
to the First Minister of Wales and the
Minister with responsibility for the
Welsh language in the Welsh Government.”
Bryn suggested that “the University
could easily directly finance a sabbatical officer”, making reference to the
£2.6 million sum awarded annually to
the Students’ Union by the University
under the 1993 Welsh Language Act.
The possibility of University intervention within however been put into
doubt by a University spokesperson,
who explained that the appointment
of a full-time Welsh Language Officer
remains a “matter for Cardiff University Students’ Union”.
The spokesperson reiterated that,
“while we work very closely with the
Students’ Union”, the Union does in
fact remain a separate organisation
working with its own elected officials.
In reference to University funds
given to the Union, it was also stated
that the allocation of the £2.6 million
is decided by factors including the Annual General Election and the Student
Senate.
Furthermore, although a full-time
Welsh Language Officer has not been
implemented by the Students’ Union,
its president has been eager to demonstrate that representation of Welsh
language students has continued to
improve.
“The Union has a long term commitment to the advancement of the
Welsh language and Welsh culture
within the Union, as clearly stated
within our strategic plan 2014-17.
The Students’ Union has vastly improved its Welsh language provisions
in the past few months and it is part
of a longer term plan to improve them
further” Blakeway said to Gair Rhydd.
In order to improve its support
to students, the Union has created a
consultation committee named Welsh
Language Steering group, compromising of members of the Students’ Union, Coleg Cymraeg and student body.
The group was initially planned to
start in group in January 2014, but was
its creation was postponed due to the
Welsh Language Officer referendum.
Its first meeting took place in July.
The Students’ Union President also
drew attention to the Welsh language
and culture day ‘Shwmae Sumae Day’
that took place last week and ongoing
efforts to improve the Union’s ongoing
bilingual approach to its communications.
Talking to Gair Rhydd, the Welsh
Language officer responded that in
addition to these efforts, he hopes that
a Welsh Language executive board
can be established to allow the heads
of the many existing Welsh language
groups together in one group. This
includes members of Welsh language
society ‘Y Gym Gym’, those from the
Coleg Cymraeg (Cardiff ’s branch of
the National Welsh College) and those
from the new Welsh language society
at the Heath campus ‘Clwb y Mynydd
Bychan’.
The Welsh Language Officer stated
that he would be willing to work with
both the Students’ Union and Blakeway to achieve this and will continue
to co-operate.
Pictured:
Welsh
Language
students
confronting
last year’s
officers over
the disputed
referendum
University contributes billions to economy
Anna Lewis
C
ardiff University contributes
£2.7billion to the UK economy,
according to a report by London Economics.
In the report produced for the
University it was announced that the
University produces £6 for every £1
that it spends.
According to the report, in 2012/13
of the £2.7billion generated, £609million was attributed to economic benefit associated with the University’s
research activities.
The money created through graduate earnings and taxation receipts
totalled £967million, suggesting that
students create a significant impact
on the national economy.
However, the highly criticised increase in tuition fees also featured
prominently in the results of the report, as it was stated that £135million was generated from overseas
students.
Of the £135 million, £123million
came from non-EU international students.
These figures come amidst a larger
study investigating the wider economic and social impact of Cardiff
University.
Earlier this year an economic impact report suggested that the economic contribution of the University
together with student expenditure totalled nearly £1bn per year.
However, the new report by London Economics also conducted research on the University’s wider
social and economic impact on the
whole of Wales.
It is hoped that the University’s
contribution to the economy will
continue to rise, with the current
construction of its £300million ‘innovation’ campus. According to the
University, the new campus will “turn
ideas into products, technologies and
new businesses”.
The University currently employs
5,500 people directly, supporting a
further 5,900 positions indirectly.
In addition, the social impact on
the University on the UK was also
emphasized by the substantial numbers of volunteers within Cardiff.
In 2012-13 over 1,200 people volunteered in both short term and long
term projects, with students contributing 50,000 hours of work.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Colin
Riordan said: “This report looks at the
full picture estimating, for the first
time, our overall economic and social
impact on the UK economy.
“We all know that going to university has a transformative effect on
people’s lives, careers and families.”
“
£609 million
was attributed
to economic
benefit
associated
with the
University’s
research
activities
”
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8 ADVICE
advice
Editor: Gwen Williams
@GairRhyddAdv
advice@gairrhydd.com
gairrhydd.com/advice
Homesickness: I’m sick of the stigma!
Pictured:
Stick the kettle
on, I’m on my
way home.
(Photographer:
Essie)
“
Homesickness
is nothing to be
ashamed of. It’s
a completely
normal
phenomenon
to experience,
even if you love
university
Gwen
Williams
“
‘The Tab’
published
an article
expressing
a distasteful
and harsh
viewpoint on
students who
struggle with
homesickness
”
Y
ou’ve been living in Cardiff
for about a month now and
things are beginning to settle
down into a routine. Then it hits you.
Homesickness. You long for comfort
and familiarity because, lets face it,
learning to be an adult can be tough
stuff. If you’re a first year, you may
be a bit surprised that these feelings have suddenly cropped up from
nowhere. You hadn’t really thought
much about home since you arrived
in halls. Why? Because up until now,
you’ve been preoccupied with other
things. Freshers week was full of fun
and excitement and then you spent
the first couple of weeks getting used
to a new way of living and learning
independently.
Last week, the online publication
known as ‘The Tab’ published an article expressing a distasteful and harsh
viewpoint on students who struggle with homesickness. The writer
wrongly accuses those who regularly
go home of “running away when it
gets too much” and pompously states
that they “have no place in halls.” He
also belittles a homesick student’s
ability to be academic by ignorantly
claiming that “it might have been
easier to do an empty degree with
the Open University.” Quite frankly,
this self-righteous individual needs
to get off his high horse and go back
to commenting on something that he
actually has a valid viewpoint on.
Homesickness is nothing to be
ashamed of. It’s a completely normal
phenomenon to experience, even
if you love university and most students will feel this way at some point.
Even second and third years hanker
for home and there are several reasons for this. Firstly, it’s a place where
we can forget the stresses of student
life and switch off for a couple of
days. Some people have a closer relationship with their family than their
friends at uni so it makes sense for
them to be around those that they
are most comfortable with. Others
simply find uni life too distracting
and go home to concentrate on their
work better. Also, there are students
who have weekend jobs at home
who prefer to travel back and forth
every weekend rather than applying
for a closer job. Finally, some people
don’t get on with their housemates,
so knowing that they can go home
on weekends makes them feel better
about having to live with in a tense
environment during the week.
I will be the first to admit that I
have had frequent bouts of homesickness over the last couple of years.
It can be horrible at times, but I am
now in my third year and haven’t let
it stop me from doing my best in my
degree. This idea that people who experience homesickness are weak is
completely ridiculous. In fact, if you
stick it out despite feeling this way,
you are resilient and will get a great
sense of achievement when the three
years are over. When I was in my first
year, I was teased by other people for
going home ‘too often’ but this is how
I initially coped with university life.
You have to do what is right for you
and if that means going home every
weekend then do it. Don’t make
yourself miserable over the insensitive opinions and pressures of others. As I have said before, if they can’t
accept you for who you are, why are
they worth your time?
If you’re a bit embarrassed about
it (although you shouldn’t be) go and
talk to someone you trust. Call up a
family member and talk it through
or speak to one of your close uni
friends about how you’re feeling. The
chances are, your friend has felt the
same way at some point and will be
someone who you can relate to. If
you want to talk to someone who has
experience advising students, go and
see your personal tutor for a chat.
They have probably seen it all before
several times over and know exactly
how to help. Sometimes just talking
about issues can help a lot because
the issue is no longer bottled up and
getting you down.
In between home visits, I find
that the best way to tackle homesickness is to keep as busy as possible. If you’re having a difficult day,
why not call up a friend and make
plans? If you haven’t already, join a
couple of societies that will get you
out of the house a few nights a week.
It’s great fun! If you are on a course
that involves a lot of reading, try and
encourage your friends to study together at the library. Even if you’re
not talking, you have company and
people to motivate you to work. The
more things you have planned, the
less time you have to think about
home.
Just because you are not at home,
it doesn’t mean that you can’t keep in
regular contact with your family and
friends at home. I have regular chats
with my mum on the phone and software such as Skype and FaceTime
enables you to see people as well as
hear them. It’s almost as good as having a conversation face to face. My
grandmother on the other hand has
no idea how to use technology, but
I keep in contact with her through
letter writing. Call me old fashioned,
but I really enjoy writing to her and
receiving something in the post every week. Plus it gives me something
to do one evening when I get home
from university.
Remember, if you are homesick,
you have every right to feel that way.
Try and remind yourself that you
worked hard for your place at university and it is an important transition
to get to where you need to be. Just
because you miss home, it doesn’t
mean that you are not cut out for
university and it doesn’t mean you
won’t succeed. It just means that you
need to make university life suit you.
”
“
In between
home visits,
I find that
the best way
to tackle
homesickness
is to keep
as busy as
possible
”
ADVICE 9
What I did when I graduated...
Pictured:
A Chemistry
classroom
(Photographer:
TLSuda)
Gwen
Williams
“
At the time,
I was unsure
of what I
wanted to do,
so I organised
a summer
placement
”
“
I think I was
very lucky,
working in
industry. I
had a range
of different
positions that
enabled me to
try different
skills
”
S
haron Magill is the Head of
Chemistry at a secondary
school in South Wales. She talks
about her drastic change in career
and how it’s never too late to become
a teacher.
Please explain what your role entails as Head of Chemistry.
I am responsible for organising the
schemes of work for all year groups,
including Key Stage three, GCSE and
A Level. I teach science as a general
subject to years seven to nine and
chemistry at GCSE and A Level. I
also analyse exam results to ensure
a continual improvement of grades
and overall standards. My role also
includes raising the profile of the department through the organisation
of enrichment activities, clubs and
events. For example, I encourage students to form a team and participate
in annual chemistry quizzes.
I also have a registration class that
I am responsible for. It is important
to have the welfare of the pupils in
mind at all times. As a form tutor
you are the main steadfast person in
their everyday lives. They know they
will see you first thing every morning. You need to be approachable to
make sure they can talk to you about
potential academic and home issues.
Your job is to guide them through
their school life. This includes teaching them how to revise and be organised etc. It’s great when I get the
same form class from year seven to
eleven because you get to know them
and their parents well, so you can
give them more accurate and helpful
advice.
Take me through your career path.
How did you get to where you are
currently?
I studied a BSc HONS degree in
chemistry at Queens University of
Belfast and followed on with a masters in polymer science and engineering. At the time, I was unsure of
what I wanted to do, so I organised
a summer placement at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands to explore other options. It
also gave me something extra to add
to my CV to make me stand out as a
good candidate for employment.
Initially, I only considered careers
in industry. This was mainly because
large companies targeted the university and showed exciting career
possibilities, with large salaries to
match. I was interested in research
and development so an industry
based career felt like the best choice
for me.
I got a job working in the field of
polymer science because I enjoyed
this aspect of my degree. I found that
I liked roles which were challenging, yet provided something different on a day to day basis. I worked in
industry for 15 years and had seven
different roles, from production to
customer technical support. My first
job was with British Stella, but then
after a merger, became what is currently known as Tata Steel.
I think I was very lucky, working
in industry. I had a range of different positions that enabled me to try
different skills including research
and development, problem solving
and learning to be innovative within
a time frame. Working as a technical advisor within the commercial
department was particularly enjoyable as I was working closely with
customers to use steel in their new
applications. A great perk of this job
was travelling around visiting lots of
customers and seeing their manufacturing sites.
My next role was within manufacturing as a process specialist on
a production line. This involved
‘through process analysis’ to try and
ensure that the line was running
profitably, as well as working with
suppliers to maintain current supply
and develop future products. Part of
this job entailed looking at complaint
material, which customers couldn’t
use. I particularly enjoyed the problem solving aspect of this.
As a result I became a customer
technical engineer, where I went to
customer’s factories to look at problem material and to work out ways,
to try and use this material. Initially,
I found that I loved travelling around
the UK, Europe and the US meeting new people and seeing different
manufacturing sites. However it was
difficult after a while as I was never
home, making it a solitary lifestyle
that I didn’t enjoy.
On the whole, my 15 years in industry were very beneficial to me.
I travelled the world meeting lots
of people ranging from those who
worked in the factories to the CEOs
of companies. As a result, I have
good communication skills that are
transferable across any career. I have
become a very organised person because i had to juggle a number of
projects at the same time. Although
my career had not necessarily used
all the knowledge I gained when
completing my degree, the skills I
learnt are still useful twenty years on!
During my time in industry, I liked
the variety of roles that were available to me. However, I felt that these
roles were purely based on saving
money. I had reached a point where
there was no job fulfilment or satisfaction. As a result, I retrained to
become a chemistry teacher, taking
the traditional route of completing a
PGCE to do so.
What is it about teaching that you
like?
I really enjoy passing my knowledge
and love of chemistry onto students.
On the whole, I love using my knowledge of the subject to explain why
many everyday phenomena occur. I
really like interacting with pupils, especially GCSE and A Level students,
as they learn about many challenging
concepts.
This becomes more enjoyable when
it’s clear that they are passionate
about the subject. It’s really rewarding to work with them to achieve
their required grades. Teachers are
there to provide a stepping stone for
students to get to university and then
onto their chosen career path. When
they get good grades the feeling of
pride is immense!
Is there anything about your job
that you dislike?
At times it can be difficult to teach
pupils who find chemistry challenging or who aren’t interested in science as a subject. As a result, extra
work is required to try to engage pupils in the subject and to relate lessons to everyday life.
Describe a typical work day for
you?
My day starts at about eight o’clock.
I look over the lessons that I have
planned for the day ahead while
grabbing a quick cup of coffee. At
nine, my form class arrive for registration. On average I teach four lessons per day, alongside a number of
lunchtime and after school classes,
as exam time get closer for my GCSE
and A level students. I also help out
with netball club after school. On average, I probably spend three to four
hours per night marking books, then
planning and preparing lessons for
the next day. It is definitely not your
average nine to five job.
Do you have any tips for students
aspiring to become secondary
school teachers?
Teaching is a really, really rewarding career. However, it’s a lot of hard
work. You have to be very organised
and truly passionate about the subject that you teach, as this is very
transparent in the way that you deliver your lessons. But at the end of
the day, I can’t stress enough how
enjoyable my work is.
More and more teachers have spoken out negatively about how the
education system has changed
over the last few years. As a result,
it may have made students think
twice about whether they want to
become a teacher. What is your response to this?
For me, teaching has been a very fulfilling career, there is no doubt about
that. However before you enter the
profession, you need to know that
you are doing it for the love of the
job. The pay is good after a few years,
but the work level is incredible. Expect to complete a 60 hour week as
a norm, with the perceived fantastic holidays being spent catching up
with work or marking. it is a brilliant
career but it’s important that you enter it with your eyes open.
What advice would you give your
student self with hindsight?
I should have conducted a wider
search into possible careers, as well
as being more introspective and realistic about what I enjoyed in life. I
like variety, as I get bored easily so
working with people and the feeling that I have achieved something
worthwhile is important to me.
Working in industry did not tick all
these boxes for me. Teaching definitely does!
“
Teaching is a
really, really
rewarding
career.
However, it’s
a lot of hard
work. You
have to be
very organised
and truly
passionate
about the
subject that
you teach
”
10 ADVICE
Student perspectives:
Coming out at university
Getting involved with CU Pride and LGBT+
Marcus
Connolly
T
he autumn term is well underway. I’m sure you all had a
wonderful and wild first few
weeks celebrating student life. Cardiff is a brilliant place with so much
to do and see, plus a load of new
people to meet. However it’s true
that people take time to come out
of their shells when they find themselves in a new place trying to be an
‘adult’ for the first time.
It’s with this new found freedom
that coming to university is a great
thing and for a lot of people it can
be the first time they can truly be
themselves. Someone you’ve met
over the past few weeks at uni could
be LGBT+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans,
Ace, Arrow, Genderqueer, Non-Binary,) and being here has given them
the chance to be open and honest
about themselves by coming out,
possibly for the first time.
We’re lucky enough to have two
LGBT+ groups for students within
Cardiff University, the society CU
Pride and the LGBT+ association.
My advice to you is go and explore
LGBT+ Cardiff. Come and see what
we do. Come and meet some interesting people who’ve been where
you’ve been. They can help you make
the most out of university in terms of
your non academic life. When I was
a fresher the first person I met, one
of the welcome crew, was LGBT+.
That helped me a lot as I instantly
saw that you can be out and proud at
our lovely university.
Coming out is something universal, the place and people might be
different, but the feelings we can
go through are the same. I realised
I was Bi when I was 16 and came
out to friends when I was 18. When
I came to uni, I was looking for the
LGBT+ society. Some people realise
they’re LGBT+ before uni and some
work it out during their time here.
I’ve met people who are afraid of
coming out because they’re worried
about reactions from their friends.
However, coming out doesn’t change
you as a person, but feel free to start
being loud and proud if you want to
though.
You’ve got the chance to become a
part of a community that organises
brilliant events and can support and
help you through any hard times you
may face. If you have the chance, go
to Pride Cymru (in Cardiff ) and National Student Pride in London. Help
Your sexuality doesn’t define you
David Jones
“
Everyone has
been really
supportive and
completely
fine with it.
Surprised? You
shouldn’t be
”
B
efore coming to Cardiff, I was
only ‘out’ to a couple of friends.
Starting university was the
first time I thought to myself: “I’m
going to be open about my sexuality to all the new people I meet.” It
doesn’t mean you have to say to every person you meet “Hi, I’m gay”. I
have never said anything along those
lines to anyone. Why? Because your
sexuality does not define you.
All of my university friends either found out in casual conversation, or saw me talking with guys on
nights out or at a gay bar. For me, it
was easy as I didn’t have to have any
awkward conversations with anyone.
Remember, everyone is scared about
how people will react and a fear of
rejection is natural.
However not one single person
has judged me. Everyone has been
really supportive and completely fine
with it. Surprised? You shouldn’t be.
Some people find it difficult to be
open about their sexuality to guys.
There is a general misconception
that straight guys don’t want to be
seen associating themselves with gay
guys. However this is not true at all.
Some of my best friends at university
are straight guys, and they treat me
no differently to how they treat each
other. On the other hand there are
the girls. Girls just love gay guys.
Having gay friends is also important and you can meet lots of new
people through them. It also makes
you realise you’re not alone. Cardiff ’s
gay bars are great fun. The music is
great, drinks are cheap, what more
can you want? A lot of my straight
friends love gay clubbing even more
than I do!
The Cardiff University LGBT+
society has never really been something I was involved with due to
being committed to other things.
That’s not to say it isn’t a great society to be part of. Being proud of who
you are as a whole is important.
Over the last couple of years, I’ve
come to realise that although your
sexuality is a big deal, it’s one small
part of you and people should see
that and accept it. Your personality
and character is what will develop
your friendships. You can be proud
of who you are without being an active member of the society, though
I would recommend you sign up to
show your support.
Even now, I’m not yet ‘out’ to my
family. But I’m happy. I’m more comfortable in myself than I’ve ever been
and it has been a massive step being
open about my sexuality. Don’t feel
pressured to ‘come out’, it’s about being comfortable and doing it in your
own time. When the time feels right
I will come out to my family, but for
now I’m in a very good place.
make positive changes at uni, for
yourself and future students with the
association. Learn more about the
student movement and NUS (National Union of Students) LGBT+.
After two years at Cardiff, through
events like Student Pride and NUS
Conferences, I’ve met people I consider friends for life, from all over
the country.
So just throw yourself into university life! Thanks to the society and
association I’ve had interesting experiences at uni. Most of my friends
would say the same. Being out at uni
opens yourself up to meeting new
people and offers you chances to do
many different things. In the word’s
of RuPaul: ‘If you can’t love yourself,
how in the hell are you gonna love
somebody else?’
5 ways
“
Coming out
is something
universal, the
place and
people might
be different,
but the
feelings we
can go through
are the same
”
students can save
money during their
university life
1. Buy a student railcard
If you plan on making more than one
trip home during the year, you will
make your money back quickly and
save a third on all journeys.
2. Student discount in shops
Find out which shops have student
discount as this will especially come
in handy when you are buying Christmas gifts later on this year.
3. Cook house meals
Cooking for four can sometimes work
out cheaper than cooking for one. If
this is not possible due to different
schedules, cook multiple portions and
freeze what you don’t eat.
4. Budget your loan
If you are a spendthrift, transfer the
student loan over to your parents so
they can send you a fixed amount
each week. You quickly get the hang
of managing money and you may have
some left over for the summer.
5.Microsoft Office 365
Students can claim a free version using your university email address, saving you a lot.
Pictured:
LGBT+ flag
(Photographer:
Ted Eytan)
1 IN 3 TOP COMPANIES CAN’T FILL
GRADUATE VACANCIES
1ST YEAR STUDENTS
Fresher? Make sure your communication skills are top notch! Learn
the best ways to make a presentation, learn how to actively listen,
learn how to negotiate your first student house or new part-time job.
Make sure you communicate with customers successfully.
2ND YEAR STUDENTS
Learn how to motivate youself better, improve your time management
skills, network successfully at University and employers’ events, and
more.
3RD YEAR STUDENTS
Last year at University? Learn to become an effective and successful
leader before you start your Graduate job, get ahead of the crowd!
THE ABOVE IS AVAILABLE TO ALL CARDIFF STUDENTS DURING YOUR STUDIES FOR FREE
12 COMMENT
comment
Editors: Em Gates Charley Griffiths David Williams
@GairRhyddCom
comment@gairrhydd.com
gairrhydd.com/comment
Julian Assange: three years and £12.6 million later
David
Williams
“
The Met
Police has
finally decided
to end the 24
hour guard
outside, which
has cost
£12.6million
of taxpayer’s
money
”
Mared
Jones
J
ulian Assange has been taking refuge at The Ecuadorian Embassy in
London for three years since Ecuador granted him political asylum.
This week the Met Police has finally
decided to end the 24 hour guard outside. The Met have estimated that it
has cost around £12.6 million and now
believe it is “no longer proportionate”.
They have said they will use both overt
and covert measures to catch Assange.
He is arguably one of the most famous
and controversial whistleblowers of
our time and is wanted by both Sweden and the US.
In the US the WikiLeaks founder is
wanted for espionage, the US government have an ongoing sealed grand
jury investigation into WikiLeaks. Assange is considered a terrorist by many
senior figures and has been severely
criminalised for his actions.
He is wanted in Sweden under
investigation for several offences,
though in August investigators ran
out of time to question him over one
allegation of sexual molestation and
one of unlawful coercion. He is still
wanted in accusation of a rape offence
but strongly denies these allegations. If
Assange goes to Sweden for questioning he fears he will then be extradited
to the US. Opportunities for Sweden
to interview Assange at the embassy
were talked about but never came
about, raising the question: do Sweden
just want to get hold of him to extradite him?
In the current economic climate,
£12.6 million of tax payer’s money is
definitely a big deal. This money has
been squandered on a police guard
outside the embassy when the money
would be much better spent in healthcare or education. London Mayor Boris Johnson has also voiced concern
saying that the money should be spent
on frontline policing. Why has it taken
so long for the police guard of the embassy to end? There are much more
pressing matters for the police to be
dealing with day to day. Cuts to polic-
ing are constantly in the headlines.
The amount of money spent on the
guard is evidently extortionate. The
decision by the Met to end it is better late than never. I fully acknowledge
that the rape accusations are a serious issue and need to be looked into,
but on the side of espionage I believe
Assange should be protected and not
extradited. As a Journalism student
I feel very strongly about freedom of
speech and transparency in the media.
Without whistleblowers like Assange,
many issues would be unknown to
the public. After all, most of the information made public by WikiLeaks
has arguably been in the public interest. I believe the fear created around
whistleblowing is a form of censorship
in itself, fully backing initiatives such
as the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI) which aims to protect
journalism and freedom of speech,
encouraging investigative journalism.
Little is known about Assange’s
plans to reach the safety of Ecuador.
There was speculation over leaked
documents in early September which
suggested smuggling him out in disguise, or in a bag, then into a car. But
this was quickly dismissed because
the embassy shares the building, and
therefore police had been patrolling
inside, making it difficult to get to
a car. Now that the police guard has
been removed could this be his chance
to flee? Ecuador has also previously
considered appointing Assange as
their representative at the UN, giving
him diplomatic immunity before the
UN could reject the the appointment.
But this also never materialised.
Britain is a country that is supposed
to pride itself on human rights which
includes freedom of speech, expression and information deemed in the
public interest. We should be supporting whistleblowers not trying to stitch
them up. Yes, Julian Assange needs to
be questioned over the rape allegation,
but he should also be granted political
asylum in the UK.
Pictured:
Julian Assange
outside the
Ecuadorian
Embassy in
London
(Source: The
Independant)
“
As a journalism
student, I feel
very strongly
about freedom
of speech and
transparency
in the media
”
Why are England angry over 5p carrier bags?
D
epending on your nationality and/or current place of residence, it is likely you spent the
beginning of October in one of two
very different ways: you either lived
your life exactly as you have always
done, or you stole a Morrisons trolley
and rioted in the car park. This apparent apocalypse is due to the fact that, as
of October 5th 2015, all major English
supermarkets must now charge five
pence to their customers for all singleuse plastic carrier bags. As a direct result of this dramatic change in social
structure, England appears to have lost
its collective shit.
On the other side of the border,
however, the Welsh are as calm as ever
due to the fact that this law has been a
perfectly normal part of everyday life
since 2011. For the average Welshman,
a bag for life is as necessary as a debit
card and a trip to Lidl bakery. Meanwhile, from furious tweets to fisticuffs
at self-service checkouts, it’s safe to
say that England has handled this new
law as calmly as Luke Skywalker when
he found out that Darth Vader was his
father.
Though the plastic bag charge might
be irritating for those who aren’t used
to keeping five thousand spare bags in
their glove compartment, there is no
denying that this new law is a necessary
change in terms of consumer behaviour.
According to a government report re-
leased prior to the #Bagocalypse, nearly
a whopping 8 billion plastic carrier bags
were distributed by major supermarkets in just England alone last year - a
figure which has been steadily creeping
up despite our increased environmental awareness as a society. In stark comparison, the use of plastic bags in Wales
has decreased over 79 per cent since the
introduction of the charge, and tens of
millions of pounds have gone to charities and other good causes as a result of
those extra few pennies.
Of course, these statistics aren’t
enough to convince the whole of the
English public. Fortunately, the vast
majority of England’s population simply grumble under their breath before
grudgingly handing the cashier a five
pence coin, but some have taken rebellion to a whole new level. Bags and
trolleys have been stolen nationwide
and - in one case reported by The Sun
- arguing with staff until they got themselves banned from Asda for good. “We
don’t take the decision to ban customers from our stores lightly,” a spokesperson gravely announced, perfectly
depicting how seriously the plastic bag
chaos has affected English sanity.
This law is here to stay, folks. Don’t
fancy getting yourself banned from all
major supermarkets or being jailed for
stealing a Tesco trolley? Get yourself a
bag for life, because a bag for life is a
friend for life.
“
As a result of
this dramatic
change,
England
appears to
have lost its
collective shit
”
COMMENT 13
Transgender EastEnders
BBC soap makes history as the first
to hire a transgender actor to play a
transgender character in a positive
move towards media equality
Charley
Griffiths
“
To suggest that
this casting
choice is an
act of tokenism
or political
correctness is
ridiculous. A
talented actor
should always
deserve a part,
regardless
of their
background
”
T
his week, the BBC announced
the casting of 21 year old Riley
Carter Millington as ‘Kyle’ in
popular soap ‘EastEnders’. This is the
first time a transgender actor has been
cast in a transgender role in a UK soap.
Usually, if I am scrolling down my
Facebook feed and see something with
EastEnders in, I would continue scrolling. But this story really grabbed my
attention. I admired the soap’s positive step towards equality and diversity in the media, and the casting of
transgender actors in British TV has
been long overdue.
EastEnders has always triumphed in
showing a range challenging storylines
addressing the social issues of the day.
Storylines have ranged from domestic violence, rape, stillborn children,
disabilities, teen pregnancy, HIV, the
first gay character in the 80s, the first
gay kiss, to name a few. The soap’s executive producer Dominic TreadwellCollins said that the soap has “always
led the way in changing audience’s
perceptions about difference.” So it
comes as no surprise that Paris Lees,
writing for the Guardian, cited this
casting choice as a “cultural landmark”,
and I agree. We live in such a diverse
culture, and while I am not a fan of
the show, I greatly admire Eastenders’
progressive attitude, and so should we
all.
Treadwell-Collins was quick to
stress how this move “isn’t about tokenism”, which unfortunately, some
people will assume. To suggest that
this casting choice is an act of tokenism or political correctness is completely ridiculous. This is more than
just a trend, where TV shows all jump
on the bandwagon. A talented actor should always deserve a part, regardless of their background. Soaps,
while overly dramatised, aim to depict
all aspects of life, whether happy or
sad, funny or serious. The transgender community are rightly receiving
more acknowledgement and becoming more known and accepted in society, so our TV programmes should
definitely reflect this change. It is refreshing to see such a character being
represented in an authentic way, and
not some embarrassing or offensive
parody that is often seen in so-called
‘comedies’.
But Eastenders is not the only soap
taking on diverse representations.
Coronation Street has also previously
tackled a transgender storyline, with
actress Julie Hesmondhalgh brilliantly
playing Haley Cropper. While her acting and character were great, the step
forward from Eastenders is to have a
transgender character being played by
someone who is also transgender off
screen - as is the case here with Riley Carter Millington playing the part
of Kyle. This progressive move will
hopefully act as an inspiration for the
transgender community, where their
issues are receiving attention and acceptance from the media. Treadwell-
Pictured:
Riley Carter
Millington
on the set of
EastEnders
(Source: The
Independant)
Collins added how Riley is both a
talented actor and “an inspirational
young man.” Hopefully, viewers can
watch TV and see someone they can
identify with.
Many have been quick to compare this breakthrough with the ever
popular show ‘Orange is the New
Black’, where transgender woman
Laverne Cox is part of the large and
diverse cast. (And is one of my favourite characters, I might add). Cox
is a great public speaker and LGBT
advocate, and often considered the
‘face’ of the American transgender movement. She was the first
transgender actor to be nominated
for a Primetime Emmy award, and
the first openly transgender person
to feature on the cover of Time magazine. Pretty impressive stuff. So is it
any wonder more and more shows
want to promote equality by hiring
transgender actors?
It has also been reported that Hollyoaks will follow suit by introducing a transgender character, played
by Annie Wallace, also transgender.
Previously in the soap, the character
of Dylan Royle was openly a crossdresser, so this takes it a step further.
BBC has also given another main
role to a transgender actor, Rebecca
Root, in comedy ‘Boy Meets Girl’ at
the beginning of September. Root, in
an interview for the BBC, highlighted
how the show “will demystify [the
transgender] community” by increasing “the visibility of the trans population.”
And in the celebrity world, Caitlyn
Jenner’s very public transition helped
raise awareness and gain support for
the transgender community. In the
modelling industry, we are seeing
more and more transgender models on the catwalk and in magazines.
Everybody is happy to accept and celebrate the transgender community. It
is fantastic to see that members of the
community have plenty of people to
relate themselves to. Overall, it sends
out a positive message of respect and
recognition. And in the near future, I
hope that the hiring of a transgender
actor will no longer be news, and more
of a norm. But for now, let’s hope the
movie industry will pick up on it.
Do you even lift?
“
Everybody
is happy to
accept and
celebrate the
transgender
community
”
With the popularity of social media, gym selfies are on the rise. But are people
going to the gym purely for the likes?
Saxon
Norgard
“
The need
for social
recognition is
still a major
influence on
our day to
day decision
making
”
M
ost of us have scrolled down
our feeds and seen: #ripped
#gainz
#transformationtuesday #fitspiration. If you are still
reading, then, like millions of social
media users around the world, you
have become de-sensitised to the
phenomenon that is the gym selfie.
That, or you are hoping that this article might instruct you on the best
hashtags for your next upload (hint: it
won’t, but there are plenty of websites
that will).
We all know that there is nothing
like a bit of motivation from your
peers to help you achieve your goals.
The need to succeed becomes more
visceral when others are invested
in your success – particularly when
failure involves posting a photo on
Facebook of your beer gut with the
description “Ab Challenge Week 5”.
But there is a point at which the glis-
tening bicep tagged “shredded” reads
more like a threat of violence against
those who fail to ‘like’ it than a search
for motivation. With Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts devoted
solely to toned human mass popping
up in alarming numbers, one could
be led to conclude that the gym has
become a source of social recognition rather than a temple for genuine
‘gains’.
Maybe I have become cynical in
my less than glorious physical shape,
merely jealous of the heavily filtered
muscles bulging out of my screen.
Perhaps if I were to post images of my
emaciated frame onto @GainzCentral, I would get the kick needed to
add on bulk like the rest.
We seek social acceptance as a matter of instinct, shaped by years of evolution in which those who banded together faced greater odds of survival.
The pervasiveness of social media in
today’s world proves more than anything, that this need for social recognition is still a major influence on our
day-to-day decision making – it’s just
that now, our interactions are broadcast to nearly every corner of the
planet. In years gone by, one might
work tirelessly in the gym for months
on end only to reveal their sculpted
physique to a few hundred at the
beach during summer months. Now,
you can upload a photo that will reach
thousands if not millions of viewers in
the blink of an eye, receiving instant
gratification via likes, shares and follows.
This is not to say that people go to
the gym merely for the selfie. Rather,
one might conclude that social media
motivates people to go to the gym in
the first place, and to strive for the
body that will get the likes.
Pictured:
Posing with
weights or
actually using
them?
(Source: Lower
Columbia
College/ Flickr)
14 COMMENT
Educating Cardiff :
How education
should be done
Lucy Hegarty
“
The
development
of certain
pupils on the
show is a
direct result
of the head’s
refusal to write
any child off
”
Aislinn
McDonagh
“
The major
thing that
has changed
through the
years is just
the ease of
which one can
share these
images
”
T
he latest part of Channel 4
school reality series, ‘Educating Cardiff ’, has received fantastic reviews, as it shines a spotlight
on the modern teaching profession.
The TV show gives its viewers an
insight into the reality of the role of
teachers. The focus is not upon OFSTED reports and academic targets,
but instead allows viewers to see the
important relationships of teachers
with their pupils, and the vital role
teachers play in supporting and developing the most challenging students. The programme reminds us
just how fragile and impressionable
teenagers are, and that the influence of one teacher can change the
course of a child’s future – for better
or worse.
Teaching as a profession has been
reported to be in trouble in the UK,
with many teachers noting the introduction Michael Gove as education minister as the catalyst. The
Independent reported in April 2015
that the number of teachers entering the profession is in decline. It is
therefore refreshing to see the passion driving the teachers at Willows
High School in ‘Educating Cardiff.’ At
schools such as Willows, the job is
considered even more difficult due to
the challenging circumstances which
the teachers work in. The low socialeconomic status of the school and
the surrounding area mean that the
children are at an economic disadvantage from the beginning of their
school career. The Teach First charity have published that only one in 10
teachers would consider teaching in
a challenging school such as Willows.
This highlights a huge problem with
education in the UK, as difficulty to
attract teachers to these areas creates
a huge gap in the educational standards of these schools, and schools
where the average household income
of the family of each child is higher.
It is this lack of strong teaching in
challenging schools, and other factors, which contribute to the widespanning problem that is educational
inequality in the UK. It is a sad, but
true, fact that the income of a child’s
household determines the chances
that child has in terms of education. 21 per cent of children eligible
for free school meals make it to university, compared to 85 per cent of
children from independent schools.
With this in mind, the determination
of the staff at Willows in ensuring
that the children at their school get
the best chance they can to defy this
statistic.
It is teachers like Headmistress of
Willows High School, Mrs. Ballard,
who are leading the way for change in
education. She recognises the problem and says herself that she “doesn’t
think it’s fair that your postcode can
determine your life chances.” ‘Educating Cardiff ’ shows Mrs. Ballard’s
talent as a leader, as she treats each
pupil and teacher as an individual.
The development of certain pupils
on the show is a direct result of her
refusal to write any child off ; tailoring opportunities to ensure all pupils
at Willows are given something to
aim for. Jessica, for example, is made
editor of a new school newspaper
to help her improve her social skills
with the other children. Although
nervous at first, we can see her glowing when the newspaper sells out
entirely in the school cafeteria. It is
small actions like this for each individual, which has allowed Mrs. Ballard to drag Willows High School
up from the bottom – from one of
the worst schools in Cardiff, to one
which is almost unrecognisable.
It is clear from watching ‘Educating
Cardiff ’, that educational inequality
can be targeted by injecting schools
with strong and passionate leaders,
like Mrs. Ballard. Teach First is an initiative in England and Wales working
to confront this problem in this way.
Teach First is a charity which trains
the UK’s top graduates through their
unique leadership development programme - a two-year commitment
combining teacher training and a fully-funded PGCE qualification with
one-to-one leadership coaching and
skills development. Participants develop leadership qualities that can be
applied to any working environment,
no matter where your career takes
you afterwards. Teach First believe
that, alongside the classroom, educational inequality should be targeted
from all angles of society.
Teach First’s Undergraduate Programmes Officer, Victor Bamigboye,
is a shining example of the powerful, positive impact that a Teach First
participant can have on the life of an
individual. Previously, Victor’s ambition was to work in Foot Locker.
Now, he is successful and driven and
works for Teach First to help other
teenagers in Sixth Forms and Colleges to know what opportunities are
out there for them.
Teach First have started their Leadership Development Programme in
Wales in recent years, and will be
driving up standards in schools like
Willows High School all across the
country. And while ‘Educating Cardiff ’ shows its viewers that teaching
is not just about academia, it’s general message of seeing each child as
an individual and knowing that some
of them just need someone to believe
in them is integral to the experience
of being a student.
Crackdown on revenge porn
R
evenge porn is the sharing or
posting online of nude and explicit images of a partner without their consent. Since being criminalised in February, its profile has
died down a little in the media, but
it is still a major issue in the UK, with
the government’s dedicated helpline
receiving 1,800 calls in its first six
months, and a suspected 200 victims
in England and Wales.
Despite being a criminal act, there
are many who would consider explicit
images being put online as the fault
of the victim. This is particularly true
of nude ‘selfies’, or photos sent by the
victim, with a ‘if you don’t send them,
you can’t lose them’ attitude. Much
of the media attention is also focused
on young people, and “why do young
people take so many nudes?” Both of
these can be addressed quite simply.
Everyone takes nude photos. Or at
least, lots of people do. And our generation is not the first to do it – I’m
sure people took naked photos on
polaroid’s in the 70’s, on film in the
90’s and on chunky DSLR’s when they
went through their ‘alternative’ phase
in the early 2000s. The act of taking
explicit photos of yourself or your
partner is not new, and telling people
to simply not take them is at best unhelpful, and at worst, slut-shaming.
The major thing that has changed
through the years is just the ease of
which one can share these images in
revenge.
If, in the 1980s, you wanted to
show your friends a nude photo of
your ex, you would have to go to their
house with a physical copy of a photo
your partner. And I’m sure people
did. Even the ‘old’ revenge porn which
initially came to the media’s attention
was (mostly) men uploading explicit
images of (mostly) women onto normal porn websites, or even more
sickeningly, sites set up specifically
to revel in this sexual humiliation.
However, most of these sites have
either been taken down or have put
in place measures to report revenge
porn (such as pornhub’s new policy).
It seems that people who wish to humiliate their ex’s are being told ‘you
are not welcome’ everywhere online.
So, increasingly, people are posting
these photos on social media, for
their friends.
Social media revenge porn may
be seen as ‘revenge porn lite’ by its
perpetrators. They aren’t the sickos
uploading it to porn websites for
weirdos to see, they’re just showing
their mates why ‘Gemma wasn’t even
that fit anyway’. But this is a serious
offence and by no means acceptable.
In my opinion, the best way to tackle
revenge porn, is to tackle the perception that social media revenge porn is
‘not really that bad’. The first woman
to be convicted for revenge porn was
sentenced last month for uploading photos of her ex to Facebook for
half an hour after a row. In schools,
initiatives are being put in place to try
and reduce revenge porn with minors
(doubly illegal) on Whatsapp (yes
Whatsapp counts).
I don’t think most of these types of
perpetrators fully understand either
the legal aspect to what they’re doing, or, more importantly, the serious,
long-term effect it can have on their
victims. I am not suggesting a ‘hug-arevenge-porner’ attitude, but aware-
ness campaigns such as we have seen
for sexual assault and domestic abuse,
challenging potential aggressors to
think about their actions might see a
drop in the worryingly high statistics.
There will always be people doing it
deliberately and calculatedly to humiliate, hurt and betray their victim.
For those people, legal punishment
may be the only deterrent. But for
others, maybe a little empathy coaching would help.
Pictured:
The stars of
Educating
Cardiff
(Source:
Evening
Standard)
“
Teaching as a
profession has
been reported
to be in trouble
in the UK
”
(Photographer:
Martin
Gommel)
COMMENT 15
A welcome disturbance at the
Suffragette premiere
Pictured:
The London
Film Festival
(Photographer:
spiritquest/
flickr)
Kate Elswood
“
For those
women,
gaining the
vote was
the key to
improving
women’s rights
”
O
n the 12th of October, the
film ‘Suffragette’ was released
in the UK. The film tells the
story of women who dedicated their
lives to obtaining female suffrage.
For those women, gaining the vote
was the key to improving women’s
rights. Less than a hundred years
later, many of the things that those
women dreamed of are now a reality. Carey Mulligan, Meryl Streep and
Helena Bonham Carter all champion
the women they portray in the film,
as strong activists who began a movement still going strong today.
During the premiere of the film in
London, activists from Sisters Uncut
used the red carpet as a stage to protest about cuts to government funding
for victims of domestic violence. They
caught the attention of the media by
chanting ‘dead women can’t vote’ and
lying on the red carpet. Though having
successfully gained publicity for their
movement, it also brought their concerns of current women’s issues into
the spotlight. They also gained support from stars on the red carpet, such
as Lauren Lavern, who used Twitter to
show her support, stating that she will
“always support those speaking out
against domestic violence.”
After women first obtained the
vote in 1918, progress seemed slower
than expected, with women not gaining equal suffrage with men until ten
years later. Their place in the home
and their domestic ‘duties’ still remained a large part of many women’s
lives. However, with regards to women’s rights, important improvements
were made, such as the increasing ac-
ceptance of women in the workplace
and in educational institutions, and
also the opening of Britain’s first birth
control clinic by Marie Stopes in
1921, which gave women more control over their bodies. It seems odd
for all these legislations and movement to come into fruition and still
have almost 4,000 women die every
year due to domestic violence.
But the progress over the past one
hundred years is undeniable and should
not be forgotten. Despite the problems
that still exist, the majority of the western world is much closer to obtaining
gender equality. In the UK, women
now hold a vital role in the world of
education and work, with 55 per cent of
undergraduates being women in 2014,
according to UCAS. This suggests that
women are able to achieve a high level
of education and it also conveys that
women have the desire and the opportunity to access higher level professions. Slowly but surely, all of the hard
work is paying off.
Although much has changed since
women gained suffrage, the values of
feminism that the women who campaigned for female suffrage created
are still relevant. The vision that the
suffragettes had is still a dream for
the women represented by groups
like Sisters Uncut. Women and men
who suffer as a result of domestic
violence depend on the continuing
support of groups of activists who
can speak out on the behalf of vulnerable people, and it’s thanks to
activists like the suffragettes and Sisters Uncut that these issues are being
tackled more and more.
“
Although
much has
changed since
women gained
suffrage,
the values
of feminism
created by
campaigners
are still
relevant
”
Are we wrong to criticise Facebook over tax?
Tax-avoidance is legal, but is the system to blame?
Jack Williams
“
It isn’t so
much the
fault of these
‘corporations’
– more of the
system itself
”
T
he US social media giant Facebook is in hot water after it
was revealed that it paid only
£4,327 in corporation tax last year in
Britain. Yes, that seems suspicious
but it is not illegal. In fact, Facebook
were completely within the law.
Firstly, we must distinguish just
what exactly ‘corporate Facebook’ is,
because it is actually made up of multiple ‘Facebook’ international offices.
Here, we are talking about Facebook
UK and Facebook Ireland.
Facebook UK only provides sales,
marketing and engineering support
to Facebook Ireland. They deal with
the finalising and completion of the
sales. Hence the low tax in the first
place. It is Facebook Ireland who
should be under scrutiny. But even
they are within EU law.
It isn’t so much the fault of these
‘corporations’ – more of the system
itself. The inconsistencies in UK law
and EU law means there are always
going to be loopholes that will be
found and used accordingly. Which
then makes us ask who exactly is to be
blamed if someone wants to complain
– the company? The people running
the company? Or the law system?
Possibly the people running the
company by manipulating the law?
But they are still well within their
rights to do it and are only expected
to stop because it doesn’t fit with the
public’s moral compass. Technically
they are doing their job, so in my
book they can carry on as they wish.
It is the system that needs to change.
They are simply taking advantage of a
pre-existing, broken system.
It is the system that should be
blamed, not the corporations. Probably not a popular opinion. The EU allows corporations to decide in which
member states they pay tax. Hence
why Facebook uses this to their advantage in the UK and Ireland. This is
all legal and part of a strategy known
as “Double Irish”. Profits are shifted
from higher tax countries, to lower
ones. Therefore one could argue it is
the fault of the EU. Yet another reason to want out. The EU openly promotes tactical taxing.
In March, Chancellor George Osborne announced his diverted profit
tax on companies who moved profits
overseas. This charges a 25 per cent
tax on profits that are shifted out of
Britain. There will however never be
a central European solution because
countries such as Ireland and the
Netherlands would lose out.
It is important to discern the difference between tax-avoidance, and tax
evasion. Tax evasion is wholly illegal,
whereas tax avoidance simply seeks
to minimise the bill without breaking
the law. And that is what Facebook
did, and what many other companies
in the UK and around the world do.
In that sense it is pointless to be
angry with Facebook. For many it is
hypocritical.
It’s like blasting Facebook for their
tax choices while drinking a Pumpkin
Spiced Latte from fellow tactical-taxers Starbucks, on a smartphone with
Vodafone as your phone network and
the Facebook app open. Change your
lifestyle habits if you have a problem
with tactical taxing and want to send
a message to these companies. It will
be near impossible believe me.
Most people will find this practice
morally wrong. But it is completely
legal. That is the most important
thing to ascertain from this story. Until a big corporation breaks the law,
they are well within their rights to do
what they can to minimise what they
pay. Besides, certain companies do a
lot worse that you don’t hear about.
Be honest with yourself, and ask
yourself the question: would you do
the same, and protect your hardearned money if there was a legal way
to do so?
“
Most people
will find this
practice
morally
wrong. But it
is completely
legal
”
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THE GAIR RHYDD COLUMN 17
I’m an Insta-fan but I’m not
proud of it
If you made a salad and you didn’t upload a photo to
Instagram, did you really make a salad?
Helena
Hanson
“
Instagram is
as necessary
to my
circadian
routine as
my cup of
tea before
lectures and
my afternoon
nap
”
S
ocial media site Instagram
has had its fifth birthday this
month. It’s perplexing to consider that for five whole years we
have rejoiced photographs of exquisitely arranged salads, cherished Kim
Kardashian’s selfies and neurotically
monitored fitness inspiration blogs
that remind us how fat and unhappy
we all really are.
Instagram has now overtaken
Twitter in terms of the amount of
active users, with over 300 million
monthly active users, of which more
than 75 million use the app daily. As
much as it makes me wince to admit,
I am one of those 75 million. Instagram is as necessary to my circadian
routine as my cup of tea before lectures and my afternoon nap.
I slump in bed in the morning and
probe through whose boyfriend has
bought them a new Michael Kors
handbag this week (always captioned
‘the boy did good’) and discover that
another boy from high school has
become a self-proclaimed fitness instructor and is offering me advice on
how to enhance my biceps by four
inches in 24 hours, and I love it. Instagram is perhaps so popular because
it allows us to showcase ourselves in
a way that we have never before been
able to do. It encompasses the innate
human yearning to show-off.
There is no better way to show
everyone how much better your life
is than theirs than via Instagram. It
paints an idealised view, perhaps, of
what we wish our reality was like.
One could assume, looking at my
Instagram, I eat beautifully poached
eggs and avocado on toast every
morning, before taking a selfie in my
spotless new Nike gym-wear, and
then spending the evening sipping
exquisite cocktails in a bar with my
beautiful friends and their perfectly
manicured nails and fresh blow dry’s.
The reality however, goes more
like this; OMG! For the first time in
three weeks of trying my breakfast
doesn’t look like a cat has just thrown
it up - I’ll Instagram it. OMG! My
new Nike leggings are so comfortable I think I’ll sit in bed all day and
appreciate their stretchiness, but it
looks like I’m going to the gym - I’ll
Instagram them. OMG! I have a free
drink voucher for that posh place in
town lets go there! Then I proceed
to photograph my drink before subsequently colliding with the table of
cocktails as I try to remove the toilet
paper stuck to my Primark heel. This
is what I love: you will only ever see
what I want you to see.
Instagram has impacted modern
society in ways I don’t think we can
yet comprehend. ‘Insta-famous’ is a
culturally recognised adjective and
it’s becoming a career opportunity
too. Millions of people, businesses
and brands around the world use
Instagram as their primary advertising source. Users are constructing
livelihoods, and generating a lot of
money, from showcasing their bodies, make up skills, clothing, photography and so on.
With this popularity comes a
whole culture of Instagram. You
must learn the unwritten rules of Instagram in order to maximise usage
potential. For example, it is obligatory that if your best friend uploads
a selfie, you comment the love heart
eyes emoji, the princess emoji, or the
burning fire emoji. If they do not yet
have eleven likes, you better like that
photo, it is your duty. If you buy a
coffee, or cook a steak, one must upload a photo, otherwise it didn’t happen. People don’t like it if you put
#stunning on your own photo and
you must always, ALWAYS be extra
vigilant with navigation when you
are 78 weeks deep in your ex-girlfriend’s or new boyfriend’s pictures.
Only recently, when travelling
America did I begin to recognise the
true depths of my Instagram obsession. Living in the jungle with no access to social media, I found myself
comfortable and relaxed in my own
skin. My own particular Instagram
weakness is female fitness pages. I
trawl through hundreds and hundreds of spectacular muscular bodies, flawless feminine six-packs,
toned legs and peachy arses. I gawp
and curse myself silently as I shovel
more pizza into my mouth and glare
through my tears at my rapidly grow-
ing food baby. Perhaps, on reflection,
it was a sense of freedom, being separated from the social pressures to
be picture-perfect all the time. That
said, I’d be lying if I said Instagram
was far from my mind the whole
time I was away. I couldn’t help but
imagine the glory of each photo with
an Instagram filter, and separate my
photographs between Facebook and
Insta-worthy.
Ultimately I try not to worry too
much that Kendal Jenner, who is
younger than myself, had the most
liked photo on Instagram of all time
(over 3.1 million likes), and that my
pictures get twelve likes on a good
day. I know that I can rest assured
knowing that if I #girl, SexyDarren37
from Bolton will like all selfies I’ve
ever taken.
It also shouldn’t matter that Taylor
Swift probably has more followers
than breaths I will take in my entire
life because ultimately, it doesn’t really mean anything. We need to stop
searching for clarity in an emoji or a
follow or a like, because we are all so
much more than our 180 Instagram
posts.
Nobody looks like their twice edited Instagram photograph in real life,
and nobody’s figure looks as good in
reality as it does with a Valencia tint.
Although a picture may be worth a
thousand words, I don’t really think
one selfie can ever truly be worth 3.1
million likes.
Pictured:
Instragram has
become one of
the most widely
used social
media apps
in the world
(Photographer:
Jason Howie)
“
This is what I
love, you will
only ever see
what I want
you to see
”
18 POLITICS
p
politics
Editors: Carwyn Williams Luke Brett Sam Patterson
@GairRhyddPol
politics@gairrhydd.com
gairrhydd.com/politics
USA questions ISIS’ use of Toyotas
Sam
Patterson
“
A significant
proportion of
the Toyotas
came to be in
Syria through
US funding
of moderate
rebels
”
Adam
Muspratt
T
he Toyota Hilux has become
a fixture of ISIS propaganda.
When ISIS took control of
Raqqa in 2013, two thirds of the vehicles shown in their propaganda were
white Toyota Hiluxes, while numerable other images and videos produced by the group show large numbers of Toyotas. The Terror Financing
Unit of the US Treasury asked Toyota
if they knew how ISIS were acquiring
so many of their vehicles, and if they
would support an inquiry to find out
how, this is despite the fact that there
is nothing to substantiate any culpability of Toyota’s part.
ISIS are not the only militant group
to have used Toyota pickup trucks in
large numbers; they are manoeuvrable, durable, and it’s possible to have
a gun mounted on the back. The Hilux and the Tacoma (its American
counterpart) have been used by militant groups in Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, Rwanda,
Liberia, the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, Lebanon, Yemen and
Iraq, while they are also used by US
special forces.
In 2014, American public radio
PRI reported: “Recently, when the
US State Department resumed sending non-lethal aid to Syrian rebels,
the delivery list included 43 Toyota
trucks.”
“Hiluxes were on the Free Syrian
Army’s wish list. Oubai Shahbander,
a Washington-based advisor to the
Syrian National Coalition, is a fan of
the truck.”
Military aid for Syrian rebels is not
the only way the vehicles get into
Syria; militant groups acquire vehicles legally and illegally. Vehicles
like these are stolen disproportionately often. In Australia, vehicle theft
has dropped by almost 300 per cent
since 2001. Despite this, the number
of Hiluxes being stolen is rising and
some experts on terrorism think this,
among many others, could be a possible source for militants.
Toyota responded to the US’s questions, stating that they have all the
proper protocol in place to prevent
militant groups from acquiring their
vehicles, and said that they would
support an inquiry. It’s extremely unlikely that Toyota are acting any differently to other automobile manufactures, nor is it the case that if they
stopped selling Hiluxes, ISIS would
be at a loss for 4x4s. The much more
likely scenario is that ISIS, similarly
to other militant groups, acquire
their vehicles through a variety of
means, and that a significant proportion of the Toyotas came to be in
Syria through US funding of moderate rebels.
The Obama administration’s record in Syria has come under criticism; the US recently ended its $500
million program to train Syrian rebels
which fell disastrously short of its target, training only 60 of the intended
5,400. The US’s questions to Toyota
reveal either a certain negligence on
the part of the Terror Financing Unit,
or a bad attempt by the US to distract
attention from their role in funding
militant groups in Syria.
Pictured:
A Toyota in
Aleppo, Syria
(Photographer:
Evgeni Zotov).
Green Belt to suffer due to housing demand
I
n 1955, Duncan Sandys’ Green
Belt policy was enacted in order
to control urban growth, marking
a realization of the need to protect
our countryside from urban intrusion. The policy gave way to 14 belts
of countryside that encircle highlypopulated areas, covering an estimated 13 per cent of the UK.
These buffers between our urban
sprawls not only provide astonishing
landscapes to frolic in and partake in
outdoor activities, but they also allow agriculture, forestry, and nature
to thrive. However, recent housing
proposals put forth by the government put the belts at risk of being
cemented over in a bid to accommodate the need for housing.
The recently announced landmark
Housing and Planning Bill states that
local councils will have to produce
plans for new homes to be built in
their respective areas by 2017. New
powers will also be given to the government to overrule any council reluctant to build new homes.
This, under David Cameron’s selfexpressed, “national crusade to get
homes built,” the crux of which will
result in one million homes being
built by 2017. The policy also ensured that 200,000 starter homes will
be built, and that red tape will be cut
to increase house building.
The policy may receive flak from
his countryside supporters if the
Green Belt is further encroached
upon. They will no doubt remember
his election pledge back in March,
in which he stated that he was a
“countryman” and would protect the
Green Belt at all costs.
There is good reason why around
two thirds of the public are against
building upon Green Belts. The
woodland that comprises much of
the Green Belt is ancient and has
stood there for centuries. It has very
much become apart of England’s
identity and heritage.
However, there are some economic downsides to the continued use of
Green Belts. Critics often point out
that the policy forces up housing
prices substantially by constricting
the flow of supply and demand. The
results of which can be seen in places like London and Cambridge that
have exuberantly expensive houses.
The policy can also come across as
too restrictive and out-of-date with
the current problems faced by city
planners.
The Adam Smith Institute (ASI)
estimates that if 3.7 per cent of London’s green belt was liberated, up to
a million homes could be built. In a
report, ‘the Green Noose’, the ASI
claims the protection of the Green
Belt is environmentally negative, as
it leads to more land being devoted
to transport infrastructure, and to
more pollution and greenhouse gas
emissions.
The issue is complex with many
solutions, but with no clear answers.
Should we produce more high-rise
and dense flats? Should we curtail
immigration to reduce the need for
housing? Or should we move housing
development away from the south?
What does remain clear is that the
Green Belt is at risk, and has been for
the last few years. The National Trust
recently published a report with
worrying findings; it was revealed
that “areas of outstanding beauty”
were not being protected from housing developers who had been given
substantial leeway. The Campaign to
Protect Rural England showed similar findings: they claim that housing
developments on Green Belts has
increased “five fold” since 2010, and
over 219,000 houses are in the planning stages to be built within Green
Belt land.
The true importance of Green
Belts remains a contentious issue.
However, when considering the potential positives and negatives, it is
important to remember that at their
very core they serve to form boundaries and stop towns from coalescing
in what would become indistinguishable urban sprawls. Their restrictions
also incentivize the use of Brownfield
sites within cities, ensuring every
space is economically used.
“
Critics often
point out that
the policy
forces up
housing prices
substantially
”
POLITICS 19
USA: Eyes on Clinton and Sanders
after first Democrat debate
Pictured:
Democratic
candidates
Clinton and
Sanders
(Photographers:
Marc Nozell &
Paul Morigi).
Who won the debate?
10
20
All the contenders were
polite and
calm, in stark
contrast to
the heated
and frankly
childish
Republican
debates
”
“
Even a FOX
news poll
favoured
Sanders’
performance
in the debate
”
Right: Polling
instantly after
the debate is
from USuncut.
com
Chafee
40
O’Malley
20
Webb
60
Chafee
30
O’Malley
80
“
Left: Polling
before the debate is a polling average by
realclearpolitics.com
100
40
Sanders
Polling before the debate
story. According to a poll conducted
by ‘US News and World Report’ on
Facebook, 82 per cent of viewers said
that Sanders won the debate, whilst
only 11 per cent chose Clinton. Even
polls on the websites of the major
news outlets such as CNN and Time
showed Sanders to be the debate
winner, with upwards of 80 per cent
of those surveyed picking Sanders.
Focus groups selected by CNN from
right-leaning states such as Florida
and Nevada chose Sanders as the favourite, and even a FOX news poll
favoured Sanders’ performance in the
debate. Polls were promptly removed
from websites such as CNN - it’s no
coincidence that Time Warner, the
owner of CNN, is one of Clintons top
campaign contributors. This, along
with the initial reluctance of the Democratic Party to hold a debate, shows
a clear orchestrated effort by both the
Democratic Party, and the American
media establishment, to downplay the
popularity of Sanders, and to exaggerate the popularity of Clinton.
The debate did much to publicise
Sanders, to educate Americans on
his positions. Following the debate,
Google searches of ‘Sanders’ and ‘socialism’ skyrocketed, and post-debate
Internet polling seemed to reveal that
Clinton’s hesitancy to have a debate
was justified. The debate revealed
much about the candidates, and solidified the view that O’Malley, Webb,
and Chafee have slim chances of winning the election. The reaction of the
major American news outlets to the
debate however, perhaps revealed
more about the election race than the
debate did itself.
gun manufacturers immunity from
lawsuits by the victims of shootings
- one of the few points on which she
is more in tune with the progressive
movement than Sanders.
Another key area of conflict was
Wall Street and regulations on the
banking sector - Sanders was predictably strong on this issue and has widespread support in liberal circles. He
attacked Clinton for not having taken
concrete steps to stop the excesses of
the banks, whilst he himself called for
a “political revolution” - this is arguably the biggest point of difference
between the two main candidates and
is very much an ‘establishment’ versus
‘outsider’ battle.
Despite the intense debate there
was one clear moment of agreement,
Senator Sanders defending Clinton
when asked about the email scandal
and ensuing Republican witch hunt,
saying: “people are sick and tired of
hearing about your damn emails” to
which Clinton responded: “Me too!”
and then proceeded to thank the Senator. This totally contrasts the current
Republican culture of attacks, and
Sanders has on multiple occasions refused to attack Clinton.
The most interesting development,
rather than the debate itself, has arguably been the discrepancy between
the conclusions of official pundits,
and of regular viewers, as to who actually won the debate. Major outlets
such as CNN, Time, The Guardian,
Vox, The Boston Globe, chose Clinton
as the victor, with headlines such as
“Clinton’s Confident Sweep” - CNN,
and “Clinton in Control” - Time. The
Internet polls however, tell a different
Clinton
50
contributors are Citigroup Inc, Goldman-Sachs, JP Morgan, Time Warner
(CNN owners), Lehman Brothers, and
FOX. Sanders on the other hand receives over 80 per cent of his funding
from small donations of under $200.
The past few weeks have been tricky
for Clinton, with Republican attacks
centring on the death of the US Ambassador in Benghazi during her tenure as Secretary of State, as well as the
improper use of a personal email address for Government business hurting her standing in the polls and not
helped her reputation for being untrustworthy. Clinton has also had to
contend with the rising star of Bernie
Sanders, aged 74 and the only Independent member of the Senate. His
brand of left-wing, anti-Wall Street
politics has struck a chord with many
progressive Americans, especially the
young. His rise is very much like Jeremy Corbyn’s in the United Kingdom,
or even Syriza in Greece. Whilst Clinton is still the firm favourite, some of
the polling numbers are certainly a
shock with Sanders ahead in some
Iowa and New Hampshire polls those two being the all important first
two states in the primary season that
can make or break candidates.
All the contenders were polite and
calm, in stark contrast to the heated
and frankly childish Republican debates dominated by the big personality of Donald Trump. There were
several points of contention in the
debate. Gun control was one, and this
was an area where Clinton scored big
over Sanders. She attacked him on his
perceived laxness towards gun control
and his Senate vote in 2005 to give
Webb
”
Biden
Clinton and
Sanders
fundamentally
disagree on
a whole host
of important
issues
he race to succeed Barack
Obama as Democratic leader
and President of the United
States hotted up last week as the
Democrats held their first debate of
the 2016 electoral cycle, hosted by
CNN in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Republicans have already
steamed ahead and had two debates,
whilst the Democratic National Committee has come under fire for how
few debates they have pencilled in the DNC apparently wishing to limit
the chance of the non-Clinton participants.
The contenders are frontrunner
Hillary Clinton - former First Lady,
Senator and Secretary of State; Bernie
Sanders - current Vermont Senator,
self-described “Democratic Socialist”
and the man who’s setting the agenda
on the left; Martin O’Malley - former
Mayor of Baltimore and Governor of
Maryland; Jim Webb - former Virginia senator and Secretary of the Navy;
and finally Lincoln Chafee - former
Republican Governor of Rhode Island.
The latter three candidates have a very
slim chance of overtaking Sanders, let
alone Clinton.
Clinton and Sanders fundamentally
disagree on a whole host of important
issues. Clinton voted in favour of the
invasion of Iraq, the Wall Street bailouts, the ‘Patriot Act’, the death penalty, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the
Keystone pipeline, all of which Sanders voted against. The sources from
which they receive their funding also
differ immensely. Whilst Sanders rejects all campaign contributions from
corporations, Clinton receives tens of
millions from Super PACs, her largest
Sanders
“
T
Clinton
Rhys Thomas
& Sam
Patterson
20 POLITICS
The not so Right Honourable Jeremy Corbyn
Leader of the Opposition
declines invitation to
Privy Council
Conor
Holohan
“
David Cameron did not
attend a Privy
Council meeting until three
months into
his leadership
”
Luke Brett
E
veryone’s favourite controversial and outspoken leftist Jeremy Corbyn has hit the headlines yet again. The Home Office
have confirmed the Labour leader
has been stripped of his Right Honourable title (Rt Hon), for not attending the first Privy Council meeting
since his recent leadership election
victory.
Corbyn, it seems, stood the Queen
up. He was photographed in Nevis,
Scotland on what has been called a
‘holiday’ while Parliament was in recess.
In defence, he explained that he
had “long standing private arrangements” and “needed relaxation time,”
and was compelled to decline the invitation. But, what even is the Privy
Council, and what does it do?
Her Majesty’s Privy Council consists of over 600 councillors, consisting of MPs, Bishops, Judges - and,
of course, the Queen. The Council
rarely ever meet as a whole. The majority of the members do not attend
most meetings, and they are only required to meet in their entirety upon
the death of a monarch, or their announcement of engagements.
Those who are made members of
the council are members for life, and
they meet wherever the monarch
is staying to secure her approval to
pass laws and make governmental
appointments. They are also given
the Rt Hon title to use before their
names.
In reality, Jeremy Corbyn hasn’t actually been stripped of his Rt Hon title, as he was never offered it. The title is given to a member once they’ve
been sworn in, and Corbyn declined
the invitation to the monthly opportunity to do so.
The Queen of the Privy Council,
who are a group of advisors who carry out the Queen’s wishes, stripped
the Labour leader of his title. This
was only really in a digital sense, as it
was only removed from his name on
the Commons website. The Queen
does not appear to be impressed.
Corbyn cannot join the Council
now until next month. He will have
to send someone from his Shadow
Cabinet who is already a member
to be briefed on important security
matters in his place.
Something which has been rightly
pointed out is that David Cameron
did not attend a Privy Council meeting until three months into his leadership. However, Corbyn’s failure to
be sworn into the Council could be
more concerning for him than it was
for the PM. A vote on military action
in Syria could well take place before
he can become a member - so the
Leader of the Opposition will be unable to voice his obvious qualms with
military intervention to the sovereign.
The Labour leader’s office confirmed that he would be demanding
to be made a member of the Council so that he can receive intelligence
briefings about any pressing security issues over the next month. This
indicates his eagerness to join the
Council, disproving allegations that
he missed the meeting out of being
adverse to the idea of kneeling before
the Queen.
I hope this is the case. Though a
republican sentiment is popular, and
is shared by people across all parties,
Corbyn should have made his protest smaller and less media-friendly.
I try to avoid pessimism and say
that whilst he will continue to make
protests against the monarch, as he
certainly reserves the right to do so,
he should consider that the position
of Leader of the Opposition is, to be
crude, bigger than he is.
As out of date as the action of exercising these traditions with the monarch is, he should remember that
they are merely traditions. Important
though these meetings are in passing
laws, the Queen would not dare to
uphold the will of Parliament, nor of
a government with a clear majority.
Regardless, if there is a vote on
intervention in Syria and Corbyn is
denied membership of the Council
by the Queen’s advisors or the Coun-
cil in general, this would raise some
more concerning questions. Specifically about the relationship between
elected officials and unelected entities in our governing system.
Should elected officials have their
demands approved to alter traditional procedures with Her Majesty in a
moment of international significance
such as a potential vote on Syria?
Of course they should! Especially if
the elected official in question is the
Leader of the Opposition! It would
be a scandal if Corbyn was denied
membership in this instance, a slap
in the face for democracy. Especially
because of his well-known pacifism,
which is sentiment strongly shared
among many inside and, more so,
outside the walls of Westminster
Palace.
Pictured:
Jeremy Corbyn;
it’s getting
difficult to find
an image that
hasn’t been
overly used
by the media
(Photographer:
Bob Peters)
Petition forces Parliament to
debate drug decriminalisation
F
ollowing 224,000 people signing
a petition, decriminalising cannabis was assigned three hours
to be debated in Parliament on 12th
October.
100,000 signatures are needed on
a petition on the Parliament website
in order to debate a particular issue.
Remarkably, the petition hit this figure within four days as far back as
August.
The petition argued that legalising
cannabis could bring around £900m
in tax revenue per annum, while also
saving £400 million in associated police costs and creating over 10,000
new jobs.
Labour MP Paul Flynn brought forward the debate alongside sole Green
MP Caroline Lucas and Norman
Lamb, Liberal Democrats Health
spokesman.
Flynn described cannabis as the
oldest medicine in the world before
comparing Britain’s approach to cannabis to the United States’ approach
to gun control, “we’re getting near to
a position where we look at the United States with incredulity because
they don’t accept the evidence on the
possession of guns”.
The parliamentarian for Newport
West used Portugal as an example of
successful decriminalisation, as crime
rates have fallen since reforms. Since
Colorado legalised cannabis adult
drug usage has largely stayed the
same and in fact dropped amongst
young people.
Conservative minister Peter Lilley
was open to the use of cannabis for
medical reasons, citing Queen Victoria as someone who had used cannabis to relieve menstrual pain.
However, the possibility of the
government amending drug laws is
highly unlikely. Theresa May has already drawn up plans to crack down
on legal highs such as laughing gas,
indicating the maintaining of a tough
line on drugs.
The government responded to the
petition: “There are no plans to legalise cannabis as it would not address
the harm to individuals and communities”.
“Legalisation of cannabis would
not eliminate the crime committed
by the illicit trade, nor would it address the harms associated with drug
dependence and the misery that this
can cause to families”.
Norman Lamb accused the government of being hypocritical. He
claimed around half the government
had tried cannabis themselves, there-
fore were in no position to imprison
thousands of young people who also
use the substance.
In October last year, only 21 out of
650 were in attendance in a debate
over drug policy, following a Home
Office report suggesting no pattern
between stringent drug laws and a
declining in drug usage.
Successive governments’ firm and
strict drug policy seems increasingly
ideological, this was most notable
when Professor David Nutt was fired
in 2009 after calling for the legalisation of cannabis and to classify the
drug as Class C.
The petition brought attention to a
divisive issue, though a swift rejection
by the government of the petition’s
proposal watered down the mass
support it had gained, showing a step
back for progressive drug policy.
“
The petition
argued that
legalising
cannabis
could bring
around
£900m in tax
revenue per
annum
”
POLITICS 21
Modern slavery on the rise in Britain
But who are the victims?
Daniel
Heard
“
The
government’s
own most
recent
estimates put
the number
of people in
slavery in the
UK at 13,000
”
M
odern slavery continues
to be not only an international crime, but a blight
that affects an estimated 29.8 million
people around the world. Although
slavery is illegal in every country in
the modern world, it still exists, and
even on the narrowest definition of
slavery it’s likely that there are far
more slaves now than there were
victims of the Atlantic slave trade. It
can include victims that have been
brought from overseas, with these
vulnerable people being forced to
illegally work against their will in
many different sectors, including
brothels, cannabis farms, and in agriculture.
Victims found in Britain come
from many different countries, including Romania, Albania, Nigeria,
Vietnam and the UK itself. In 2013,
90 alone were UK nationals, a figure
hard to believe or even comprehend
in today’s society. Trafficking for
the purpose of domestic servitude
was the main reason women and
girls (other than sexual exploitation) were trafficked, higher in the
UK than anywhere else. For men, the
main reason was for the purpose of
labour exploitation. Although most
associate trafficking with forced sexual exploitation, the most common
purpose of trafficking is for forced
labour.
Two years ago, over 1,746 referral
reports of potential victims of trafficking were investigated. This was
a 47 per cent increase on the number received in 2012. Yet the official
numbers of people referred to authorities are only a tip of the iceberg.
The government’s own most recent estimates put the number of
people in slavery in the UK at 13,000.
Poverty, limited opportunities at
home, lack of education, unstable
social and political conditions, economic imbalances and war are some
of the key drivers that contribute to
trafficking of victims. What’s more,
victims can often face more than one
type of abuse and slavery, for example if they are sold to another trafficker and then forced into another
form of exploitation. It is a global
problem that transcends age, gender and ethnicities, including here
in Wales. One of the most infamous
and recent cases of this atrocity happened far too close to home.
Darrell Simester went missing after going on a trip to Porthcawl back
in 2000. A member of the notorious
Doran family, led by David Daniel Doran, had picked him up from
the side of a dual carriageway and
taken him to Cariad Farm in Peterstone, near Newport. For the next
13 years, Simester was then made to
work for up to 16 hours a day, during this time only ever having two
days off. He lived in appalling conditions, first in a rat-infested shed then
a cold, squalid caravan, with only a
horse trough to wash in, without
soap or a toothbrush. After his family finally tracked him down last year
following a social media campaign,
they hardly recognised him, describing him as being a “broken man”.
In November last year, Doran was
jailed for four-and-a-half years after
pleading guilty to forcing an individual to perform compulsory labour.
Police investigating the Simester
case say a pattern is emerging across
the UK involving criminals exploiting vulnerable adults for their own
benefit. Although modern slavery
increasingly gets more attention,
the response by the authorities still
largely fails many victims. The government has begun to respond to
the issue of slavery in the UK with
setting up the so-called National
Referral Mechanism (NRM), to
which potential victims of trafficking can be referred to and have their
cases assessed, officially recognised
as victims of trafficking, and support services provided. Going one
step further, in June 2014, the draft
Modern Slavery Bill was introduced
in Parliament, signalling a renewed
push to tackle modern-day slavery
in Britain.
Pictured:
Logo of
antislavery.
org, which
campaigns in
the UK and
abroad.
A week in the Senedd with Carwyn Williams
“
The Tories and
Labour parties
fell out into an
argument over
who is most
ageist
”
First Minister’s Questions
It was a busy FMQs in the Siambr last
week, with discussions on the proposed M4 relief road, health, education and devolution. Lindsay Whittle
of Plaid Cymru suggested that up to
£52 million has been spent on developing plans and consultation on the
M4 project.
Whittle added that £4.2 million
was spent in 2014/15, £19.8 million in
2015/16, £12 million on buying properties and £20 million on consultation fees, urging the Minister to drop
the plans as it was a bad decision.
Carwyn Jones responded saying that
the government has looked at other
options, and the fees are necessary to
inform the decision making process.
He also explained that the alternative
route would mean more disruption
to residential homes and significantly
greater impact on commercial properties.
There was confusion on the matter from the Conservatives; William
Graham said his party supported the
process, whereas moments later Nick
Ramsey went totally against this calling on the government to consider
the other options again.
The Lib Dem’s Kirsty Williams
stood up to the minister on health,
quoting a worrying fact that in North
Wales only 60 per cent receive urgent radiotherapy treatment within
14 days, whereas the same figure in
South Wales is almost 100 per cent.
Showing what seems to be another
failure by Betsi Cadwaladr Health
Board, she also said that the charity
sector has even offered to pay for new
machines, but the health board might
not provide the staff to man them. In
what was a standard response, Jones
said he would encourage the health
board to look into and consider this,
but offered no real solution to the
problem himself.
The Tories and Labour parties fell
out into an argument over who is ageist in the session. Andrew RT Davies
said plans for adult education were
failing, and 90,000 fewer adults in
part-time education, pointing specifically to cuts in Further Education.
The First Minister however admitted
that some awful decisions had to be
made, due to cuts coming from the
Conservative party in Westminster.
Davies said that the older you are in
Wales, the less chance you’ll get to
educate and re-train yourself, whereas Jones said the Tories were conducting a war on young people.
Leanne Wood had devolution on
her mind, announcing worries that
the current draft bill doesn’t go far
enough. She also called on Labour
to vote against any Wales Bill that
restricts the Assembly’s powers in
any way, to wait until after the Welsh
General Election so a new government can take devolution to the next
step.
Cardiff AM Rathbone sacked
Jenny Rathbone has recently criticised
the Welsh Government for spending
millions of pounds on research and
consultation on the proposed new
M4 relief road in Newport.
She was also the chairman of the
All Wales European Programme
Monitoring Committee, which oversees the use of EU funds. But, after
speaking out against the Government, she has been fired from her
role. The First Minister said the chairman of the committee needs to act in
the spirit of collective responsibility.
In response to this news, Plaid
Cymru’s Simon Thomas said, “When
I compared your managerial style
to Sepp Blatter the other day I was
clearly wrong. I underestimated your
ruthlessness.”
£8 million for mental health
The Welsh Government has announced a big boost to adult mental
health services in Wales, with over
half the cash set for helping dementia
patients. Health Minister Mark Drakeford also said that mental health is
the single biggest area of NHS expenditure, and it’s £587 million budget will be ring-fenced.
22 SCIENCE
science
Editors: Maria Mellor Lizzie Harrett
@GairRhyddSci
science@gairrhydd.com
gairrhydd.com/science
Migraines are caused deep in the brain
A protein embedded in the brain has been found to be the trigger
Lisa Carr
“
No study has
ever correctly
isolated the
exact cause of
the nauseating
headaches
”
Hannah
Elliott
“
Premature
aging is
closely linked
to cigerette
smoke and
extremely
low and high
alcohol intake
”
G
ood news for those who suffer from migraines (and no,
hangover headaches don’t
count). Scientists have taken another
step closer to pinpointing the exact
cause of the debilitating headaches
and the new discovery could help
develop therapies to treat sufferers.
There are many superficial theories surrounding the causes of migraines, from lack of food and stress,
to sleep deprivation and hormonal
changes. Yet no study has ever correctly isolated the exact physiological cause of the nauseating headaches, that can leave a person bed
bound with paracetamol not even
scratching the surface of pain relief.
However, researchers have recently found that a protein embedded
deep in the brain can trigger a migraine by stimulating the neurones
that control facial sensations. Simon
Akerman of New York University
and Peter Goadsby of Kings College
London studied two specific neuropeptides released by neurones.
These two molecules, VIP and
PACAP, were previously considered
to play a role in migraines as they
were found to be elevated in the
blood of people who were suffering
from migraine attacks. Both of these
proteins widen blood vessels, a process that was wrongfully thought to
be significant in the development of
a migraine.
PACAP in particular was shown to
have substantial effects on the cluster
of neurones in the head that are known
to trigger a headache. When administered on rats in an experiment, the
blood vessels in the rats’ brain showed
increased activity, establishing that
this protein is very much responsible
for inducing a migraine. However,
Akermand and Goadsby found in
their experiments that the widening
of blood vessels did not happen at the
same time as the over activity of the
neurones, therefore proving that the
dilation of blood vessels doesn’t lead
to migraines as previously thought.
The effect of PACAP on neurones
can be blocked using specific molecules that block the protein receptors
that PACAP binds to. When injected
directly into the brain, the neurones
responsible for headache pain stopped
surging with activity. A cure for migraines could be on the cards using
these receptor-blocking molecules,
and a new therapeutic target for migraines can be developed from these
experiments.
The existing drugs currently used
Pictured:
A headache
that leaves
you unable
to function
normally
(Photographer:
Shaun Murphy)
“
for migraines, Triptans, are designed
to shrink blood vessels in the brain
based on the previous theory that
migraines were caused by blood vessel dilation, therefore they are not
particularly effective. They don’t
work for many of the people who use
them and those also suffering from
cardiovascular disorders can’t use
them. The reason for the ineffectiveness of the existing Triptan therapy
is now known, it was simply not fully
understood how migraines really occurred.
Smoking and drinking cause premature ageing
N
ew research presented at the
American Society of Human
Genetics’ annual meeting
this month shows exactly how excessive alcohol consumption can cause
changes to our DNA that may result
in premature ageing. The discovery,
made at the University of Iowa by
Robert A. Philibert and his team,
used a technique called DNA methylation to examine how regularly
smoking and drinking alcohol can
affect gene expression.
DNA methylation involves modifying DNA by the addition of a methyl
group to the DNA chain in order to
fix genes in an ‘off ’ position, preventing their expression – these added groups are then copied onto new
strands of DNA during replication.
It has been used in previous studies
that show how levels of this modified
DNA change as people typically age.
Consequently, it has also been used
to explore how the levels are affected
by cigarette smoke and alcohol at
specific points along the human genome.
The new study used data obtained
from the Gene Expression Omnibus
to calculate biological age by measuring a person’s methylation levels
along their genome. This figure was
then compared to the participant’s
actual age and viewed alongside data
about their exposure to cigarette
smoke and alcohol, allowing the link
between premature ageing and these
environmental factors to be analysed.
The research shows that premature
ageing is closely linked with exposure to cigarette smoke, as well as
both extremely low and high alcohol
intake. Surprisingly, regular but not
excessive drinking was linked to the
least accelarated aging.
This isn’t the first piece of published research that suggests moderate alcohol consumption may be
beneficial to our health; information
published by the Harvard School of
Public Health lists a number of studies that have previously shown the
correlation between having one or
two drinks a day and a lower risk of
cardiovascular diseases such as heart
attacks and strokes.
The team now plan to continue
their research in order to establish
how methylation levels change over
a person’s life span and if they are
affected should the person chooses
to quit smoking or drinking. In the
When injected
directly into
the brain,
the neurones
responsible
for headache
pain stopped
surging with
activity
”
Pictured:
The vices that
affect ageing
(Photographer:
Matthias Ripp)
meantime, their research enables us
to educate the public on how these
common lifestyle choices affect our
bodies, as well as provide a quantitative measure of the adverse effects
of these toxins. A final benefit of the
study serves to remind students that
going to the pub after a long day of
lectures may not be the worst idea
after all!
SCIENCE 23
The medical mystery of anaesthesia
Why do people wake up during surgery?
Shanna
Hamilton
“
I was awake
but paralysed,
I could hear
the surgeon
telling the
trainee to cut
‘deeper into
the eye’
Carol Weiner
”
T
he last time I had an anaesthetic was for a fairly ‘minor’ operation on my foot, (12 weeks in
bed wasn’t minor for me, thank you).
I was given something called ‘IV sedation’, which involved being rolled on
to my front, and a small dose of the
drug Propafol pushed slowly into the
IV butterfly catheter in my hand. The
idea was to send me into a mild sleep,
so I was unaware of the procedure going ahead. Unfortunately, I appeared
more tolerant than usual and I vividly
remember grimacing and asking for
more as a large needle went into the
back of my thigh to block the nerve
supplying my lower leg.
Eventually however, I must have
dropped off. My next memory was
staring blankly at a face I definitely
could not recognise (only my own
mother, woops) and unconsciously
eating rich tea biscuits. Although I
didn’t undergo a full general anaesthetic and was free to leave the hospital shortly after the procedure, I
have absolutely no memory of the operation (thank god), even when I was
apparently mumbling during it. My
surgery was transformed from what
could have been a horrific ordeal, to
a gentle, if confusing nap, with sweet
treats to finish.
It appears, however, that anaesthetic doesn’t always work completely
and some people do remember parts
of surgery, while a rare occurrence,
with serious psychological consequences. A survey of three million patients across the UK and Ireland last
year found that around one in 20,000
people had woken up during surgery.
However, in procedures that required
a ‘lighter’ anaesthetic, such as a Caesarean section to deliver a baby, this
risk rose dramatically to one in 670.
A wide range of sensations was described by these affected patients, including pain, choking, hallucinations
and paralysis. Many reported the feel-
ing they were about to die, terrified of
not being able to move. According to
Jaideep Pandit of Oxford University,
the consultant who led the study: “Paralysis is terrifying and has never been
experienced by most people.” Around
half of those displaying ‘anaesthetic
awareness’ later went on to develop
long-term psychological problems,
such as post-traumatic stress disorder
and insomnia.
Talking to CNN about the study,
Carol Weiner discussed her experiences of awareness during eye surgery: “I was awake but paralysed. I
could hear the surgeon telling the
trainee to ‘cut deeper into the eye’. I
was screaming, but no one could hear
me. I felt no pain, just a tugging sensation… I thought I was dying.”
It appeared from the research that
awareness during operations was
much more common in patients who
also received a paralytic drug, something to block nerves, as part of their
procedure. Weiner would have received such a drug to paralyse her eye
and face.
Our lack of understanding of how
such terrifying experiences can occur
stems back to the fact that actually,
we don’t quite know how anaesthetics work either. While doctors can
monitor whether our physical body
is ‘under’, there is no way to know
whether a patient is aware of what is
going on. This all boils down to one of
the biggest problems in science – understanding consciousness. We don’t
know an awful lot when it comes to
the brain, and the part that makes us
unique, our consciousness, is a huge
part of that. It allows us to self-reflect,
have private thoughts, feelings and
opinions, yet neuroscientists simply
cannot explain how we can conjure
up mental images, or translate signals
into noise or colour.
Some scientists think it may be
down to how sensory parts of the
brain are linked to the midbrain, a
portion of the central nervous system. Others believe in the ‘Cartesian
theater model’, that suggests there is a
single spot in the brain responsible for
everything, ‘where it all comes together’. It appears ultimately, that when it
comes to the brain and consciousness,
we are clueless.
It is no surprise then that the action
of anaesthetic drugs is poorly understood either. How can a drug knock
us out leaving us with no memory of
pain? According to Stuart Hameroff,
an anaesthesiologist from the University of Arizona, the answer lies in
consciousness. “Anaesthetics are fairly
selective, erasing consciousness while
sparing non-conscious brain activity. So the precise mechanism of anaesthetic action should point to the
mechanism for consciousness.”
A particularly confusing property
of anaesthetic chemicals is that they
are extremely diverse. A drug usually
works by binding to a specific receptor, like a key in a lock. The key needs
to be a certain shape to fit properly
and induce a response. Anaesthetics
however, can range from huge and
complex molecules such as steroids,
to mere atoms, such as the gas xenon.
While it has been concluded that
certain receptors are affected in the
process of rendering someone unconscious, such as the GABA receptor found on nerve cells, we still have
no idea how binding such nerve cells
leads to ‘knocking someone out’. Nick
Franks of Imperial College, who has
tackled this problem for decades,
points out how very differently-structured drugs appear to work in the
same way. “If you look at the brain under both xenon and propofol anaesthesia, there are striking similarities.
They must be triggering some common neuronal change and that’s the
big mystery.”
There may now be an answer to the
issue of anaesthetic awareness, even if
we can’t answer the unknown when
it comes to consciousness. A device has been created by scientists at
Swinburne University of Technology
that can detect if someone is coming out of anaesthesia by monitoring
changes in brain activity. According
to David Liley who worked on the
device, “Measuring how unconscious
a patient is while they are under anaesthetic is particularly important,
because if a patient is not completely
unconscious they will remember the
surgery, which can be quite a traumatic experience.”
This device, aptly named Brain Anaesthesia Response (BAR), uses three
sensors placed on the forehead and
behind the ears to detect electrical
activity. This means that doctors will
be able to adjust drug-delivery if it appears a patient is rousing, eliminating
the chances of surgery awareness and
pain during a procedure.
“The BAR Monitor has the potential to reduce the risks associated with
surgical procedures, increase levels of
patient care, optimise the use of anaesthetic agents, lower costs through
reduced drug usage and in turn create
a faster bed turnaround in the theatre
and post-operative recovery rooms,”
Liley added.
Undergoing general anaesthesia remains one of the most common surgical procedures around the world, even
though, perhaps frighteningly, we
have little understanding of how it actually works. While I was fortunate to
remain memory-free of being worked
on by surgeons, even if I do remember
that giant needle and the bruise afterwards, some patients are not. Waking
up during surgery must be a terrifying experience, and perhaps devices
like the BAR monitor may stop these
events from occurring, while we continue on the difficult quest to understand the human brain.
Pictured:
The operating
room
(Photographer:
Phalinn Ooi)
“
Some people
do remember
parts of
surgery
with serious
psychological
consequences
”
24 SCIENCE
Science attempts to determine our sexuality
The search continues for the ‘gay gene’, but should it?
Pictured:
Gay Pride
balloons in
Toulouse
(Photographer:
Guillaume
Paumier)
“
It has been
noted
that lions,
chimpanzees,
bison and
dolphins, as
well as 130
species of
birds, have
been spotted
in same sex
pairings
Maria Mellor
“
Sexual
attraction
is such a
fundamental
part of life,
but it’s not
something
we know a lot
about at the
genetic and
molecular level
Dr Tuck Nagun
”
S
cience has in the past tried to explain in biological and sociological terms the reasons for homosexuality. It has long been recognised
that sexuality is not a choice, both by
scientists and LGBT rights activists,
but the root cause of it is a mystery.
In evolutionary terms, the survival of the species depends on male/
female pairings to create offspring.
Aside from certain asexual creatures
that can reproduce without a partner,
you’d think that nature would only
need heterosexual reproductive couples, however it has been noted that
lions, chimpanzees, bison and dolphins, as well as 130 species of birds,
have been spotted in same sex pairings. You may have heard stories in
the news in recent years of same-sex
penguin partners in Kent Zoo adopting a chick that had been abandoned
by its biological parents. Is it reasonable to believe that homosexual
partners are actually valuable to the
survival of the species by acting as
surrogate parents to abandoned or
orphaned babies?
A recent study has flooded the media this past week, claiming to have
found that homosexuality may be
caused by chemical modifications to
DNA. Researchers from the University of California studied 47 pairs of
identical twins - 37 twin pairs where
they were both gay, and 10 where
they differed in sexuality. They found
that sexuality may be determined by
epigenetic changes to DNA: chemical modifications that alter DNA
activity without changing the DNA
sequence. With identical twins, they
will have the same genetic sequence,
but may have epigenetic differences.
Researchers looked at methylation
of the DNA, a process that has been
compared to a switch in the DNA
making the effect of it stronger or
weaker. Distinct patterns were found
that seemed to be linked to sexuality.
Dr Tuck Ngun, a member of the
research team, said: “sexual attraction is such a fundamental part of
life, but it’s not something we know a
lot about at the genetic and molecular level.”
There are, however, some things
to note about this experiment before
making any real conclusions. The
study was very small - too small to
be reliable on its own. The research
only considered male twins and not
female, and ignores the fact that
sexuality is not divided into just two
groups, gay or straight. Despite these
facts, popular media has latched on to
the findings. “DNA test that reveals
if you’re gay” claims The Daily Mail,
when in fact the already very small
study correctly classified the sexuality
of the individuals only 67 per cent of
the time. Other articles take the ‘test’
element to twist the study how they
like. Healthline, a website supposedly dedicated to health news, call it
a ‘real-life gaydar’ as if you’re going to
make people take a blood test in Live
Lounge before you start flirting with
them.
The nature vs. nurture debate is
ongoing and long-lasting. Popular
culture likes to believe that mother or
father figures in early life can influence sexuality in later life. Some scientists like to think that there’s some
kind of genetic pattern to be found.
Even with the new evidence found by
the University of California, there is
still no definitive answer.
In the 1990s, a study by American
geneticist Dean Hamer had people
convinced that homosexuality was
genetic and was passed down by
a certain ‘gay gene’. This study has
since tried to be replicated by different sources with hardly any luck in
finding the same results. Research
never seems to take into account that
sexuality isn’t just a binary of gay or
straight, and I doubt they’d be able
to apply any such findings to explain
bisexuality or asexuality for example.
In 2013, there was a study that
found that having more older brothers increases the likelihood of the
next male child being gay. The study
involved nearly 1,000 participants
and researchers examined how many
biological brothers each man had.
The theory is that while carrying sons,
an immune response is triggered in
the mother that increases with each
boy she carries. This is probably the
most convincing piece of evidence to
date to suggest nature over nurture,
but yet again it ignores homosexual
women and sexualities other than gay
or straight. If they can’t prove it for
other sexualities, then as interesting
as the evidence may be, it still doesn’t
give the whole picture.
Sexuality is a difficult matter to
discuss due to its extremely personal nature. Despite the matter being scientifically interesting, finding
a true reason behind sexuality could
be bad news for society. There are
prejudiced individuals out there who
might want to use the ‘DNA test’ for
negative purposes. History is littered
with horrific acts committed with
homophobic intentions to ‘cure’ homosexuality, and if an actual test for
homosexuality fell into the wrong
hands it could be catastrophic. What
if parents wanted to test their children? Or worse, what if they wanted
to test their unborn children to see if
they have the markers.
It’s only been around 40 years since
homosexuality was removed from the
list of recognised mental disorders.
Dr Ngun himself is worried about
what the findings of the new study
could bring, so much so that he abandoned his research in the field completely. He says, “I don’t believe in the
censoring of knowledge, but given
the potential for misuse of the information, it just didn’t sit well with me.”
From a scientific perspective, there
is no ‘cure’, however researchers
still persist to look for a ‘cause’. Julie
Bindel, writing for The Guardian says
‘why is so much effort put into locating a gay gene and not a paedophile
gene?’. As soon as any research possibly indicating that sexuality could
be genetic, it sends the media into a
frenzy.
”
“
If an actual
test for
homosexuality
fell into the
wrong hands
it could be
catastrophic
”
SCIENCE 25
The evolutionary advantage of beards
Want more Tinder matches? Grow some facial hair
Sophie
Young
“
The more
competition
within a
society,
the more
grandiose
males must
make their
features
”
Lizzie Harrett
“
While you
may be partly
genetically
programmed
to
procrastinate,
your
environment
will also
influence you
”
H
ave you found yourself more
attracted to bearded fellows
as of late? Science says you
have, and it can also tell you why.
Dr. Cyril Grueter and colleagues
at the University of Western Australia have recently published an
article in the journal Evolution and
Human Behaviour in which they detail their investigation on males requiring ‘badges’ in order to win the
attention of females in big societies.
Experiments with monkeys support
this observation.
The evidence suggests that the
more competition within a society, the more grandiose males must
make their features if their objective is to be sexually attractive to a
potential mate. Some of these features include cheek flanges in orangutans, elongated noses on proboscis
monkeys, upper-lip warts in golden
snub-nosed monkeys, and beards on
human men.
The experiment was conducted
using 154 species of primate, and a
positive correlation was found between the extravagance of badges
and the extent of competition. The
need to stand out quickly is strong.
Beards are not the only option, Dr.
Grueter also suggests that “body
decoration, jewellery, and prestige
items” can work similarly to serve
this function.
History also provides support for
this argument, as from 1842 – 1971
there were fewer women available
for marriage and during that time
the popularity of beards and moustaches grew considerably.
Alongside dense populations and
easy travel, the online aspect to dating has radically increased the pool
from which people can choose a
partner. Men growing elaborate
beards and moustaches in order to
stand out would fully comply with
the research and observations on
this behaviour. In particular, the
aesthetic value on which people are
judged, particularly online, has fast
become the only means of selection,
as apps such as Tinder require you to
simply swipe left or right after viewing a picture for often just a few seconds. In such situations, personality
may indeed be overrated.
The fashionable nature of beards is
taking its toll on male wallets as the
undertaking of beard transplants has
grown substantially over the last ten
years. Dr. Jeffrey Epstein, an American plastic surgeon, told the New
York Times that a decade ago he
performed around five beard transplants per year, this has now grown
to approximately one per week. The
procedure costs up to £14,500.
Will the taste for facial hair desist?
Competition surely won’t. However as the point is to stand out, it is
possible that if the day comes when
Pictured:
Ladies, form an
orderly queue
(Photographer:
Edoardo
Marino)
“
beards and moustaches are so terribly common, perhaps the babyfaced male will enter the spotlight;
thus continuing the cyclical nature
of fashion, with a little bit of reasoning from science.
Professional procrastinator? It may be in your genes
D
o you prefer reading BuzzFeed articles to your revision notes? Starting a new
series of Pretty Little Liars instead
of that long essay due for next week?
If you are serial procrastinator who
will do anything to put off completing an important task, it may not be
entirely your fault. Researchers have
identified links between genetic
traits and procrastination.
A study published in the Journal
of Experimental Psychology studied
the behaviour patterns of identical
and non-identical twins to determine why some individuals are so
easily distracted. They concluded
that having a procrastination trait
was due to both genetic and environmental factors influencing your
behaviour. Identical twins have the
same genetic makeup and nonidentical share on average half of
their genes. Therefore a higher correlation of a particular factor among
identical twins compared with nonidentical twins would indicate a
greater role for genetic influence.
They divided the key qualities of
procrastination into three main sections. How prone an individual is
to procrastination and goal-failure
were both tested through both types
of twins completing questionnaires
about these two factors. The third
element they were examined on was
executive function performance (essentially mental discipline), which
they tested using game that ‘shifted
mind-sets’ - categorising pictures
according to either their colour or
shape.
They determined that a propensity to procrastinate was partly inherited. The variation of procrastination tendency also overlapped
with genetic factors associated with
goal failures and executive function
ability, although environmental influences also explained the variation
in these results. So while you may
be partly genetically programmed
to procrastinate, the environment
which you put yourself in will also
influence whether you reach for
your university folders or the TV
remote.
However, there is some good
news for those who prefer to log-in
to Facebook over Learning Central.
Procrastinators tend to be better at
shifting mind-sets, meaning you can
move more comfortably from one
task to another. Your butterfly mind
may prevent you from focusing, but
you do have a stronger mental flexibility.
Scientists have not yet been able
to identify the specific genes affecting these behaviours – it is
likely that there are thousands of
gene variants involved. However,
by helping to pick apart the root
causes of procrastination, we can
develop methods that effectively
help circumvent distraction. By
demonstrating that at a genetic and
behavioural level the desire to pro-
crastinate goes hand in hand with
poor goal management, we may be
able to prevent procrastination and
Perhaps the
baby-faced
male will
enter the
spotlight; thus
continuing the
cyclical nature
of fashion
”
limit the influence genetic factors
are having by setting more effective
and achievable goals.
Pictured:
Is time you
enjoy wasting
wasted time?
(Photographer:
Lynn Friedman)
Go Exploring
e
n
i
l
n
O n up
Sig ly
On
Explore the Welsh countryside with us on one of these leisurely
guided Give it a Go strolls. Prices cover transport costs.
Sat 24th Oct
Tenby Seaside Escape
£10
Sat 24th Oct
Angle Pembrokeshire
Coastal Walk
£10
Sat 7th Nov
Sugar Loaf Mountain Walk
£10
Sat 21st Nov
Brecon Beacons
Waterfalls Walk
£10
Sat 5th Dec
Dan Yr Ogof Caves Exploring
£10
+ ENTRY
Sign up online > CARDIFFSTUDENTS.COM/GIVEITAGO
Photo: Andrew Bennett
SOCIETIES 27
societies
Editor: Aletheia Nutt
@GairRhyddSoc
societies@gairrhydd.com
gairrhydd.com/societies
Hannah’s note:
Societies forums
Hannah
Sterritt
VP Societies
H
i everyone, this week in Societies we are hosting the first
Societies Forums of the year
between Monday 19th and Friday
23rd October. This is an opportunity for Committee Members to tell
us about how the year is going for
them, discussing the Societies Fairs,
training, and communication among
many other issues. This is running
four times next week and is a great
opportunity for feedback. We’re also
adding in Society Networking so
members of different Society categories have the opportunity for discussion and collaboration with targeted
sessions. The networking builds on
the Committee Training that committees received at the beginning of
the year, where they were informed
of all the goings-on and logistics of
the Activities department of the Students’ Union and how we are here for
the benefit of you as students. More
details are available on the Students’
Union website.
In addition, the Students’ Union’s By
Elections were held last week and the
results have now been announced
for several different positions: Scrutiny Committee, Student Senate, two
Part Time Officer positions and NUS
National and NUS Wales Delegates,
all who hold a key role in the demo-
cratic processes of the Union. There’s
an exciting year ahead and I’m sure
you’ll hear a lot more about these
roles and how they work for you in
the near future.
One more thing – we’re holding
drop in sessions all day on Tuesday
20th October in the IV Lounge at the
Heath Park campus. If you’d like any
information about Societies, please
pop in and say hello! I’m also available by email at VPSocieties@cardiff.
ac.uk. Hope you all have a great week
and remember, it’s never too late to
join a society - find out more on the
Facebook Guild of Societies page: Facebook.com/GuildofSocieties
English Literature Society are running a
Charity Creative Writing Competition
Poppy
Jennings
A
re you an avid dabbler in poetry or prone to writing a
short story or two? What is it
that inspires your creative flair? What
theme do you often find yourself
drawn to? Whatever it is, we want to
see what you’re capable of. We want
to know the depth of your inspiration this year for our creative writing
competition.
Those of us who run the CU English Literature Society are trying to
raise as much money as we can for the
National Literacy Trust this year, and
to do so we’re hosting a creative writing competition! We’re very excited
to announce this and encourage everyone to get involved, whether you’re
drawn to prose writing or poetry
— we want to see what you have to
offer. If you’d like any more informa-
tion on the charity and all the events
that they themselves host, then you
can find everything on their website:
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk
The limit for short story entries is
1,000 words; the limit for poetry submissions is 100 lines. We want you
to format your pieces however you
choose, and write within any theme
or genre, as long as they don’t exceed
these limits. You can submit as many
pieces as you like but each will have
an individual fee of £4. Members of
the English Literature Society will receive a £1 discount on this fee. Entries
can be bought from http://www.cardiffstudents.com/events/6515/6227/
(on our society homepage) and each
submission must be sent via email to
JenningsP@cardiff.ac.uk with your
name and student number as the sub-
ject of the file so we know who has
entered and paid their fees. Names
will then be made anonymous when
they are sent to be judged, we just
need them on file to be able to announce the winner and distribute
prizes!
The winner(s) of this competition
will have their submission published
in the January edition of Quench
Magazine and receive a range of
prizes, from book vouchers to theatre
tickets to see The Lion, The Witch,
And The Wardrobe at the Sherman
Theatre. Entries will close at 20:00 on
16th November 2015 so make sure to
pay your fee and send in your literary
pieces before then!
Because we are so curious about
each individual’s unique inspiration
for their writing, we’re hoping you
include with your submission what
it is that inspires you. What was it
that sparked the idea you’ve created? Whether it comes in the form
of a photograph or meaningful quote,
we’d like you to attach a file alongside
your literary piece to show us what
encouraged your writing.
It’s perfectly okay though if you
don’t want to, we understand that not
everyone uses outward influences to
inspire them and a lot of work comes
from within. We just thought it would
be a nice companion to your creative writing — something that could
be published alongside the winning
piece to help readers understand its
depth.
We can’t wait to read all the amazing entries, and look forward to seeing whose winning piece is published!
“
Whether you’re
drawn to prose
writing or
poetry - we
want to see
what you have
to offer
”
Teddy Bear Hospital Cardiff are putting on an Acoustic
Night and Bake Sale
Kathryn
Hughes
T
eddy Bear Hospital Cardiff is
a student led society open to
all Medical and Dental students. Their aim is to reduce children’s fears of hospitals, doctors and
dentists through play.
They visit children at school or in
after-school scouting groups such as
Rainbows, Cubs and Brownies using
the fun medium of teddies and stations to teach children about basic
anatomy, tooth-brushing, germs and
healthy eating. Last year they had
15 visits to various groups, allowing
over 120 members to take part!
Before taking part in visits, all
members must have completed a
training session and Child Protection Training, which the society
provides in the autumn term. The
training session familiarises new
members with the equipment they
use on visits and offers the chance to
talk to more experienced members
about how the sessions run.
They also hold fundraising events
and socials to raise money for the
Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital
Charity, who they raised £770.17
for last year! This Wednesday (21st
October), the Teddy Bear Hospital
Society alongside the Paediatric Society are hosting an acoustic night
and bake sale at Highfields Church
(Monthermer Road).
This event will raise money for the
Noah’s Ark Appeal, which is the Teddy Bear Hospital Society’s chosen
charity. Noah’s Ark Children’s Hos-
pital Charity is a charity that raised
enough money to build Wales’ first
ever Children’s hospital, they called
this Phase One of their charity.
Phase Two is to provide equipment such as a MRI scanner and a
hydrotherapy pool. So, as you can
see, Teddy Bear Hospital Cardiff
really do raise money for fantastic
causes.
Please like their Facebook page to
stay up to date with visits and events
throughout the year!
“
The aim is
to reduce
children’s fears
of hospitals
and doctors
through play
”
28 SOCIETIES
Cardiff University Jazz
Society host their first
Jam Night of the year
Jasmine
Claricoates
A
night not to be missed!
If you love everything about
jazz then Yard Bar last Thursday night was the place to be. Above
the downstairs main bar is the Jam Jar
Bar that regularly plays host to Cardiff
University Jazz Society’s ‘Jam Nights’.
Here, in this relaxed environment,
members of the society have the opportunity to get up and perform any
piece of music of their choice. This
night proved to be popular amongst
not only members of Jazz Society, but
also the people propping up the bar
downstairs, who, having heard the
sound of music from above, came to
have a look; an hour in and the Jam
Jar was packed out.
Yard Bar created the perfect atmosphere for a night of jazz, with sofas,
modern decor and cocktails flowing,
there was a chilled vibe surrounding
the whole space. It is the ideal environment to mingle and discuss music
with like-minded people. The intimate setting allowed the audience to
be up close to the performance and
meant that the musicians were able
to interact with the people watching;
encouraging them to clap and dance
along to the music. A wide range of
repertoire was covered; from the likes
of Coltrane to Snarky Puppy, whatever you like, there’s something for you.
Not only this, but the society comes
armed with a range of music books
for people interested in performing to
look at for inspiration.
The best thing about these nights is
that you don’t have to be a hardened
performer to go up and play. You
don’t have to be a music student; eve-
“
ryone is encouraged to get involved
and perform, it’s good to gain experience in such an informal atmosphere.
The Jazz Society are a friendly crowd,
so for many, performing in front of
them can be a great confidence boost,
all members will cheer you along and
give you words of encouragement.
From my experience as a member
of the society, having been along to
many of these sessions I would definitely recommend going along to
take a look. They are organized every
month, so come and chill with friends
new and old at Cardiff ’s hottest Jam
Night!
If you
love everything
about jazz,
then Yard Bar
last Thursday
night was the
place to be
”
Law Society: What’s on?
Katherine
Pugh
T
he law society has an outstanding reputation in the Cardiff
Law School and is governed
by a committee of law students. Joining the society greatly enhances your
experience at university. The society
helps students on a social and academic level. We organise a variety of socials
that help everyone to get to know one
another and make new friends. We
can also help increase your employability as we hold many careers events
alongside many other skill building activities.
The law society comprises of twelve
committee members which were
elected after last year’s elections. The
organisation is governed by our president Chelsea Mitchell, who is constantly working hard to make this year
the best of all! She is planning more socials and holding more events that will
help you to become a successful lawyer
in the future.
There are a vast amount of upcoming events for law society members.
For example, the society is famously
known for their amazing socials! Just
last week we had our first social which
was held in a local pub in Cathays and
then we all headed to a night club afterwards. The night was truly fantastic as the social secretary arranged a
white dress code which meant all law
students could identify one another
which gave everyone the opportunity to mingle and make new friends.
All members had a great time playing drinking games in the pub as well,
which functioned as an icebreaker between students who didn’t know each
other. We are currently planning our
next law social so watch out on our social media pages for upcoming details!
Thanks to the dedication of Tamsin Best, who is our current vicepresident, there is an upcoming trip
to Madrid in November! This is truly
exciting with the tickets selling out in
a mere two days! Madrid is a beautiful
city with a rich history and stunning
architecture. The law society cannot
wait to take Madrid by storm for a total of four days! This year we will also
be travelling in style as we will be flying
instead of taking a long gruelling bus
journey.
Other upcoming events include the
public speaking series which is run by
James Williams. Hate speaking in front
of big crowds? Then why not go to a
public speaking workshop? This is a
great opportunity to put an end to
nervousness and to become a confident and collected public speaker. The
law society holds many public speaking workshops throughout the year.
These events are often held by special
guests such as lawyers from a variety of
different firms, who speak about how
they demolished their fear of public
speaking.
The Law Ball is another event held
by the society. Where do I start describing the event? Well firstly in my
opinion, the Law Ball is the best night
of the year! It is a great chance to glam
up and have an amazing night dancing
with your friends. The ball is usually
held in the picturesque location of City
Hall. It is a themed night with previous
themes being ‘the great Gatsby’ and ‘a
night at the Oscars’. Last year the ball
was so popular that the tickets were
sold out in forty minutes! This year’s
law ball officer is Megan ChisholmJones, and she is hoping that this year’s
event will be the best one yet!
Last but not least is the society’s
magazine known as ‘Unprecedented’
which is a termly magazine and online blog. All articles are written by law
students on any topic, such as travelling or work experience or a subject
in law that interests them. This is also
a marvellous opportunity for society members to showcase their work
and to make new friends. Joining the
sub-committee enhances members
application forms as the best articles
written this year will be published by
Lawyer2B on their website! Although
this is a big commitment joining the
sub-committee as a writer, the law society is there to guide you and help you
every step of the way.
I think this article clarifies how
amazing being a law society member
is and how it can help you leaps and
bounds in making friends and having
all those important skills and experiences on your future application forms!
Society profile: Krishna
Consciousness Society
Ellie
Philpotts
D
o you want to do something
a bit different alongside
your degree? Think about
things beyond where you’re going
for pre-drinks; the odd reference to
your readings; and maybe pondering about what you’ll do when you
graduate?
If you’re struggling for inspiration
but essentially trying to find ways to
engage in the deeper side of life while
still having fun via typical student
experiences of free food and meeting
new people, Krishna Consciousness
may well be what you should join.
We’re a Bronze-tier society transporting spirituality into today’s
world, through studying topics like
‘what does it mean to be truly successful’; ‘why do bad things happen
to good people; and ‘the power of
sound.’
If you’re questioning whether
you’ll be able to pull your weight
when such big issues are the topic
of conversation, fear not. KC Soc’s
socials go beyond just talking – you
can also try your hand at new experi-
ences like meditation; yoga; artwork;
drama; traditional music and even,
perhaps most crucially, directly helping society such as by feeding and
getting to know the homeless. You
can normally catch KC-Soc on Mondays at 6:30pm in Room G, but sometimes socials expand beyond the SU,
or even Cardiff altogether.
The first meet of the academic year
was in the yurt at Milgi, a unique vegetarian restaurant on City Road, and
you even have the chance to explore
the beautiful waterfalls of the Brecon
Beacons on Saturday 21st November
– buy tickets at http://www.cardiffstudents.com/events/11505/6079/
and give it a go!
Cardiff ’s Krishna Consciousness is
among 30 of these University societies, overall offering the perfect platform to evolve the mind, revamp the
definition of ‘structure’ and bring insight by linking similar-minded students. Self-realisation, new skills and
a happier lifestyle can all be attained
by getting involved, so what are you
waiting for?
“
The law
society for
example is
famously
known for
their
amazing
socials!
”
October/Hydref
Andy C All Night
Gabrielle Aplin
27/11/15, £13 ADV
12/02/16, £16.50 ADV
Years & Years
22/10/15 - SOLD OUT
Marina And The Diamonds
28/11/15 - SOLD OUT
Bowling For Soup
Killing Joke
Happy Mondays
29/11/15, £28.50 ADV
Fun Lovin' Criminals
25/10/15, £22.50 ADV
Catfish and the Bottlemen
29/10/15 - SOLD OUT
Treatment Presents:
Halloween Party
December/Rhagfyr
The Story So Far
01/12/15, £14 ADV
14/02/16, £20 ADV
18/02/16, £23.50 ADV
City and Colour
19/02/16 - SOLD OUT
Stiff Little Fingers
28/02/16, £18.50 ADV
30/10/15, from £16.50 ADV
Kodaline
03/12/15 - SOLD OUT
Jess Glynne
31/10/15 - SOLD OUT
November/Tachwedd
The Staves
March/Mawrth
Scouting For Girls
Theory Of A Deadman
12/12/15, £22.50 ADV
03/03/16, £15 ADV
Ash
Machine Head
14/12/15, £17 ADV
10/03/16, £26 ADV
03/11/15, £15 ADV
January/Ionawr
Everything Everything
The Stranglers
18/03/16, £26 ADV
07/11/15, £17.50 ADV
Foals
08/11/15 - SOLD OUT
The Temperance Movement
Boyce Avenue
26/01/16, £14 ADV
19/03/16, £25 ADV
February/Chwefror
Slaves
15/11/15 - SOLD OUT
Neck Deep
Treatment Presents:
Annie Mac
05/02/16, £13.50 ADV
20/11/15, from £18.50 ADV
Public Service Broadcasting
26/11/15, £20 ADV
@CARDIFFUNION
KERRANG! Tour 2016
ft. Sum 41 & more
April/Ebrill
Funeral For A Friend
05/04/16- SOLD OUT
Funeral For A Friend
06/04/16- SOLD OUT
11/02/16, £18.50 ADV
CARDIFFBOXOFFICE
CARDIFFBOXOFFICE.COM
All tickets subject to booking fee
Codir ffi archebu ar bob tocyn
30 TAF-OD
taf-od
Golygydd: Carwyn Williams
@Taf_od
tafod@gairrhydd.com
gairrhydd.com/tafod
Cymru ar lwyfan y byd: Dyma ein hamser ni
N
“
Dan Heard
i wnaeth popeth weithio allan mewn tebygrwydd fel
gwnaeth Chris Coleman a’i
chwaraewyr ei ddychmygu, ond serch
hynny, fydd y noson yna yn Zenica yn
cael ei chofnodi yn hanes tîm cenedlaethol Cymru fel y noson gwnaeth
bron chwedeg mlynedd o hunllef a
galaru dod i ben. Mae enw Cymru
nawr ymhlith Lloegr, Spaen a’r Almaen gan wneud ei phererindod at
Ffrainc haf nesaf, yn claddu pob atgof
ofnadwy o drio llwyddo i gyfaddasu
ar gyfer twrnamaint rhyngwladol yn
sownd yn y gorffennol. Nawr, gaiff
Gymru’r siawns i ddangos y llwyfan
Ewropeaidd yn union beth sy’n gallu
cael ei gwblhau efo waith caled, yr
ymdrech yn ystod yr amserau caled,
ac, wrth gwrs, y don o wladgarwch a
chefnogaeth y tu ôl iddynt.
I roi pethau mewn i fath o bersbectif, y tro diwethaf y gwnaeth Gymru
llwyddo i gyrraedd twrnamaint o
bwys, Cwpan y Byd ym 1958, roedd
Harold Macmillan dal yn Prif Weinidog, bu Elvis Presley efo’i chan No. 1
gyntaf, a Wolverhampton Wanderers
a Preston North End yn ymladd am
ragoriaeth ar ben yr Uwch Gynghrair.
Er y chafodd Cymru ei guro am y
tro gyntaf yn ei grŵp cymhwyso gan
golli i Bosnia-Herzegovina, o ganlyniad dau gol gan Milan Djuric a Vedad
Ibisevic, fe deimlai hyn fel manylion
bach ac efo ddim pwys wrth ystyried
beth y mae’r fuddugoliaeth yn golygu
i sut gymaint o gefnogwyr, ac, mewn
gwirionedd, i Gymru fel cenedl gyfan.
Gwnaeth Cyprus wneud ffafr enfawr
gan guro Israel, yn golygu llwyddiant
inni efo gem i fynd, ac yn sicrhau bydden ni’n gorffen o leiaf yn ail yn ein
grŵp. Roedd dim atal beth yr oedd
wedi cael ei wneud o fewn ein hanes.
Yn ogystal, ar ôl goroesi un o’r grwpiau mwyaf anodd o fewn twrnamaintau diweddar, wnaeth tim cenedlaethol Rygbi Cymru hefyd llwyddo. Er
y llu o niwedion i’w chwarewyr gorau
gwahanol, gwnaeth y tim fel uned llwyddo i gyrraedd y rownd nesaf.
Y broblem nesaf oedd gwynebu
un o’r ochrau gorau rhwngwladol yn
y byd; De Affrig. Mae’r bois, a’r hyfforddwr Warren Gatland yn mynnu ei
fod yn barod am unrhyw her o fewn
“
Y tro diwethaf
y gwnaeth
Gymru llwyddo
i gyrraedd
twrnamaint o
bwys, Cwpan y
Byd ym 1958
”
yr wythdeg muned yn Twickenham.
Mae rygbi yn gêm wedi ei adeladu
ar haen o deimladau wahanol, gan
gynnwys dioddefaint, ac hefyd yn
cylchynu eich galon a’ch enaid hefyd.
Gallech chi gael eich cludo’n bell efo
enaid, efo enaid fel y mae y cefnogwyr
ac, eto, y pobol cyffredin Cymraeg
wedi ei ddangos tro ar ol tro wrth rhoi
popeth tu ol i’r tim, fel y mae’r bois yn
arddangos pob tro y mae nhw’n rhoi y
crys goch a rei gyrff.
Fe wyddai ar ôl y perfformiad yn
erbyn Awstralia fod fwy o manylder
a mwy o ffocws ei angen yn ei ffordd
o chwarae- ond un beth sydd ddim ei
angen yw rhagor o enaid. Wyddai’r
dau dim fydd colli ar ddydd Sadwrn yn golygu diwedd ar ei freuddwyd Cwpan y Byd am o leiaf pedair mlynedd, ond gan wybod fydd
ochor Heyneke Meyer yn un hynod
o galed i dorri lawr, wyddai Gymru
fod ganddynt y nwyddau perffaith i
sicrhau fuddigoliaeth. Feddwl o dan y
bwysau, o dan llygaid filoedd o chefogwyr yn y stadiwm ac yn wylio ar
draws y wlad, feddwl yn fwy glir o dan
y bwysau yma, a feddwl yn fwy glir
eto o dan y pwysau fwyaf dros ben,
hynny sydd angen ei wneud yn erbyn
y Springboks.
Wn i ddim beth y bydd y dyfodol
yn dal am ein dau dîm orau cenedlaethol. Mae gan y ddau ohonynt gyfle
ardderchog, nid ond i arddangos ar
lwyfannau Ewropeaidd a Bydol am
beth yn union y mae Cymru yn gallu
gwneud, ond hefyd yn dal calonnau a
chariad y genedl y tu ôl iddynt efo pob
symudiad, pob gôl, pob cais, pob buddugoliaeth ar a bant o’r cae. Dyma’n
amser ni. Amser Cymru. O leiaf fod
un beth yn sicr, dw i byth wedi bod
mor falch o fod yn Gymro.
Hanner canrif ymlaen:
Gall Dryweryn arall
ddigwydd eto
Carwyn
Williams
“
Y digwyddiad
yn rhan o
ddyddiau
mwyaf
anffodus y
Gymru fodern
”
5
0 mlynedd yn ôl, boddwyd y
bentref bach yng nghalon Cymru. Aeth Capel Celyn i mewn i’r
llyfrau hanes, er mwyn gallu cadw i
fyny gyda gofynion dŵr Lerpwl. Yr
wythnos diwethaf, gwnaeth Alun
Cairns, Gweinidog Swyddfa Cymru,
galw’r hanes fel “pennod gywilyddus
yn hanes Cymru.” Ychwanegodd y
gweinidog bod y digwyddiad yn rhan
o ddyddiau mwyaf anffodus y Gymru
fodern.
Gwnaeth Liz Saville Roberts, Aelod
Seneddol newydd Dwyfor Meirionydd, defnyddio’r pen blwydd i roi rhybudd. Mewn trafodaeth a rhoddwyd
i farcio’r achlysur, cyfeirydd at y gyfraith. Mae’n dweud gall yr Ysgrifen-
nydd Gwladol amddiff yn yr hawl i
ymyrryd ar unrhyw ddeddfwriaeth
Gymraeg a “allai cael unrhyw effaith
difrifol ar adnoddau dwr Lloegr, cyflenwad dwr Lloegr neu ansawdd y
dŵr yn Lloegr.” Yn gyfreithlon felly,
allai Tryweryn arall ddigwydd.
Fel enghraifft ddiweddar, mae’n
dadlau bod galw am tua 700-750 llefydd carchar yng Ngogledd a Chanol Cymru, ac felly mae’r cynlluniau
i adeiladu carchar i dros 2,000 yn un
od. Yr unig gyfiawnhad; swyddi.
Syndod yw clywed bod hwn y gyfraith gyda datblygiadau sylweddol
datganoli, ond mewn gwirionedd
mae’n gwneud synnwyr llwyr…i
Loegr. Mae Cymru’n gyfoethog ar ran
adnoddau naturiol, ond gellir dadlau
da ni byth wedi cael digon o fantais
allan o hyn. Mae’n beth wallgo’ bod
gwlad arall yn cael rheoli mewn ffordd
ar adnoddau naturiol Cymru.
Ond, a yw’r gofynion yma yn dod
lawr i genedlaetholdeb? Mae nifer o
haneswyr yn gweld Tryweryn fel rhan
bwysig o dwf cenedlaetholdeb yn y
1960au. Daeth protestio ar gyfer yr
hunaniaeth Gymraeg o ddifri yn y cyfnod, a wnaeth newid safbwynt gwleidyddol y wlad yn raddol, ac arwain
at dwf Plaid Cymru. Wrth gwrs nid
oedd newid dros nos, ond lewyrchan
bach ar gyfer sicrhau llais gwleidyddol
go ddifri.
Erbyn heddiw, mae’r mwyafrif o
bobl wedi anghofio achos pentref
bach Capel Celyn, heblaw am wers
hanes neu raglen gloi ar y teledu efallai. Dw i ddim yn dweud mai annibyniaeth yw’r ateb hawdd yn syth, ond
yn hytrach y peth pwysicaf yw cael
pobl Cymru i siarad a thrafod eto.
Daeth llais Cymru yn fyw o achos
Dryweryn, sydd wedi cael ei cholli
erbyn heddiw.
Mae rygbi
yn gêm wedi
ei adeladu
ar haen o
teimladau
wahanol,
gan gynnwys
dioddefaint,
ac hefyd yn
cylchynu eich
galon a’ch
enaid hefyd
”
“
O leiaf fod un
beth yn sicr,
dw i byth wedi
bod mor falch
o fod yn Gymro
”
Yn y llun:
Carreg mae
bron pob
Cymro yn
adnabod yn
syth, yn cofio
pentref bach
Capel Celyn
(Ffotograffydd:
Rob Phillips)
32 PARK LIFE
ppark life
Editor: Vacant
@HeathParkCSU
VPHeathpark@cardiff.ac.uk
gairrhydd.com/park-life
Heath Hub
opened
The Students’ Union now has
a presence at the Heath
Neil
Alexander
“
The SU in the
IV Lounge
is now in
line with the
modern look
and feel of the
Park Place
Union
”
T
he Heath Students’ Union was
officially opened by Pro-Vice
Chancellor Patricia Price on
Monday 12 October. Staff from the
Students’ Union were in attendance to tour the new space in the IV
Lounge as well as the 2 new offices.
The SU in the IV Lounge is now in
line with the modern look and feel
of the Park Place Union. It continues to offer all the same services that
the Park Place Union offers but now
has a fabulous new makeover and
is open 9am to 5pm on weekdays.
Each day a service from Park Place
will have a staff member in attendance to speak to Heath students and
better gage how they can meet their
needs. Patricia Price commented on
the colourful, open and fun feel of
the new space and was interested to
know about how the students use the
services.
The two back offices were praised
by Patricia for being bright, inviting
and appealing. One of the offices was
specifically designed for our Student
Advice Service that already has drop
in sessions here on a Monday, to see
any Heath student that wants to discuss issues ranging from academic
to housing. Park Place SU staff will
also be working from the back office
and seeing students on a one to one
basis.
The second office space is a meeting room that will be available for
students to book for group work or
committee meetings. Patricia Price
again praised the room for being
current and lively.
As Patricia was based at the Heath
for 15 years she more than understands the pressure and workload
the Heath students face. She was instrumental in getting the investment
needed to refurbish the space for
the students and will continue to be
a force for change and inclusion for
the Heath campus.
Patricia Price in her official opening speech was to stress the importance of catering for the Heath
students and making them a priority rather than an afterthought. She
puts the emphasis on driving things
forward at the Heath and giving the
Heath students the best service and
experience they can have while they
are here.
Please pop into the new Heath
Students’ Union to see the refurbishment, what we can offer you and how
you can best use the new spaces.
Pictured:
Pro-Vice
Chancellor,
Patricia
Price, with
Katey Beggan
(Photographer:
Cardiff
Students)
My experience of the Moldovan slave trade
Camilla
Selous
S
lavery. If I’m being honest, I always thought it had ended several centuries ago with Wilberforce
and Lincoln. When I went to a talk by
a Moldovan charity called ‘Beginning
of Life’, I was shocked beyond belief
to learn about the realities of Modern Day Slavery. Today, an estimated
27 million people worldwide are ex-
ploited in the commercial sex industry
and as forced labour. This summer I
boarded a flight to Moldova to volunteer for them and learn more about
human trafficking.
Moldova is a small country in Eastern Europe and a terrifying amount
of its population have been trafficked,
primarily into the sex industry in Rus-
sia and Western Europe. When Moldova gained its independence from
the Soviet Union, the economy collapsed and drove almost half the population to leave the country and seek
work abroad. This created a whole
generation of abandoned children incredibly vulnerable to exploitation.
Traffickers lure young girls in with the
offer of jobs abroad only to confiscate
their documents on arrival and force
them into sex work.
Working with Beginning of Life was
the most challenging but inspiring experience of my life so far. One of the
women I met had been sold into slavery by a ‘boyfriend’ looking to exploit
her for financial gain. She had been
completely traumatised but after three
years on BOL’s restoration program
she had undergone a significant healing process and was now training to be
a nurse.
An important lesson I took away
was the need to understand each of
our own skills and limitations when
we want to help a cause we are passionate about. I’m not a lawyer who
can prosecute traffickers, a social
worker who can support survivors or a
psychiatrist who can provide therapy,
but I do have other skills! Whilst there,
I had the opportunity to lead Art,
Dance and English workshops on the
youth camps BOL use as a platform to
educate teenagers about trafficking.
Trafficking is much closer to home
that we’d like to think. Only this July,
the police freed 13 slaves in raid of a
traveller site outside Cardiff. To learn
more, check out ‘the A21 campaign’ or
consider watching the award-winning
documentary ‘Nefarious Merchant of
Souls’.
Pictured:
Chisinau is
the capital
of Moldova
(Photographer:
Pieter van
Marion)
PARK LIFE 33
Katey’s Note: Medics’ Varsity
Last year’s inaugural Medics’ Varsity between Cardiff Medics and
Bristol Medics was a huge success, with Cardiff whitewashing
their rivals at Coombe Dingles in Bristol. In November, the second
instalment of the competition comes to Cardiff!
Katey
Beggan
VP Heath
Park
“
This is a fun
filled day
which allows
Heath students
to take the
sporting stage
”
H
ello! I hope everyone is well.
We are now well underway
with our plans for Medics’
Varsity which will held in Cardiff this
year on Saturday November 21st.
We have all the sports from last year
competing, however we will have a
debut match from Healthcare basketball this year. As I am sure many
of you remember from last year, this
is a fun filled day which allows Heath
students to take the sporting stage
and show off the talent that Heath
students have to offer.
We are hoping to step up what we
have to offer in our package this year
with lanyards, T-shirts, food and
club night entry all being included
with the ticket deals.
Please come along as we hope to
make the event bigger and better
than ever! Have a look out on the
Cardiff Students’ Union website for
more details nearer the time.
In other news we had the Heath
events week last week. Thank you
for everyone who has been involved
with the events from our Quiz night
to our Student Parents social. We
hope to have more social events over
the coming months so please look
out for these.
The University are currently looking into improving security at the
Heath Park site. This will hopefully
involve better lighting and the implementation of CCTV cameras
with the idea that the current spate
of bike thefts will decrease and
overall security around the University buildings will improve. This is
a positive step which will help with
student safety at the Heath Campus.
Enjoy the week ahead! Like I said
last time, my email is vpheathpark@
cardiff.ac.uk. Please feel free to email
me about any issues that may arise
over the coming weeks.
Medics’ Varsity 2015 schedule
Saturday, November 21st
Cardiff
9:00 - Mens Hockey
Astroturf
10:00 - Netball
New Hall, Talybont Sports Village
10:20 - Womens Hockey
Astroturf
11:30 - Basketball
New Hall, Talybont Sports Village
11:30 - Mens Squash
Fitness and Squash Centre
12:00 - Womens Squash
Fitness and Squash Centre
13:30 - Football
Blackweir
14:30 Rugby
Blackweir
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SPORT 35
BUCS Results: Wednesday 14th October
H/A
Sport
H
Badminton
A
Badminton
H
Fencing
H
Cardiff Team
Opposition
Result
W/L/D
Mens 1st
Bath 1st
0-8
L
Womens 1st
Aberystwyth 1st
0-8
W
Mens 1st
Bristol 1st
113-118
L
Football
Mens 1st
Hartpury 2nd
2-1
W
H
Football
Mens 2nd
UWE 1st
2-6
L
H
Football
Womens 2nd
South Wales 1st
1-4
L
H
Football
Mens 3rd (Medics)
UWE 2nd
2-1
W
H
Football
Mens 4th
Cardiff Met 4th
2-1
W
H
Rugby Union
Mens 1st
Bath 1st
7-32
L
A
Rugby Union
Mens 3rd
Cardiff Met 4th
26-35
W
A
Golf
Mixed 2nd
Cardiff Met 2nd
4-2
L
H
Squash
Mens 1st
UWE 2nd
6-12
L
H
Squash
Womens 1st
UWE 1st
12-0
W
H
Squash
Mens 2nd
Swansea 1st
5-14
L
H
Squash
Womens 2nd
Bristol 2nd
0-12
L
H
Volleyball
Mens 1st
Swansea 1st
3-0
W
H
Volleyball
Womens 1st
UWE 1st
3-0
W
A
Lacrosse
Womens 1st
Bournemouth 1st
1-15
W
H
Lacrosse
Womens 2nd
Royal Agricultural Womens 1st
14-1
W
H
Lacrosse
Mens 1st
Bath 1st
3-13
L
A
Lacrosse
Mens 2nd
Swansea 2nd
7-2
L
A
Tennis
Mens 1st
Exeter 2nd
4-8
W
H
Tennis
Mens 2nd
UWE 1st
4-8
L
A
Tennis
Womens 1st
Southampton 1st
3-3
D
A
Netball
Womens 1st
Exeter 1st
35-40
W
H
Netball
Womens 2nd
UWE 1st
36-23
W
A
Hockey
Mens 1st
Cambridge 1st
1-3
W
H
Hockey
Mens 2nd
UWE 2nd
11-1
W
A
Hockey
Mens 3rd
Royal Agriculture 1st
2-2
D
H
Hockey
Womens 1st
Bath 1st
2-3
L
A
Hockey
Womens 2nd (Medics)
Southampton 1st
5-0
L
H
Hockey
Womens 3rd
Bristol 2nd
0-1
L
H
Basketball
Mens 1st
Bristol 1st
59-53
W
H
Basketball
Mens 2nd
South Wales 1st
47-60
L
A
Basketball
Womens 1st
Southampton 1st
63-49
L
A
Table Tennis
Womens 1st
Bath 1st
2-3
W
A
Table Tennis
Mens 1st
South Wales 1st
9-8
L
36 SPORT
NFL at Wembley:
Is it worth the hassle?
Following the recent instalments of the NFL’s International
Series, we ask whether hosting matches in the UK will ever
replicate the real deal
Jack Boyce
“
It felt that
the majority
of the people
were there
to put a post
on Facebook
rather than to
actually enjoy
the event.
”
I
t’s not everyday that you get to
watch some of the best NFL players on the planet, especially when
you’re on the opposite side of the
Atlantic Ocean. So when the fixture
list for the ‘NFL International Series’ was released earlier this year, I
was determined to make it to London to watch some good ol’ NFL. I
ended up getting a ticket to watch
the New York Jets take on the Miami
Dolphins, the first game of the series.
I cannot state how excited I was to
watch my favourite sport with a load
of other people who share the love
for the sport, instead of in front of a
TV screen.
For those that don’t know, the Jets
and the Dolphins is considered to
be a particularly fierce rivalry, so I
thought I was being realistic in expecting some of the passion to spill
over to the UK fans. This was not the
case.
In football, ‘plastic fans’ is a term
which is thrown around to describe
sets of fans that attend the games but
don’t really add much to the atmosphere, hence; ‘plastic’, they are there
but they’re not completely ‘there’. This
term is usually thrown at the biggest
clubs, such as Manchester United or
Real Madrid. They’re teams that attract a whole load of tourists from
around the world who will go to the
game, buy some merchandise, take a
shed load of photos and look around
bewildered. This usually only extends
to a fairly small section of fans attending matches, so the atmosphere
is not always adversely affected.
Now, magnify this concept to a
90,000 seater stadium and then the
overall experience does take a hit.
The image of some guy wearing a
Dolphins jersey with ‘Tannehill 17’
(the most popular Dolphins player)
emblazoned on the back, carrying an
£8 hotdog in one hand and a £5 beer
in the other, posing for a photo in
the middle of the walkway is etched
into my brain forever. I thought it
would be funny to count the amount
of times it happened throughout the
game, but then I lost track of the
number due to the sheer number of
times it occurred.
I get that this event is quite unique,
and that you may want to get a photo
of yourself enjoying the festivities
to post on your several social media
profiles, but when you’re not even
paying attention to the game – that
really gets under my skin. It felt
that the majority of the people were
there to put a post on Facebook that
they’ve been to the game, rather than
actually enjoying the event.
American Football is also quite
a nuanced sport that doesn’t really
translate so well to the British public.
In football or rugby it’s quite easy to
enjoy the game, even as a casual –
when someone gets close to scoring
or does score then you should cheer
or sigh depending on what team
you’re supporting. American Football has a few unspoken rules that
the Americans are used to, but not so
much the British. One of these is that
when the quarterback is communicating to the rest of his team, his
fans should be as quiet as possible so
there are no possible mix-ups. Again,
this is something that the crowd did
not understand. Every time Ryan
Tannehill was calling plays, the majority of Dolphins fans got louder
in an ill-advised attempt to spur on
their team. This actually became a
detriment to the team, and you could
see the Dolphins players get frustrated at how they were essentially being
dragged down by their own support.
It wasn’t all on the British public,
though. The USA’s truly awful habits came out in full force during the
down sections of the game. There
were painfully cringe-worthy attempts to initiate such old favourites
such as the ‘kiss cam’ (which was
only successful twice after many,
many attempts), the ‘flex cam’, ‘party
cam’ and other variations of finding people in the crowd to do stupid
shit. Cheerleaders were sent out to
‘pump up’ the crowd by shooting tshirts out of cannons and doing their
regular routines as many times as the
players took the field, and it all felt
like a half-hearted attempt to Americanise a crowd which, well, wasn’t
American.
It also didn’t help that the NFL
were essentially acting like those of
us who were properly invested in the
game had no idea what was happening and that they needed to explain
every detail like we were a child. The
announcer’s favourite lines included
such mind-numbing explanation like
“That was a run play that went for 12
yards and that means that’s another
first down” and so on. The NFL even
went so far as to air a video in the stadium of a reporter asking fans such
dull questions as “what is the name
of the person who throws the ball?” It
seemed to target those who had only
ever watched the Superbowl once
for that time Beyoncé was the halftime entertainment, instead of the
vast amounts of actual NFL fans who
were excited to watch their favourite
sport in person.
If talks about there being a permanent NFL team in London are true,
the plans need to be scrapped immediately. The NFL and anywhere else
in the world does not mix, at least
not yet. Maybe give it a few more
years until the UK becomes more
versed in the sport and then we can
come back to the debate.
Pictured:
Wembley Way
on game day
(Photographer:
mingles27/
flickr)
“
If talks about
there being
a permanent
NFL team in
London are
true, the plans
need to be
scrapped
”
SPORT 37
Continued: Wales
confirm Euro
2016 berth
Continued
from back
page
“
Wales are
more than
just a oneman team
”
Jim Harris
record? Bale actually turns up to play
on a regular basis, hence, along with
other reasons, his superior impact
on the national team. Also, there is
the fact that Giggs’ world-class status is a total myth. Though a quality player, he was never the consistent match-winner that Bale is – but
perhaps that is an article for another
day.
Wales are more than just a oneman team, however. The tag ‘Gareth
Wales’ is amusing, but unjust. No
keeper kept more clean sheets than
Wayne Hennessey during qualifying,
whilst Ashley Williams was consistently impressive as both a player and
captain. Hennessey, Williams and
right-back Chris Gunter played in
every match of the campaign, giving
the defence vital solidity and stability.
The impact of players such as Bale
and Williams is undeniable. But the
qualifying group, the Welsh, found
themselves in was far from unnavigable. Indeed, if the teams in Group
B were to be ranked according to
players’ individual quality, then
Wales would surely only drop one
place. Even this would be a contentious decision: Bosnia – who would
take second position in our theoretical table – are a side dotted with
talent but who, much akin to Wales
themselves, have little strength in
depth.
Had the Welsh indeed fallen just
short of automatic qualification,
the playoffs would have provided a
welcome lifeline. Expansion of the
European Championships from a 16
to a 24 team format means that, for
the first time, third-placed finishing
sides will contest a two-legged tie
for a place at next summer’s tournament.
Wales were beaten to a place at the
2014 World Cup by Croatia and Belgium and for the 2010 tournament,
it was Russia and Germany. Ahead
of the 2012 Euros, Switzerland and
England both finished above The
Dragons, so all things considered,
it is perhaps no surprise that Wales
have previously struggled to qualify
for these competitions. But with a
favourable group draw and an ex-
panded competition format this time
round, the prospect of making the
European Championships in France
was something much more realistic.
When extreme points of view
come together and clash, reality invariably lies somewhere in-between.
Has this been a monumental and
completely unexpected triumph on
behalf of Chris Coleman and his
men? No. Qualification from the
group Wales were in was definitely
achievable, and they have a string of
quality players now, including one
genuinely world-class star in Bale.
Does Welsh success owe itself simply, therefore, to pot luck – with
How Euro 2016 will work
Group A
Group B
Group C
1.
1.
1.
2.
2.
2.
3.
3.
3.
4.
4.
4.
Group D
Group E
Group F
1.
1.
1.
2.
2.
2.
3.
3.
3.
4.
4.
4.
W
ith the long and gruelling
qualification period out
of the way, many of Europe’s top nations, including Wales,
can now begin preparations for next
summer’s European Championships in France. 2016 will be the first
Championships with 24 competing
nations after UEFA expanded the size
of the tournament. And so arises the
question – how will the new format
work?
Formerly, the European Championships had 16 teams, shared across
four groups. The top two sides from
each group would qualify for the
quarterfinals, before semifinals and a
final would ensue. With 24 teams involved in 2016, the format and structure is somewhat more complicated:
Groups will again consist of four
teams, but this time spread over six
groups with the top two sides still
automatically qualifying for the next
round. UEFA have though, for 2016
and beyond, introduced an additional ‘knock-out’ stage, meaning that,
of the 24 competing nations, 16 will
progress out of the group phase.
With 12 teams set to qualify automatically for the ‘Round of 16’, the
four best performing third-place
sides will also make it through to
complete the draw. These teams will
be determined by total points obtained primarily, however if this is
level between nations, goal difference
will decide it, as per normal, ahead
of goals scored. Like any other major
football tournament, the quarterfinals will follow for winners of each
‘Round of 16’ tie, before the semifi-
nals and of course, the final, which
takes place in Paris on 10th July.
In regards to the group stage draw,
this will take place on 12th December 2015 in the French capital. Wales
will then discover who awaits them
in next summer’s major tournament: their first for 58 years. Given
Wales’ poor (lack of ) record in recent
competitions, Chris Coleman’s side
are seeded in Pot Four for the draw
meaning, in a worst case scenario,
they could face the challenge of overturning Poland, Italy and Germany
before the knock-out stages. A match
up with England in next summer’s
Championship is not out of the question either, but fellow home nation
Northern Ireland join Wales in Pot
Four so there is no chance of a meeting there.
changes to the tournament format
and a favourable group draw both
benefiting the nation? Not at all.
The team played well throughout
the campaign, and overcame some
strong sides - notably beating Belgium and finishing above Bosnia,
who were at the 2014 World Cup. In
days gone by, even fourth-placed Israel would have been viewed as fairly
formidable opposition.
So can Wales really deliver in
France next summer? Of course
they’ll need Bale to stay fit, and a
good group-stage draw but this is the
best Welsh side in decades, so who’s
to say they won’t go far?
Pictured:
Aaron Ramsey
celebrates his
goal against
Andorra
(Photographer:
Huw Evans)
Who’s qualified already?
France (as hosts)
England
Czech Republic
Iceland
Austria
Northern Ireland
Portugal
Spain
Switzerland
Italy
Belgium
Wales
Romania
Albania
Germany
Poland
Russia
Slovakia
Croatia
Turkey
38 SPORT
BUCS Rugby: Cardiff first XV
beaten by resolute Bath
James Lloyd
“
Cardiff bossed
Bath at the
scrum and it
was the only
area of the
game which
they seemed
to dominate.
”
Harry Elliott
Cardiff Blues
Columnist
C
fitness was pivotal to their win. He
told Gair Rhydd Sport: “They were
a bit rusty, but to be fair to them it’s
their first game of the season, whilst
we have had a couple already and
haven’t started great.
“They weren’t a bad side, they
were probably the better team in
the second half, so congratulations
to them and I’m sure they’ll do well
this season.” Roberts and scrum half
Petrozzi both entered the game having played at the Red Bull European
Seven’s Championships. Roberts
said: “We ended up playing at The
Rec in front of 15,000 people, so that
was unbelievable.”
Both Wilson and Roberts quickly
turned the focus to Wednesday’s
crunch match with Cardiff Met. Wilson added: “It’s massive for us, we
need to be working hard and then fly
into Cardiff Met, a derby next, what
more do you want really? It’s a big
game to react to and we can do a job
I hope.”
ardiff University’s Rugby first
team fell to a disappointing
32-7 loss to the University of
Bath in their season opener at Llanrumney.
Cardiff, who entered the game
having not lost at “The Fortress” in
18 months, were hampered by firsthalf injuries and went down 10-0
within the opening fifteen minutes.
Cardiff flanker Sam Montieri was
stretchered off in the 18th minute,
delaying the game for half an hour.
Montieri was taken by ambulance
with a suspected broken left leg.
And Cardiff never seemed to get
a grip on the game after the restart,
despite some big scrums.
In a quiet first half, Bath scored
on the cusp of half time, with a well
worked try. Luca Petrozzi crossed
over after slick handling work on the
right flank to make it 18-0. Formerly
on the books of Treviso, scrum half
Petrozzi had a strong game and was
at the forefront of the majority of
Bath attacks.
After the interval, Cardiff knew
they had to come out fighting and
simply had to score the first points
of the second half to have any chance
of a comeback. Just two minutes in,
Bath made it 25-0 with a converted
try by their left winger.
Cardiff bossed Bath at the scrum
and it was the only area of the game
that they seemed to dominate.
Plagued with injuries, the pack had
to reshuffle with hooker Jack Haines
being shipped to fill in at Number 8.
Cardiff continued to press and
their build up was patient and precise. Some slick passing between
the backs and some strong breaks
by centre Matt Roberts led to the
breakthrough after a battling drive.
Tom Boot crossed over with 20 minutes remaining and closed the gap to
18 points.
A fresh burst of confidence had
hit Cardiff after their score and their
rugby became fluid and dynamic.
Bath’s defence, however, was resolute throughout the entire match as
Cardiff were pushed further back.
After a series of phases, Bath’s defence held up, much like Australia’s
against Wales last week.
With the last play of the game,
Bath managed to secure a bonus
point win as their open-side flanker
crossed over under the posts. The
conversion was duly converted to
seal victory for Bath.
Making his debut as captain, Tom
Wilson praised Bath’s strong defence.
After the game he commented: “We
came back and battled as hard as we
could but fair play to their defencethey held strong and we couldn’t
break it today. They came out the
blocks and started very well.”
Outside centre, Matt Roberts,
who, on a number of occasions managed to break through the brick wall
Bath defence believed early season
experience and sharpness was key to
the loss, saying: “It’s our first game
back whilst Bath have had two games
so far, we were just a bit rusty in the
first game.”
He added: “We have quite a lot to
work on but I’m proud of the boys,
everyone put a good shift in. We had
a young side out with some freshers
so it’s important to give them a few
more weeks of experience.”
Bath full back, Cam Roberts, applauded Cardiff ’s second-half efforts
and hinted that early season match
You can watch Cardiff University
take on Cardiff Met on Wednesday at Cyncoed, 7:00pm kick off.
It would be unfair to expect fireworks at
this early stage in Danny Wilson’s tenure
as Cardiff Blues’ Head Coach.
Any new man in charge needs time
to implement their style of play and way
of thinking - something which is rarely
ever an overnight fix.
Perhaps then, it is no surprise that
some of the ghosts from last season
continue to haunt the Blues, having
made a somewhat mediocre start to the
Pro12 season.
A last gasp try for Connacht cost
them two weeks ago: a fixture that the
Blues would certainly have been hopeful
of getting something from. The positive
is that a 36-31 away loss earned them
two bonus points and they now occupy
7th position in the Pro12 table (as of
Gameweek 3).
Wilson, who succeeded Mark
Hammett at the Arms Park, will likely
have run defensive drills this past week
as his side go into a succession of several
difficult away games, including trips to
Ulster and Italian outfit Zebre- whom
the Blues’ sole win this season came
against.
Whilst the Blues are the league’s top
scorers after three games, they also
boast one of the leakiest defences with a
whopping 72 points conceded already. If
these defensive frailties can be quashed
then the Blues should feel relatively
confident on their travels. Zebre should
be a routine win and the Blues will
look to test themselves against last
year’s Pro12 semi-finalists Ulster, who
will be missing some players on Irish
international duty.
Wilson probably isn’t overly jubilant
about the national side’s impressive
World Cup campaign - as far as the
38-year-old is concerned, the sooner he
gets his key players back the better.
It should be noted that Blues are by
no means the worst affected with squad
absences but, with Wales having been
hit so hard by injuries, Blues players have
enjoyed more game time in the national
squad– themselves risking injury.
With a slow and steady start to Pro12
life, for Danny Wilson the message is
clear – shore up the defensive side of the
game and the wins will come.
The prolific boot of Rhys Patchell and
impressive try-scoring exploits of back
rower Josh Turnbull hopefully offer a
glimpse of things to come, but progress
must start sooner rather than later.
CARDIFF
7
Tries: Tom Boot
Cons: Lewis Molloy
BATH
32
Tries: Cam Roberts,
Luca Petrozzi, Will Monroe, Pat Jenkinson
Cons: Zack Henry (2),
Will Flinn
Pens: Zack Henry (2)
SPORT 39
Sport Spotlight: Dancesport
This week in Sport Spotlight, Gair Rhydd Sport sent Tom Hall down to
the Great Hall to give Dancesport a go. Hear what he had to say as he
popped some moves on the dancefloor.
Tom Hall
“
In the hours
beforehand I
was excited by
the prospect of
dancing with
the inevitably
beautiful girls
”
Shaun Davey
Cardiff City
Columnist
I
feel like we should get a few things
clear before I begin: I am not a
natural or willing dancer, other
than the odd effort at a decidedly
wooden and completely humiliating
version of ‘dad dancing’ in a nightclub
(usually aided by some form of Dutch
courage). So you can imagine my
apprehension when the call came
for me to give Dancesport a go.
In the hours beforehand I was
excited by the prospect of dancing
with inevitably beautiful girls.
However, I knew my skills would not
entice them. It was like going hunting
with a jukebox – plenty to shoot,
but nothing would come near me.
As the time came for me to head to
the Great Hall for a showdown with
my own lack of coordination, I donned
my best Adidas tracksuit, applied
an elegant amount of deodorant – I
knew I was going to sweat; collected
my friend who had agreed to
accompany me and made the walk.
Opening the door to the Great Hall
I was instantly greeted by the leading
lights of the society. My nerves
left me - these were normal and
exceptionally friendly people. There
were many who had just started
and I felt I could easily fit in. It was
Since Cardiff City’s relegation from
the Premier League in 2014 there
has always been an air of animosity lingering around the Cardiff City
Stadium.
A mixture of poor performances,
together with Vincent Tan’s controversial ‘identity’ rebrand has created
a somewhat disillusioned fan-base.
Yet in spite of this, the Bluebirds
have made an encouraging start to
the 2015/16 campaign and remain in
touching distance of the top teams.
So why have recent attendances only
peaked at a mere 13,950?
clear this was no club for elitism –
they were the definition of inclusive
and displayed all the traits that
have made them a Gold tier society.
Pleasantries exchanged, it was
time for me to dance and the nerves
returned. An exceptionally smartly
dressed instructor flew into the
first steps of the ‘Cha Cha’ with his
glamourous assistant. They were
more fluid than a river, more in time
than a clock and possessed a serenity
that I could not achieve if I broke into
meditation on the spot. My God they
were good. To make matters worse,
my fellow dancers began copying the
steps with an unerring accuracy. This
would be me in a minute. I felt sick.
We were instructed to pair up to
begin with, and before I could feign
illness or run away, a very smiley girl
flew into my arms. I paused to wipe
the newly formed sweat from my
hands on my trousers and composed
myself to display my incompetence.
The first step was a catastrophe,
my ego carried me through and I
managed to giggle my way to the
end of the dance. I apologised to my
elegant partner for my inadequacy, in
the hope she would provide me with
a confident-boosting compliment.
Tan is seen by many as the main
factor behind Cardiff ’s off-the-field
troubles and fans have subsequently
boycotted the stadium since their
relegation to the Championship.
But now that the traditional blue
kit is back, the mistakes of the last
few years need to be learnt from.
Stability must be restored and only
then can dreams of promotion return to the South Wales club.
For some, it’s manager Russell
Slade. There is an ever-growing consensus around the terraces that the
former Leyton Orient boss is not the
It never came, she just broke into a
wry smile. Alas, she was a class act.
I then gained some counselling
from a fellow male dancer, who
keenly gave me some tips – this
really is a friendly society. Before
I could transmit my newly gained
knowledge of dancing to my limbs,
my next partner appeared in front of
me. More sweat. I thanked my earlier
exuberant deodorant application.
As we progressed through more
of the Cha Cha, incorporating
spins and ‘New Yorkers’, I began
to feel more and more at home.
Spending most of my time
laughing at the amount of innuendo
in dancing, we needed to be more
“firm”, one girl saying “you need to
take control” but also to “relax”. I tried
and failed to hide my amusement.
On one spin, we needed to be like a
door so that the girl could push off.
Unfortunately I am clearly more of
an open plan living kind of guy and
was displaying none of the doorlike characteristics that my Yodaesque instructor was looking for.
During the interlude, I paused to
speak to the instructor and gain some
tips. I needed to channel my inner
Darcey Bussell if I was to redeem
right man for the job. Despite Slade’s
turbulent first year in charge, promotion is still a realistic target for
Cardiff, who are only a handful of
points shy of the league leaders.
Joe Mason’s goals thus far have
been integral to The Bluebirds’
bright start, but there have also been
encouraging contributions from Peter Whittingham and on-loan winger
Sammy Ameobi.
The threat is real for Cardiff and
the message from the fans is clear;
if play-offs are not achieved this
year, the club faces the risk of fall-
my shattered reputation. He advised
me to dance within my gate with
smaller steps. I have always walked
through gates and could not see one
in sight, so decided to ignore him and
continue with my lunging steps in the
hope that my zesty approach to the
routine would change dance forever.
I aimed to pioneer a new form
of dance that involved wild steps
and treading on your partner’s feet.
However, Yoda put a stop to this by
introducing another dance. Again,
more perspiration. He then singled
me out as a case example of someone
taking too big steps. His exact words
were “I was too big”, to which I
instantly replied by remarking how
girls had never had that problem
and the room broke into laughter.
Humour though, was no cure
for my appalling dance moves and
the final style was too much for my
limited skill- crumbling tragically like
the ruins of a once great building. My
evening was over and I had genuinely
enjoyed myself. After thanking some
victims for their patience, it was time to
rehydrate in The Taf and reflect upon
my misspent youth playing football.
I wish I had taken up ballroom
dancing aged 12 so I could have
looked some of my ‘victims’ in the
eye, rather than looking down at
my feet crashing into theirs. I wish I
could have given them a sweat-free
handshake and accepted the offer of
another dance. That said, there is no
time like the present to learn in and
when I can find the time, such was
my enjoyment, I intend to return.
Cardiff Dancesport have two
separate options if you have been
taken in by my experience; a social
membership, which is low on
commitment and has a selection of
available classes, costing a mere £5
and a £35 team membership for those
who have read this and thought they
are better than me. I would question
your judgement if you haven’t!
I cannot advocate it enough. The
team is all-inclusive and anyone
can compete, a policy that has not
hindered their success having won
UK gold last year in Blackpool.
To find out more information
on Dancesport, you can check
their section on the AU website.
ing into Football League ‘wilderness’,
where previously ‘top’ clubs struggle
to return to the top flight. The likes
of Blackburn, Bolton and Middlesbrough spring to mind.
The Cardiff soap opera has taken
some steps in the right direction,
though, including offering reduced
home tickets to Cardiff games for
students. A policy they need to
maintain in order to create an influx
of new fans to the club. That said, a
vocal home support, along with success on the field, will undoubtedly
lead to some supporters returning.
“
I wish I had
taken up
ballroom
dancing aged
12 so I could
have looked
some of my
‘victims’ in the
eye, rather
than looking
down at my
feet crashing
into theirs.
”
Pictured:
Members of
Cardiff Uni
Dancesport
(Photographer: Cardiff
Uni Dancesport)
sport
p
Editors: Jim Harris James Lloyd Jason Roberts Jamie Smith
@GairRhyddSport
sport@gairrhydd.com
gairrhydd.com/sport
Also this week
Cardiff Uni Rugby slump to
season-opening defeat P38>>
Wales make history, but
what’s next?
Why the NFL won’t work in the UK
P36>>
Wales have qualified for their first major tournament since
1958 by booking a place at Euro 2016 in France. With star
players such as Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey, can they
deliver on the biggest stage?
Joe Fletcher
W
ales closed their historic
European
Championship Qualifying campaign
on Tuesday night, finishing with a
comfortable victory over Andorra
to confirm second place in Group B.
Fittingly, Gareth Bale had the final
word with a goal which wrapped up
the match in the 86th minute. And
so, the team will be in France next
year – their first appearance at a major tournament since 1958.
Such a fact will tell you that the
campaign has, without doubt, been
a successful one for Chris Coleman’s
side. Whilst this latest success will
taste sweet, and the team are right
to celebrate, now is the time to look
forward - to progress. As with any
team in sport, continual assessment
and evaluation is essential if you are
to progress, and there is plenty of
preparation required for this Welsh
outfit ahead of next summer.
A criticism frequently aimed at the
Welsh national team is that they are
far too reliant on Gareth Bale. Could
they cope if, heaven forbid, he were
to get injured? The short answer to
that question is no, probably not.
Wales have scored 11 goals across
this European Qualifying campaign:
Bale has seven of them - crucial goals
too. The Real Madrid man hit both
when Wales scraped past Andorra in
the opening game; two in the home
win against Cyprus a year ago; and
the only goal in the return leg last
month; as well as, of course, ‘that’
goal in the historic 1-0 victory over
Belgium in June. You get the gist.
As with other high-class players like Wayne Rooney for England and
Cristiano Ronaldo at Madrid. Bale’s
most important attribute is his abil-
ity to penetrate defences despite the
fact he doesn’t always control the
game as a player of his calibre might.
In short, even if he’s playing badly, he
still has a handy knack of putting the
ball in the back of the net; and for
Wales, at all-important times too.
He’s also committed, and should
be commended for it. Take the example of Ryan Giggs - also a Welsh
left-footed winger considered to be
world-class in his prime. He is frequently hailed as one of the greatest
Premier League players of all time.
Yet in a 16-year international career,
he managed just 64 appearances for
his country, whilst Bale – at 26 years
old – has ten fewer Welsh caps and
already seven more goals.
After his first appearance for
Wales in 1991, Giggs missed 18
consecutive friendly matches - how
can a player ever expect to lead his
country to success with that sort of a
Pictured:
Wales celebrate
after beating
Andorra 2-0 to
kick start the
party in Cardiff.
(Photographer:
Jon Candy)
Continued on
page 37
Complete BUCS results
P35>>
Sport Spotlight: We have a go at
Dancesport P39>>