Redbrick - April 27th 2012

The University Main Library

RedbrickEST. 1936 Friday 27th April 2012 | Volume 76 | Issue 1412 | redbrickpaper.co.uk

School of Nursing and Physiotherapy at risk

Students have expressed concern to Redbrick about the uncertain future of their degrees in Nursing and Physiotherapy.

A review of Nursing and Physiotherapy has taken place over the last year, and now stu-dents have been informed that all possible options for the future of the course will be considered at an appraisal.

Students have been sent a number of emails concerning the fate of their course and were invit-ed to attend a meeting this Tuesday in order for the University to set the record straight. Furthermore an article has appeared in the Nursing Standard about the

University of Birmingham with the headline 'Nursing school under threat after reduction in SHA commissions'.

Students are confused and

worried about the implications of the changes for their course and one student has written a letter to Steve McCabe, MP for Selly Oak requesting support and help.

Second year nursing student Ruth Parkes said, 'It's a massive shock and seems to have hap-pened really fast. I am worried for the future. Some of my favourite lecturers have left and I will be really upset if the course finishes as it is well respected in Birmingham and it will not only have an impact on students and lecturers but Birmingham's healthcare as well.'

A University spokesperson has said, 'Nursing and Physiotherapy (N&P) within the School of Health and Population Sciences is currently undergoing an options appraisal on its future

configuration where all possible options will be considered.

'The appraisal of all the pos-sible options for N&P will be undertaken inclusively and trans-parently, involving staff and stu-dents. The University will also ensure all relevant external stake-holders, including local NHS part-ners, are communicated with reg-ularly throughout the process.

'During this process we are continuing to make offers to appli-cants to the Nursing and Physiotherapy undergraduate programmes for entry in September 2012. While there may be some changes to these pro-grammes, we can confirm that, subject to successful completion of the course, all current and new students will be eligible to be awarded the University of

Birmingham degree that they applied to study.'

The outcome of the review is due in June this year, however student applications to start the course in 2012/13 are still being accepted.

Professor John Heath, Pro Vice Chancellor (Estates and Infrastructure), told Redbrick, 'The Nursing and Physiotherapy Options Appraisal Group (OAG) has recommended, and University Executive Board endorsed, that all students currently on course, or in receipt of an offer for 2012, will graduate with the University of Birmingham Degree they enrolled for.

'The OAG, in addition, is not considering the transfer of Nursing and Physiotherapy education to another HE provider.'

Kerrina GrayNews Editor

It's a massive shock and seems to have

happened really fast. I am worried for the

future.

52 Pritchatts Road which houses the School of Nursing and Physiotherapy Freddie Herzog

To flashpack or to backpack? Redbrick Travel offer inspirations on how best to spend your summer, p.22 and 23

2 27th April 2012 Redbrickredbrickpaper.co.uk

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TECHNOLOGY

New Boeing 787test flight

The revolutionary new Boeing 787 Dreamliner made a test flight from Manchester Airport on Tuesday. The plane is made up of composite materials and is said to use 20% less fuel. Over 10,000 people went to the airport to see the new plane.

SPACE

The shuttle Discovery retires

The shuttle Discovery was transferred to its retirement home in a museum last week. Its final journey was televised and involved a dramatic fly-past the capital Washington. The shuttle was the world's most travelled space ship.

RELIGION

Church calls forstudent signatures

The Roman Catholic church has written to every state-funded Catholic secondary school in England and Wales, 385 in total, asking them to encourage pupils to sign a peti-tion against gay marriage. See Redbrick Features page 7.

Editor Glen Moutrie

Editor ElectRaphael Sheridan

Deputy EditorsVictoria BullJames PhillipsOwen EarwickerLexie Wilson

Digital EditorChris Hutchinson

Art DirectorAlexander Blanchard

MultimediaEditorsRian LennonOwen [email protected]

Photography EditorsFreddie HerzogAnna [email protected]

News EditorsKerrina GrayRhiannon Doyle-MawPatrick McGheeFreddie Herzog (Online) [email protected]

C&F EditorsOscar FrenchElisha OwenJames Dolton (Online)[email protected]

Arts EditorsLexie WilsonJames KinseyRebekah McDermottAnna Lumsden (Online)[email protected]

Music EditorsTamara RoperJonathon MilnesJosh Holder (Online)[email protected]

Television EditorsCharlotte LyttonRussell WebbCharlotte GoodwinAbigail Salter (Online)[email protected]

Film EditorsNatasha LavenderAisha BushbyJosh Taylor (Online)[email protected]

Food EditorsIzzy GibbinSophia AttwoodJosh Oxley (Online)[email protected]

Life&StyleEditors Sophie CowlingLucy WhifeMegan NisbetMegan Jones (Online)[email protected]

Travel EditorsEmily BoothChloe OsborneWill Spence (Online)[email protected]

Technology EditorsRuth BradleySam AtkinsAndrew SpencerDan Lesser (Online)[email protected]

Sport EditorsSam PriceRaphael SheridanJoel Lamy (Online)[email protected]

Crossword EditorJohn Rizkallah

Senior Editorial AssistantKate Selvaratnam

Editorial AssistantsEllie JarvisIsabel MasonSarah MusgroveRavina KhelaEllie Smallwood

OnlineEditorial AssistantsJosh TaylorEimear Luddy

Junior Art DirectorsLauren WheatleySophie RogersAkhil Kothari

ProofreadersSian StanfieldOwen EarwickerJames PhillipsVictoria BullJames Dolton

Community ManagerSophie Murray-Morris

OLYMPICS

Less than 100days until Olympics

It was announced last week that the motto for the London games will be “inspire a gener-ation”. The 100-day countdown was marked by the unveiling of the Olympics rings in flowers at Kew Gardens. See The Lion for more on the Olympics.

LITERATURE

Claims over Shake-speare co-author

Academics are arguing that William Shakespeare had a co-writer for All's Well That Ends Well. Professor Laurie Maguire and Dr Emma Smith from Ox-ford University discovered the writing style of Thomas Mid-dleton in the First Folio.

EUROPE

Experts express mosquito fears

The Asian Tiger Mosquito could bring tropical diseases to the UK. Causing outbreaks of infection, the insect has spread into Europe, and breeds in water-filled tree holes. Experts believe it can withstand Eu-rope's milder winters.

SPORT

Protests during Bahrain Grand Prix

The Formula One Grand Prix in Bahrain took place at the weekend. Protestors in the troubled nation took to the streets in 'Days of Rage'. The race itself took place without any disturbance as Sebastian Vettel won the race.

FINANCE

Double – dip recession

The UK is now in the first double-dip recession since the 1970s. At 9.30am on Wednes-day the UK re-entered reces-sion after the first quarter GDP came in at -0.2%. Construction output has dropped by 3%, the greatest drop since 2009.

POLITICS

Hollande on top in French elections

Presidential elections in France have taken place over the weekend. After the first round, the socialist Francois Hollande emerged as the leader after re-ceiving approximately 28% of the vote. Nicolas Sarkozy only received approximately 26%.

SPORT

Woman dies inLondon Marathon

37,500 participants took part in the 32nd London Marathon on Sunday. One marathon runner, Claire Squires, sadly passed away; donations to her online site have now surpassed £648,000. She is the 11th par-ticipant to die since 1981.

TELEVISION

Reality star accused of drug use

Twenty-three year old Made In Chelsea star Spencer Matthews has been accused of snort-ing cocaine at the show's after party. The accusation comes in the same week that the E4 show was been nominated for a Bafta Award.

AUSTRALIA

Sydney shootings spark outcry

The shooting of two Aboriginal teenagers by police in Sydney in the early hours of Saturday morning has sparked wide-spread calls for an indepen-dent inquiry after activists have publicly accused the institution of racism.

CRIME

Anders Breivikdenies insanity

Breivik has claimed that psy-chiatric reports that branded him 'insane' were based on 'evil fabrications' intended to make him appear irrational and un-intelligent. Breivik showed no remorse when hearing the tes-timonies of injuries he caused.

MEDIA

Murdochs appear at Leveson enquiry

Both James and Rupert Mur-doch have been giving evidence this week at the Leveson en-quiry. After James Murdoch's evidence, there was significant pressure upon the Culture Sec-retary, Jeremy Hunt, over his dealings with News Corp.

FILM

Cannes judging panel announced

The jurors for this year's Cannes Film Festival panel have been announced this week. The panel, whose job it is to award the prestigious Palme D'Or, in-cludes actors Ewan McGregor and Diane Kruger, and director Alexander Payne.

GERMANY

Mein Kampf to be published

Mein Kampf will be published in Germany for the first time since 1945. Adolf Hitler's auto-biography, previously banned throughout Germany, will be available in 2015. It will be an-notated and made available in audio and e-book formats.

CRIME

Search continues forMadeleine McCann

Police have released age en-hanced images of Madeleine. Scotland Yard is calling for the investigation to be reopened after suggestions she may still be alive, although the team is following an equal line of in-quiry that she has died.

News Shorts compiled by Ryan Jones

3

Raphael Sheridan Editor-elect

Hello, Goodbye

The Beatles will forever be the world’s greatest band, yet for a short time in 1965 they were fin-ished, boring, over. The reason? They’d stagnated, after playing it safe with five albums that were, by and large, the same.

Having been the quintessen-tial pop/rock band of the early 60s, they had failed to spot the shift in attitude towards music. The result was Help!, an admittedly brilliant album, but one ‘pop’ album too many for the musically diverse 1960s. In the United States, Her-man’s Hermits (of all bands) be-came the best that Britain had to offer, and in the UK The Rolling Stones were bigger and braver in their music, their words and their presence.

But The Beatles’ genius lay in their reaction to this. Having ini-tially panicked and with the dream now almost certainly over, they de-cided to reinvent and, in December 1965, produced one of the 20th century’s great albums: Rubber Soul. It was bold, brave and used Dylan-esque stories throughout. In short, it was the first album that was a complete whole. The Beatles emerged kicking and screaming with their new found creativity, and the experimentation of the ‘Fab Four’ created whole genres of music never heard before. Over the Atlantic, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys heard the album and emerged with a reply: Pet Sounds, a modern American masterpiece.

It didn’t stop there. The Beat-les kept on experimenting (with a healthy supply of drugs), and repeatedly emerged with not just great - but exceptional - albums despite barely functioning as a single, agreeable unit. Even the White Album, a weird cacophony of sounds mashed together amidst arguments and infighting, de-serves every scrap of praise it re-ceives. Abbey Road, recorded in the summer of ’69 when the band knew their time was over, is a per-sonal favourite.

Fast-forward to 2012: we’re in a world where print has seemingly stagnated and newspapers are rapidly going out of fashion. The revolution happening this decade with news is, albeit very loosely, what happened with music in the 1960s and newspapers look lost in an increasingly digitised, fast-moving and interconnected world. But like the 1960s, the only long-term remedy is originality and ex-perimentation. Every paper should look like a work of art; a consistent theme should run through it; and front pages should become cre-ative statements.

Sgt Pepper’s front cover is one of the most expensive ever pro-duced, but even today it remains a bold statement to its potential lis-teners: just look at it and you know what to expect before you hear the opening riff. Sure enough, each of the tracks on the album be-long together and relate to each other, and it’s unsurprising that the mythical Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band open and close the show. There’s a symmetry and rhythm at work, and there’s no reason why newspapers can’t fol-low this example.

It takes a lot of bravery, but next year if we in the student me-dia experiment, use our creativity, accept the risk of failure and suc-ceed more often than not, then the one word we shouldn’t need is Help!

27th April 2012 redbrickpaper.co.ukRedbrick News

Overheard on Campus

TRANSPORT

Train collision leaves 16 dead

Two trains collided on the Warsaw-Krakow mainline in Poland on Saturday evening, leaving 16 passengers dead and 58 injured. It is believed that one of the express trains was on the wrong track, resulting in a head-on collision.

TRANSPORT



HEALTH



Student Guide to Selly Oak pubs

Bristol Pear

Indie Lounge

Urban Village

Gun Barrels

The Goose

The Soak

Pint of Lager

Soft Drink

Glass of White Wine

£2.55

£1.70

£2.30

More data on other drinks is available online at www.redbrickpaper.co.uk/news including an interactive map of Selly Oak

Redbrick have investigated the drinks prices in six pubs and bars throughout Selly Oak concentrating on the Bristol Road. (Promotional dis-counts excluded.)

Pint of Lager

Soft Drink

Glass of White Wine

£2.09

£1.90

£1.55

Pint of Lager

Soft Drink

Glass of White Wine

£2.09

£1.65

£2.30

Pint of Lager

Soft Drink

Glass of White Wine

£1.99

£1.00

£1.50

Pint of Lager

Soft Drink

Glass of White Wine

£2.30

£1.40

£1.75

Pint of Lager

Soft Drink

Glass of White Wine

£2.55

£1.40

£1.50

The University of Birmingham and the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) has made a significant breakthrough regarding treatment of patients who suffer from blad-der cancer.

The study, co-led by Professor Nick James, Professor Of Clinical Oncology of the school of Cancer Sciences, has found that adding radiotherapy to chemotherapy can nearly halve the chances of the cancer relapsing at a later stage.

Professor Nick James of the University of Birmingham, co-leader of the study, commented that, 'Removing the bladder is still one of the most effective treat-ments for invasive cancer that has spread into the muscle of the blad-der. But in practice we know many patients are too frail for such radi-cal surgery.'

'The alternative is to give ra-diotherapy, but around a third of these patients will go on to relapse with invasive disease and will need their bladder removed anyway. So these results really provide a life-line for those too old or weak for surgery and mean that, in future, fewer patients will need their blad-der removed.'

One of the major causes of the cancer is smoking due to the chem-icals present in cigarette smoke Even though it can take many years to develop bladder cancer, once the

chemicals are in the blood stream they are then infiltrated into the bladder, which filters urine.

The chemicals from smoking damage the cells that line the blad-der. Early bladder cancer is when the disease has spread only to the inner lining of the bladder, where-as invasive bladder cancer spreads into the deeper walls of the blad-der. Bladder cancer is most com-monly found in people over 40 and in males.

The research provided by the University means that removing the bladder from the patient is no longer necessary in every case. Removing the bladder can have

severe health consequences, par-ticularly for weak and frail patients who cannot undergo surgery.

In the study, 360 patients were tested and 46% of those pa-tients who had radiotherapy alone relapsed within two years, whereas patients who had radiotherapy and chemotherapy combined, the re-lapse rate was at a lower 33%. Al-though there was still evidence of the cancer relapsing after the treat-ment, the percentages still demon-strate a decline.

This research features on the main page of the University web-site, where more information can be found.

27th April 2012 Redbrick redbrickpaper.co.ukNews4

Redbrick asked on its main Facebook page: 'Will you use the 24 hour opening times at the main library this fortnight?'A total of 82 people voted. YES

LIBRARY FACEBOOK POLL

A new Tesco Express will be open-ing opposite Aldi. Its situation will hope to capitalise on diverting the significant numbers of students shopping in the budget store.

However questions are raised of its need in the area. The store will be opening approximately 300 metres from the nearest Tesco Express, situated on the Bristol Road/A38 junction outside South Gate. This close proximity has led some students to ask why the store is opening in the first place.

On facebook, Redbrick News asked 'Does Selly Oak need an-other Tesco store?' 56 people an-swered no and 13 answered yes.

Amy Fitzpatrick (@Aimles-sAmy) tweeted in response to the news 'that could not be more ri-

diculous. There is already a Sains-burys nearby, an Aldi, and oh yeah! Another Tesco express!!' Students will now face considerable choice along Bristol Road.

Fears have been raised that saturation will force local busi-nesses to go bust. Emily Behen (@emilybehan) tweeted, 'Boycott it. Otherwise it may well put the local shops up that end out of business. We owe the area more than that.'

However there has been some positive response to the announce-ment. Sarah Musgrove (@sarahv-musgrove) 'The other shops in that area are incredibly overpriced! Tescos, woop woop!'

The store will bring more jobs to Bristol Road, but the question of whether this balances out the potential saturation of supermar-kets in the area remains to be an-swered.

Owen EarwickerMultimedia Editor

Guild room changed to job agency in reallocation

Another Tesco to be built in Selly Oak

Significant breakthrough in cancer treatment made at UoB

Rhian LubinReporter

5NO NOT SURE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT 24 HOUR OPENING

12 7 67

Student groups are likely to lose the only bookable ground-floor room in the Guild of Students if a room reallocation goes ahead.

The University and the Guild want to set up an on-campus job agency to centralise all university jobs in one place.

However, as the existing Job Zone in the Guild is too small for extra staff members to be accom-modated in, it is likely that the Harvey Milk room will be used for the new job centre, as it is close to the membership area and of an ap-propriate size.

The Harvey Milk room is cur-rently used by a diverse range of societies and groups including Watch This, the Tea Society and BUSAG (Birmingham University Scouts And Guides).

Steph Green, the President of Watch This (one of the Guild's dra-ma societies) said, 'Room bookings between drama societies especially are fierce. The Harvey Milk room became synonymous with our 'im-prov sessions' every week last term, it's a great space for big workshops.

It will be a shame to lose it, but we support the VPAD to make the best decision for societies.'

The announcement about the possible loss of the room was sent in an email to all student groups in the holidays, by Fliss Cross (Vice-President for Activities and Devel-opment).

Cross said in her email, 'The trend of SU job shops across the country is that many are being ab-sorbed by the uni or struggling to continue due to the recession. Due

to this, there are fears that if we do not get the on campus job agency in the Guild then the Job Zone may have a limited lifespan in which the Guild gets to dictate the terms and conditions of which jobs are adver-tised.'

In exchange for the loss of the Harvey Milk room, groups will be guaranteed the space currently oc-cupied by Fresh Asia, the Asian su-permarket in the basement of the Guild, because they have surren-dered their lease and cleared out of

the space. Cross told Redbrick, 'By hav-

ing the Job Agency and the Job Zone in a centralised space it will become a fantastic hub for students to find part time work whilst study-ing at the University. As stated in my original email, parts of which have been quoted, I was unable to consult student groups earlier be-cause the offer for the Harvey Milk room was not confirmed to me un-til this point. When I first heard of this possible offer a few weeks prior

to my email I was aware that nego-tiation with the University was still on-going, which meant that I was unable to consult students at any other stage.'

The University have already started recruiting for the new agency and as part of the agree-ment with the Guild, if the agency cannot be set up in over the sum-mer at the latest, then it will be set up in competition to the existing Job Zone.

A director in the Guild told Redbrick that as of Thursday this week, the space previously occu-pied by Fresh Asia will be available for student groups to book on the Guild's booking system.

Owen Earwicker, President of the Tea society said, 'The Tea Society relies on the Harvey Milk Room because of its water supply. It is deeply regrettable that this de-cision was made without any con-sultation.

We will be able to continue, but not in the way most beneficial for our members. I just wish that student groups had been prop-erly consulted and involved in the decision-making process from the beginning. We feel let down.'

Freddie HerzogOnline News Editor

The Harvey Milk room being used by a society Freddie Herzog

The University's Cancer Research building Freddie HerzogThe existing Tesco in Selly Oak Freddie Herzog

Current Vice President for Educa-tion Edd Bauer has come third in an election for the position of Vice President for Welfare on the NUS National Executive Committee, losing out to Pete Mercer, who has held the position for the current academic year.

Pete Mercer came first in the contest, which took place on Wednesday at the NUS National Conference in Sheffield, in the first round of voting, and was duly re-elected to the position for 2012/13. Mercer was re-elected with 388 votes, while Sean Rillo-Razka came in second with 145 votes. Bauer received 78 votes. Mercer stated in his manifes-to, 'A year ago I stood on a platform and promised to give the welfare zone teeth. This year, I've worked to give a firm direction for welfare, based on the needs of our students.'

Zuki Majuqwana was photographed at the conference wearing a t-shirt

that declared support for Pete Mercer.

Liam Burns was re-elected to the position of NUS President with 57% of the vote in the final round of counting. Once re-elected, Burns said, 'I am delighted students have put their trust in me and re-elected me to serve a second term as NUS President.' He added, 'With the government's abandonment of the

proposed higher edu-cation bill, scrap-

ping of EMA, and presiding over record youth unemployment, so many of their

wrong-headed re-forms are taking

place behind the scenes and

we will continue to vigor-o u s l y contest t h e m out in t h e open.'

Rachel Wenstone was elected to the position of NUS Vice Presi-dent Higher Education in the fi-nal round of voting. Commenting on her win, Wenstone said, 'I am so grateful to everyone who has helped me over the last four or five months. I cannot wait to work with some of the most incredible officers I have met, and to get the campaign going.'

The NUS has also confirmed that Dannie Grufferty was re-elected as Vice President Society and Citizenship for 2012/13 af-ter beating her opponent Jamie Woodcock.

Guild President Mark Har-rop has attended the conference, along with VP for Welfare Luke Reynolds, VP for Housing and Community Zuki Majuqwana, VP for Democracy and Resources Hugo Sumner, VP for Education Edd Bauer and VPE-elect Simon Furse. NUS delegates Anisa Ather and Shabaana Kidy also attended. The conference has been streamed live on the NUS Connect website, which states that the conference 'sets policy for the year ahead in each of the 5 zones and elects the President, Vice Presidents and Block of 15 representatives on the

National Executive Council. It is also where the budget for the year ahead is decided through the An-nual General Meeting (AGM).'

27th April 2012 redbrickpaper.co.ukRedbrick 5 News

The NUS winners

Freddie Herzog

Comment

NUS National conference elects new NEC

VPE faces Trustee no confidence vote

The 'Cover the Night' event on behalf of US charity 'Invisible Children' failed to produce a large number of posters at the University of Birmingham and the city centre on Friday night. The 'Kony 2012' campaign video was launched on YouTube earlier in March this year and reached 100,000,000 hits within six days. However, almost a month later, campus was silent at 9pm with no sign that there had been any attempt to cover the old redbrick buildings in Kony 2012 propaganda.

A Facebook group had been set up after the launch of the video, 'Kony 2012 – Cover UoB', which contained 538 members, yet the last post on the group is dated the 16th March and is a link to an ar-ticle about the controversy of In-visible Children's co-founder mas-turbating in public in Los Angeles. Many of the other posts on the page display negativity and scepti-cism towards the cause itself.

Birmingham city centre was also fairly quiet at around 9.30pm, and there was no sign whatsoever of people meeting to cover the city. There were many different Facebook event pages dedicated to organising cover the night on the 20th April, all with very vague information on where to meet and what resources to bring.

The morning after 'Cover the Night', the #KONY2012 trending on Twitter was predominantly people questioning whether any posters had gone up, or slating the campaign on its failure. The cam-paign seemed to lose its momen-tum once it was met with wide-spread scepticism.

Failure of the week: KONY 'Cover the Night'

Rhian LubinReporter

Raphael SheridanSport Editor

Social networks might appear to have the power to instill mass movements: look no further than the Arab Spring which had a strong Facebook presence in north Africa in early 2011, but it remains a new phenomenon. The Invisible Chil-dren charity has learnt an impor-tant lesson: the size and strength of a first wave doesn't necessarily mean that follow-up attempts will be as successful. Such stories, in this new media, are still 'events' rather than 'campaigns'.

The VPHC sporting Mercer t-shirt NUS National Conference Live Stream

President: Liam Burns

VP Welfare: Pete Mer-cer

VP Society and Citizenship: Dannie Grufferty

VP Higher Educa-tion: Rachel Wenstone

VP Further Education: Toni Pearce

VP Union Development: Vicki Baars

The Guild has confirmed in an on-line statement that the Vice Presi-dent for Education (VPE) Edd Bauer has been the subject of a vote of no confidence in his posi-tion on the Board of Trustees.

The Guild was responding to an announcement Bauer made on his blog, where he also published a confidential letter sent from the Guild informing him of the vote. In the statement, the Guild President along with the VPAD and VPDR, apologised for some of the content of the letter, which suggested that Bauer could face a vote of no con-fidence in his position as VPE in addition to his Trustee role.

The Facebook statement said, 'Due to an admin error, the let-ter that has been sent to the VPE states that two votes of no confi-dence will take place at the meet-ing the VPE has been invited to. This is an incorrect portrayal of the meeting and the only vote to take place will be that in the Trust-eeship of the VPE on the Board of Trustees in light of recent events.'

The statement added, 'Unfor-tunately, there was further error in the letter. The issue of the removal of the VPE from University com-mittees was brought to the meet-ing for consideration but decided not to bring forward as the student and sabbatical trustees felt that more information was needed. We would also like to apologise for this inclusion in the letter and can con-firm that this will not be brought against the VPE.' The statement said that the Guild would investi-gate the admin error.

Writing on his blog in reaction to the letter, Bauer said that the Guild of Students had 'called an emergency meeting of the Trustee Board for April 21st to vote on my removal.' He described the move as 'a raw coup not just against me, but against all those in favour of a Guild truly being run by and for students', adding, 'This follows

the University expelling me from all committees, which along with my open letter to Vice Chancellor are amongst the reasons the Guild seek to remove me for.' Bauer went on to say, 'I will not concede to any demands for secrecy. I am making all the allegations against me pub-lic so that those I truly work for, the student body, can decide for themselves whether I should be removed from office.'

In a later post, Bauer request-ed that the Trustee Board 'defer this matter to Guild Council or ref-erendum for students to vote on.' He also encouraged Guild Council to hold a vote of no confidence in him, stating: 'By the Guild's own bye laws it usually requires 25 guild councillors to request a vote of no confidence at guild council.'

'However, I am aware that the trustees are not able to find 25 guild councillors to support a mo-tion on the grounds of ridiculous & flawed charges against me. As such I also request that the Chair of Guild Council allows a vote of no confidence in me at the next Guild Council, despite the lack of democratic support so this matter can be settled democratically once and for all.'

Earlier this month, Bauer posted a blog statement in which he said that the University was expelling him from his university committee positions pending a dis-ciplinary hearing. Bauer described his expulsion as 'without any due process' and 'entirely without any legal grounding other than the say so of the University.' In the same post, Bauer revealed an open let-ter to the Vice Chancellor David Eastwood, in which he said, 'You don't treat the student body seri-ously, you choose to ignore and shut down any voices critical of your policies, not just from your own ears but from the ears of any committee that could set a differ-ent direction.' Bauer also accused the Vice Chancellor of seeking to 'avoid any engagement' with him, adding, 'You have decided not to

engage critically with the plurality of opinions on your campus, in-stead you have chosen to only lis-ten to the portion student opinion that concurs with your own.'

Responding to Bauer's com-ments, a spokesperson from the University told Redbrick, 'The University of Birmingham very much values student engagement and representation. We have a very high level of student repre-sentation on our committees and working groups, including Uni-versity Council, (the most senior decision making body within the University) and the Senate which has responsibility for all academic matters and on which in addition to the Sabbatical Officer there are five student representatives.'

The spokesperson added, 'The University is unable to comment on this particular case. However where investigations are ongo-ing and after careful and consid-ered deliberation the University reserves the right to temporarily suspend any committee member pending the outcome of those in-vestigations. If for any reason a student is unable to fulfil their committee duties we will always ask the Sabbatical Officer Team to nominate an alternative student representative to attend in their

place.'Bauer was ejected from the

Bullring shopping centre late last month, along with current VPE-elect Simon Furse, after attempt-ing to occupy a Vodafone store.

He was also recently found not guilty of causing traffic to road users after unfurling a banner at a protest at the Liberal Democrat party conference last year. Because of this, he was suspended from his role as VPE for three months while he was the subject of a Guild investigation.

The Sabbatical Officer team have said, 'The Sabbatical Offi-cer Team were highly concerned at the unprecedented decision of the University to suspend the VPE from University Committees. We then followed this up with a meet-ing with the University to discuss this, which the VPE chose to ille-gally record.'

'This was then brought to the attention to the University as the meeting proceeded. The Sabbati-cal Officer Team were extremely disappointed about this behav-iour as the breach of trust has reinforced the University's stance against the VPE and undermined our attempts to revert the deci-sion.'

Patrick McGheeNews Editor

Patrick McGheeNews Editor

Bauer in his office Freddie Herzog

Comment & FeaturesRedbrick27th April 2012redbrickpaper.co.uk6

There is something quite fascinat-ing about watching a person search for love. Especially if they have lost their aesthetically pleasing peak, have forgotten or never known how to make decent conversation or are disabled. Channel 4 have realised this and exploited it.

The Undateables is a three part documentary aired by Channel 4. Nine 'individuals' with 'challenging conditions' have been chosen and these people hope, through being

part of this programme, that they will fall in love. Not one of them is in it for a why-not date, a fling or a free meal. They have given consent to reveal their bodies and minds to the nation in a desperate endeav-our; this is a trade-off. Channel 4's agenda was not to 'produce a pro-gramme where people who want to find love, are helped to find love'. Instead, as Channel 4 states, it 'ex-plores the realities of looking for love in an image-obsessed world'; there is a conflict of interest. The participants are given a third of a forty five minute programme - that's fifteen on-screen minutes

of trying to find a soul mate. They are given one, or at the most, two dates. The purpose appears to be to produce a documentary which will shock, regardless of whether that shock is combined with mock-ing awe, disgust or pity.

Shaine, a 31 year old poet with a learning disability, says 'I love you' to a woman, through text, days after he first meets her and describes his feelings towards her as 'magical'. The woman, who also has a learning difficulty, seems in-different towards Shaine, stating that he is a 'nice man'.

Shaine honestly believes that

the date has gone well and is heart-broken when she just wants to be friends. The producers have cre-ated a situation in which Shaine will be emotionally hurt in order to entertain. His endeavours, by be-ing presented as normal, are sim-ply mocked. No one tells him that the woman in the DIY store smil-ing at him probably isn't a 'come and get me' smile or that telling someone he loves them before he knows them might not lead to the kind of romance he has spent his whole life hoping for. His abnor-mal behaviour is exploited and the whole escapade is cruel.

Shaine does not realise that by going on national television people will pity him. If the title The Undateables was supposed to be posed as an optimistic, kind and revolutionary question then it has failed.

Sympathy is publicised in a pitying, superior manner – the programme's narrator comments, 'Justin has never had a girlfriend' and 'Sam has never even kissed a girl', in a tone comparable to that of somebody talking to a child. Jus-tin has neurofibromatosis type 1; his face is distorted with tumours. He says he would like someone 'to have a chinwag with, someone to go out with at the weekend'. Justin is not delusional; yet his loneliness is quite clearly preyed upon in or-der to create low quality entertain-ment. Again, he is pitied, not un-derstood.

Channel 4 has been clever. Five of the nine 'undateables' have physical impairments; four

of the nine do not. The produc-ers have masked the difference between those who are physically disabled and those who are men-tally disabled. Mental disability, such as having a learning difficulty or Asperger's Syndrome, impairs both judgement and social aware-ness. They are therefore at a much higher risk of being taken advan-tage of. Because they are included within the filming of people who have a physical disability, and who know exactly what they are doing, the judgement is subconsciously made that they do too. It perhaps even suggests that it is their own fault that they are 'undateable' be-cause of the way that they interact with their dates. This type of media entertainment contributes nothing valuable, if anything, it fuels nega-tive perceptions towards those, within society, who do not con-form. What is alarming is that one of our leading television channels successfully managed to air this programme and tried to positively advertise it.

Regardless of whether these 'undateables' managed to become 'dateable' or not, they should not have had to participate in a tele-vision show in order to do so; the fact that they thought they had to raises questions about how these individuals with disabilities have been treated prior choosing to be on national television.

Once again, our media world is sadly put to shame. The Undate-ables, in my opinion, is no better than a televised Victorian freak show.

Rebekah McDermottArts Editor

Tweet us your thoughts @RedbrickFeature

Views from the internetGuardian: 'The Advertising Standards Authority received 21 complaints that the ads were of-

fensive towards disabled people, implying that they were "inevitably dateless and incapable of having a personal relationship".'

The Independent: '...they are part of pseudo-social experi-ments, the guinea pigs for improving ratings.'

The Telegraph: 'We’re all nervous on first dates, terrified about say-ing the wrong thing, agonised over our bodies. Yet there’s some-

thing uncomfortable in treating the experiences of the disabled as exaggerated versions of an able-bodied person’s inner turmoil.'

Channel 4: 'The title is a reflection of society’s own percep-tions and intended to challenge stereotypes and encourage

debate.'

The Undateables: A producer's playground

When people talk about the pur-pose of studying and commemo-rating the past, the conclusion is to honour the victims of previous mistakes.

Accordingly the centennial Ti-tanic celebrations concluded with several commemorative efforts, from a ship's whistle sounding in the North Atlantic, to commemo-rate the precise place where the ship struck the iceberg, to plaques and memorial wreaths thrown overboard.

The sinking of the Titanic was one of the most deadly peacetime disasters in history, killing around 1500 people. After striking the iceberg it took approximately two and a half hours to sink and due to the alleged poor management of the ship's Captain many people,

a lot of them in second and third class, missed the lifeboats. Such a horrendous tragedy on this scale deserves a certain level of com-memoration, however is the level of attention it has received due to a public will to remember the people who die in tragic circum-stances that don't involve wars, or because James Cameron made a movie about it fifteen years ago?

As a History student I'm all for commemorating it, reliving it and getting the general public in-volved with it, but I object to using the tragedy as an excuse for disas-ter tourism. Giving that there was a noticeable amount of people on Twitter remarking 'I didn't know the Titanic was real, I thought it was a film', the Titanic Real Time Twitter account run by the History Press is a distasteful example of the way people can view the past as a remote spectator sport, rather

than something that really hap-pened to real people.

The disconnection between the past and present allows people to take a voyeuristic look at the fi-nal hours of thousands of people, without having to acknowledge the terror and pain they must have gone through.

Time is too often used as an excuse to dehumanise past figures into merely names on a passenger list. The point of a Real Time Ac-count is to make the user feel like they are there. But why would you want to be there?

Trapped inside a hunk of metal in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and spending the last two hours of your life knowing that you're go-ing to die slowly and painfully? Given that it is likely your body will never be found wouldn't you want some peace in the knowledge that your memory will respected,

not poked and prodded for enter-tainment value?

They say that the past is an-other country but in the same year as the Costa Concordia disaster in which there were thirty two deaths, it seems surprising that people do not recognise that the people who died were the same as the rest of us and deserve the same amount of respect. What if someone had created a real time account for Costa Concordia? Would people have joined in and retweeted it or

condemn it for its poor taste? The fact that 100 years sepa-

rates these two events does not mean that the people involved in Titanic do not deserve as much dignity in death. The reason peo-ple do not value History is because they see its figures as remote his-torical actors that have nothing to do with the modern era. By recog-nising that our ancestors had the same worries and emotions as us will help us to see the past as more than just a distant entity.

11th November 2011

7Comment & Features27th April 2012 redbrickpaper.co.ukRedbrick

For more on gay rights head over to

redbrickpaper.co.uk

Caroline MortimerCommentator

Disaster TourismThe Titanic's Centennial Celebrations

'The disconnection between past and

present allows people to take a voyeuris-

tic look at the final hours of thousands'

With government plans to make civil marriage available to same-sex couples in England and Wales, we can see a step in the right direc-tion towards inclusion and equal-ity of rights. Same sex couples that are already in civil partnerships will even be able to 'upgrade' to the status of civil marriage. But why is one institution seen as an upgrade of the other? Both forms of union between two people are legally recognised by the state and give couples the same rights and responsibilities, and yet the state itself deems marriage to be some-how superior. Since the difference is not in the legalities, the elevated status of marriage must come from social ideology.

Despite the fact that marriage has been around for longer than Christianity, discourse regarding marriage in this country has held religious connotations until fairly recently. Although the state recog-nises religious marriage and civil marriage as being separate insti-tutions they have the same legal value, and the terminology of the latter means that it retains these connotations, implying a certain idealistic regard for marriage. In-deed, Cameron has never kept his views on the importance of mar-riage and family a secret, but in

an increasingly secular society we must question why marriage re-mains the social ideal. Why do we see something that is associated with religion in terms of its dis-course as being more legitimate than a separate, though still state-recognised, union, even if we do not value religion in itself?

Marriage as an explicitly re-ligious union has also remained an ideal for many. None of us are strangers to the idea of non-reli-gious couples undergoing the nec-essary procedures in order to get married in a church, such as at-tending mass for a given amount of time. We only have to watch Don't Tell the Bride to see that church weddings seem to have widespread idealistic appeal. Is it because get-ting married in a church is tradi-tional or romantic (what could be more romantic than pretending to have different beliefs so that you can emerge from the church in wedded bliss to 'Guide me O thou great redeemer')? Or do the prevailing ideas of legitimacy with regards to marriage remain with religious union?

Whilst the government con-tinues to insist that any new leg-islation will not affect religious marriages, which will remain a separate institution, we cannot help but wonder what prompted a move towards inclusive marriage, rather than another form of inclu-sive civil union. If the government

opted for one form of state-recog-nised union available to all, which dropped the 'marriage' label, they could legitimise an inclusive in-stitution, which is not in any way associated with or seen to endorse an institution that excludes cer-tain groups of people.

It may seem insignificant to simply change the terminology of civil unions, and doubtless reli-gious leaders might still raise issue with any form of matrimony be-tween same-sex couples. However, since the state is not controlled by the church, complaints about new legislation would be much easier to disregard if those that make them could no longer rely on 'the-definition-of-marriage-is…' type arguments, which, if nothing else, remind us that marriage is still strongly associated with religion in public consciousness.

In an ideal world, homopho-bic outrage at same-sex marriages would not occur, but tackling the non-inclusive nature of religious denominations is a different mat-ter – one that the government seems to want to stay away from. An inclusive state, if this is what we are aiming for, should be pro-moting a form of union that is in-clusive in terms of its practice, its legalities and its social connota-tions. However, I don't think our current prime minister will will-ingly relinquish his hold on the value of marriage just yet.

Rachel Moriarty

Commentator

'Upgrade' to Marriage

George Osborne's latest 'Omni-shambles' budget was not short of controversial new policies. Indeed Labour claim the new charity cap will reduce charitable donations by up to £500 million. The laugh-able pasty and church taxes have also sparked concern, even from conservative backbenchers, while the 'granny tax' has been widely condemned as unfair from all cor-ners. It is no wonder that at the latest prime minister's questions the opposition leader Ed Miliband resembled a child in a candy store, unable to decide which policy to attack first.

Mr Miliband must know how-ever that in these times of aus-terity, even his own government would be forced to make similarly harsh decisions in the name of deficit reduction. It was a shame therefore that the scrapping of the 50p tax was only briefly discussed as here is a question which brings out genuine ideological divides be-tween the parties and the general public.

The 50p top rate of tax was in-troduced by former Labour Chan-cellor Alistair Darling in April 2009 as a temporary measure dur-ing the height of the banking crisis. The policy had a dual function; to recover public money spent on bank bail outs, and for the ethical purpose of holding those million-aire bankers who were seen to have caused to crisis accountable for their greed. It has fulfilled neither of these roles, however.

Tories have always hated the proposal arguing that it d i d

lasting damage to the economy since, by not sufficiently rewarding success, enterprise and entrepre-neurship were discouraged. This is especially true given that the latest figures illustrate that the increase raises only a few billion pounds worth of extra revenue, much less than predicted, while potentially damaging growth. At a time when the coalition is most under pres-sure to deliver growth to a stutter-ing economy, it is understandable considering these reductions.

However, this has not stopped the labour leader Ed Miliband ar-guing that the reduction is symp-tomatic of the coalition's favourit-ism towards the rich at the expense of the poor and elderly. But the figures simply do not bear out this accusation. Currently, according to HMRC statistics, the top earning 1% of UK individuals contribute a staggering 26.6% of all income tax revenues. Furthermore the top 10% of income earners alone pay more than 55% of all income tax. Indeed, the bottom 50% of all UK workers, contribute just a little over 10% of the money that income tax brings in for the government. Few argue that this distribution is wrong, but this surely debunks the myth that the rich are not paying their share.

It is not surprising that the government prioritises the needs of the wealthy highly, consider-ing that not only do they gener-ate wealth and jobs we need for growth, but they are also responsi-ble for so much of the government tax revenue.

The top level of tax applies to around 274,000 people who earn over £150,000 a year. About 13,000 of these earn over 1million pounds a year. It is these people

who are most affected by the 50p tax, and, as demonstrated, it is them who matter most to the British economy. The significant factor is that there is no up-per tax lim-it, so

for those people with vast incomes an increase of 10p for every pound earned makes a massive difference to their already colossal tax bills. It is no wonder that such people would consider moving there multi million pound business to another country.

The 50p top tax rate gave us one of the highest tax rates in the developed world. This was a mas-sive discouragement to anybody wealthy seeking to live or do busi-ness here – the very people we need most to boost our economy. We simply need the rich too much to start punishing them just be-cause we don't like them. David Cameron rightly recognises that tax levels should represent what is economically best for the country, not a moral attempt to dictate what is fair or who deserves what.

The scrapping of the 50p rate is surprising, but only in that the government did not go far enough to spark enterprise. Returning to the original 40p rate would have been a better way of ridding our-selves of this impotent and highly destructive poli-cy, leaving everyone b e t t e r off.

Comment & Features 27th April 2012 redbrickpaper.co.uk Redbrick8

Views on the News

F1 holding the grand prix last week in Bahrain was a fine example of the West's relationship with oil kingdoms of the southern Middle East; 'Provide us with pleasure and

you can tyrannise your people'. Staging a sporting event in a coun-try where human rights protests rage and leading dissidents con-tinue a hunger strike now lasting well over two months is the most obvious case, followed by a stream of tourists into slave-labour built hotels and an apathy for nations where people are abused under antiquated laws. As long as they dress quaintly and don't have any expansionist aspirations (other than funding terrorists such as Bin Laden, Tony Blair's idea of a 'friend of the civilised world') we're fine.

Opinion Matrix

GRAND PRIX

Conflict with human rights

The Leveson inquiry took a sicken-ing turn on Tuesday when James Murdoch's evidence suggested that culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, the man tasked with assessing the mer-its of the BSkyB takeover bid had acted as Murdoch had been sup-porting the News Corporation bid. This included passing over infor-mation to James Murdoch about his speech in parliament, an action that even a News Corp executive

described as 'Absolutely illegal'. Hunt swears that he 'strictly fol-lowed due process' but given that the pressure on him is so hot that his special advisor has resigned, it would take a Herculean effort of weaseling and spin to worm out of this situation with job intact.

LAWHunt becomes the hunted

This week presenter of 'Meet the Romans' and professor of Classics at Cambridge University, Mary Beard, has been publically savaged by A. A. Gill, the man already infa-mous for referring to BBC present-er Clare Balding 'a dyke on a bike', in his Sunday newspaper column. The article sees Gill branding her too ugly for tv , even going so far as to suggest she should 'be kept away from cameras all together'

and that she belongs on Chan-nel 4's The Undateables. It seems despicable that in the twenty first century such blatantly ignorant and misogynistic remarks should even be uttered, yet alone be per-mitted by editors to be immortal-ised in print.

MEDIAMary faced with misogyny

It's back. As of Wednesday, the UK economy is officially in a 'double-dip' recession. In the first three months of 2012, the economy shrank by 0.2%. Blamed on a fall in the construction industry, the announcement was apparently a surprise. But the current situation for people up and down the coun-try has not changed. 'Double-dip' means nothing to the average work-ing Briton who has to deal with pay

freezes and VAT increases. The problem is ongoing, and has been since we were last in recession in 2009. This term is purely political. For parties to be grandstanding in the House of Commons purely shows yet again how out of touch mainstream politics is.

ECONOMYReturn to recession

The first round result of the french general election suggested Incum-bent President Nicolas Sarkozy will be defeated by Socialist rival Francois Hollande.

Hollande has already promised to re-negotiate the fiscal pact with Germany, which ideologically binds the Euro-zone together.The prospect of another summer of negotiations in Brussels has al-ready sparked fear into Eurozone investors. This has resulted in the Euro falling to just 80 cents to every pound; the lowest in 20 months. For the sake of the Euro's sur-vival an accord must be achieved between these two central sates, something that will prove impos-sible given Hollande's attitude.

POLITICS

Consequences of defeat

Written by Owen Earwicker, Giles Longley-Cook, James Dol-ton, Tom Cooper & Lexie Wilson

Budget Highlights

Spare the RichThe abolition of the 50p tax rate is a welcome decision

Pensioners: Personal income taxes lowered to be brought in line with working people

Tom CooperCommentator

Business: Corporation tax cut to a rate of 24%

VAT: Exemptions for hot takeaway foods and sports energy drinks

Income Tax: Personal allowance to be raised to £9,205, making 24 million

people £220 better off

Cigarettes: Duty to be raised by 5% above in-flation , the equivalent

of 37 pence on a packet.

Last month a marketing company in America carried out an 'experi-ment', which used homeless peo-ple as Wi-Fi hotspots. The idea has attracted criticism; however, is it such a bad idea?

There is a strong need for new innovative methods to help the homeless. Whilst this concept may have its flaws, it shows that there is scope for development. The old system needs to be revitalized.

Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), the company behind the scheme, equipped 13 homeless people with 4G WI-Fi devices in Austin, Texas.

It suggested the public pay $2 (£1.30) for 15 minutes' access. People opposed to the project have described it as being a 'shameful, hideous, patronising, dehumanis-ing idea'.

It has been compared to how the homeless were treated in the Victorian era, where they were made to hold advertising boards.However, others have praised the idea, arguing that it is an opportu-nity to create a 'positive interaction between the public and homeless people.'

The company responsible has argued that its project has raised the issue of homelessness in Amer-ica. It seems to have done the job more globally, looking at the re-sponses and discussion that it has caused over here in the UK.

It also noted that each of the 'hotspot managers' would keep the money that they earned.

This is one benefit of the proj-ect: it provides those without any

earning prospects an opportunity. Another controversial idea that could be adopted is that part of the money that the participants earn is given to them as food vouchers. Some have claimed that it is preju-diced (suggesting they are going to spend their earnings on alco-hol or drugs). Others state that it encroaches on the liberties of the individual to spend their money as they wish.

However, I would argue that the benefits outweigh the nega-tives. It ensures that they are re-ceiving at least one decent meal a day. To me, providing support to those below minimum standards of health is more important than their liberties. Without their health they cannot enjoy the liberties they have.

By paying via a PayPal link this is a do-able venture. Perhaps there are ideas for this and, the event has been described a 'beta test', which might later be 'adopted on a broad-er scale'.

The idea had been pitched as being a modern take on street newspapers, such as the Big Issue.

The company stated that '[whilst] the model isn't inher-ently broken, it's simply the output that's archaic in the smartphone

age.' I agree; sometimes I do buy the Big Issue, but rarely do I read much of it.

To be successful the product has to be desirable; in the infor-mation rich era, a magazine is not going to generate as much money as easy access to the internet. The internet has so much more to offer. It is something that many people constantly want access to - the Big Issue just does not compare in po-tential.

Searching through the reviews on the internet showed that early respondents seemed impressed – but others mocked it.

'My homeless hotspot keeps wandering out of range,' wrote one before going onto add, 'by literally labelling the person as a 'hotspot', you are priming an affluent, iPad-toting public to think of that per-son as a commodity'.

Another added: 'Helping hipsters check their email is not charitable, in fact it's potentially dangerous and detrimental to the situation the people on the street are facing.'

In an interview with the BBC, John Bird, co-founder of The Big Issue, expressed mixed feelings about the project.

'If all BBH are doing is turn-ing these people into an aerial and asking them to stand still, then they are just treating homeless people the same way the Victorians did when they asked them to hold posters.'

However, an interview carried out by the company responsible with one of the participants, Mel-vin from Ohio, was quoted as say-ing: 'I would say that these people

are trying to help the homeless and increase awareness.... We get to talk to people, maybe give them a different perception of what home-

lessness is like.'The jury is still out on whether

this sort of idea is a good one. I for one think it is good idea. Whilst it may have its flaws, it marks the be-ginning of a new way to approach the complex issues surrounding dealing with the homeless. The

current programmes out there are stagnating; there is still place for the Big issue and the likes, but it is time to be more dynamic. It is

about time that the methods used to help the homeless were brought into the digital age. With develop-ment, new ideas like these will be beneficial and if developed could provide better ways for people to escape the plight of being home-less.

Redbrick

11th November 2011

redbrickpaper.co.uk 927th April 2012 Comment & Features

Homeless hotspots: the new innovationXander Ross

Commentator'It marks the begin-ning of a new approach to the complex issues surrounding dealing with the homeless.'

Dusty, a homeless hotspot

Arts

Vice magazine is often difficult to describe to those unaware of its presence. Often one step away from crossing 'the line' - morally, legally and professionally - Vice regularly erases 'the line' alto-gether, as articles entitled 'I Was Abducted by Gypsies' and 'Beware the Porn Trolls' might suggest. Yet it's one of the most popular free magazines in the world, associ-ated with bands and brands inter-nationally and with over 500,000 fans on Facebook. Vice writers are often heralded for their witty writ-ing and boundary-pushing investi-gative journalism, often venturing to parts of the world to write up stories both sickening and fasci-

nating.With this in mind, think about

the scale of people who must have seen Brum-based photographer Alex Dean's set of images entitled Birmingham is a Paradise, pub-lished on the Vice website on April 12th. Featuring nearly forty photos of the grimier side of our fair city, Dean has now faced a fair amount of criticism in the form of tweets and comments on the set. He's keen to put the haters to rights. 'There are a number of comments attacking the photos for portray-ing Birmingham in a negative light - however, they fail to understand that I am only showing one side of the city. The Vice team did not say “give us a photo essay of how you see Birmingham." Of course I don't think this is the only side

of Birmingham'. If given the op-portunity to take the photos again with his personal input, Dean claims that he wouldn't shy away from the danker corners of Bir-mingham, but would also 'show the positive and the negative, the humorous and the sombre'.

The photos are scattered geo-graphically around the city, though Digbeth and the city centre feature heavily. Shots of used needles and heavy graffiti are likely reasons why Birmingham is a Paradise has been criticised, though Dean justifies his photos. 'I wasn't sure whether to include these as they took away from some of the hu-mour of the other images - how-ever, I felt that they needed to be shown.' The used syringes and someone's porn stash in particular

are shocking, though Dean makes a good point: 'I think this is a prob-lem that needs to be highlighted: just across from a building that cost millions of pounds [Digbeth coach station], in an area that is supposed to be being rejuvenated, is a waste ground full of people in-jecting themselves.'

Not every shot is humourless, Dean is keen to add. There are some gems in between the traces of the underside of society, like the photo of a man dressed as Spider-man being pram wheeled down Kings Heath High Street. 'I think the guy is brilliant, a real charac-ter. He has so many different get ups you could do a photo essay on him alone'. The absurdity of the photo adds a glimmer of light into a selection of photos that in for the

most part show a solidly depress-ing side of Birmingham.

Finally, I asked why Dean stayed away from the haven of take aways, pubs and decay that makes up Selly Oak. Surely the landscape that we've become used to seeing every time we open our front doors would have been perfect for a sa-tirical photo of Birmingham. The reply I got surprised me: 'Ha, I lived in Selly Oak for four or five years, it's not too bad. I did come and look round but didn't see any-thing that made the grade.' If Bir-mingham is a Paradise teaches us but one thing, it should be that ap-parently, B29 could be worse.

Alex's photos can be seen in full here: http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/birmingham-is-a-paradise

Naked Brum

Ken Dornstein's non-fictional memoir The Boy Who Fell Out of the Sky is not about what happens when your brother dies. It is about what happens when your brother is killed in a terrorist attack and all you are left with is his diaries, which you will read until you are so immersed that the boundaries between his identity and your own become very thin.

In 1988 David Dornstein de-

cided to fly from Heathrow to New York, on the Pam Am Flight 103, three days earlier than he had in-tended. The 'Clipper Maid of the Seas' exploded over Scotland and 259 passengers were killed; it be-came universally branded as the Lockerbie bombing.

David Dornstein's corpse was one of the last to be recovered, due to the collapse of a garden wall. However, as the memoir develops, it is clear that, although thorough-ly noted, how David died is not something that is dwelled upon. David is not defined by the way that he died - if anything, that is the least anyone could know about him.

The Boy Who Fell Out of the Sky is about a boy that fell into the arms of his grieving brother.

Ken submerges himself in David's notepads and diary clippings and through this David's brief taste of life is smacked across every page of this memoir. What it is to be a writer, to never have enough words and to panic at the some-times needlessness of it all is fused with what it is to grow up in the coffee shops of New York and the corridors of Brown.

Ken's life mirrors David's: they study at the same college and they fall in the love with the same girl, who Ken ends up marrying. It takes years for the relationship to feel real rather than a ghost of what could have been. It is ap-parent that this isn't particularly healthy but also painfully obvious that it is not supposed to be. We are surviving in a time of consum-

erist drive, of social eminence and intellectual hierarchy. David is not concerned with materialistic gain, only with how he might use materialistic objects to know and create writing that pinpoints and strips away the circumstance of existence. Ken perfects his broth-er's thoughts. David needed Ken to edit and make sense of every-thing that he previously spent his life trying to make sense of.

This is a journey of self recov-ery. Ken finally realises, through writing this memoir, that he can-not keep obsessing about what happened twenty years ago. He ex-periences closure through the im-prisonment of Taufiq Ahmed, not through resentment but through pity. If you have ever experienced grief, read this book.

To celebrate this years World Book Night on the 23rd of April, Arts editor

Rebekah McDermott reviews Ken Dornstein's shocking memoir.

In an exclusive interview, Birmingham-based photographer Alex Dean reveals his intentions behind his controversial new project Birmingham is a Paradise. Through exposing the city's seedy under belly, with glimpses of a humorous silver lining, Dean shows how laughter can question a grimy reputation.

World Book Night

Tamara RoperMusic Editor

'I think sincerity was my sole aesthetic and realism my experimental technique.'

Edmund White

27th April 201210 redbrickpaper.co.uk Redbrick

1127th April 2012

Previews

GMTG presents: CabaretThe Deb Hall

1st-5th May£6

Article 19 presents:The Shadow Box

redbrickpaper.co.ukRedbrick

Jojo Remeny's Crossing boundaries

Birmingham Conservatoire13th May

£4

Stage 2 presents: Road

The REP presents : 1984 & Animal Farm

AE Harris Building 27th – 28th April

£3

Bonnie Robert's adaption of The Shadow Box was not an easy play to watch. 'At its core about people', it unapologetically submerged the audience in a world where the tragic has, for the most part, be-come the everyday.

The play sees three families attempting to wrestle with a ten-tative grief, living in the shadow of a terminal diagnosis. The 'pa-tients' have been allocated cabins on hospital grounds, where they live with their loved ones and all are encouraged to speak to an un-seen 'interviewer' about how they are coping, providing the audience with the most overt glimpses into their psyche.

Cabin One saw husband and father Joe, coming to terms with his own mortality, rendered en-tirely human by Alan Wilyman's skilful depiction of both a ma-chismo humour and honest trepi-dation, surrounded by his family Maggie, Zoe Fabian, and Stephen, Tom Mackley.

Cabin Two also amalgamated sombre themes with flashes of fun and light-heartedness, as we're in-troduced to Brian, Tom Williams,

an aging academic; his young part-ner Mark, Will Amott and his fab-ulous ex-wife Beverly, portrayed flawlessly by Annie Fawke.

The third and final cabin was inhabited by the wheel-chair bound Felicity, whose vulnerabil-ity and anger were captured per-fectly by Elena Voce Siriani and her daughter Agnes, Eve Parker. From the opening to the closing moments, Roberts' close direc-tion saw that every actor on stage played their part with an immense sense of sensitivity and truth.

The characters' entire worlds are condensed perfectly into the three cabins and each is constantly visible throughout the action. The continuous staging of so many strands of private pain did, at times, run the risk of bullying the audience into a voyeuristic posi-tion, rendering it on occasions truly uncomfortable to witness. However, such a bold and emo-tionally taxing text demands this style of brave direction; anything less would have been entirely in-adequate.

Whilst by no means an easy play, in the capable hands of its cast and crew, The Shadow Box transcended into something im-portant and entirely real.

Lexie WilsonArts Editor

Jim Cartwright's Road is regarded as a cult classic. First performed at the notorious and politically subversive Royal Court Theatre in 1986, it is an angrier, edgier, hom-age to the angry-young-men plays of the 1950s, complete with the defining class satire and explicit, shocking content. In the 1980s it did for theatre what John Cooper Clarke did for performance poetry, in that Cartwright made the form appeal as being refreshingly punk – a vital part of fringe culture.

It's fitting that Road be re-staged here in Birmingham dur-ing a time of grim austerity under recession and rising unemploy-ment.

On entering the Crescent's au-ditorium it was a shock to discover that Stage 2 is an all-youth troupe! It was a bizarre moment of reali-sation. It was a cast of school kids performing a play rife with sexu-ally explicit scenes, deliciously filthy language and not to mention an unrelentingly bleak tone. There is no moment of redemption or reconciliation at any point, Road starts depressing and ends with the characters either miserably de-

spondent or (spoiler alert) dead.Highlights included George

Hannigan and Anna Gilmore as a young couple on an existential hunger strike. Both of their mono-logues were particularly affecting, especially given their initial light-hearted exchange. Indeed the playing off of hilarious pathos with the tougher scenes had the effect of making the heavier moments feel even more sincere and earned throughout; something largely in debt to the strength of the young actor's performances.

There is a chanting scene in the denouement of the last act, which in this production ended with the entire cast and chorus, surrounding the audience and screaming 'Somehow, a somehow might escape!' It was oppressive and chilling in an unexpectedly Lord of the Flies kind of way.

The exuberance of the per-formances and the uncompromis-ing production of a challenging play had the culminating weight of both uplifting and exhausting the audience, as they left seeming somewhat shell-shocked.

Road provided a truly immer-sive evening of theatre; unpreten-tious, funny, sad, and brilliantly played.

James GradyCritic

27th April 201212

Technologyredbrickpaper.co.uk Redbrick

Sniff out a new cinema experience with smell-o-vision technology

Making our way towards the NEC for this year’s Gadget Show Live, the Redbrick Tech Team were hoping to be amazed. We wanted to be blown away by some inven-tive piece of hardware that would redefine our preconceptions, but perhaps our expectations were just little too high. Now in its fourth year, The Gadget Show Live has become the UK’s leading consum-er technology event. Its mixture of future product demonstrations and showcases of the best tech currently on the market makes it a diverse show, with exhibitors from just about every offshoot of the in-dustry showing their wares.

The emphasis here is on con-sumers and, while there were plen-ty of opportunities to get hands on with some intriguing new devices, most of the time the products are made to be sold to the people at-tending. Booths from LG, Acer and Kodak showed their products in the TV, Laptop and Camera mar-kets respectively and fans of shiny new products could find a lot to

love. Even the smaller companies were showing their best products. Robotic and fully manoeuverable arms for industrial tasks were seen just two feet away from huge pro-peller fan backpacks to aid para-chute control.

Gaming played a large part of course, with the sorts of games that are perfect for consumer shows taking up most of the space. Our team had a go on Star Wars Kinect, though the controversial dancing minigame was nowhere to be seen, and while the game was already available in shops, being able to use Kinect without shell-ing out for one was enjoyable. We got the chance to play a few up-coming titles too, with Spec Ops: The Line providing the shooting quota for the day, and driving with DiRT Showdown. Though neither was a huge exclusive debut for the show, last year’s GameFest at the same venue featured the UK’s first look at Mass Effect 3 and Modern Warfare 3 for instance, it was nice to see some games not on shelves

yet that visitors could spend some time with.

Of course the effect of Apple on the show was evident in just about every booth. Product after prod-uct was using either an iPhone or an iPad to function. We saw stylus accessories for tablet devices, one in particular designed specifically for a Crayola game for kids. With arcade units to play Pong and board game pieces that work with iPad apps, it feels like this £400 machine is being used to repli-cate much cheaper products. It's a weird way to enjoy one of the most technologically advanced devices on the market when you could simply use an actual board game for a fraction of the cost.

Everywhere you looked there were expensive screens with PR reps clutching 3D glasses next to most of them. 3D has been the main attraction for the last few years at these sort of events, and while it’s obvious to notice that the technology is impressive, the best uses of it at the show weren’t for displaying 3D images. The best thing we saw was this technology used to play split-screen games where each player see only their screen on the display. Without a pair of glasses on, it looks like two images layered on top of each oth-er, and seeing the transition from this into a single high definition image was impressive.

Overall the show was well worth attending, though the con-sumer days would have been much busier. There may not have been any revolutionary shocks at this year's show, but as a celebration of all things tech few events match the scale of The Gadget Show Live.

Media Technology is on the verge of another major breakthrough. TV and film are great but the watching experience could become even more immersive. We already have 3D, interactive and 4D ver-sions of films. The next step is to add smell.

Picture a scene in a film where a woman is spraying on her perfume, or a house that has just been set on fire. At these moments in a film, the viewer subconsciously feels cheat-ed because there is no smell to ac-company such events. Currently, there’s no sweet scent of rose filling the room, or the worrying stench of burning to keep people engaged. Yet, imagine if the cinema walls or even the home television set could emit smells throughout the film or

TV programme. It would create a truly immersive and spectacular experience.

Holiday pictures capture a single moment in time, perhaps with the most beautiful scenery and people, yet still can’t quite capture the true experience of the photographer. Imagine being at an exotic foreign marketplace, where divine scents drift all around. What an amazing thing it would be to be able to pull out a camera and record the scenery and its smell and then to send it to family and friends halfway across the world so they can view it on their smell-o-vision TV. The same smells could then fill the room bringing any snapshot to life.

It seems like this technology is a long way off but actually that’s far from the truth. A new device called

‘Smellit’, produced by French com-pany Olf-action, could be about to revolutionise TV and gaming like never before. Furthermore, in an attempt to bring something new and exciting to the world of film, film director James Cameron may be considering including smell in the next Avatar Movie. Of course, only a selected number of cinemas currently have the equipment nec-essary in order to show a film with its respective smells.

Research into adding smell to film began at the beginning of the 20th century, even before sound was added, but problems with re-leasing smell around the whole cinema at the right times and then clearing smells quickly become a major obstacle in the development of this concept. Attempts to ad-vance throughout the 1900s failed. Companies such as DigiScents have tried to make a breakthrough in the past 10 or so years but have closed down or gone bankrupt in the process. So, while some com-panies are still researching and developing potential products like Scentscape, Olf-action has finally jumped ahead of its competitors with something truly special.

Olf-action has taken into ac-count a whole range of problems when creating their consumer de-vice, Smellit. Already, they have created smell-o-vision for various cinemas so they have a lot of expe-rience in the industry. Their home

device has been carefully consid-ered. It is very much like a printer except the ink cartridges are filled with odours instead of ink. A DVD compatible with Smellit is inserted into the DVD player and the DVD is read as normal. However, the smells are released between 10 and 20 seconds ahead of the right scene in the film to allow time for the smells to reach the viewer. 118 smell cartridges are loaded into the device but, supposedly, the cartridges are easy to change and last for 100 feature-length films which is fantastic. The Olf-action website contains a list of example odours. These include 'The Smell of Cut Grass', 'The Smell of Cake',

'The Smell of horses', 'Atmosphere at the Dentist' and 'African Atmo-sphere' to name just a few.

The French site also has a list of films that have now been encoded with smell information for their ex-isting smell-o-vision devices. They range from Charlie and the Choco-late Factory to Shutter Island and although few films are available at the moment, if this really kicks off, there could be a huge increase in smell-coded films.

Judging by the amount of ef-fort and expertise invested in this device, this could really impact on technology of the future so keep your eyes, and noses, peeled for further announcements.

Andrew SpencerTechnology Editor

Technology Editor Sam Atkins sums up this year's highlightsReview: JourneyThe Gadget Show Live 2012

Journey is a little indie game that has been receiving huge amounts amount of critical attention recently, and with good reason. For a short game, with game only taking about two hours to complete, it managed to grab our attention and stays with you once you've finished.

The story is truly epic as you have to travel across a desert and climb to the top of a mystical mountain, although it's never explained exactly why you are doing this. But this doesn't matter. You get so attached to your character that you just want them to succeed in their mysterious goal. And this is all despite the fact that your character is a faceless, arm-less figure who can only communicate through whistling.

But it's not the beautiful graphics, the simple yet compelling story or the charming character that makes the game so good. If you play online you will occasionally encounter other people who have been dropped into the desert with you. But unlike many online multiplayer mode, your companions remain completely anonymous and silent, expert for the odd whistle. Despite this, they will become your best friend and you will constantly find yourself checking to see if they are still with you.

Overall a lovely way to spend a couple of hours. ! !! !

Ruth Bradley sees what all the hype is about

Check out our review of Yakuza: Dead Souls at:www.redbrickpaper.co.uk/tech/

With the sprawling LA hip-hop collective having recently released its third record as a group, and the internet hype machine buzzing over it, it goes without saying there was a lot of excite-ment in the room prior to Odd Future arriving on stage. From the moment the members that had bothered to turn up ambled on stage, however, it was clear that this was not going to be one of their classic shows. The boys’ (Syd tha Kyd was notably absent) reputation for on-stage madness and exuberance seemed, on the evidence of this performance, to be on the wane.Throughout the set the crew mainly ambled about the stage, with Taco the only animated performer, dancing madly before and during the performance. That he was on stage at all, however, is testament to the shoddy prepara-tion that Odd Fu-ture had put in to their per-formance. R a t h e r than the u s u a l l y h i g h l y polished DJ per-formance that Syd tha Kyd contributes, Taco merely played the actual, non-instrumental versions of the tracks from his laptop. The sound quality was atrocious, with it frequently being unclear which song it was; even 'Yon-kers' took a while to register with the crowd, such was the lack of clarity. Tyler, The Creator did not even appear to be particularly interested in performing his biggest hit, which might have been understandable if the whole of the rest of his performance hadn't been blighted by the same seeming lack of care. Even when Left Brain leaped into the crowd –

only to have his necklace, t-shirt and shoes ripped from his body – he seemed the only mem-ber showing any genuine enthusiasm. There was also no sign of Earl Sweatshirt, the group's prodigal son and perhaps its most naturally gifted lyricist. He had been present at the first couple of dates of the tour in the USA, having recently returned from his stay at a Samoan boarding school on his mother's orders. It was particularly disappointing for him not to have been there, and the discontent was tangible in the room. This was made even more annoy-ing – and farcical – when Tyler, The Creator performed 'Orange Juice' alone, just letting the track play for Earl's vocals. This showed a level of contempt for their fans that I really wasn’t

expecting from Odd Future, and surprised and disappointed me in equal measure.

Despite the obvi-ous shortfalls of the set, the crowd was alive with excite-ment from the moment peo-

ple began to enter the venue. This might, how-

ever, have had something to do with the fact that the average age of attend-ees was at most 16. There was a sea of Golf Wang t-shirts and Supreme caps, with all the children worshipping at the altar of O.F. like some kind of bizarre hipster cult. Even for a very liberal-minded chap as myself, it was strange to

see a 12-year-old boy moshing hard, with a bleeding nose and shouting about rape and arson.Let’s hope that this was just an early tour blip from rap’s brightest young stars, and that they’re back to their best before too long. They owe it to themselves – and their fans – to be better than this.

Music27th April 2012 13

Nicki Minaj rejoins Twitter after a 9 day hiatus. A few of her 11 million followers upset the rap star last week causing her to delete her account. As a result her follow-ers have dwindled to less than 1 million!

Essential Albums #24... Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys

In the summer of 1966, The Beach Boys songwriter Brian Wilson received a phone call. 'We just wanted to tell you', said a Liverpudlian voice, 'that Pet Sounds is the greatest al-bum we’ve ever heard. You’re a genius.''No, you’re a genius.' replied Wilson. And, after a few min-utes' pleasantries, Wilson said goodbye to Paul McCartney and carried on with his day. In some senses, Wilson had achieved everything he had set out to do with Pet Sounds, and its importance in popular music can never be overestimated. The very essence of what an album was changed enormously in the mid-60s: 'fillers' and cover tracks that had been incorporated by all artists (including The Beatles) began to become unfashionable. Albums instead began to be seen as works of art - not merely a mishmash of different songs. The revolutionary first album was The Beat-les' 1965 Rubber Soul; their first to contain wholly original work. To understand Pet Sounds, one must understand Rubber Soul, for the former is a reply to the latter. Wilson heard their album, realised its implications for music, and rushed home to his wife. 'Marylin, I'm gonna create the greatest rock album ever made!' he exclaimed.

And so it began. Wilson, the great experi-

menter, had been influenced by Phil Spector’s 'wall of sound' technique and set out to create intricate, complex , symphonic works in a desperate attempt t o move the Beach Boys beyond their nasal a n d formulaic sound.

For months Wilson toiled, and emerged the following May with Pet Sounds. It's an astonishing accomplishment for one indi-vidual to achieve. The complexity of the music is matched by the psychedelic-inspired lyrics, smacking at once of desperation, isolation and loneli-ness (look no further than t h e pessimistic 'Here Today'

for the

perfect example). The instrumental, dreamy and escapist 'Let’s Go Away For Awhile' showcases Wilson at his creative best, before snapping into a lush cover of 'Sloop John B'. And it's on this album that the well known 'God Only Knows' and 'Wouldn’t it be Nice' live and prosper with their like-minded, multidimensional neighbours. It finishes with the masterful,

if melancholic, 'Caroline, No'. 'Break my heart, I want to go and cry', the Beach Boys sing. 'It’s so sad to watch

a sweet thing die. Oh Caroline, why?' It remains one of the greatest compositions of the popular

music era, yet always carries with it an air of sadness, for it virtually ruined Wilson. The radical new sound created irrepa-rable rifts between the band members, who had returned from their holiday to find a virtually finished masterpiece. Yet 'Dont f*** with the formula', was Mike Love’s advice when he heard the album. The follow up to Pet Sounds, entitled Smile, was to be even more bold, but remained unfinished after Wilson broke down amid a haze of pressure, stress and drugs. It would remain unfinished for

37 years. And as The Beach Boys col-lapsed under the creative weight

The Beatles brought out Sgt Pep-per, and music moved on.

Emili Sandé @ HMV Institute

Over the past few months Emili Sandé has become somewhat of a household name. Having won the acclaimed Critics Choice Award at this years Brit Awards, which in the past has catapulted the likes of Jessie J into the limelight, big things are expected to come from the Scottish songstress. Her tour is

unsurprisingly sold out up and down the country, and last week it came to Birmingham's HMV Institute. Donning her signature hair style, Sandé opened the set with her second single 'Dad-

dy' to a wanting crowd. Immediately, her voice bellows around the theatre. One thing is for sure, this girl can sing. Every note is hit with exact precision, every lick executed with tremendous accuracy and every lyric sung with vivid meaning which results in a truly com-pelling spectacle. Somehow, Sandé's voice effortlessly grips every member of the audience and creates a sound that communicates with everybody, regardless of age or sex. As the set progresses, so does Sandé's talent as she accompanies her own remarkable instrument by taking to keys, and it is here where she most seems at home. She remarks that all her songs start at the piano, and it is here where they do sound best. Her voice gently glides over a series of arppargiaic chord progressions with a confidence that provides a com-

forting reassurance for her avid fans. It is incredible how the 24 year old can hold an entire theatre in the palm of her hand using just her own pure talent. Admittedly, by the end of the set, the pro-cession of powerful ballads begin to become rather tiresome and the objective listener may find it hard to distinguish between some of the tracks, but what is clear is that Emili Sandé will be around for a while

longer.

Jonathon MilnesMusic Editor

Nathan LightmanMusic Critic

Raphael SheridanSport Editor

Redbrick redbrickpaper.co.uk

16th March 2012 redbrickpaper.co.ukRedbrick

If you’re too poor to go abroad, or spend on average £300 on a weekend bathing in mud, then head to east London. Seriously. Field Day is the big brother of the hugely popular Underage Festi-val, sporting a chocked one-day line up that for a meagre £45 has one of the best condensed line ups Britain will see this summer.Think of Field Day as an after exam treat. Nicely timed for the 2nd of June, having revision to do is a poor/completely invalid excuse for missing out on Victoria Park’s fin-est selection of electronic, house, dubstep and the tiniest smidgen of indie. 2 0 1 2 is the f e s t i -

val's fifth birthday, and to cel-ebrate, curators have got an impressive selection of bands, DJs and artists on the bill. The line up includes Scotch big hit-ters Franz Ferdinand, Brooklyn hype machine favourites Friends and producer of ‘an explosion of technicolour post R’n'B’, Hud-son Mohawke. Other acts to definitely catch will be house master Julio Bashmore, house mistress Maya Jane Coles and jangle noise pop duo, Sleigh Bells. Amongst the fan-

tastic transatlantic line up there are some worthwhile home grown acts worth catching too. The Vac-cines, who are selling out venues over the country for the price of a Field Day ticket alone are on, as are SBTRKT and the highly rec-ommended live Metronomy. The selection of acts alone is so vast for such a compact festival, and for less than 50 pounds it’d be rude not to in-dulge in a post

exam shake down. Field Day has sold out every year since its creation, and with a line up as eclectic as this, the chances it will again are high. Victoria Park, where the festival is held is far prettier than Selly Park, so see the day as a chance to pic-nic, get out and see a differ-

ent part of the

capital and enjoy some of the freshest talent around. Starting early and finishing late, Field Day is an all day party that doesn’t involve retreating back to a tar-paulin cave at the end of the day. Train or bus tickets to London and back from New Street are less than a tenner if you book in ad-vance. So get booking, sharpish.

For more details visit:

http://www.fieldday-festivals.com/tick-

ets/

14 27th March 2012 redbrickpaper.co.uk

Redbrick

The Bestival team were tasked with the difficult job of assembling a string of headline acts capable of topping the stunning set The Cure played at last summer’s event. For-tunately the organisers have found the perfect solution: Stevie Won-der. Bestival is the 25-Grammy Award winner’s only UK festival appearance this year, and it’s set to be a stunning end to the three days.Not only is Bestival a very rare op-portunity to see Stevie in action, but it’s also the perfect excuse to visit the Isle of Wight. There’s no need to worry about travel expenses, the Isle of Wight is linked to the main-land ports of Lymington, South-ampton and Portsmouth by low cost vehicle ferries, high-speed pas-senger catamarans and hovercraft.The Wishing Tree is just one of the surreal additions that gar-ners Bestival its cult status.Other acts on the line up include New Order, who will be headlin-ing the main stage on Saturday, and are sure to play a myriad of hits. Also set to play are The XX, who are currently in the process of finishing their sophomore al-bum, Sigur Rós, Friendly Fires, Hot Chip, The Horrors and many more. This is all before the re-maining acts are announced, in-cluding the Friday night headliner!

Of course, Bestival is more than just a music festival. Its last-

ing cult appeal is down to sev-eral creative outlets. For e x a m p l e , within the ‘ W i s h -ing Tree F i e l d ’ there is a com-edy and c a b a r e t tent, an inflatable church, a swamp shack and lantern lit treetop walk. Ever wished your favourite festival had a helter skelter? No problem, Bestival does. If you've run out of normal clothes by Saturday, then impro-vise, as this years fany dress theme has yet to be announced. Stu-dent tickets are £170, and allow entrance from Thursday onward. Prepare for long ferry queues and a train packed with tents, but the most other-wordly feeling you'll get this side of Middle Earth.


http://2012.bestival.net/tick-ets

Every summer, music lov-ing Brits travel nation-wide to various festivals in search of live music, good company and plenty of alcohol. But of course, don’t for-get your wellies! Each year, the same images appear of washed-out tents, mud clad teenagers and fields comaparable to the

WW1 trenches. We all know the rain in the UK

is unavoidable, no mat-ter what time of year it is.

So, Redbrick presents to you a slightly less wet alterna-

tive. with just a hop-skip-and-a-jump across the channel to sunny Spain, you will find one of Europe’s best loved music festivals. Now in its 18th year, Festival In-ternacional de Benicàssim as it is locally known, sees the likes of The Stone Roses, Katy B and none other than the legendary Bob Dy-lan flock to the Spanish shores, and more great acts are bound to be added closer to the event.

Located between Barcalona and Valencia it is undoubtedly far more exotic and appealing than Leeds or Reading and is quite frankly a brilliant excuse to get away from both the parents and the UK during the summer break.

British songstress Florence & The Machine is also headlining this year's festival and is bound to provide an unmissable pefor-mance. And if the music does get too much, there are plenty of other forms of entertainment tak-ing place throughout the week. If you’re scared your loan won't stretch far enough, there's no need to worry! Benicassim tickets cost as little as £155 for 4 full days of music, over 100 acts and 3 stages. What’s more: if you feel like making a holiday out of it, your pass enti-tles you to a full 8 days camping.

Not only does Benicassium offer more than any other UK fes-tival, the tickets cost about £30 cheaper than the likes of Leeds, Reading or V festival. If you're savvy enough, and as students I expect you are, this also comes at little expense. Return flights to Va-lencia can be found for as cheap as £40 from airports across the nation, including Birmingham. So, if it’s a post-exam treat you're in search of, or maybe you just need to inject excite-ment into your summer break, Benicassim has all the answers. Come and join over 50,000 others to witness one of the greatest music events of the year that we promise will be blessed with non-stop sunshine.


http://tickets.fiberfib.com/

Tamara RoperMusic Editor

Josh HolderOnline Music Editor

Jonathon MilnesMusic Editor

Music

A new style of camera work has emerged in action and occasionally horror films in the last decade or so. That style is 'shaky cam', which is exactly what it sounds like: the camera is in constant frenetic mo-tion, predominantly during actions scenes. Coupled with rapid fire ed-iting, barely a second per shot, this can have irritating and occasionally nauseating ef-fects. It's the equivalent of buying a top of the range, high definition camera, waiting for a once in a million years planetary alignment and giving the cam-era to a hyper-active child to film it.

This style grew out of the found footage subgenre of hor-ror films, which essentially began with Cannibal Ho-locaust in 1980 and was made popular by 1999's The Blair Witch Project. Found footage films often imply that what they are showing you is real and filmed by amateurs, hence

the camera work is often shaky, particularly during chase scenes

such as in Cloverfield (2008) where our group of boring protagonists are ambushed in the streets of New York

by a part-shrimp, part-bat, part-

w h a l e m o n -

ster.

Argu-ably shaky camera is e x c u s -able, no m a t -ter the quality of the f i l m , when it can add to the

idea that what you are watching is real. When executed well it can be really effective. Take for example Lake Mungo (2008), in which a dramatic reveal is achieved by pausing a single frame of foot-age shot on a mobile phone, lead-ing to one of the most unsettlings c e n e s from a f o u n d footage film.

So, s h a k y cam in f o u n d footage horror films can work. However, when it comes to action films that are not found footage, shaky cam can be disastrous. The Bourne Identity films are known for their use of this style and al-though it works occasionally, some set pieces become a confusing mess.

However, that mess is noth-ing compared to the opening car chase in the Bond film Quantum Of Solace (2008). Each shot barely lasts a second and the camera darts around like a rogue ping-pong ball.

Some say it's immersive, bringing you closer to the action. Others say

it's confusing, leav-ing you with no

sense of what just hap-

pened in the scene other than that a car plummet-ed down aq u a r r y wall for some rea-

son. Set pieces in action films should serve

the story and if the ac-tion is unintelligible, so is

the story.So much time and money goes

into action set pieces, not to men-tion the often incredible work of stunt men and women, that to frame, film and edit it so that it becomes a barely understandable tangle of punches, gunfire and ex-plosions seems like a waste. Not every shot in a film needs to be aKubrick-like masterpiece of track-ing, steady camera work, but if you're making an action film, showoff the action and to do that, just hold the camera still.

Film American Beauty (1999)

'Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can't take it.'

16 Redbrick27th April 2012redbrickpaper.co.uk

Cannes FestivalThe line-up of the 65th annual Cannes Film Festival has been announced to the excitement of filmgoers all over the world. In less than a month it finds Argentinean-born Bérénice Bejo hosting the opening and closing ceremonies after the success of her starring role in The Artist last year. Other highlights include the debut of Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom, an independent film set in the 1960s, and the commemo-ration of Marilyn Monroe on the 50th anniversary of her death. The festival is set to begin on 16th May.

The AvengersThe European Premiere of The Avengers Assemble saw the line-up of star-studded superheroes taking over Westfield's Shopping Centre for the day. Directed by Joss Whedon and written by Zak Penn, the action-packed film fea-tures a culmination of familiar and beloved faces, including: Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Chris Evans, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo and Samuel L. Jackson. The film is set to hit UK cinemas on Thursday 26th April.

Hunger GamesA post-apocalyptic film based on the trilogy by author Suzanne Collins, finds its sequel handed over to Francis Lawrence, director of I am Legend and Water for Elephants. Following its success, the release date of its predecessor, Catching Fire, was pushed for-ward by Lionsgate, a task current director, Garry Ross turned down after stating that he could not fin-ish the film in time. After a world-wide debut of $214.3 million, it is no wonder Lawrence snatched up the chance to work on this project.

Unjustified: Shaky Cam

Book buff Aisha Bushby lists her favourite animated adaptations of popular literary classics

# 1 Based on the novel of the same name

by Richard Adams, Watership Down follows a group of rabbits in search of a new home, led by two brothers, Fiver and Hazel who believe danger is imminent. The ominous theme carries throughout the film as the group stumble across, sometimes, fatal obstacles. The simplistic style of the introduction is reminiscent of a children's fable, but the realistic animation therein portrays many adult themes. Humankind plays a villainous role, full of destruction and a disregard for nature, causing us to question our own humanity.

George Clooney voices the charming Mr. Fox, a thief turned family

man. Directed by Wes Anderson, this quirky, stop-motion anima-tion pays tribute to the creative mind of Roald Dahl. We see Mr. Fox become the target of the sur-rounding farmers after continu-ally stealing their produce. Soon a whole myriad of creatures become involved, as trouble ensues in this wonderfully whacky comedy.

What begins as a clas-sic story of a mistreated orphaned boy turns into

an adventure around the world from the inside of a giant magi-cal peach. James and his array of insect companions embark on an adventure to New York City. The mixture of live-action and stop-motion creates a good pace, as James follows his dreams with his makeshift family in this Roald Dahl classic.

Based on a series of comic books, the story follows Tintin and his

dog, Snowy, as they unexpectedly venture around the world. Tintin stumbles upon a model ship, not knowing the secrets it holds. Di-rected by Steven Spielberg and re-leased in 3D, the animation com-bines a classic tale with modern CGI. The perfect platform for this adventure-comedy, Tintin is loved by children and adults alike.

A whole forest of crea-tures assembles to watch the birth of the fawn, Bambi. Disney recreates

this beautiful tale based on the book by Felix Salten. We follow his life as he overcomes trag-edies, falls in love and becomes 'The Great Prince of the Forest'. Winning an Academy Award for Original Score, the music subtly compliments the many tensions and triumphs of the plot.

#5

#4#2

#3

Steadfast critic Alan Smithee implores filmmakers to hold the camera still

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Bambi

JATGP

Watership Down

Tintin

Scarlett PanemCritic

Film News

Five of the Best: Animated Adaptations

Pirates! sees Aardman Animations return to our screens in an adven-ture featuring luxuriant beards, booty and a monkey butler. Hugh Grant voices the aptly named Pi-rate Captain, a good-natured pi-rate with big ambitions: to win the Pirate of the Year Award given to the pirate with the most booty. Desperate to prove his many critics wrong, the Pirate Captain and his loyal if slightly incompetent crew

set off to scour the ocean for ships to plunder.

After a spate of bad luck, they stumble on a disheartened Charles Darwin (David Tennant) in the midst of a quest for the scientific discovery of the era. When Dar-win meets Polly, the ship's unusual 'parrot', it seems that the scheming scientist and luckless pirates have struck gold. They head to London to present Polly to the Royal So-ciety, but find themsleves in hot water when notorious pirate-hater Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton) learns of Darwin's priceless dis-covery.

The creators of Wallace and Gromit have delivered another gem full of clever jokes, stunning sets and plain good fun. The backdrops

demand a closer look, with Aard-man artists delivering the small details fans have come to expect. A mixture of enjoyable silliness and good-humoured in-jokes, the film manages to stay light-hearted with-out boring its audiences. A minor issue is the disappointingly short screen time given to some enjoy-able characters, but the stars are such brilliant caricatures that this can be forgiven. Imelda Staunton is on form as the most formidable Queen Victoria in film history, and Hugh Grant is at his bumbling best as the enthusiastic Pirate Captain.

Full of Aardman's usual en-ergy, imagination and sparkling humour, Pirates! marks a superb and welcome return for the best of British.

Reviews17 Film27th April 2012


POORGOODUNMISSABLE EXCELLENT TRAGIC

For anyone who has not yet wit-nessed this meeting of disaster movie and period romance, the story is fairly simple. Modern-day treasure hunter Brock Lovett is searching the wreck of Titanic for a priceless blue diamond. Known as the Heart of the Ocean, it was a gift from wealthy passenger Caledon Hockley to his fiancée, socialite Rose DeWitt Bukater.

In an audience with Lovett, the elderly Rose recounts the story of tragically impoverished yet charmingly upbeat artist Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), who wins his ticket for the world's most extravagant ocean liner at a lucky-hand of poker. A very lucky hand, or so he thinks, for onboard he meets Rose, then a headstrong-

teenager desperate to escape the restrictions of her repressive soci-ety.

A friendship based on spit-ting, beer and Irish dancing leads to love, but little do they know that the ship is heading for disaster. When Titanic hits an iceberg, rela-tionships are tested and true natures revealed as the majority of passengers are left to the mercy of the freezing Atlantic Ocean.

The highest grossing film of all time until it was ousted by the horrendous Avatar, Titanic is notorious for its cheesy dialogue and cringey theme song. However, it also includes creditable action sequences showing the devasta-tion to the ship and its passengers, such as the flooding of the famous staircase. Titanic historians will appreciate the close attention to detail, and the film also conveys the overwhelming human loss of the disaster. A must-see given the recent centenary, Titanic uses a touching love affair to tell the story of a real tragedy.

Silver Screen: Titanic

Directors: Peter Lord, Jeff NewittCast: Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, Imelda StauntonCert: U

Edward TeachCritic

Margaret BrownCritic

Director: James CameronCast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Gloria StuartCert: 12A

The Pirates!

The Beginner's Guide To... Marilyn Monroe

Beautiful, blonde and much brain-ier than was frequently believed, Marilyn Monroe was more than just one of the most iconic faces of the twentieth century.

A Cinderella StoryBorn Norma Jean Mortenson on 1st June 1926, Marilyn was dis-covered by a photographer while working in a parachute factory. After a successful modelling ca-reer, Norma Jean divorced her first husband James Dougherty and decided to follow her dream of becoming an actress. Her famous stage name combined her mother's maiden name with that of 1920s actress Marilyn Miller.

One of Marilyn’s earliest roles was in Marx Brothers film Love Happy (1949). Although it was only a minor part, the producers were so delighted by her magnetic screen presence that they sent her to New York to help promote the film.

After a few more bit parts, Marilyn landed a small role in The Asphalt Jungle (1950). De-spite the short screen time she was well-reviewed by critics, which led to a stream of mildly successful comedies including All About Eve (1950).

The public was entranced by Marilyn's beauty and Cinderella story; she never knew her father and was raised by various fam-ily friends when her mother was sent to a psychiatric hospital. She quickly became a celebrity, pre-senting an Oscar in 1951 and ap-pearing on the cover of Life in

1952. That same year, nude pho-tos taken when she was struggling to find work emerged in the press. Marilyn admitted to the photos but explained that she had needed the money to pay her rent, winning herself more public sympathy.

In 1953, Marilyn landed the lead role of murderous femme fatale Rose Loomis in Niagara. Most reviewers focussed on the sexual nature of her performance, with some also criticising the figure-hugging dresses she wore while promoting the film. Marilyn encouraged these attitudes when she posed for a 1953 cover of Playboy, which also included nude photographs of her in-side.

Blonde AmbitionMonroe's next film, Gentle-men Prefer Blondes (1953), saw her playing a sweet but ditsy blonde hunting for a rich husband. It was a popular hit with audiences and critics, and featured her performance of 'Dia-monds Are a Girl’s Best Friend'.

There followed a string of films which typecast her in this 'dumb blonde' persona, such as The Seven Year Itch (1955). This includes the famous scene in which Marilyn's character stands over a subway grate while the air blows her skirt around her hips. When Marilyn's second husband, baseball player Joe DiMag-gio, saw her filming the scene surrounded by a large crowd, they argued publicly. A fort-night later, they were sepa

rated.Desperate to escape this type-

casting, Marilyn created Marilyn Monroe Productions and attended acting lessons, which were also intended to overcome the stage fright which would plague her all her life. She then went on to star as aspiring singer Cherie in Bus Stop (1956), winning praise for her intelligent comic performance.

Marilyn had become reliant on acting coach Paula Strasberg, whose presence on the set of her

next film, The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), frustrated

director Lawrence Olivi-er. Olivier commended

Monroe's comic abili-ties, but grew irri-

tated at her lateness and inability to

remember her lines. The film's t u r b u l e n t p r o d u c t i o n history is p o r t r a y e d in My Week With Marilyn

(2011), star-ring Michelle

Williams as Marilyn.

Something's got to give

After a year's gap in which she suffered a miscar-riage, Monroe returned to Hollywood in 1958 to begin work on Some Like It Hot (1959). She

became increasingly unreliable, showing up late, if at all, and was unable to remember even simple lines. Her antics infuriated both cast and crew, and when filming finished Marilyn suffered another miscarriage. Despite the tortur-ous filming process, the film was a resounding success, and Marilyn won the Golden Globe for Best Ac-tress in a Musical or Comedy.

Written by Marilyn’s third husband Arthur Miller, The Misfits (1961) was to be her final complet-ed film. Her health had deteriorat-ed over the last few years and she was becoming reliant on sleeping pills and alcohol. She was rushed to hospital and remained there for 10 days, although the nature of her illness was undisclosed.

Marilyn's relationship with Miller had also become strained, as she believed that he had used her personal problems to inspire one of his characters. When filming finished, the couple separated. De-spite these problems, the film has become a classic, thanks in part to Marilyn’s superb performance.

Monroe suffered further health problems before and dur-ing the filming of her incomplete final film, Something’s Got to Give (1962). After reportedly feeling better, she died from an overdose of barbiturates and was found in her LA home on the morning of the 5th August 1962.

Still an inspiration for film-makers today, Marilyn's beauty, charm and troubled life have seen her popularity continue even 50 years after her death.

Natasha Lavender reveals the highs and lows in the tumultuous life of one of the world's most famous blondes

Television27th April 201218 redbrickpaper.co.uk

Check out Russell Webb's review of A League of Their Own at redbrickpaper.co.uk

Redbrick

Abbie Salter speaks to costume drama star Rebecca Night about her career so far and new projects

Before you say 'it’s just because he's fat' no it's not. The opera duo had the

wow factor. It was totally unexpected, especially by Simon Cowell as we all heard when they stepped onto the stage. Jonathan made me all weepy when he stood up for his partner and wouldn't go solo.

I WANT THAT DOGGIE!! That is all... There have been some spectac-

ular dog acts on this show in the past, and we all know that they are what Simon wants to find. This year he may actually have found one capable of win-ning that spot on the Royal Variety.

4. This Irish cutie won the hearts of every female in the audi-ence when he sang

his song. If he is still single it's a crying shame. Most acts that come on per-forming their own song are buzzed within the first few bars, but not this charmer. Who wouldn't want a song written for them?!

3. They promoted the saying 'you're only as young as you feel' with their ren-

dition of (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!). They had me in fits and wondering whether to get my Granny a hoodie for her birthday in the hopes that they might accept her into their crew.

2. Zippy had me ask-ing 'Where me keys, where me phone?' for days on end. My

sister and I now have the dance down to a tee. Yeah we're cool, just not as cool as Zippy. Have ya ever been in dat situaaay-shun. This annoyingly catchy tune saw Zippy through to the next round.

1.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy

The Zimmers

Zipparah Tafari

5.

Ashleigh and Pudsey

Jonathan and Charlotte

Why did you get into acting?

When I was little I was always away in my imagination, so I had always wanted to do something with it without realising. When I was about eight I went to this small middle school and the head teacher was really into drama, and that was when I thought, oh this is really fun. I wasn't always, but I did have a tendency to be quite shy and acting made me not afraid of anything. I loved becoming other people, and I think I knew then that [acting] was what I wanted to do.

One of your most recognisable roles is playing Fanny Hill in the BBC adaptation, how did you prepare to play such an explicit character?

I think I went Oh My God how am I going to play this, but then I thought it is Andrew Davies, so I am just going to have to knuckle down and get on with it and not think about it too much. There was also lots of interesting stuff to play, character wise - the transformation from working class orphan into this grander lady who has lived this crazy life of pleasure. So by think-ing about that, and the other actors that I would be working with, it was okay because it could become about the scenes rather than wor-rying about taking my clothes off, which was scary in itself.

You’ve starred in quite a few period dramas, such as Lark Rise to Candleford and Wuthering Heights; do you prefer acting in period pieces or is it just coincidence?

I think for a while it was a coinci-dence and casting directors think-ing that I looked okay in a corset. But I have been doing a few more modern things lately, which I’ve really been enjoying. But when you are doing a period drama there are

more things to think about: you have to research the period; what they would have worn; how they would have stood, so it kind of gives another layer to it. And nor-mally the characters in period dra-mas are more oppressed, and they can’t convey what they feel easily. I like to try and mix it up.

You have also appeared on stage in The Importance of Being Earnest, do you prefer stage or television work?

They are both really different, and I would love it if I could keep mixing between the two. I love theatre, but I think if I had to pick I might pick television and film as it is different every day. There is a higher resolu-tion to TV, because if the scene is in a house you are actually filming in a house, but if you’re on stage it's just a wall. But there is some-thing magical about doing theatre. I would like to keep doing both.

Do you prepare differently for your characters on stage than you would for televi-sion productions?

I guess in a way, for the-atre you have four or five weeks to work your char-acter through from begin-ning to end with everybody, and you are ready in time for press night. But for television you maybe do a read through, and then suddenly you are in, possibly filming the final scenes of a movie first so there's more guess work. You're figuring out the journey of the character as you go.

Have you got a character that you've most enjoyed playing?

I did really like playing Catherine Linton in Wuthering Heights, part-ly due to the dark stuff that hap-pened to her her fight against it. I enjoyed running around bare foot on the moors, she's very earthy, and I found it really interesting to play. It's quite fun being shouted at by Tom Hardy. I would like to do another meaty kind of role similar to that.

Are there any particular ac-tors or actresses you would like to work with?

I would like to work with Meryl Streep, she's amazing. I do feel very lucky though, as a lot of the actors and actresses I've worked with I've grown up thinking, wow you're amazing. I just want to be able to keep working with inspiring actors who I can learn from. Gary Old-man would be pretty cool too.

How do you cope with fame, and people

coming up to you?

To be honest it doesn't re-ally happen very much, and when it does happen it's

always quite sweet. But it's fine, I can go about my

day-to -day life pretty unno-ticed. I guess if you're in a costume drama you look quite d i f f e r e n t too.

Do you think that fame has c h a n g e d

you at all, or if any of the characters you've played have affected you when you come off camera?

I think at the end of Wuthering Heights I felt quite blue, as it's such a melancholy, dark, fierce sort of novel and script, you're kind of shouting at each other a lot and it's quite miserable. But I don't know if it really changes you, I suppose you keep each character inside you, and I do have a fondness and think of them from time to time as though they were real for a moment.

What's been your most sur-real moment in your career?

I used to be massively obsessed with Kevin Spacey when I was growing up, and thought he was amazing. I ran into him when I was 17; he sweetly had a chat with me, and then I worked with him at The Old Vic last year which was fun.

Can you tell me a bit about your upcoming projects?

Starlings is coming out first, it’'s eight one hour episodes for Sky - it's a warm family comedy drama. It's lots of us living in one house, and the quirks of family love and how each family is a bit weird and different, but how you all still love each other. I had quite a fun jour-ney in it becoming a mother in Starlings, which was interesting for me trying to see what mother-hood is like having not experienced it myself. After that Suspension of Disbelief is next, which is Mike Figgis' movie that he has writ-ten and directed. That's more of a dark, possibly erotic thriller. They were both quite contrasting ones, being part of a warm family, and then in the film a dark messed up family with a strange past, there's still love in there but it's a bit hid-den and weird I suppose. I really enjoyed playing the part though.

Laura Megatli casts her eye over the acts that have made us laugh, cry and cringe

Top 5 BGT moments of the series

A night to remember!

Since 2003, re-ality television show America’s Next Top Model has entertained millions, fea-turing contro-versial model-ling challenges, crazy cat-fights and its presenter and creator, the frighteningly insane Tyra Banks. However, news broke last week that three of the current judging panel; 'Noted-Fashioned-Photographer' Nigel Banks, 'Runway-Diva-Coach-Extraordinaire' Miss J. Alexander and creative director Jay Manuel are to be axed from the next series.

As anyone who has watched even a single episode of ANTM before knows, this is devastating news. While all Tyra seems to do every week is strut around taking photographs of herself for 'inspi-ration' and talking about her big forehead, it was Mr and Miss J. who provided feedback which was actu-ally constructive. The three judges in question were also qualified to give advice, unlike Tyra, who seems experienced only in wearing under-wear and making up words (smize, anyone?).

These firings are not the first in ANTM's history. Tyra famously booted Janice Dickinson off the judging panel in 2005, seemingly because Janice was a million times more entertaining than her. Paulina Porizkova was also let go in 2009, apparently because Tyra thought that she had an 'ego-problem'. It seems that whenever a fellow judge threatens to usurp Tyra as the main focus of the show they are shunted – fast, and it's true that every series of ANTM becomes more and more Tyra-obsessed.

The house the models live in is plastered in photographs of the presenter, meaning that almost ev-ery shot on the programme creepily features Tyra's face in some way, just as a reminder who the real star of the show is, as if we could ever forget.

Tyra also has a worrying ten-dency to dress up in slutty cos-tumes (favourites include a nurse, a princess, and disturbingly, a small child) and tell the contestants what to do whilst holding a magic wand. It's absolutely mental and great TV, but ANTM is rapidly sliding away from credible modelling show and more and more towards a great big plug for whatever Tyra is doing at the time.

The models have had to star in her music video debut, appear on her talk show and mention new book releases at every opportunity. Even the opening credits have be-come one long montage of Tyra thrusting in bondage gear.

Even for a hardcore (yet ashamed) lover of America's Next Top Model it seems that the latest act of Tyra-madness is a step too far. Yes, Nigel Barker was slightly seedy, and Mr and Miss J. definitely unhinged, but that's what made the show brilliant, and I wonder how long it will be until Tyra just gives up the show altogether.

Anna HughesCritic

Telly Talk

Simon Cowell: A Celebrity Profile

Whenever I have spoken to people about this week's second series of the show Grandma's House, most people have never seemed to have heard of it. This, for me, is such a massive shame.

The first series of the award winning comedian, presenter and screen-writer Simon Amstell's self-reflective comedy-drama must have garnered enough of an audi-ence to warrant a second though, and the comedy aspects seen in the first series definitely have con-

tinued into the second series! Simon has a new promotion-

al strategy (he has been taking to Twitter extensively and has ap-peared in a number of videos on The Guardian website) to hope-fully get new viewers to watch the show, as well as sustain all the old viewers of the show. Hopefully, this brilliant little show will reach an even wider audience.

The comedy show gets off to a hilariously awkward start in which Simon finds himself in bed with his cousin's 16 year-old friend.

Even more fun ensues as he tries to fight off the attentions of the amorous young teenager, keep it a secret from his family gathered downstairs and all the while trying

to fix a precarious shower. Simon's comedy is rooted in

real life, as he reveals he has got a new job playing a character, much like himself in a sitcom. His moth-er asks 'do you need more acting lessons?'.

You can't help but believe that every one of his mother's jibes and his aunt's awkward comments must be real too. The comedy is sharp and intelligent, the cast are brilliant (Amstell does just make the show though!).

The plot, though minimal, serves the show well, hopefully the rest of the series keeps up the high standard, with many more laughs to come. You can catch it on BBC 2.

19 Television 27th April 2012 redbrickpaper.co.uk

The recent publication of Tom Bower's scandalous tell-all book has hurled Simon Cowell well and truly right back into the limelight.

Sweet Revenge: The Intimate Life of Simon Cowell is still yet to be released, but its extremely shocking revelations have been plastered all over the tabloids and have been recently widely docu-mented.

The supposedly 'unauthor-ised' book claims that Cowell had a series of sexual liaisons with fellow X Factor judge Dannii Mi-nogue back in 2007. Neither of the accused have denied this claim, and it seems a convenient time for such gossip, raising Cowell's profile just as Britain's Got Talent goes head-to-head in the ratings war against the BBC's new talent show, The Voice.

Simon really needs to get televsion viewers on his side after he has realised how much of a hit the BBC's show has become, and ITV and himself have had to make the decision to move the new se-ries of Britain's got Talent back in the viewing schedule on Saturday nights to get more viewers.

So who is this famous music mogul who the papers love to gos-sip about and is rarely off our TV screens?

Simon Cowell was born in Lambeth, London in 1959 to Eric Cowell, who was also involved in the music industry, and his ballet dancer wife, Julie Brett.

His penchant for dating beautiful, famous women began

when he dated model Paula Ham-ilton, aged just 17.

Cowell worked a number of menial jobs after leaving school but clashed with colleagues and bosses; his entrance into the mu-sic industry came when his father, who was an executive at recording company EMI, managed to get him a job there.

Cowell worked his way up the career ladder at EMI, and left dur-ing the early 1980s to co-found E&S Music. Despite the company being based in a converted public toilet, they produced several hit records before Cowell left a few years later.

His first taste of success came during the eight years he worked at Fanfare Records; the first act he signed was Sinitta, the singer who went on to be his girlfriend and then become infamous for wearing costumes made of leaves when she helped Cowell choose his acts for The X Factor. Cowell relentlessly promoted Sinitta's first hit 'So Ma-cho', until it finally broke into the Top 10 Singles Chart in 1986.

In 1989, Cowell moved on to work for BMG where he signed several successful acts such as Westlife and Robson and Jerome.

Cowell first appeared on our TV screens back in 2001 when he became a judge on the first series of Pop Idol, which brought us Will Young and Gareth Gates. This is where he developed his on-screen reputation for being 'the nasty judge', and pretty soon his role became synonymous with high-

waisted trousers and scathing criticism.

In 2002, Cowell became a judge on American Idol and set up his own record label, Syco Music, affiliated with Sony BMG.

Although only two series of Pop Idol aired in the UK, Cowell didn't leave American Idol until 2010.

The X Factor, which Cowell created using his company, Syco, began its first series in 2004 and has become a fixture of British TV over the past eight years. Ev-ery winning act, including Leona Lewis, Shayne Ward, Alexandra Burke, Joe McElderry and Matt Cardle, have been signed to Syco Records, making Simon a whole lot of money.

The successful show has had its fair share of controversy, in-cluding feuds between the judges and protest over its inevitable domination of the UK Singles Chart at Christmas.

Cowell left the show as a judge in 2011, when he introduced a new lineup: Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow, Kelly Rowland and Tulisa Con-tostavlos. Barlow's return has been confirmed in the last few days, but it remains to be seen which of the other judges pulled off a good enough performance to return for the next series.

Alongside the success of The X Factor, Cowell co-created Ameri-ca's Got Talent, which debuted to enormous success in 2006.

Britain's Got Talent followed in 2007. The show gained inter-

national publicity in 2009, when Susan Boyle's surprising talent made viewing figures skyrocket. The sixth series of Britain's Got Talent is airing on ITV at the mo-ment, in intense competition with The Voice, with which it shares a primetime Saturday night slot.

Cowell, who is known for his friendship with a string of ex-girl-friends, surprised the press when he announced his engagement to makeup artist Mezhgan Hus-sainy in February 2010. However, it appears he is not ready to settle down just yet as they split earlier this year. Furthermore, the cause behind his good friendship with

his exes was revealed in 2011, when, during an interview with The Guardian, Cowell admitted to paying his ex-girlfriends huge amounts of money after the rela-tionship ends. TV presenter Terri Seymour, whom Cowell dated for six years, apparently got a 'parting gift' of around £6million follow-ing their break-up in 2008.

But seeing as Cowell is worth a massive reported £200million, making him the sixth richestper-son in the British music industry as of 2011, what's a few million here and there, if it means hold-ing off scandals such as the ones revealed in Bower's book?

Jenna Kirby gives us a detailed look into the life of one of TV's most talked about men

Reviews: This week's hottest showsGrandma's

House

Critic Lucy Mulgrew

Unless you really have been re-vising over Easter, you can't have missed E4's continual advertise-ment of new American sitcom 2 Broke Girls. My enjoyment of Made in Chelsea and One Tree Hill was diminished by the irritat-ing fake laughs adorning the ad for 'America's hit series!' I tuned in to see if it lived up to the hype that E4 claimed.

Within the first 10 minutes of the show's debut, the majority of clips used in the promos had al-

ready been shown, and I was left wondering what was left of the 20 minute pilot. The first episode in-troduced us to its two female pro-tagonists; cue Max, a Brooklyner with her acid tongued one liners, and new girl at the diner Caroline rich girl turned poor.

The character of Max plays on the stereotypical Brooklyn girl, working two jobs to afford her rundown apartment and looking down on Upper East Sider Caro-line, whilst simultaneously offend-ing the majority of the patrons at the diner.

Stereotypes appear to be the main source of comedy for pro-ducer Michael Patrick King as we

have the immigrant owner Han Lee changing his name to Bryce Lee and the perverted yet harm-less Ukrainian chef Oleg. How-ever, my favourite stereotype was definitely the Manhattan 'mom' of twins Brangelina.

The script only provides a few cheap laughs and it didn't really entice me to tune back in. The first episode gave me the impression of a TV version of a cheesy pop song, you can cope with it when it's on and there's nothing else to watch. I won't be excitedly waiting for next week's instalment. But if you fancy an easy distraction from revision then I'll let you off for watching it. E4, Thursday 9pm.

2 Broke Girls

Online Television Editor

Abi Salter

Redbrick

27th April 2012

Life&StyleRedbrickredbrickpaper.co.uk

Fierce &Finished

20

Revision. - Enough said.

Getting Caught in a Down-pour - You think it's sunny, but as soon as you leave the house it pours with rain.

Spencer on Made In Chelsea - Even his good looks won't sway me. Team Jamie all the way.

Leopard Print - According to those in the know it's all about Snakeskin right now.

Rumours of Topshop bridal range - As huge fans of Topshop as we are, we're a little sceptical of a Bridal collection.

Rihanna's Tweets - '@This bitch I'm wiz iz thik az PHHHUCK' '@Ridin' round wit a bitch named Keisha smoking on Keisha' No Ri-Ri, stick with the music.

Prince Harry & Mollie King's Romance - Rumours that Prince Harry has taken a liking to the blonde singer from The Satur-days. Absolutely gutting.

Stella McCartney's at Vogue Fest - The stylish designer offered one lucky audience member work experience during her interview at Vogue Festival. Well jel - if only it was that easy for the rest of us!

Finished

Fierce

Bullring Student Lock-in - Last night's student event in the Bull-ring was a huge success: student discount galore. Thank you, loan!

Latest Zara Collection - Punchy prints and summer basics have had us lusting after everything in the store.

Mulberry Del Ray - Get your name on the waiting list. As if we needed another Mulberry bag to drool over.

The Olympics Kit - Team GB in Stella McCartney, definitely fierce.

Summer Plans - Student loan = holiday, right? Marc Jacobs' Make-Up Line - One of Life&Style's favourite designers (who celebrated his 49th birthday last week!) has an-nounced the release of a make-up collection. We can't wait.

The London Marathon - A huge congratulations to TOWIE's Arg who completed the Marathon last weekend in an incredible 6.01 hours. All that hard work paid off!

Shirt Dresses - Comfy and ca-sual, these flattering dresses are said to be bang on trend this sum-mertime. The Engagement of Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie - Congratula-tions to the Hollywood couple, who have FINALLY agreed to tie the knot!

L&S speak to Martina Kobes-ova, Director of Scouting, for her top industry tips ahead of the Elite Model Look compe-tition launching at the end of this month...

How did you get into the in-dustry?

I was a model myself; therefore I was lucky enough to have the op-portunity to meet the right people for me to start my career as a mod-el agent and scout.

Do you have any advice for students wanting to pursue a career in model scouting?

There is no particular advice but you have to train your eye and it's imperative to have your finger on the pulse of the fashion industry to know what the current ‘look’ is. You will also need to be aware of the demographic you are looking for; newly scouted models tend to be 16-21, so you will need to iden-tify suitable places to find your de-mographic.

How does Elite work with brands - do the brands choose the models they want them-selves or does the agency pro-vide who they think is best for the job?

The Agency will always provide suitable models based on client’s

request, the skill of a booker is be-ing able to identify what models suit which client and the type of job.

What's a typical day in the life for a model scout at Elite?

Part of my job is spent at the agen-cy as a booker but every available moment I get is spent at various scouting opportunities. As a scout you are always alert and looking for the next big thing! You don’t really ever switch off, but as soon as springtime arrives, it is a lot more enjoyable to be out and about searching for fresh new faces.

How similar is the Elite of-fice to that of Premier Model Management, shown in the E4 documentary ‘The Model Agency’? Is it as hectic and dramatic?

Although every agency is very dif-ferent, we all share a passion for the industry we work in and are constantly striving to exceed ex-pectations, this can sometimes lead to tensions running high, however the Elite team has a great energy and we always work very well to-gether.

Elite Model Management have discovered models like Nyasha Matonhodze, Con-stance Jablonski, Sigrid Agren, Ming Xi and Fei Fei Sun. What’s your relationship with these models when they become such big celebrities – do they stay in the agency?

Nyasha and Fei Fei were both New Faces when I started at Elite, so I had the opportunity to watch both girls grow and see their ca-reers blossom. They are both very lovely, hard-working girls. Nyasha was our first winner of Elite Model Look UK in 2009, so it has been fantastic to watch her develop from a schoolgirl to the super model she is today. The majority of the top girls (i.e. Constance Jablonski, Sigrid Agren, Ming Xi) travel to the UK twice a year for London Fashion Week, and occasionally throughout the year for jobs. Communication with them is always lovely and they al-ways come to say hello when they have some free time during their busy schedules.

Does your criteria for what makes a potential model dif-fer year on year?

Not drastically, there is always a basic criteria of what we look for in a model which will remain same, but of course you have to watch trends. We do, at the end of the day, work in fashion!

What's your top-tip for aspir-ing models wanting to break into the industry?

Don’t take yourself too seriously, keep grounded and work hard.

The Elite Model Look competition launches on the 25th April 2012. For further details and to take part visit www.elitemodellook.co.uk

Vogue Festival 2012: Christopher Bailey, The Man, The Legend

Career Q&A with an Elite Model Scout

Sarah MurrayWriter

Christopher Bailey is often de-scribed as the saviour of Burberry, and rightly so. Since his appoint-ment at the British house in 2001, along with CEO Angela Ahrendts, he has transformed the company from what he described as a “trod-den diamond” into the interna-tionally renowned, luxurious and innovative brand that we see to-day, whilst still remaining true to its British heritage.

In an interview with Vogue last year, Bailey noted how upon his arrival, 'Burberry was just in an old rut', a 'company based on past glory'. After targeting a younger market through the aid of digital

media, the brand has just recently reached record sales of £1 billion after an increase of 18% in the last six months.

British stars including Emma Watson, Eddie Redmayne and Cara Delevingne have all fronted some of the company’s campaigns while Samantha Cameron, Kate Bosworth and Keira Knightley are amongst the many celebrities wearing Burberry designs.

Speaking at Friday’s Vogue Festival, Bailey presented himself as the antithesis to the ruthless figure one sometimes associates with success in business with his humble, down to earth and incred-ibly normal persona. He discussed how he’s a sucker for Masterchef, loves Downtown Abbey and can’t wait to catch up with The Voice; a huge Will.I.Am fan, apparently.

Despite being an interna-tional name, Bailey stays true to his British roots. The Yorkshire-man chatted about how he loves English weather; one minute it’s sunny, then hailing, then raining, then thundering. 'It was lovely waking up this morning and feel-ing instantly uplifted by seeing the sunshine, but there’s something very poetic about the rain. There is something magical about the British weather', he explained in coversation with Vogue editor, Al-exandra Shulman. Afterall, it was the gabardine raincoat that estab-lished Burberry and remains its most iconic piece.

In the house’s most recent collection, the show closed with models parading down the catwalk clutching umbrellas, very fashion-able ones of course, as a storm started on the soundtrack and rain ran down the tent’s walls.

His most recent venture, well one of many seeing as Bailey over-sees every last detail of the brand, involves the opening of the Burber-ry’s biggest ever store on London’s Regent Street. His main aim across the stores? 'I want Burberry to feel welcoming and inspiring, not in-timidating or uncomfortable'.

He doesn’t want visitors to feel they are unworthy of the brand and

thus wants them to browse and ex-plore the store, aided through its iPad collection, even if they have no intention of purchasing an item. The shop shouldn't just be a 'vanity project', but a chance to immerse yourself into the brand.

The company’s brilliant web-site and Facebook page are anoth-er way fans worldwide can absorb all things Burberry. Not only can you browse collections (Womens-wear, Menswear, Childrenswear, Beauty, Fragrance, Accessories, Home&Gifts) but you can see a timeline of the brand’s history, discover new music through Burb-erry Acoustic, create your own be-spoke trench and see the classic coat on customers from all corners of the world with 'The Art of The Trench'.

Though the company is grow-ing by the minute, comprising cur-rently of around 9,000 employ-ees, Bailey ensures that his team stays extremely connected and informed about everything Burb-erry. Through their internal social media site, Burberry Chat, they aim to keep everyone in the know so that the inner-Burberry world stays small, no matter how big the brand becomes.

It seems there’s no stopping this talented individual who shows that, to make it in this business you need talent, hard-work and ambition, but most importantly, a smile.

Sophie CowlingLife&Style Editor

Sophie Cowling asks Fluorescent PR for their top career tips: www.redbrickpaper.co.uk/category/lifestyle

This foaming cleansing gel is a 3 in 1 solution designed to remove all make-up, hydrate and soothe skin. The cleansing wash is easy to apply so it’s a perfect, time ef-ficient beauty regime to undertake even when coming in from a night out.

All the ingredients, which include antioxidant moringa and aloe vera, are organic which is why your skin feels so naturally balanced after use. Areas prone to redness or uneven complexion are visibly reduced after just one use!

As this cleansing gel is also designed to remove eye make-up, it is incredibly gentle and won’t sting your eyes when applied. The aim of this cleanser is to thor-oughly remove all make-up with-out stripping the skin.

So although it is a slightly pricey £14.00, I have never used a cleanser which gives such beauti-ful results so quickly.

April ShacklockSenior Life&Style Writer

Desert Island Beauty Product

www.nudeskincare.com

Megan JonesOnline Life&Style Editor

21 Life&Style27th April 2012 redbrickpaper.co.ukRedbrick

The most stylish show on TV is back. Mad Men returned for its fifth season this Easter and not only have the story lines not faltered af-ter almost 18 months off the air, neither has the styling.

As the show progresses into the latter end of the decade, 1966 to be exact, we get a glimpse of the fun and frivolous 60s which have thus far not been seen inside the walls of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. Lengths are definitely shorter than the previous season to reflect the more relaxing era; a trend which Don’s new wife, Megan, embraces the most. She sports a black mini with sheer flowing sleeves and an embellished high collar as she sings the eccentric yet catchy 'Zou Bisou Bisou” at her husband’s surprise birthday party. The apartment’s minimalist and modern setting acts as a background for another trend of the period: vibrant prints. Jane Sterling wears a loose-fitting or-ange and white swirl print dress, Trudy Campbell opts for a high collar floral dress and Cynthia Cos-grove chooses a diamond-print for her ever popular shift dress. Even the men make a statement in some brightly-checked blazers.

Such trends continue in the office as Megan accompanies her husband to work in a coral shift dress with a matching zig-zag print cardigan. Other office attire of the new Mrs Draper includes a mono-chrome polka-dot shirt with frill detail and a monochrome above the knee skirt, pointing to the 60s’ love for black and white.

My sister and I have always strug-gled with our body shape – both being rather ‘bootylicious’ (as our mum, so sweetly, puts it) in the bottom department and rather non-existent on top, it’s often a struggle to find clothes to fit us.

After a recent near-meltdown situation staged by my sister as she struggled into some skinny jeans in the River Island chang-ing rooms, I decided it was time for us juicy pears to embrace our protruding rear-ends and listen to the wise words of Freddie Mer-cury: ‘fat-bottomed girls you make the rocking world go round’. Yes, we pears may suffer from saddle bags and cellulite, but at least we have (relatively) flat stomachs and toned arms. We fall under the same category as hotties like Kim Kardashian and Mischa Barton – who could complain about that?

The trick to making the most of your pear-shaped figure is all in the style of clothes you wear and so, my big-bottomed beauties, here’s a guide to the most figure-flattering summer items (and a few styles to avoid) to help you showcase your curves…

PEAR-FRIENDLY…High-waisted floaty skirts are

our best friend and lucky for us, they’re everywhere this season.

They’ll pull you in at the waist, accentuating your best feature, whilst skimming over your wider hips and thighs. Don’t be afraid of colour BUT avoid fussy patterns on your bottom half.

This flippy skirt is £30 from Topshop and comes in a variety of colours.

Peg-leg trousers are a great shape for pear-shaped girls and a brilliant alternative to skinny jeans. This shape can cinch in your waist and skim over hips – the tapered ankle-grazer will bal-ance out your lower half, drawing attention to the smallest part of your leg and putting your figure into proportion.

Longer-length tops are a good way to skim over your hips. A swing shirt is a brilliant shape because it avoids any tightness around your lower half and, if paired with skinny jeans or leg-gings, disguises the hips and bum to show off the lower, slimmer

part of your leg.Go for a halter-neck top to

draw attention to your shoulders and balance out your hips. With swimwear, make sure you draw attention to your top half with a bikini top that has heavy detail and keep the pants simple.

PEAR-MARE...Avoid tops that fall slightly

above the widest part of your hips – a top that sits above this point will merely draw attention to your hips and make you look out of proportion. This season short tops are everywhere but don’t be tempted to buy one! Crop-tops are an option (don’t be afraid to show off your waist or midriff) BUT compensate by keeping your bot-tom half floaty.

Be wary of cropped jackets – a jacket that finishes above your hips will cut you in an unflattering place. Cropped denim jackets will work with floaty skirts or dresses but not with skinny trousers – in-stead, try a light boyfriend blazer in a summery shade which finish-es mid-thigh.

Avoid body-con styles unless you’re super-toned – tight clothes

can be the enemy of even the skin-niest of girls but if you do have any wobbly bits, body-con will be your worst nightmare. Instead, try the skater dress which is bang-on-trend this season – the tighter top and cinched in waist will accentu-ate your tiny top half and the floaty skirt of the dress will disguise your bum and hips, transforming your figure.

This turquoise Miss Selfridge number is the ideal dress for pear shaped girls – the pleat bodice and cut out detail draws the eye to the smaller half of your body.

Once you know the styles that suit you it can be really easy to find clothes to flatter your figure. The most important thing is to not get too hung up on sizes – you might feel like some sort of mu-tant buying a size eight top and a size twelve jeans but nobody will be able to tell if you buy the styles that give the illusion of an in-pro-portion figure. It’s normal to have moments when you detest your pear-figure but when you’re at cri-sis point just remember… no one can do the Beyonce booty-shake quite like you!

Mad Men Fashion CrazeIt's All Gone Pear Shaped: The Summer Style Guide

'So Theo, tell us.. Would you de-scribe yourself as a romantic?', was probably not an opening ques-tion Dragon and business extraor-dinaire, Theo Paphitis, is not used to being asked at the beginning of an interview, but we like to ask the hard-hitting questions. In this case, however, it was an appropri-ate context for the question as we were attending the press launch of Mr Paphitis’ new, luxurious (and romantic) lingerie store, Boux Av-enue, which opened last month in

the Bullring. The answer to this question was of course, yes, with him admitting, 'I could sit and lis-ten to Adele all day long, shed a few tears!' ( to all his business op-ponents it appears we have found a weakness!).

Theo Paphitis, one of Britain’s most successful businessmen, is famous for his appearance on the BBC series Dragons’ Den, as well as his business ventures in Ry-man’s Stationary and La Senza (which he sold in 2006). He has come back fighting with a new lingerie line. We asked him how this store would differentiate from his work with La Senza and other current shops on the high street. He explained, 'Boux Avenue will only be a 20 to 25 store chain. It’s all about modern technology and modern retail concepts, but still linking with traditional values.'

His comment on technology is evidently true; on arriving in the store, customers find small elec-tronic screens continually chang-ing to show latest promotions and offers, prices and lingerie previews – a modern touch that very few re-tail stores have taken advantage of.

Similarly, all the fitting rooms offer customers the choice of three light settings, so you have the

chance to see how you will look in a night, dusk or light setting, as well as a small speaker to send through any questions to the sales assistants on the fitting rooms. It is very fancy!

Indeed the light settings was one of our favourite aspects of the store and Theo explained the logic behind it: 'In January, ladies, without a tan, wearing underwear, under a great big bloody fluores-cent strip you’re not going to be looking at your best are you?' A bold statement, but we have to say, very true.

Theo believes that 'it’s all about the customer, and making you feel good in lingerie in January is surely the best kind of customer service there is? The sales assis-tants also echoed this ethos of at-tentive customer service and were knowledgeable about the brand and products. They were keen to explain to us Boux Avenue’s VIP reward system; as you shop in the store you gain points, and with points you receive exclusive offers, discounts and a chance to preview collections before anyone else.

As for the products them-selves, Boux Avenue offers a selec-tion of lacy and romantic lingerie, as well as more practical pieces like t-shirt bras, slippers and dressing

gowns. We also spied one piece of underwear that looked suspicious-ly like a re-make of the infamous ‘Bridget Jones pants’ – let’s hope they’re making a comeback. With prices varying from £10 bras to more expensive £48 corsets, it ac-cessibly combines high street pric-es and boutique exclusivity, whilst further appealing to students with a 10% student discount.

So join Theo on his latest ‘ro-mantic’ business venture by visit-ing Boux Avenue (he’s a lovable Dragon really).

Sophie HayWriter

'So Tell Us, Theo Paphitis, Are You a Romantic?' Boux Avenue

Megan JonesOnline Life&Style Editor

www.warehouse.co.ukwww.zara.com www.missselfrdige.comwww.topshop.com

Lucy Whife & Sophie CowlingLife&Style Editors

Travel Random Travel Quote:'Travelling is the ruin of all happiness. There's no looking at a building here after seeing Italy' Fanny Burney

Walk along any road in Marrakech and you take your life into your own hands. It's a good place to start if you want to experience the diversity of the city; cars, vans, mo-torbikes all veer wildly, fighting for space with horse drawn carriages and overloaded carts dragged by donkeys or mules.

The general idea seems to be that anywhere a person can walk, a motorbike can ride. Trying to avoid being run over is quite a feat; they squeeze themselves through the tightest of passageways, regardless of how many people may be shop-ping there.

The great square of Djemaa el-Fna is filled with snake charmers, women huddled together offering henna tattoos and men thrusting monkeys at eager tourists. As night gathers, great crowds accumulate, drawn to the marquees where the waiters fight for your custom and you can eat hot kebabs cooked in front of you.

Bonfires are lit and people are drawn to the traditional music that is playing live every night. Chefs fan smoke across the square to cook their food as quickly as pos-sible and everywhere there are hagglers, beggars, dancers, heck-lers and travellers, lending the city a carnival atmosphere not unlike being at a festival.

From the square you head into the labyrinth of the souks, where you can find dentists setting up shop next to open air butchers. Walking through the maze of the medina you are confronted by the seething virile life of the city, the reek of expensive leather, the rows upon rows of dusty silver jewellery, rainbows of silk scarves and care-fully piled up fruit and vegetables.

Some stalls resemble jumble

sales whilst others must not look very different to how they did a thousand years ago. There's unde-niably something magic about the city, and there is a perceptible col-lision between ancient African cul-ture and the rapidly modernising Arabic world.

Marrakech never stops, from the people to the shopping to the streets, which all move at a frantic pace. It's well worth considering a few days out of the city to appreci-ate it even more on your return. For those of you who like outdoor activities the only place to go is the exciting peaks of the Atlas Moun-tains. For the thrill seekers among you, the best place to visit is Imlil, easily reachable by taxi and where most of the treks start. Agree the price before taking the taxi, as you can get there for four hun-dred dirhams if you're firm with the drivers, which is roughly 40 euros regardless of the number of passengers.

The tiny village of Imlil clings to the sheer mountain face, and I cannot recom-mend the Dar Adra lodge enough. With homely rooms, some of which have their o w n m i n i a -ture log fire and a wel-coming a t m o -sphere, it is run by the wonder-ful Mohammed, w h o organises treks up to the summit of Mount Toubkal for those who are

so inclined. Being possibly the most un-

athletic person you could ever meet, I was perfectly happy curled up in the lodge for a few days eating enormous amounts of home cooked food, which had to be the best I've ever eaten. Moroccan food is cooked in Tagines; special clay pots that cook food slowly to release the f lavours .

The food in Mo-rocco isn't over- l y spiced, just remark- a b l y well flavoured.

Next door to the lodge a col-

ony of goats had set up residence, and throughout the day and night whether in the city or the moun-tains the call to prayer echoes across the valleys.

To wind down from the frantic city life, a visit to the beautiful Jar-din Majorelle is absolutely neces-sary. For 25 dirham you can wander the sculpted gardens and marvel at the electric blue buildings and impeccable water features, square ponds covered with lily pads, and

teeming with a healthy population of terra-pins.

Mass-es of flow-

ers hang low over the well kept

paths and the noise of the city is wondrously blocked out, even though it is just a wall that separates you from the bustling city outside.

Yves Saint Laurent's ashes are scattered there, who when alive, dedicated much time and money to the gardens and co-owned them from 1980 with Pierre Berge. You can visit his memorial in a quiet corner of the garden, a discreet pillar mounted above a marble memorial slab inscribed with the words 'In Memorium Yves Saint Laurent, Couturier Française' and his birth and death dates. It is a peaceful resting place, and there is a tiny gallery where hang the 'Love' postcards he sent to his loved ones every New Year for decades.

Someone said Marrakech is the closest you'll get to Kathmandu this side of Dubai, which is true in a sense; though perhaps it is a little cleaner. The country is steeped in ancient culture; the food, shop-ping and sights are all completely unique, but it's not for the faint-hearted.

As a word of warning to female travellers, don't make my mistake and pack half your girly dresses into the suitcase; in the city centre in particular it will make your life a lot easier if you show as little skin as possible.

Haggling is the norm for most shopkeepers but they'll try and charge you astronomically if you let them, so pick the price you want to pay and stick to it at all costs. They generally back down if you show signs of losing interest.

Above the gates to the city, ea-gles nest precariously on the tops of the pillars, well worth trying to catch a sight of if you can. Visit the old town and catch glimpses of camels lounging in car parks. Morocco is undoubtedly a diverse, thriving place and there is some-thing for everyone here, no matter who you are.

Home Photo of the Week

Bamburgh Castle photo by Emily Booth

Do

Climb Mt. KinabaluTwo miles from Kota Kinabalu in Borneo, the climb up Mt. Kina-balu is an interesting one, posing a challenge to those feeling the ef-fects of their beer bellies at 3am in the morning and 4000 metres up.

In the rainy season, the walk up to base camp is something similar to gorge walking; the ear-ly morning 1am rise to reach the summit brushing the sleep out your eyes with temperatures as low as minus one degrees. Not one for the faint-hearted.

Will Spence discovers how, as far as holiday destinations go, Malaysia has a myriad of options to suit all tastes, budgets and ages. It's culture separates it heavily from the unpredictable nature of nearby Thailand and Vietnam, but at the same time has that quintessential Asian feel to. For the keen trekker or the beach fanatic, Malaysia can give you what you want.

Malaysian Madness

Stay

The Shangri La, Rasa RiaShould you have saved up an extra few pennies during the year, stay-ing at the Shangri La is a definite must while in Sabah, Borneo. Sit-uated on its own stretch of beach, the only thing surrounding it is the huge golf courses and the monkey calls from the nearby jungle. The Shangri La is immersed in nature while possessing that hint of eloquence and sophistication that has made its brand so fa-mous. Relaxing on the beach with a book, or fine dining in one of its several huge buffets, it's a world away from the hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur.

Eat

The hawker stalls in Kuala LumpurIn a city so cosmopolitan as Kuala Lumpur, or KL as the locals have it, you're never far from a huge range of restaurants to eat at. It's easy to splash the cash at some of the fantastic restaurants here, but if you really want to experi-ence traditional Malaysia, visit the hawker stalls.

The cheaper the plastic seat, the cheaper the beer, but the food quality is completely the opposite. From saucy seafood to crackling chicken, and with service like something out of the Ivy, this is a must if visiting Malaysia.

Discovering the Marrakech madness in the heart of MoroccoHannah Detheridge explores the ancient city's souks and tagines.

Mt.Kinabalu photo by JRWebbe on Flickr

22 27th April 2012 Redbrickredbrickpaper.co.uk

When people talk about travel-ling, what often springs to mind are the stereotypical images of scruffy, 20 year olds bumming around the world with an equally scruffy, massively over sized back-pack weighing them down. This is clearly not the ideal way to see the world for everyone, and this ste-reotype could put a lot of people off the idea of extensive travel.

However, travelling doesn’t always have to involve the dirty grittiness of cliché backpacking. Flashpacking is the new luxury backpacking. Forget living off poorly cooked rice in a 12 bed shared dorm at £5 a night hostels, flashpacking is all about seeing the world in a socially acceptable state that your parents wouldn’t be ashamed of.

Staying in private rooms, eating out at restaurants and be-ing able to take regular – and sanitary – showers are just some of the perks of flashpacking, and although ultimately a lot more expensive, it is an increasingly popular way to travel for the more cleanliness-conscious nomad.

Backpacking, in the more tra-ditional sense, does have its perks

too, though. Aside from potential-ly saving a huge amount of money overall, the whole backpacking exercise can result in a multitude of experiences you may not have even known about if taking the somewhat easier road of consider-able comfort.

Staying in a shared dormi-

tory, for example, isn’t the most pleasant type of accommodation but the people you meet can often become friends, who in turn share tips and advice about the various places they have visited. This kind of information is more often than not exclusive; practical tips and hints that you won’t find in the guide books.

Other perks of backpacking

include a more complete immer-sion into the surrounding culture. Staying in good hotels and eating in nice restaurants means that you often miss out the true cul-ture of the country. Whether this means the type of food you eat, or even how you travel about, budget backpacking often results in ex-

periencing the way the locals live, and can be an eye-opening and ex-hilarating experience.

For example, having very little money in Bangkok means, if you need to get across the city, you’re probably going to have to get in a Tuk-tuk – a terrifying cross between a motorbike and a rickshaw.

Opting for

this form of transport over a com-paratively tame taxi drive is argu-ably one of the highlights of the city, and something that people with more access to money may avoid.

On the other hand though, staying in more expensive places and spending a decent amount on

food throughout your trip can be safer, easier and generally more reassuring than staying in dodgy but cheap areas and eating solely from street vendors. Although it is not common to feel threatened in hostels, the added security of a ho-tel definitely helps to ease concern in particularly dangerous parts of the world.

While the more hardcore and traditional of nomadic backpack-ers may look at the new genera-tion of wealthier and modernised flashpackers with a slight sneering smile of superiority over their 10p noodle soup, it doesn’t really mat-ter how you choose to travel. If the only way you’ll be happy touring the world is with a few added home comforts, then so what? There are many ways to travel, but the most important thing is that you find the one best suited to you.

Flashpacking vs Backpacking: Who Wins?

Chloe OsborneTravel Editor

Worldwide May

Travel Rant:Should've stayed at

home

Ever had one of those holidays where you get back, and realise that you wish you’d just stayed at home in the first place? These hol-idays tend to fall into a particular bracket, including the 'family' hol-iday, the 'rained all week' holiday, and the 'caravan' holiday.

Whilst the first of these holi-day pitfalls, the 'family holiday', has one particular advantage to it, i.e. that it’s normally free, it also has the enormous disadvantage of, as the name suggests, being in close proximity to your family.

The 'rained all week' holiday is fairly self explanatory; your dreams of a tan come to nothing and you sit inside watching TV for the duration of your holiday in a manner not dissimilar to every other day at home during the Eas-ter break. The 'caravan' holiday in the meantime is a tricky one.

The best and worst times can be had in these prefabricat-ed claustrophobia sheds; sadly though the best times tend to be the ones where neither the family nor the rain are involved. Not to suggest that there are not excep-tions.

Even I have had the odd fun holiday that can fall into not one, or even two of the 'regret-the-hol-iday' categories, but into all three. Rainy family holidays in a cara-van can be great! The sad truth is though, that the age when youfind these holidays less than pain-ful seems to have an expiry date,which I think might in fact be at about the age of 15 (if your parents are lucky).

With this in mind, why, at the age of 20, I agreed to go on a cara-vanning holiday with my parents and two teenage brothers, is a to-tal mystery. All I had wanted was a bit of sun and a quiet environment to pretend to do some revision in, whilst eating food and drinking copious amounts of cheap French wine that was all paid for by the parental unit.

The French Eurocamp we were staying at sadly left much to be desired. We had expected sun, sea, culture and relaxation. What we got was a drained swimming pool, a gym closed for the season,bike hire at about 30 Euros a day, and a restaurant that any healthinspector would have had a field day in.

I have stayed in my fairshare of international hovels and am not at all squeamish aboutinsects in the shower, cockroaches in the bed, and even the occasional hair in my food, but rat droppings in the salad is a bit much even for me to stomach. After a week of sunless, swimming-less, salad-less (and sleepless, after sharing a bed with my 12 year old brother for a week) misery, returning home was, for once, a relief.

So if you're anything like me, the next time you're invited for a break with the family on a poten-tially rainy caravan holiday, heedthis warning. No amount of free food and drink is worth it. Stay at home and use fake tan.

Gemma FottlesTravel Writer

Photo of Frejus, France by Chloe Osborne

Away Photo of the Week

Travelling doesn't always have to involve the dirty grittiness of cliché backpacking YHA Rowan on Flickr

Staying in good hotels and eating in nice res-taurants means that you often miss out on taking part in the true culture of the country

Maharashta Festival:

The large economically power-ful Indian state of Maharashtra celebrates it's achievement of in-dependence each year on the 1st of May, with festival parades and colourful shows, and a ceremonial parade held at the Shivaji Park in central Mumbai.

The Riding of the Bounds:

The Riding of the Bounds cer-emony takes place each year at Berwick-upon-Tweed on the 1st May. Around 70 local residents of the town ride on horseback around the Berwick boundaries to remember the historic scouring of the Scots from the area.

Verzaubert Film Weekend:

The annual gay and lesbian film festival tours Germany's major cit-ies, and will be in Munich in mid-May. This year the festival cel-ebrates the changing dynamics of love politics and gender identities.

Fiesta de Cuasimodo:

The historic Chilean Fiesta de Cuasimodo is celebrated each year on the first Sunday after Easter. Colourfully dressed knights follow the priest to sermon, in memory of a priest who was assaulted by knights in his quest to reach God.

23 Travel27th April 2012 redbrickpaper.co.ukRedbrick

The royal family never travel on the same aeroplane, in case of a crash!

Travel fact of the week:

Ah, the festival season, beckoning and gyrating wildly in our direction once again, much like Iggy Pop in those deeply ques-tionable perfume adverts. Every year hundreds upon thousands of British teenagers gather in fields across the country, gleefully embracing the ever-diminishing distinc-tion between picnic area and public latrine. It's all good fun and games, but my only gripe would be this: it's six o'clock, you're feeling a little peckish, so you decide to sneak off to the hot food stands

whilst Damien Rice is treating the crowd to his latest snoozefest. You rock up to a stand that reads

'Posh Pizza'. Posh pizza, eh? Great! But what's this? Fifteen

pounds for a pizza? Oh well, you reason, it is posh pizza, so

obviously bound to be delicious. Unfortunately

your youthful optimism doesn't

pay off, and you're handed a pizza that's straight out of some sort

of Lynchian nightmare. The only way this pizza could feasibly be described as 'posh' is if, in fact, it was being likened to the results of Victoria Beckham's rather dubious plastic surgery.

Now, I don't want to get on my high horse too much about this, because

catering to the needs of thousands of inebri-ated festival-goers is

no mean feat. But come on now,

let's call a spade a spade: no amount of adjectives could convince me that 15 pounds is a reasonable price for a meal that looks like it's been stepped on. I'm look-ing at you, 'Katie's lovely little vegetar-ian delights café'. It's nice, after all this culinary poncing about, to get back to the homely, high-calorie comfort of Rooster House and Adam's Place.

There are, thank-fully, better ways to overcome this prob-lem than by whining about it in your student newspaper:

-If you're the type to bring a gas stove to a festival, then basic

staples such as pasta and noodles will see you through the weekend. Aldi's 39p sachets of flavoured

couscous are partic-ularly handy as they don't require any effort: just rip open,

cover in boiling water, and eat.

-Cook a load of oven pizzas before you

leave, slice them up and bring them in tupperwares.

Cold pizza tastes good even a couple of days on.

-To keep your energy up bring tubes of Pringles and some sesame snaps – both of which have the added bonus of slowing digestion, mean-ing less visits to the you-know-what.

-Freeze a loaf of bri-oche then bring it along for breakfast. It's so sweet that you won't need jam or spreads.

Food FactThe earliest evidence for the consumption of soup dates back to 6000 B.C; it was made out of hippopotamus!Food

Redbrick27th April 2012redbrickpaper.co.uk24

Izzy GibbinFood Editor

There is a store called Aldi,In the heart of Selly Oak,That I rely on badly,Because I'm always broke.

From buying pre-drinks for Fab,To stocking up on food,An Aldi shop is never drab,It always gets me in a happy mood.

Forever sprinting round the store,Fearful of bumping into a friend,Barely avoiding the stains on the floor,Which may well bring my life to an end.

Yet we run into each other mid-shop,Our secret exposed to the full,But buying drinks at the bar has got to stop,As we just can't afford a vodkaRed Bull.

So, on I shop, laden with drink,And humming a tuneful song,But at the checkout my heart starts to sink,As every queue is thirty metres long.

Suddenly I hear that joyful ring,Causing my spirit to burst free,The flowers bloom and the birds sing,Because Sue has just opened till three.

I make a bid for the front of the line,Feeling like I have won the race,But before I can claim sweet vic-tory as mine,I must pack at an extraordinary pace.

I start to panic under Sue's cruel stare,Whilst other customers go insane,Stashing my items without due care,A pretence of cool to maintain.

At long last I can now pay the bill,With my food for the week secure,The low cost as ever giving me a thrill,Oh, how I love that delightful store.

Josh OxleyOnline Food Editor

Festival Food: You're Not Fooling Anyone.

Spotlight on Birmingham's Bullring Market

Right in the heart of Birming-ham City Centre lies the Bullring Market, which plays host to a variety of different traders and stalls including meat, poultry, fish and horticulture. It contains the once famous Bullring Food Hall and boasts that it 'provides the best range of fresh meat, poultry and widest range of fish anywhere in the country as well as fresh fruit and veg from all over the world'.

Open six days a week from 9am to 5.30pm, there is a busy and vibrant atmosphere at the market with the stalls ranging from jewellery and shoes to a 'ye olde' sweet shop, although argu-ably the market's greatest asset is the range of food on offer.

Amongst the various stalls you could find pretty much anything you were looking for. Butchers are on hand to offer your fresh cuts of meat, starting with your everyday chicken fillets, duck breasts and so on. If you're looking for something you may not find on the shelves of Tesco then this is definitely the place to come; rabbits and quails are products you may not be used to seeing on a meat counter if you usually shop at big supermarkets, but here they are skinned and available for purchase with the butchers happy to give you advice

on which one to choose or discuss their products.

You can't beat the atmosphere because it's so obvious that these people love what they do and want to help you. I asked for a duck at a stall that didn't sell them, but the butcher proceeded to walk around the market shouting to the other vendors 'I need a duck! Have you a duck?' – needless to say, I got my duck in the end.

In the style of those truly pas-sionate about their food, nothing seems to get wasted here with vendors selling you as much of the animal as they can. Tubs of pig ears sit next to chicken feet, cow stomachs and tongues, all ready to go in a stew or some other deli-cacy. Similarly the fish stalls all have fish heads nestled in among the fresh salmon, halibut and tilapia. It's all caught fresh that

morning from the English coast, one fishmonger tells me, yet still the value is vastly superior to that of the supermarkets. If you're not yet a dab hand (no pun intended!) at de-scaling fish, they will do this for you whilst you wait.

Years ago the markets sold livestock: hens for eggs or dinner, kittens and puppies as pets but now the only live animals you may find are the live crabs and eels kept on the fish stalls. If you want to try before you buy, there is a separate stall offering their own take on a fast-food van with hot fried crab and lobster. The fresh fruit and vegetable stalls offer all different sorts of fruit and veg-etables depending on the seasons; at a glance, they include dragon fruits, purple potatoes, and plump asparagus.

Birmingham is a city made up of many, many different cultures and it's wonderful to see them all represented here. Market trader Jack Jones talks with regret of the people who 'go the supermarket and pay higher prices than the market' simply because they don't realise the accessibility and choice that the markets have to offer. Be-ing just a stone's throw away from New Street Station and the Bull-ring, visiting the market should be on the top of your to-do list next time you're in the city center.

The Bullring Markets are situated adjacent to St Mar-tin's Church and the Bullring.

Elizabeth HewittWriter

A poem

Call me a wet fish but my current food hero is the humble kipper. Yes, that’s right, the supper of choice for an aged fisherman (as my housemate informed me upon seeing Sat-urday night’s din-ner) actually ticks all the right boxes for s t u -dents. F i r s t and foremost they are incred-ibly cheap. I had a pack for 86p from Sains-bury and that gave me two meals. S e c o n d l y they are easy to cook. Buy the boil in a bag option and all you have to do is whack in a pan of simmering wa-ter for 15min and Bob’s your metaphor-ical uncle. Thirdly they are very good for you, being an high in omega 3, mak-ing them great brain food. Environmen-tally, kippers (her-rings when they are not smoked- you can’t see a kipper swimming around, it’s the process that makes it a kipper) tend to be a much more sustainable fish than other more

popular kinds like salmon and cod.

The important thing is the taste and I’m not going to lie, their beautiful, tangy smokiness is an acquired flavour. If you like

mackerel and smoked salmon, chances are you’ll like kip-

pers. They also have a lot of tiny little bones, most of which are so small it’s not worth pulling out. When I cooked them the other night I just boiled them

in the bag and served them with buttered

bread, broccoli and topped it off with

a poached egg. The next day

I still had half my k i p p e r s

l e f t so I mashed them up with a couple of spoon-fuls of cream

cheese, a dash of lemon juice and twist

of black pepper and then spread it on toast for a won-

derful makeshift pate.For all you fashion-

conscious foodies, kip-pers are actually making

a come-back on a larger scale than just my own kitch-

en. The Guardian reported at the beginning of April that sales of

kippers were on the increase in major supermarkets fol-lowing endorsements by

top chefs like Jamie Oli-ver, Nigella Lawson and Marco Pierre White.

So there you have it, the unassuming kipper: tasty, easy and great value for money, I cod you not.

Did you know that when resting the brain uses 20 per cent of the body’s energy? So whilst you’re trying to get your head around Maths equations or the language of Chaucer, that percentage will be sure to rocket. During exams it’s really important to eat regu-lar, nutritious meals. However the changing trends of food can get confusing: one day, tomatoes a miraculous elixir of life; the next, they’re a sure fire means to pre-mature wrinkles and acne. With all of this exaggerated in the news it’s easy to just give up on healthy eating and opt for a pizza and some chocolate. But, with exams loom-ing, the brain needs quality food to ensure optimum performance. So, we’re offering you some simple, brain-enhancing recipes to try at home. With that said, we do advise a little revision alongside relentless gorging...

Breakfast

They say you should eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper; it's an old cli-che, but breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. Whilst most sugary cereals won't pro-vide you with long-lasting energy, there's no reason why you can't en-joy a delicious breakfast with this recipe.

Yoghurt granola parfait:

In a tall glass, begin to layer your parfait. Start with a layer of yo-ghurt, then a layer of granola. Re-peat this until you reach the top then top with some prunes or blue-berries. You could use pumpkin seeds and diced apricots for a dif-ferent taste and drizzle with honey for a sugar boost to prepare for the day ahead.

Lunch

Avoid foods high in sugar or sim-ple carbohydrates. They offer in-stantaneous energy but then leave you feeling sluggish, unmotivated and in a little bit of a daze. A light, nutritious lunch will help you re-sist the urge to take an afternoon nap. Fish is also key to maintain-ing a healthy mind. The essen-tial omega 3 fatty acids are found hiding in oily fish. These acids are crucial to the health of our nervous system. Low levels of them have been linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Omega 3 improves your memory,

which can only be good news amid exam season. Fish also contains lots of iodine, which is known to improve mental clarity.

Crispy Salmon Fingers:

Set the oven at 200C. Mix some chopped chives or parsley with some packet breadcrumbs and spread them over a large plate. Wash two skinless salmon fillets and dry them with kitchen paper – then slice them into strips. Place the fish in a beaten egg and then toss into the breadcrumb mixture, coating the surface completely. Place onto a baking tray and cook at 180 degrees Celsius for 10 min-utes or until the fish is cooked. Serve with boiled new potatoes.

Spicy Carrot Soup:

Heat some oil in large, non-stick saucepan. Add a chopped onion and cook for 3 – 4 minutes. Add some garlic, ginger, chilli and 750g

of peeled, chopped carrot. Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occa-

sionally. Add 900ml of vegetable stock, 150ml of orange juice and season to taste with salt and pep-per. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Transfer the soup to a food processor (or use a stick blender) and puree until smooth. Heat it in the pan again gently and then serve.

Dinner

After a long day in the library it can be difficult to switch off and relax. Choosing a dinner containing car-bohydrate-rich foods like potatoes will encourage your brain to pro-duce chemicals that make you feel relaxed and sleepy.

Chicken, potato and spinach curry:

Heat some oil in a large frying pan. Add a chopped onion and cook over a low heat for 3-4 minutes. Roughly chop 4 skinless chicken breasts and add these to the pan with garlic, 4tbsp curry paste and 500g of new potatoes. Cook for

another 3 minutes and then add 400ml chicken stock and 200ml coconut milk along with season-ing. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 225g frozen leaf spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess water and cook for a further 5 minutes. Serve your curry with boiled rice. This recipe will make enough so you can freeze a few portions for a quick meal later.

Couscous and Roasted Veg-etables:

Preheat the oven to 200C and place a variety of vegetables onto a bak-ing tray. Drizzle with oil and season to taste, then place in the oven and roast for 10 minutes (peppers, on-ions, and tomatoes are particularly delicious when roasted). Mean-while, put 100g of couscous into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Wait until the couscous has soaked up all the water, adding more if necessary, then fluff up with a fork. Serve with the roasted vegetables,

27th April 2012 25redbrickpaper.co.ukRedbrick

Hannah RoweWriter

Sophie AttwoodFood Editor

Food

Food for Thought: Meals to Boost Your Brain Cells

In Defence Of....The Kipper

The Baking Society may sound twee and cutesy, but it’s also a fun and interesting way to meet new people and enjoy a new hobby. The likes of the BBC’s Great Brit-ish Bake Off have brought baking to the forefront of British cuisine and now there’s a chance for you to get involved too. Thus far the meetings have taken place in the Oasis Lounge in the Chaplaincy. The style is informal, with people congregating round tables and all getting their hands dirty together. At first I was a little scared by this, rather fancying myself a bit of a champion where any sort of cook-ing is concerned and nervous about relinquishing control. But as the meetings progressed it turned out that it was a great way of learning new techniques and ways of get-

ting the assigned bake completed. Each session also has a theme

whereby everyone can bring some-thing along for everyone else to try. Past themes have included interna-tional, pastry and valentines –cue lots of pink and hearts- to name a few. This tasting session is perhaps my favourite part of the meeting, partly because I don’t have to buy dinner for the night, but mostly as it enables us to sample different things that perhaps we wouldn’t have had another opportunity to try. The first meeting I went to was internationally themed which meant we got to make pizza. But the array of food to be sampled was what I found most exciting: flat Middle Eastern spiced cheesy flat bread, Italian Biscotti and oaty Anzac biscuits from New Zealand.

So, what else do we do? Well, as well as having our fortnightly bake, we also do special one off

events. We’ve had a visit from Bake Off’s Jason White who pro-vided us with a great demonstra-tion of a chocolate and banana tray bake. This event culminated in our very own 'bake off' with the win-ning cake being a stunning honey, almond and pear sponge topped off with crystallized fruit. Planned trips for next term include the na-tional cake exhibition, and work-ing with local primary schools to bake with them.

BakeSoc will be having a stall at Valefest on June 2nd and we’d love to have more bakers to be in-volved and showcase your sump-tuous goods - if you can manage to drag yourself from the inevitable hangover slump after the last day of exams, that is. We’d love to have people bake sweet or savoury goods. If you’d like to be involved, search for "BakeSoc" on Facebook or find @uobbakesoc on Twitter.

Birmingham's Own "Great British Bake Off" Sian Silverstone

Writer

Speaking on the recent BBC pro-gramme, Sexism in Football?, the former Northern Ireland and Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez put his neck on the line by declar-ing his belief that 'there will be a female manager in the Premier League within the next ten years.' Unfortunately for him, he won't find many people in agreement as the institutional sexism within the game means that the possibility of that happening remains minimal for the foreseeable future.

Women account for 25% of the crowd at football matches these days, yet they are still few and far between in the various careers surrounding the game. When Richard Keys and Andy Gray kicked up a storm with their various sexist comments result-ing in their departure from Sky Sports back in January 2011, the ingrained attitude towards wom-en from many 'football men' was brought to the public arena more prominently than ever before. Doubting a woman's ability to un-derstand the offside rule has been a standard 'men's' joke for many years, but when Gray mocked,

and seemed to seriously doubt, a qualified Premier League official on the basis of gender he under-mined everything that women in football have strived to achieve. As men and women can't share the playing field, due to obvious physical reasons, it can be as-sumed that there will always be more men than women involved in the game. However, there is no reason why women should not be able to make further strides in the many administrative, managerial and officiating positions around the men's game.

Clearly, a separation must be made between 'women's football' and 'women in football'. The for-mer is continuing to grow, with last year's advent of the Women's Super League and the success of the UEFA Women's Champions League, which was won by Lyon at Craven Cottage in 2011, although it remains light years behind the men's game in terms of finance and heritage. However, the sexism which has proved to be a barrier preventing well-qualified wom-en from progressing around the men's game is inexcusable.

Last year, Manchester City's Vicky Kloss, a senior executive, was banned from the tunnel at Notts County's stadium in a cup

tie simply because she was a wom-an. An employee who worked for Kloss had been let through ahead of her, and even when she said this to the member of County's staff who wouldn't let her through she was still denied access. Other women in football have also been banned from areas of stadiums, including press briefings, simply because of their gender.

This out and out prejudice is clearly ingrained into the attitudes of some senior staff at football clubs and the fact that it is pre-venting women doing their jobs is unmitigatedly outrageous.

Regarding management, sev-eral factors seem to be preventing Sanchez's statement from becom-ing reality any time soon.

Primarily, the position of manager is much, much more prominent than any other club of-ficials. As they would be directly in charge of a senior team of men they would have to command respect which can usually only be earned through experience in the game. Therefore to have a female man-ager in the Premier League there would need to be a groundswell of female managers and coaches working at the lower levels of the game, but this is far from being the case. A quick search of Google

only turns up one case of a woman managing a men's football team in England, and this seemed to be little more than a publicity stunt by non-league Fisher Athletic in 2009, who let a turnstile operator take charge of one match.

In fact, if you focus on the women's game more, problems come to light as of the eight clubs in the top flight Women's Super League, only two are managed by women. This lack of female man-agers even in the women's games makes Sanchez's claim look even more outlandish, as does the fact that only two female managers in England – England ladies boss Hope Powell and Everton ladies Mo Morley – have the UEFA Pro Licence required to manage a top-flight club in the men's game on a permanent basis.

Personally, I believe the day will come when women will man-age top flight clubs in Europe. However, until the pathetic at-titudes of banning women from parts of stadiums and questioning trained female officials' abilities changes then it will be impossible and I can't help but feel it will be much, much longer than ten years before the circumstances are in place for a female manager to lead out a team in the Premier League.

When I first started refereeing there were only a few female ref-erees in my county, so going to games was always a daunting expe-rience as many players had never been officiated by a female before. There were always a few players or spectators who didn't agree with women in football but I took that in my stride and it spurred me on to prove them wrong.

The biggest scepticism I have come across within the game was in 2008 when I was part of a team of three female officials to take charge of a semi-professional male game. There was a lot of media hype around this and many spec-tators came to the match hoping to watch us fail, but we were deter-

mined to do our job to the best of our ability and we were congratu-lated at the end of the match. Some people even remarked that we had done a better job than men usually

do. Of course the local media were looking for sexist comments to be made by the players, but they fo-cused on their game and allowed us to do ours.

It was in fact sexist discrimi-nation that encouraged me to take up the whistle after volunteer-ing to run the line for my local team. After ruling a player offside he commented, 'What does she know, she's a woman?' This made me question whether I would get this treatment every week, so I de-cided to take qualifications so that I could prove I knew what I was doing.

Even on the refereeing course there was a bit of a surprise when I turned up and out of 30 candi-dates there was only one other female. Nowadays, there are also female-only refereeing courses so that females who wish to qualify

can do so without worrying about any prejudice on the course.

Obviously in light of recent problems it has become harder to officiate. I have been to some games where people have asked me, 'Is Andy Gray coming to watch?' but I personally take this as light-hearted banter. It is a hos-tile environment to go into, even for male referees, but last week we had news that three more females had been promoted to level three of the Referees' Association's pro-motion structure. There will also be an all-female team of officials for the Women's FA Cup Final for the third successive season.

I am confident that very soon we will have female referees in the Premier League (we have already seen female assistant referees) and that they will be there on merit and not just because they are female.

26 Sport 27th April 2012 redbrickpaper.co.uk Redbrick

James Dolton examines the myth of 'the working man's game'

Sexism has always been rife in football. It has been dubbed the 'working man's game' since the Industrial Revolution and has some fairly pre-historic attitudes attached to it. Female assistants such as Sian Massey are met with snorts of derision, and if they make an incorrect decision it is assumed not to be a mistake or an error of judgement but solely be-cause they are a woman, and thus incapable. Paul Jewell's pointed remark after a penalty decision went against him that 'every man in the ground could see it was a penalty' preposterously went un-punished.

Such women, however, can-not win: should a decision be made correctly they receive sy-cophantic patronising pats, such as Richard Keys' claim that he was 'delighted for Sian Massey' after she correctly flagged Mi-cah Richards for offside against Swansea. Being involved in foot-ball for many is an aspiration, and many men will likely feel a kind of jealousy at seeing a woman being involved in, and seemingly doing better at, a job they have perhaps always dreamed of. This envy is rationalised into heartfelt pleas that women should be kept out of football so as not to muddy it as 'a working man's game.'

What is most ludicrous about such Neanderthal claims is that they are, in all respects, patently untrue. The general perception of the modern footballer is a slick pretty-boy. The true 'stars' of the modern games are those who are stylish on and off the pitch, such as Freddie Ljungberg, Da-vid Beckham or Cristiano Ron-aldo. It seems that modern pro-lific footballers are not battered warhorses but skilful creatures of elegance. Football obviously still requires strength, historically a fact given to dismiss the ability of all female footballers, but as well as the hilarious assumption that women are incapable of possess-ing strength, this totally ignores any other skills required to be a successful footballer: balance, poise and pace, things which can also be possessed by anyone of any gender. The women's game is met by perfectly reasonable people who would not regard themselves as misogynists with suspicion or even derision, yet the facts are that the less power-ful, more technical style that per-meates the international game is one that is perfectly suited to, and has indeed been employed in, the women's game for years. Opposi-tion to the worth of women's foot-ball is based on a number of in-trinsically flawed premises and it is frustrating that these attitudes continue to dominate fans who – to their credit – have made great leaps in almost all other areas of understanding.

Football is starting to ma-ture and grow, with its increasing numbers (though still infuriat-ingly too few) of female coaches, female linesmen and even talk of female officials. Perhaps those that watch it need to grow up also, and abandon their outdated and unsubstantiated ideas about just who football belongs to.

Sexism in Football Following a BBC documentary this month that highlighted the barriers

facing women in football, James Phillips examines institutional sex-

ism in the higher echelons of the game, while Hollie Moisey provides

a perspective from a female making her way in the sport, and Online

Comment and Features Editor James Dolton examines the harmful at-

titudes associated with a game dominated by misogynist ideals.

James PhillipsDeputy Editor

Sport The Lion: an Olympic SpecialTurn to the middle pages for Redbrick Sport's exclusive

eight-page full colour pullout which focuses on London 2012

I have been to some games where people have asked me, 'Is Andy Gray coming to watch?'

Hollie MoiseySport Writer

Sport27th April 2012 redbrickpaper.co.ukRedbrick 27

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Across1. William _____, politician (5)4. Whitney _______, singer (7)8. Abraham _______, politician (7)9. _____ Hilton, socialite (5)10. Dominic ____, cricketer (4)12. Christopher ________, explorer (8)15. Jack ______, author (6)16. ______ Bonham Carter, actress (6)19. Antonio ________, footballer (8)20. Clark ____, superman (4)22. Ross _____, comedian (5)24. Olivia _______, actress (7)26. James _______, politician (7)27. Johnny _____, comedian (5)

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With only moments of the crucial netball playoff match against Ed-inburgh remaining, Birmingham seem certain of a comfortable vic-tory. Edinburgh come forward, eager for some conciliation, but the robust Birmingham defence sharply intercepts once more and within moments a burst of energy and a few rapid passes have the home side back in the opposition box. The yells of fans and screech-ing of shoes abruptly halts; for a fleeting moment the gym is silent while the Brum attacker steadies herself to shoot. A final desper-ate lunge from the last defender is not enough as Birmingham sink their 57th point of the game. ‘We had narrowly missed out in the cup earlier in the season’, captain Laura Price reminds me, but we’ve had such a good season we just had to come away with something. We really wanted this.’ The final whistle sounds and Price emphati-cally has her wish with a score of 57-25.

The home team were better prepared than their rivals, and it showed. ‘We have not trained to-gether in over a month’ lamented the defeated captain Clare Gaskell. ‘If we had then I am sure the game would have been much closer.’ Birmingham had prepared with a friendly a few days earlier. ‘The focus was on keeping our passing flat and fast while maintaining possession, even if it meant going backwards. The plan paid off per-fectly!’ reflected Price.

From the first whistle the home side proved quicker in pos-session and more forceful without it, showing great focus and deter-mination while playing some tre-mendous netball. Despite this the first quarter ended with a precari-ous 13-8 lead that didn’t reflect the home sides supremacy. ‘Our attackers Laura Brocklebank and Hannah Kennedy were a bit ner-vous at first, but as they settled down their form improved dra-matically’, remarked Price. The stats indeed show that in this quarter Brum converted only 58% of their goal attempts, compared with a success rate of the final quarter of over 90%.

In the second quarter Birming-ham really made their dominance count, stretching their lead to an unassailable 27-11. A frustrated Edinburgh made silly errors while the virtually impregnable Bir-mingham defence of Rose Walker and Sarah Bishton bullied opposi-tion attackers, making numerous key interceptions and initiating new attacks constantly. Brockle-bank and Kennedy were now prov-ing lethal up front, interchanging passes with a seemingly telepathic understanding that left opposing defenders grasping at thin air. Brum had converted 14 of their 21 shots at this point in the game. A beleaguered Edinburgh team were picking up scraps though with their three goals coming from just five attempts.

From here on in it proved plain sailing for the home girls who seemed to overrun the visi-tors, whose defender Kath Free-man worked tirelessly to keep the score down. ‘I am proud of my team’, remarked the visiting captain Gaskell. ‘We gave it every-thing and really enjoyed ourselves in spite of the result.’

As the aggression of this in-tense competition subsided it was all smiles for the home side. Team hugs, high fives all round and a quick chorus of ‘I love my Birmingham’ from the lively 50 strong crowd bring a pleasant end to this hugely fast and competitive match. ‘Everyone says they are

surprised by how forceful Netball games are’, says Price. ‘We are all such good friends that we even have to get ourselves angry before-hand to make sure we are in the

right mind-set!’ A true team per-formance form the Birmingham girls who now have two weeks to stay smiling before psyching themselves up once more for their

next match against Newcastle. A win for Birmingham would seal promotion into the Premier North, and cap off an outstanding season for the netball club.

Netball girls move one step closer

Only Newcastle now stand in Brum's path as they march towards promotion

Birmingham 1sts 57

29Edinburgh 1sts

Netball Northern Premier Playoff

Tom CooperSport Reporter

After a stunning season which has seen them win the Midlands 1A division, the netball girls faced a strong Edinburgh side in a crucial Premier League playoff.

Charlotte Wilson

Redbrick Sport tackle one of the taboo subjects in football. Why are there not more women in positions of responsibil-ity in the modern game? p24

Sexism in FootballSport28 Sport 27th April 2012


Birmingham Lions arrived at South Leeds Stadium on Saturday looking to banish the memories of last year’s agonising one point de-feat, but once again fell short at the final hurdle, as the Hertfordshire Hurricanes took a deserved 37-19 victory in the British Universities American Football League (BUA-FL) finale.

Birmingham started the game looking much the better side, forc-ing the ‘Canes to go three and out on the first possession of the game before finding the end zone on their opening drive. Dan Con-roy moved the chains on a short fourth down. Three plays later starting quarterback Jonny Glover executed a perfect play action pass and hit Paul Zinkus for the first score of the contest.

Hertfordshire tied the scores

on their third possession. Hav-ing previously looked toothless against the Lions’ defence, Nicho-las Bagnall was given too much space in double coverage to make a big catch over the middle and take the ball home for a 49-yard touch-down, turning the direction of the match decisively into the Hurri-canes’ favour. Birmingham’s reply was cut short after just two plays when Glover threw a pass which was acrobatically intercepted just before the defensive back stepped out of bounds.

What Brum needed more than anything was a solid defensive ef-fort to get possession back and they should have done so when Greg Freeman picked off Joe Thompson’s third down pass. In-stead, Freeman fumbled the inter-ception return and Dom Husband was there to recover the ball and keep Birmingham’s defence on the field. It was to prove a costly error; Thompson threw a completion to Husband and then exploited a big mismatch in the end zone, letting his tallest receiver, Andrew Harri-son, come up with a jump ball in single coverage.

Birmingham did briefly re-take the lead; a big completion to Jason Grundy was the catalyst for Birmingham’s second score of the fixture, a six yard touchdown pass to Andrew Newiss who took advantage of good blocking in the screen set up for him. The extra

point was added for the first time in the match and the Lions took a one point lead.

This was as good as it got for the Lions. Joe Thompson began to look every inch the MVP he was named at the end of the match, breaking off a 20 yard run and completing passes far more con-sistently than he had in the first quarter. Another Hertfordshire fumble, one of three, two of which were recovered by the Hurricanes, didn’t result in a turnover of pos-session and the inevitable conclu-sion to the drive came thanks to the same mismatch that had cost Brum six points on the last Herts drive. The score was the last be-fore half time with the match fine-ly balanced at 18-13.

Sadly, it was the southern

team who dominated the second half. Hertfordshire had extended their lead inside of two minutes, recovering Andrew Newiss’ kick-off return fumble and then mak-ing the most of good field position. Thompson was responsible for most of the yardage, holding onto the ball three times and rushing for a 12 yard touchdown that was converted to give his team a 12 point advantage.

Sope Dirisu replaced Glover at quarterback and cut the defi-cit to 7 points on with his second opportunity. Yet again the screen play worked to perfection but this time it was Zinkus who was the beneficiary, doing much of the work himself with big yards after the catch to give the Lions hope of overturning Hertfordshire’s lead but it was to be Birmingham’s last points of the game.

Herts finished the third quar-ter in good position thanks yet again to Thompson’s ability as a dual threat quarterback and the connection between himself and Husband in the passing game. The fourth quarter started in the worst possible manner for the 2011 fi-nalists, who could have no com-plaints when they were called for pass interference against the pro-lific number 10. With the ball on the two yard line, James Howell was given the carry and punched his way over the goal line. At 31-19 Hertfordshire could just run the

clock down and elected to do just that up to Birmingham’s 13 yard line, at which point Thompson threw a strike to Husband for a thoroughly deserved touchdown.

Credit has to be given for the way Birmingham fought, even with the match out of their reach, finally recovering a fumble with their opponents letting the clock run down. With the football in the offence’s hands inside the final two minutes, a consolation TD was the best Brum could realistically hope for. Instead, it was the Hurricanes’ most dominant defensive player, Dom Gould who left his mark on proceedings in the last meaning-ful action of the contest, stripping Dirisu of the ball and recovering possession for Thompson to take a knee and end the game.

Despite the one sided score, it must be emphasised that this was not an awful Birmingham perfor-mance. Birmingham were a 10-0 side going into the match and against any other side they would probably have been 11-0. Hertford-shire are simply a high quality out-fit led by a gifted quarterback ca-pable of destroying a side with his arm or his legs. A tweet from the Birmingham Lions Twitter page is perhaps the best way of summing up; ‘we set the bar 2 years ago, it’s now been raised’. Birmingham will need to reach those heights if they are to avoid a third season of heartbreak next year.

Lions blown away by HurricanesBirmingham Lions 19

37Hertfordshire Hurricanes

American Football BUAFL Final

Josh HuntSport Reporter

INSIDE Turn to page 27 to find out how the Netball first team fared in their Northern Premier League playoff against Edinburgh

Hertfordshire's Joe Thompson was the star of the show at the John Charles Stadium. The Hur-ricanes' number five dominated the rushing and passing yard-age, and took the majority of the carries in the option offense, running the ball three more times than the combined total of Hertfordshire’s running backs.

MVP

Photos taken by Mike Hinton

After comprehensive victories over the Derby Braves and the South-ampton Stags to reach the national final, the Lions were determined to avenge last season's heartbreak.

Statistics table by Akil Kothari

Redbrick - April 27th 2012

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Transcript of Redbrick - April 27th 2012