Pugwash News Issue 55

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Issue 55Wednesday 11th May 2011

FreeWhen is democracy not the best?

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It’s a long icy road to Estonia

Hammer time with Thor

Laura CrottyHead of News

The University of Portsmouth has announced that it will be charging Undergraduates from the UK and EU £8,500 a year from 2012. This comes in light of the Coalition Government lift-ing the cap on tuition fees and enabling universities to charge up to £9,000 a year.

When talking in an interview with Pugwash News, Vice-Chan-cellor Professor John Craven said: “We think it’s the right level to enable us to meet pub-lic spending cuts, give students rather more, and fund a good range of bursary support for stu-dents from poorer families.”

To support this statement, the

University has announced that students coming from families that have an income of £25,000 or less will receive a bursary of £1,000 each year and a £2,000 discount on their fees for the first year. Students from families with an income of up to £42,600 will also be eligible for an annu-al bursary.

Vice-Chancellor Craven also stated: “My personal view is that I think the government have moved too far too fast and we are in danger of putting off school pupils, particularly from families who have no experience of higher education.”

One first year Computer Sci-ence student said: “If the fees had been that much this year I

wouldn’t have come to univer-sity. The debt just doesn’t seem worth it, that is one expensive piss up!”

In response to questions about the effect the higher tui-tion fees would have on Univer-sity attendance, Vice-Chancellor Craven stated: “we haven’t yet forecast that we will lose places, at the moment our number of places is given by the govern-ment, we’re told how many to recruit. There is a possibility they will reduce it. There is a very small possibility that they will increase it; but, we would expect to recruit up to the limit.”

Aakash Naik, UPSU President said: “The Union’s main focus this year, has been the campaign

against cuts to higher education and fees. The decision to charge £8,500 is regrettable, and I’m not sure our University is worth that fee.”

“My anger is not at University management or Governors, but with this Government, I think whatever people’s views on charging more are or were, more time was definitely needed.

“The memory that will stick with me, is of Penny Mourdant saying the government had con-sulted with lots of students, this was on the same day that thou-sands of students had descend-ed on Parliament to voice their anger.

Continued on page 3

Tuition fees soar to £8,500 at UoP

Decisive wins in Union electionsLaura CrottyHead of News

After a gruelling campaign sea-son, next year’s sabbaticals and part time officers were revealed at a lively and exciting results night. Amy Baker is set to be the next President of UPSU, with a margin of 1132 votes.

She will head a team of Sab-baticals which includes: Milly Youngman VP Activities, God-frey Atuahene Jr VP Education & Democracy, Dan Black VP Sports and Steve Roberts VP Welfare & Community.

The part time officer results were also announced as: Sam Bogg Ethics & Environment Of-ficer, Sabrina Sayed LGBT Offic-er, Anita Carey Mature Officer, and Becky Gardner Women’s Officer.

Amy Baker, incoming Presi-dent, said: “The elections this year were great, it was amazing to see so many candidates run-ning and so many students vot-ing.

“I am really grateful to all the students who voted me in and am looking forward to the year ahead with my new sabbatical team.”

This group of people will steer next year’s Students Union using a new structure which has seen sabbatical positions go from six

to five in a move which caused much debate earlier in the year but was finally sanctioned back in February.

Current President, Aakash Naik, said: “ I’m thrilled we got so many students to run in these elections and got a record high

turnout. But we can and should do better, the fact remains that turnout is still under 50% and some positions had no candi-dates running. I’m confident that next year’s team will do an even better job.”

The results have set the stu-

dents buzzing. Chris Foy, a third year English Literature student said: “An interesting set of re-sults! Not completely who I vot-ed for but it should be interest-ing to see how it all turns out.”

For a break down of the re-sults visit pugwashnews.com

Amy and Matt await the announcement from current President Aakash Naik - Chi Lau

Pugwash News Wednesday 11th May 20112

Ben [email protected]

Dan ChestertonDeputy [email protected]

Milly YoungmanCopy [email protected]

Joely DicksDesign [email protected]

Chi LauDeputy Pictures [email protected]

Laura CrottyHead of [email protected]

Hana McFaulFeatures [email protected]

Dan WhitewayArts & Entertainment [email protected]

Grant ClarkeOpinion [email protected]

Joe WilkesSports [email protected]

Sarah JacksonDowntime [email protected]

DesignDeputy: Adam PoolFanol ThaqiChristopher Poole

Ondrej Válka

News Deputy: Anthony StrzalekSammy Jo Pinker - Senior ReporterEliomar Delgado - Senior ReporterVanessa Azzopardi - Senior ReporterJames Peckham - Senior Reporter

FeaturesDeputy: Becka HoggConor McCorkindale - FoodEliza Burt - Sex & RelationshipsRoxanna Negru - Health

Arts & Entertainment

Deputy: Sophie WorrellHannah Whitnall - Screen EditorLewis Dowling - Games & Internet EditorPaul Miller - Music EditorMaxine Mason Restaurants EditorSam Rohde - Culture Editor

Opinion Deputy: Naomi SpicerFrancesca Taffs - ColumnistRoss Keating - Columnist

SportsDeputy: Andrew OtteyBen Hyams - Senior ReporterLaura Collins - Senior Reporter

Advertising: For all advertising and marketing at the University of Portsmouth Students’ Union, please contact Hannah Crisin at BAM Student Marketing: T: 0845 1300 667 E: [email protected] sumarketing.co.ukSmall Print: Produced fortnightly by the University of Portsmouth Students’ Union. Printed by Johnston Press Plc - johnstonpress.co.uk, 02392 622 529, and printed on 100% recycled paper. Pugwash News bears no allegiance to any political party and discriminates against no-one. Editor in Chief, Laura Stevenson: 02392 843657. Visit us at The Student Centre, Portsmouth Students’ Union, Cambridge Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 2EF.

Editorial Team Errors and Omissions: While we take every care to verify our content, we may occasionally make mistakes. Please contact us at [email protected] to report any inaccuracies or mistakes. Send complaints to [email protected]

For all advertising and marketing at the University of Portsmouth Students’ Union, please contact Hannah Crispin at BAM Student Marketing on:

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bam

News

Sammy Jo PinkerSenior Reporter

The man who committed three robberies and a burglary in three days, including breaking into Harry Lawhas been sentenced to a minimum of five years impris-onment.

Paul Williams, 42, was con-victed after he was told by the judge that he was not safe to be on the streets and may never come out of prison.

Williams was found guilty following a police investigation into the crimes he committed last November. The 42 year old thief threatened a University of Portsmouth student with a knife and shop workers with a screw-driver on two occasions.

This aggressive crime streak began on 17th November when Williams and an accomplice broke into the Compass Centre on Arundel Street to steal a lap-top from the offices of Express FM on the top floor. He then threatened the worker behind the counter of Computer Junc-tion on Arundel Street with a screwdriver and stole £140 from the till.

The following night, 18th No-

vember, a student living in Harry Law Halls of Residence returned to her room to find two men had broken in. Williams threatened her with a knife and took money from her bag.

The next day, Williams threat-ened a man in Nearly New Elec-tronics on Albert Road with a screwdriver and stole £50, a mo-bile phone and a Sim card.

Williams pleaded guilty to all four crimes before being sen-tenced.

DC Allison Fraser from Ports-mouth CID said: “We caught Williams after he targeted the shop on Albert Road. He was identified by officers who recog-nised him from the description of the suspect.

“Williams has never explained to us what drove him to commit these crimes, although he’s a known drug addict so it’s likely he was looking to fund his habit.

The 42-year-old of Canal Walk, Portsmouth, pleaded guilty at Portsmouth Crown Court and was sentenced on 31st March.

DC Fraser went on to state: “Williams has never shown any remorse to his victims who, al-

though none were physically injured, were understandably distraught at what happened. No one should have to experi-ence that and I hope Williams being put behind bars is a warn-ing to others like him; we will pursue them and do everything in power to see they’re brought to justice.”

One of William’s victims was a University of Portsmouth stu-dent who was in her first year and had only been living in Har-ry Law Halls for two months be-fore the attack happened.

Mel Hill, 18, a resident of Harry Law Halls said: “When I found out about the robbery I felt really bad for the girl who was involved and quite scared as I hadn’t really thought about how people could get in to our rooms that easily.

“After the incident there was a lot of security patrolling the corridors and making sure our rooms were locked, even when we were in them so that made me feel a bit safer.”

Laura Wotton, 19, resident of Harry Law Halls said: “I thought we were meant to be safe in halls, with security guards and

swipe card doors. I felt scared, unsafe and vulnerable”

“There should maybe be a 24 hour security guard checking halls IDs, it would be annoying to keep getting our halls cards out but worth it if it stopped strangers entering.”

The University have said: “The University takes the secu-rity of all its students extremely

seriously and has implemented new security measures since the incident, including the introduc-tion of an on-site guard between the hours of 7pm until 7am.”

“Students are regularly re-minded about how they can help to maintain hall safety by being vigilant, always locking their room door, using their swipe cards and avoiding ‘tailgating’.”

Harry Law burglar put behind bars

Anthony StrzalekDeputy Head of News

Two new student buildings are set to be developed by the Fac-ulty of Creative and Cultural In-dustries (CCi).

The scheme is called the CCi New Build project, with de-veloper Watkin Jones leading the task. One of the two stu-dent buildings will be built on the current Eldon site, just off Winston Churchill Avenue. The

other will be situated next to the New Theatre Royal on Guildhall Walk.

Vice Chancellor of the Univer-sity, Professor John Craven, said “We are continuing with our building programme, there are building's planned on the Eldon site and a building planned next to the Theatre Royal.”

Dr Simon Claridge, the Dean of the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries said the CCi

vision is to “promote our reputa-tion nationally and internation-ally, as a faculty where excel-lence is connected to creativity, design and innovation and ideas generation – a place where ex-cellence is tested in the market-place.”

The aim is to provide CCi stu-dents with “fair and equitable access to resources that support and enhance learning oppor-tunities, support for the whole

range of CCi learning /teaching activities, studio spaces appro-priate for contemporary learn-ing and an excellent social space for the students.”

The proposal for the New Theatre Royal site now includes student accommodation. The latest designs include several additional storeys that provide approximately 100 student bed-rooms above the teaching and learning spaces.

Dr Claridge went on to say, “The new facilities are to act as a catalyst for development in the fields of study within the Faculty of Cultural & Creative Industries.” Adding “The new facilities will also provide a cen-tral focus for the public staging, exhibition and performance of student work with appropriate facilities to support extra-curric-ular discourse.”

New campus buildings planned

Union News

3Pugwash News Wednesday 11th May 2011Pugwash News Wednesday 11th May 2011 Sports20-24

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Students in the Manchester area can breathe a sigh of re-lief now that Paul Atta, a rap-ist who attacked a student in Halls of Residence in 2010, has been sentenced to life imprison-ment. Atta, 41, will be forced to serve a minimum of 12 years in light of the sexual assault of a 19-year-old woman within Hulme Halls in Rusholme. The criminal broke in through an open window and threatened the victim with a knife, forcing her to hand over her bankcard and pin number before sexu-ally assaulting her. Atta was also charged for a previous incident where he broke into the same Halls of Residence and punched a 21-year-old woman in the face before attempting to steal her laptop.

Source: student-direct.co.uk/the-mancunion

Medical students from Swan-sea University are now set to transfer to Cardiff University for their third year of study be-cause of “significant concerns” voiced by the General Medical Council (GMC). These concerns include doubts about the way in which students are set to be as-sessed. This transfer will affect 70 students who will arrive at Cardiff University in August in complete their chosen medical course. The GMC has positively encouraged this collaboration between institutions and has also sanctioned the added sup-port of the Welsh Assembly Gov-ernment.Source: gairrhydd.com/news

Lancaster University is set to become a Confucius Institute which means that the campus will grow to be a new hub for Chinese language and culture. Lancaster will become the 14th institute in the UK to receive this prestigious award that aims to focus on the development of credit bearing language and cul-ture programmes for students in all facilities. Programs will also be offered to the local communi-ty, businesses, and schools. Con-fucius Institutes were founded in 2004 and are non-profit public institutions that aim to promote Chinese culture. The headquarters are based in Bei-jing under the Office of Chinese Language Council International. Source: scan.lusu.co.uk

University Roundup: Best of student media from the UK

News

News

seriously and has implemented new security measures since the incident, including the introduc-tion of an on-site guard between the hours of 7pm until 7am.”

“Students are regularly re-minded about how they can help to maintain hall safety by being vigilant, always locking their room door, using their swipe cards and avoiding ‘tailgating’.”

Laura CrottyHead of News

Third year Business Studies stu-dent James Brown has taken a pledge to run the Great South Run in October in order to raise money for the Bone Can-cer Research Trust (BCRT) and in memory of friend and fellow student Alex Lewis.

Alex Lewis passed away on 17th February 2011 after his four year battle with Osteosar-coma, a form of bone cancer. Lewis was a third year Sports Science student who had to study part time because of his illness.

Brown said: “Alex was a good friend of mine. During my first year my Dad was diagnosed with cancer and so far it has been the most painful experi-ence of my life.

“Alex, during this time, had also been diagnosed with can-cer. We became friends because of this and we talked a lot and openly about our problems.”

He went on to state: “I was in a pretty dark place during this time and I turned to Alex for help, even though he had cancer, he was always there and managed to turn my life around.

“I still believe today that Alex was a big part in how my life has turned out and I never re-ally got to truly thank Alex for everything he did for me.”

Lewis applied to start the Uni-versity of Portsmouth in 2007, however because of his illness

he deferred entry for a year and went travelling around New Zealand that spring. Sadly, on his return, Lewis found out that the cancer had returned.

Angela, Alex Lewis’ mother, said: “But once again, the tu-mours began to reappear. Nev-ertheless, Alex took up his place at Portsmouth in September, where he settled into his course, made many wonderful friends, joined the tennis team, and gen-erally lived life to the full.”

Angela went on to say: “As

Alex said himself, 2010 was an incredible year for him, with travels to Dubai, Australia and various places in Europe, much happiness, and ultimately meet-ing and becoming engaged to Ali (who he met in Australia).

“His deterioration came quickly at the beginning of 2011, but wonderfully Ali and he married on his 22nd birth-day, and he died peaceful and content just 5 days later on 17th February.”

“His time at Portsmouth Uni-

versity was a hugely important period for him, where he could be an independent young per-son, putting his illness aside and enjoying life to the full.”

Finally, Brown said: “Alex was an amazing person, who always had time to talk to others and always putting others before himself.

“After finally meeting his fam-ily and talking about my idea, they have been very support-ive of me and I hope to raise a massive amount for the Trust to show Alex and his family how much he changed my life.”

On hearing about Brown’s pledge to do the Great South Run, Angela and Andy Lewis said: “We are hugely impressed by Jamie's wonderful efforts to raise funds for the Bone Cancer Research Trust by entering the Great South Run.

“Alex would have been so very proud of him, and we are incredibly comforted by his sup-port. We wish him the very best of luck and hope to be there to cheer him in at the finish.”

Kate Connor, Operations and Events Manager for BCRT, runs an annual Awareness Week in October. Brown also hopes to publicise this event in order to raise awareness about Lewis and his illness.

Brown hopes to raise £2,000 for the BCRT, having already raised £210, a promising start.

To sponsor James Brown please visit justgiving.com/

Jamie-Brown1 A memorial site to Alex Lewis

can also be found here bit.ly/jBDPxt.

Pugwash News will be cov-

ering James Brown’s run in the new year, be sure to follow his story on pugwashnews.com.

Business student runs in memory of friend

Andy Lewis (right), Alex Lewis (centre) and Alex’s uncle at European Cup Final Fulham Vs Atletico Madrid

“ Alex was an amazing

person, who always had

time to talk to others and always

putting others before himself.

Tuition fees at £8,500Continued from page 1.“Students are clear on what

they want, a high quality edu-cational experience and a good employment prospects. What we need to remember is the time fees trebled, we’ve seen no improvement in staff to student ratio, graduate employment na-tionally and student satisfaction.

“With students paying so much more, I expect students and Students Unions nationally to no longer tolerate a below par service.”

“Universities don’t know what the correct level is going to be for the coming years but the fees

Jenny Waight, a third year student studying Criminology and Criminal Justice said: “I don’t know why people are so

surprised that the University, like every other university in the country, has raised their tuition fees by so much. They were giv-en the option so why wouldn’t they!”

Laura Collins, a third year stu-dent said: “I am an English Liter-ature student who currently has four timetabled contact hours a week – I think the current tuition fees are extortionate, let alone £8,500! The course won’t change so why should the fees?”Students who applied during 2011 but deferred entry until 2012 will also pay the new rate of tuition fees.To see the full interview with the Vice-Chancellor, please visit pugwashnews.com

4 Pugwash News Wednesday 11th May 2011Pugwash News Wednesday 11th May 2011

News NewsUniversity of Portsmouth Students’ Union Register online at www.upsu.net

This year the Union has launched a new commu-nity forum initiative which aims to bring residents and students together to work on local volunteer-ing projects and tackle issues together.

We are looking for students who are interested in the new voluntary position of Community Reps who will act as a liaison between students and local residents, find out what students and local residents want improved in their community and run campaigns to help improve local communi-ties.

Ideas generated from our first community forum held in March included being good neighbours, noise awareness and a moving out big clean up scheme in partnership with the local council. An-other forum is planned for the 3rd June in the John Pounds centre so come along and get in-volved!!

If you are interested in becoming a community rep please contact Matt Blackall VP societies and Community on [email protected]

Vanessa AzzopardiSenior Reporter

On the 29th April, approxi-mately three billion people from all around the world gathered in front of their television sets to watch the much anticipated royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Little did they know that four students from the University of Portsmouth were fortunate enough to, not only be a part of the live event in London, but to do so while working with Fox Television coverage as film crew on the day.

These students, who are all

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Vanessa AzzopardiSenior Reporter

On the 29th April, approxi-mately three billion people from all around the world gathered in front of their television sets to watch the much anticipated royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Little did they know that four students from the University of Portsmouth were fortunate enough to, not only be a part of the live event in London, but to do so while working with Fox Television coverage as film crew on the day.

These students, who are all

undertaking or have complet-ed a course in Television and Film Production at the Univer-sity, were given the opportunity thanks to their their course co-ordinator who has close con-tacts with Prime Television, a provider of production facilities for the broadcast industry, new media and production commu-nity, which has frequently of-fered students work experience as well as graduate jobs.

The atmosphere in London that day was described as be-ing patriotic and buzzing. David Kinnaird, a student on place-ment in Portsmouth who took

part in the event, explained that “you could feel the excitement grow towards the wedding.

“It was incredible: feeling integrated with the crowd and feeling the excitement that they felt.”

Rob Gunn, a final year stu-dent who also joined the team on the day added that: “I feel it was an important day for people all around the world, not just here in the UK. The history of our monarchy is well respected worldwide and we should share it.”

He explained how he believes that most students seem to have

gained an understanding of the royal family, especially since William and Kate are so young and therefore “they seem to fit well in today's celebrity culture”.

For these students the film-ing that day ran quite smoothly, although it was described as a challenge especially with re-gards to last minute prepara-tions and on-the-day satellite transmission to New York.

Both students agreed that it was an exciting event and one which has possibly made room for more opportunities in the future, as they both met and worked with professionals and

also made various important contacts in the film and media industry.

Rob explained how it was “a once in a lifetime experience” and David also points out that “we have had a chance to broad-cast history”.

Approximately one million turned up on the streets of Lon-don, some people actually camp-ing out to reserve the best spot in front of Westminster Abbey days in advance, all wanting to experience the exciting atmos-phere of the Royal Wedding live.

National

Students join Fox News at Royal Wedding

Local News

The University of Portsmouth Vice-Chancellor has revealed that his salary has remained the same for the last three years and that he has no expenses claims to his name that are not strictly related to his job. Professor John Craven, who earns £196,000 a year, travels second class on the train and lives in his own property at Rogate. Craven’s record contrasts with that of the University of York’s vice-chancellor Brian Cantor who was criticised in his student newspaper, York Vision, after claiming more than £50,000 in expenses last year.

Portsmouth Naval Base has stepped up security in the wake of the death of Osama bin Laden. Armed guards have been ordered to be ‘extra vigilant’ for fear of reprisals after US Special Forces killed the al-Qaeda leader at the weekend in Pakistan. The terror response level remains ‘heightened’ at the base, which is the home of the Royal Navy. Prime Minister David Cameron hailed the operation a ‘massive step forward’ in tackling terrorism, but warned the world had to be alert to short-term retaliation.

Five shoplifters who stole to fund their drug habits have been banned from Portsmouth’s main high street. Four men, aged 38, 46, 30 and 33 and a 35-year-old woman have stolen from

more city centre shops than anyone else in Portsmouth in the last year. Police say the offenders are responsible for at least 79 shoplifting and drug possession crimes in the area in the last year alone. Now the five thieves, all from Portsmouth, have been handed letters banning them from 118 shops that are members of the Portsmouth Business Crime Reduction Partnership.

The owners of an antiques business have been left shattered after a car crashed into the front of their shop and destroyed valuable stock. Antiques worth thousands of pounds, dating back to the 1800s were destroyed when a Volvo car crashed into The Junction, on the corner of St Vincent Road and Victoria Road South, Southsea. The crash destroyed around £3,000 of stock and repairs to the shop, parts of which were reduced to rubble, could run to £10,000.

Local Landlord, Herbie Armstrong, wowed Britain’s Got Talent judges with his singing, making it through to the TV show’s live finals. Herbie, who runs The Fountain Inn, just outside Portsmouth, was seen by millions of viewers on Saturday night as he auditioned in the competition.Herbie, who has been playing the guitar since he was 11 years old, was a backing musician for Van Morrison during the 1960s.

Emily Wool

The Safer Portsmouth Partner-ship have recently launched the ‘One Punch Can Kill’ campaign, an innovative operation, which bears the slogan ‘a mother’s campaign’, that aims to warn people about the dangers of par-ticipating in alcohol-fuelled vio-lence across Portsmouth.

Fights that have been fuelled by violence have resulted in the deaths of two young men in the city over the last two years; a shocking statistic which serves as a reminder of how getting too drunk can transform a good night into a tragic disaster.

One of these victims was Kyle Bartlett who died on 5th May 2009 after he got into a fight inside a bar on Guildhall Walk. Bartlett’s mother Ann has now joined the campaign to reduce alcohol related violence in the pubs and clubs of Portsmouth.

Ann Bartlett said: “I cannot let someone else go through what myself and family are go-ing through now so I’m joining forces with the Safer Portsmouth Partnership to highlight the dan-gers of binge drinking and alco-hol fuelled violence.”

Chief Inspector Dave Hum-phries, who has aligned himself with the ‘One Punch can Kill’ campaign, said: “You can help by making sure that if you’re out having a few drinks you look after yourself and your friends. There’s no shame in walking away from trouble and persuad-ing your mates to do so as well because throwing that punch is just not worth the risks.”

The campaign aims to edu-cate young people in schools, colleges, and universities as well as bar staff, door staff and licen-sees. In order to achieve this, the Safer Portsmouth Partnership

has announced that educational programmes will be integrated into schools and colleges across the city.

Also, Portsmouth City Coun-cil’s Trading Standards teams will be providing training for 80 bars and clubs in the Portsmouth area about how to combat alco-hol fuelled violence.

Additionally, mock ‘crime scenes’ will be placed on dis-play in key entertainment sports across Portsmouth each Satur-day night in May. This is to max-imise awareness about the po-tential consequences of alcohol related violence during a night out.

For more information on the One Punch Can Kill campaign visit: saferportsmouth.org.uk or the Safer Portsmouth Partner-ship Facebook page.

‘One punch can kill’ campaign set to reduce alcohol related violence

The council has launched a hard hitting campaign to challenge alcohol related violence


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“ There will not be any

sudden event that will

rally protesters

Adrian James

Right, so I decided that, follow-ing the UPSU elections, democ-racy is pretty poor. Which dis-turbs me. Quite a bit. The reason is the approach of the voters to their voting – it was poor. Very poor.

I witnessed people say all kinds of things which under-mine the very point and princi-ples of democracy, and make me doubt its suitability as a method of governance. Let me talk you through some examples.

Firstly, “I’m voting for [name], they’re my friend”. That’s nice, and I think we should be sup-portive of friends, but that doesn’t mean they’d be suitable for the job, know what they were doing or even that they wouldn’t actually make the place worse!

“I don’t know anyone so I’m not voting”. Really? Do you know any of the candidates in any elections? Probably not. Does it matter what the winner


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Alex Vince

When it comes to student activ-ism, we have reached a period of relative calm. The actions that set a backdrop for the beginning of this year and the end of the last have more or less come to a halt, the stories that defined our generation’s relationship with our current government falling off the front page.

With the successful passing

of the tuition fees vote, it seems like the wind has been taken out of protesters’ sails. It would ap-pear that those events are now over, and the protesting students appear to have been defeated. However, this could be a tragic misconception.

Gone are the flashpoints, the government announcements that cause a sudden rise in an-ger and disappointment. The announcements that the govern-ment intends to make have been made, and the much slower pro-cess of actually enacting them has begun.

The actual state of things is

now more or less apparent, with the actions that are being taken revealed to all. There will not be any sudden event that will rally the protesters, such of those that hit London for the four great student protests, no sudden ca-lamity that will cause people to rise up again.

The policies that the govern-ment is pushing forward are now known, and the battle to stop it before it starts is over.

What comes after will require dedication, and those students who take part in the movements of the next couple of years will require support.

Now is a period of organisa-tion, where both sides can take a look at the long view and react accordingly. Now is when it truly becomes difficult.

If you do believe in standing against the changes in educa-tion, or anything else that you

feel needs to be fought for, then take part in smaller group meet-ings, helping to organise and plan the coming struggles.

Attending the core protests is a way of getting your voice heard, but it cannot have any great effect on its own. It needs to be supported by local action, by relationships created be-tween communities and by tak-ing part in the less glamorous parts of local campaigns.

Sitting outside the library might be a boring way of spend-ing the day, but spreading the messages there will be far more important in the long term then waving a placard.

Being able to fill multiple coaches on a trip to London may be a good achievement, but if the university anti-cuts groups are ignored, then any ground gained may be rapidly lost. Long term dedication is as vital as short term protestation when it comes to fighting a larger cam-paign on issues as important as tuition fees, cuts or any other ar-eas where you stand at odds to the current government.

Right now, there are people working hard to attempt to or-ganise various events and gather others in order to fight the long fight. They need support, and they need help, and they need to be reassured that they are not alone.

By attending an anti-cuts meeting, or offering to help spread the word, you help take some of the burden that risks stopping these movements in their tracks, and you could po-tentially end up walking away with a couple more good friends to boot. The fight isn’t over yet, but it needs people in order to progress.

“ There will not be any

sudden event that will

rally protesters

Student protests are over: is this the eye of the storm?

Recent months have seen student protests locally and nationally - Dan Chesterton

Adrian James

Right, so I decided that, follow-ing the UPSU elections, democ-racy is pretty poor. Which dis-turbs me. Quite a bit. The reason is the approach of the voters to their voting – it was poor. Very poor.

I witnessed people say all kinds of things which under-mine the very point and princi-ples of democracy, and make me doubt its suitability as a method of governance. Let me talk you through some examples.

Firstly, “I’m voting for [name], they’re my friend”. That’s nice, and I think we should be sup-portive of friends, but that doesn’t mean they’d be suitable for the job, know what they were doing or even that they wouldn’t actually make the place worse!

“I don’t know anyone so I’m not voting”. Really? Do you know any of the candidates in any elections? Probably not. Does it matter what the winner

does when they get in? Hell yes! For that matter do you know the vice-chancellor, pro-vice chan-cellors or even your head of department? Probably not, but would it matter to you if you could have a direct say over how they ran your course? I bet you would.

“[Name] gave me some sweets so I’m voting for them”. Right. They gave you sweets. So for all you know they’re a rac-ist, homophobic chauvinist who will make Portsmouth an hor-rific place to study, but it’s ok because they gave you sweets.

“[Candidate] told me to

vote for them”. Again – I as-sume Hitler told people to vote for him. The fact someone said to vote for them doesn’t mean they’re worth voting for!

Why are people so detached from their very surroundings and from having an impact on making this a better place to live and study? We even have an al-ternative voting system to help students’ votes go further! But no, most just ticked a first candi-date and couldn’t be bothered to think further, maybe not voting in more than a single category. People fought and died for de-mocracy in this country and people treat it like a joke.

What’s almost worse is that candidates went around with “vote [name]” stickers and ban-ners – trying to win popularity, when surely they should be ar-guing the good things that they would do, the issues that they would prioritise and so on. And don’t get me started on one indi-

vidual and his campaign team’s RON campaign. They actually encouraged students to go and vote RON for Sports and ignore the rest of the ballot paper like it didn’t matter. How can someone who wants a position in the Un-ion actively undermine one of the core principles of that very organisation? Despicable behav-iour.

I understand the point of elit-ism now – the few making de-cisions on behalf of the many. There are, I gather, a dedicated number of students involved with the Students Union – those linked to the governance struc-tures like Student Council – who I would wager could probably make well educated decisions on who would really help take the Students Union into a better future.

Decisions that would prob-ably be better than the unin-formed masses. Part of me really wants to advocate this although

I understand the pitfalls of elit-ism – that it can lead to corrup-tion, a powerful (not necessarily wealthy) few who take advan-tage of the masses. But at the same time look at the pitfalls of democracy – it becomes a popu-larity contest, people let them-selves be talked or bribed into voting someone, people ignore the vote and so on. The good of the people is not being cared about.

I don’t have an alternative to offer though, democracy is the best we have it seems. But I would advocate an approach I’ve heard mentioned before. In the future, can candidates back particular issues or policies, and campaign those instead? Let’s leave out names, let’s not have bribes or coercion. Instead, let’s encourage the voter in their rights and responsibilities and let’s pursue the good of the stu-dents of our city. Let’s make de-mocracy work properly.

Elections: time for elitism or democracy work?

Campaigning hard - UPSU

Letters

Letters to the Editor


Opinion

Naomi SpicerDeputy Opinion Editor

I’ve never really followed the royal family, or been bothered to find out anything about them. This is for no reason other than that it simply wouldn’t occur to me to do so.

When Diana died I was stay-ing with friends in Wales, and the devastation that I saw around me was unreal, but this was the first time that I had seen people’s commitment to the Royals.

Kate and Will’s wedding was indeed beautiful but ‘it should have been me’ confuses me for a number of reasons. Firstly, Kate is now apparently not allowed to be referred to as Kate as it is too informal, she must be called Catherine.

So the name which she has always been called is now tak-

en away by the decision of the country’s leader. There has been much controversy about the fact that Kate is a ‘commoner’ and therefore shouldn’t be marrying into the royal family, but surely if they’re going to accept her into the family they should ac-cept her for who she is?

The crazed fanatics that have followed Kate and Will’s rela-tionship have grown to know and love her as Kate, not Cath-erine, and it would seem to me that a name can say a lot about a person.

A name is your identity, and it would therefore seem like the royals have stripped her of her background in order to make her more acceptable.

Then there are the rumours that Camilla has made it clear that she will be known as above Kate on the hierarchy, ultimate-

ly, it would seem, because she is jealous about the fuss being made over this new addition to the family. Kate is beautiful and the fact that she is of ‘com-moner’ background (no matter how wealthy her family may be) seems to have caused a stir, peo-ple love her, hailing her as ‘the

new Diana’, which obviously is bound to sting Diana’s replace-ment!

It does, however, seem a little fishy. I rarely believe anything I read in a newspaper but it seems to be widely assured by Kate’s friends that she did in fact have a picture of old Wills on her bed-room wall at university. Not only this, but it’s also claimed that she said she would marry him. Does this seem slightly stalker-ish? If it was anyone who wasn’t quite as innocent looking I doubt they would get away with these statements!

Kate’s life has now been turned upside down, as has her family’s. She can’t travel wherev-er she wants or when she wants. Her name has been changed. She has to abide by rules and regulations. She will never have the kind of in-law relationship

that people crave and she will never be able to dress up in a tiny LBD and just get bladdered in a London nightclub. Is this re-ally something to crave?

Personally I want to be able to live my life the way I choose, and to do what I want, when I want. I love my nicknames and being able to pop to the shop in my pyjama bottoms. Plus, I mean, if you were going to mar-ry a Royal you’d go for Harry, wouldn’t you?

Royal Wedding

Do you really wish it was you instead?

“ If you were going to marry a

Royal you’d go for Harry,

wouldn’t you?

Well it is an interesting state of affairs we’re in right now. Revo-lution across the Middle East, America, Osama dead, Obama cheering, Royal Wedding, peo-ple suffering higher taxes.

I personally feel that this is a somewhat overwhelming amount of interesting informa-tion. And I’m sure many of you do too. However, what I find most interesting about this wave of bullets of information is the little bits of bullshit that get blasted out of the almighty ga-tling gun that is the news.

These small bits are generally compiled of human interest sto-ries, such as “Clare Nasir: Now I'm size 6, I'm never going back to being obese again” in the Daily Mail. Who are you? Why should I care about your infatu-ation with food? Are you just be-ing capitalised on by the people who want to scare you about the “horrors” of a dress too small so

you have to go out and buy a new one when you really can’t afford it and it was probably made in a sweat shop in some East-Asian country.

But we won’t focus on the in-teresting parts of that story and the jump in conclusions there. Just that opening statement. Why do newspapers and news channels continue to publish and report this horseshit? Bore-dom? Amusement? A lack of “interesting news”? Nope, prob-ably none of the above. Mainly

to consistently drive in the prob-lems you may be facing at home.

You ate too much as a kid, your girlfriends sleeping with your best friend or some other melodrama that no-one except the involved parties cares about.

I don’t really want to read about it, but tabloids, broad-sheets, 24 hour rolling news and online, continue to pump this

non-news out like its suddenly going to go out of fashion. It went out of fashion five minutes before you printed it.

Now, by this point of reading, you are probably thinking “this guy is some is some whining wannabe journalist that writes to his student newspaper ‘cause he couldn’t be bothered to get a real journalism job and now moans about the real thing”. Yup, but I’m gonna keep writing about it.

Now, even as students, we’re told that we do nothing but drink, smoke, smash things up in protests, etc, etc. But what about the interesting news and work that we do as well? Shouldn’t that be given some credit? I think it would be a bit more news-worthy. Something along the lines of “Students work together to bring local community and integrate prop-erly as a working society”; not “two groups of hateful drunks arguing about stuff that does not really matter”.

I don’t know. but you get the gist. I’m just fed up with crap about people with issues that were solved by some corpo-rate pigs trying to make money through the news. Stop spread-ing the “I Can’t Believe It’s Not

Butter” style stories, and peddle some real shit on there. Stuff

that matters to all of us. Stop this non-news.

I can’t believe it’s news: is the media spotlight right?There is far too much human interest and melodrama in the news, writes Grant Clarke

“ Who are you? Why

should I care about your infatuation with food?

“ 24 hour rolling news

pump this non-news out

like its suddenly going to go out

of fashion.

Letters

Letters to the Editor

9Pugwash News Wednesday 11th May 2011Pugwash News Wednesday 11th May 2011

I’ve found that in reading issues of Pugwash News, lots of articles come in about how to eat well on a budget, but how does one drink well on a budget?

“ How does one drink well on a budget?

In the world of drinks there is decadence aplenty; maybe you fancy a £500 dram of whisky or a goblet of wine with the world’s largest black pearl dissolved in it? But what about the other end of the spectrum? Can you get a quality drinks for pennies in the pound?A staple favourite of gin drink-ers is the Gin & Tonic and, with £45-a-bottle gins and small bot-tles of tonic costing up to £2.50, the cost of a single double-meas-ure serving of this beverage could quickly creep to over £4.55—and that’s from the comfort of your own home, acting as your own bartender!So I wondered, was it possible to find a very respectable (and tasty) gin and tonic for less than £1

(that’s one hundred new pence). Saving the theatrics, the answer was “Yes”.Here is the solution:The GinOliver Cromwell London Dry Gin (Original)—£10.99 for one litre from Aldi. (100ml = £1.09)Bottled at 37.5%, it’s a good gin and great value for money. On its own it’s OK but when mixed with tonic it’s a gin that competes with the best of them.The TonicWaitrose Regular—£0.49 per litre (or £2.09 for a six-pack of 250ml cans). (Sometimes this is avail-able in a 3 for 2 deal, giving you even more savings.)This has a good balance of sweet-ness and bitterness, and no over-bearing artificial taste like many.So the combination: a good exam-ple of a gin and tonic, you have juniper, you have a citrus you have a bitter edge and it is very refreshing. For 60p it is a bar-gain and you wouldn’t feel like you were one step away from the bath-tub gin or cutting your Gor-don’s Gin by adding more water to make it go further.Best regards,David Smith

that people crave and she will never be able to dress up in a tiny LBD and just get bladdered in a London nightclub. Is this re-ally something to crave?

Personally I want to be able to live my life the way I choose, and to do what I want, when I want. I love my nicknames and being able to pop to the shop in my pyjama bottoms. Plus, I mean, if you were going to mar-ry a Royal you’d go for Harry, wouldn’t you?

Have you got anything you want to write to us about or a response to any of the articles published in Pugwash News? Contact us at [email protected] and it may be featured in next fortnight’s issue.

There is far too much human interest and melodrama in the news, writes Grant Clarke

Letters

I am writing to thank Lawrence Daniels for sharing his views on health and safety gone mad! My housemates and I organised the cake sale for the British Red Cross to help those affected by the tsunami in Japan, and also felt it important to let our fellow Japanese students know that we are think-ing of them at this difficult time.

We too, were very shocked by the hostile behaviour that the cake sale incited from a particular member of staff. We had gained permission from what we thought were the correct channels to authorise our event and had given as much notice as possible, al-though we still wanted to reach out while the crisis was very much in the media lens.

However they were upset that we had not consulted them further in advance as Law-

rence duly notes. They went on to argue that because of insurance, and health and safety reasons, students are not allowed to sell cakes on university premises because if a customer bought a cake and suffered an adverse effect then the university would be liable.

We did not mean any harm, and it was a shame that they dealt with the situation inappropriately. However we laughed it off, had fun, and to be fair to the staff they allowed us to remain there for the rest of the day. It was a beautiful sunny day which meant everyone else was feeling happy and big-hearted.

So as a result of being kicked out of inside the union for selling cakes, we managed to raise even more money than we’d antici-

pated outside. Love and support was ex-pressed by an abundance of staff, students and members of the public.

Many cakes were donated and eaten, and a phenomenal amount of people gave very generously to the hot and sweaty young man dressed as Pikachu (although were un-derstandably rather confused as to why he was dressed as a Pokémon, and we must ad-mit it was the only fancy dress costume we owned between us).

We defied the health and safety rule book and raised an amazing £376 for a very wor-thy cause. Big thank you to everyone for you help. Jess Schofield

Cheap eating? Try cheap gin

Considering recent reactions to the announcement regarding the tuition fees increase, is it fair? The politi-cians in Whitehall keep telling students that the increase does not have an affect on accessibility as no one will have to repay their loans until they’re earning over £21000, however I have seen first hand the effect that the changes are hav-ing on potential students.My sister, who is currently fin-ishing her GCSEs, originally wanted to go to University and study to become a Doctor or Vet. Her route of choice has now changed completely, and the reason she gave to me was the increase in fees simply adds up to too much debt. I know personally that if I were faced with the same prospects, I would prob-ably choose not to go to Univer-sity either. Those of us who are currently here are extremely lucky, and our gov-ernment’s recent cuts are simply a choice not to invest in future generations.

In my opinion, this decision is only going to have a negative impact on the economy in the long run. If in-vestment is cut, which it evi-dently is going to be, the skilled workforce within the United Kingdom is going to be unable to compete with other nations (such as the USA, Germany and France). Such cuts are not being seen in these other countries, and it looks to me as though a whole generation is going to be placed in the trash and worse, forgot-ten about, whilst MPs claim expenses for doing their job to a total of millions of pounds.It soon becomes apparent that politicians, as promised, should not be trusted. Nick Clegg, and the Liberal Democrats, promised that there would be no increase in university tuition fees in their manifestos – that changed at the first sight of power. Is it too late to turn around? I don’t think so!Ben Foden

Health and safety: “we raised more money after being kicked out”

Tuition fees: just too much


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A day in the life of a career driven womanBusiness

Rachael Job

For Clodagh Pickivance there is no rest. From working in a law firm in London to walking down the catwalk, describing Clodagh’s life as colourful is an understatement. Clodagh has many ambitions and passions; she wants to and will be an en-trepreneur.

Clodagh’s career is partially dependant on her looks so her morning routine is not a five minute shower then running out the door. Clodagh wakes at six everyday and begins her routine. She showers, brushes and flosses her teeth and then rinses with mouthwash. “Hav-ing nice teeth is not an option in my career”. She then gets ready to impress the world, she styles, blow dries and curls her hair to perfection every morning.

After this lengthy routine she is then ready to leave her house and start her long and energetic day. She walks 45 minutes to the train station to then catch a train to Bristol for 9am. She arrives at the publicist for an upcoming artist, AJ, as she is interviewing him for a Youtube exclusive.

The make-up artists grab her left, right and centre add-

ing more black eye shadow and spraying hairspray. She is then whisked off to a luxury apart-ment to film the interview. All the questions she asks AJ are from fans. Clodagh smiles and laughs with AJ, finishing the interview with her signature pearly white smile.

“Clodagh then heads home, whilst on the

train she is learning scripts

for her show-reel. As Clodagh is venturing into

presenting she needs a show reel

to show her ability. She has made

them fashion and music based as

that is where she wants to head

in her work.

She then gets on the train to Windsor to update her portfolio. Clodagh is the face of Windsor-

Racecourse and her look has definitely upped the class of the racecourse’s status. Clodagh has changed her hair from brown with blonde highlights to a dark chocolate brunette and needs pictures to show this so that model agencies know her current look. Clodagh has had many looks, and this is in her fa-vour: the more variety, the more opportunity for modelling jobs.

Clodagh then heads home, whilst on the train she is learn-ing scripts for her show-reel. As Clodagh is venturing into pre-senting she needs a show reel to show her ability. Clodagh has made all the scripts herself and her show-reel is being filmed

tomorrow. She has made them fashion and music based as that is where she wants to head in her work. Clodagh is currently undertaking a presenting course in London.

She then arrives home, makes herself dinner of spaghetti bo-lognese and then heads to the computer. She has just started a video blog about the best UK magazine of the week. She films a video blog, describing whether she feels the stories or fashion in the magazines such as Grazia is realistic. She then ends by grad-ing the magazines and giving her opinion on the best maga-zine of the week. Within an hour Clodagh has had over 200 hits.

Before she can even contem-plate bed she has to remove her make-up, clean her teeth thor-oughly and re-paint her nails. She then gets into bed and falls asleep without a thought. No lie in for her tomorrow though as she is up at 6am again for an-other filled day of modelling and presenting.

“I suppose all the effort with pay off soon enough”. She is an inspiration to those girls doubt-ing that they can’t get where they want to be. She has made her career and her opportunities like we all can do. Keep your eye out for Clodagh as I expect she will soon be hitting front pages and the big screen.

Ashton Spacey

First years, pay attention. This is for you.

Or more specifically, this is for anyone drowning in the sea of dissertation-related neuro-sis and those who know them-selves well enough to know that they’re likely to.

Final year students may look back through nostalgia goggles and associate fond memories with writing their dissertation proposals, but for those of us presently suffering under them, life is far less pleasant. When handbooks prove useful only for beating one’s head in with frus-tration and tutors seem oddly

reluctant to provide concrete help (presumably for their own sadistic pleasure), it’s not unu-sual to feel out of your depth. I certainly do. Or, rather, I did - until I attended the “We Speak” Student Conference.

On April 6th, the We Speak Student Conference was held in Portland Building, free of charge and open to anyone. A student-organised and student-run event, the name of the confer-ence is fairly self-explanatory: it consisted of a series of speakers presenting their own disserta-tion proposals to a large audi-ence of fretting students and interested lecturers. Topics were media-based, but these were diverse enough in format and content to display an excellent assortment of ideas for other presentations.

Ashleigh Gurry

Fashion and Textiles students held a fashion show to gain ex-perience both producing gar-ments and organising a show. The fashion show, which was run to help raise money for Rowans Hospice, took place at Purple Door, 31st March at 5pm.

The Charity shop gave the students six bags of old clothes, which they set work on to re-vamp.

“We took over Purple Door for a day turning it into a sew-ing room, we also took over the print room at uni creating brand new t-shirts. Various different clothes were made like jeans, shorts, skirts, head bands and so on all to be later modelled in the fashion show and what wasn’t sold at the fashion show goes back into the charity shop” said Sarah Jackson, one of the stu-dents involved in the show.

The show was run by second year fashion and textiles stu-dents as a separate project from

their degree with the aim to gain experience as well as show the diversity of charity shop bar-gains. The show was run by stu-dents Sarah Jackson, Hannah Clemments, Vicki Lamberton, Sophie Acheson, Amy Gray and

also Alive Hickman from Purple Door, with more students mod-eling.

The clothes were altered by a variety of techniques, such as embroidery, screen printing, distressing with sand paper and there was a wide variety of both plain and embellished clothing, using gems and flowers, for all tastes.

Rubbish to runway: trash fashion

“ The Charity shop gave

the students six bags of

old clothes, which they set work on to revamp.

Students and lecturers listen as speakers outline their proposals for their dissertations at the student-organised “We Speak” event - Van Norris


Letters9

Arts&Ents14-18

Opinion7-8

Features10-13

News1-6

Downtime19

Before she can even contem-plate bed she has to remove her make-up, clean her teeth thor-oughly and re-paint her nails. She then gets into bed and falls asleep without a thought. No lie in for her tomorrow though as she is up at 6am again for an-other filled day of modelling and presenting.

“I suppose all the effort with pay off soon enough”. She is an inspiration to those girls doubt-ing that they can’t get where they want to be. She has made her career and her opportunities like we all can do. Keep your eye out for Clodagh as I expect she will soon be hitting front pages and the big screen.

Features

Education

Ashton Spacey

First years, pay attention. This is for you.

Or more specifically, this is for anyone drowning in the sea of dissertation-related neuro-sis and those who know them-selves well enough to know that they’re likely to.

Final year students may look back through nostalgia goggles and associate fond memories with writing their dissertation proposals, but for those of us presently suffering under them, life is far less pleasant. When handbooks prove useful only for beating one’s head in with frus-tration and tutors seem oddly

reluctant to provide concrete help (presumably for their own sadistic pleasure), it’s not unu-sual to feel out of your depth. I certainly do. Or, rather, I did - until I attended the “We Speak” Student Conference.

On April 6th, the We Speak Student Conference was held in Portland Building, free of charge and open to anyone. A student-organised and student-run event, the name of the confer-ence is fairly self-explanatory: it consisted of a series of speakers presenting their own disserta-tion proposals to a large audi-ence of fretting students and interested lecturers. Topics were media-based, but these were diverse enough in format and content to display an excellent assortment of ideas for other presentations.

Each speaker presented for around 10-15 minutes on their chosen topic, then were ques-tioned by the audience and pre-sented with possible suggestions for avenues of research, both by students and audience mem-bers. Although the conference room was far from full, there was certainly a fair amount of people watching – and impres-sively, for the entire four hours.

Thanks to the efforts of sec-ond-year students James Oakes (Film) and Penny Chalk (Film & English) and their team, the We Speak Conference was an unde-niable success. They were able to decorate the room, advertise the conference, and provide re-freshments and programmes for audience members, all in a highly professional manner. On a meagre budget, that is no small feat.

If there is to be any criticism of the conference, it is this: the advertising could have been (and in future, should be) more extensive. It’s a pity that more people didn’t attend; the con-ference provided an excellent opportunity not only to present and receive feedback, but also to glean a clear idea of what’s re-quired in a well-made disserta-tion proposal and presentation. It is an enormously helpful event and was tragically underplayed.

However, criticisms aside, We Speak was a credit to the work of the team. There are already plans to stage another confer-ence around the same time next

year and in addition, Oakes and Chalk are producing an e-book of conference transcripts and papers, available for those un-able to attend – details to follow as they come. Naturally, any vol-unteers who wish to be involved will be welcomed to the team in future.

On that note, getting involved with the conference could well

be an excellent asset to a CV, as a speaker or as part of the produc-tion, media or editorial teams. For those of you thinking of at-tending next year, please do. It’s a fantastic opportunity and not to be missed.

Even if you don’t come away with anything more than a bis-cuit and a drink, at least you’ll forget about that godawful

drowning sensation for a few hours.

For those interested in sign-ing up, please contact Christine Etherington-Wright at [email protected] and get involved.

“We Speak” Student Conference: a subtle success

Penny Chalk and James Oakes at the “We Speak” conference - Van Norris

Students and lecturers listen as speakers outline their proposals for their dissertations at the student-organised “We Speak” event - Van Norris

12 Pugwash News Wednesday 11th May 2011Pugwash News Wednesday 11th May 2011University of Portsmouth Students’ Union Register online at www.upsu.net

Features


Letters9

Arts&Ents14-18

Opinion7-8

Features10-13

News1-6

Downtime19Features

Kreete Pruul

In England, we are already en-joying Spring with more than +15 degrees and we are all looking forward to summer-time. About 1100 miles away is a small country, Estonia, where it has been less than -33 degrees during this Winter and Spring time is still quite far away.

Estonia has become famous this winter, by having the long-est ice highway between the mainland and the second biggest island, called Hiiumaa. The ice road is about 26 km (16miles) long. It is a wonderful alterna-tive for the locals, because it is free and takes only about 30 minutes to go to Hiiumaa.

The ice road is opened in the cold winters when the sea freez-es enough to carry cars. The ice road was officially opened for

motor traffic on 19th of Febru-ary but before that some really brave and fearless locals were driving. The ice road has rules that drivers must follow. The drivers must keep at least 250m distance from each other, be-cause otherwise the ice might crack. Besides that, the advis-able driving speed should be between 50 and 70 km/h and of course drivers should reduce speed when the road is not a re-ally smooth driving surface. The ice road is open every day from 9am to 6pm and they do not let people on the road when it is dark, because people can get lost and it could be really dan-gerous.

I went to Estonia on 24th of February when it was Estonian Independence Day. The weather was more than just cold, it was

around -20 degrees - but at least it was sunny. Most people cannot even imagine such cold weather and in England -5 de-grees is a disaster and 2cm snow freaks everyone out. In Estonia, people are used to having lots of snow, and winter sports like cross-country skiing are really popular among Estonians.

I arrived at the ice-road around 12pm and I had to queue more than 3 hours, because they let cars on the ice road after eve-ry 2 minutes. It was like a fes-tival there! It was my first time driving on the ice road by myself and I must say that it is incred-ible experience. Everywhere you look you can only see endless frozen sea and sky. It was one of the most beautiful and pic-turesque views. It gives you an unbelievable feeling and it is a

good escapism from the every-day world. The ice road was in really good condition and Esto-nia's highways administrators are doing a really good job.

There is also a more alter-native way to travel on the ice road and Estonians know how to combine sport and beautiful weather. Why not to go by cross-country skiing? For brothers Magnus and Rasmus it was the fastest way to go home. It took them about 1h and 50minutes and they did not have to queue. They said that: “All the people who were driving by were look-ing and waving to us. We were quite proud of ourselves and this is the thing what we will have to tell to our grandchildren”. They also said that they try to do this every year when the ice road is open and it is their way to cel-

ebrate it.

“ In Estonia, people are

used to having lots of

snow, and winter sports like cross-

country skiing are really popular among Estonians.I would recommend everyone

to go and explore this ice road next winter, when it possibly will be open again. Estonia is a beautiful place and is also The European Culture Capital 2011, and the European Athletics Jun-ior Championships will take place there in July. It is worth a visit.

A long slippery roadTravel

It’s Vintage darlingAlice Pointing

I think it is safe to say that I am not the only twenty-something student in Portsmouth who is constantly let down by the piti-ful array of shops Commercial Road has to offer.

Whatever magazine that has told you that coveted playsuit is in Primark has not lied, it is just the Portsmouth Primark appears to only get new stock every six months.

With the Topshop ten times too small, and the River Island in competition with the size of my living room, it is not uncommon to strut into Tiger Tiger feeling pretty smug with your new dress only to find six other girls wear-ing the exact same outfit as you. Your night is therefore ruined as you try and dodge your repli-cas to avoid the embarrassment

of being face to face with your identical twin.

If the above happens, the fake smiles and laughs are sure to follow whilst your mates do you proud by evil-ing the unfortu-nate outfit clone from afar. We girls can be very cruel when it comes to fashion. With loans still fresh in the bank, girls in their hundreds have flocked to Cas-cades to squander their money on new bags, dresses and shoes but who really does get excited when faced with the prospect of a day’s shopping on Commercial Road?

With the possibility of a Blue-water-esque shopping centre ever being built in Portsmouth very slim, I have turned to alter-native ways of feeding my shop-ping addiction without having to endure a battle in Topshop for

the last size 10. Ebay and charity shops are

my answer. Long gone are my days of waiting outside char-ity shops whilst your Nan goes in or being embarrassed about wearing second hand clothes, because now, instead, it is ‘vin-tage, darling’. Being a student, the amount of time I spend on eBay is fast replacing my long hours of ‘Facebook stalking’. The adrenaline rush of a bidding war is addictive whilst receiving your package through the post is like your birthday every week!

For all you bargain hunters out there get yourself down to Palmerston Road where you will find some gems of charity shops. Only the other day I picked up a beautiful quilted shoulder bag for only £2.50. I would normally spend £30 on a bag at the least,

so the money I am saving is in-credible and being vintage piec-es you know not many people are going to have the same one and, of course, we are giving to a good cause.

Whilst we all know Ports-mouth is by far the best uni-versity in Britain, the shopping is not something to write home about. If you get over the initial shudder of wearing someone else’s clothes, then you are onto a winner. After all, Charity Shop Chic is the new Chanel don’t you know.

Want to write fashion fea-tures, or any kind of feature story for Pugwash News?

Email [email protected]

Expensive fashion - Dan Chesterton

The road to Hiiumaa, Estonia stretches 26km - Kreete Pruul

Fashion



Fire in Babylon Dan WhitewayArts & Entertainment EditorHave dead horse (not a Penel-ope Cruz reference), continue to flog. Everyone’s favourite pirate is back for a completely unwanted return in which he chases down the location of the terminally underused mov-ie plot device of the fountain of youth. But this one is in 3D so you can see Jack Sparrow do something silly in an extra dimension. Hardly a silver lin-ing, is it?

Black Swan (DVD) Sophie WorrellDeputy Arts & Entertainment EditorWe all saw it, we all know how good it was, we all know how disturbing it was, we all know that we’ll NEVER watch it with our parents, we all know that we may never watch it again, but we all know that it’s one of those films that you have to have!

Darkspore, out nowLewis DowlingInternet and Gaming EditorGames released at the same time as their movie counter-parts are at the cinemas, that attempt to squeeze every drop-let of cash out of the consumer, are inevitably, and shamefully, completely and utterly shit. This is fact. And here’s Thor.

Suck It and See - Arctic Monkeys, 6th JunePaul MillerMusic EditorWe may still have a few weeks to go but if what we’ve heard is anything to go by, then this is definitely worth an early men-tion. ‘Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair’ shows the band descending further into delicious darker depths and ‘Brick By Brick’ isn’t bad either. Surely this album can only be good.

Attack the Block, in cin-emas 13th MayHannah WhitnallScreen EditorThe producers of Shaun of the Dead bring us Alien Invasion, about a group of youths who have to fight off aliens who are intruding their South London estate. Starring Nick Frost, who is guaranteed to give us a few laughs with his laid back hu-mour. The subtle dig at chavs is something to look forward to.

Pirates of the Caribbean 4 - On Stranger Tides, in cinemas 20th MayDan WhitewayArts & Ents EditorHave dead horse (not a Penel-ope Cruz reference), continue to flog. Everyone’s favourite pirate is back for a completely unwanted return. But this one is in 3D so you can see Jack Sparrow do something silly in an extra dimension. Hardly a silver lining, is it?

41 Year Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Mar-shall & Felt Superbad About It, out on DVD 16th MaySophie WorrellDeputy Arts & Ents EditorStop it! Stop it! Just stop it now! Stop taking good, funny films and merging them to-gether to produce what can only be described as an insult to the industry and a drain on Hollywood’s funds! Scary Mov-ie - OK that was good. But after the disaster that was Vampires Suck, have you not learnt your lesson?

Thor: The Videogame, out nowLewis DowlingInternet and Gaming EditorGames released at the same time of movies, that attempt to squeeze every droplet of cash out of the consumer, are in-evitably, and shamefully, com-pletely and utterly shit. This is fact. And here’s Thor.

Olly Murs - Portsmouth Guildhall, 19th MayPaul MillerMusic EditorPlaying four nights at South-end on Sea’s Cliffs Pavillion may be almost fair enough, but I don’t think there’s really any reason for him to come down here is there? This is one of the few situations where the only way should actually be Essex.

Take Me Home Tonight, in cinemas 13th MayHannah WhitnallScreen EditorThe plot is similar to that of all other cheesy American rom-coms. Topher Grace plays a college boy chasing around his dream girl. It’s a film set in the 80’s which aims to bring nos-talgia and silly, raunchy hu-mour. If you’re hungover and looking for something easy to watch, this is the film.

MayThursday 12th Forever in Blue Jeans at Kings Theatre, Brother at the Wedgewood Rooms.Friday 13th Shaolin Warriors at Kings Theatre. Ezio at The Cellars.Saturday 14th Grimethorpe Colliery Band at Kings Theatre, Tango Vida at New Theatre Royal, Stephen K. Amos at Southampton Guildhall.Sunday 15th The Billy Fury Story at Kings The-atre, Panic at the Disco at the Portsmouth Pyra-mids.Tuesday 17th The Vanishing Horizon at New Theatre Royal, Katy B at the Portsmouth Pyra-mids.Wednesday 18th See How They Run at Kings

Theatre (runs for two nights), Human Equals Hu-man at New Theatre Royal. Furious Music pre-sents Local Band Showcase at The Cellars.Thursday 19th Olly Murs at the Portsmouth Guildhall.Saturday 21st Symphony Orchestra & Big Band at New Theatre Royal, Derek Acorah at the Ports-mouth Pyramids. Purple Zeppelin at The Cellars.Sunday 22nd The Show Must Go On, You Can’t Stop The Beat...Take 2 at New Theatre Royal.Monday 23rd Cowardy Custard at Kings Thea-tre (runs for two nights), The Gruffalo’s Child at New Theatre Royal (runs for three nights).

InterviewWhat’s Hot What’s Not

A Metronomic rise

Gigs and Shows coming up

Flynn Massey interviews Joseph Mount of Metronomy“I never think about it in a

kind of genres or moving ap-proach, like ‘this is gonna be a more rock pop album’. It’s kind of getting away from that and trying to find a way of trying to get more excited about mu-sic. People I think respect artists that are more about not sitting comfortably, and are always try-ing to push themselves.” says Jo-seph Mount of Metronomy.

It’s been over 10 years since Mount started to slowly hone and unleash his project, born out of playing drums for too many mates’ bands that all al-legedly split up due to ex-girl-friends Come 2011, Mount’s newly formed foursome is quite something. Comprised of origi-nal member Oscar Cash, Light-speed Champion’s drummer Anna Prior and brilliant new bassist Gbenga Adelekan, the band seem relaxed and ready for their first UK tour as a quartet.

A band born in an idyllic town in Devon over a decade ago, now beginning to be more than known by the British public and renowned for their live perfor-mances as part dance workout, part musical rapture, Metrono-my have gone from strength to strength, and continue to with the release of their third album, The English Riviera.

“It’s a lot easier to make an al-bum which has an idea behind it, because it makes it easier to give a shape to it. Nowadays people are very disparaging about the idea of an album, and see it as a dead one, but if you make an album for an actual reason, it gives a person a reason to have that album. I think it’s nice to present it in a way that they’re buying an idea or a feeling.”

Certainly a far cry from the

former Metronomy brandishing their circular light pads on their shirts and giving you the sense that lightshows are overrated as ingenuity and simplicity makes for an awesome look. Mount and company were catapulted into the indie electro pop main-stream via Nights Out, their sec-ond album hailed as one to look out for in 2008 by all critics.

Suddenly ‘Heartbreaker’ and ‘A Thing For Me’ became poten-tially big, and recently they’ve put out some great new singles, including ‘The Look’; a song that has the appeal of a Blur song, with an organ musing away in the background, as piano and keyboard beats connect and you hear a simple yet standard drum

beat, ‘The Look’ has potential fan favourite written all over it.

Still, I wondered what the Metronomy of 2011 was going to be like now that it’s more a band and less a project. “I think we’re very fortunate in terms of how it turned out; it’s gone so well in terms of how we get on, in the way we played. The only reason it happened, when Ga-briel left, it was like a mistake, but there wasn’t any bad blood.

And the future? “I think we’re looking at ‘The Bay’ for the next single. As for festivals, we’ll be playing places like Glastonbury and Leeds again.”

Read a review of Metronomy at the Wedgewood Rooms on pugwashnews.com


Letters9

Arts&Ents14-18

Opinion7-8

Features10-13

News1-6

Downtime19Arts & Entertainment

Music

Liam Ryder

It’s been a long road for Lon-don metalcore outfit Rise to Re-main, and not just metaphori-cally – the tour on which they have been supporting Funeral for a Friend has been going on for three weeks.

Tonight’s stop in Bourne-mouth has been moved twice; initially from Poole, to The Old Fire Station last Friday, to to-night.

The floor of the dressing room is covered in suitcases and cucumber is strewn all over the room. It provides a messy scene, but is in a much better state than most. There are no sofas in need of maintenance or replacing and the walls aren’t falling apart. It’s just a sign of how far this band have come since their inception in 2006.

“I remember we did this tour right after I finished my GCSE’s.’ frontman Austin Dickinson

explains ‘It was me, Ben [Tovey, lead guitar], Will [Hom-er, rhythm guitar] - the old line-up that constituted Halide [the band’s former name] and anoth-er band called Terrorlapse who were our mates from round the corner and we all got in this van and we just drove around the country.”

“It was just this nutty tour; I ended up with pneumonia, Will ended up with pneumonia, you

know, to put it bluntly it was the best time of my life. There’s nothing better than being a kid

being out with your friends and being on tour and to have such a valuable first experience as that I’m very grateful.”

Austin was just 15 years old when Halide formed, and the band ran into unusual problems when starting out. “I think for us because we were all living in London the one thing and we were all quite young – van in-surance is so astronomical if you live there so we basically tried to find friends of friends who could drive us on the cheap and did it that way and met a load of peo-ple on the way.”

Ben Tovey has a command-ing presence both on and off the stage, but his warm manner dis-pels any worries of being intimi-dated. He, like Austin, started out as most young musicians do; writing in the bedroom before progressing to bigger things.

Five years later, the band are signed to EMI; one of the big-gest record labels in the world, have a debut album out late this summer, have toured the UK ex-tensively and played Download and Sonisphere festivals several

times.“There were plenty of great

labels that we respect and have a lot of respect for and they’ve got a lot of amazing bands but EMI were the ones who just had the most excitement and the most prospect and we were just very, very in tune with them. Their ideas and their agenda for us really matched our scale of vi-sion for this band.”

A vision, clearly, as huge as the label that had signed them; “I’d love to do something with an orchestra, I think maybe on our third album.”

Ben’s background has a heavy influence on his ambitions, as he explains; “Both of my par-ents are classical musicians; my Dad’s a conductor so if the band got to do something with an or-chestra -”

“Like Metallica’s S&M?” Aus-tin adds.

“Yeah.”And what about Austin? “Peo-

ple say headline Wembley Are-na, but I say headline Wembley

Stadium, because that’s what I want to do. I’d love to head-line Wembley Stadium but you know what? That said, as long as we can keep doing stuff like this; stay on the road, make a steady living then I am down, I am stoked for that.”

Here to stay: Rise to Remain“Rage metal” for allAlexandra Dragne

Skindred at Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms27th April

If you’ve ever thought that metal and reggae cannot blend togeth-er creating an unique sound, then you’ve never listened to Skindred. Since 1998, Benji (vo-cals, electronics), Daniel (bass), Mikey (guitar,backing vocals) and Arya (drums) have done this by clashing different ideas and the cultural context of each genre, adding DnB, punk-rock influences to create what they refer to as “raga metal”.

On the 27th of April, Skin-dred performed in Portsmouth at the Wedgewood Rooms, af-ter the concert was originally planned in the Pyramids Centre. The tickets were sold out.

The opening bands, Me vs Hero and Chiodos, started warming up the crowd. Still the excitement and outputs of en-ergy burst every time Skindred are mentioned.

The band breaks the borders between generations. Interview-ing Lucy (56) in the crowd, I found out what brought her in the concert room on a Wednes-day night: the ability of the band to combine reggae and metal.

Finally, Skindred comes! The dim lights in the room go off and the stage is lighted by a sympho-ny of colors and flashes. It is like they’re dancing on the ‘metallic’ chords of the first song, ‘Roots Rock Riot’. The crowd goes cra-zy! Benji is describing through this song exactly the atmosphere of the concert : “Co me say so many people dem ah rock in the place/Can’t find no room you know/ you can’t find space/The energy’s ecstatic as you’re smashing up the place”.

The crowd is moving slowly on reggae rhythms, when sud-denly, ‘Selector’ comes next and they start bouncing and banging their heads on the punk-rock or drum and bass sound. It gives

you the impression of a Voodoo ritual made by Benji, Daniel, Arya and Mikey by controlling the movement of the people through their music.

The band members are con-stantly communicating with their fans encouraging them to sing along, often asking the more quiet ones: “Are you okay on this side?”

When Benji says that they will not perform their famous song ‘Nobody’, the crowd starts screaming the name of the song frantically. After one minute of suspense, you could hear the first chords of the most expect-ed song. Thus Mikey’s guitar becomes a gun that triggers an explosion of mad positive reac-tions. The impact of the song on the people is like a burst of energy spread in the suffocating room.

At one point the band goes backstage, leaving the crowd in despair. Nobody wants to go home as they know it is not the end. Skindred come back on stage, Benji wearing a sailor hat (representing Portsmouth). They start playing again for the ecstatic public. Then they dedi-cate Rihanna’s song ‘The Only Girl’ to all the ladies. Nobody cares about the song as long as it is part of the show.

The concert ends with the song ‘Dangerous’. The end of the song is like the end of a trance. The public leaves the room like nothing ever happened there. The only thing they leave be-hind is beer glasses and a lot of energy that still floats in the air-less atmosphere.

The title of the last song they played defined the whole con-cert. It is indeed “dangerous” to listen to Skindred and think that you can stop enjoying them. It’s an amazing band that is worth seeing live. Angelica (24) said: “It’s not just a gig, they don’t just come on stage and sing…. It’s an entire show that they offer us and becomes like an addiction!”

“Hey you, aspiring film review-er! I’ve heard you are a fan of writing Haikus but are disap-pointed that you have never been able to combine these two relatively diverse interests into one potentially prize-winning

piece of writing.”If this these words sum you

up, have we got a competition for you. Film news and review-ing website, Best for Film, are looking for the best the blogo-sphere has to offer when it

comes to reviewing films in the form of an Haiku.

The rules are simple; choose a film, write a Haiku reviewing it, post the Haiku to your blog and link it through to the Best for Film website to be in with a

chance of winning a Sony Blu-Ray player worth £140.

For more information visit bestforfilm.com/film-blog/com-petition-hollywood-haikus

Competition: Haiku your way to glory



Sophie Worrell: Arts & Ents Deputy Editor

ThorOut in cinemas now

This latest flick from the super-duper Marvel franchise intro-duces us to Thor, the Norse God of Thunder (said in a booming echoing voice). As superheroes go Thor is relatively unknown but this film definitely leaves you wanting to know more.

In a nutshell, after defying his father Odin, played by the for-midable Anthony Hopkins, this powerful yet cocky warrior is exiled from the realm of Asgard and sent to Earth as a mortal where he meets scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). Well I say meets – she hit him with her car. While there he finds that there are important lessons that he must learn if he is to save both Earth and Asgard from the forces of evil that would see them destroyed.

Now as beautiful and talented as Natalie Portman is, she was definitely overshadowed by two of her lesser known co-stars. The first being Chris Hemsworth who was tremendous as the mighty Thor himself, with a dominant and commanding performance

coupled with devilishly good looks and a certain knack for throwing a very large and very heavy hammer (so that’s what those bulging biceps were for!).

The second show-stealing performance came in the form of Kat Dennings (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) who played Portman’s assistant Darcy Lewis. She provided the comic relief with her perfectly timed quirky comments and her inappropri-ate use of a taser.

You may look at this film and think Marvel, superhero, capes and make believe lands, and automatically come to the con-clusion that this film is solely for comic book geeks. But you would be wrong.

The perfect blend of comedy and action, coupled with mes-merizing special effects (which can only really be appreciated properly if seen in 3D), along-side themes of heroism, fantasy and romance, make this film suitable and enjoyable for just about anybody, young or old, boy or girl.

And girls, if you’re having second thoughts there is some-thing you should know. Chris Hemsworth is ripped to within an inch of his life! Exaggeration aside, he is packing some serious

muscle under all that armour and this film definitely makes sure that said muscles don’t go unnoticed!

With blow-your-mind effects, WWF worthy fight scenes and tear-your-heart–out ultimatums and sacrifices, Thor has definite-

ly marked its spot on the Marvel map of giants.

Dan WhitewayArts & Entertainment Editor

You know the cliche in movie reviews that goes something along the lines of “<insert name here> in the role he was born to play.” Well, all these guys were born to play the same role again and again and again and again. And once more.

1. Michael Cera“Innocent looking male in 20s with tender facial features, indie/alternative nature and slightly high-pitched voice seeks movie role playing an in-nocent looking male in 20s with tender facial features, indie/alternative nature and slightly high-pitched voice. Preferably starring alongside similarly in-die female lead. Note; acting angry may prove troublesome.”

2. Danny DyerHey you, Mr Casting Direc-tor, do you need a stereotypi-

cal ‘Cockney’ to liven up your film and give it that gritty East London edge that nobody re-ally wants nor needs? Jason Statham not available? Here is your man, with a minimal fee to boot. Lovely jubbley, apples and pears, dog and bone and all that.

3. Jim CarreyBringing funny faced larks and contorted body poses to the big screen since 1994, through Ace Ventura, Liar Liar, How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Bruce Almighty. If you’re look-ing for a film where words will be pronounced in a strange and ker-azy manner, here is the man you need. Apart from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Not a comedy as it turns out.

4. Colin FirthDo you know who loves stereo-typical, every-so-slightly posh British men in their films? Yup, Americans. And do you know

which nation brings in the most cash at the box office? Ya huh, the United States. So what bet-ter way to bring in sacks of cash for your film than casting Mr Darcy himself in Mr Darcy-esque roles to perpetuate the myth that we English fellows are charming and scrummy (we are but you’re letting out the secret!). Similarly, see Hugh Grant.

5. Tom CruiseShoot an object, run about in a meandering fashion for a bit, yell into the air to let out all the frustration, shoot a person, cry into your arm, plot your next move in surgical detail, run about some more, yell and shoot at the same time, drive car aggressively whilst shooting at things, don’t shoot a person but cry and yell into the sky, run, shoot and yell at the same time to show some range. End credits. Call it a blockbuster.

Give me five: Typecast Actors

Screen

Thor hammers together comedy and actionCulture

Russell-ing up some laughs


Letters9

Arts&Ents14-18

Opinion7-8

Features10-13

News1-6

Downtime19Arts & Entertainment

Culture

Tanya McMullin

Russell KaneFareham Ashcroft Arts Cen-tre 27th April

Russell Kane’s Smokescreens and Castles is one of the best side-splitting, intellectual and hilariously honest hours I have ever had pass.

In the strangest predicament of being in quite possibly the smallest venue of his career at a time when his television appear-ances have shot him into fame, Russell took on the room like he had just been told to learn a Be-yoncé dance for charity all over again.

After doing a little warm up “weather” chat to the crowd, he soon begins to pick out members and declare his brutally can-did yet comical observations of them, calling one a paedophile and the other a steroid ridden beast, I do feel sorry for Mike and “Unit”.

Ignoring the prepared show,

he talks of his time in Australia, his friends Gary, Gary, Dave and Gary, low self-confidence, that Beyoncé dance and getting back on the dating scene (which I was more than happy to hear about, yet truthfully a little jealous of the lucky Lithuanian model). Not being weary of the upper class nature of the crowd, Rus-sell swears, shouts and dances his way through the awkward situation he has been placed in and manages it successfully. Smokescreens and Castles, a show based on masculinity and class, depicts the life of a re-bellious, be it metrosexual, son with a homophobic, emotionally detached, working class, bull-dog breed of a father, warts and all. Being psychologically torn between being accepted by his dad and being himself, the full Penguin-book-reading, skinny-jeans-wearing chap that he is, Russell Kane manages to turn what could have ended him up in a psych ward to some of the funniest material a crowd could easily relate to.

Portraying his saviour through puberty being his c-word screaming grandmother, you can see how he managed to grow into the vigorous and fantastic cultural anthropologist that he is, noticing those comi-cal things in life any other per-

son would skip right past.The only criticism of this en-

tire show was the impromptu finish spurred on by the venue staff, it made the show feel all that bit rushed and that the crowd had missed out on what we were yet to learn; we just

wanted more of the hugely im-pressive Russell, okay?

Russell Kane returns to Fare-ham Arts Centre on Thursday 23rd February 2012 with his next act, Manscaping, and who’s to say what truths he will pull out of the woodwork there.

Russell-ing up some laughs

Mister Who #1

Jim Bull

The old saying goes “never judge a book by it’s cover” but unfortunately the cover is the best part of the debut issue of Mister Who. Although the con-cept of “karma’s warrior” is truly an intriguing one, it’s let down by the execution. Muddy storytelling, unclear origins and static sequential art all con-spire to make this a chore to

get through, ultimately mak-ing it feel like a cut price Bat-man has been plunged into ur-ban London -which again is far less interesting than it sounds. I also neglected to listen to the CD supplied which promised “banging dance beats” as this critic feels that an art form should stand on it’s own mer-its without needing help from another medium. Overall, 2/10 and that 2 is for the moody and atmospheric cover that prom-ised better things!

Who are you? Lighten up!Through the filament at The Registry, 18th May

Dan Whiteway Arts & Ents Editor

Lightbulbs; bringing light to pre-viously dark locations ever since Thomas Edison invented them, as long as said dark place as an AC or DC electricity connec-tion. To celebrate the humanity’s own attempt at “letting there be light”, an original new exhibi-tion is coming to a pub near you.The Halogen Theatre is putting

on a unique exhibit entitled “Through the filament” at the Registry pub on Wednesday 18th May between 6pm and 10pm.The Registry will be split into five rooms that are to be ex-plored with each room contain-ing a “unique perspective that shine a new way of seeing a sim-ple, everyday object” or so the Facebook event informs me.Maybe the show will finally an-swer the question of just how many <insert social group here> it takes to screw in a lightbulb too, perhaps.

Tickets cost £6 for the general public and £4 for students and concessions with pre-booking strongly recommended. Tickets can be purchased by contacting any Halogen theatre member in the Wiltshire building or email-ing [email protected]

Bloody Brilliant!Blood Brothers at The King’s Theatre, 3rd MayLeila Millson

Tonight saw the opening of Bob Tomson and Bill Ken-wrights direction of Willy Rus-sell’s award winning production ‘Blood Brothers’. The show was captivating from beginning to end, bringing a true West End feel to Southsea. Struggling to cope with working class life and raising a family as a single moth-er, Mrs Johnstone, played by

Niki Evans, agrees to give away one of her new born twins to the wealthy Mrs Lyons, played by Tracy Spencer. The story con-tinues with the pain and strug-gle of each mother knowing the truth about their children. Ev-ans provided outstanding vocal performance with every number within this challenging role.

For me, Sean Jones was un-doubtedly the best performer of the show; perfectly portraying the care-free and light-heart-ed young character of Mickey, whilst all the same managing to

flawlessly connect with the au-dience during the characters de-scent into an emotional break-down. Jones managed to use the character to its full potential, with excellent stage presence and perfect timing. Paul Davies as Eddie also gave an excep-tional performance throughout, connecting with the audience as they warmed to his charm and naivety. What both Jones and Davies also accomplished as adults playing children in the earlier scenes, was to perform the roles being believable as

children without going over the top with their acting.

Craig Price as the Narrator was conducted brilliantly, espe-cially with the number ‘Shoes Upon the Table’ and always holding the sinister onstage presence. Credit must also be given to Kelly-Anne Gower as love interest Linda; who also perfected the differentiation be-tween the child and adult char-acter.

The use of off stage perfor-mance is also worth pointing out, a technique which I found

very interesting and had been executed brilliantly, bringing the audience in to make us feels as though we were also a part of the story.

Overall I found this a fantastic performance which I do not be-lieve could have gone any better, the entire cast and crew man-aged to work together to create a performance which was truly engaging for the audience; mak-ing us all both laugh and cry.

Want to write for the Culture section?Email [email protected] to get involved for anything theatre or comedy related.



ARTIC

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EXAMPLE

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Restaurant

Touareg on Elm Grove

Manon Pilarz

The Touareg Restaurant offers the prefect setting for a relaxed atmosphere and a good time. Thesubdued light coming from the Arabic style lamps and Ara-bic music in the background cre-ates a lovely atmosphere as will the welcome from the smiling staff, who are very friendly and professional.

To talk about the food, it is impossible to criticize anything! I got free complementary mari-nated olives and Tunisian bread that tasted amazing. This agree-able surprise is not much com-paring to the couscous and the lamb tagine served in traditional dishes, that have been freshly cooked with fresh meat and

fresh vegetable, it tasted just right. It had been a long time since the last time I had a eaten a carrot that actually tasted like carrot, not frozen veg put in a microwave. The only thing that was annoying was that my food was so hot that I had to wait a good while before digging in!

The menu offers a large choice of North African / Medi-terranean dishes including cou-sous, tagine, mezze, salads and vegetarian dishes. The meals are healthy and big enough to fill you up for only £8 to £12 per

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der fresh mint tea that comes in its traditional pot, and drink it in the comfy garden-lounge at the back with cushions and carpets. Optionally you can also have a shisha of which there are many different flavours that you will want to try: apple, banana, jas-mine, coconut...

I highly recommend this res-taurant to those who love North African / Mediterranean food and those who like having a cheap and chilled out night out.

Gears of War with wandsHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (All platforms)

Paul Macklin

When a gamer is interested in buying a shooter game, my guess is their first choice isn’t going to be Harry Potter and the

Deathly Hallows: Part 1. Simi-larly, most Harry Potter fans that will be buying the penultimate title will probably be disappoint-ed by the trigger-happy element of the game. Even if that's what you're in to, it isn’t really a good shoot-em-up.

As you delve into the game you find yourself encounter-ing numerous Death Eaters and

Snatchers, and you can fight against them with the assistance (or potential hindrance) of a slightly faulty duck and cover system. Or you could just as eas-ily run past all of the Death Eat-ers until the next save point.

More confusing still is the random sub-games that pop up occasionally, asking you to sneak past a dragon before you

proceed. I don’t remember any dragons in Deathly Hallows, maybe three books ago in Gob-let of Fire.

The problem the game suf-fers from most is it’s inability to truly capture the essence of the last Harry Potter book. At no point do you feel an overwhelm-ing urge to find the Horcruxes. More often than not you will be

button mashing your way out of a situation that lacks any kind of real narrative. To top it off, Harry and Hermione’s voices are not the real actors, and it really is quite off putting if you are a hardcore fan.

So if you’re not looking for Horcruxes, and you want to shoot someone with a wand, this might be the game for you.

SimCityMatt Phil Carver

There are so many reasons why the SimCity franchise deserves respect. Its various incarnations spanned almost two decades, it inspired a multitude of ‘sim’ prefixed strategy games, and ‘SimCity’ is actually recognised on the Microsoft Word Spell Checker. Mainly though, it de-serves respect purely because this game’s universal appeal, addictive qualities, and extraor-dinary longevity are a complete and total mystery. Why the hell did we ever even play this game?

Further to that thought: why the hell was it even created? The pitching process must have been a long and arduous one,

fraught with exchanges such as:“Mr Games Developer! We

have a great video game idea for you!”

“Okay, let’s hear it.”“It’s like this. You have an

empty expanse of land, and you build a city on it.”

“Interesting opening. What then?”

“Oh. Actually that’s pretty much it.”

“No guns, monsters, tanks and mutants?”

“It has a monorail.”“Stop wasting my time. I

could be playing Pacman.”And yet, get made it most

certainly did, and it was addic-tive as hell. So too were Theme Hospital, Theme Park World, Theme Hotel, and Rollercoaster Tycoon. Theme Park managers of the mid-nineties must’ve felt

damn stupid, bitching about their jobs when half the world was addicted to the video games that simulated them.

So respect for SimCity (and others of its ilk), for turning an incredibly boring premise into a seriously moreish game. And respect to the developers, for stopping short of Theme Land-fill Site and Kebab Shop Tycoon.

RetroRespect

Internet & Gaming

Auber-genius!Aubergine on Albert Road

Maxine MasonRestaurant Editor

Aubergine is quite the talk of the town when it comes to produc-ing good quality curry, bursting with authentic Indian flavors and just a slight kick from the spice rack. I was definitely ex-pecting to be wowed at my re-cent visit to the restaurant with a group of friends and a hearty plate of curry.

The restaurant is located on the popular student destina-tion, Albert Road, where not surprisingly most of the interest-ing, multi-cultural restaurants take up residence .So the night kicked off with a plentiful sup-ply of poppadums, alongside an ample amount of dips and sauc-es! The cracking and dipping of

poppadums began to work up eager appetites and we were soon ready to get stuck into the main course.

I enjoyed a simple but time-less chicken korma, with pilau rice and a refreshing mango las-si to wash it down with! Mango lassi is a funky Indian inspired drink, which consists of mango, buttermilk and ice and you can have it served sweet or sour. I would definitely suggest you try it if you find yourself feeling a tad adventurous; it is served at most curry houses.

When all was scoffed and thoroughly enjoyed, the even-ing came to a much appreciated close. The curry wasn’t badly priced but I would suggest go-ing to Aurbergine on its student nights from Monday to Wednes-day in which they have 20 per-cent discount on all dishes!

A fresh Oriental feast

Want to write for the Internet & Gaming section of Pugwash News?Email [email protected] for any questions or reviews regarding gaming.

19Sports20-24

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Pugwash News Wednesday 11th May 2011Pugwash News Wednesday 11th May 2011

Downtime

Infusion6th May - 19th MayEldon Building

An art exhibtion put together by Level 2 Fine Art students, designed to cater for a variety of talents.

Student Union Awards14th MayFratton Park

£35 a tickets at the Students’ Union Shop, which includes a drinks reception, meal, and entertainment till 1am.

Univertsity Ochestra23rd May, 7:30pmNew Theatre Royal

The ensemble returns to their usual May fare with tchai-kovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, Tickets are £8/7.

Dates for the DiaryPhoto of the Fortnight - Krish Mistry Venice at night

Comic Corner by xkcd.com

ADVANCED

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In only 30 seconds starting at the left, work your way across applying the instructions to your running total. No calculators allowed!30 Second number cruncher

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recorded (8,10)5. Pingu (7)6. Type of smartphone (9)7. Bubbly chocolate (5)10. Energy drink (10)12. Glasses (10)18. Capital of Norway (4)

BEGINNER

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Sudoku

What can be swallowed but can also swal-low you?If you know the answer then email [email protected] and you could win a case of Relentless Sugar Free Libertus drink. Perfect to get you through exams.

word Search

number blockSTry to fill in the missing numbers.The missing numbers are integers between 0 and 9. The numbers in each row equal the totals to the right. The numbers in each column equal the totals along the bottom. The diagonal lines also equal the totals to the right.

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EXAMPLE

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KINGS OF

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Limited supply of Relentless restricts the competition to one winner. Correct entries will be chosen at random by 20th May 2011.


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Sports on tour: a fresh perspective


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Tour

Sports on tour: a fresh perspectiveLizzi Scoones

Tour is unlike any other expe-rience I’ve had in my life. Firstly the sheer impact of staying in a hotel packed out with just stu-dents is fantastic, it makes for plenty of banter, but secondly, I’ve definitely done things I nev-er thought I would in my life.

It’s amazing what the pres-sure of being a fresher does to you, it makes you eat sand, take your top off and sunbathe at a service station, run the length of the Eurotunnel train, and consume things you probably shouldn’t.

It was pretty much governed by the nights out, crazy dress up and drinking fifteen fishbowls that are 50% alcohol. We were taken round bars in the sur-rounding area, and some were better than others. I particularly liked the fishbowl one.

In between bars someone would normally strike up a chant so we’d be walking along shout-ing at the top of our lungs. I can see why the locals wouldn’t like us. It was all a bit of fun though, everything on Tour was.

The mornings were…inter-esting. I managed to make it to breakfast every day, but I’m pret-ty convinced that was because I was still drunk.

I discovered the magical properties of lettuce. Yes, they had lettuce for breakfast, I don’t know why either. But it turned out to be a lifesaver, because not only was it the only thing I could handle eating, it restocked my water.

Considering the hotel’s wa-ter tasted like vomit, it was like crunchy heaven. So I’m just put-ting that one out there now. Got a hangover? Eat lettuce.

As far as the day times were concerned, there was Fresher Olympics on the beach, organ-ized by Jamie Makopa, our social sec for Gymnastics and Trampolining.

He had many grueling activi-ties in mind, including baby oil and rolling in the sand. Luckily we were spared this particular ‘sport’ because Jamie got too wasted to remember where he was, channeling the true spirit of Tour.

Basically if you were to ask me, ‘should I go on Tour?’ I’d say

yes a thousand times over, and pray you’re a fresher because

next year is my time to dish out the punishment.

Natasha Llewellyn

Salou Tour 2011 saw some of Portsmouth University’s best known sports clubs take to the sun, sea and sangria in Spain.

The six day tour started out with an epic 24 hour coach ride, with hundreds of students get-ting ready for a week of fun in the sun, starting off with a few funnels before the coaches had even left.

With some classic club banter, plenty of tour challenges and a bit of naked coach, it didn’t seem too long until freshers were welcomed to Spain with a fully clothed dip in the pool and even more funnels. With the first night out mime themed, Portsmouth University were out in their hundreds, dominating the bars of Salou and chanting the classic ‘Pompey ‘til I Die’.

Despite the hangovers, the clubs were up early the next day, for various sports matches organised by I Love Tour, with the fun and banter continuing against the other universities on Tour. As the evening commenced there were more dress ups, with American wrestlers, rag dolls and even lemmings making an

appearance in the evening, with clubs starting the night drinking fishbowls and going from club to club throughout the night.

As the clubs emerged the next morning, it was back on the bus-es for more sports fun, however with not all sports taking part in the organised matches, a few clubs took it upon themselves to create some tour fun. With clubs

organising fresher Olympics, it was up to the best club to win the ‘flip flop race’ and ‘fresher hurdles’, some hilarious, yet surprisingly competitive events. The beaches of Salou even saw the Cheerleading squad per-form some impressive stunts in the sun, and of course the foot-ball team showing off their ball skills.

With rumours going around the hotel that I Love Tour and a few Portsmouth students mak-

ing stories in the national paper, a distorted view of students was circulating around the UK. How-ever with Portsmouth’s sports men and women working hard towards their degrees and com-peting in their various sports throughout the year, Tour is four days to celebrate a brilliant year of sport and to let loose after all the hard work throughout the year.

By far the biggest evening of Tour was of course the night out in Pacha, with thousands of students in one massive venue, waiting for the sports results and of course, the official tour video to be released. With Ports-mouth featuring throughout the video, it was clear just how big the AU are on Tour. The night started with sports awards being handed out, and Pompey didn’t disappoint there either, wins from Basketball, Hockey and many other clubs, showed that Portsmouth are up there in the university sports world.

As the final day came around all the clubs were happy to have finished their sports matches, as it was a day of fun and drinking around the hotel, with massive

games of touch cup, pool games and even more banter with the hotel’s other residents.

The clubs were ready and on top form for the last night of Tour and by far some of the most original dress ups appeared, with bakers, hippies, Spartans and swimwear amongst others, it was of course going to be an-other messy night for the stu-dents of Portsmouth and Salou didn’t disappoint.

With Tour coming to an end it was another (much quieter)

24 hour coach trip home and the end of another brilliant Tour. With Dan Black doing the uni-versity proud by organising such an amazing week, Portsmouth students are already looking for-ward to next year’s shenanigans.

There are, of course, so many more stories to tell but what happens on Tour, stays on Tour! So if you want to find out, you’ll have to be one of the hundreds of students that attend next year. We love Tour: lalalala!

Hardened veteran’s third ‘tour’ of duty

The Gym & Tramp club enjoying themselves on tour

The netball club dressed up: one of the nights on tour was mime themed

“ a distorted view of

students was circulating

around the UK


Sports

Do a Master’s, change your life

Purple Door, 28 Guildhall Walk, Portsmouth PO1 2DD. Drop in or book an appointment online at www.port.ac.uk/postgraduate.

‘Coming to England has completely changed my life and my world view, for which I am grateful to the University and those who taught me. As a result of my studies I have developed a better understanding of public sector management and administration from local, regional and international perspectives.’

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Postgraduate information day• Tuesday 6 September 2011 11.30am–2.00pm and 5.00pm–6.30pm.

Patrick Fullarton

Portsmouth 199-4 198 ChichesterAfter six long months of prepara-tion and anticipation the start of the very short university cricket season began with a victory for Portsmouth.

The first league game saw the seconds at home to Chich-ester firsts. Having lost the toss Chichester opted to bat on what looked like a decent track.

Portsmouth had the new ball and the bowling pairing of Jack Westbrook and James Robertson had the ball darting off the seam and getting some steep bounce, which worked well, restricting Chichester to 32/2.

During the middle overs it was down to ex-captain Alex Watson and Tim Higgs to hold back Chichester’s attack, and on 130/6 it looked likely that Ports-mouth’s opponents would finish their innings with a low score on the cards, but due to some good batting Chichester managed to get to 180 before James Rob-ertson was bought back into the

Cricket open season with winUPSU Football Club are BUCs Cup Champions after win-ning the final on the 18th of March. 1st team captain Ki-eron Lewis takes us through the events in Sheffield.

The final was a very eventful couple of days. The team set off for Sheffield the day before the final and stayed up there the night be-fore. The night ended with a team meeting and early bed. Everyone including myself struggled to sleep that night; the following morning came around sooner than expect-ed and was met with a team breakfast and a walk around the city. The afternoon saw a team quiz which eased the tension of the lads and took their minds of the big game ahead of them. After the banter and jokes had died down the butterfly’s started to set in during a tactical team meeting going through the game plan.

The short bus journey to the game was among the quietest I had experienced with each of the players be-ginning to set their focus on the task in hand.

Arriving at the stadium early before kickoff we toured around the pitch ab-sorbing the view and testing

the pitch’s durability. Back in the changing rooms there was a positive vibe with the music blaring, banter and people going through their usual pre match rituals.

The warm up was one of the best we had done all season with every player focused on preparing both body and mind to the maxi-mum to give us the best pos-sible chance of winning. Half way through our fans turned up with the loud boister-ous voices which shifted the tempo of the warm up to the next level. Finally those but-terflies had started to fly in formation.

After an inspiring team talk from Tom Lloyd the boys lined up in the tunnel oppo-site the opponents Lincoln. There was an air of togeth-erness between us which was to be tested early on in the game. Walking on to the pitch we were met with a roar of songs from our fans which made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and gave the team a 12th man.

The game took an explo-sive start in which 3 goals were scored in 15 minutes. Lincoln took a very early lead with us replying twice

in quick succession to take the lead. From there we seemed to shift in to an extra gear which they were unable to deal with. We came in at half time 5-1 the good. Every player was playing to their potential and the feeling was good.

With everyone buzzing in the changing rooms at half time about our solid perfor-mance we were told to sit and hold our tongues to take a minute to digest the 1st half. The silence was broken by the coach with words of praise; however, he was sure to keep our feet on the floor and our heads out of the clouds.

The second half started the same as the 1st had fin-ished, with us scoring twice in the first 20 minutes to take the game to 7-1 and ef-fectively kill the game. Lin-coln managed to pull 2 back late on, one of which was a sophisticated volley and the other simply down to a lack of concentration on our part. The final whistle blew and the day was ours. Immedi-ately we were swamped by our fans and the party began. We were the champions.

UPSU Football Club are BUCS Cup Champions after winning the final on the 18th of March. First team captain Kieron Lewis takes us through the events in Sheffield.

How did Football win nationals?Features

Morwenna Mckenzie

So, we’ve had one team promoted this season which is great! Our match was last Wednesday against Imperial.

After a fantastic season with consistent good play throughout, the fourth team travelled to Imperial College London to finish the year with another hopeful win. She normally plays poorly, but after a sip of Coke and cheeky sugar rush Camilla Hoppitt was on form.

The fourths dominated the first quarter, where both Holly Formstone and Emily Edwards provided excellent movement and consistent good skill; enabling them to gain the lead. Even though there were some great inter-ceptions from Hayley Kate Warren, her and her size

ninety eight feet could not keep Imperial from quickly closing the gap; eventually entering the second half with a quite a tight lead.

With some great off court banter from Nicola Reece, Georgia Brett and Steph Mandy, the fourths were pos-itive and kept their heads up throughout the game; a trait we have continued through-out our season.

Defending players Chloe Taylor and Ros Brown were as sound as usual, effectively defending their opposing players effortlessly and with-out flaw. As the final whistle blew, the fourths had won the game and gained pro-motion with a close score of 39-32, one of our tight-est matches since the season began. Fantastic play to end

such a brilliant year.The fourths then went on

to win their Varsity match in Southampton.

Portsmouth fourths team is made up of Holly Form-stone, Emily Edwards, Elle Johoson, Morwenna Mcken-zie, Corrine Murphy, Camilla Hoppitt, Chloe Taylor, Ellie Braun and Rosanna Brown.

We have also been in-volved with coaching in the community, and have hosted a coaching skills festival at mountbatten centre.

There were a lot of chil-dren from around Ports-mouth in attendance, and our community and coach-ing rep, Aislinn D’Silva, has done a great job all year.Netball were announced as

Fundraising Club of the Year for

2010/11

Netball: final report of the year

Joe Wilkes

A researcher has won a na-tional award for her doctoral dissertation.

The Professor Tom Reilly doc-toral dissertation of the year award was granted to sports sci-entist Dr Heather Lunt, for her

thesis on the effects of repeated cold water immersion on the body’s performance at altitude.

Heather’s findings could be used to help people cope better in a low oxygen environment. Her study found that repeat-edly exposing the human body to cold water diminishes the nervous system’s ‘cold-shock response’, a reflex which is fol-lowed by rapid uncontrollable breathing and a high heart rate. A human’s nervous system also triggers these responses at alti-


Letters9

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Downtime19Sports

Patrick Fullarton

Portsmouth 199-4 198 ChichesterAfter six long months of prepara-tion and anticipation the start of the very short university cricket season began with a victory for Portsmouth.

The first league game saw the seconds at home to Chich-ester firsts. Having lost the toss Chichester opted to bat on what looked like a decent track.

Portsmouth had the new ball and the bowling pairing of Jack Westbrook and James Robertson had the ball darting off the seam and getting some steep bounce, which worked well, restricting Chichester to 32/2.

During the middle overs it was down to ex-captain Alex Watson and Tim Higgs to hold back Chichester’s attack, and on 130/6 it looked likely that Ports-mouth’s opponents would finish their innings with a low score on the cards, but due to some good batting Chichester managed to get to 180 before James Rob-ertson was bought back into the

attack to bowl the opposition out for 198, Robertson finishing with figures of 3-28.

Set with the task of chasing 199 to win, Portsmouth’s Rhys Grove and Watson were watch-ful of the new ball and managed to get to 50 without loss. With both batsmen set and feeling comfortable after the initial cau-tious approach the shots began to come out of the locker, both playing beautiful drives and some sublime cuts.

A pull shot brought man of the match Watson his fifty. Grove soon followed with a glo-rious drive off the back foot.

With the score on 143 the partnership was broken and another did not form swiftly. 3 wickets fell in quick succession, but then came Andy Frost. Along with Grove, who had survived the onslaught after the depar-ture of Watson, he held strong, formed a new partnership and finished the game with style.

Grove finished 73 not out and UPCC second eleven won by a resounding 7 wickets.

Cricket open season with winNews

University

Joe Wilkes

A researcher has won a na-tional award for her doctoral dissertation.

The Professor Tom Reilly doc-toral dissertation of the year award was granted to sports sci-entist Dr Heather Lunt, for her

thesis on the effects of repeated cold water immersion on the body’s performance at altitude.

Heather’s findings could be used to help people cope better in a low oxygen environment. Her study found that repeat-edly exposing the human body to cold water diminishes the nervous system’s ‘cold-shock response’, a reflex which is fol-lowed by rapid uncontrollable breathing and a high heart rate. A human’s nervous system also triggers these responses at alti-

tude, but to a slightly lesser ex-tent.

Heather said: “I am delight-ed to receive this award from BASES. Professor Reilly was an inspirational man and an emi-nent Professor in his field - it is a real privilege to win an award named after him.

“My research showed that repeatedly exposing individu-als to cold water can impact on their response to exercise in a simulated altitude environment. Although much further work is required, this may have implica-tions both in the medical field and for adventurers going to ex-treme altitudes.”

The winner of the award, which includes £500 prize mon-ey, is selected by the profession-al body for sport and exercise sciences in the UK, the British Association of Sport and Exer-cise Sciences (BASES).

The award, named after Tom Reilly, the first Professor of Sports Science in the UK who died in 2009, is given annually for outstanding dissertations.

Awards are given based on

scientific merit, methodological rigour and presentation.

Heather said: “More research is necessary before it can be ap-plied practically but ultimately my findings could be useful to

adventurers, the military or peo-ple who work at high altitude.”

Dr Richard Thelwell, head of the Department of Sport and Ex-ercise Science, at the University said:

“I am incredibly pleased that Heather has won this award. Her achievement demonstrates the high calibre of research sports scientists are producing at the University of Portsmouth.”

Sports scientist wins national award

The pull shot that won Alex Watson man of the match - UPCC

Dr Heather Lunt won an award for her hard work - University of Portsmouth

“ findings could be

used to help people in

a low oxygen environment

pugwashnews.com

Portsmouth’s official student newspaper

Ian Parker

The Portsmouth Tchoukball Squad headed to victory in Leeds on the 26th March for the Tchoukball Association of Greats Britain’s University Cup.

After winning two and losing one of their group matches they qualified for the semi-finals in second place. Their semi-final was against Leeds Metropolitan University second team. After failing to impress so far Pompey dominated a tiring Leeds team with high quality and consist-ent shooting whilst the defence dominated the Leeds shoot-ers giving ammunition for the shooters to power home to a rampant victory. This set up a fi-nal against the favourites Leeds Metropolitan University first team.

In a dramatic first third Pompey went from a lead of seven, back to level and back up to a lead of four by the end of the third. In the second third Pompey continued to pile on the pressure with some excellent defending from Alex Daly and Andrew Roach. This allowed the shooters, in particular Ben Wal-lace and Danny Lee, to keep the scoreboard ticking over and by the end of the third the team had increased their lead to seven.

The team then continued their controlled play whilst an increasingly desperate Leeds team focused their comeback on their big, powerful shooter, only for the trio of Mizuki Kazama, Alex Daly and Ben Wallace to consistently keep him at bay.

There was one scare for Pompey when Man of the Match Ben Wallace pulled up with cramp after a full day of ac-tion with only ten minutes left to play. However Stuart Hunter replaced him admirably, ensur-ing the lead only dropped from seven to six points before Ben was able to resume.

In the last five minutes Leeds threw everything at Portsmouth, however the team had prepared not to panic when in the lead and some calm pivoting and

leadership was shown by Jenny Lemme to make sure that the lead only slipped to four points before the final whistle was blown. At this point the team went wild in their celebrations, which were continued through-out the night in the Leeds Union and it was a particular honour as captain to be able to lift the trophy.

Congratulations must be giv-en to the whole squad, Ben Wal-lace, Alex Daly, Mizuki Kazama, Jenny Lemme, Ian Parker, An-drew Roach, Danny Lee, Jonny Shotliff, Harry Heron and Stu-art Hunter. However particular praise must be given to Mizuki Kazama who was our player of the tournament, a player who only made the step up to the first team a couple of months ago yet had the Great Britain Coaching set-up requesting her to in future join up with the GB Women’s Squad.

This season I have been for-tunate to work with the clubs strongest ever squad that has included three international players. This season we have won a record number of games including a potential highest ever regional league finish and a second team that currently leads the second division.

Tchoukball is the fastest handball sport in the world. It is a mixed sex sport where teams can shoot at frames at either end with shots being fired in at speeds of up to 70mph. All of our current squad have picked up the sport whilst at university, with three of us going on to play at international level.

Anyone interested to find out more about the sport or inter-ested in coming for a free trial of the sport can contact us by email at [email protected]. Alternatively we train on Fri-days at 4.30pm to 6.30pm at St. Pauls Gym and at the Ports-mouth regional training on Tuesdays 7-8pm at Portsmouth High School in Southsea.

Ian Parker is the Captain and Coach of the Tchoukball Squad.

Tchoukball win National Cup

Joe WilkesSports Editor

The University of Portsmouth’s sport and recreation department has won £140,000 National Lot-tery funding from Sport Eng-land.

The department aims to use the money to fund schemes that aim to attract students back into playing sport or to take up a new sport for the first time.

The funding is taken from the ten million pounds Active Uni-versities fund which aims to in-spire students across England to play sport, as part of the drive

towards mass participation which is the intended legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Head of Sport and Recreation at the University, Paul Tilley, said: “Winning this funding is great news. We will receive about £140,000 to kick-start the project, including funding for one full-time member of staff over three years.”

“We will be looking to do more female-only programmes and drive to engage with first year students through halls of residence activities and inter-

national students with a big fo-cus on table tennis, badminton, cricket and basketball.”

At the University there are some sports which have almost as many people on the waiting list to play as there are playing. The extra lottery funding will help towards ensuring that par-ticipation is increased, participa-tion being a key concern of the sports staff at the University and the University’s Students’ Union.

The University also aim to hold a four-sport inter-univer-sity event, competing against Southampton University.

Uni sports win lottery funding

Cricket win first match of season

Page 23

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Pugwash News Issue 55