FOR NEWCASTLE STUDENTS!
Transcription
FOR NEWCASTLE STUDENTS!
N E WC A S T L E UNIVERSITY Z < 2 M lv / ^ S ARCHIVAL' CO NOT TO BE LIBRARY W /\ C> / ' U Spicy Beanburger.. ...get one REMOVED Free! with this coupon Thursday, October 14,1993 Issue No.880 Price 25p KING BURGER v ■ a mmm V ) "Special TABLOID STYLE EXCLUSIVE edition.” e Students narrowly escape injury in Fenham bus attack -Page 2 - This Is War. UAU 'Poly* Derby match preview -The Back Page- 3 5 . (0 1 JOKE HOLIDAY MARRIAGE SHOCK FOR NEWCASTLE STUDENTS! BSE by James Lyons IN A MOMENT OF MEX ICAN MADNESS h o li daying Newcastle University students, Rad Neville and Sarah Jones decided to get married “for a laugh.” ■ Rad Neville and Sarah Neville They did not realise the ceremony would be legally binding when they returned home. T h e cou p le, w h o lost all o f their luggage three days before returning to the UK, w e r e m arried at a registry office in the border tow n o f T iju a n a in th e B aja California region o f M exico. T h ey insist, “W e ’re not in lo v e ” and are settling d ow n to a life o f married bliss liv ing three doors aw ay from e a c h o th e r in W in g r o v e Road, Fenham. S p e a k 'n g o f th eir u n ion Raa p roclaim ed h im self to b e “A s h a p p y as a p ig in shit.” H e revealed that he p ro posed during a 26hr coach jou rn ey, c o n vin c in g Sarah to accept b y promising, “I ’ll w o rk really hard and buy you a piano and a cucum ber frame." Sarah herself gives rather d iffe re n t reasons fo r th eir action s - “W e ll y o u g e t a (nee Jones) not settling down to marital bliss three doors apart. fr e e p re s e n t o n c e a y e a r and besides w e didn’t fancy marrying anyone else so w e th ought w e m igh t as w e ll m a rry e a c h o th e r f o r a laugh.” Ia n C o le , a fe llo w New casde student and trav elling com panion, acted as photographer/w itness/best m an a n a b rid e s m a id . H e haggled for the price o f the cerem ony, reducing it from $100 to $50. M e a n w h ile Rad fo u n d a rin g o n th e b e a c h , bu t OFFSHORE 44 w h e n it s n a p p e d h e w as fo r c e d to s h e ll o u t th e princely sum o f $1.95 for a replacement. Ian said o f the ceremony: “It was surreal, I was laugh ing so much I could hardly tak e the pictures. It is a le g a l m a rr ia g e , t h e y ’ re f*” **g mad .1 w ent with the flo w . T h e y g o t m arried, I got a tattoo.” Sadly the cou p le’s families have failed to see the lighter side o f their actions. N o w that his parents are talking to him again, Rad’s m other accuses them of, “Making a m ockery out o f the institu tion o f marriage.” R ad ’s first m e e tin g w ith his n e w fath er-in -law w as not much m ore successful, “H e didn’t speak to m e and was carrying a p o w e r drill, it was dead scary.” Although the couple have no immediate plans to raise a fam ily, w h en asked h o w lo n g it w o u ld last, th e y replied in a m ocking tone: “forever.” 100% vegetable patty, breaded and golden fried, served with ketchup, fresh tomato and two slices of cheese in a long sesame seed bun...and on special offer for a limited time only Valid only at 24 Northumberland Street, Newcastle Cannot be used in conjunc tion with any other offer. University campus threat to protected wildlife by Simon Bird PROTECTED WILDLIFE is under threat from a new £5 million campus bein g built by the University o f N o rth umbria. Conservation and w ild life groups claim the next phase o f the w ork on the pioneer ing scheme at Longhirst Hall near M o r p e th , N o r th um berland, w ill dam age a b a d g e r sett w h ic h is p r o tected b y law. English Nature has objected to the plan to build accommo dation for more than 600 stu dents in an out o f town cam pus. N orthum bria W ild life Trust has also expressed con cern o v e r the proposals on badgers. English Nature claim a pro p o s e d n e w student access road to the student flats will cut through badger setts. The N orth u m b erlan d T ra in in g and E nterprise C ou n cil is transform ing Longhirst Hall into Britain’s first commercial campus. By 1997, Northumbria University plans to have 600 students a year working there. The project will also include high er edu cation facilities, m anagem en t trainin g and business innovation centres and w ill o ffe r courses in tourism , m anagem en t and international business studies Independent ecologists and the w ild life trust’s B ad ger Group are having talks with the applicants in a b id to overcome the problems. Assistant conservation offi cer o f English Nature, Jenny L orin g says the plans w ill damage the setts unneccessarily ana should be rejected. In a letter to Castle Morpeth Council’s planning committee, Loring adds that it is vital the full extent o f the badgers’ use o f the area is in vestigated before the work goes ahead. A report to the committee by the planning officer says the issue o f the badgers is a serious one which merits fur ther investigation. NEW TERM ~ NEW HORIZONS ~ NEW RESOLUTIONS ( SAME OLD INSOBRIETY) HAPPY HOUR 4PM - 8PM FRESHERS SPECIAL - GET COMPLETELY SMASHED WITHOUT ENDING UP SMASHED ~ TEST TUBE COCKTAILS £1 EACH or SIX FOR A FIVEBl Sandhill,Quayside, Newcastle.Phone(09!) 2610921 ALARMINGLY WELL PRICED COCKTAILS - ALL £1.45 , *2 Newcastle Student News Thursday October 14, 1993 Students come under Bag o’ attack on night-time Shite Fenham bus journey VIOLENT CRIME IN FENHAM re ach ed n e w heigh ts o f lunacy last week when a bus c a rry in g sev e ra l students was stoned by teenage thugs. The bus was travelling along Westgate Road when, according to 3rd year student Paul Smith, “There was a huge bang and glass shattered everywhere. I looked up and there w ere 2 fist-sized holes either side o f the bus.” The stones had rocketed through the width o f the top deck o f the bus, narrowly miss- by Maxine Frith ing one student and showering glass over her head. In the ensuing chaos, the bus continued on its journey; the driver apparently unaware of the hysteria above, as the frantic stu dents thought they were the intended victims of a gun-toting madman. When eventually alerted to his passengers’ plight, the driver sim ply told them to sit downstairs. A still shocked student told 72?eCourier, “We know going out on a Monday night is fairly scary, but you don’t expect to come within an inch of your life on top of the number 40.” The Police estimated the dam age to the bus at £150. A spokesman for Newcastle Police said they had little hope of find ing the adolescent assailants. They believed the incident hap pened outside Westgate Primary School. After the recent spurt of crime committed by young offenders, could these youthful yobs be mere primary school kiddies? WELCOME PACKS have been received with a mixture o f derision and disbelief. Students pondered the practi cal value o f a 4 page Newcastle Brown advert/ poster and whether half price Daily Mails for a year is cheaper than buy ing bog roll. Meanwhile, Level 2 resounded to cries o f “W h ere’s the Marmite/Pot Noodle/Vidal Sasoon ‘Wash & G o ’” from hardened second and third years banking on the packs to last them until their grant comes through. Third year history student, Doug, said “It’s sexist and shit my skin really cracks up in the winter; why don’t blokes get any moisturising soap?” Computer science student, Andy, pointed out that panty pads are always useful for cleaning up around the kitchen and they should be included in all the packs. James Lyons Controversy over ‘sexist’ Conservative Students Newcastle scien poster campaign tists injections breakthrough NEW CASTLE’S CONSERVA TIVE STUDENTS cau sed a p o litic a l sto rm at the Freshers Societies Fair when one o f their posters adver tised a seductively dressed w o m a n p ro c la im in g that, “L ife ’s B etter U n d e r a Conservative.” Com plaints flo o d e d into mem bers of the Union Executive Committee about the alleged sexist connotations o f the poster. The poster was accused o f being demeaning to wom en and contravening Union byelaws. by Claire Whitehead Simon Batiste, a Conservative Student, who’s father is also an MP, claimed that, “The Union bye-laws are against the Education Act,” and that the kind of people attracted by the poster were the kind o f people the Conservative Party wanted. The complaints were appar ently only coming from, “left wing loonies trying to cause maximum embarrassment for the Conservatives.” Batist, who spoke in the Education debate at the Tory's Party Conference, initially refused to take the poster down, but when confronted by a member of the Socialist Workers Society, the Anti-Nazi League, FYC Stewards and a member of the part-time exec, he relented and agreed to remove the poster for the rest of the Freshers’ Fair. Many students were actually said to be amused rather than offended by the nature of the poster, and after things had calmed down, Batiste, a third year lawyer, added, “I don’t see what’s wrong with the poster, and I will put it up again.” Are the days o f painful injec tions numbered? A Newcastle University scientist has been rewarded for his work towards oral drugs which would nor mally have to be injected. Two out of the six prestigious Pfizer Academic Awards for 1993 have been won by scien tists at Newcastle University. Dr. Richard Jackson, a lec turer from the Department o f Chemistry, and Dr. Barry Hirst, from the Department o f Physiological Sciences, were each awarded £6000. Miles Starforth r« • « The Courier delves into its archives to bring you the news from the past... 3 years ago That old chestnut, the stu dent welcome pack hit the top o f the agen da (W e ll, almost) as it was accused o f reinforcing sexual stereo types by giving Diet Tango to wom en while the blokes got ordinary Tango. Then the U n ion had its Ungers burnt when Nestles’s Dairy C run ch sneaked into the pack. Nestle o f course had lo n g sin ce b e e n b a n n e d fro m the U n io n fo r ‘n au gh ty b e h a v io u r in Africa..’ 8 years ago Underneath the cuddly Courier’s pouting red mast head was the new term’s tra ditional disaster victim. True to form, a Newcasde student, Keith Bristow, bravely volun teered to hang around Mexico City (insurance courtesy o f the SU) for the big ‘quake which reduced the city to mostly rubble. “My escape from killer ‘quake shocker!” as the headline didn’t run. it’s s av age ry w h e n the U nion President w as not so m uch up against the w all than in the river. Phil T hom pson w as allegedly innocently strolling by the riv e rs id e in D u rh am , when he was thrown in by o th e r p o ly students. Another student then ‘had his c o lla r felt’ w h e n he b ra v ely challenged soci ety’s constraints by urinat in g o ff a b rid g e . Unfortunately, the revolu tion fizzled out, and the comrades were last seen in the Mens Bar. 18 years ago The University went continen tal, offering cheap package breaks to Costa del Leazes for £3.75 B&B. In true Sleazes style, the o ffe r included “Accommodation of high stan dard (sic) mainly in comfort able and w e ll fitted single study bedrooms.” Needless to say, h oliday makers soon complained that they couldn’t get in the bathrooms as the Germans had got there first.... —Com piled by 13 years ago| Dominic New castle P o ly ’s revoluCasciani tionary nature showed all M AR TIN LUTH ER K IN G JR M E M O R IA L CONFERENCE C IV IL RIGHTS AND RACE RELATIONS THURSDAY 2IST OCTOBER TO SUNDAY 24TH OCTOBER, 1993 EXHIBITIONS PERFORMANCES ACADEMIC SESSIONS PUBLIC LECTURES THURSDAY 21 ST OCTOBER 6.00 P.M. DOUG MARLETTE: One Nation, Under God, Divisible: Marlette on Race FRIDAY 22ND OCTOBER 9.30 A.M.-1.00 P.M. & 2.00 P.M.-5.30 P.M. Banqueting Hall, Civic Centre, Barras Bridge, Newcastle THURSDAY 21 ST OCTOBER THE CLAUDIA & CHARLES SHOW Vicomte Suite, Imperial Swallow Hotel, Jesmond Road Doors open 9.00 p.m. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR AND RACE ON TYNESIDE FRIDAY 22ND OCTOBER 6.00 P.M. JULIAN BOND Civil Rights Then and Now SATURDAY 23RD OCTOBER 9.30 A.M.-1.00 P.M. & 2.00 P.M.-5.30 P.M. Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, University of Newcastle FRIDAY 22ND OCTOBER SANDI RUSSELL, RENDER ME MY SONG Banqueting Hall, Civic Centre, Barras Bridge. Doors open 9.00 p.m. YEARS OF TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS: Martin Luther King’s America 1955-1968 SATURDAY 23RD OCTOBER 6.00 P.M. AMBASSADOR J. KENNETH BLACKWELL Race Relations: The UK and USA Compared and Contrasted Admission Free - All Welcome For more information contact: Martin Luther King Conference Office, Department of History, Ext. 6484 iliSTony VENUE: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, University of Newcastle. Admission Free - All Welcome \\yH I ]/l Tickets £3.00 in advance only from the Department of History, University of Newcastle SATURDAY 23RD OCTOBER FUN-DA-MENTAL & TRANSGLOBAL UNDERGROUND Union Society, University of Newcastle. Doors open 8.00 p.m. Tickets £5.00 from Union Society or on the door. RACE IN AMERICA: THE DRAWINGS OF DOUG MAR LETTE RACE IN THE WEST END WEDNESDAY 20TH OCTOBER FRIDAY 12TH NOVEMBER Admission Free Venue: The People’s Gallery, Newcastle Discovery, Blandford House, Blandford Square, Newcastle upon Tyne SPONSORS: Alcan; Baring Foundation: British Academy; British Association for American Studies; City of Newcastle upon Tyne; National Association of Racial Equality Advisors: Nestle UK; Northern Arts; Procter & Gamble; Roosevelt Study Centre, Middleburg; Tyne & Wear Museums; University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Thursday, October 14, 1993 Newcastle Student News Students urged to check gas Student grants fires after four deaths in a year delayed yet again FAULTY OR BADLY main tained gas fires and water heaters can kill. That is the warning being given by the Gas Consumers Council and the student housing advisers follow ing the deaths of four stu dents in the last year. In all cases, death occurred when gas appliances that had become sooted up leaked car bon monoxide back into the rooms, soon overcoming their victims. Such badly maintained heaters produce carbon diox ide during damp and cold weather, and until both the chim ney and the room is -Unusual smells. w arm ed up, the fumes are -Black soot showing on the forced into the room rather white radiants. than up the flue. -Black staining an the casing In theory, this means anyone above the radiants. with a gas heater is at risk. The -Staining on the wall above risks are greater however, in the fire. private rented accommodation, If you are all worried about typically student housing. the safety o f appliances in your Private landlords are notori flat or house you should first ous for keeping their propeties contact your landlord. If this in poor repair, their appliances proves fruitless, contact the are usually older and often sec local Gas Consumer Council. ond hand. This, combined with They will give advice and can ignorance o f the risks is a also provide British Gas leaflets recipe for disaster. on gas safety. There are some tell-tale signs Tony Bridge o f faulty gas appliances:________ _____________ See Letter: Page 4 M ANY STUDENTS w ill have to wait perhaps as long as two to three weeks for their g ra n t ch equ es to com e through, The Courier discov ered this week. A spokeswoman from the U n iv e rs ity F in an ce D e p a rtm e n t stated that approxim ately 10% o f the students e x p e c tin g to receive a fin an cial aw ard w o u ld e x p e rie n c e som e d ela y. T h e w o rs t Local Authorities for late payment are L iv e r p o o l an d Birmingham. Those students w h o went through the clearing system are b e lie v e d to b e w o rs t affected. A University spokeswoman cited tw o m ain re aso n s behind late grant cheques. Many students either incor rectly complete their appli cation forms. Others apply very late. The setting up o f a facility to process late applications w ould be invaluable. However, some LEA’s are to blam e fo r sim ply taking too long, and being too inef ficient in dealing with their assigned task L o n d o n b o ro u g h s have a lso b e e n h ig h lig h te d as particularly slow. £2265 per y ear. Its v alu e has b e e n eroded by around 50% since the I970’s. Alec Marsh Summer suicide tragedy of second year Newcastle student By Dominic Casciani IT HAS TRAGICALLY emerged that a Newcastle undergraduate has com mitted suicide. John Price, a second year student studying Natural Resources at N ew castle University was found dead at his hom e in Ormskirk, Lancashire on June 27. He was 21 and had just completed his second year exams. Neither his family, friends nor academic peers have any clear idea w hy he chose to take his own life. Only hours before he had been planning a summer holiday in Canada. Dr M ike A d e y from the D epartm ent of Natural Resources described John as, “An articulate student who was hardworking and conscien tious.” Close frierids o f Johnsaid, “He was always willing to help others, always outgo ing and w illin g to speak to others about their problems.” One friend who would have been living with John this year said, “On the Friday night w e went to the Mens Bar as usual fo r a fe w drinks and on Saturday we were sorting out our house for the third year. John, although exhausted, seemed alright and I just didn’t pick up on anything at all.” Dr Erika Price, John’s mother, spoke to 37?eCourier about her son’s expectations when he came to Newcasde, “Ormskirk is a quiet market town, and John wanted to see som ethng differen t. Like everybody else his hopes were high. “ W e do have one clue why he died; little things like a stolen bike, a speeding ticket which resulted in a four month wait for a court case and prob lems o v e r their houses TV licen ce, These knocks can build up to threaten s e lf esteem and may lead to impul sive reactions.” John's fam ily are anxious that something good can come from the tragedy, “ W e have to leam to reach young people in the same situation before that impulse takes hold,” Dr Price added. She urges anyone finding themselves with suicidal feel ings to seek help w h ich is readily available at University. Page 15—Suicide: a student problem? ■ J o h n P ric e ... Committed suicide with no newcastle playhouse bar open mon - sat 11 am - 1 1 pm W l—*0SM playhouse cafe open mon - sat 10am - 8pm Sunday lunch jazz = music and lunch just £4.50 Revelation Hull University Student’s Union lost valuable funds o ver the summer when £13,000 was taken at gun point from a Group 4 secu rity van. However, the inci dent did prove useful - in dispelling the popular myth that the company earnt it’s name by being targetted at least four times daily. There were only three armed rob beries in Hull that day. Scarcity The Student Charter appears to be in short supply presendy at the Department o f Education. When the Staff College, a staff development agency, rang up for a copy they w ere told to try the National Union o f Students who, “distribute that kind of thing” . Does this mean it will cease to exist when the N.U.S. does? Identification Fines hike for late library books warning signs. Cross Campus Fines fo r all overdue short loan items w ill increase to lOp per day, applying to all University Library books due for return from October 8. This came into e ffe c t on October 5, 1993. Mr A n drew M cDonald, deputy Librarian at the University’s Robinson Library, said that this increase in fines is to encourage a greater propor tion o f students texts to be returned on time - this being in the interests o f all o f the stu dent body requiring books in great demand. The rise from last term’s 5p per overdue day fine is the first increase in at least 16 years. “5p did not appear to be a sufficient incentive to return b oo k s ,” said Mr M cDonald. “This is not an income-generating mechanism, but a way to make books circulate fairly. Dawn McKenzie ip The Times newspaper made a slight error this week. Its special supplement on BTEC included a column by Tim Boswell, a well known edu cation minister, but a picture o f home o ffic e r minister D avid Maclean. The D epartm ent o f Further Education’s publicity cam paign goes from strength to strength. Opportunity Staff at the F lood Hazard Research Centre at Middlesex University were shocked to d iscover water dam aged equipm ent and records lately, due to a combination o f temporary roofing and tor rential rain. O bviously a study programme sent from Heaven. _ Automation The com puter that prints speeches at the Conservative party con feren ce show ed remarkable insight this week. When confronted with the draft o f John Patten’s plat form speech it prom ptly broke down. Has quality control finally arrived in Blackpool? By Andy W O M E N 'S GROUP Come along to our first informal meeting, Friday 15th at 1pm in the Women's Room, Level 5 Sunday night impro comedy cafe 7.30 -10.30 n&ifal <5I$fd6t*3nnKI £l9ilfe<?<?5a0 9A HAYMARKET (ABOVE GREGG'S BAKER'S) NEWCASTLE TEL: 091 2321187 0 o -a a o M QUALITY HAIRDRESSING AT AFFORDABLE PRICES NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY • STUDENT DISCOUNT AVAILABLE Co o p p o s i t e t h e u n i o n ThursdayOctober 14, 1993 Viewpoints Ents-selling out? S tu d e n t U n io n R e fo rm The Union Society, the organisation that brings you a 95p pint, Technique, Arcane, Sublime, the Athletic Union, and the delightfully readable sheaf o f paper you’re holding, is, proverbially speaking up the creek without a paddle. Due to a disastrous combination of poor management and Trotskyist sabbaticals in the mid-late ’80’s, the Union Society failed to adequately invest in its main capital asset. Summer ’93 saw the Union Society spend over £470,000 on rewiring the building (the law was going to close us down if we didn’t) and redeveloping Sublime (the old Level 2). The Union Society has not yet managed to find sufficient creditors to finance these developments. Huge borrow ing means tight budgets. The Department o f Education’s proposals on the reform of Student Unions (SUR), if imple mented, will result in cuts in services of some £22,000 in 1994 95 (source, V.P. Finance). That’s a quarter of the Athletic Union’s yearly budget - three times that of the Welfare and Campaigns Committee! The stated, primary aim of the legislation is to ‘crash’ the National Union o f Students (NUS). At present the taxpayer gives money to Newcasde University (£80m.), who give some to the Union Society (£735,000), who gives some of it, £44,188.84 1993-94 (source NUS invoice, 30/9/93) to the NUS on your behalf. NUS provides you with a national voice. Over 50 national bodies ask NUS for your opinion on issues affecting you every year. NUS also pro vides sabbaticals with information and training. The latter we have to pay for, however. Unfortunately, NUS is a highly politicised organisation. In the same way that the committee I chair as President, Executive Committee, manages the Union Society, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of NUS co-ordinates your national voice. The Executive Committee of the Union Society this year is fully com mitted to representing all of your views and interests - no bullshit (none of this year’s Committee stood on a party political platform). The NEC of NUS, due to its highly politicised nature, is more biased. Out o f the 19 seats on NUS NEC, 12 are taken by persons belonging to political factions; one Liberal Democrat, three Left Unity (Trotskyists - people who believe in the cause of world revolution), one Socialist Worker, seven Labour Students and seven Independents (source, Faz Hakim, National Secretary 8/10/93). This had led to an image, some would say the reality, that NUS is no longer representative of its body politic, i.e. YOU. Many areas of the Union Society’s activities suffer continual underfunding; the Athletic Union here has one o f the lowest levels in the country. However, even taking into account the financial loss that the Society would suffer through pulling out of NUS Services Ltd.. (a bulk purchasing consortium o f Student Unions which excludes Student Unions who are not affiliated to NUS (so much for solidarity!), a net gain of some £ 20,000 would still result from a decision not to affiliate to NUS in 1993-94. Bar prices would not rise (source, Union Society General Manager). I think a decision to spend almost 15 per cent of your funds on affili ating to an organisation which expounds views with which you may disagree must be a decision you make; Student Unions are after all sup posed to be democratic organisations. If you agree, please come to the General Meeting, 18 Oct. 1 p.m., Debating Chamber (Level 5) and support the “Motion on Democracy” which instructs the Union Society to conduct a referendum on this issue. Thanks, Jason Featherstone (President) Sir, I am writing because hav ing returned to Newcastle in great anticipation o f attending really high quality events this te rm in ou r o w n U n io n much im proved by the rerfovation/facelift over the sum m er - I fo u n d a lo n g w ith many o f my friends, that the tickets fo r the first o f these events had already been sold. W h e re a s last y ea r, sm all bands played to smaller audi ences com prising w h o lly o f students, this year, the first big band “ M Peop le” w ill be playing to a packed Level 2 c o m p ris in g lo c a ls and U n iv e rs ity o f N orth u m b ria students (w h ich I w e lc o m e ) but no N ew castle University students w h atsoever, unless they w ere lucky enough to be up h e re w h e n th e tic k e ts w e n t on sale, w h ic h I fin d shameful. Surely some tickets could have been held back for this start o f term event which I am sure w o u ld h a ve attracted a large section o f the U n iv e r s ity c lu b and g ig crowd. Yours disappointed at hav ing to twiddle our thumbs on Saturday. J. Luff, T. Sheikh, P. Sherwen, G. Mitchell etc., etc. Insurance — Shop around Sir, I am w ritin g to the many students w h o , lik e m e, are already feelin g the financial p inch even this early in the term. One o f the most expen sive items to fund at the start o f the year is that necessary e v il, in su ran ce, e s p e c ia lly n o w w h e n b reak-in s and thefts seem to happen regu larly to everyone you know. C A T E R IN G YO U R This w ill be my second year in glorious Fenham (and that, d re a d e d N o . 4 p o s t c o d e ) which seems more difficult to insure than a bomb factory in Baghdad. I want to draw peo ple’s attention to the fact that the insurance company given such a prominent place in our Union building (a bastion o f good service to students) may n o t a lw a ys g iv e th e b est c o v e r , e v e n th o u g h I w as assured o f th is b y an E n d sleigh re p r e s e n ta tiv e . C e rta in ly fo r m e th e H ig h Street banks (all o f them com p arab le) w o u ld b e ch eap er and o ffe r a m axim um lim it tw ic e that o f Endsleigh’s on any on e item (alth ou gh the excess is more). Further to that, many p eo ple are blindfully ignorant o f the fact that they may be cov ered on their parents’ existing Household Policy without any further premium, again a fact w ell hidden by them. T h e m oral is to c h e c k all these options b efore signing up for anyone, especially get your parents to enquire with their insurance company first and rem e m b e r i f y o u have already taken out a policy, it m ay b e p o s s ib le to c a n c e l w ith in 10 days and get your money back. Yours etc, Kevin Wilson, 3rd Year Law Gas fire warning Sir, On March 5th, 1993, tw o stu d en ts at L iv e r p o o l University died from carbonm o n o x id e p o ison in g. It's a tragedy and one that should be avoided. Student accom m o d a tio n is g e n e ra lly in a state o f p o o r m aintenance, but h o w many o f us may be The Courier NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY STUDENT NEWSPAPER Union Society, Kings Walk, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8QB Telephone: (091) 232 4050 Fax: (091) 222 1876 Editor---- ...---- ------.Simon Bird Deputy Editor...Frank Laughton Features------- -- ....Maxine Frith Music.___________ Mark Waraes Arts---- ------------ .Claire Jordan Current Affairs.. .James Lyons Sport------------- ..-.William Scott unaware that w e are in fact living in a death trap. W e are all aware o f the dan gers o f dodgy gas equipment. But the problem s do not lie necessarily in the fire itself. Blocked flues can arise from years o f soot build up and prev e n t th e p o is o n o u s gases escaping. U nfortunately w e are all to o ignorant o f these facts until it becomes too late. On March 5th I lost the best frie n d y ou cou ld e v e r have due to the fact her flue was b lock ed and, th erefore, her fire em itted carbon m on o x ide. I would hate to see a rep etition o f this tragic waste o f life. I only wish to urge you to be vigilant w ith all gas equip ment. Make sure your rooms are v e n tila ted in som e w ay and watch for signs o f scorch marks. Leaflets on the dangers are available from the Student Advice Centre. I f y o u are w o r r ie d at all about your fire, please have it checked today because unfor tun ately to m o rr o w d oesn ’ t always come. Yours etc., Ann Chapman Tyne Out----------- .Vicky Spavin Chief Reporter.______ .Dominic Casciani Computers______ Miles Gibson Cartoons------ Richard Johnson Photography--------.Ed McElroy Permanent Sec. and Advertising Manager._____ Monica Doughty Style-change confusion! S ir , I am w r itin g to e x p res s m y c o n fu s io n o v e r y o u r w e e k ly publication. I quite inn ocently w alk ed into the U nion Shop to pur chase m y daily c o p y o f that fin e lo c a l n e w s p a p e r, T h e J o u rn a l, as I have done fo r a number o f years. Im a g in e m y s h o c k an d b e w ild e r m e n t w h e n I sat d o w n f o r m y lu n c h an d op en ed m y paper fo r a read, on ly to fin d that instead o f m y b e lo v e d J o u rn a l, I had picked up som ething called T h e C o u r ie r , all abou t stu d e n ts an d n o t a b o u t th e local n ew s I had e xp ected at all. Sir, k in d ly s to p le a d in g g o o d c o m m u n ity -m in d e d c itiz e n s lik e m y s e lf astray w ith your J o u rn a l like logos and style. Yours etc., N. F ow ler. IN U N IO N SUBLIM E (fo r m e r ly L e v e l 2 ) M I L K B A R - 9 am-3 pm Vast range o f * S to ttie s * H o t & Cold Drinks * M u ffin s * Cakes * Crisps & Sweets * Scones McEWANS BEST SCOTCH H O T F O O D - 8.30 am-2.30 pm * Breakfast Specials a t 99p * Lu nch tim e Specials fro m £1.15 S A L A D B A R - 9.00 am-2.30 pm * S to ttie s m ade to o rd e r * Pizzas * Baked P otatoes # salads * Ice Cream # Crisps * Sweets * H o t & Cold Drinks LEVEL FO U R C O C H R A H E L O U N G E - 9 am-10 pm * S to ttie s * Pizzas * H o t & Cold Drinks * Crisps * Sweets * Scones * Cakes LEVEL SIX SPINV NORMANS -1 0 am-3.30 pm Vegetarian? - No problem! * Daily H o t Specials * Baked P otatoes * S to ttie s * Sweets * scones # Cakes * H o t & Cold Drinks Plus a range of Stotties in all bats * Crisps 9 5 , , , , LAGER Students. Another opportunity to sit and look out the window. Saturday O ctober 9 sees the launch o f The Daily A ll finalists wishing to make a holiday o f it may Telegraph/Cathay Pacific Airways Young Travel Writer of delay their return flights. And the overall winner will the Year Award in the Travel Pages o f The Daily Telegraph. If you’ re a young writer under 25 and can string a sentence or two together (about 500 words on a real or imaginary journey), you could be one o f the six finalists flying off to Hong Kong and China on a press visit. cathay p a PO B o x Write to the address below for an entry form, and stop day dreaming. Closing date for entries is December 4,1993. c if ic Y ou n g T r a v e l W r it e r o f th e Y ear, receive at least three commissions for articles set by the Travel Editor of the Telegraph. (ETfi? D a i lf (M fgrajplj 1 6 , A s h w e ll, N e a r B a ld o c k , H e r t s SG7 5RZ. T e l : 0462 741018. Thursday, Oct FESTIVAL OF RARE REAL ALES AND S C R U M P IE S Up to 1 0 0 real ales and scrumpies at 5 of our pubs between 13th and 17th October Legendary Yorkshire Heroes, Archbold Terrace, Jesmond The Independent, Elsw ick Road, Elswick * The Cuckoo, Diana Street, Arthurs H ill * Borough Arms, Bensham Road, Gateshead * Station Hotel, Hills Street, Gateshead * * F R E E B U S S E R V I C E fr o m 7 .3 0 p m till a h a lf h o u r p a s t c lo s in g tim e e v e ry n ig h t - th e b u s g o e s ro u n d th e p u b s e a c h h a lf h o u r - T R Y T H E M A L L I N O N E N I G H T ! C h a l l e n g e o u r d a r t s / p o o ls / d o m i n o e s t e a m s ! Rare Beers available from Berrow, Bunce, Goldfinch, Blackawton, Nene Valley, Otter, W ickwar, Judges, Burt, Beer Engine, Summerskills, Kempton, Exe Valley, Cooks, Springhead, Brunswick and others. C O M IN G LIVE B A N D S - FREE! 14/11 Outsiders 16/11 Start 18/11 Brendan Healey Trio + guest 21/11 Bad Influence 23/11 Fabulous Balls Brothers + 24/11 Lunchtim e Brendan Healey Big Band (small admission charge) m s a laugh! liv e comedy is rapidly becom ing one o f the most popular form s o f perform ing a rt Frank Laughton looks at the backstage prepa rations at the first The One and Only Newcastle Comedy Festival EFYOU’RE IN NEED o f a damn good night out, then between the 21st and 30th o f October, Newcastle is cer tainly the place to be. That's when the North East’s first ever comedy festival takes place. Tided The One and Only Newcastle International Coiiiedy Festival’, it brings a packed pro gramme of over 40 events to the city during its 10 day run. Planning for the event started over a year ago when local comedian Ben Cauthen first mooted the idea, something he saw as the natural progression following the success of the Comedy Cafe. “The good thing about Newcasde is tnat it has a very healthy comedy scene”, he tola The Courier. With comedy in the city having a strong, but narrow based following, the organisers wanted to appeal to a wider audience. One glance at the list of events shows that they’ve certainly provided plenty fyne Theatre 3ofAmerica'stopcomks- firsteverBritish AppearancecomperedbyBenCauthen Thurs 21 October 8pm £7/£6 ENNI0MARCHETT0 THELASTSTAND ACTFORA.CT/SSAKE D onna M c P h a ii (Perriernominee), IH Ikkcy (starofSpenderandHanger17}& friendsinaspecialgalaevening. Allproceeds tolocalAIDScharity Sun 24 October 8pm £6 J 0 / £ 5 J O H u tto n ■ Do you want to earn £5 fo r letting a S tu d e n t R e c e p t io n S e r v ic e An everting with MIOIAEL BENTINE FromGoonstoPottytime Thurs 28 October 8pm £8/£6.50 Wonderfully, wickedlyfunnymimemeetsorigami Fri 22 October 8pm £8/£6.50 the Students' Union, the University and Newcastle to people who are thinking o f coming here? For more details contact: Levi Buckley Vice President (Welfare) Birkenhead'sownInternationalsexfatten Wed 27 October 8pm £6/£5 D o n Ga v in , J o n ath an K atz , Ed d ie B r iu . ■ Do you want to be involved in promoting An SRS committee/host meeting will be held on Friday 15th October in the debating chamber at lpm . ULYSAVAGE STAND-UPUSA We need an SRS Committee: Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and many more. I f the answer to these questions is YES then you’d make an ideal SRS host or Committee member. the organisers have certainly achieved their low price aim. However, low tickets prices does not mean low quality of acts. “It’s a high quality pro gramme and there’s no body on there that isn’t a high quality act” commented Paul Sneddon. Performers are drawn locally, nationally and internationally, with everyone who is appearing, doing so on merit. Dave Johns was also keen to emphasize the quality of the acts taking part. “We’ve got acts on that aren’t as well known as Jack Dee and Jo Brand, but Mark Steel, Jim Owen, the Rubber Bishops and people like that, are very tal ented class comics. We want people to trust the judgement at the bookings weVe put in so that they know when the come out, they aren’t going to see shit comics. People go to the Comedy Care not because of who’s on, but because it’s a good night out.” The possibility of future festi- The One and Only Student Reception Service prospective student stay in your house? to chose from. Organisers Dave Johns, Paul Sneddon and Christine Aiderson have so far had a great response, not only from sponsors Newcastle Brown Ale (hence ‘The One and Only1in the festi val in the tide), but also from others in the city such as Northern Stage, the City Council, the Tyne Theatre, Northern Arts, Stagepass, and others. Local ratio and television are also keen to report on the event. One of the biggest priorities of the organisers was to make the pricing structure suitable for everyone. “We’ve deliberately tried to keep prices down so people can see a few shows” they told us. That has meant avoiding ‘names’ such as Baddiel and Newman who wanted £20,000 for a one night show, meaning that tickets would be in the £20 - £30 range. In keeping all show prices to £8 or less (tne average is only £4 - £5) and with student discounts on all tickets, HatticHaykidgc(fromTV's RedDwarf), HarkSim(bitingpoliticalwit), Jmm (fromTV'sBrainDrain) comperedbyVladimir McTavish Sat 30 October 8pm £6/£5 GulbenkianStudioTheatre INVISIBLE CABARET Fri 22 8.30pm £3.50/£2.50 BRUCE MORTON Tues 26 8.30pm £6/£5 DIW Y DAY FOR DOREEN SORRY UIWIE I'VE DRIED Wed 27 8.30pm £4.50/24 Sat232pm£3.50/£2J0 FREDMacCAUlAY Itmrs 21st Odaber 10.30pm CS CHUFFINELLES Sat 23 8.30pm £5.50/23.75 SORRY LUWIE I'VE DRIED Thurs 28 8.30pm £4.50/£4 SHAM AMRAM, JOHN FOtHE MIKE M IlilG A N Fri 22nd October 10.30pm £4 HAIRY MARYS Sun 24 8.30pm £5.50/£3.75 FELIX DEXTER Fri 29 8pm £5.50/£3.75 DONNA McPHAILlAYTON JO Sot 23rd October 10.30pm £6 LAUGHTER AND 0Y Mon 25 8.30pm £5.50/£3.75 JAW ENN D ERM O ND Sat 30 8.30pm £4.50/£4 13 Felix Dexter Gulbenkian IEE10 ROSS, IVOR DEMBINA, DAVE SCHNEIDER Mon 25th October 10.30pm £S 21-30 October 1993 at venues around 0839 8$ For more information and a complete festival brochure call Calls cost 36p per minute cheap rate/48p per minute at all other times Phone Zone Ltd, F O Bax 365, Manchester M 63 AX Thursday, October 14, 1993 Arts & Ents Pullout Your Weekly Newcastle Arts, Entertainments and Listings Guide Soap opera set to expose student life A n ew 'fly—on—the—w a ll' soap, The Living Soap, tracing the lives o f six Manchester stu dents starts tomorrow. Simon Bird looks at the real life characters and talks to the pro gramme makers. THE SECRET IS OUT: Students love a good soap opera, and the BBC have at last cottoned on. The popularity o f Coronation Street, Neighbours and Eastenders amongst Britain’s best brains has resulted in a new student ori entated ‘soap-umentary’ being commissioned. The Living Soap, (Friday nights, BBC-2 at 7.15) starts tomorrow and will trace the lives o f six Manchester stu dents living in the same house. All the drama, crises, tri umph and trauma o f student life will be captured in the ‘fly—on-the-waU’ Def II pro duction. “It should make compulsive viewing,” said Lynne Rowett from the BBC. Students everywhere will be able to relate to the real life story unfolding on screen.” The choice o f cast brings together a tantalisingly diverse mix o f characters. Advertisments last term in Manchester’s student newspa pers and magazines brought a flood o f over 1000 applica tions. N ow narrowed down to six, the contrast in likes, dislikes and personal situa tions is a potential recipe for disaster, or, good television, depending on whose side you’re on. Chosen ‘to be representa tive o f 1990’s youth,’ a single parent, a death metal fan, a student politician, an art stu dent, and a fresher will rub shoulders under the same roof. “I’m a mother first, ‘me’ sec ond and a student third," said Emma Harris, the 23 year old ^ingl^D aren^dvertisin^ Topsfyfo2 FOR MEN undergraduate in the cast. N ew house—mate, twenty year old Mathew Lappin, is a National Diploma Audio Systems student and fanatical Death Metal fan. He says he aspires to being a thrash gui tarist, but on gloomy days imagines he’ll, “probably end up selling stereos in Laskey’s instead.” Those two should get on famously. “Friction will obviously make good TV. There will be a certain amount but that’s not why they were selected,” said Lynne Rowett. They are joined by Simon McKeown, 23, a Politics stu dent and Chair o f the Manchester Metropolitan University Labour Club. He wants to be a journalist after coaching football in America for a year and is a “rabid Everton fan.” The arty influence comes from Karen Bishko, 21, and studying the History o f Art at Manchester University. She said, “Fate drew me to the programme. My friend and I started joking about starring in a student soap opera. Next day w e saw the Def II ad.” A fresher will give the new comers angle. As for the ‘extras’ they’ll be friends, lovers, families, tutors and anyone else that the stu dents come into contact with. So will the outside world, including watching parents eager to gain an insight into what their offspring are get ting up to at University, be shocked by what the soap shows? “Far from shocking I think that most people tuning in will have been student at some time in their lives and the memories o f the old days will come flooding back for the older viewers. “What the cast get up to on camera is their business. Anything could happen, although filming in the bed room and bathroom is by invite only!” added Lynne. Jr Every Monday at the TYNCSIDC IRISHCCNTRC (opposite Gallouigate Bus Station) 8.30 p.m. Admission £1.50 Cheap beer ^ ^ & s ^ tm o s p h e r^ ^ o L u n jp M E N ’S H A I R S T Y L I N G O G a T llB B a & T O O im iL © W iy © ? © Discount to students on production of Union card 142 N O RTH U M B E R LA N D STR E E T, N EW CASTLE UPON TYNE Telephone: TOPSTYLE 2 261 8336 University of Newcastle upon Tyne1 MICHAELMASTERM1993 INAUGURALLECTURE Tuesday BridgingtheGulf 119October ofTime: Latin prom 753bcto 1993ad andBeyond Professor J G F PO W E LL Professor o f Latin, Department o f Classics Unless otherwise indicated, all these lectures are open to the public, are free and will tale place in the Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building at 5.30p.m. J ■ Left to right Simon McKeown, Mathew Lappin, Emma Harris, Vidya Manicka Vasagar, and Karen Bishko. It remains to be seen whether the soap will give an accurate portrayal o f student life. “I’m sure that a fairly typ ical student type lifestyle will emerge. Obviously the stu dents who have volunteered have exhibitionist traits in them. Some things may be played to the camera, w e just don’t know yet,” she said. The first edition will see the new acquaintances meet for the first time and follow them in the first few days o f term. Appearances may be amica- U fljy S P s ity ble to start with but what will the atmosphere be like come June, or even Christmas for that matter? The only immediately apparent problem with the series is it’s transmission time. Surely the producers have done enough research to realise that students, their tar get audience group and the casts' contemporaries will be either out, or getting ready to go out at this time? Nevertheless, an entertaining series beckons. O f n O p jttftfip is tu e s d a y £1.00 entry club boot •best indie music night in the northeast W e d n e s d a y free entry flashback •70’s and 80’s class music frid a y £2.00 adv £2.50 on door four fun filled floors for friday with • i n n o c e n c e - a mad mix of indie, poppy & mainstream mayhem. •klunk Idick— intelligent techno & creative dance music. *SC|UdSll-jazz, funk & hip hop with guest dj’s every week. •wobble-happy house for the happy hearted Wednesday october 13 £5 adv £6 on door flava of the month p r e s e n ts 5 th a c i d j a z z b i r t h d a y with corduroy, cloud nine, nautical william plus acid jazz dj. U N S U A U T O M A T IC A L L Y Y O U R S ! § Arts ThursdayOc Film Revie\ Tyneside Films & Flings £ TYNESIDE F IL M FESTIVAL Sleepless in Seattle Maybe I am hopelessly unromantic. Maybe I am a cynical bitch who has never ‘experienced true love’. But these excuses aside, Sleepless in Seattle is a load of crap. THE WHOLE GLOBE, past, present and future gathers at Newcastle’s Tyneside Cinema. As ever, its Sixteenth International Film Festival doesn’t dare to deviate from this year in, year out talent to lure a fusion of the weird and the wonderful, the bizarre and the off-beat, the classic and the con troversial, with a selec tion of films, workshops and guest appearances. Yet it isn’t entirely swamped with films from overseas. Aside from the showings o f New Hollywood releases and other continental works, old and new, the majority o f the themes adopted for the 1993 festival spin off at tangents inspired by local talent and events which are either currendy hitting press headlines, or have forcefully hit them in the past. Snapping up the spot in the Opening Gala last Friday, was True R om ance, a seat-gripping and fast-moving film which chases Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette as Clarence and Alabama around the USA in true Bonnie and Clyde style, on the run with a case o f cocaine. Also featuring Brad Pitt and Val Kilmer in its allstar Hollywood line-up, it ensures another smash success for the film’s scriptwriter, Quentin Tarantino, creator and director o f R eservoir Dogs. On the other end, the Festival closes with an equally thrilling spill o f action starring Kevin Anderson in The W rong M an, the tale o f a terrible mix-up of identity. In between, premieres and previews score high this sea son, but with promises o f re screening throughout the year, so don’t despair if you miss a favourite. Tonight’s English premiere o f B h a ji on the Beach takes on a mixture o f humour and sentiment as a coach load o f trauma-ridden Asian Ladies from London head for the ' tacky shores o f Blackpool, eventually uniting in a touch ing camaraderie which draws out the film’s serious' under tone o f Asian values and cul ture in a conflicting British society. For those more inclined to shiver and sweat beneath imposingly chilling images o f the gory and the macabre to send you to sleep at night, The Cem ent G arden and oldie The Sam ourai will not prove to dis appoint. Oglers of the beach bums, surfies and belles o f Baywatch, on the other hand, should be satisfied with the lighter option o f tonight’s movie, Lifeguards f o r Life, fea turing the New Jersey Beach Written, directed and produced by the same team as When H arry m et Sally (Rob Reiner and Nara Ephran), starring the same female lead (Meg Ryan) and featuring a very similar soundtrack (Harry Connick Jnr.), this film is not exacdy original. Ryan plays (yet again) a slighdy neurotic, emotionally frustrated woman, who, tuning into a late night radio station hears Sam (Tom Hanks) telling of his loneli ness since his beloved wife died. Ryan becomes obsessed (as do 2000 other women who have Sentimental Solidarity in Bhaji on the Beach Patrol, with golden tans, oiled and rippling muscles, and over-used brain cells galore. Adding spice to the local flavour o f the Festival, the British premiere o f Taking Liberties with M r. Simpson, the product o f ex-Eurythmic and Sunderland bom Dave Stewart’s first dabbling in the film industry doubles up on Sunday 16 with an American thriller, E l M a ria ch i, depicting a down and out musician who falls headlong into a dangerous Mexican den o f vice. Incidentally, rumours abound that Dave himself intends to hide incognito amongst the audience to gauge the initial reaction... Martin Luther King fever infects Newcasde in October with unavoidable contagion spreading from the University’s conference to the latge section o f the Festival devoted to pro moting Black Art. A grouping o f old and new productions made by and featuring Black Artistes demands your opinion as to whether King’s Dream really has been fulfilled, and, if twenty six years after his death, his people really are “Free at last”. You decide from a delve into the archives, producing everything from all-time clas sics such as the Hollywood musical Storm y Weather, to the nineties style Ice-T inspired image o f the African-American culture as a hardened, bitter retaliation expressed in the form o f explosive and provoca tive rap music, and a distinc tive street culture. Captured in H a n g in ' with the Homeboys, this image is lived out by a comic portrayal o f life in the Bronx with four tough and streetwise homeboys. Inevitably, M alcolm X scores a slot, although coupled with a perceptive premiere A n Eye on X, focusing on the civil rights MANAGER’S CHOICE: AT MANORS, *STARTS FRIDAY* RISING SUN FriVSaL 2.15, 5.15,8.10, 11.00 8un.*Thure. 2.15, 5.15, 8.10 Cert (18) RISING SUN (18) STARTS FRIDAY SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE Fit/Sat 1.00,3JO, 6.10, 8.50, 11.10 Sun.-Ttnn. 1JO. 3JO, 610,8JO MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Ffl-Thn. 1.15,9.05 CertfPG) JURASSIC PARK Fri.-Thurs. 3.50,625 Cert (PG) Cert (15) TINA -WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT FrITSat. 100.3 40,620.9.00,1125 Sw.-Thure. 1.00, 340, 620,9JO C«rt(18) INTHE LINE OF FIRE FrL 1.00,3JO, 640,920 Sat. 6.40,920 Sun. 920 only Mon-Wed. 1.00.3J 0,6.40, 9.20 Thun. 1.00,3JO, 020 Cert (PG) THE FIRM Fit 1.15.4JO. 8.40 Sal 4JO, 840 Sun. 4JO only Mon.-Thura. 1.15,4JO, 8.40 Cert (15) DENNIS SaL/Sun. 11.50,2.10,420 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 3 SaL/Sun. 1140,140 Cert (PG) TOM AND JERRY THE MOVIE Sat./Sun 12.00, 2.00 091 221 0 2 0 2 i i CE3 Cert(U) MUSIC, dancing and drinking copious amounts. Sound familiar? No, it isn’t Freshers’ Week Take Two, the Tyneside Irish Festival is back, even bigger and better, stretch ing over the whole of the North East from 15—24 October, and promising to be a storming success. In true Irish style it welcomes all willing to join in and indulge in a frenzy o f ceilidhs and concerts, to be doubdessly washed down in the same Irish He can’t really go wrong with “Much Ado”, one o f Shakespeare’s most light-hearted and entertaining comedies. For this production, Ken has managed to assemble a hotch-potch cast o f well-known thespos, contemporary film stars and fresh talent, who together do it justice with ease. style with gallons o f Guinness and other “mysterious” concoc tions guaranteed to get even the most inhibited to let loose. A merging o f locals and stu dents, old and young, Irish and non-Irish, the festival is geared to cater for an eclectic mix of tatses against a traditional background with over fifty events taking place over the ten days. The opening gala kicks off the event at the Tyne Theatre, although the hubbub o f activity will break out in full force at the Tyneside Irish Richard Johnston reviews the proliferating adult comic market, to suit even the most conservative tastes! reading audience, providing both popular and obscure works within the comic field currendy being published. In the past ten years, the comic revolution has taken the medium from a child intensive audience to that of a mature literate reader ship. As a result, it is no surprise that there is a large comic reading audi ence in Higher Education and where there lies a University, a comic shop is sure to spring up nearby. This is a 300 part comic book, being published monthly since the mid seventies and due to fin ish at the beginning o f the next millenia. A highly allegorical book, it employs satire, imitation and downright bad puns whilst set in a highly fantastical world. Characters from our world appear in various different incarnations, numbering amongst them Groucho Marx and Margaret Thatcher. The author, Dave Sim uses the book to discuss and criticise CEREBUS f S S f ^ H E A T R E F O R A R O U N D £5 - AND OFTEN LESS/ TUESDAY 2 - SATURDAY 6 NOVEMBER N NORTHERN ORTHERN BALLET Present SWEENEYTODD nNDERELLA 1 Mall on Sunday — THEATRE, RoyaL NEWCASTLE /UPON TYNE BtClStlRtO AS ACHARITY CertfPG) B O O K I N G OFF I CE ADVANCE BOOKING 091 221 0 2 2 2 TYNESIDE IR IS H FESTIVAL Everyone’s favourite lovey, Kenneth Brannagh, seems set to continue with great success in his one man mis sion to make one of the Bard’s masterpieces avail able and more accessible to the uneducated masses. Centre, no less, featuring spot lighted acts such as Diarmuid Leary and the Bards and the Swing Palace, a night o f jazz at the not-to-be-missed price o f £1.50. Although maybe not the hippest thing to do on a week end night out, if you want to have a good time (or want to forget you had a good time) wander down to the Irish Centre sometime. Try it, you might like it! Claire Jordan C o m ic a lly s p e a k i I MUSIC & LYRICS BY STEPHEN SONDHEIM 1 "Wickedly funny, frighteningly believable Thursday Special 21tt October THE FUGITIVE Cert (12) ORLANDO Fri./Sat. 2JO, 5JO, 8JO, 11.15 Thin. 7JO only Sun.-Thura. 2.30,5JO, 8JO £2.25 before 6.00 p.m. (Students £2.50 after 6.00 p.m. with appropriate I.D.) PROGRAMME INFORMATION V irtu a l Television resurrects snatches o f British Arts TV, whereas A ll the P oin ts o f the M ap explores the expanding possibilities o f computer ani mation and its place in the near future. Setting the mood o f this year’s movies in full swing, the sixteenth Tyneside International Festival runs at the Tyneside Cinema from 8-21 October. The tale centres around the return o f a group o f soldiers to the house o f noble Leonarto (Richard Briers). Love blossoms between Leonarto’s daughter Hero and one of the sol diers, Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard of Dead Poet’s Society Fame). However, the wicked Don John (Keanu Reeves),is intent on stealing the limelight from his halfbrother and leader, Don Pedro (Denzel Washington) and so sets about hatching some nasty plots. There follows a series o f mishaps involving deceit, mistaken identity and thwarted passions. Will there be a happy ending? You’ll just have to watch it and see... Despite being beautifully set in a fairy-tale location, there remains a theatrical quality about this film, backed up by Ken ’n’ Emma’s many important issues, amongst them feminism and abortion, but does so to show inherent contra dictions in both sides o f the argu ments, a rarity in modem litera ture. This is a highly recom mended book for those who pur sue a cause, whether political, personal or religious. It also stars a short, grey aardvark. MORE/TALES FROM SLEAZE CASTLE ters. Even when they cross dimensions, meet parallel ver sions o f themselves and of friends and where pages o f dia logue are written in an imaginar language. This comedy SF comic book id o f the highest order and tends to come out on a six-monthly basL The latest issue, More Tales issu 6 is now available, and in your Union shop too! JOHN BYRNE’S NEXT MEN Sleaze Casde is a comic book for Newcasde students. Oh, it may have a much broader range in audience but the many references and locations familiar to us lot (Casde Leazes, the Union, Leazes Park, Northumberland St) give us an immediate bond to the charac One o f the greatest burdens hoi ing the comic book medium down is the overabundant con centration on super-hero tides. How can a potential audience take any comic seriously when it’s full o f men and women run- Cert (PQ) Cert (15) Cert(U) leader from the eye o f sculptor Willad Wiggin. From H a ir to Eternity, a new and innovative locally made film demonstrat ing the versatility and virility of Afro hairstyling art, triples up with We are the Ragga G irls and Wattstax, the latter being a recording o f a 1973 concert commemorating the Watt riots earlier that year. And for Spinal Tap lovers, an exclusive show ing o f CB4, a rap feature film modelled in its style, including music by Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys and P.M. Dawn sidles into tomorrow’s late night slot. A skein o f the controversial runs through the Festival with a grouping o f films classed under the theme o f Faith, examining religion as a world institution, with an all-encompassing gaze at its significance within society. Rounding off the Festival on 19, 20, and 21 October, the Digital Dreams hi-tech gather ing o f workshops and pro gramme screenings celebrate and investigate the wonders of modem technology and its contribution to today’s society. Close to us we have Forbidden Planet, catering to the comic • STARTS FRIDAY * RAINING STONES Fit 1.30, 3.50,6.30,9.10, 11.20 Sot. 350, 6.30.9.10, 11.20 Sun. 3.50,6J 0,9.10 Mort-Thur*. 1JO, 3.50,8JO. 9.10 *STARTS FRIDAY * THE SECRET GARDEN Frt.-ThurB 1.05, 3.15,545,820 M u ch A d o A b o u t Nothing heard the broadcast), tracks him down, arranges to meet him at the top o f the Empire State Building on Valentines Day, chucks her long-suffering fiancee, goes to the Empire State, meets him and guess what? And that lasts two very long hours. The film is billed as a 90s style romance (yes —like every other romantic film foisted upon us since F a ta l A ttra ction and AIDS), but as Samuel Johnson told one aspiring playwright, the work is both funny and original, but the parts that are funny are not origi nal, and the parts that are original are not funny. It began quite promisingly, apparendy trying to convey the idea that ‘real life’ is not like the movies. This is done very subdy (slight irony here, reader) by con stant references to the Cary Grant film, A n A ffa ir to Rem ember. Every woman in the film watches it and 1A J 232 2061 Christopher Gable's new ballet version Startling r e a lis m . ..emotional magic TEENAGE FANCLUB THIRTEEN S P E C IA L S T U D E N T D IS C O U N T S Reduced Prices weekday evenings. CHEAP FLAT RATES for Thursday and Saturday matinees HALF PRICE SEATS 1 hour before curtain up, all perfs. It's got thirteen songs on it. Q We've got thirteen left. tber 14, 1993 M u sic O The platters that matter... crys. No man understands it. Meg Ryan is constantly (unconsciously o f course) reiterating phrases from the film within a film, and her life even begins to imitate the movie. So the original idea that life is hard, gritty and less than perfect is completely disproved by the con clusion. There are the statutory sweet lit tle kiddies with page-boy haircuts and incredibly incisive comments on the human condition who ‘engineer the romance’ and ensure a happy ending. The performances by Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks are good, but you get the feeling that all the lines have been spoken before. Everything is just a bit forced. It’s not that I don’t like happy endings - it’s just that it was too twee and perfect. Not so much Sleepless in Seattle as sleepful in the cinema. Maxine Frith hammed-up performances as the star-crossed lovers Benedict and Beatrice. Denzel Washington is amazing, if only for his tight leather trousers, and Robert Sean Leonard is superb as the lovestruck Claudio - definitely a star for the future. Poor old Keanu is a bit out o f his depth here, though, playing Don John like a muppet. Look out for Michael Keaton’s show-stealing cameo role within a plot involving peasants, Ben Elton and double-entendres. Don’t be daunted by the literary snobbery often surrounding this type o f production. It has a wideranging and timeless appeal which you’re guaranteed to enjoy — unless you’re a fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme, I suppose! Angela Braithwaite ext week... \Tyneside Theatre steals the show as the Live Theatre wesents its case to INorthern Arts... I f . __ X I BLUR/SALAD Newcastle University 5/10/93 Salad are crap - they sound like a jangly Curve and with just as bad dress sense. Be gone, dullards. Leave the stage free for that .cheeky and (as they would have you believe) quintessentially English pop beat combo: Blur. Pop should be bright, brash and loud. Thankfully Blur prove that they can sustain such moments o f (hope and) glory despite displaying all the enthusiasm and vigour o f a rainy day at Bognor Regis, as they did at their press conference earlier in the day (though no doubt that too has carefully contrived Englishness too). Old baggy nostalgia is relived with faves “There’s no other way” and “She’s so high” but the main theme o f the set consists o f the new album “Modem Life is Rubbish”. Glorious it is too, with both Damon and Alex looking non too steady on their feet. It’s all rather good; sound pop songs full o f swirling guitar magnificence that leave the audience sated and prove that there is more to pop life than third-hand lumberjack shirts. Hurrah for Blur! I didn’t always trust that they could avoid the musical dumper but tonight proves not only that but also there may be more and better to come. They’re not as good as the Jam though. P.S. Alex’s favourite inert gas is Radon.___________ Sarah Ruanalh YOUTH AGAINST RACISM BENEFIT DIG/THE LEVELLERS/CHUMBAWUMBA/CREDIT TO THE NATION Riverside 8/10/93 There’s something so debauched about going to a gig in the after noon - it gave me a tingling feeling up and down my thighs. First up are Dig - if you’ve ever been to a benefit gig in Newcastle then I don’t need to describe them to you, they’re always there and they’re always on first. If you haven’t, all you need to know is that they’re very pretentious and very dull. The Levellers (or rather some o f them - I don’t know which ones, I was a long way back and hadn’t brought my glasses) choose the second slot and this proved to be more than appropri ate. Playing acoustic versions o f b-sides and covers they never really made their presence felt. While the old faithful “Boatman” woke the crowd up a litde, the best received number was a bagpipes and fiddle instrumental. There’s a busker in Bristol’s Magic Circle who plays the whole o f “Levelling The Land” on an acoustic gui tar - and does it much better. And so it was left to Credit to the Nation to give the crowd their £3 worth. A challenge they rose to admirably. Tracks such as “Pump your Fists” and “Time to get Hype” had the crowd up and at it, and they wound up repeating “Call it What You Want” as an encore. Both the highlight and major disappointment o f the afternoon came in the form o f Chumbawumba. They took to the stage mid way through Credit’s set, minus Alice Nutter, and while the logis tics o f setting up all the equipment they need for a gig ruled out a full set they could perhaps have managed more than one song. Having said that the song in question was a wonderful acapella rendition o f “The Day the Nazi Died” —dedicated to the ex-lead singer o f Nazi band Screwdriver, Ian Stewart-Donaldson, who died in a motorway pile-up three weeks ago —spot on lads. How could you possibly spend a more enriching Friday after noon? L o c a lly D e v o te d ... ning around with their knickers over their tights spouting inanane dialogue, batding asome villian with little motivation on both’s parts? Perhaps when a self-contained tide builds itself up slowly, draws us into the characters until w e know them like our friends and lets us see what horrors a guy who really has X-Ray vision would have. Closing his eyelids would not block out the light. If a woman became invulnerable to pain and damage, what would happen when she could no longer feel the touch o f her lover? When a 14 year old boy is seduced by a media executive and falls in love with her...that’s when we can start taking super heroes seriously. When they are as human as we are. K* D P D The Soul Assassin boys come up fighting again with another hefty slice o f beefed up funky hip-hop. Equally authentic as any thing else off the marvy “Black Sunday” LP (which every house should own at least three copies of) with plenty of lurvely bass and nice twangy guitar samples. The good ole, whiny/shouty voice combina tion still won’t wear thin for any fair weather fans and newcomers will thrill to the phat-ness o f the beat. There is another version (probably to gamer some air play) called “When the Ship goes down” which I find a rather tasteless Townsend Thoreson reference, well, maybe not, but I’m a twat and I diwant care! The sort o f record that if it asked me to steal a car with it I’d say “Okay dokey skip, where d’you want to go?” Notch! . I _ Jah Streakster Fat Bob PUSSYCAT TRASH (with Linus, Comet Gain and Skinned Teen) Some Hearts Paid to Lie 7" Wiiija O CYPRESS HILL: giving away all sorts o f shit (see competition below) CYPRESS HILL When the Shit goes Down 12" Columbia Considering Pussycat Trash haven’t been in existence all that long (just under a year in fact), they’ve been remarkably suc cessful, this being their second vinyl release with others on the way. Their debut single, “Plink Plonk Pink Punk”, was a fine example o f blatandy open pop, and has received numer ous airings from John Peel. The Trash’s contribution to this joint seven-inch is equally as raw and touching as their debut. “Un Soul Less" is springy and abrasive in turns, whilst “Doris” is more brazen and thrusting, certainly showing the slighdy more garage line the Trash tip toe along at present. Throughout both songs is an air of uncompromise and honesty, backed up with a confidence in themselves and their music. O f course, the other bands are worth a listen too. Linus play refined punk to great effect, Comet Gain are noisy on one and schmoozy on the other, and Skinned Teen are incredibly twee and twangy. But this featurette is all about looking after our own. Both the singles are available from good record stores. And watch out for Pussycat Trash at the Cumberland Arms, Byker on Wednesday 27th October, supporting Royal Trux. For more info, contact Pussycat Trash, c/o Slampt, 10 Meldon Terrace, Heaton, Newcasde upon Tyne NE6 5XP. Be aware and be a part o f your local scene NEWCASTLE l l 0426 950527 P LE A S E NOTE T HAT TIM ES A R E FOR C O M P LE T E P RO G R AM M ES CO M M ENCING FRIDAY 15th O CTO BER UNTIL T HUR SDAY 2 1 st O CTO BE R (INCLUSIVE) RISING SUN (in THE FUGITIVE (12) Every day 2.10,5.05.8.00 Ev“ y dav 1B5' 4 K ' 7 56 SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (pgi UNREST Cath Carroll EP4AD “Cath Carroll”, the opening song o f this four track EP, is executed with such a level of energy and enthusiasm that it makes me wonder what Unrest are doing signed to a label like 4AD. I mean, isn’t 4AD all about wispy, ethereal half-hearted dreamscapes (e.g. Lush)? Well, anyway, Unrest are nothing like that - there are songs of intensity, speed and fire on this EP, with the type o f vari Records supplied by Volume Records Thanks to Streets Ahead ety o f sounds one expects from Unrest. The final song “Hydro”, is a 33 minute instrumental based around one chord - but don’t let that put you off! It’s great, and has all sorts o f different textures - I’ve heard it described as “transmogrifying”. Definitely one o f the best things Unrest have done. “Goodbye” shows a more “perfect pop” type o f side to the band. What can I say ? I like Unrest a lot, and you should too. Susan Notsensible MADDER ROSE Swim 7 'Seed Beautifully crafted, “Swim” is a delicious slice o f uncompli cated and yet catchy pop. It’s a peach o f a record, filled with a mixture o f slip-slidy. guitar and howling feedback. And on top o f it all, a voice to die for. “liked You More (when you were high)” is much more pas sive and calm, probably there to relax you after swirling around to “Swim”. Without doubt, worth a listen. Mark TEENAGE FANCLUB Thirteen LP Creation I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long. After the fiasco o f “What you do to me”, I wrote a review full o f the sour cream o f human spiteful ness in readiness for the next time TFC dared show their gibbon-like features in public. Unfortunately, on finding this platter on my lap, I dis cover said review has absconded on the first train to Chicago. Still, no matter; the passage o f time has done nothing to banish my TFCinduced sour expression, so let’s get stuck into the bas tards. . . . . . and this album proves that the kids really will setde for what they’re given. Yet another compilation o f second-hand riffs and risk-free complacency with the TFC seeking to enforce the defeatist (and incorrect) view that the good songs have all been written and the modem artist can only hope to imitate the past. They rip off the Beades on “Hang On”, the Lemonheads for the rest o f the first side and I can’t be bothered to think of reference points for side two. TFC probably think they’re breaking new ground. I say they’re treading someone else’s water and I resent the forty minutes I spent listening to this LP. Chutney KILLDOZER Th6 Pig was Cool 7" Touch 'n'Go Gravel-edged, grinding, doomy noise - and that’s only the singer. This is a slow-paced stomper all to do with “The Man” turn ing a blind eye to such excesses as partying, drinking and drugging, even partaking in that last one. Amusing in a way, though it takes too long to get going. However, the faside, a cover o f EMF’s “Unbelievable”, is a veritable blinder and certainly worth an aural toke. Mark CYPRESS HILL COMPETITION Yep, there's still a chance for you to win some groovesome goodies from Cypress Hill, but time is running out so get your answers in quickly! First prize is a Cypress Hill t-shirt, second is a Cypress Hill record deck slipmat, and third is a copy of their latest album, "Black Sunday". We've got alot of each prize to win so the odds of winning are very high! All you have to do is: Name the big cfub hit this summer taken from Cypress Hill's second album. * ’ TINA - WHAT’ S LOVE GOT TO 0 0 WITH IT (18) D E N N IS (PG) Every day 2.35.5.15,8.10 Saturday al 12.15 only STUDENTS £2.40 A N Y TIM E Licensed bar open every evening from 7 p m Programme information 0426 050527 Advance Booking 091 261 7816 ODEON VIDEO SHOP - All Top Ten Titles In StocK Hand your name, address, phone number and pre ferred album format in to the Courier office by Monday 18 Oct. Winners will be notified later. Thursday,October14,1993 I f its on, it's in.. Your Comprehensive Weekly Listings Guide Sat. 16th Oct. BILL & TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY (PG), 3.00 KIND HEARTS & CORONETS (PG), 4.45 THE RAPTURE (18), 6.45 TAKING LIBERTIES. . . 8.45 + ELMARIACHI (15), 9.15 CLOTHES IN THE WARDROBE, 4.10 MUMMY DEAREST, 5.45 THE THIN RED LINE, 8.15 + LE SAMOURAI (PG), 8.45 Ttyne Out: Sun. 17th Oct. TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY (PG), 4.00 ♦ ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE (U), 5.55 CRAZY LITTLE FOOD THING, 8.30 + APRES L’AMOUR (15) AN EYE O N X, 4.15 + MALCOLM X (15) FIGMENT, 8.15 ♦ ADORABLE LIES (15) Mon. 18th Oct. THE SWING PALACE Tyneside Irish Centre, 8 p.m. TYNESIDE IRISH FESTIVAL The Buddie Arts Centre, 8 p.m. SEAMUS MACMATHUNA Bridge Hotel Folk Club, £1.50,8.30 p.m. JAZZ Tyneside Irish Centre, £1.50,8 p.m. MADDER ROSE Riverside, £3,8 p.m. BRENDAN HEALY Royal Archer, Free, 9 p.m. DAN TO DAN Broken Doll, Free, 9 p.m. KEN PEPLOWSKI + BILLY HARPER TRIO Comer House, 7.30 p.m. MADDER ROSE AND THE NIGHT BLOOMS Riverside, £4 ,8 p.m. THE NIGHT BLOOMS. Riverside, £4,8 p.m. BIG LITE ♦ SUPPORT The Bensham Arms, £1.50/50p, 7.30 p.m. BABYJUNE University of Newcastle, £3,7.30 p.m. MONODROME + GUM (Indie Pop) Newcastle Arts Centre, 8 p.m. FARAWAY TREE, Route 66, Free, 9 p.m. DAVE ‘HONEYBOY’ EDWARDS + AARON BUR TON & DAVE PEABODY (USA) Jumpin’ Hot Club, £6,8 p.m. MESSENGER Harvey’s. 8 p.m. THE OUTSIDERS Royal Archer, Free, 9 p.m. AVANTI WITH HUGH MASEKELA Riverside, £6.50,8 p.m. DYNAMITE TWINS Tilley's, Free, 8 p.m. Unions NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY S.U. Thurs. 14th Oct. BABYJUNE, £3 Fri. 15th Oct. B.N.O. ear-gasm, £1.50 Mon. 18th Oct. COCHRANE QUIZ, 8.30 p.m. Tues. 19th Oct. SPIRITUALISED ♦ MERCURY REV, £6.50 Wed. 20th Oct. ARCANE, £5 UNIVERSITY OF NORTHUMBRIA S.U. Fri. 15th Oct. INNOCENCE/KLUNK KUCK/SQUASH/WOBBLE Sat. 16th Oct. MATTFROST £5. B4 10.30 p.m. Tues. 19th Oct. CLUB BOOT, £1 Wed. 20th Oct. FLASHBACK, Free Music Thurs. 14th Oct. R DEATH F The Broken Doll, £1,8 p.m. Fri. 15th Oct. SECRET SOCIETY ♦ SOURCE Riverside, 9 p.m., £2/£3 B4 10 p.m. IRISH FESTIVAL - OPENING GALA inc. PADDY REILLY, BRIDIE GALLAGHER, AONGHUS MAC NALLY AND IRISH DANCERS Tyne Theatre, £5,7.30 p.m. JOOLS HOLLAND AND HIS BIG BAND Newcasde Playhouse, £8.50/£7.50,8.30 p.m. TYNESIDE IRISH FESTIVAL CLUB WITH AONGHUS MACNALLY WITH HIS BAND Tyneside Irish Centre, £5,10 p.m. RON KAVANA AND THE ALIAS BIG BAND Newcasde Guildhall, £6,8 p.m. MOJO PEP (Soul) Newcastle Arts Centre, 8 p.m. BREEZE Dog and Parrot, 8 p.m. LUNKHEADS* SUPPORT Broken Doll, 8.30 p.m. Sat. l6thOct. IRISH WORKOUT ♦ CEILI Caedmon Hall, £5,7.30 p.m. NUSU SHASKEEN CEILI BAND Gateshead Leisure Centre, £5,8 p.m. DIARMUID O ’LEARY AND THE BARDS Tyneside Irish Centre, £5,8.30 p.m. THE DUBLIN ROGUES Iona Club, Hebbum, £2,7.30 p.m. AN EVENING OF MUSIC Whidey Bay Playhouse, £3.50/£3,7.30 p.m. SFARAWAY TREE + S’DATION (Dance/Pop) Newcastle Arts Centre, 8 p.m. LAST NIGHT AT THE PROMS Newcasde City Hall, 7.45 p.m. START Royal Archer, Free, 9 p.m. ROLF AND CINDY BAND ♦ SUPPORT Broken Doll, 8.30 p.m. TOOL + PAW +1IFADSWIM Riverside, £2,8 p.m. Q J B L D ., Tilley’s Free, 8 p.m. MESSENGER Bellevue Club, 8 p.m. Sun. 17th Oct. RAY STUBBS (Blues) The Broken Doll, Free, 7 p.m. MARTIN DAINTEE Jumping & Hot Club, Bridge Hotel, 8 p.m. TOYAH WILCOX & FOREVER FRIDAY Riverside, £5,8 p.m. BRENDAN MULKERE AND FRIENDS IN SESSION Tyneside Irish Centre, 12.30 p.m. SHASKEEN CEILI BAND Temple Park Leisure Centre, South Shields, £4, 7.30 p.m. THE DUBLIN ROGUES Tyneside Irish Centre, £2.50,8 p.m. ANTHONY ADAMS BIG BAND Newcasde Playhouse, £2/£1.50,12 noon 4 COLONELS Broken Doll, 8.30 p.m. THE OUTSIDERS BRENDAN HEALY The Pheasant, £1.50,12.30 p.m. Mon. 18th Oct. SUMMER OF AVTYA (PG), 6.00 GOLD FEVER 8.00 + RUBY IN PARADISE (15), 8.30 VIRIDIANA (18), 5.30 THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT (U), 7.15 MY NAME IS TINA, 9.00 + NIGHT AND DAY (15) Theatre Tues. 19th Oct. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (18), 6.15 SLEEPING RAZER-RED X (15), 8.45 VIRTUAL TV, 4.30 BFI - ‘Fruits De Mer*, 6.15 MOTHER’S DAY, 8.00 +AGANTUK(U), 8.35 Tues. 19th Oct. THE STRAWBS (70s) The Buddie Arts Centre, £7,8 p.m. SPIRITUALISED ♦ MERCURY RED University of Newcasde £6.50,7.30 p.m. RONNIE FORSTER’S ROLLING THUNDER (Folk Blues), Newcasde Arts Centre, 8 p.m. SPORTS NIGHT AND GUEST Tyneside Irish Centre, 8 p.m. THE SELFISH LAZY PIGS Jo Wilsons, 8 p.m. RYE Broken Doll, £2,8 p.m. ROCK BOTTOM The Pheasant, 8.30 p.m. SWERVEDRIVER Riverside, £4,8 p.m. Wed. 20th Oct. THE SEASHELL & THE CLERGYMAN, 4.30 + AMELIA AND THE ANGELS, 5.20 THE LADYK3LLERS (U), 6.15 EBBTIDE, 8.15 + THE CEMENT GARDEN (18), 8.45 ALL THE POINTS O N THE MAP, 5.40 COUP D'OEIL DANS U N JARDIN.. .7.00 + PRETTY BOY (18) AMERICAN HEART (15), 8.35 RISING SUN (18) Every day 2.10, 5.05,8.00 TINA - WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT (18) Everyday 2.35, 5.15,8.10 THE FUGITIVE (12) Everyday 1.55, 4.55,7.55 SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (PG) Weekdays & Sat. 1.00,3-25,5.55,8.25 Sun. 3.25, 5.55,8.25 DENNIS (PG) Sat. at 12.15 only WARNER Starts Friday RISING SUN (18) Fri./Sat. 2.15, 5.15,8.10,11.00 Sun.-Thurs. 2.15, 5.15,8.10 Starts Friday THE SECRET GARDEN (U) Fri.-Thurs. 1.05,3.15, 5.45,8.20 Starts Friday RAINING STONES (15) Fri. 1.30,3.50,6.30,9.10,11.20 Sat. 350,6.30,9.10,11.20 Sun. 350,6.30,9.10 Mon.-Thurs. 1.30, 3.50,6.30,9.10 TINA - WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT (18) Fri./Sat. 1.00, 3 40,6.20.9.00,11.25 Sun.-Thurs. 1.00,3 40,6.20,9.00 THE FIRM (15) Fri. 1.15,4.30,8.40 Sat. 4.30,8.40 Sun. 4.30 only Mon.-Thurs. 1.15,4.30,8.40 THE FUGITIVE (12) Fri./Sat. 2.30, 5.30,8.30,11.15 Sun.-Thurs. 2.30, 5.30,8.30 SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (PG) Fri/Sat 1.00,3 30,6.10,8.50, 11.10 Sun.-Thurs. 1.00, 3 30,6.10,8.50 Films TYNESIDE CINEMA Thurs. 14th Oct. THE MAN IN M Y LIFE (12), 5.15 JOURNEY THROUGH SOUND, 7.30 + BHAJI O N THE BEACH, 8.15 GUESS W H O’S COMING. . . (U), 4.45 LIFEGUARDS FOR LIFE, 6.45 HERMETTCA, 8.30 + PUERTO ESCONDIDO (15) Fri. 15th Oct. BEN HUR(PG), 4.30 NORM AL WILLIAMS, 8.45 + ERASERHEAD (18), 9.05 FRO’ HAIR TO ETERNITY, 5.45 ♦ WE ARE THE RAGGA GIRLS + WATTSTAX (18) DOOKIT, 8.15 ♦ BORDER CROSSING Fri. 15th Oct. PAUL MCKENNA’S HYPNOTIC SHOW Newcasde City Hall, £8 £9 ,7.30 p.m. Sat. 16th Oct. - 23rd Oct. A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM People’s Theatre, Heaton £3-£5,7.30 p.m. HARLEMATION Newcasde Playhouse Mon. 18th Oct. THE DASH by Ann Jackson Live Theatre, £3/£1.50,8 p.m. GIGI Theatre Royal, £3-£9,7 p.m. (matinee 2 p.m. ■ 23rd) ODEON Commencing Fri. 15th Oct. until Thurs. 21st Oct. Wed. 20th Oct. ALTAN (Folk) Tyneside Irish Centre, £6,8.30 p.m. LINDSAY QUARTET (Classical) Newcasde Playhouse, £10.50/£7.50,7.30 p.m. BRIAN O ’NIEL County Hotel, Free, 9 p.m. SWEET REVENGE Waterfront, £1.50,8 p.m. ESKIMOS AND EGYPT & O P K Riverside, £5, 8 p.m STEVE BAINEiRIDGE, Tilley’s, Free, 8 p.m. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (PG) Fri.-Thurs. 1.15,9.05 JURASSIC PARK (PG) Fri.-Thurs. 3-50,6.25 IN THE LINE OF FIRE (15) Fri. 1.00, 3 30,6.40,9.20 Sat. 6.40,9.20 Sun. 9.20 only Mon.-Wed. 1.00,3.30,6.40,9.20 Thurs. 1.00,3.30,9.20 DENNIS (PG) Sat./Sun. 11.50, 2.10,4.20 TEENAGE MUITANT NINJA TURTLES 3 (PG) Sat./Sun. 11.40, 1.40 TOM AND JERRY THE MOVIE (U) Sat./Sun. 12.00, 2.00 Thursday Special, 21st Oct. ORLANDO (PG) Thurs. 7.00 only Tues. 19th Oct. A MOST NOTORIOUS WOMAN Live Theatre Quayside, £3/£2,8 p.m. plus Mon. 11th Oct. - Sat. 16th Oct. YOUR HOME IN THE WEST Live Theatre, £3.50,8 p.m. OVER MY DEAD BODY Gulbenkian, £3.50/£2,8 p.m. Bits &Pieces LIVE THEATRE YOUTH PROJECT. Young Playwrights Competition, 16th-28th Oct.. For fur ther details contact Joe Price at Live Theatre. Exhibitions Wed. 20th Oct. - Fri. 12th Nov. MARLETTE EXHIBITION: Martin Luther King, The People’s Gallery, Newcasde Discovery, 4 p.m. Cabaret COMEDY FESTIVAL - 21st-30th Oct. Be sure to pick up a brochure available in your Union TODAY. ENTERTAINMENTS T H IS W E E K ’S E V E N T S : Thurs. 14th BABY JU N E Level 2 Big Night O u t with eai^ga-sm Fri. 15th £1.50 adv, £2 door Sat. 16th A S Y LU M Mon. 18th B IN G O Level 6 - FREE Cochrane Lounge Tues. 19th Wed 20th Oct 9pm - 4am £ 5 a d v a n c e Wed. 20th BAND IN T H E BAR FREE ARCANE Level 2 - £ 5 adv TICKETS ON SALE FOR: SPIRITUALIZED/MERCURY R E V ...................................19 OCT FUNDAMENTAL......................................................................................23 OCT JAMES TAYLOR QUARTET...................................................15 NOV TEENAGE FANCLUB.......................................................................2 7 NOV BODYCOUNT featuring ICE-T........................................... 16 DEC —fro m re ce p tio n M on-S at b o x o ffic e W ed-Fri lu n c h (beside m ain entrance) THIS UNION SERVICE IS NOW UNDER THREAT Com edy Festival 1 ber 7, 1993 1 ■ (Right) Jonathan Katz appears Thursday October 21 at the Tyne Theatre as one of the Stand-up USA com edy team. “One o f the most cre ative comics work ing today.” —The Boston Globe ■ (Left)Antonio Forcione, Paul Morocco and Alessandro Barnardi, appear Friday October 19, at the Playhouse. “Energetic, funny, unpredictable and spectacular." —The Daily Telegraph vals can only be decided when this one has finished. In the meantime, there is no doubting the enthusiasm o f the organisers. Dave Johns was certainly keen to share his thinking on the matter. “We thought it was about time Newcastle had a festival and what w e’re aiming to do is to make this into one o f the biggest in the country, a regular thing where we won’t have to push so much to get acts and people will ask to play it.” In the mean time, there’s no doubting that this year is superb. N e w c a s tle Who, what, where? Which Channel 4 programme with Clive Anderson as compere involves comedians improvising to suggestionsfrom the studio audience? HEADLINE ACTS at the Festival include top American stand-up comedi ans Eddie Brill, Don Gavin and Jonathan Katz; cult mime performer Ennio Marchetto; former Goon Michael Bentine and lead ing britlsh acts Jeremy Hardy, Arnold Brown, Felix Dexter, Bruce Morton, John Hegley and lily Savage. All ages and tastes are catered for from children’s the atre with with Henry the Cat to new-wave circus with Ra-Ra Zoo. There is Jewish comedy with Laughter and Oy and a special one-off performance of John Godber’s ‘Happy Jack’ by Hull Truck Theatre Company. Answers to TfeeCourier office, along with your name, address and phone number by 5.00pm Friday15th October.______________________ An AIDS Benefit featureing Donna McPhail, a 1993 Perrier short-listed comic, C o m p e titio n To prove their concern for impoverished students, the organisers have kindly donated 10 tickets for various shows in the festival. To enter, simply answer the following question: C o m e d y F e s t iv a l Mickey Hutton, Anvil Springsteen and the Big Fun Club with proceeds going to the Aids Community Trust is scheduled for Sunday 24th October. A series of comedy improvi sation workshops ‘Sorry Luwy I’ve Dried’ will run throughout the Festival at the Gulbenkian. The Festival takes in a num ber of venues city-wide - the Tyne Theatre, Playhouse, Gulbenkian and the Comedy Cafe where the programme kicks off at 10.30pm each night. A Mike Leigh season will also run for the duration at the Tyneside Cinema. A free brochure with full details of the programme and information on all the acts is available. These are available in the Union. r fs ir TH£ 00 p re se n ts f Playhouse 9 ARNOLD BROWN Ra Ra Zoo Playhouse J987PerrierAwardWinner 1988PerrierAwardwinner Thurs 28th October 8pm £ 6 .5 0 /£ 5 .5 0 RARA Z00 PAUL MOROCCO IN OLE Anarchic, stunning, superb, arevelation Fruit, fire and flamenco Fri 29th October 8pm £ 7 /£ 6 THE WOW SHOW SmUosr, M akkArdbi,IsCom, Mm Em I betthevdrinkNewcastleBrownAle AT JEREMY HARDY Sat 23rd October 8pm £ 6.5 0 /£ 5 .5 0 Mon 25th October 8pm £ 6.5 0 /£ 5 .5 0 under 1i's £4.80 t Huu T ruck T heatre Com pany HAPPY JACK Aplaythatleavesoneutterlycharmed Sat 30th October 8pm £ 8 /£ 6 .5 0 Tues 26th October 8pm £ 6 /£ 5 JOHN HEGLEY RegularGuardianpoet- scandalouslytalented Wed 27th October 8pm £ 6 /£ 5 Donna McPhail Tyne Theatre Comedy Cafe 1 0 . 3 0 p m ti ll la t e ANVIL SPRINGSTEEN Tues 26th October 10.30pm £4 GIU, RUBBER BISHOPS, SEAN LOCK Wed 27th/ThuT5 28th October 10.30pm £5 N PARROT, VLADMIR McTAVISH, STEVE MELVIUE Fri 29th October 10.30pm £6 SIMON BUGH, ANVIL SPRINGSTEEN Sot 30th October 10.30pm £6 Av B ruce Morton Gulbenkian Nine Lives See all nine festival shows at the Comedy Cate for £26 Box Office the city 200 Tyne Theatre/Comedy Cafe Tel: 091 232 0899 Playhouse Tel: 091 232 7079 Gulbenkian: Tel 091 232 7079 ST. J iW bsls fcNWACViS j " 1Sr , 1 2 FYC Reflections Thursday October 14, 1993 Reflections on FYC |77?eCourier has invited Freshers and stewards to give their impressions on this years First Year Conference. Dawn McKenzie, Sally Hall and Mark Harden report. NEVER BEFORE, and most probably never again, are we likely experience five days quite like the First Year Conference. Where else, apart from the Student Union, can you have the pleasure o f pushing through a plethora o f first year students on a dangerous mis sion in“HOLD ONTO YOUR HATS...you are about to begin one o f the most hectic and exciting weeks o f your life,” is what the Student Handbook said; yet at the pace we were going, we should have been supplied with a DIY Superglue kit to weld our hats firmly to our heads! Where else, apart from the Student Union, can you have the pleasure o f publishing through a plethora o f first year students on a dangerous mis sion into the unknown just to buy a pint; or have your ear drums blasted by the live bands in an almost tropical cli mate - and w e’re talking sweat city here, bringing a whole knew meaning to the phrase ‘soaking up the atmosphere!’ Who else, apart from our fel low Freshers, would be psychotic enough, and plastered enough to, to queue in the pouring rain on the banks of the River Tyne infamous fog et al - in order to get into a floating nightclub with a revolving dance floor, which is guarantied to eventually intro duce the contents of your stom ach to a nearby netty. It’s a stroke of luck that toilet bowls don’t ask your name, subject, where your living and your A-level results too. What else, but a bit of doe-ce-doeing and swinging your partner lound (and round and round...) at a Ceilidh, will leave you almost in mid-asthmatic seizure, after being dragged around the dance floor by some pill-popping, polka-fetishist for seventeen con secutive dances; where else can you witness hundreds of eigh teen and nineteen year-olds act ing like escaped inmates of the local mental asylum, not caring that the entire population of the upstairs disco is witnessing the whole affair? Why else, except for the sheer thrill of it would a dozen Freshers allow a hypnotist to turn them into a gibbering martian or giggly seven year old girly? How else, besides coming to Newcasde University, can you experience one of the best, if not the best Freshers Week in exis tence? But of course, this is Newcastle, so what else could you possibly expect...?! D a w n McKenzie IT MADE ME FEEL POPULAR, important, sexy. The pink T-shirt turned me from a shy three-year-old into a trouser packing girly dream Well, almost, and only for the week. Last year I shared the defini tive fresher state o f mind; that o f cocktailed loneliness, fear and dubious anticipa tion. This year I turned up on the first morning o f the week with the ambivilant second year attitude securely in place; “1 might have a bit o f a giggle, but the T-shirt and the accompanying superior ity complex may turn me into a patronising tosspot...” Oh well. Luckily it became the most enjoyable single week I’ve spent at University. The var ied ‘w ork’, the free and copi ous quantities o f exploited alcohol and the fraternal, teamy spirit fostered in the stewards camp were all part o f the fun. But perhaps the greatest pleasure came from an enhanced feeling o f self-worth. Universities are, at the best o f times, over whelming places —imper sonal and humbling. Last week, though, the shackles o f anonymity were lost and I actually felt as if I was ‘making a difference’. The looks o f lost helpless ness on the hesitantly curi ous freshers were replaced by those o f more assured security upon hearing my advice; the embarassed silence o f a first year filled mini van drowned out by the inquisitive hum o f stew ard—prompted Smalltalk. Oh what it is to midwife the birth o f new friendships! The post—FYC stewards party was splendid. At its uniquely subterranean venue, I managed to slip a lovely lady the tongue —I hope she didn’t mind —and, although when I got home I wasn’t entirely exhausted, I was certainly shitfaced enough to kip in the bath. Watch out! Fresher Alert 2500 FRESHERS on a pub crawl. It was like a huge stream o f refugees, all shell-shock into gormless submission. Well, no. it wasn’t quite that bad, but w e must have looked strange to the people o f Newcastle - like a huge crocodile o f overgrown school kids. The reaction to our presence proved our pop ularity. Every pub we went into, people ran out scream ing, “Look out - FRESHER ALERT!” Popularity amongst the Freshers wasn’t much better. I guarantee every single first year that week was thinking, “Why haven’t I got more friends? Everyone here has got more friends than me... is it always going to be like this? Will I ever find anyone who will cop off with me?” However, plenty of lewd snogging was going on. The sole purpose of the FYC was, as far as I could see, to ensure, to ensure every first year ingested as much alcohol in one week as was humanly possible. And it showed. Firstly it showed in the numer ous of slobbery clinches in dark pub comers - now causing seri ous blushes in the sober light of term. All the rest of us singles, even if we wouldn’t have been caught dead with the slobberers, felt inadequate and sloped off for another pint. Secondly it showed in the num ber of people who seemed will ing to dance to such gems as, “The Shoop Shoop Song," and, “Nellie The Elephant.” Amazing how, drunk as we were, we still knew all the words. Finally, the full effects are showing only now. All the peo ple groaning about having, ‘caught that cold’ are lying —it is a prolonged hangover —don’t kid yourselves! And as for buy ing textbooks, 50% of the Freshers can forget, having pissed most of their grant cheque up the wall already. But of course, FYC wasn’t just for getting drunk. It was for meeting people. Faced with 2499 other people all there wanting to be met, most people just collapsed into quivering pile of jelly and downed 10 pints. After this, meeting people was easier. However, everyone seemed to have a brain implant which only allowed them to say, “Where are you from? What course are you doing? Where are you living? and, Where’s the toilet?” If everyone wore this information on a badge, the FYC would have become a nightmare of silence. But ultimately, the FYC was a masterpiece of excellent organi sation. Now I’ve recovered from the shell-shock of going from Paintballing to Metroland to the revolving dance floor of the Boat, I can appreciate how much effort was put into the conference. I hope not every one was too drunk to notice how good it was. Sally Hall ATTENTION Stewards and Drivers CAMA1R LTD. INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT FORWARDERS Specialists in the handling o f personal effects and household goods by A ir, Road and S e a Worldwide. ►C ollection , Packaging and Storage Facilities ►T E A C H E S T S A N D B O X E S SU P P L IE D FREE O F C H A R G E C o m p e titiv e R a te C o n tact: M A R IL Y N T e l: (0 9 1 ) 2 1 4 0 8 8 8 . F a x : (0 9 1 ) 2 1 4 0 7 7 8 * Cargo Agents Building, Newcastle International Airport, Newcasde upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear NE13 8BU The C o u r i e r P r iz e C r o s s w o r d Compiled by Grazy ACROSS 1 Fondle (6) 5 Amorous (6) 8 A cheese (4) 9 Devil worshipper (8) 10 Skin complaint (6) 12 Orient (4) 15 All students are members of this (8,5) 16 Commercial capital of Yemen (4) 17 Large expanses of water (6) 19 Jilted (8) 21 Conservative (4) 22 Beguiled (6) FYC '93 reunion 7 .3 0 Level 6 A w ord in your ear. If you haven’t yet helped out with FYC then do so. I f you already have done, then repeat. All the stewards I talked to rated the week as more o f a laugh than their own fresh ers week, so for the last time, sweet freshers, heed some well intended advice and turn up next year to offer your services. Mark Harden (L a te Bar) 23 Ought (0 DOWN 2 Relinquished a throne (9) 3 Tree (3) 4 Supports (8) 5 Tardy (4) 6 Revenge (9) 7 15 across is affiliated to this (1,1,1) 11 Puts at risk (9) 13 Rogue (9) 14 Bewilders (8) 18 Garish (4) 20 German physicist (3) 21 As well (3) Thursday 21st O ctober 1993 Bring a friend Also: FYC '9 3 team photos are available. If you w a n t one then please leave your name c/o FYC at the General O ffice. Come and relive those Fresher Moments! Crossword entries to be returned to The Courier office by 2pm on Monday, 18th October, 1993. The prize is a £5 b ook token donated by: Last w eek ’s winner: Christine Martinez, 5 Callerton Place, Fenham, Newcastle upon Tyne. Collect your prize from The Courier office. LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION: ACROSS: 1 Amaze; 4 Atheist; 8 Beautiful; 9 Aha; 10 Etc; 11 Spiders; 12 Purchaser; 13 Alarm; 16 Lubricant; 18 Dot; 20 Has; 21 Abundance; 22 Decayed; 23 Yield DOWN: 1 Amble; 2 Anarchy; 3 Extraordinary; 4 Affray; 5 Halfheartedly; 6 Iraqi; 7 Transom; 12 Belched; 14 Andante; 15 Valued; 17 Basic; 19 Trend Current Affairs Thursday, October 14, 1993 Labour: facing up to the challenge of modern Britain Party Conference Special In the second o f three articles written by top politicians from the three main politi cal parties, Jim Cousins, Labour MP for Newcastle Central reflects on the success o f the Labour Brighton Conference and the changes that his party are undergoing. I DON’T LIKE PARTY CON FERENCES! And, despite the welcome introduction of express queues through the security screens for those without mobile phones, I still don’t like them! Conferences can often mark sig nificant changes by their style. This year Labour made a dra matic, and again welcome, shift from grey smoky male fug to sparky, arm untwistable feminin ity. But, and I say this with some surprise, this year’s Conference also marked the beginning o f a new period o f political life. Each Party has had to face up to the realities o f modem Britain. There is a growing insecurity about prospects and opportuni ties, a growing insecurity about homes and streets, about care, hospitals and schools. Neither the Government, nor the economy as a whole, pays its way. The cho sen slogans do not seem to work or connect with reality. But, the Conferences o f Labour and the Conservatives show com pletely different reactions. Labour approached its Conference, and conducted it, disobeying it’s own, and everybody else’s, normal Rules. The Leader o f the Labour Party has decided that sleaze and slump have the same roots and require the same solutions - more openness o f debate, more involvement by citizens, more accountability o f leaders. He decided Labour should clean up the Country - Labour should attack the political dependency culture which is far more widespread and corrosive than any welfare depending culture. Labour should open up the power to decide in neighbour hoods, enterprises, City Hall and Government itself. But first Labour had to change itself in the same way as it wished to change Britain. Many, probably most, delegates arriving at this year in Brighton had not made the link between the Party’s changes in rules and this broad, new polit ical agenda. Most delegates may have believed that the Party changes in rules were a distraction from the real issues. They weren’t. They may have believed that the Party Leader did not regard the issues as central and would not lay himself, as John Prescott was to put it - ‘on the block’ for them. They were wrong. They may have believed there had been compromises worked out in advance. Again they were wrong. By the second day o f the Conference delegates realised their Leader had a vision that linked the way they should change their Party and the way they could change their Country; that he wouldn’t back down or back off; and that - on the run o f the nor mal Conference arithmetic - the Leader would certainly lose. Over the following twenty-four hours a mood change occurred that in many ways changed the style o f the Party for good. Some votes were swinging. A vital fac tor was the much larger number o f women delegates who openly scorned the machine politics o f predetermined votes. O f course the decision o f the Party to respond to the vision the Leader set out, and the challenge it presented to the Party’s accepted way o f life, will have conse quences for both the Leader and the Party for years to come. The decision to link the campaign for economic recovery and the cam paign to change the political and economic power-structures; to link full employment and full citizen ship, will be seen as John Smith’s decisive intervention in British pol itics. His decision was also to General Meeting Shiould the Union spend £ 4 4 , J88.94p on a ffilia tin g to the NUS? 1 Ha ve your say... Deabating Chamber, Ipim, October 18th 1 Union Council begin where it hurts most, where it was most embarrassing and explosive, and where it tested him to the limit - with his own Party. This seemed to me, as I went to the Conference, brave yet fool hardy. As I left it, it seemed merely logical and necessary. How different this was to the Conservative Conference which, after the longest period in Government for a century, voted to decide that people had let their Government down disgracefully! And so, rather than change, they decided to post a new list of scapegoats for their failures. Of course, the Leaders realise what nonsense it all is, but they’ve grown used to fooling people and getting away with it. The end o f the Conservative era is close. The last years o f Conservatism will be neither hopeful nor glorious but petty, vicious and ugly. John Smith's decision at Brighton in 1993 to challenge the existing power structures of his Party, and to trust the members instead, to take on the Left, Right and soggy Centre of his Party in the process, shows that Labour is now not merely an alternative, JIM C O U S IN S is th e but the means to change. Labour MP for N ew castle The Prime Minister ended his u p o n T y n e C entral, and Conference a prisoner o f his w as e le c te d in 1987. H e Party, and its most primitive preju w a s D e p u ty L e a d e r o f dices. The Labour Leader ended his Conference having convinced T y n e & W e a r C o u n c il his Party to overturn its old b e fo r e a b o lit io n . Jim pow er structures and deter C o u s in s s e r v e d o n th e mined to do the same for the Parliam entary T ra d e and Country. Industry Select Committee until recently and is n o w a Front Bench spokesperson f o r L a b o u r's tra d e an d In d u s try T e a m le d b y Robin Cook, with particu lar r e s p o n s ib ilt y fo r T elecom m u n ication s and for Small Businesses. VOTE ELECTIONS FOR SABBATICAL SECRETARY EXECUTIVE OFFICER INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS OFFICER and FACULTY REPS HAVE YOUR SAY! The Governing body of the Union w ill be m eeting on M onday, October 18th at 5 p.m. TUESDAY, 19th OCTOBER ALL STUDENTS WELCOME (Ballot boxes in Union and Library) VOTE ON , 14 Thursday October 14, 1993 Career Decisions on the Horizon? Talk informally about jobs at the University’s Careers Days Monday 18 & Tuesday 19 October King’s Hall & Refectory 11.00 am - 4.00 pm Over 60 top graduate employers CAREERS DAYS ONLY HAPPEN ONCE! ■•I'il'Mlll ....SAVE £1 PER GAME WITH THIS .ADVERT Feature Thursday, October 14, 1993 Students urged to seek help following suicide tragedy of Newcastle undergraduate Stressed and depressed students are reluctant to seek professional help despite plenty being available. Dominic Casciani talks to the mother of Newcastle student John Price, who took his own life in the summer and finds that talking about your problems to a professional is essentialis fur ther tragedies are to be avoided. UNIVERSITY is a Rite of Passage. Not many of us would admit it, but the transition from adoles cent to mature adult can be pretty traumatic as we balance a sometimes hedonistic lifestyle with the rigours of academic work. Many students find it diffi cult to adjust to the new envi ronment and avoid the peer pressures that become part and parcel. Indeed, very few students go through their University career without some feelings o f anxiety, be they from homesickness or exam-time pressure. And when these pressures begin to mount, personal feelings and deep-seated insecurities can be surpressed leading to loneliness or dangerous excess. A recent Oxford University Report has focussed on the problems students experience and has timely turned the spotlight on formal coun selling as a way out. The report was begun last spring after a spate o f sui cides had distressed Dons and excited the national media to suggest the rigours o f university life were too tough for many students to cope with. The report found that between 1976 and 1990 21 students at the university killed themselves and there had been a further 254 known attempts. Am ong the recommendations was a call for increased access to coun selling and a concerted effort to raise student’s awareness o f the help available. A sig nificant problem which may face students w h o are depressed is that a stigma has been attatched in the past to seeking guidance and sup port on campus since it goes against the established norm that ‘typical’ students are happy go lucky and some how muddle through. This is what concerns Alan Brice at The University Counselling Service on Claremont Road: “Peer pres sure can create a taboo around stress. If a student finds things personally diffi cult, difficult to be themselves even, it becomes very hard to juggle being young, indepen dent and successful while fac ing personal problems. Difficulties are often shrugged o ff as insignificant since University life is afflicted by the myth that everybody is happy all the time. Personal problems get dismissed as student problems.” Newcastle University’s Counselling Service has sig nificantly expanded since last year. Not only do the three professionally trained coun sellors Alan Brice, Lynne Cox and Jane Brown now provide sixty appointments a week, there is also an improved out o f hours emergency service and comprehensive help through the holidays for cur rent students, graduates and anybody at the university. Alan Brice describes coun selling as ‘a metaphorical hole where problems can be dumped.’ He adds, “If someone is lonely and depressed, counselling can help, irrespective o f the prob lem. Especially since w e are independent and someone can visit us in confidence and privacy. Often students don’t recognise they are low and it’s only after visiting us to discuss small matters that the bigger picture emerges.” Dr Erika Price, whose son John committed suicide at the end o f last term told 72>eCourier how important it is that w e learn new ways o f reaching young people under ■ Seeking advice... many avenues o f counselling are available severe emotional stress. “H ow much these tragic events occur I now know. And if it happens once it's far too much. John never, to our knowledge, considered coun selling. And this remains the case for many young people at University. Either they don’t know where to turn to, or they don’t take counselling seriously. They try to bypass their problems by fitting in with a perceived student way o f life.” Dr Price cited a British Medical Journal report from July this year which revealed that young people up to the age o f 35 are far less inclined to seek professional help from counsellors or GPs before committing suicide. The report continues, “...they do not feel it appropriate to discuss emotional or psycho logical problems with a doc tor. "This seems especially rele vant to university students w h o may find it difficult to be themselves," says Dr Price.“Against the supposed problems o f student life such as debt and bad housing, an undercurrent o f personal depression can build up and lie undetected. The little, very personal attacks to self esteem go unnoticed by your peers. John, for example, had his bike stolen, was fined for speeding, and lots o f other little things which seem not so important. But they build up, become view ed out o f perspective and lead to impulsive reactions.” A close friend o f John’s agreed, saying, “You don’t think twice about other peo ple getting a speeding ticket. W e have to learn to recognise the little things may be much greater personal attacks, may be more hurtful than w e would think.” Philip Townsend, Manager o f The Union’s Student Advice Centre on Level 5 finds many students come to him first as the office appears more accessible. “Often p eo ple find it difficult to visit the Counselling Service and w e become the first stop," said Mr Townsend. "However serious or not a personal problem may seem, w e would introduce students to formal counselling. W e try and lessen the stupid stigma that can be built up around getting help. W e must get the message across that University is big enough for everybody - there isn’t just one way, and if you need help it is gladly given, and always available.” The University Counselling Service, Claremont Road, 2226000 ext7699 Nightline 2612905 Student Advice Centre, Level 5, Union Building, 2326600 or 6367 (University Internal) or 239 (Union External) £50 Off Round the World Tickets bought before 3 1st O c to b e r LONDON - BOSTON - SYDNEY - BANGKOK - ^ i f i f N E W L IF E FRO M OLD O U R REST E V E R SE LE C TIO N OF ★★★INCLUDING _ ★VINTAGE 50ls & 505s ★ _ „ ★LEVI ★LEE ★WRANGLER & DYED JEANS ★ ★DUNGAREES ★CORD JEANS ★FLANNEL SHIRTS ★ ★LUMBERJACK SHIRTS & JACKETS ★ ★DENIM WAISTCOATS & JACKETS ★ ★CORD SHIRTS ★SUEDE & LEATHER JACKETS ★ — ★VELVET JACKETS & TROUSERS ★ ^ ★★★★★★WITH ****** * NEW MAMBO RANGE ★ ★EXCLUSIVE AMERICAN SPORTSWEAR ★ ★HEAVYWEIGHT T-SHIRTS ★ ★BASEBALL CAPS ★ACCESSORIES ★ 1 2 - 1 4 C R O SS S T R E E T W E S T G A T E R D N E W C A S T L E T e l: ( 0 9 1 ) 2 6 1 8248 VIENNA - LONDON NOW LONDON - TORONTO - LOS ANGELES - SYDNEY SINGAPORE - DELHI/KATHMANDU - surface BOMBAY - LONDON NOW £674 £867 nEEHiizna: o/w from BOSTON BOMBAY HONG KONG MEXICO NEW YORK SYDNEY £99 £221 £257 £179 £99 £342 TORONTO £128 £69 £82 £67 £129 6 days 12 months £273 £41 £39 AMSTERDAM PARIS PRAGUE EUROPE WORLDWIDE (9 Ccunpas Campus Travel Newcastle University Union Building, Kings Walk Newcastle-Upon-T yne Tel. No. 091 232 2881 Retail agents £8 The Jt)ack rage University • ■ ^ apurrs Sports ■ w ^ i\eivs Subscription Prize Draw W in s a d o z e n c a n s o f b e e r d o n a te d b y V a u x B re w e rie s Wins £5 of photocopying donated by Spcdnim Image Works, 8, St Mary's Place Wins £10 voucher donated by Kard Bar. Cross Street Wins lunch for two (value £10) donated by Barley Mow, Sandgate Wins 2 Cinema tickets donated by Warner Bros Cinemas at Manors Wins voucher (value £7) donated by Volume records, Ridley Place Wins two tickets donated ited by Tyneside Cine,ma, Pilgnm Street (by arrangement) Wins meal (value £5) donated don by Burger King, 24 Northumberland Street Wins Ents. Gold Gird donated by the Ents Manager, Union Society H Wins haircut and style donated by - J e n for Men. Northumberland Street Wins Cinema tickets donated b v ' n Cinema, Pilgnm Street Wins £10 voucher donated by Plip, Cross Street Wins gift voucher to the value o f£5 donated by Type Rite-Solstice. Level 5. Union Wins 2 belly-buster meals, Mon-Wed, donated by Dean Diner, Collingwood Street Wins small jug o f wine, donated by Manyana, Grey Street Wins 2 tickets to the Riverside (by arrangement), Melbourne Street Wins 2 tickets to a University o f Northumbria Event, donated by the Ents Officer Wins a cut and style, donated by lmages, Goldspink Lane j„ _ ,_ .L Union JjOQgtY 384 1596 460 1742 44 905 847 1500 696 735 152 1 2111 855 913 1364 134 1723 2383 THIS IS WAR! ___ _ __________ _______________by the Union Society Wins 2 free games donated by Laser Quest. Waterloo Street Street Prizes to be claimed by Monday October 18,1993 This week sees the start o f the University Athletic Union Cham pionship. As William Hepburne-Scott reports old rival ries are bu bblin g over as Newcastle University open their D ivision One North-East cam paign against city neighbours the University of Northumbria. WE'VE ALL BEEN WAIT ING FOR IT, ever since news broke that poly technics would become universities. The grudge match. Against the enemy. War. ■Jez Cooper, Newcasde Uni AU President... tempers will be short, tried and tested LEARN TO SWIM I t ’s w e t 9n 9 w i l d Have you always w anted to look stylish in the pool? Are you bored with always doing breaststroke? Swimming lessons every Monday at the City Pool 2-3pm. A ll for only £10 p e r term A Classes for begin ners and improvers. ALL WELCOME Come along to the session on 18th October to enrol. It m ay not yet create the bitterness that Celtic versus R a n g e rs at f o o t b a ll, o r England versus Scotland at rugby, create, but everyone is p r e p a r e d fo r le v e ls o f com p etitiven ess p reviou sly unseen and unimaginable. The losers will not be elimi nated from the UAU, as the top four o f eight universities progress to the play-off round, but winning is all important, for pride if nothing else. Jez Cooper, AU President of Newcastle University, has cer tainly been caught up in a whirlwind o f “pre-match hype" that puts to shame the recent efforts o f Lennox Lewis and Frank Bruno. He coolly announced: “I don’t know if any malicious violence will take place (o n the field !), but it depends on the score. Tempers will be short, tried and tested”. All former polytechnics have now entered the UAU competi tion, making it the toughest and most prestigious championship ever. W hen it was first announced that polytechnics would compete with Newcastle University in the UAU, former AU President Simon Fitch pro claimed: “I have every confi dence that our teams will not be affected by the new opposition. W e’ll beat anyone who comes our way”. However, last w eek it was Guy Taylor, Sports Administrator o f Northumbria University, who adopted a more complacent attitude than his rival, Jez Cooper, who himself attacked “the polytechnic” with great relish. Guy Taylor boldly announced that “w e (Northum bria) are going to kill you at rugby” . This, it has to be said, is highly likely as the Northumbria team includes five Gosforth players, tw o Northern players, one British Polytechnic player, and tw o England U-21’s on the bench. Guy was also confident in the ability o f the women’s hockey teams and the men’s football teams. He then admit ted that “it then becomes ques tionable” and that “the other results w ill depend on this year’s intake”. Jez Cooper’s reaction to this confidence in their rugby team was condemning, as he retorted: “In a game where thick skulls are required, it is of no surprise that polytechnic stu dents have an advantage”. Jez also suggested that “our new-found rivalry with the polytechnic on the sports field can become greater than our rivalry with Durham” and he w elcom ed the increase in grudge matches that will now take place. When questioned on the importance o f winning on W ednesday, Jez said: “It is incredibly important. Without a shadow o f doubt this is a grudge match. This is the first time that we have been graced with the presence o f the poly technic in the UAU, and I believe that, with their compla cent attitude, they could be in for a surprise”. Jez goes on to say that “the polytechnic may well be good at football, but w e are no slouches. Likewise, our 1st XI men’s hockey are pretty good, and the fabulous, thrilling 3rd XI (who reached the final o f the UAU Championship last year) should teach them a lesson”. Not surprisingly, it is for this reason that Jez is pleased to see that Northumbria University are fieldin g three men’s hockey teams, as this was previously in P E R S O N A L Thank you for a wonderful year, thank you for putting up with me and thank you for putting me up. I fish you! R IC H A R D FYC '93 Stewards and drivers Reunion Party, 21st October, 1993- See you on Level 6 at 7.30 p.m. FYC ’93 team photos arc available for view ing and selection in the FYC Office Level 6. Journalist seeks Mathematician to star in new film Sleepless in Durham] Wanted - two eyebrows for man savaged by pit bull. c PEACE ACTION group being set up. See black cap, opposite Endsleigh, Thursday and Friday 1-2 p.m. W here was Chris Hughes o n Thursday night? Sharing some MAXWELL House with Fiona? Grott is Fab Glottis Funky Grott Guitars are very plunky. Cheep guitars, amps, drums, etc., Grott Guitars, Music Shop 4 Old Eldon Square (o ff Blackett Street). 091 232 9100. FYC ’93 Stewards and drivers Reunion Party, 21st October, 1993* See you on Level 6 at 7.30 p.m. To those reviewers who battled through untold illnesses, I salute you. doubt. They will not, however, be providing a women’s rugby team, which has left Newcasde University's team disgruntled. According to Jez, “they were running scared”. There are no two ways about it. This rivalry is fierce and intense, and there ,can be only one winner. < C O L U M N To the man with no eyebrows You’ll find it hard writing Personals with nay fxxxxxg eyes, p.s. the make up is lovely WANTED: A girlfriend for Jo Thompson FYC Senior Steward. Send C.V. to FYC Office Level 6 - Public School Education essential. SOMEONE TO TALK TO Niteline r 261 2905 8 pm- 8am FYC ’93 Stewards and Drivers - Newcastle’s best bring on the Toon Army! A big cheer to all Union porters, Derek and Ronnie our FYC postmen, Davy and Albert for all their help. FYC '93 Stewards and drivers Reunion Party, 21st October, 1993. See you on Level 6 at 7.30 p.m. Good Luck Gill & Carol - the future can only get better. With Love M. Spring-breaker shock: Dodgy mattressess found in local city's Halls o f Residence. W O M E N ’S G R O U P Come along to our first informal meeting, Friday 15th at 1 p.m. in the Women's Room Level 5