concrete - issue 183

Issue 183

November 23rd 2005

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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA

On Friday 19th November the UEA Debating Society hosted a debate attended by the Home Secretary and Norwich South MP Charles Clarke. The debate was to discuss if democracy was on its back in Britain and Clarke made up the opposing side.

He was assisted by Owen Bryant whilst the rival team consisted of DebateSoc mem-bers Jack Guest and Jess Du-rant. The event occurred in a packed Nelson Common Room A where members from De-bateSoc were joined by many other interested students, as well as outside groups who wanted to grill Mr Clarke. There was an atmosphere of anti-Clarke vibes at the event.

The debate itself was well fought with both sides pro-ducing an entertaining and in-formative debate. Owen made a good decision to let Clarke do most of the talking for his side because it was obvious that it was Clarke people were here to see. Meanwhile, Jack and Jess performed very well against their professional opponent and went on to win the debate by producing a compelling list of democratic discrepancies in this country that have yet to be addressed, including the First Past the Post voting system

that largely favours Labour.The debate remained peace-

ful as members of the audience restrained themselves from at-tacking Clarke both physically or verbally and waited patiently for the opportunity to ask him questions later. However, there was a petition that worked its way through the crowd by the UEA Lib Dem Soc for the No2ID campaign. The ques-tions themselves were almost all directed towards Mr Clarke as the event provided a rare op-portunity to hold our MP and Minister to account.

Mr Clarke was made to ac-count for his record on demo-cratic reform and though he de-fended it well, there appeared to be discrepancies between what he said and the way he acted in Parliament. Members of LabourSoc were present to defend their champion whilst Lib Dems attacked his poor record on manifesto pledges.

Mr Clarke left the debate in a hurry, persued by Liberty members, whilst the UEA Lib Dems handed out more anti-ID card leaflets. Although Clarke failed to satisfy many of the queries of those present, his presence was still appreciated as he gave a rare opportunity to witness a skilled debater in action. DebateSoc should also be recognised, not only for get-ting Clarke to visit but also for producing a fair and engaging debate.

The Event

A recent study has revealed a sharp drop in the number of students volunteering as sperm donors. Students were one of the largest contribut-ing bodies to sperm donation, leaving the country with a criti-cal shortage of participants.

The decline appears to be linked to a law enforced in March which removed the donor’s right to anonymity. The change in law means that children conceived using do-nor sperm or eggs can identify and trace their biological par-ents when they turn eighteen, in a similar way to adopted

children. Donors will not be able

to trace children and the chil-dren are unable to obtain any financial or legal claim, but they can arrive on your door-step eighteen years after do-nation. Students appear to have been scared off by the new law because of fears of a child entering their lives long after donation. Magazine Hu-man Reproduction published a report revealing that the number of donor applicants to one donation centre dropped to 25 in 2003 from 175 in 1994, with the main fall since 2000 when legal changes were be-ing planned. The Newcastle Fertility Centre found that from 1994-2003 nearly ninety

percent of donor volunteers were under 36 years of age and more than half were students without partners.

Since the introduction of the new law there has been a substantial fall in the number of students applying to do-nate. The new law has caused a shift in the donor profile to older men, already in a stable relationship. Evidence from Sweden, which removed ano-nymity rights before the UK, also showed young students no longer donating. In some countries there has been a drop in sperm donation by up to 85%. Even before the anonymity ban, Britain was in short supply. Dr Allan Pacey, head of andrology at Sheffield

Teaching Hospital and spokes-man for the British Infertility Society, said last year: “Every-one is already screaming that they can’t get enough sperm.”

Plans to increase payment to encourage more donors has not made any significant dif-ference and if, as predicted by Dr Sudipta Paul, lead author of the Newcastle study, the quality of UK semen generally is set to fall then Britain may turn to overseas supplies for its needs.

Cryos International, the world’s largest sperm bank, expects sales to the UK to “in-crease dramatically” and has donors prepared ready to take advantage of the UK’s short-age.

2 Wednesday November 23 2005

On Wednesday 16th Novem-ber members of the Make Poverty History Society braved the cold to demonstrate the problems faced by developing countries through a football match which could be de-scribed as more than a little unfair.

The two teams consisted of the G8 representatives, played by the UEA football team, against, as the title sug-gests, the rest of the world,

played by members of the MPH society.

The rest of the world faced handicaps including chained feet, upper bodies wrapped in bin bags and having to aim up the Square steps into a goal less than half the size of the other teams.

Predictably the result was G8 fifteen, rest of the world zero. The aim of the match was to demonstrate the unfair-ness of policy and trade rules which affect many less devel-oped countries with weaker economies.

The MPH society aims to

draw attention to the Wold Trade Organisation ministerial meeting taking place on 13th-18th December in Hong Kong, where they believe world lead-ers will have the power to re-dress the balance in terms of trade rules.

The WTO is an organisa-tion that campaigns for free trade and aims to place re-strictions on big business;; it believes that this is the best way to achieve development. The MPH campaign feels that free trade can be detrimental to countries that are in differ-ent stages of development and

believes it can result in exploi-tation and the holding-back of developing nations.

The Make Poverty History campaign is felt to have been a great triumph so far, and although the result from the G8 summit in Gleneagles was not exactly what campaigners were hoping for it is deemed to be a great success. An extra fourteen billion dollars of aid each year phased over the next five years, alongside eighteen countries having their debts to multilateral organisations cancelled is a positive result for the campaign.


Students are confused as to what Common Course Struc-ture has done to deadlines and penalisation policies across faculties at UEA, and may risk losing coursemarks as a result.

Common Course Structure came into effect this academic year. However, few students know exactly what the new regulations are.

Efforts have been made to inform the student body. Geoff Moore, Director of Un-dergraduate Studies, said: “All students who were affected by the regulation changes got a letter in June 2004 saying precisely what the changes would mean for their degree.” He explained that the student handbooks given to first years also contained the up-to-date guidelines.

However, students already at UEA do not receive these handbooks and since the let-

ters in June 2004, little has been done besides updating the Learning, Teaching and Quality (LTQ) website.

Many students feel the website is not very easy to use. The URL provided in the 2004 letter does not have a direct link to pages that students would use and is simply a gen-eral one to the LTQ site. Susie Cummings, HIS3 said: “The website was really confusing to navigate and I don’t have time to try to understand the complicated language the in-formation was presented in.”

In terms of coursework deadlines and penalisa-tion, regulations have been standardised across UEA. All coursework is now due on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday at 3pm.

Work to be handed in must be time and date-stamped with receipts for submission. Penalisation for late work is now five marks removed for work submitted on the due date but after 3pm and before 5pm;; ten marks removed for

work submitted up to 5pm on the day following the due date;; twenty marks taken off for work handed in on the 2nd or 3rd day after the due date up to 5pm;; and if work is handed in on the fourth day after the due date or later it will receive no marks. These regulations apply to all undergraduates.

Students are generally aware that changes have taken place, although there is con-fusion over the exact details of the new procedures. Ruth Crawshaw, PHI3 said: “Stu-dents in my department are pretty confused about dead-lines. We don’t particularly talk about the other changes so I don’t know how many people are aware of them.”

Uncertainty has been worsened by mixed messages from staff. There have also been problems in the imple-mentation of the new rules. Eddie Shields, BIO3, said that there is no date stamp in BIO so students have to write the time and date on their work. Nick Smith, CMP3, said:

“What we’ve found confus-ing is that the administration of our department has been rearranged and at the begin-ning of the term nobody knew what offices to go to - many still don’t.”

Dan Pearson, Student Un-ion Academic Officer, admit-ted: “I think communication [on the part of the Univer-sity] broke down in some re-spects.” He said that this has been noted and that plans are

underway to help better pub-licise the changes, including publishing the information in Rabbit and on the Union web site.

Pearson added: “I would suggest reissuing the Student Guidebooks to second, third and fourth-years.” He also said the possibility of future changes to the rules might make this idea problematic.

Geoff Moore said: “I don’t believe there is anything fur-

ther planned by UEA staff to publicise changes, although there are going to be efforts made through the Union.

However, if there is uncer-tainty about what regulations apply or how to interpret them then the Academic Division of the University will respond in whatever way seems most useful.”


We see them everyday and they’re literally everywhere. Posters, hundreds of the tacky things advertising everything from hoovers to mopeds, clut-tering every inch of concrete wall I’ve grown to love. I don’t blame these people for trying to sell their junk, I have loads of thing I don’t need anymore and could definitely do with the spare cash, so why don’t we all follow the trend and post our junk around campus? Well, lets just say the thought of posting hundreds of fly-

ers just to sell a DVD when I could be in bed, or lectures, isn’t exactly appealing. Then I suppose there’s eBay, but with the selling fees, commis-sion, postage, and the added risk of fraudulent buyers and sellers, I’m still unsure how to sell anything around campus.

Well it seems my ques-tion has been answered and finally UEA have an online market place where we can advertise our junk for FREE. Patrick Robb is a 2nd year Law student and has started

www.CAMPUSTRADER.co.uk. A completely free service

where you can advertise any-thing from student accom-modation to concert tickets. Here’s what he had to say about the site:

“Well the idea is that any student with something to sell can register in under a minute and be listing their item, with a photo in just as quick. Instead of sending items by post, you would arrange to meet the buyer on campus or around Uni and exchange safely.”

The National Union of Stu-dents UK (NUS) held a rally to highlight the devastating impacts that climate change would have on everyday life with a co-ordinated day of ac-tion.

On Thursday 17th Novem-ber universities and colleges across the country held special events to draw attention to the effects and causes of climate change and emphasise the need for urgent action.

Cambridge University Students’ Union held a panel debate on climate change and its potential impacts on our health, education and the glo-bal economy.

As a ‘warm-up’ to the main debate, students ignored the

freezing autumn climate and opted for beachware to dem-onstrate outside King’s Col-lege. Attired in shirtsleeves and sunglasses, the unlikely band of beachgoers held up placards spelling out the prob-lem, backed up by an accom-panying steel band.

UEA held a debate entitled “Can Politicans Save the En-vironment?” and talks by the author Paul Mobbs on trans-forming Western approaches to energy.

The NUS day of action is supported by the Campaign Against Climate Change and Friends of the Earth. All three organisations are also call-ing students to take part in the national Climate March in London on Saturday 3rd De-cember.

NUS Environmental Cam-paign officer Flick Cox said: “Climate change is the most

important issue our genera-tion will face. Our day of ac-tion aims to engage students in the campaign against en-vironmental damage and en-courage them to take part in the national demonstration next month.”

Phil Thornhill, of the Cam-paign Against Climate Change, said: “This decade could be the last one in which humanity still has the time to prevent the catastrophic destabilisation of global climate. So it’s great to see students - who would see more of the fall-out from un-checked climate change than most of us - staging this Day of Action in support of what will be Britain’s biggest-ever demonstration on climate change.”

Tony Juniper, Director of Friends of the Earth, said: “Tony Blair has said climate change is the world’s great-

est environmental challenge, but his Government is simply not doing enough about it. Emissions of carbon dioxide, the main gas causing climate change, continue to rise in the UK.

We hope students will join the Climate March on 3rd December to show they feel strongly about the need for urgent action on climate change.”

The campaign is con-cerned with the amount of electricity universities use and how measures can be taken to improve energy consumption.In the 1960s there were sixteen climate-related natural disas-ters. In the 1990s there were seventy. 1998 was the warmest recorded year and the top ten warmest years ever recorded have all occurred since 1981.

Universities and colleges generally have one bill and the

vice-chancellor has the power to choose which company to use. ‘Green electricity’ is now very widely available. It is elec-tricity that is generated in a sustainable way, from wind, hydropower, tidal and wave power or agricultural waste.

Three British universities have switched to green and this week has seen campaign-ing on the UEA campus to ‘go green’.

Environment and Devel-opment organisations from across the UK visited UEA to give a series of workshops and lectures. Added to bicy-cle-powered smoothie mak-ers, electric cars and scooters, cycling promotions, and a day to turn off all lights and TVs, UEA got stuck in to promote an environmentally friendly campus.

The Environment week aimed to raise awareness

amongst UEA students and give information as to what can be done to help the mil-lions across the globe would who suffer from the effects.

Events throughout the week, including talks from Friends of the Earth, Cam-paign Against Climate Change and People and Planet, led up to Energy Action Day on Friday when CRed asked students to turn off all electrical applianc-es that weren’t being used so they could record how much energy was saved.

Leeds Metropolitan Uni-versity is one of the few univer-sities that has turned to green elctricty, and it reports that the costs are no greater than their previous ‘brown’ elec-tricty bills. This suggests that it would be possible for more universities to change energy suppliers without excessive expense alterations.


Applications are now invited from highly motivated, enthusiastic and suitably experienced full-time students and members of staff for ap-pointment as Resident Tutor for the academic year 2006-07. Students spending next year abroad should also apply now for appointment in September 2007.

Resident Tutors welcome students when they first move into residences,

provide information and support to help them manage the transition to uni-

versity life and, throughout the year, are available to deal with issues of wel-

fare and good order. By using their mediation and problem-solving skills,

Resident Tutors help maintain a balance between the interests of individu-

als and the community in residences.

Successful applicants will have excellent all-round people skills, be non-

judgmental, able to empathise with the academic problems commonly ex-

perienced by students, have good written and spoken English, good time

management skills, the ability to follow clearly defined procedures, flexibility

and a willingness to work unsocial hours.

This appointment will be subject to a criminal record check from the Crimi-

nal Records Bureau.

Further particulars are available from the Dean of Students’ Office Recep-

tion or from www.uea.ac.uk/dos/intranet/welcome.html (click on to Resi-

dences).

There are 2 closing dates for applications: Friday 16th December 2005 (ap-

plicants will be invited for interview or informed that their application is un-

successful by 10 February 2006) and Friday 27th January 2006 (applicants

will be invited for interview or informed that their application is unsuccessful

by 17 March 2006).

There is also a vacancy in the Village for immediate appointment. Please indicate in your application whether you also wish to be con-sidered for this vacancy.

Resident Tutors

Hey my name’s George Perry;; I am a third year politics stu-dent and an active member of the University Hockey Club. As a keen cricketer I captained both my school and local side. I am a lifelong Norwich City season ticket holder and a member of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, simply, I Love sport!!!

Why should you vote for me? I want UEA to be one of the countries finest sports universities, as sports officer

I will:* Encourage the formation of new sports clubs. * Commit to continue and im-prove Ziggurat.* Push existing clubs to at-tract new members and make them feel welcome regardless of ability.* Push the university and clubs to improve the standard of their sides through implanta-tion of effective training, help them gain access to qualified coaches and aid them in gain-

ing the resources they need to succeed.* Liaise between the univer-sity and clubs to build rela-tionships, understanding and generally improve the levels of communication.* Act as YOUR representative on all university committees that I am member of.* Organise Sports Mart 2, aid the finance officer, and train sports club officials.Any Questions? [email protected]

My name is Joe Thomson;; I’m running for sports officer in the union by-election. Why vote for me?

I am committed to ensur-ing that everybody can get the best out of the facilities we have here at UEA, doing the sports which they most enjoy, whether they be competitive or just want to play for fun.

I am an approachable guy who enjoys interacting and talking with new people, which

I feel would be important when trying to co-ordinate thoughts and opinions between Sports clubs and the Union Execu-tive. If elected I will take an active role on the Universities committees, ensuring that the student voice is heard.

A strength of being a first year is that I would be able to devote more of my time to the position, being more available to talk with Union members who have queries, or who

would like to establish a new Sports Club.

If elected I would inquire into the feasibility for ‘tast-er periods’ within different sports clubs to take place. This is aimed at giving union members, who are unsure to which sports they may enjoy, the chance to do so before committing fully.

Any Questions? [email protected]

Union elections such as the vote to choose a new Sports Officer are an opportunity for all students to take part in the democratic procedures of the Union. The current chairman of Union Council, Leigh Bis-set, explains why he believes these events are vital for the continued effectiveness of the Council.

“The UEA Union Council is an ideal opportunity to ensure that the students on campus have the representation they deserve. However, it seems extraordinary that the Coun-cil has been forced to have a mandatory attendance from all Clubs and Societies in or-

der to retain a credible attend-ance at meetings because the Council felt that fairness and true representation was not being achieved.

The most powerful body in the Students’ Union wasn’t working as effectively as it should be. A number of stu-dents seem to have the wrong perception of Union Council. As one vocal commentator claimed: ‘It is like turkeys vot-ing for Christmas’.

The decisions made by Council will affect students, and the issues that aren’t dis-cussed because the democrat-ic structure is not being made to work hard enough can be brought up. Areas which re-

quire further policy making and campaigning include childcare services, welfare support serv-ices, campaigning against discrimination and for greater access to all students.

The benefits to council members are positive CV ma-terial and the opportunity to gain an insight to the work-ings of the Students’ Union and a possible political career. Most importantly it allows the chance to make changes that will actually benefit students at UEA.”

For further information please email the Academic Officer or send a message to:[email protected]


A policy ballot will be held in week 10 to determine whether the Union continues to boy-cott products made by the company Nestlé. In charge of the YES to the boycott cam-paign is Andy Higson ([email protected]), and re-sponsible for the NO to the boycott campaign is Steve Wil-liams ([email protected]).

A policy ballot will be held in week 10 to determine whether the Union continues to boycott products made by the company Nestlé. In charge of the YES to the boy-cott campaign is Andy Higson ([email protected]), and responsible for the NO to the boycott campaign is Steve Wil-liams ([email protected]).

A policy ballot will be held in week 10 to determine whether the Union continues to boycott products made

by the company Nestlé. In charge of the YES to the boy-cott campaign is Andy Higson ([email protected]), and responsible for the NO to the boycott campaign is Steve Wil-liams ([email protected]).


A policy ballot will be held in week 10 to determine whether the Union continues to boycott products made by the company Nestlé. In charge of the YES to the boy-cott campaign is Andy Higson ([email protected]), and

responsible for the NO to the boycott campaign is Steve Wil-liams ([email protected]).



Nestlé is the largest single source of violations of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Sub-stitutes and subsequent, rel-evant World Health Assembly Resolutions. Nestlé continues to violate WHO codes and is at the forefront of trying to prevent their implementation by governments and other bodies.

Nestlé is the target of a boycott in at least 20 coun-tries because it aggressively markets baby foods, break-ing World Health Assembly marketing requirements and contributing to the death and suffering of infants around the world. We simply ask that Nestlé abide by the Interna-tional Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. They refuse to do so.

The case against Nestlé is based on rock-solid docu-mentary evidence. Nestlé has been successfully convicted in legal actions for baby food marketing malpractice. When Nestlé claimed in an anti-boy-

cott advertisement to market infant formula ‘ethically and responsibly’, Baby Milk Action complained to the Advertis-ing Standards Authority and all of the complaints against Nestlé’s claims were upheld.

The water mixed with baby milk powder can be unsafe and it is often impossible in poor conditions to keep bottles and teats sterile. Bottle feeding un-der such circumstances can lead to infections causing diar-rhoea, the biggest killer of chil-dren worldwide. Where water is unsafe, UNICEF says that babies are 25 times more likely to die if they are bottle fed.

A mother has a right to independent information and freedom from pressure from companies. If she chooses to bottle feed she should be aware of the risks and costs. To increase profi ts, baby milk companies have to persuade health workers and mothers to bottle feed. Their tactics range from advertising and misinfor-mation to sending sales reps into hospitals to promote their milks to sponsoring health

workers, conferences and even health facilities.

Companies that make baby foods or bottles and teats are well aware that infants die from unsafe bottle feeding. However, they continue to put profi ts before health by en-couraging mothers and health workers to use their milks and equipment.

Should we as a Union sell Nestlé products, or should we use the boycott as part of a wider campaign to force Nestlé to change their ways? This is not about what Nestlé have done in the past, it is what they do each and every day. When Nestlé give moth-ers and children in developing countries a fair deal we should end the boycott, but not a day before. Vote for those people who don’t get a say. Vote yes to the Boycott.

If you want to help the yes to the Boycott campaign email [email protected].

For more info have a look at www.babymilkaction.org

A policy ballot will be held in week 10 to determine whether the Union continues to boy-cott products made by the company Nestlé. In charge of the YES to the boycott cam-paign is Andy Higson ([email protected]), and re-sponsible for the NO to the boycott campaign is Steve Wil-liams ([email protected]).


A policy ballot will be held in week 10 to determine whether the Union continues to boycott products made

by the company Nestlé. In charge of the YES to the boy-cott campaign is Andy Higson ([email protected]), and responsible for the NO to the boycott campaign is Steve Wil-liams ([email protected]).


A policy ballot will be held in week 10 to determine whether the Union continues to boycott products made by the company Nestlé. In charge of the YES to the boy-cott campaign is Andy Higson ([email protected]), and

responsible for the NO to the boycott campaign is Steve Wil-liams ([email protected]).



MPs in the House of Com-mons rejected Tony Blair and Charles Clarke’s bill to detain terrorist suspects for ninety days without charge on Wednesday 9th September by a substantial margin of thirty-one.

This was Blair’s first de-feat since coming into power in 1997 and as such marked an important milestone for a Prime Minister who began with so much promise and who now appears to be losing his grip as head of the Govern-

ment. Blair already declared his

intention of stepping down before the next election and the question remains as to when. After this defeat, the popular consensus is that it could, and should, be sooner rather than later.Blair’s decline seems to be marked by an apparent gam-bling streak that would scare off most Las Vegas card sharks. He gambled his cred-ibility over the war on terror and lost it when no WMDs were found in Iraq. He gam-bled his authority to push through ever more controver-sial bills in Parliament and

has now lost that. The terror vote has shown that he can be beaten and no doubt will give strength to the opposition par-ties and internal Labour rebels to continue to fight back.

Blair’s use of the whips ap-pears finally to have backfired despite an apparent clamp-down against rebels. In addi-tion to this, his allies continue to either fall or abandon him. With more controversial is-sues on the horizon Blair faces a tough choice. If he continues to fight, despite the knowledge that his sheen of invincibility has gone, he will doubtlessly be left vulnerable.

There appears to be no

one else Blair can now turn to for support. It was less than a month ago that David Blun-kett, one of his staunchest al-lies, had to resign once again from a ministerial position. Surely Blair at least can rely on the House of Lords as he has managed to hold onto his ability to appoint most of it? Unfortunately for him, there are rumours that the Lords will now no longer even pass some of Labours manifesto pledges, breaking the Salis-bury Convention.

The truth of the matter is that Tony Blair’s name has now become political poison. Attaching his name to policies

seems to draw support away from them and the constant bad news from all across the political board is dragging his name down.

If Blair really cares about the New Labour project, he will step down as soon as pos-sible. To push through any more of his ideas and poli-cies, Blair can no longer tie his name to them or he will see more examples of the failed bill to detain terrorists.

David Cameron seems likely to beat Davis and re-invigorate the Conservatives whilst the Liberal Democrats continue to gain support, now representing over a fifth of

Britain’s voters. Blair will only drag Labour’s name down and many now believe that he should sacrifice himself for it;; an act of martyrdom is surely attractive as he seems to place that mantle on himself any-way.

Blair seems too attracted to his power now, as is shown by the fact he continues to place it upon himself. He will be another in a long line of British politicians who leave Parliament with a taste of dis-appointment. New Labour’s energy is now all but spent and Tony Blair will never enjoy the kind of popularity he once did.


Tony Blair faces opposi-tion to higher education fees from a source much closer and more personal in his life. Cherie has claimed that if she could not afford to go to uni-versity she would be working in a shop.

As well as being the Prime Minister’s wife, Cherie Blair enjoys a successful career as a barrister and judge. She was the first person in her family to go to university and benefited from free university education. Her statement goes against the government’s plans for tuition fees.

Cherie Blair made the com-ment in barrister’s magazine

Counsel, saying: ‘The truth is if I hadn’t had the funding from the state to go to univer-sity I would have worked in a shop’.

Under the plan for tuition fees, fears are that poorer stu-dents will be deterred from going to university. Students have to look forward to the prospect of facing loans of up to £3000 a year for their tuition

fees, although this money will only be paid once the gradu-ates have an annual income of £15,000. Poorer students will also be eligible for a grant of £2,700 a year, but the debt at the end of their graduation is off-putting to many.

This academic year saw a rush in the number of people applying to universities in a bid to avoid the top-up fees.

Cherie Blair has supported the need for poorer students to get financial help in their study. She recognises the im-portance that her free univer-sity education played in her position as a successful bar-rister and judge.

Ed Davey of the Liberal Democrats remarked: ‘The prime minister seems to be an ever more isolated figure and

the growing sense of disillu-sionment is also clearly felt by his wife.’

Downing Street has dis-missed Mrs Blair’s comment, saying she was misinterpret-ed. A spokeswoman claimed: ‘Cherie Blair believes poorer students need support from the state, which is what they will have under the new, fairer system.’

Sunday saw the first ever Kick It Out Cup at Norwich City Football Club in a new scheme to rid football of racism.

Norwich and Norfolk Ra-cial Equality Council (NNREC) in conjunction with Norwich City Supporters’ Trust (NCFC) hosted the first annual Kick It

Out Cup. The aim of the youth five-a-

side tournament was to bring young people together from different ethnic backgrounds to join the nationwide cam-paign to ‘Kick Racism Out Of Football’.

The event is in conjunc-

tion with Norfolk Black History Month. The brand name of the campaign - Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football - was estab-lished in 1993.

Kick It Out works through-out the football, educational and community sectors to challenge racism and work to-

wards a positive change. The campaign is support-

ed and funded by the game’s governing bodies, including founding body the Professional Footballers Association (PFA), the FA Premier League, the Football Foundation and The Football Association.

A new deal struck between the Premier League and the European Commission last Thursday is set to end BskyB’s monopoly over live coverage of English Premier League matches under a radical shake-up of the way football TV rights are sold.

The move will ensure that other broadcasters get access to live coverage of Premier-ship matches. The new agree-ment will see the Premier League creating six packages of “balanced” content that would then be auctioned to broadcasters.

Under the deal, BSkyB would not be permitted to bid for all six packages because the old agreement broke EU competition law.

The European Commis-sion, the civil service arm of the European Union, has been

trying for several months to change the way the Premier League sells televised football rights.

European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said the new system would provide football fans with “greater choice and better value.

“The commitments of-fered by the Premier League should ensure that the media rights are sold in a fair and transparent manner.”

Sky will no longer be the sole broadcasters for live Pre-miership football as of 2007. Terrestrial channels such as BBC, ITV and Five could bid for a number of matches each season.

Alternatively, other cable and satellite channels such as NTL, could buy the rights meaning that football fans would be forced to subscribe not only to Sky, but also vari-ous smaller pay-per-view chan-nels.


UEA is actively promoting bi-cycle riding as means for com-muting to and from campus. A number of measures pushed through by Dawn Dewer, the new transport coordinator, as part of the University’s new Travel Plan, are helping to en-courage students and staff to choose cycling as an alterna-tive form of transportation.

Ms. Dewer is actively in-volved in promoting cycling at UEA and has worked hard on realising many reforms. As a result, several new rules designed to benefit cyclists have been implemented. For example, every new building on campus must have associ-ated covered bicycle parking and there are new cycle paths at the University. A shortage of locked parking, one of many complaints from cyclists, has been dealt with by building new locked parking areas, one of which is next to the music school. There are also plans for a locked cycle compound in the Village, which would provide parking for up to 60 bicycles. In addition to these developments, there are clean and modern shower rooms available to cyclists in the Zicer building, the Medical School, and level 01 in the Arts build-ing. Additional shower rooms have also been planned for the future Arts refurbishment.

Surprisingly, however, shower and changing facilities are not common knowledge amongst the cycling commu-nity. Your correspondent is a long-time cyclist at UEA and until recently, knew nothing about these facilities. This is not uncommon. In an email, cyclist Eleanor Karslake said, “I think more staff would be encouraged to cycle to uni if there were showers and changing rooms available”. This suggests that the Uni-versity is not doing enough to inform cyclists of the facilities provided for them. The trans-port department needs to do more to increase awareness.

Despite the other reforms mentioned above, many sea-soned UEA cyclists still feel

that much more should be done. Most tend to agree that increased secure parking and better cycle routes, particularly along the Avenues, are greatly needed.

Teresa Belton from the School of Education is a con-cerned cyclist. “Three im-provements spring to mind immediately,” she said. “First, building a wider cycle track along the Avenues on the grass verge rather than on the road in the direction of UEA – similar to the one on the pavement on the other side of the road – to separate bikes from cars. Second, providing even more cycle racks on cam-pus, preferably covered like those outside EDU, and lastly somehow separating cyclists and pedestrians on the path behind the Porters’ Lodge.”

The cycle path down the Avenues is indeed in an ap-palling state of repair, in both directions. The many cracks and potholes in the road make cycling dangerous because they often force cyclists to swerve into the road in order to avoid riding into a gaping hole. “It is a real health and safety problem,” said Katy Ap-pleton, head of the UEA BUG (Bicycle Users Group). Accord-ing to Ms. Appleton the Av-enues is used more frequently than any other bicycle route in Norwich. A transport survey conducted by the University Transport Department is due to be released soon, and the results might highlight some of these problems. The trans-port department could not be contacted to comment on this issue.

Dr. Rupert Read, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and cyclist at UEA for more than 8 years said: “I would like more secure bike parking that is clearly explained to people how it can be used. The bike-routes in the area could still be im-proved further ... there should be more continuous bike lanes put in. And we desper-ately need a bike-route along Earlham Road or through the cemetery into town.”

Others voiced similar opinions. “The biggest dif-ficulty I find with cycling to UEA is that there is hardly anywhere to park your bike on

campus, especially if you want it to be somewhere where it will remain dry and not rust. Most of the places to put bikes are directly exposed to the el-ements. More spaces under shelter would definitely make a difference to me,” said Mr. A. Cage, a third year student who has cycled to and from campus for his entire univer-sity career.

Gill Seyfang enjoys the benefits of cycling to and from the University. “I love it! Hav-ing a locked, undercover bike store in the Zicer building gives me confidence that my bike is about as safe as it can be, and that is a major factor for many people,” he said. Yet he too has concerns. “There seems to be quite a lot of bike thefts and vandalism on cam-pus,” he said, adding that “it would be good to have more of a network of cycle lanes – properly distinguished from the rest of the road/pavement – both around UEA and on campus too. The existing bike lanes are not really very dis-tinctive.”

In addition to parking and cycle path concerns, Christine Wilson, the founder of BUG and a UEA staff member who has been a cyclist and a cycle campaigner for more than five years, commented that more awareness of cycling issues was needed. She advocated more help for women, es-pecially those who are more

reluctant to cycle for various reasons, and said that more awareness of safety issues, better storage at residences and a higher profile of cycling at a higher level are needed. She also believes that there should be “more pressure on the City Council to improve routes.”

Concrete recently received an email from a student com-plaining about the lack of park-ing security and the measures taken by the University to deal with this issue. The student had two bikes stolen from campus and felt that the se-curity guards’ response to the thefts was inadequate. As this information was received as Concrete went to press, UEA Security has not yet had time to issue a comment. How-ever, according to BUG cycle theft is a common complaint amongst cyclists. The serious-ness of this threat is not easily determined because bicycle theft is not often reported by students, usually because most cyclists are uninsured. Unfortunately, a condition of insurance is that the bike must be locked indoors at night, making it very difficult for stu-dents on and off campus to insure their bicycles.

Although UEA is doing much to support cycling, the 2005 cycle map issued by the Transport department con-tains a few confusing inaccura-cies. For example, there are 40

bicycle parking spaces marked by a sports track which, oddly enough, does not actually ex-ist. A cyclist wishing to park his bicycle by the Sainsbury Centre might be terribly con-fused as the markers on the map are in the wrong place. On a more positive note, the cycling leaflet available around campus is very user-friendly and informative.

When Concrete asked stu-dents what they thought the greatest deterrent from cycling to university was, the major-ity replied that it was the high cost of purchasing a bicycle. Ms. Appleton agrees with this general opinion and believes that there is indeed a short-age of cheap second-hand bikes in Norwich. This is per-haps something the transport department could try to deal with. Ironically, many students also said that their primary reason for cycling was to save money.

Anyone wishing to raise a cycling-related concern can email Ms. Appleton who will take it up at the next UEA transport meeting. BUG has the potential to be an effective organisation, but is unfortu-nately extremely understaffed. Because it is not a Union Soci-ety, BUG depends entirely on volunteers, such as Ms. Apple-ton, to run the website and to organise cycling activities and excursions. BUG is virtually a one woman show, and she

herself is a very busy person. It welcomes anyone who is interested in volunteering to help in any way.

Since cycling does seem to be increasing in popular-ity at UEA, BUG would like to highlight some serious biking faux-pas which can be condu-cive to major safety concerns and accidents. Cycling without a rear and front light at night is both illegal and life-threaten-ing. A few years ago a biology student was tragically killed on Bluebell Road because an on-coming cyclist had no lights, causing the student to swerve into the road and collide with a car.

Jumping traffic lights, which is very common at the intersection of Colman Road and the Avenues, is also illegal and very annoying to motor-ists. Following the highway code is imperative for main-taining road safety.

As for UEA’s cycling fu-ture, the findings of the trans-portation survey might give a clearer idea about what steps, if any, the University will take to deal with the problems.


Communication Skills and Conflict Management:

How to refuse entry and how to eject in a way that reduces risk of conflict - Identifying the types of incidents that could happen inside a venue and how to deal with them - Understanding the law about arrest

Role and Responsibilities of a Door Supervisor:

Appropriate behaviour for door supervisors - Civil and Criminal Law - Searching and arrest procedures - Drugs awareness - Recording incidents and crime scene preservation - Licensing law - Equal opportunities and discrimination

How often has a night out been ruined by bounc-ers? It’s a fairly familiar story most of the time: you decide to go out with a group of friends,

hit a few bars and enjoy the odd pint. But when you queue for the club, finally get to the front of the line and are on the brink of getting in-side, a huge, shaven-headed bouncer proclaims that “you’re too drunk mate, you ain’t comin’ in ‘ere”. Some of us, after a moment to com-pose ourselves, would simply slink off into the darkness, maybe to get an early night. Others may take the other extreme and argue the toss, perhaps resulting in being restrained for taking their objections too far.

There are plenty of people out there who have tales of this sort. The question is, why? Is it because all bouncers have a serial dislike for students, or is it just that in our alcohol fuelled euphoria an incident with a bouncer seems like an event of incomparable consequence? Con-crete has heard a number of complaints about bouncers in the City, and went to one of Nor-wich’s more popular clubs, Optic, to find out how their bouncers operate and if the students have legitimate gripes.

Firstly, it may interest you to know that the term bouncer is no longer applicable to many of Norwich’s club guarders. They are door-men. While many of you might think that this is merely a technical formality, the General Manager at Optic, Tom Webster, informed us that it was not simply a matter of language. In fact there is a considerable difference between a ‘bouncer’ and a ‘doorman’, and this is seen most explicitly in the qualification one needs to become a doorman. Candidates have to take a week long course, which results in a City & Guilds certificate. The course is highly inten-sive, involving fire training, first aid training and lessons in conflict resolution - with the empha-sis on peaceful. Passing this course is now the only way to become a licensed doorman in the United Kingdom, and even after taking it, the candidates still have to secure a license from the Security Industries Authority, which com-pletes several background checks to find if they are suitable. It is now the law that all doormen have to have this license in order to work, with penalties for individuals and clubs that don’t

adhere to the rules. This is not to say that your stereotypical bouncer does not exist in Nor-wich, or anywhere else for that matter, because he does. However, in most of Norwich’s clubs the doormen are now certified and licensed, as it is simply too risky to try and get away with it. In any case, Optic does not employ unlicensed doorman, and is similar to Mercy in this respect as both are privately owned enterprises which cannot afford to lose their licenses or their in-come because of dodgy bouncers.

Fair enough, you might think, but what of all those occasions mentioned earlier? If door-men are properly trained, how is it that we find ourselves aggrieved because they do not let us into a club? The answer to this, which may seem obvious, is that we drink before we go to a club. Some of you may have a vodka red bull or two beforehand, whereas others might sink seven pints. The point is that by the time we get to whichever club we have chosen, we are not in a position to assess our own abilities. Alcohol has the funny effect of inhibiting our percep-tions of reality, which in some cases leads to inexplicable drunkenness which practically eve-ryone has at least one story about. Whether it is falling off a wall or puking in the toilet of a club, any of us that go clubbing will probably have experienced a horrendous event whilst drunk. This is because we do not really know what it is we are doing.

Put yourselves in the shoes of a club owner. Would you want to cope with masses of out-of-control youths every night, getting rowdy and being ill after consuming vast quantities of Stella, or would you rather have a crowd that is enjoying the benefits of a few shots of Sam-buca without resorting to punching passers-by or throwing ashtrays? It is not a difficult ques-tion to answer, but it is a necessary question. Club proprietors, particularly in the wake of new legislation on the subject, have got to ad-here to police guidelines on under-age drinkers and those who exhibit clear signs of drunken-ness. Failure to do so will result in “court ac-tion where offences under the new Licensing Act are discovered which will be combined with requests for license reviews where necessary” (Police letter sent to all clubs concerning the new licensing laws). For the club owners, this would mean inevitable closure and the effective loss of a job.

It is also for this reason that nightclubs across the country are clamping down on se-curity issues. In the wake of the London bomb-

ings, managers at clubs are now required to carry out checks to ensure that no incendiary devices get into clubs. This is on top of other items, like guns, knives and drugs, whose cap-ture forms a large part of a doorman’s respon-sibilities. It is fairly obvious that any of these items inside a nightclub is wholly undesirable, but people still attempt it. This fact should il-lustrate that doormen are responsible for the welfare of themselves and those customers al-ready in the club, and are therefore meticulous in their approach to any potential problems. This may seem overbearing to some, but in contrast to being stabbed it is a fairly minor oc-currence. Optic for example, conducts random searches to root out anybody with illicit items, but anyone who is searched is offered a com-plimentary drink as a result. They also employ a student – ‘Smily’ – on the door, and a team of doorwomen to make this process easier and more affable.

This should enforce the point that the clubs are not looking to ban people or ruin nights out. They are simply in a business which compels them to observe any number of security

and safety concerns. Optic’s camera system cost approximately £30,000 and encompasses some 44 cameras. It covers every area of the inside, and also the areas directly outside the club. This ensures that no incidents occur in Optic without being recorded digitally on a computer server. Mercy has a similar system, with roughly 70 cameras, and this is to the ben-efit of customers, doormen and owners alike. In Optic’s case, it has allowed the club to dis-credit many accusations made against it, from sexual harassment to assault. Consulting the tapes reveals very quickly that these incidents did not occur, or were grossly exaggerated by those who made them. It seems that alcohol really can convince even the most honest that we were in the right, even when evidence to the contrary is freely available. Most of the time, the doormen deal with people in the correct fash-ion, and no evidence of any assaults on cus-tomers is apparent. Optic has never once been convicted of any such offence despite a number of court actions brought against it.

This is not intended to portray doormen as angels, as it is quite clear they are not, and in-deed would not want to be. Their job requires them to adhere to rigid safety restrictions, and therefore it is inevitable they will carry this out

with an air of serious professionalism. While we are enjoying our night-off revelling, they do not even finish work until about 4am. The fact we have been drinking means we interpret door-man as sinister, but this is part of the process to root out drunken individuals and those with something to hide. We also complain about not being let into clubs because of not wearing the requisite clothes, but this is a rather lame ex-cuse as clubs make it very explicit as to what can and can’t be worn in their establishment. Their choice merely reflects the mood they wish to create in their club, and the fact of the matter is, if the clubs do not permit baseball caps, then do not wear one.

Essentially, the best policy is to act with re-straint. Going clubbing on a diet of alcohol is a well-known and enjoyable part of British culture, but there are limits. The new licensing laws rep-resent two sides of the same coin: on the one hand they liberalise drinking as we can now do it for longer and in more flexible periods, but on the other hand they come with a significant increase in police powers to deal with excessive drunkenness and anti-social behaviour, and pubs and nightclubs are at the forefront of this effort as they facilitate the process. It may come as a surprise to some, but it is no longer OK to be drunk in public, and clubs have to adhere to this law just as much as individuals.

At the end of the day, if you act with respect and treat doormen accordingly, the likelihood is that you will have an enjoyable night out without any problems. Taking things to excess, however, will only result in your night being cut short and the inevitable whinging about it the day after. It is a simple choice, and one that is in the interests of all concerned. It would suit a doorman to allow everyone who queues up into the club he is responsible for, as it keeps trouble to a minimum. Surely all of us can agree with this, as any trouble in a club is the fault of the doormen for not spotting it sooner. It makes our nights safer and more fun, and it eliminates those who wish to cause trouble. The message is to drink responsibly, for the good of your-selves and the doormen.

www.optic-club.co.uk


It seems that after three weeks of rioting, the violence has finally sub-sided and a state of normality has finally settled over France. Presi-dent Jacques Chirac has made a plea to the French Republic to “cre-ate new opportunities for young people” in an attempt to prevent violent insurgencies from erupting

once again. But which young people is he talk-ing about? After vowing to bring the rioters to justice and proclaiming “we are all aware of dis-crimination”, it seems very hypocritical that he makes a speech claiming he is very well aware of discrimination in France. So why didn’t he do something about it earlier?

The recent rioting in France has subse-quently led to British leaders attempting to ex-plain why the French model of integration has failed. This is exactly what happened after the London bombings where the French pointed to the embryonic collapse of British multicultur-alism. The fact of the matter is that these two countries have long standing histories and dif-ferent models of integration. Britain has allowed diverse communities to develop, whereas the French model has relied heavily on individual integration. Just last week the French far right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen publicly criticised the French immigration policy by saying: “We let in 10 million foreigners over 30 years - it’s wild insanity. No country can handle that invasion.” He argued France was paying the price for its “mad and criminal immigration from the Third World”.

You would think that this would be a wake up call for Chirac, but it’s apparent the French leader is remaining in denial over the fact these riots are just the first of many. So far Chirac has proven to be all talk and no trousers, and if these are empty promises he is making he should be prepared for more riots. Make no mistake I am not condoning the violence in France in any way. A society needs law and order to be up-held and respectful citizens are an integral cog in this system. On the other hand how else are these people supposed to be heard?

France is dealing with institutional racism of the worst kind as immigrants are accepted to their face, but in reality are undermined by the indigenous animosity that is felt by many within the country. The discrimination here of unemployment and housing policies is nothing but institutional racism. If anything we are play-ing into the hands of the far right through the segregation of communities. They thrive on the division of residential communities as they can promote themselves to citizens as being a party that understand their needs. This way they can scare communities by introducing the fear of unknown communities they have no idea about and do not understand. In any case Chirac’s days may be numbered, as if France is not care-ful they will be putting a xenophobic leader in his place.

Half of the French rioters were under 18 years of age. This week Chirac announced a package of measures aimed at stopping the riots in France.

He said a voluntary task force would be set up to assist young workers with finding employ-ment. He estimated 50,000 people would have training for the job in 2007. Although this is a start it just is not enough. France needs to integrate immigrants into French society in a positive fashion. Better efforts need to be made for this to happen otherwise immigrants have no chance at all. It is not surprising to see this tsunami of inchoate youth rebellion that is en-gulfing France.

The government has neglected its respon-sibility for integrating the black and Muslim population into its culture and wider economy. What we see happening in France could be the tip of the iceberg. This uncontrollable violence which has escalated throughout France needs to be addressed firmly before we see any more eruptions within Europe, or elsewhere.

The undercurrents of antipathy are on display within Europe. The Netherlands has a population with 20% of foreign descent. It is

leading to a question of national identity and crystallising fears of other cultures. Most coun-tries in Western Europe have large immigrant communities which face similar problems and are very dissatisfied. This leads to the question of national identity. It seems apparent you can be French-European or German-European but you cannot be Algerian-European or Turkish-Eu-ropean. National identity is again causing huge acrimony between people across Europe, and if the problem is not rectified, Europe could be torn apart. Although none of us are old enough to remember Nazi Germany, the lessons of World War II and the Holocaust seem to have been forgotten by many on the continent.

We hear about Mosques being burned down, racial hatred and incitement coming to the surface but this is bigger than a ‘clash of civilisations’. The deeper background to these problems is the cause of the violence. The hid-den barriers of racial hatred have sprung to the surface and immigrants feel this rioting is the only way to be heard. Although these riots have allowed voices to be heard, it has not solved the problem. There has to be democratic reform and peaceful negotiations. In these last three weeks we have not even heard the option of the French talking to Muslim or black leaders for a peaceful negotiation. There is no political party in France that immigrants can identify with and last of all, there seems to be no sympathy for the poor people that have to endure this racial pain every single day.

Nevertheless, integration also has to be voluntary. There are many commentators that will argue that these people do not want to in-tegrate within society and do not. When 60% of youths are unemployed in French suburbs, it needs to be addressed immediately. The sad thing is that it took three weeks to rioting and damage for this to be heard.

Perhaps we take our own lives for granted. Perhaps this world is just too small for all of us to live in. These are the questions I ask myself but the reality is that this is a European prob-lem which if not addressed properly will only fuel the violence.

The nation recently witnessed some of the most shocking mass violence seen in years, the motive you say, a mere case of Chinese whispers. Tensions mounted in the Lozells area of Birmingham after allegations were made of a sexual assault on a fourteen year old Jamaican illegal immigrant girl by group of Asian men. The violence began when riot-ers forced their way into a meeting at the New Testament Church of God. The meeting, which was attended by around five hundred people, was to discuss the claims with several church leaders speaking.

What followed was an evening of destruc-tion in which around eighty crimes were com-mitted and 35 people were hospitalised. It has been described as ‘a series of sporadic, seri-

ous extreme incidents’ in which a local man was fatally stabbed and a police man was hit in the leg by a ball bearing fired from a gun. Offic-ers reported that the night of rioting consisted of fighting in the streets, a number of petrol bombs being thrown and several gunshots be-ing fired.

However, all of this blood was shed for ‘rumour, myth and speculation’ and the Jamai-can girl has not even come forward to police. Regardless of this, over 1,000 people in the surrounding area signed a petition calling for ‘justice’, protests were held consisting of up to 100 people and vandals desecrated around 30 Muslim graves in a cemetery, pushing over headstones and leaving offensive literature.

Yet such disorder is merely the latest in a history of tension to blight the Lozells and East Handsworth area of which 82% belong to mi-nority groups. A gang culture has grown with black and Asian gangs being linked to drug

and gun crime. In the early hours of January 2nd Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare were shot dead in nearby Aston. Four mem-bers of the black ‘Burger Bar Boys’ gang were convicted of their murders and it was revealed that they had been seeking revenge on their ri-vals the ‘Johnson Crew’ and the girls had been innocent victims of their rage.The events in Birmingham have brought to the public’s at-tention the power that rumours hold, and the possible violence.

However maybe certain groups use such accusations as a guise to vent their frustra-tion and racial antagonism. The British public needs to seriously address the problems that can arise from tensions developing within an integrated community. Do we need to brace ourselves for worse events before the govern-ment finally realises the seriousness of the situation and calls for improvement?

By Rebecca Hunt

AUSTRIA With anti-EU, anti-immigrant policies and its leader’s apparent nostalgia for the fascist era, the Austrian Freedom Party grew from the extreme political fringes into a power-ful force. However, recent splits within the party resulted in the formation of the new Alliance for Austria’s Future which is cur-rently growing in support. It will most likely make important gains in the Austrian gen-eral elections, to be held next year.

BELGIUM Belgium’s far-right Vlaams Blok party has steadily gained ground over the last few years on a platform of Flemish independ-ence and anti-immigration policies, directed particularly against the large Muslim popu-lation. The party has often been accused of breaching Belgium’s anti-racism legislation, with other political parties hesitant to join them in coalitions.

DENMARK Ultranationalist right-wingers, Dansk Folkeparti (DPP), gained nine new seats in last year’s general election, signalling a big increase and inclusion in the centre-right co-alition government. Denmark’s xenophobic surge post-9/11 allowed an easy victory, with all right-wing campaigns focused mainly on the issue of stricter immigration policies, which have since been implemented. How-ever, the DPP’s approach is far milder than other European far-right parties.

HOLLAND The hardlining anti-immigrant far-right Pim Fortuyn List party lost the 2002 general elec-tion to the Christian Democrats following their leader’s assassination. While before this, the party was set to become a signifi-cant political force now it remains only as a part of a centre-right coalition government and has been forced to accept softer meas-ures on issues such as immigration.

GERMANY Germany’s Christian Democrat party re-cently sparked controversy with an anti-immigration advertising campaign, urging people to put ‘children before Indians’. However, no far-right party has ever passed the 5% threshold needed to gain national political representation. Germany has strict laws against any rehabilitation of its Nazi past, and many Germans feel a heavy moral responsibility not to allow nationalist poli-tics to return.

SWEDEN Sweden has no organised far-right parties, but in recent years the country has seen a wave of neo-Nazi violence - including mur-ders and bombings which have targeted immigrants. One million of Sweden’s 10 million population are immigrants, and the number is steadily growing.

Wednesday November 23 200512 13

It is estimated that a quarter of the world population is exposed to unhealthy concentrations of air pollutants

Climate change is already killing 150,000 people a year

Global climate change is the single biggest environmental threat facing the planet

4 million people in the UK will face the threat of flooding from global warming

Rising sea levels mean that in some places land will be lost to the sea

Organised crime costs the UK over £20bn per year

An estimated 600 000-800 000 people are trafficked globally per year

ID Fraud has risen from 35 000 cases in 2000 to 101 000 cases in 2003

ID Fraud costs the UK £1.3bn per year

Multiple false identities are used in one third of terrorist related activities and organised crime and money laundering

A child dies every 15 seconds from easily prevented water-related diseases

More than 10 million children under the age of five die every year – 30,000 per day – of causes related to hunger and disease brought about by poverty

Half the world’s population now lives on less than US$2 a day, roughly the cost of a burger

Of the world’s billion poorest people, over 75% live in urban areas without adequate shelter and basic services

For many of us in Britain the EU is literally a foreign body, known only for the more un-likely policies that make it onto the outraged pages of the tabloid press. A few years ago our national guardians were up in arms about the “bendy bananas” rule, which

stated that supermarket bananas couldn’t curve beyond a predetermined shape – and which was eventually considered unenforceable in British shops. Stories like this have given the EU a bit of a bad name – where, indeed, it’s a name at all – so the UK’s assumption of its Presidency is an ideal time to investigate some of the myths and mystery behind this influential decision-making body.

The history surrounding the foundation of the EU is – at least at first glance – pretty difficult to unravel. It was created, in its earliest formation, in 1951, the product of a post-war climate in which co-operation between nations had become an es-sential precursor to lasting peace. Six countries, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, set up the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1952 to regulate their use and production of the industrial resources that would be most valuable to them should they once again decide to take up arms. The collaboration was successful, and the idea of co-operative trea-

ties was soon extended to economics and atomic energy. By 1967 the ECSC, the European Eco-nomic Community and the European Atomic En-ergy Community had been merged into one body which would later, in 1993, become known as the European Community (EC). When the Maastricht Treaty was signed in 1992, the European Union was formed.

The UK, ever late to the party, joined the EU in 1973. There are at present 25 member states (Aus-tria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hun-gary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK). In order to become a member of the EU, a country must agree to abide by the treaty that sets out its core values: ‘Liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law’. A plethora of other principles, known as the ‘Copen-hagen Criteria’, set out the political, economic and institutional standards that must be met by all ap-plicants.

Yet it is for its decision-making powers that the community is best known. Entrance to the EU enables a country to take part in the process of de-veloping policies which might eventually become law for all the member states. There are a number of different decision-making bodies within the EU, which work together to create a balanced system

of democracy. Amongst these institutions are the Council of Ministers, which represents the govern-ments of member states, a Commission that pro-poses legislation from the European Community, the European Parliament – elected by European citizens – which has the power to approve or reject new legislation, and the European Court of Justice, which ensures the Treaties that bind the member states are upheld.

If this all sounds complicated, that’s probably because it is. But amongst the communities, coun-cils and commissions is a progressive, and – as any sceptic will tell you – provocative sovereign body. And this is where the UK Presidency comes in. The Presidency of the Council of the European Union is

rotated between each of the member states every six months. From July 1st to December 31st 2005, the UK holds the Presidency – the first time it has done so since 1998. This means that it takes re-sponsibility for chairing the Council’s meetings, represents its interests within other bodies of the EU and non-EU countries, and develops existing ideas that have been taken forward from the previ-ous Presidency.

The Council meets most weeks, with a repre-sentative Minister from each member state attend-ing, and votes are taken to pass new policies. These votes are weighted according to the size and popu-lation of each member state, so while the UK has 29 votes, a much smaller country such as Malta has only three. If an issue is particularly controversial, it has to be passed unanimously – this means that each state has the power of veto. Douglas Alexan-der MP explains that the UK’s task as President is not to run the EU: “The job of the Presidency is to coordinate the agenda, represent the EU to the rest of the world, and to ensure the effective conduct of business. Every member state has a say in deciding what issues need to be addressed, how and when. The UK Presidency worked with previous EU Presi-dencies to agree the policy agenda and is working with the Presidencies that come next – Austria and Sweden - to ensure progress is maintained.”

Issues at the top of the agenda for the UK dur-ing its Presidency include a new strategy against

climate change, which hopes to capitalise on previ-ous EU laws that have banned the use of lead in petrol and made catalytic converters compulsory in newly manufactured cars. Although these have had an effect on the level of toxic emissions pro-duced by personal transport, much more legisla-tion is needed before significant progress can be made. In October, these issues were debated at the Environment Council, and Mr Alexander believes the UK is in a strong position to take these ideas forward to the UN Climate Change negotiations in December.

Other topics up for debate include new aid packages for developing countries, and under the UK’s Presidency the EU has agreed to double its aid to Africa by 2010.

Measures have also been proposed to reduce or-ganised crime such as people trafficking and ID fraud. While in Britain new anti-terror measures have been met with dissent in the Commons, the

EU’s Counter Terrorism Action Plan has been aug-mented under Tony Blair’s leadership. “By the end of the year”, says Mr Alexander, “we will have made progress on a strategy to combat radicalisation and recruitment, disrupt terrorist financing and retain communications data.”

As the Presidency only lasts for six months, Mr Alexander acknowledges that there is little time for real progress to take place: “Our aim is to make progress across the board before handing over to Austria … all these issues have a long-term focus, and our task is to move them forward constructive-ly.” However, one decision has already been made

that could have significant consequences for the future of the EU: the commencement in October of negotiations with Croatia and Turkey for their membership of the Union.

For Mr Alexander, the proposal of Turkey as a formal candidate for membership is evidence of the EU’s culture of shared values, in which com-munity is defined by common values rather than geography. “The enlargement of the European Union provides candidate countries with the op-portunity to embrace the core European values of democracy, the rule of law, respect for others, cultural diversity and freedom, thereby promoting regional peace, prosperity and stability. We believe that we should reach out to our neighbours, rather than build walls around the Union. Indeed, the founding principle of the European Union was to overcome differences in culture, language and ge-ography, through the spread of shared values and a common purpose.”

The negotiations with Turkey could take around ten years, and have already become a source of controversy amongst the member states. They are seen by many as a landmark in the EU’s history and could, as Mr Alexander asserts, be “a pow-erful demonstration that Islam, democracy and economic success are compatible”. If Turkey is ac-cepted, it will be the first predominantly Muslim country to gain entrance to the EU – and if it is rejected, many believe the organisation’s future re-lationships with Muslim nations could be placed in jeopardy. Whatever the outcome, it is unlikely that the EU will escape criticism from at least some of its member states.

While for many the EU is defined by the ide-als enshrined in its treaties, for others it remains synonymous with a creeping eradication of na-tional values. Be it the single currency or the single market, there can be no doubt that the principles and policies of the EU have a daily impact on all of our lives. For every “bendy banana” that hits the headlines, many less tabloid-friendly but more im-portant decisions inevitably pass us by. If the EU is a remote and seemingly inaccessible body, it is also an integral part of modern British governance. For Tony Blair, the last few months have offered a rare chance to set the agenda: for the rest of us, it has been an opportunity to watch our politicians in action on an increasingly big stage.

The European Union has 25 member states

It covers an area of 3,892,685 km²

There were approximately 460 million EU citizens in December 2004

If you want to phone someone in the EU, all current members have calling codes beginning with +3 or +4

The largest city in the EU is London

Its anthem is Ode to Joy

The EU’s motto is “In varietate Concordia” (which means “unity in diversity”)

The EU flag consists of twelve yellow stars forming a circle on a blue background - the stars represent the union of Europe’s peoples

From this year the EU has been assigned its own top-level domain, which means that its web addresses all end in “.eu”

The international currency of the EU is the Euro

National currencies include the pound, koruna, krone, kroon, forint, lat, litas, lira, złoty and tolar

If the EU was a country, it would be the 7th largest in the world by area


It’s that time of year again. Eve-rybody is coughing and sneez-ing around you, and the UFO has sold out of Lemsip just when you were needing it the most because, frankly, you are feeling rough. Yes, you’ve got a cold. Or, if you’re really unlucky, the flu.

Colds and flu are both caused by viruses which are passed by droplets in the air. That means that when you breathe in bits of snot and spit that other infected people are coughing all over the place the virus inside these droplets latches onto cells in your nose and throat and then crawls inside them. The clever little virus then stimulates your nose to make more snot and to sneeze it all around the place, so it can attach itself to more victims.

Viruses like influenza can’t actually live for long outside the body: they need bits inside our cells to replicate and as soon as they are inside that is what they begin to do. But, ironically, it is not actually the virus multiplying which makes you feel ill, but the way your body responds to it. When your cells realise that they are infected, they release chemicals that circulate all around your body. These cause a fever, which is an at-tempt to burn out the virus, and a feeling of exhaustion to force you to rest and conserve energy. Some of the chemicals released directly kill the virus but they also end up damaging the cells in your nose and throat, causing a runny nose and a sore throat. White blood cells also rush to the area of infection to fight in hand to hand combat, but this makes the blood vessels in your nose swell up, blocking your nose. All in all, you feel pretty rough. While it may seem annoying that all the irritating symptoms we get from the flu and colds are actually a result of our bodies’ defences going overboard, if this did not happen the virus could divide uncon-trollably, taking over all the cells in your body and eventually killing you. This is why, although flu is relatively harmless to most fit students like yourself, for the very old, the very young or the already sick, it can be fatal.

So how are you going to get over this and get back on your feet? Well, first the bad news. There are no cures for colds or flu. Antibiotics do nothing to help as they only kill bacteria, not viruses. In fact they can make things worse as they weaken the body’s defences and make it easier for the virus to replicate. And while para-cetamol and ibuprofen may make you feel better by lowering your temperature, they do not actu-ally get rid of the problem, and again may delay your eventual recovery. So there’s little point in dragging your aching body to the doctor’s for anything other than a sick-note. There is a flu vaccine, but this is not offered to everybody, only people such as asthmatics who might be more at risk if they get flu. And since this vac-cine can only protect you against one strain of flu, and not colds at all, it is unlikely to stop you from getting ill this winter. And no, there is no bird flu vaccination available yet, however much you demand it, although you can rest as-sured that at present bird flu is not currently a major threat in this country.

But there is good news too. In the war of ‘body versus flu’ the body pretty much always wins. It just takes time, and you can help it to work faster. The stronger your immune system,

the quicker it fights off the infection. And the quicker the infection is dealt with, the sooner you feel better. In fact, the best defences kill off the virus before it even enters the cell, so you don’t feel ill in the first place. So, how do you build up a strong immune system?

First you will need to give your body the chance to recover, and I’m afraid this may mean missing School-Daze, at least while you still feel

ill. Your immune system needs sleep. While we sleep we release growth hormone, which allows our body’s cells to repair and replicate. This includes the all-important white blood cells. More white cells means a larger army to fight the virus and a larger army means a faster end to the war.

Next you are going to have to hold off the alcohol for a bit. Alcohol may numb the pain, and a hot whiskey seems like a great idea in this horrible weather, but it does sadly sup-press growth hormone, preventing white blood cells from replicating, thereby weakening your body to the attack of the viruses. It also makes you dehydrated. If you have a fever you will be sweating and losing water. Dehydration, like everything else, weakens your immune system. This is why you need to keep drinking plenty of non-alcoholic drinks, even if you don’t feel thirsty. Alcohol also stops you from absorbing

nutrients in your food which are important in the immune system, and this brings me to the next piece of advice.

For most of you this is your first time liv-ing away from home, and for many of you that means the first time buying and cooking your own food. With a limited budget and many de-mands on your purse strings you wouldn’t be blamed for trying to live entirely on Pot Noo-dles, but without a balanced diet your body does not have everything it needs to build all the important virus-fighting cells. Fat is im-portant in building a strong immune system, vitamin C and zinc are also very important. Buying supplements might help, but they are no substitute to eating well – fruit, vegetables, fish… OK, I’m starting to sound like your mum now, but you’ll thank me when you are partying through the night while your Pot Noodle eating flatmate is too sick to spend any of the money they saved on food.

Of course, you could try and avoid catching anything in the first place. A strong immune system is a great place to start, but it helps to try and keep away

from the viruses altogether. The most common way that these viruses are actually transmitted is by hand to hand contact. Picture this: Your snotty, coldy friend wipes their nose on their hand, you shake their hand or touch their con-taminated door handle, and then you pick your nose, touch your eyes or eat some food with your now virus infested hands. Now, I’m not telling you to get all obsessive-compulsive, but if your friends or flatmates get ill then you might be best off avoiding too much close contact with them for a while and washing your hands

before eating. If your brand new boyfriend or girlfriend has also started snivelling (from cold symptoms rather than relationship ‘issues’) then it is also good advice to keep your tongue out of their throat for a while – unless you want to snuggle up together with hot lemon drinks and Kleenex.

To be honest with you, although this is all good advice, chances are you will catch something at university this winter. Cramming yourself into the LCR with thousands of other hyperactive, alcohol soaked, undernourished students, then walking home for an hour in the cold wearing little more than a belt is a sure-fire way to catch germs and get ill, and it may be wise to schedule a visit to the parents in a couple of weeks time for some TLC and good food.

One word of warning. Although I have told you that there is no point in going to the doctor with a cold or flu, there is one very important exception: Meningitis. In its early stages it can seem very similar to flu, but it needs to be treat-ed as soon as possible. If you or your friend have a very high temperature and are vomiting then you need to be seen by a doctor straight away. Other warning signs are a stiff neck and severe headache, and a dislike of bright lights. An extremely high temperature can actually lead to seizures, and if you see anyone having a fit then you need to call an ambulance pronto.

Having said that, meningitis is very rare, and although you need to be aware of the symp-toms, and on the lookout for your friends, the chances are you will all get at least a little bit ill this winter. Take it easy, drink lots of water, eat good food (if you can stomach it) and make sure you are in the close vicinity of at least one person who can give you lots of sympathy. That, in my opinion, is the best medicine.


I landed in Trondheim Airport on the day after New Year. Filled with anticipation of this journey I was itching to get life started in “the land of the Midnight Sun”. As my feet stepped in Scandina-

via, I was suddenly aware it was absolutely freezing and a thought ran through my mind: “Am I cut out for this?” The first night was the only night I wondered why the hell I chose Norway as it was -25 degrees, I was knee deep in snow and I already missed my Picnic choc-olate bars, which seemed so far away.

Those thoughts were pushed to the back of my mind as I awoke the next morning. Any home sickness had been dissolved and now it was time for my adventure. Wearing two pairs of tights, thick socks, ski boots, thick trousers and my scarf and hat I was ready to feel that chilly breeze whip against my face. Looking across the street I saw those crazy Norwegians impervious to the cold with cheekbones which could cut through ice. I felt as though I had to do this for myself, and was determined to make the best of the situation. Surely enough I started to meet international students from all over the world. We had a day orientation just for the international students and this ice breaker was fundamental to me as I felt so much better making friends.

This ERASMUS trip was an unbelievable period of my life. To have the opportunity to spend some time abroad and learn about new cultures was so exciting. On a personal level this became a period of soul searching and personal development. Being an international student is something you cannot understand until you live it. I had no expectations of Nor-way, and although we only got 2-5 hours of sunlight a day it was growing on me. Trond-

heim used to be the capital of Norway and just has 150,000 people residing there. It re-ally is a true stereotype that Norwegians are reserved and cold, but if you become friends with them, they are your friends for life as I have come to learn. The clubs and bars are open until after 3am and a nachspiel (drink-ing party after clubs close) is normally the way forward. It was delightful going to watch Rosenborg get a beating by Liverpool.

The best part of this journey was walking into the unknown. The international friends I made whist there I hold dear to me. At times they are like your family and are going through the same emotions you are. I am still in close contact with the friends I had there and the bonds of friendship were unique to Norway and our Erasmus trip together. You tend to immerse yourself in an international culture. I never knew how much of an ap-preciation I had with nature until I was in the midst of it all. Norway is such a beautiful country, filled with mystery through the fjords and mountainous greens which await you. The untouched beauty is so simplistic yet so mystifying.

To have this experience is something many people are scared about. Being a Briton in Norway was something the Norwegians were fond of. This is a place where the mini-mum wage is approximately £12 an hour, their national food is frozen pizza (despite what they protest) and every family owns a Volvo. Looking up at the star studded sky eve-ry night, seeing the northern lights so close to me and being in this winter wonderland was just an experience of a lifetime that you cannot comprehend until you take the plunge and live it.

Perhaps it was best that I arrived in the dark. Looking out over the lights of a city I had been encour-aged to think of as home, nothing seemed more hostile than the

enormity and anonymity of Clermont Ferrand. A good two-hour train ride from anywhere, Cl-ermont’s location, in the heart of France, had beckoned with visits to Barcelona, Geneva, Stuttgart and Milan. Naturally my exploration of France itself seemed unlimited. But the reality dealt a hefty blow. A lack of time and surplus of work rendered exploration impos-sible.

The attraction of the Michelin city has been likened to that of Birmingham. Personal-ly, I’ve never thought the Black Country city all that bad, but Clermont lends it a new appeal. Factories have never featured so much in the aesthetics of my daily life. The mountains confining the city at first appear enchanting, but soon become forbidding and restrictive. There is no escape. The unsystematic con-struction of a new tram system has brought inconvenience and annoyance to the three generations of Clermont’s UEA Erasmus con-victs with whom I’m acquainted. Unsightly, dusty and sporadically situated around the city, the tramline, destined for completion in 2008, is more imposing than facilitating.

Surprisingly, the city tram workers con-tradict any stereotype of men who like their tea breaks. Without exception, from 8am un-til 7pm, a plethora of constructionists com-plicate even the most direct of journeys, and just when you think you know where all their site locations are, another one appears over-night. By a phenomenon known among us outsiders, the Clermont effect ran like clock-

work, dutifully engulfing the city at the close of office hours every Friday as the entire city emptied, only to lift to our great relief late Sunday afternoon, with the unconcerned re-turn of staff, students and workers alike. At weekends, bored beyond belief, we inhabited a ghost town.

Bad enough spending my 20th birthday, my first full day there, in this urban paradise with only the company of my then boyfriend. My friend status, despite my better efforts, did not then improve as I had anticipated. The Cl-ermontois, it would seem, do not appreciate the need for friends. This has since proven to be ironic, as the Clermontois at UEA this semester have been without exception, excel-lent conversation and friendly beyond belief.

What UEA does not prepare you for is the fact that these students made their friends in lycée, and have moved alongside them to their local university. Think of it like an ex-tended sixth form. They do not require more friends, nor will they willingly accept your ap-proaches.Unaccustomed to “les étrangers”, having no river providing a history of trade, and protectors of the second largest base of La Resistance, the Clermontois were not particularly enthusiastic towards an Aryan girl with a foreign accent. Beyond a handful of classmates I was on “Bonjour” terms with after the 5-month semester, the vast major-ity of my friends were other Erasmus and ex-change students. These are the people who understand. They are going through exactly the same experiences as you. They are there when the world falls apart, and they help you piece it back together. I cannot emphasise enough the importance of these people. Hold onto them after you return home.

Salamanca has a reputation (justly or otherwise) as having within its prestigious streets some of the purest Castilian Spanish in the country. This was enough for me to

choose it as my ERASMUS year destination. Salamanca is a couple of hours north west of Madrid and more or less the same distance south west of Valladolid, a city boasting a tiny airport with Ryanair flights directly from Lon-don. It is situated very close to Portugal, in Spain’s Castilla y León region, boasting one of the most diverse climates in Spain.

I found Salamanca intriguing, bubbling with life and hundreds of tapas bars littered in and around the famous plaza mayor (one of the most impressive in the country) with what seemed like the whole city out on the streets, the old and young, enjoying the weekend. On the rua (street) mayor families ate odorous fish and steaks at outdoor restaurants. I looked for Chinese, before finding a bar to watch Real

Madrid get a hammering by Deportivo (just the beginning for Real). Scandalously, the bar doubled up as a strip joint, whose delights I didn’t sample, choosing instead to trek ‘home’ and prepare for school the next day.

In my first week I experienced a lot. I moved out of my host family’s house, choosing to live with three Spanish students (two girls). I start-ed classes in Cursos Internacionales, a sector of the university with kids from all over the world. Salamanca is unfortunately full of peo-ple who speak English, mostly students from Europe or the States, but some Spaniards were also eager to practise their English. This meant speaking Spanish became an effort, especially as my closest friends all spoke English (two yanks and a crazy Swiss Italian legend), and my housemates were making no efforts (right-ly so) to slow down their rapid fire stream of colloquial Spanish.

Salamanca is clearly a beautiful city, with plenty of history: it was General Franco’s head-

quarters at one point. The new cathedral is a sight to behold and the architecture every-where, including the university, is breathtaking. The locals (salamantinos) are very friendly and can’t resist a jibber if they find out you speak Spanish. At night though something happens to this place that needs witnessing. In short, the local youths go nuts, start singing, destroy-ing and vandalising anything they can find, and binge drinking (for cheaper than you can imag-ine) to reggaeton. The city transforms itself on big nights such as Thursday and Fridays, with bar libres (open bars). In my spot of choice, for 3 euros you can drink beers from 11 to 2am or for 6 euros you can drink anything. The par-tying doesn’t stop until you really want it to;; most clubs shut at 5am some at 7 and one at noon.

A nice way to start the night is with a botel-lon, which can either be a street party involv-ing drink, marijuana, men and women. Great! A botellon can also be indoors: same princi-

ple. There are also bars in Salamanca where you can smoke marijuana, Amsterdam style almost, as the laws on this drug are tolerant and seldom enforced here. A hard thing was leaving at Christmas knowing when you come back all your friends would be gone, but this was almost like having two different Erasmus experiences. The second semester brought so many other things to the table, for instance, af-ter my first week of sun, Salamanca turned into an Antarctic, colder than London. I discovered during the winter I was in one of the coldest regions in Spain. However, during the spring and summer it was scorching, which meant of course barbeques, even more football,more botellones, Spanish women out in mini faldas and outdoor swimming.

If you have the chance to do an Erasmus year or semester, take it and enjoy it. Second, take your absinthe (absente!) in one go or you wont finish it. Aguardiente is also a must try, the purer the better.


It’s official, the sub-zero tempera-tures are here. Yep, it’s winter. And what does winter bring? Colds, flu and unhappy students. You can avoid, or at least reduce, these nas-ty seasonal side effects by eating the right things.

We all know that Vitamin C helps to ward off colds: drink-

ing orange juice and sticking the odd tomato in your meals will go some way to preventing gruesome illnesses but there are plenty of other foods to build up your immune system this win-ter. Omega 3 rich foods also help to ward off the common cold - this can be found in oily fish, such as tuna, salmon or mackerel.

Garlic can also help to keep you healthy this winter, and not just because eating it will stop the boy or girl next door with a streaming cold from wanting to snog you. It contains a natural antibacterial to kill off unwanted germs. Eating foods which are high in zinc, such as beef, chicken, oatmeal or wholegrains, actually increase the number of white blood cells in our bodies which can destroy flu-causing viruses. So next time you have a curry, make it a Chicken Biryani, rather than a Lamb Rogon Josh. Even the cereal you eat first thing in the morning can add to your defences against the winter. Around this time of year, the Germans stock up on cabbage, and for good reason. Green leafy vegetables like cale (a type of cabbage, but we all knew that didn’t we?) and spinach are rich in iron which, when eaten together with Vitamin C rich foods, can further enhance your protection against colds. Keeping hydrated is also a major factor in preventing illness: drinking water or fruit juices regularly is a simple way to benefit your health.

The average person is expected to get two colds a year, so when you are struck down with a cold or, worse still, flu (and I mean proper flu, not a sneeze or two that makes you feel a little poorly) despite taking all these precau-tions, there are certain foods to avoid when full of phlegm. Dairy foods are thought to be mu-cus causing;; keeping clear of cheese, milk and yoghurt may help to reduce the yucky parts of

your cold. However, some research has shown that eating low-fat yoghurt on a daily basis can reduce your susceptibility to colds by up to 25% because it contains good bacteria which can stimulate the production of certain substances in the immune system. So eat lots of yoghurt each day, but as soon as you start sneezing, stop immediately. Easy.

‘Feed a cold, starve a fever’. It’s not just a catchy phrase. Dutch research has actually shown that eating assists the body in destroy-ing cold viruses. What better excuse do you need to gorge yourself this winter? The clas-sic lemon and honey drink may also help you when gripped by winter bugs, the lemon’s an-tibacterial properties can help with the germs and the honey and heat of the drink itself can soothe. Green tea contains antioxidants which, if gargled, can help to neutralise flu viruses in the throat. Chicken soup is also a genuine aid - it clears congestion by thinning mucus and increasing the number of white blood cells - whilst herbal teas, particularly ginger, liquorice

and sage are thought to help with the inflam-mation of a sore throat.

The key to keeping healthy this winter is keeping warm. The Department of Health ex-plains in the ‘Keep Warm, Keep Well’ campaign that there is a direct link between cold weather and a rise in the number of people getting ill: ‘Hot meals every day and regular hot drinks will give you extra warmth and energy’. Simply eat-ing warm food and drinking hot drinks is a step in the right direction: eating something hot cre-ates inner body heat. This can also be created by pulses and root vegetables as well as warm-ing spices such as ginger and cinnamon.

As with fighting the germs, simply eating is a big help. The body needs calories to burn in order to produce heat - food really is fuel. The process of digestion sends warmth signals to the body, encouraging blood flow to the extrem-ities - so your feet can stay toasty warm! Iron rich foods can help to keep you warm as well as preventing bugs, so start conditioning your body to like spinach. Iron produces the thyroid hormone which stimulates heat production. And the final tip for keeping warm this winter is (please don’t shoot the messenger) avoiding alcohol. Despite the rosy glow it may give you, alcohol is a big hindrance to keeping warm. As well as dehydrating you, alcohol suppresses shivering, which is one of the body’s natural mechanisms for stabilising body temperature.

Another consequence of the all en-compassing darkness and cold weather of this season is the winter blues. Seasonal Affective Disorder (or S.A.D.) is becoming increasing-

ly common. As the nights draw in, your energy levels decrease and enthusiasm disappears.

Some people believe what we eat can influ-ence our mood. Endorphins are chemicals in the brain that are responsible for positive moods. They reduce stress and naturally repress pain signals, making you feel happier and more up-beat. Endorphins are found in various foods;; the most popular of these is chocolate, hence eating an entire box of chocolates at Christmas feels so good! Chilli peppers are another good producer of endorphins. It is thought that we crave carbohydrates like bread, pasta and po-tatoes in times of stress and unhappiness be-cause they affect the chemicals in our body, causing us to feel more relaxed and calm.

Fruit is also rich in carbohydrates, so when the stress of Christmas shopping gets to you and extraordinary traffic jams caused by snow cause tension, you can always reach for an ap-ple for comfort. And spicy foods in general are supposed to be a good source of energy when your enthusiasm is lacking.

So does that mean we should just give in to the urge to have a hot, spicy curry followed by some chocolate, safe in the knowledge that it’s good for us? Unfortunately not. Despite containing phenylethylamine which releases endorphins, the caffeine content of chocolate means that too much can actually add to the stress associated with the winter blues. Whilst drinks like cola, coffee and tea, which contain an abundance of caffeine, can produce short term lifts in mood and make you more alert, they have to be consumed in moderation.

As winter creeps up on us, it’s important we look after ourselves, especially now most of us can’t rely on Mum or Dad to make sure we’ve eaten properly. Staying warm, healthy and hap-py this winter may simply be a case of buying the right things at the supermarket.

This recipe is ideal for a cold winter’s night. The mushrooms and creme fraiche make a creamy base for the rich Panchetta and tangyred pepper. Serves 4 and takes about 20 minutes to prepare and cook. You will need: A 200ml pot of Creme Fraiche 1 Courgette Enough Rotini pasta (twists) for 4 people 250g Panchetta (or 6 rashers of diced bacon) 1 onion 6 Mushrooms 1 Red pepper Salt & pepper to season Olive oil for cooking Optional: Ciabatta to serve.

1) Coarsely chop the vegetables. 2) Boil a saucepan of water for the pasta. Add salt to speed the boiling time. 3) Turn the hob to a fairly high heat then heat up olive oil in a frying pan or wok and add the onion. 4) Allow the onion to cook until slightly translucent and add the panchetta or bacon. Cook for five minutes - the bacon or pan-chetta should cook quite quickly as it is in small pieces.5) Depending on how long the pasta should take to cook, add it to the boiling water. Consider that the recipe will take about ten more minutes from here. 6) Add the red pepper, mushrooms and courgette and cook until the courgette is soft.7) Turn the hob down and pour in the creme fraiche. Allow to simmer until the creme fraiche changes colour. The creme fraiche will turn a mushroom-type colour. 8) Season, then drain the pasta and add to the pan. 9) Mix until the pasta is covered and serve with roughly sliced ciabatta.

If you drive eastwards along the A47, you will often notice quite a strong smell at about the point you pass County Hall on your left. That smell is Whitlingham Waste-Water Treatment Works (WWTW),

the largest works in the Anglian Water region.

Whitlingham treats all of the waste-water from Norwich city;; that is to say sewage and indus-trial effluents and water from storm drains, as well as taking water from a large area of sur-rounding countryside, extending to Hethersett in the south-west, Helleson to the north, and Brundall to the east. In real terms this means the works deals with on average 55 000m3 of wastewater a day (900 litres a second). The plant has to cope with this demand 24 hours a day 7 days a week: it is never offline.

At the primary treatment stage, up to a tonne of grit (originating from road drains) is recovered daily. This can go straight back to the local council for use in icy conditions. The plant uses a type of Activated Sludge Digestion known as Bio P. Bio P is a two-stage process, the second process using aerobic nitrifying bacteria to break down ammonium ions in the sludge to nitrite, which is a useful plant ma-cronutrient. The resulting product is then heat treated, and mixed with lime to kill pathogens. A ‘cake’ is formed which can then be applied to local fields as fertilizer, thus reducing the need for inorganic fertilizers, which require a large amount of energy to be produced, and to be transported due to their bulk.

55% of Whitlingham’s electricity is derived from an on-site Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant. Similar to UEA’s CHP plant (which is powered by mains gas), Whitlingham’s CHP plant is powered by methane produced during the sludge digestion phase – poo power! The plant is able to power the national grid at times when unit prices are high. This, and the result-ing ‘Renewable Objectives Certificates’, make money for Anglian Water.

Up until the mid-1990s most sewage sludge in the UK was either disposed at sea or

in landfill. Sea disposal was then made illegal, and water companies are being encouraged to seek alternatives to landfill. By employing active sludge digestion, CHP, and by re-using grit, An-glian Water at Whitlingham are reducing waste and recycling useful raw materials and energy in a true embodiment of the ‘Reduce, Re-use, Recycle’ principle.

In the future Anglian Water hope to build a gassifier plant at Whitlingham, which will en-able the production of natural gas from sewage sludge. This will further enhance the efficiency of the CHP plant, and make landfill of sludge a thing of the past.


The place to start making a dif-

ference is at home, so take on

board some of these handy tips

that will save your money and our planet!

Water bills are mounting as we get into

the infamous Norfolk winter. We all want

to heat up in a hot bath, but be careful as

you could be gaining hidden costs along

the way!

Make a note of these cunning tips:

* Check for and fix dripping taps

* Turn off taps if you do not need them

e.g. when cleaning teeth

* Favour showers instead of baths where

possible

* Keeping cool water in the fridge means

you won’t have to run a tap continually to

get cold water

* Think about how much toilet cleaner

and bleach is flushed down the loo - the

chemicals do affect the water course

* The average washing machine uses 95

litres of water per cycle. Using a full load

uses less energy, less water and costs less

overall than washing half loads. The

same can be applied to dishwashers

* Flushing the loo can use around fifteen

litres of water. Placing a brick in the

cistern or using a hippo from the water

company can lead to considerable sav-

ings. Toilet cisterns manufactured after

1993 usually use less water per flush

* Think of ways that you could effectively

use ‘grey water’, from cooking or fish

tanks for example. This can often be used

for watering plants and in the garden

Set in Norwich Cathedral, Profes-sor Sir John Lawton introduced the science and history behind cli-mate change to a mixed audience of old-timers and the young.

Now Chair of the Royal Com-mission on Environmental Pollution, Sir Las-ton is a man respected in this field. His main point was to stress that the melting of sea-ice, glaciers, permafrost and land ice sheets are ob-servations, not predictions as the media have often interpreted.

He described our current abuse of our atmosphere as “conducting a completely un-planned experiment on the only planet we can inhabit”, adding with a wry smile: “I think that’s probably a bad idea.”

He delivered an easily accessible talk on

the major implications of our continuing to re-lease emissions at our current rates, carefully explaining that once we’ve started the ball roll-ing, positive feedback in our environment will accelerate our problems.

Albedo (that is, the Earth’s ability to reflect the Sun’s rays), will decrease as the melt con-

tinues, thereby absorbing more of the sun’s en-ergy and increasing melt rates.

Our soils also contain a great deal of car-bon and with the melting of permafrost this ancient carbon will be released into our atmos-phere. Carbon locked in organic matter will also have an accelerated method of release as decomposition occurs faster in warmer condi-tions, so with global warming it will be acceler-ated, leading to further release of carbon into the system.

“Climate change is a bigger threat than ter-rorism. That needs to be recognised.” Profes-sor Sir John concluded with his political views. He put in plain words his opinion that govern-ment has a “specific role to create clear targets for industry and households to follow”. He questioned the different points that politicians make, saying “I sometimes think politicians think they can walk on water. They’re going to have to soon!” His main objection to the poli-tics of climate change were targeted at the US, whose “administration’s laid back attitude is deeply, deeply immoral”.

The lecture highlighted just how much we could achieve with existing technologies, and that logically domestic energy should be the easiest to reduce with the most benefits to the environment.


Crop subsidies received by the state of

Nebraska over the last 10 years (72% of

which went to 10% of the largest

cooperate farms) =

The amount of money President Bush

has asked Congress to approve for emer-

gency flu preparation funds (the virus

that has infected 130 and killed 67) =

Amount of money needed to support the

international fight against AIDS over the

next two years (of which only $3.7 billion

has been raised, while 3 million died last

year) =

Amount of raw sewage sludge produced

in the UK each year (30% of which ends

up in the sea after treatment) =

Amount of oil consumed by the UK’s

industrial sector =

Amount of annual carbon emissions that

could be saved if UK car use was halved

(the equivalent savings of covering the

UK, France and Germany in trees) =

Number of hydro plants in Europe =

Number of different chemicals found in

main brand tobacco =

Number of different mammal species on

Earth =

This is an interesting claim given that the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predict increasing global temperatures well into the next century. So what role does carbon off-setting, or tree planting,

have in mitigating climate change? A return flight from London to Paris is re-

leases 0.12 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

The on-line company futureforests.com allows us to calculate this amount with their carbon-neutral calculator, and tells us that for this flight we need to plant one tree in a place of our choice, amongst which we can find Norfolk’s Hemp Meadow Wood.

The more we fly, the more trees we should plant to offset the carbon emissions produced by our carbon intensive, industrially-based life-styles by fixing it back into the carbon cycle. If you pay for your offset the company sends you a map of the location of your tree and informa-tion about your forest and a certificate with a personal dedication if you plant for someone else.

Alternatively, you can purchase any of their wide range of products, such as cards and toys for children, and part of the profits made still go to tree planting. Other companies such as carboncare.org offer us the option of going carbon neutral by using our economic contri-bution to invest in greener technologies in de-veloping countries. This means that communi-ties there can develop in a sustainable way, and avoid releasing huge amounts of carbon diox-ide as they acquire more comfortable lifestyles. For example, in Honduras home energy reduc-tion is achieved through the purchase of energy efficient stoves.

If carbon neutral schemes contribute to a reduction in carbon emissions, tree planting seems a good way to get rid of the carbon di-oxide that is contributing to warming the Earth and – thinking locally – we can ensure sustain-ability for the Norfolk forests. However, for the scheme to work, the trees must reach old age so that they can absorb enough carbon dioxide to offset our emissions. In this regard Maria Dyson, who is part of the Friends of the Earth (FoE) Information team, says the envi-ronmental group is reluctant to support tree planting projects. This is because of “the lack of guarantee about what happens to the trees in the future, as they could be cut down and

burnt later, thereby releasing carbon back into the atmosphere”. FoE also adds that trees and other biomass can get diseases and die as they are “short term stores and are vulnerable to a changing environment”.

Moreover, the environmental group found that in at least one case “these projects are fi-nancing tree planting that would happen any-way, thus [there is] no environmental gain”. It adds that some industrialised nations such as Australia, Canada, Japan and Russia particu-larly use tree-planting schemes to “avoid in-ternational obligations to reduce carbon emis-sions and pay other countries to plant trees as a way of carbon trading”. FoE acknowledges the importance of schemes which aim to pro-tect and improve forested areas – “not least to climate change and biodiversity” – but because of the uncertainties and loopholes that carbon offsetting involves, it believes that these argu-ments should not be used to ignore the need to achieve “a real cut in carbon emissions in the west”.

Tree-planting is therefore not the final so-lution to climate change. Marcus Armes for CRed (the Carbon Reduction action group who work in partnership with UEA’s Environment Department), agrees with FoE in rejecting tree-planting because it also involves hidden costs: “70% of FutureForests revenue goes to admin-istrative costs,” he says. However, they strongly support projects which involve investment in green technology.

Mr Armes is also part of a pioneer project at Norwich International Airport which aims “to

offset the environmental costs of flights”. This would be achieved by levying a tax on flights “proportionate to the length of the journey and the carbon dioxide emitted”, and which will al-ways be “entirely at the discretion of the pas-senger”. This scheme attempts to raise public – and particularly the traveller’s – awareness of carbon emissions. It hopes to invest in pro-grammes to reduce emissions, not through tree-planting but by investing in environmental education.

The project intends to reach homes in Nor-wich by “installing renewable technologies in schools”. The programme could also use the revenue in other offset options such as better and more environmentally friendly house in-sulation for older people. The scheme would serve to market the airport’s product and allow it to “gain commercial advantage from being seen as socially and environmentally responsi-ble company”. It would also set an example for other airports and airlines.

When asked whether people should stop flying to cut emissions, Mr. Armes said that they need “to work in the real world and not tell people they should do this or that”. Revers-ing the effects of climate change is, after all, a matter of changing our lifestyles to match the Earth’s environmental limit. In this regard, Mr. Armes sees gift purchasing from carbon neu-tral companies as a good option “if we are go-ing to buy Christmas cards anyway”. He also pointed out that if we are going to make a trip from London to New York, we have to accept the need to fly.

Louise Hazan from People and Planet ar-gues that the best thing we can do in that case is offset our contribution to global warming by tree planting – Armes says that if we are travel-ling from London to Paris, maybe we should try to take the train.

So, environmental groups and climate change specialists won’t support it, we’ll fly and buy Christmas cards regardless;; is an ar-ticle about carbon offsetting even worth the paper it’s written on? Such an ironic quagmire is bound to provoke discussion – whether you argue its validity or stupidity, perhaps next time you fly you will consider the cost to the environ-ment.

Wednesday November 23 200520

For those of us who love drunken debauchery, the dreaming is nearly over. Soon we will reach paradise, and it will be more beautiful than we had ever dared to hope. Even if it’s rubbish, who cares? We’ll all have beer-goggles on. Imagine how many more adventures you can clock up during the extra hours of drinking that the Gov-ernment are finally granting us. You can pull two or three times more ugly people. You can be sick in interesting places or on interesting people at least twice a week, if not more. You can phone the object of your desire with even higher confidence in your powers of seduction. Oh yes me beauties, you can get on the wrong bus enough times that the driver will know your name and invite you to the Christmas party. The day of wreck-oning is here.

However, new drinking hours mean higher standards for what constitutes an adventure. Being sick can surely no longer be called an act of heroic drunkenness. Passing out on the toi-let floor is sure to become part of the routine. Put simply, we must now reach the highest lev-els of bodily malfunction in order to hold our spinning heads high in the following morning’s lecture. We all know what this means: we must adopt the practices of that rare breed of drinker. The bed-wetter. Or, given time to perfect a total loss of control over our bodies, the self-defeca-

tor. That’s right. Few people have ever seen someone get so drunk that they fouled them-selves in the most unutterable way. It’s the top banana, the cream of the crop, the wrecked an-tic to end all others. As Snoop Dogg would say: it’s the shizzle.

Allow me to tell a tale of one such incident that I was fortunate enough to witness. After a night out in one of Stockport’s finest night-clubs, The Bamboo ‘til 2, a close friend perched wobblingly on top of the wall outside the ke-bab shop, lamenting his rotten luck that the 45-year-old woman with whom he had shared a few stolen kisses had had to leave early in order to “relieve her babysitter”. Suddenly, my blurred eyes managed to focus on him, only to behold a slowly broadening wet-patch forming on the wall beneath where he was sitting. A wave of elation swept over me. He had done it. He had reached the drinking equivalent of Mec-ca. Needless to say, I broadcast the news with enough volume that every single person within a five-mile radius would benefit from it, with a statement of Neil Armstrong-esque profundity: “Look everyone, he’s pi***d himself!!!”

Ah, a simpler time! One that, with the relax-ation of licensing hours, we can all look forward to. Indeed, thanks to video-phones, similar sights will surely become common, not only on the steps outside the LCR, but on small-screens across campus, as curiously named Bluetooth-ers grace us with an endless wealth of urine-soaked revellers. About time, too. Those pesky Tories tried to stop it with their typically pes-

simistic bleating, but no wonder. The Butler will already top up your Port at four in the morning, as long as you ring the bell. Medical “experts” came out with their usual doom and gloom predictions, blatantly just because they might have to do a bit more work for their hundred thousand pound salaries. Yet despite all this spoil-sportedness, fun won the day. The drinks, as it were, are on the House.

But hang on;; I have been told I have to put in some token gibberish about harming your body, and making society slightly uncomfort-able for people who don’t want their front gar-den to smell like a urinal. Apparently, drinking to the point of soiled trousers, especially on a regular basis, can do nasty things to your liver. And you might die a bit younger. Oh, and there was something about getting arrested for be-ing drunk and disorderly or some other stupid police word for “having fun”. And something called “drink-violence”, which is when you meet another wrecked person who kindly offers to re-arrange your face for you, or liberate your wal-let, or rape you or something.

Fair play, a few bad things can happen to you when you’ve had a few scoops. That same bloke who hilariously lost control of his bladder had another great laugh when a fellow drinker took a cricket bat to his head. A few stitches later and it was all put down to adventure. An adventure we might all be fortunate enough to experience ourselves in the coming months as drinking hours are extended. At least we won’t remember it.

At what age are we grown up? At 16 we’re still at school, earning a pittance at our Satur-day job and even if we were earning loads we wouldn’t be able to go to the pub to spend it anyway. Understandably parents still treat us like the adolescents we are. What about 18? We’re now considered old enough to go to the pub and we can vote. Very grown up. But our tendency to drink ourselves into oblivion, vomit in unmentionable places and fall asleep on the nearest flat surface still suggests a need for a post-teenage hand of guidance.

But once we’re in our twenties, surely we’re old enough to be treated like adults. We’re no longer teenagers;; no longer plagued by reputa-tions of terrorising our neighbours and smok-ing behind bike sheds. Does that make our parents suddenly think ‘let’s let them live their own lives, they’re responsible’. In some cases yes.

We’re now expected to earn our own mon-ey and more importantly look after that money. Particularly at university, we have to juggle food bills, book costs, accommodation and make a responsible decision about whether we can af-ford to go out three or four times each week. We have to plan our own lives;; parents aren’t there to tell us that we’re off to Auntie Marge’s on Thursday and have a dentist appointment on Monday at half three. If our teeth rot it’s because we didn’t look after them;; if we find ourselves triple-booked and are unable to de-cide who to let down - the lecturer who you’ve arranged to meet about an essay, your morbid friend who is once again contemplating the meaning of life, or your housemate who fan-cies a curry - they can’t help, it’s our life.

So why on the other hand can’t we get our navels pierced or have a tattoo without disap-proving looks and being told “if it goes scep-tic, don’t come crying to me”. Why have I been stopped from seeing a band because they’re playing in Manchester and it’s too dangerous to drive there in February without an adult?! OK, so we are still susceptible to the odd prob-lem. Yes, I did forget to go to work a couple of weeks ago, and I do frequently lose library books, keys and anything else not nailed down. But that’s a memory problem, you get that even when you’re 70, only then it’s called se-nility. It ultimately all comes down to the fact that they’re the adults and we’re their children. University actually elongates our time spent as dependents because we still have to go home each academic holiday and still have to run to them when our loan doesn’t quite stretch far enough. And they love it!

Can’t the government pass some sort of legislation saying “at this age your children are officially grown-up, leave them alone”. It would save a lot of let downs each time you pass an-other mile-stone age and still find a power-mad parent standing in your way.

I am one of those young women who are the proud, if not slightly tentative owners of what is fondly known as the ‘Hourglass’ figure. In this current climate, when the hourglass seems to be making a comeback in the media and vari-ous glossy mags are advocating the virtues of the ‘fuller figure’ in favour of Twiglet-like stat-ures, I could cry “Hurrah! At last, I may walk down the road without worrying that people can still see me when I pass behind lampposts, or that I don’t find stepping over drains a prob-lem, or that a sudden breeze won’t plunge me into the depths of unfathomable peril! I can be myself again! The Hourglass is socially accept-able! Hurrah!”

I may cry ‘hurrah’ several more times be-cause you see I am pleased and delighted that the media is finally publicly rejoicing in the fuller figure: even that stud-muffin of Saturday nights, Michael Parkinson, praised Charlotte Church on her ample stature a couple of week-ends ago, voicing his delight, in not a pervy way at all, at the current cultural celebration of the hourglass.

I have never understood the whole “If You’re

Wider Than A Piece of String, Lose Weight Im-mediately” thing. Fair enough if you’re naturally thin, that’s excellent, but if you have an hour-glass, why should you have to lose weight? What’s wrong with a bit of variety? If God had intended us all to be the same, thin size, he wouldn’t have made a chunky version of the Kit Kat. And the standard of thinness portrayed in the media is impossible and surely undesirable anyway, at least from the point of view of the Hourglass. We have been subjected to what ap-pear to be living and breathing Twiglets on tel-evision and in films and magazines, and, aside from anything else, it can really be very mislead-ing. Are we Hourglasses really expected to look at these Twiglets and think, “Hmm, I’d like to look like that”, as we reach inside the fridge for the third chocolate mousse of the evening? Why? Why should an Hourglass have to look like that? This is something I have never un-derstood: the emphasis on looking like a Pep-perami rather than eating them seems peculiar to me. I am glaringly aware that I am treading dangerous ground here, as talk of weight will inevitably raise the subject of eating disorders, which are, of course, very serious things and I am not at all attempting to make light of them – I am just trying to convey my belief that those women who have the ‘fuller’ figure, as it were,

should not try and lose it. Of course, we all know, deep down, that

the hourglass figure has never been socially frowned upon. When these Twiglets parade around on the television, and pose for demure, heavily made-up pictures in magazines, I would live dangerously and say that there are actually very few Hourglasses who really, really want to look like that. We may smile hesitantly and mur-mur “Er…yes…very attractive”, and perhaps add “bitch”, and look wearily down at our bottoms which seem to be taking up both seats on the sofa and maybe a bit of the floor. But if we’re honest with ourselves, we will do nothing of the sort because we don’t want to look like that. We don’t want to run the risk of being blown to the floor every time someone sneezes in Leaming-ton Spa, or dissolving when it rains. We want to be warm in the winter, we want to be able to get away with not bringing a cushion on a picnic because our bums do the work for us;; we want to be friends with the double chocolate gateau and the pizza and the rainbow rows of choco-laty treats in the newsagents. I know I do.

So I say, if you’ve got an hourglass, keep it. And hurrah that people are realising the virtues of it. That it is surely better than being eaten alive because someone thought you were a Twiglet.


Cherie Blair didn’t so much open a can of worms as dive right in with them when she admitted to Counsel magazine last week that she would have ended up working in a shop if she had been forced to pay for

her university education.While Concrete (which

has spent much of its adult life working in shops) sees nothing wrong with a career in retail, it is apparent that our generation is to be denied the privileges that got the power-ful to where they are today.

Charles Clarke’s participation in a DebateSoc event at UEA was a rare opportunity for stu-dents to see close up some of the skills that make the proc-ess of debate and comment so

vital to our society. It is a credit to the propos-

ing team that they won the debate, entitled Is Democracy on its Back in Britain, against such an experienced speaker. Perhaps Mr Clarke will take some of their criticisms back to Parliament?

My position as an impartial lecturer in human rights law precludes me from any substantive comment on Sean Newman’s letter about ID cards (9th Nov). I would be grateful however if he could tell us where to find details of “[his] party, New Labour”. I have tried without success but can only find one called “The Labour Party” at http://www.labour.org.uk/home. As they say in the pages of “Private Eye”: are

these two parties in any way related?

A letter in issue 181 criti-cised ‘Andy Higson’s Rabbit’ as representing a conflict of interests between the Com-munication Officer’s job and his personal political activities as an active member of the Liberal Democrats. I wrote a letter to Concrete last year arguing a very similar point,

yet I now believe this view to be unfounded.

Our Student Union benefits greatly from having members and officers who are motivated and driven to bring about positive change at a lo-cal, national and global level. Some of these people remain independent from political parties (their reasons are totally understandable), but some choose party politics, as a way amongst many, to chan-nel their idealism.

I hope we don’t see a return to political ‘tit for tat parroting’ on these pages and I call on members of differ-ent parties to engage in real, informed and respectable de-bate, but I do not think being a member of a political party necessarily inhibits a Union Officer’s ability to do a good job, not at all.

Furthermore, it is because of my political views and idealism that I oppose the ID cards scheme, and because

of the same such views that I joined the Green Party (who, along with other groups including Norwich Anarchists and NO2ID, also oppose ID cards), not the other way round. I don’t oppose ID cards simply because I am a member of the Green Party: the views come first, the party second. I suspect that the same is true for Andy and the Liberal Democrats.

I am writing about the confusion over the drugs sur-vey. Your paper noted that two of the students who partici-pated had tried ‘zcb’. This is a typo. The substance is known as 2cb. It is a Psychedelic Phenethylamine, a synthetic hallucinogen whose full name is 4-bromo-2,5-dimeth-oxyphenethylamine. It was introduced in the 1980s as an alternative to ecstasy.

It produces a unique ex-perience, although its effects

are similar to those of lsd and mushrooms. As well as a psychedelic rearrangement of reality there is a sense of mild euphoria;; the buzz is similar to that of cocaine or speed. There is an awful lot going on at once.

2cb can be taken orally – snorting it is extremely painful, although the effects come on far quicker and the sensations are more intense. The trip is much more con-trolled and more emotionally

detached than other hallu-cinogens, although as with other hallucinogenic drugs objects shift about and seem to breathe, colours are far more vivid than they would be normally and patterns emerge and grow out and towards you from seemingly plain surfaces.

Other than the effects of the drug on its own it is also an enhancer, so taking 2cb will enhance the effects of what has already been taken

as well as producing its own. The trip lasts for up to six hours with the first being the most intense before the expe-rience levels off to something more sane. Nausea, anxiety and mild disorientation are common side effects.

In your drug issue, you asked for any information regarding the drug ‘ZCB’ as you were unsure about it. It is

actually called 2CB and it is a powder that acts as a halluci-nogen, the intensity of which varies with how much you consume. It can also be used as an enhancer when mixed with other drugs, for example to heighten the feeling of a line of cocaine.

This drug was legally imported from the States via the internet some time ago, however its current legal sta-tus is probably different.

The article ‘Response to “undemocratic” Sports As-sociation Fee’ in Concrete Issue 182 implied that BUSA fixtures no longer take place on Wednesday afternoons. This is not the case. BUSA matches are still played on Wednesdays, but block fix-tures have been replaced by merit leagues.

Roy Keane’s departure from Manchester United not only brings an end to the career of one of United’s fi nest ever players but also leaves a huge hole in the playing staff.

Or so we are led to believe. Is Keane really that much of a loss to United? What has he, in the fi rst three months of this season, given United that they will miss so greatly now he’s gone?

The simple facts read that Keane is 34, prone to niggling injuries, arguably past his best and, with regard to his MUTV blasting of a number of his team, a disruptive infl uence on the team. In his four Pre-miership starts this season Keane’s performances in try-ing to infl uence both the game

and his team mates as he did so magnifi cently in years gone by have, whilst being impres-sively abundant in effort, had the air of the naïve man clutch-ing to the plane wing as it dives into the sea, in the futile hope the plane will rise again before impact. In essence, he has given nothing.

It is the end of an era for United. With the worrying passing of the best of both Giggs and Scholes, the domi-nating team of the 90s is slowly breaking up. United are now a team evolving around the exciting attack strengths of Rooney, van Nistelrooy and Ronaldo. Whilst Keane has tried to cultivate the same grit and determination of the old team into the new generation, one cannot help but sense the “in my day…” cliché. Gary Neville is the best-suited play-er around which to perform the transition;; professional,

hard working and adaptable. And would he criticise his team mates so openly in the media?

It is perhaps no coinci-dence that United trail Chel-sea by some distance and Keane has had a limited role this season. But it is arguable that a slowing, ageing Keane would have made precious lit-tle difference. Whilst United have lacked his leadership and infl uence, they probably have not lacked his football-ing skills. Yes, United need an-other Keane-style player, but was Keane really still the great player he once was and there-fore so badly required?

Will he leave a hole? In character and presence there is no denying this. But United have needed a new, younger Keane for over a year now. This is just the somewhat shock-ing, but rightful, ending of a supreme career at United.


At the beginning of the fi nal day, England had a maximum of ninety overs to acquire the required runs for victory. This was equivalent to a run rate of two an over. However, it appeared that this fact had not been communicated to the English batsmen, who ap-peared to be trying to go at double that speed. As a result, rash strokes were played and England lost with over a ses-sion to spare.

The wickets of Flintoff and Pieterson in the second innings are prime examples of glory shots which were not needed in the situation. With-out wishing to sound all Boy-cott, all England had to do was block the good deliveries and look for ones and twos. In this situation, we needed a player from the mould of Thorpe or Hussain to knuckle down and grind out the victory. It is all

very well to say that our bats-mens’ natural game is to at-tack, but they have to be able to adapt to the circumstances of the match. In Multan, a more diligent approach was needed.

England are not without precedent on this point. As recently as the fourth test this summer at Trent Bridge, Eng-land went gung-ho towards chasing a small total when they had time to spare. Eng-land only just scraped home that day. It was too big a task

to repeat the same trick in the more demanding settings this time around.

The quicker run rate of the modern game has undoubted-ly made test cricket much more exciting. Ultimately though, if a bit of old fashioned grit and determination is required to win a match, then England have to be prepared to sacri-fi ce the spectacle in return for a hard-fought win. Hopefully, the lesson of Multan will serve this young England side well for future years.

Norwich City 2Luton Town 0

Norwich City eased the ten-sion on their manager with a vital win over Luton Town on Saturday.

The pressure had been mounting on Nigel Worthing-ton and many believed a loss here would mark an end to his career as Norwich manager. However his side rose to the occasion and produced a mar-vellous performance to beat high-fl ying Luton.

The Canaries made an ex-cellent start to the game. The players were clearly fi red up after the criticism they had received in recent weeks. Af-ter only three minutes Andy Hughes handed City the per-fect start. Ashton, who was infl uential all game, rolled the ball to Hughes and from twen-ty yards out he did the rest. It was a brilliant goal from the captain and a great way to open his account at Carrow Road.

The goal seemed like a massive blow to Luton’s con-

fi dence, especially coming off the back of three successive defeats. Norwich continued to press their advantage and created a number of chances. The two debutants, Wright and Etuhu, combined mag-nifi cently only for the on-loan sticker to head wide. It would have been a perfect debut for Etuhu, but it was still encour-aging stuff from Norwich.

Midway through the sec-ond half City added to their lead to the delight of the Car-row Road faithful. Ashton, who had been on duty with the England Under 21s in mid-week, was again the provider. He put Huckerby through with a cleaver back heel and the on-rushing striker made no mistake.

The Canaries were now brimming with confi dence and were playing the lovely fl ow-ing football that took them to Championship victory a few years back. Ashton almost capped off a glorious fi rst half with a well deserved goal, but his header went wide. In the 37th minute Irish defender Doherty also went close, only to see his glancing header drift past the post.

Following the break both

sides continued to create chances in an entertaining game. Howard went close for Luton but his twenty yard drive went wide. Norwich suf-fered a blow in the 74th and 77th minute as both Dean Ashton and loan man David Wright limped off with inju-ries. City pressed on for an-other goal, but unfortunately it never came.

Late on Luton added to their woes when Perrett was sent off for a second yellow card. Even more strangely captain Nichols was given red, presumably for something he said to the offi cials following the fi nal whistle.

Overall it was a fi ne per-formance from Norwich City. The manager was under an ex-treme amount of pressure and his players responded with a perfect performance.

Despite the slow start to the season, I would be an advocate of the manager stay-ing on. I still maintain he has done an excellent job and there would be no purpose in sacking him at this stage of the season. It seems outland-ish to even talk of him leaving. As far as I’m concerned Nigel is still worthy for me.

Wednesday November 23 2005 23

UEA 2nd XI football 2Leicester 1

It has slowly dawned on the 2nd XI that there is a dis-tinct possibility of this BUSA campaign ending in the glo-rious coronation of UEA as champions of BUSA division 4D. It may not sound exciting, but it would certainly warrant a few masculine hugs and a couple of celebratory drinks.

Celebratory drinks should have been in fairly short sup-ply last Wednesday, though, as the team laboured to a 2-1 victory over a distinctly less talented Leicester XI. In all honesty the game should

have been wrapped up, with a pretty bow on top, by half time as UEA played some im-pressively slick football. One move involved the play being switched from right to left and when the ball was laid back to Chris Gunn, his arching cross found Nick Gaskell who was unable to find the target with his header.

Such was UEA’s domi-nance, centre back Jason Lin-coln even had the temerity to go for a foray into the opposi-tion half. Indeed, his clinically executed cut back and curling shot which drifted just wide, suggests that maybe these forward trips should become a more regular occurrence.

Something that has been less of a regular occurrence in

recent weeks is the name of Dave Yeomans upon the score sheet. However, he put paid to this rather unwanted fact when he streaked down the left wing, skipped past the full back and buried his shot in the far corner of the goal to send UEA into half time in the lead. The fact that it was only by a solitary goal was firstly rather unbelievable and, secondly, meant that UEA could ill af-ford to rest easy in the second 45 minutes.

Sadly, UEA completely lost the ability to play any coher-ent football. Whether trying to play it out from the back or simply hoofing it up-field, the team could not retain posses-sion of the ball and, seeing their opponents in such disar-

ray, Leicester began to grow in confidence. Alex Potemitis was forced into a couple of smart saves, but was helpless when a long ball evaded the entire UEA backline and the Leicester striker lashed home the equaliser.

Startled by the realisation that what lay in store was a three hour mini-bus journey with the memories of a squan-dered three points, UEA set about re-asserting themselves. Captain Gaskell forced his way into a shooting position on the edge of the box and when he was tackled the ball fell to Simon Grove-White. Normally known for his tough tackling and scruffy hair, Simon dis-played a hitherto unseen facet of his game as he rifled the ball

home from 20 yards, sparking scenes of shock and jubilation among the UEA players.

Despite winning a succes-sion of corners in the final ten minutes, Leicester could not force an equaliser and UEA held on to their tenuous lead. However, in the coming weeks it might be an idea for UEA to make life easier for themselves and seal victories by a more comfortable margin.

UEA 1st XI Football 2Loughborough 3rd’s 1Having been beaten by the Loughborough 2nd XI in re-cent weeks, UEA exacted some sort of revenge in defeating the Loughborough third team. Once again, the team had to come from behind as an early

looping cross found the goal-keeper in no mans land, and despite the efforts of Grant O’Donnell, the ball fell into the unguarded net.

The second period saw UEA battling their way back into the match, finding their passing form and forcing themselves into a position of ascendancy. A long ball out of defence found Nick Young on the right wing and his whipped cross was clinically converted by Chris Westwood.

Then, with only five min-utes remaining, provider turned scorer. Ryan Lamb dissected the Loughborough defence with a sublime pass and Nick’s delicate lob from 18 yards handed the victory to UEA.

UEA Ladies 1st XI Hockey 3Ipswich and East Suffolk 2UEA were looking for a con-vincing win this week after having a run of recent bad luck. Determined to show their true potential, UEA began well with most of the possession in their half.

UEA opened the scor-ing in the first ten minutes with some excellent work in open play by Sam Neate and Tess Harding, resulting in a goal scored by Hannah Max-ey. IES fought back however

and equalized quickly. UEA stayed focused

and had several further chanc-es to score. The pressure put on by the UEA girls soon paid off and Maxey put away the second goal for UEA. IES pulled back however and con-verted a short corner just be-fore half-time. The second half began well for UEA with Neate scoring an early goal to put UEA ahead once more. De-spite having several short cor-ner attempts IES were unable to score due to some excellent defending skills from UEA. UEA Ladies 2nd XI Hockey 2 Lowestoft Railway 1

The game didn’t start well for UEA with Penny Brindle being injured in the first 5 minutes, leaving just ten players for the rest of the match. However UEA coped well in the first half going down by only one goal. At half time, UEA revised the ten player formation and came out strong and determined.

After some fantastic stick-work, Nikki Hart scored an early goal. This was followed by serveral frustratingly close attempts before Charlotte Jen-ner stunned the opposition with a reverse stick sweep into goal. Overall it was a good win for the girls, who pulled to-gether after a difficult start.

Ziggurat is, in general, an essentially friendly competi-tion. However, this changes somewhat in the testosterone charged atmosphere of the mens’ football finals. Normal-ly docile individuals see the red mist and find themselves abusing referees for absolutely no reason, whilst one ill timed challenge can usher in years of inter departmental hatred. The object of particular wrath is of-

ten the winning team, as eve-ryone else is extremely miffed that it was not them. As such History can probably expect some particularly crunching tackles to be directed their way next year as they triumphed with a 1-0 victory in the final.

There was no doubt that they deserved their win as they progressed comfortably, scoring four goals in each of their three games preceding the ultimate showdown. Dave Yeomans scored their winning goal against the team from Ed-ucation in the final and he was

the competitions top scorer, finding the net eight times. His victorious team mates were Rob Evans, Chris Westwood, Matthew Craddock, Sean Red-mond, Chris Burn and John the sports rep.

Next up on the Ferris wheel of fun that is Ziggu-rat are the badminton finals which will then be followed by the swimming competition. So if you want to get involved hunt down the sports rep for your department or alterna-tively, contact Rachel Tomes at [email protected].

UEA men’s Lacrosse 16 Hitchin away at Hitchin 8This is the first year that UEA has competed in the South England Mens Lacrosse As-sociation league and after a mixed start to the season UEA are starting to find a form with an intake of fresh and en-thused players. UEA currently sit in 10th position in the SEMLA league and travelled to Hitchin near Luton to play 8th position Hitchin A’s, but there was only one point difference between the two teams.

After a rocky start with Hitchin taking the early lead, UEA found their rhythm, managed to gain control of the situation and started to dominate the match. This continued until half time, at which point the score was

6–4 to UEA. The third quarter started well with the face-off being won, encouraging UEA to attack strongly and placing a lot of pressure on Hitchin.

This resulted in two goals be-ing scored in quick succession without Hitchin gaining pos-session of the ball. The third quarter was the strongest for

the UEA team, with a further three goals being scored and a good form being shown by the attack. It wasn’t an easy victo-ry for UEA as Hitchin is a club

team and consists of mem-bers that have a lot of experi-ence between them, and who have been playing the sport for many years and practice all

year round. Hitchin displayed a strong defence, which UEA managed to break up with fast breaks and by drawing the de-fense out to cause fractures in the structure and allow team mates to cut in and provide opportunities to score.

Man of the match, voted for by the UEA team, went to Charles ‘Styles’ for an impres-sive dominating mid-field at-tack. The mens’ captain and goalie Andy ‘Warrior’ was voted man of the match by the opposing team and the presi-dent David ‘Trav’ managed to knock up an impressive eight goals while on the pitch.

This victory means that UEA moves above Hitchin in the table and now stand with three victories under their belt as they travel off to Cardiff next weekend to take part in the second round of The Tel-egraph’s Flags Tournament.


ACROSS

1) Argentinean Dance, soft

drink brand (5)

4) Two from the same preg-

nancy (5)

7) Oxford’s boating rivals (9)

8) Romantic partner (5)

10) Cinema worker (5)

12) Given food to (3)

14) Grinded wheat grain (5)

15) Mistake (5)

17) A tree noted for its long

life (3)

20) Rubbish, wither away (5)

22) Concentrated beam of

light, weapon (5)

24) A rise to a superior rank

25) Edible nut, warm brown

colour (5)

26) A step (5)

DOWN1) Pleasure, buzz (6)2) A fruit fermented into wine (5)3) Of the ocean, US soldier(6)5) Salaries (5)6) Remove moisture from fruit such as tomatoes through solar radiation (3,3)9) Measure of electrical power (potential difference) (5)11) Ring through which one might jump (5) 12) Cook in pan of oil (3)13) Morning condensation (3)16) On/off button, swap (6)18) Attempt, struggle (6)19) Novelist or poet (6)21) Five minus two (5)23) Implement, acquire a child that is not one’s own (5)

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The UEA Cross country team are celebrating after another outstanding display in the East Anglian Cross Country League (EACCL). 15 athletes travelled to the sand dunes of Great Yarmouth to battle it out in the third race of the league last Wednesday.

The ladies A team was par-ticularly successful with club President Jess Trowbridge en-joying victory and Track Cap-tain Jemma Thake fi nishing in second. Anna Yosin contin-ued her good form to fi nish in sixth while Social Secretary Sian Loveless put in an excel-lent performance on her debut run to fi nish in seventh. This performance is likely to put UEA Ladies back at the top of the league, ahead of rivals St Edmunds Pacers.

The quality of the ladies squad was evident, with two members of the B team mak-ing it into the top ten. Emily Wildon and Francesca Lee ran well to fi nish in eighth and tenth respectively. Sarah Jor-dan fi nished in 16th and Lisa Sammons was 25th.

In the men’s race Glen Watts looked to be challeng-

ing for the top spot but had to be content with second place after suffering a nasty fall. Rob Green moved into the Men’s A team for the fi rst time with an exceptional performance, his trademark sprint fi nish securing him sixth place. De-spite feeling unwell and fall-ing over at the same place as Glen, Cross Country Captain Calum Nicol battled on to fi n-ish in eighth. Mario Sanchez enjoyed a personal best per-formance to fi nish in ninth.

Johnny Lee consolidated his good run in the last race in the league to fi nish in 16th. Glen Richardson continued his consistent form by fi nish-ing in 22nd. Ali McGeoth Wil-liams signifi cantly improved on his last race to cross the line in 24th.

Captain Calum said after-wards: “”A magnifi cent per-formance at the seaside, es-pecially from our ladies”. The team are now looking forward to this week’s fi xture at RAF Honington.

The UEA athletics team received bad news earlier in the week. Star cross country runner Andy Whetstone, win-ner of the previous two league races, has left UEA to pursue his running career in the USA. The club would like to wish him all the best.

concrete - issue 183

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