Thi' Heavor is printod on 100% iwycloH papr»r	rf'(\volo ycnir copy
#mv.thebeaveroiiliiie.co.iik
ver
13 February 2007 Issue 659 The newspaper of the LSESU
J 1
1 • , O ( I2>	1
c^^ck Me SU^s,k
k Cfa^.
,	C	J
Teachers and tutors donteiveashic

3*
W'iai>rJKft)£i0K)L"}4w)CW»<MN«YiPUD
Security in the dark
Yet again, the LSE suffered chronic failures safety risks for the students who were of campus security in the early hours of stiH o" campus in the buildings. Members of Monday morning as the School suffered an the Media Group in the East Building were electricity blackout.	not approached by security
The power cut led to the failure of the mag-	absence of CCTV and the failure of
netic doors. The most serious breaches included the the magnetic doors did not prompt security to back door into the Old Building at the Student call in extra personnel to patrol the campus Services Centre. The East Building main door was until mid-moming on Monday.
also accessible	I" power failures, automatic doors are
Reporters from The Beauer walked through the usually left open to prevent inhabitants of a corridors of the Old Building gaining access to re- building from being trapped indoors.
search labs and various otherwise locked facilities.	^ significant amount of time on Sun-
The failure of CCTV cameras and the absence of night, LSE Security were unaware of the patrolling security guards left numerous areas situation outside campus. They have since in-open to individuals who were not students or staff, dicated that they were yet to be briefed on a Furthermore, there was a distinct absence of future protocol should a similar event reoccur procedure at the time of the blackout. No direct at- the near future.
tempts were made by security to minimise health Ali MoUSSavi, NeWS Editor
department of
PHILOSOPHY, LOGIC AND SCrENTIFlC METHOD
rFNTRE FOR PHILOSOPHY
OF NATURAL AND SOCIAL
SCIENCE
O0€ TO
SCHOOC.
xgL \cx\o1
; t
I I
't I.
EAST
building







. ¦.*» 'tA

.^Mpr
Top: The Lakatos Building closed during the blackout Middle: Security locking up the East Building Bottom: Reflections of students locked out of the library
Photographs: Sidhanth Kamath, Executive Editor
Due To
L
lights out on campus
SE was closed to students and staff on Monday morning after an unexpected power blackout late on Sunday night cut power to most of the WC2 postcode
The blackout occurred after a burst water main swamped an electricity substation in the area, submei^ng it in fifteen feet of water and cutting off electricity supplies. Power to the LSE was cut at 1:22AM on Monday morning crippling security, the library and IT Services.
Students and staff arriving on campus early on Monday morning were turned away by security staff, after authorities decided to close down the School. All buildings were evacuated and locked due to health and safety concerns.
The School's website went down along with the IT Services crash, and authorities were forced to put up a big signboard outside the Old Building entrance to alert students. Developments on the situation were posted temporarily on the Students' Union (SU) website until the I.,SE website was restored.
Security staff who spoke to TAe Beaver admitted they were powerless in such situations, vrith many of the School's electronically locked doors failing, along with CCTV cameras across campus. Security had to resort to human patrols outside buildings to ensure that intruders were not able to enter buildings.
While the libraiy was reopened for students at around 4 pm on Monday evening, Clement House and Columbia House, both on the Aldwych, were still blacked out when 17ie Beaver went to press.
Director Howard Davies' office in Columbia House was also affected, and authorities are unsure whether he will be able to use bis office on Tuesday.
On Kingsway, firemen were seen pumping water out of submerged areas. EDF Energy, Thames Water and the Fire Service, vt'orked alongside each other to ensure services were 1; resumed.	1
Restoring customer supplies required 3.5 million litres of water to be pumped out of the sub-station. Equipment then had to be cleaned, dried and tested before being stvitched back on, causing further delays.
A spokesman for Thames Water said: "The flooding had been caused by Sin diameter water main beneath Kingsway. We turned the water supply off to the damaged pipe within an hour before starting digging down to the burst main. We suspect the pipe cracked because of the recent cold weather."
Over 1,200 offices, shops and homes in and around the Strand, Kingsway and Aldwych were also affected, with many office security alarms activated due to the power loss and office workers left stranded on the street as a consequence. Queues at Starbucks on Kingsway extended onto the pavement. Streetlights and traffic signals also failed* causing confusion on the streets in the area. The BBC World Service in Bush House near LSE, had to rely on emergency generators to continue transmitting.
While the School will resume operations as normal today, many students are concerned about submission of essays and other assessed work, and it remains to be seen how these problems will be addressed.
Sidhanth Kamath, Executive Editor


¦f
The. Beaver is printed on 100% rf^cj'cled paper. Please rr^cyde your copy.
ujfMIuiE..5{Mnaotic-P.ofitsFQODADRiMlNe---Sex.Pao.dMUS!C^,^MteJapiesJN.|^
ww%v.thebeaveronline.co,ul
13 February 2007 Issue 659 The newspaper of the LSESU
A Stern Response to climate change
Features interview 14r15 .
HAPPY YEA'R OF THE BOAR
PULLOUT
Wolfmother interviewed
Beniys bites
/ FEATlfRESie™^

MoMei^Kme % O ^'StQ Gay versus tiwowbig	- 3 s!»«J straijjrt:
Teachers and tutors "don't a shif'
¦SURVEY CONDUCTED BY THE BEAVER REVEALS STUDENT DISSATISFACTION WITH TUTORS AND CLASS TEACHERS ¦ QUALITY OF CLASSES FALLS SHORT OF EXPECTATIONS ESPECIALLY GIVEN LSE'S WORLD-CLASS REPUTATION
Ali Moussavi News Editor
Pastoral care and teaching at the LSE is below standard and lacks quality for an institution of high standards, The Beaver can reveal after conducting a campus-wide survey.
The survey randomly sampled over 100 students at the LSE. The sample included 79 undergraduates (39 first year; 24 second year and 16 third year students) and 22 postgraduate students.
The questions focused on students' relationships with their personal tutors and their opinions on whether personal tutors had help to "enhance [the student] experience".
Seventy percent of students felt that their tutor had not enhanced their student experience, while 28 percent said that they had. More specific questioning revealed that personal tutors sometimes do not even know the names of their tutees. In one case, a personal tutor confused a third year undergraduate tutee for another student on a different course. One second year undergraduate said: "He is a wank. He has no idea who I am. [He has] no interest in my welfare and is not willing to help me."
Many students surveyed felt that contact time available with personal tutors was not enough. The results of the survey indicated that some students hardly see their personal tutor, with a third year undergraduate saying that he had not seen his personal tutor since his first year at the LSE.
One student reported that her personal tutor had made her cry on her birthday and another student said that their tutor was unhelpful with references.
Some students indicated that some degree of help had been received from their personal tutor. The survey showed that some tutors provided valuable advice and help with dissertations, essays and examinations. One student said that their tutor had helped to enhance their student experience "by being lovely and fit".
Forty-five percent of students said that the quality of teaching at the LSE was good, while 31 percent were unsatisfied and 24 percent said that the quality varied. The high percentage of students who felt that teaching varied in quality confirmed remarks from some students about the inconsistency of teaching at the LSE. This was also reflected in student opinion which preferred lectures to class teaching. One student said: "Most of my teachers have been PhD students who don't give a shit."
In addition to the perspectives of students on their teaching, the survey also asked whether "the quality of teaching is good enough for an institution like LSE". In this case, 64 percent of students felt that the teaching did not match the LSE's elite academic reputation, with only 33 percent responding that the quality of teaching reflected the LSE brand name.
Another student felt that while lectures were of a high quality, classes and seminars at the LSE were below par. He cited examples of other world-class institutions where it is ensured that there is more rigorous classroom time, as being extremely beneficial.
A final question on the survey revealed that 51 percent of students would rather go to the library than to class to maximise academic productivity, while 46 percent of the sample preferred class.
Editorial Comment: Page 9
Between 8 and ii Febmarj^ The Beaver sun-e^'ed more than loo students on Houghton Street, outside the lihran-, in the Brandh Bowl and in the Quad. Sevetitv-nine undergraduate studente and 22 postgradirate students responded. Of the undergraduate respondents, there were 39 fir^ year students, 24 second year students, and 16 third year students.
The results are given below.
HAS YOURTUTOR ENHANCEDYOUR STUDENT EXPERIENCE?
170%
NO ANSWER 2%
IS THE TEACHING QUALITY GOOD ENOUGH FOR AN INSTITUTION LIKE THE LSE?
HOW IS THE QUALITY OF TEACHING?
45%
VARIED
WHERE WOULD YOU GOTO MAXIMIZE PRODUCTIVITY?
51%
64%
NO ANSWER 3%
45%
NO ANSWER 4%
C&A: Politics
I spe^^ch at
j . » . i" V k-vv ; "y
u hn{ price?
HAS YOUR TUTOR HELPED YOU? Have your say at thebeaveronline.co.uk
PartB: Film
PartB Page 11 Climates
Features: Dating
+
leaver 113 February 2007
In other nev\6
HIGHER EDUCATION NEWS.
HIGHER
toiXhivys sKyniMtsT
MEWS
Jote are there but graduates lack skills;
^ v-j^iynrr-;:
Benjys on ICingsway goes bust;
?	^)T vKX'U - J
Record numbers in search of a degree
Students have applied to university in record numbers this year despite the new top-up fees. Official figures this week will show a rise in applications	overall.
However, applications for some courses, such as modern foreign languages and computing, have fallen. Cambridge describes the situation as "very rosy".
EducationGuardian
Blair endowment plan 'favours elite universities'
Tony Blair's endovsnnent plans could see cash-strapped universities slipping further into the red while elite institutions prosper, academics warned today.
Universities will be encouraged to build up funds of billions of pounds from former students and philanthropists under plans to be unveiled by Mr Blair this week.
Drawing upon the model of US institutions that raise huge sums from alumni, the government will give £1 for every £2 donated to English universities in an attempt to embed a "culture of charitable giving" across higher education.
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
theoxfordstudent
Death threats sent to Oxide DJs
Two students have received death threats over their plans to interview BNP leader Nick Griffin on Oxide Radio.
OUSU stepped into the row by cancelling Griffin's appearance, calling his views "just too offensive" to give airtime.
The two presenters, whom The Oxford Student has decided not to name, were set to speak to Griffin live on air next Thursday. But their plans were met with a torrent of threats by email and post.
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
farabiKrit watch: elections special
Starting this week, The Beaver w\\\ be keeping an eye on the number of Facebook friends our potential LentTernn election candidates have. We predict the numbers will increase exponentially. If you are planning to run for office in the Lent Term,
start adding friends by the second.
Arthur Krebbers
887
*
Fadhil Bakeer Markar-
447
If this is wu, email secretaiy@ thebeaveronline.co.uk for youi" pxi®
Libby Meyer -
357
Zoe Sullivan -
348
Louise Robinson -
299
Simon Douglas -
296
Jefferson Courtney
249
Dan Sheldon -
246
Ruhana Ali -
174
Picture of the week-
*Was correct at the time The Beaver went to print, but given this man's growth rate, we predict he'll be close to 900 by the end of the week.
Manhunt on for piss artist
Sodden students at Magdalene College are on the trail of a phantom toilet terrorist who has left urine-drenched paper towels across accommodation facilities. One damp member said he was "pissed off", and college authorities have joined the chase for the elusive excre-mental impresario. A threatening notice bemoans the "disgusting" practice and exhorts residents to "Stop treating [the toilet] like boys and start treating it like potty-trained, grown up men". Soggy housekeepers are on maximum alert tonight.
m
Please send your submissions for'Picture ofthe Week'to photos@tnebeaveronline.co.uk to be featured here
NEWSINBRIEF Free Kareem Day
LSE students are calling, 15 February "Free Kareem Day" and organizing a rally at the Egyptian embassy for the jailed Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil.
Nabil is a 22 year old law student from Alexandria, Egypt who was expelled from al-Ahzar University and arrested due to the contents of his writing on his online blog. Using the name Kareem Amer, Nabil criticized conservative Muslims, his university, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in his blog. He could be sentenced to up to nine years in prison.
Demonstrations will take place in six cities on 15 February, including London.
Laura Deck
Ambassadors flock to the LSE
Last week 12 ambassadors and four high commissioners spoke at the LSE to participate in the One World Ambassadors Series.
Events included "UK-US relations after Bush and Blair" with the US Deputy Chief of Mission, discussion on the development of Africa and the Caribbean with representatives from Ghana, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Discussions were also held on Asia and South America, the Middle East, and European Union enlargement, with representatives from Australia, Argentina, Chile, Indonesia, India, Israel, Palestine, Britain, Turkey, Sweden, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, and two media outlets.
The One World Ambassadors Series was sponsored by The Economist and hosted by the Question Time society in collaboration with The Grimshaw Club, the Africa Forum, CEEDS, and the Italian, Argentinean, Israeli, Romanian, Czech and Slovak societies.
Laura Deck
LSE wins YTN '07 Regionals
On 5 February, LSE and host-school Queen Mary were crowned co-Regional Champions in the Regional Finals of theYomping the Nations (YTN) 2007 business enterprise competition, held at Queen Mary University in London.
LSE has been invited to the UK Grand Final to be held in Manchester this March.
YTN is a national, intercollegiate competition similar to the BBC's Dragon's Den or The Apprentice.
Cambridge-based business strategy consultants. The Working Knowledge Group, devised YTN based around a business training tool called "Yomp" which was developed in partnership with Cambridge University.
Business sponsors of YTN 07 include top graduate recruiters Greggs, KPMG and Enterprise Rent-A-Car among many others.
Ted Kowalsky
IBeaver | 13 February 2007 |o3
LSE flints expenditure revealed
THE BIG SPENDERS
Simon Wang Senior Reporter_
Excessive amounts of money have been spent by LSE officials including Director Howard Davies on flights to destinations around the world.
The results of a Freedom of Information request by the LSE Students' Union (SU) Green Party revealed that the School seems to frequently fly officials first class.
Instead of spending approximately £300 on an economy class return flight to Toronto last year, the School paid approximately £3,000 in July 2006 to send Davies to Toronto for a reception held in his honour. In total, the School has spent over £22,500 on flights since November 2004 on Davies alone.
Other senior School officials have also been spending large amounts of money on flights. LSE Deputy Director Sarah Worthington has spent over £23,000 on flights during the last academic year 2005-06.
One Green Party member, James Caspell said: "Aside from the environmental costs of flying, the fact that Howard Davies is spending our tuition fees on first class flights around the world is disgraceful. Meanwhile our cleaners languish on poverty pay."
The LSE currently has no
¦Howard Davies |
Director
I Henrietta Moore
Former Deputy Director
I Adrian Hall
Secretary and Director of Administration
I Tim Murphy
Deputy Director |
I Sarah Worthington
Deputy Director
2003-2004
2004-2005 2005-2006
£20,004
£10,028
£3,473
£17,782
£5,868
£23,382
China: £1,597
Iiit;hlight of the year
Highlight of the year
Banjgkok, Delhi, Mumbai and Hong Kong: £4,824
T

Highlight of the vearMHighlight of the year
Toronto and New York: £3,473
Bangkok, Australia, USA: i.....
: £3,880
£6,810
Highlight of the year
£1,597
India: £3,272
Highlight of the year
India: £5,033
specific policy on flights' expenditure or carbon offsetting. Some students have asked for the School to improve this situation.
LSE SU Environment and Ethics Officer Aled Fisher said: "The School should be taking its environmental commitments more seriously and commit itself to a clear and responsible flights policy, instead of
Highlight of the year
spending out fees by jetting around the world in first class."
The only senior figure in the School who has not flown first or business class at the expense of the school is Andy Farrell, the Director of Finance and Facilities. He denied that Davies has ever flown first class at the School's expense. Farrell said: "In accordance with School policy - which is
Hong Kong and India: £5^19
the same for all employees of all grades, including the director - he has flown economy class, or where appropriate, business class." He explained that Davies mainly travelled for fundraising purposes.
Farrell also said: "An overall priority for the School is the reduction of C02 outputs. I will be putting forward proposals [regarding flights] in the sum-
Howard refuses to accept golden mop of exploitation
Peter Barton
Senior Reporter
LSE Director Howard Davies refused to accept a golden mop from the daughter of a cleaner, resulting in Living Wage protestors demanding entry into a meeting of the LSE Council.
The protest consisted of the students holding banners before and during the meeting. They were denied entry by LSE Security, resulting in demands to speak with LSE SU General Secretary Jimmy Tam, who sits in Council, the executive decision making body of the School, as a student representative.
Both Tam and Director of Finance and Facilities Andy Farrell left the meeting to speak with the protestors.
After Davies' initial refusal to accept the mop, a note was sent into the meeting requesting that he receive the mop when he comes to speak at the next Union General Meeting (UGM).
The LSE Living Wage Campaign has been asking the LSE administration to amend regulations to require all LSE contractors pay their employees a Living Wage as per the Greater London Authority (GLA), with appropriate sick pay and holiday provision. The cleaners are currently paid the standard minimum wage of £5.35 per hour.
There was controversy when Court of Governors student representative Eddy Fonyodi was seen entering the Council meeting. Fonyodi is not elected to the position of student representative on Council
No morn tondon School of Exploitati

LSE Director Howard Davies refused to accept a golden mop from an LSE cleaners' daughter who was present at the protest
and technically should not have been present at the meeting. However, in the absence of Zoe Sullivan, the elected student representative on Council, it was decided to send Fonyodi in her place.
Fonyodi's selection was disputed by two other student representatives on the Court of Governors Fadhil Bakeer Markar and Louise Robinson. It has emerged that at the meeting where Fonyodi was chosen, Robinson and Bakeer Markar were not present and they were not consulted by Jimmy Tam who sits on both the Court of Governors and Council. Tam has since claimed that not informing Bakeer Markar and Robinson was an error on his part and he has apologized.
An LSE cleaner, who accompanied the protestors, told The Beaver that she was "very disappointed" with the outcome of the protest and described Davies' response as
"very rude". She highlighted the need for the £7.00 per hour living wage to support cleaners and their families.
Students across the school seem to sympathise with the aims of the campaign. The Facebook Group for the campaign has attracted over 400 members, and a recent petition has got over 100 signatures.
Vikas Katyal, a Second Year Government and History student, who is not involved in the campaign told The Beaver that he thought it was "a worthwhile campaign" and agreed that there was a need for strong campaigning as "no one really listens".
At a recent UGM University of London Union (ULU) President Vicky Slater recently told LSE students that ULU had also not implemented the living wage into their policy because they could not afford a pay increase for workers.
Highlight of the year
Hong Kong, India and China: £5,695
mer term."
Recent statistics indicate that flights to closer destinations have dropped in number due to growing concerns of the effects of C02 emissions by aircraft.
Many students felt it was unecessary to spend so much on air travel. One first-year undergraduate remarked: "He should've taken EasyJet."
It's over for Benjys
Doug Oliver Senior Reporter
Cheap sandwich retailer Benjys was liquidated last week, resulting in the permanent closiu-e of the Kingsway and Fleet Street outlets near the LSE.
The collapse of the sandwich chain disappointed many students on campus and will put greater pressure on other lunch facilities.
Benjys was set up by Paul and Inez Benjamin in Islington in 1989 and gained popularity quickly due to its low prices and fast service, which allowed it to compete with Pret a Manger and Eat.
Until the chain encountered financial problems recently, Benjys operated a "Happy Hour" between 3pm and 4pm during which all food was sold for £1.The "3 O'Clock Rush" had gained a certain cult status amongst students.
The welfare implications of Benjys' demise have been considered by the Students' Union. Education and Welfare Officer Alexandra Vincenti remarked that "the shop will understandably be greatly missed. The Union would never want any of our members to not eat a sensible diet due to financial difficulties - If you find that you cannot afford to buy food, please approach the SU Advice Centre for financial assistance or alternatively the LSE Financial Support Office found within Student Sevices Centre".
SU General Secretary Jimmy Tam expressed his dismay: "It highlights the importance of offering good quality and healthy low-cost catering on campus. I encourage all stu-
dents to participate in the recently launched cross-campus catering survey so that student views on this are heard."
However, many LSE students were left last week unsure how they could continue at the LSE without the access to hot paninis, burritos and iced doughnuts that Benjys afforded. Third year undergraduate Golo Theis said that he did not know if he could "survive [his] last few months at LSE without Benjys to nourish [him]".

WW the

^^S^OTre'oliSenjys sandwich shop has disappointed many
Union Jack
GONE WITH THE GREENS
Jack strolled into the the Old Theatre last Thursday very excited at the prospect of a new attempt at censuring against Jimmy Tam, Inaction Man. Alas, Malfoy Douglas, who had kicked off his non-official campaign by pretending to be the Global Cup's Anne Robinson, got cold feet and remembered that looking mean doesn't go dovm well in SU politics. Worrying for the future.
All-ed and no-welfare Vincenti finally did a report, and Jack wonders if she suddenly remembered she wasn't just being paid to hang around with self-important editors.
Just can't Dewji-it answered all concerns raised to him during the Q&A session with all the disdain he could, going as far as nearly accusing PuLSEfm of sabotaging their broadcasting by not answering his emails. Jack was almost moved by how nearly sincerely sorry he sounded.
Inaction man tried to explain why he had chosen Davies-disciple Ready Eddy Fonyodi to go to Council, but didn't convince anybody and only looked like he didn't really know himself. The problem, of course, is that the Tam-pon has only managed to convince us he needs our love.
An army of Cesspit clones then took over the UGM stage, reminding everybody that the reason the left never wins is because... well they are the left. Elle Dobinson didn't convince anybody. People's mind were made up before they even came in. Jack thinks that the motion might have been successful had voters been disciplined and followed party lines. LSE people can make their own minds up. Jack also wonders why nobody ever pays attention to the AU when organising campaigns since they always swipe the votes. Ross I-want-to-imitate-my-mentor-and-win-Comms Allan mistook the UGM stage for another debate society event. Jack has no idea what he was talking about, and doesn't think it really mattered anyway since Dewji was the only one listening. Once again a motion got voted down more for the fun of it rather than through real conviction amongst the audience. This Thursday, God wasn't green anymore...
Gobinson, in a last and quite pathetic attempt, then tried to defend the idea, that there should be a referendum on the appointment of the future chairman of council. Jack thinks that the biggest threat to the Sutherland campaign currently are the Greens who are very close to really pissing oft everyone.
Jack is looking forward to this Thursday, when HowieD wfill get grilled by an army of lefties on Living Wages and Sutherland.
04 IBeaver |i3 February 2007
Sutherland met by protestoiis again 1LSE lecturer
Erica Gornall Senior Reporter
LSE students held banners and laid down fake oil slicks at a protest against the appointment of Peter Sutherland as Chair of the LSE Council.
Sutherland, the former Chairman of British Petroleum (BP), who was visiting the School to deliver a speech at the annual Lawyers' Alumni Dinner, was met by about 25 protestors before the dinner.
Sutherland is due to become Chair of the LSE Council later this year but some students at the LSE have objected to his suitability for the position for reasons related to bp's controversial environmental record and the 'mar-ketisation of education'.
Students gathered outside the Senior Common Room in the Old Building where the dinner was due to take place. As guests walked into dining room, one student handed out a fake menu to the dinner guests with content which parodied the human rights and environmental record of BP, with references to "baked Alaska" and "green wash".
The guests at the dinner walked through the crowd of protestors, taking the menus. Upon his arrival, Sutherland walked past the protesters, flanked by security, and took one of the menus himself.
The anti-Sutherland campaign at the LSE has courted
pjiotograph: liam
tSE no
LSE not £$€
sutherland OUT
9
Sutherland's arrival at the LSE was once again met by protestors
controversy since an earlier protest last November in which students staged a sit-in in the Old Theatre intended to prevent Sutherland from delivering a public lecture. Onlookers commented ¦ that last Thursday's protest was less confrontational.
LSE SU Treasurer Joel Kenrick who participated in the protest said that he believed the protest was effective: "I think it was very successful. It was very well organised and we managed to get our message across."
Head of LSE Security
^ery time
le comes
we need to
show the level
of disqonteRt, i' : ¦ Student ^ot^or
Bernie Taffs told The Beaver: "[The protestors] behaved in a responsible way. An accommodation was reached that was agreeable to us and to them to ensure that safety was maintained."
The protest was part of the continuing campaign to prevent Sutherland from taking up his appointment at the LSE.
One of the protestors said that protests against Sutherland must continue: "Every time that he comes we need to show the level of discontent."
Referendum on fature LSE appointments rejected
¦	UGM VOTES DOWN MOTION CALLING FOR REFERENDA ON ALL FUTURE APPOINTMENTS OF CHAIR OF LSE COUNCIL AND DIRECTOR OF LSE
¦	MOTION CALLING FOR REFERENDUM ON SUTHERLAND APPOINTMENT ALSO VOTED DOWN
Erica Gornall
Senior Reporter
Students voted down the opportunity for direct representation in the form of a referendum on the LSE's future appointments of the Chair of Council and the Director of the School.
The referenda were rejected by the Union General Meeting (UGM) last week. The defeated motion aimed to enable LSE students, academics and staff to hold a referendum prior to the appointment of both the Chair of the LSE Council and the Director of the School.
jit's more about personalities rather than politics
Forii|er Courti Reprea^ll^vei J
Discussion of the motion came immediately after LSE SU General Secretary Jimmy Tam announced that there
The UGM Chair instructed the speakers to count the votes for and against the motion
Inset: Students vote by holding up their LSE ID cards
would be a referendum at the time of the Lent term elections on the reappointment of LSE Director Howard Davies.
There are concerns among some students that there is insufficient student representation in the existing system. Tam said: "Students are the biggest stakeholder group in our university but in our Council we have the smallest number of representatives."
According to members of the Constitution and Steering Committee (C&S), the motion fell by between 12 and 17 votes, indicating that the UGM was split.
A second motion was also discussed, which proposed a referendum on the appointment of Peter Sutherland specifically, but this was defeated by a greater margin immediately after the previous motion was defeated.
Speaking for the motion, Elle Dodd said, "The Director and Chair are really important to us students here. They affect the relationship between the Students' Union and the School [on] things that are quite personal to us like tuition fees [and] the importance of free Wednesday afternoons."
LSE SU Communications
Officer All Dewji spoke against the motion and questioned the effectiveness of it; "Most of the students don't have a problem with most of the appointments that come through the regular system we have right now."
One student who voted against the motion, Alex Teytelboym, told The Beaver. "I don't think there should be a referendum. I think the more important thing to do is to make sure that our students are heard on the Court of Governors and have more representatives. Having a referendum will not affect the appointment in any way."
A former student representative on the Court of Governors, James Caspell said: "They don't listen to us, they ignore us, and the only way we are going to have a say is by publishing referendum results. The irony is that the School is now more progressive than the UGM."
When asked why the motion did not pass, Caspell said: "I think they spun the whole argument as if to portray two impartial motions to be biased. All 8000 students at LSE should have their opinion. [The UGM is] the most representative thing we have, but in terms of the make-up of it, people get too involved in the theatre of it rather than the issues and it's more about personalities rather than politics."
resigns following free speech row
Vishal Banerjee Senior Reporter
Erik Ringmar, Senior Lecturer in the Government Department, recently resigned from the LSE in response to what he perceived as the School's censorship against him in an ongoing controversy.
In a short resignation letter, he said: "Freedom of speech is important to scholarship. It is also important to me. I cannot go on working at an educational institution which does not protect and share this value."
Last year, Ringmar controversially announced to prospective students visiting the LSE on an open day that "the [School's] real teaching was done by PhD students. The in-class student experience was no better than [they] would get at the far less prestigious London	Metropolitan
University."
Following this, LSE Director Howard Davies sent an email to Ringmar. Davies
told Ringmar that he should "carefully reflect" on his behaviour, as he believed it was damaging to the School.
Ringmar had posted his open day speech on his blog at the time, which had a link on the LSE website. Ringmar accused the LSE of "total hypocrisy" when asked to remove it from his personal website, saying he was "being bullied".
Ringmar remained unhappy regarding the event and went on to accuse the School of inhibiting free speech. He recently filed a compaint the School's Free Speech Group.
While he maintained that he had no intention to "slag off" the School, he added that, "the big story here concerns freedom of speech at a time of commercialisation of education".
Since the incident Ringmar had left the LSE to take a sabbatical at the National Chiao Hing University in Taiwan.
Ringmar has since been continuing his academic work in Taiwan.
UfewsKl Oavies, Director London School of economics dncl Political Scicnce Houghton Street London, WC2 2A6
: 1 am hereby resigning from my position as senior Ircturcr iti the ; Government Department at the L5C.
Freedom of speech is importdiit to scholarship. It is aiso imiiurirfdl. Co me. I cannot go on waxkinQ at an cducutiotwi institution vjhich docs not protect and share this voloc.
Erik ftingmar
Nationai Chi^u Tunq University Hsinchu, Taiwan
Bingmar wrote a brief resignation speech addressed to LSE Director Howard Davies
I^ny EjDStem passes
Vishal Banerjee
Senior Reporter
Stephan Epstein, Professor of Economic History at the LSE, died last week aged 46.
Epstein's obituary by the LSE described him as "a man of integrity, humour and compassion". It spoke of Epstein's role as an "inspirational guide" in helping his students academically and personally.
Epstein, grew up in Switzerland and completed a PhD at the University of Cambridge, where he remained until 1992, when the LSE offered him a lectureship.
Within five years, Epstein became a reader at the LSE. As a teacher, Epstein was described as having high standards for his students. The courses which he taught were regarded as "tough but also rewarding".
Epstein's field of expertise was centred on the economic history of medieval and early-modern Europe.
Epstein was regarded as a distinguished author, having written three books, four edited volumes and contributed articles to many journals, books and magazines.
Epstein garnered attention in 1991 with his paper in the Past and Present journal com-
paring the regional development of Sicily and Tuscany in the late Middle Ages, His book Freedom and Growth was awarded the 'Ranki Prize of the Economic History Association (USA) for the Outstanding Book in European Economic History' between 1999 and 2001.
Epstein became heavily involved with the LSE's Global Economic History Network, and used his extensive knowledge to help others understand past economic issues of importance.
Epstein is survived by his wife Rita Astuti, his son Sean and his brother Mark.
aged 4b
leaver 113 February 2007 |05
6 in 10 children have viewed pornography
Ruchika Tulshyan Senior Reporter
Fifty-seven percent of nine to 19 year olds have viewed pornography online, reported a research project undertaken by the LSE in collaboration with UK Children Go Online (UKGCO). A significant number of respondents reported that they viewed the pornography accidentally, highlighting the risks of the internet.
Social	Psychology
Professor Sonia Livingstone of the LSE is also the director of EU Kids Online, a Europe-wide research project that has been launched in response to recent findings. Livingstone told The Beaver: "Even though on one hand one can regard it as young people needing to push boundaries and they want to identify sexual contact...! am concerned about the prevalence of this contact as well as about the extreme nature of the content. Online, a lot of the material seems much more extreme and abusive than in magazines."
Livingstone also found that many 18 to 19 year old internet users who have viewed pornography online now believe that they were too young to have seen explicit material when they first encountered it.
Similar research projects have proven that while the internet is a useful tool for contact and learning; it brings many risks, including the risk of contact with strangers. The
survey reported that 46 percent of children have divulged personal information to someone they have met online and eight percent have met face to face with someone who they have met online.
These dramatic statistics quantified "how widespread contact of young people with pornography online really is" and the widespread risk of contact with other inappropriate websites that promote hate and racism as well as "gory, violent and gruesome" websites, Livingstone said.
Several LSE students reported that they found the survey results shocking. "If you're nine or ten years old and have seen pornography online, that is a serious issue and one that I think would mentally scar many children," said one LSE second year student.
Another student said: "Stranger contact on the internet is so dangerous. If parents don't establish an open relationship with their children on these matters then the results of the availability of the internet could be detrimental on society."
Livingstone found that 63 percent of children and young adults took measures to hide their internet activities from their parents. Attributing this to the worry children have of their computer being taken away if their parents found out, she urged for open lines of communication on these matters. Livingstone mentioned her concern that an "alarming number" of parents did not

LSE academic Sonia Livingston's report indicates that a large number of children have looked at pornography
know what their children had seen online and described this as "wilfully irresponsible."
One third of nine to 19 year olds have received sexual or offensive comments online, though only seven percent of
internet enses the "despread availabihty of sexual-come-erotic-come-pornographic croiitent
LSEl^POfessc^ Sonia Li^
parents are aware of their children encountering this.
"Children are just as nasty to each other as adults and we must stop looking at them with rose-tinted spectacles," said Professor Livingstone. She said that society should not be "naive" to the fact that children are dealing with seemingly "adult issues".
Adults should also start viewing children "not only as victims but sometimes perpetrators of these issues." The report summarised tracking the balance of opportunities and risks as well as developing internet literacy as future research and policy recommendations.
"The internet dispenses the widespread availability of sex-ual-come-erotic-come-porno-graphic content that I think we could just stand back from a little bit," Livingstone concluded.
Jobs are there, but grads lack skills
Ruchika Tulshyan Senior Reporter
Although	graduate
vacancies are up by 15 percent from last year, four out of ten employers expect to struggle to fill these positions due to a lack of applicants with the appropriate skills.
The figures were released as part of a biannual survey by the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR).
Many investment banks recruit analysts from schools with top business and financial programmes such the LSE, New York University and the University of Pennsylvania rather than MBA graduates, reported the Financial Times newspaper. There is also a trend for banks to promote their analysts into associate ranks rather than hiring MBAs.
"This is not a surprise,"
Graduates just out of university certainly lack 'soft sWlls'
BarCa^! Director
Photograph; Liam ChamlNeiK


The City of London is a popular destination for LSE graduates
J
commented LSE Director Howard Davies. Davies said Investment banks look for schools that produce graduates with "both strong analytical skiUs and an international out-
look. That is what we try to achieve [at the LSE]."
LSE graduates are reported as earning the highest salaries in graduate jobs alongside graduates from Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge.
There is a general complaint from top investment banks of the lack of graduates with "soft skills". "We do think that some of our graduates may be a little weak on team-work-ing skills, so we are planning some new short courses in that area," added Davies.
"Experience gets you those skiUs and graduates just out of university certainly lack 'soft skills'. But banks generally recruit based on the job requirements. For instance, an analyst position can be filled by an undergraduate, but for an associate level investment banks would look for an MBA who has years of work experience behind them," said
Director and Senior Private Banker of Barclays Capital London Bobby Kapur.
MBAs tend to have an edge over other graduates when it comes to comprehending the global economy as well as interacting with clients from different cultures.
The AGR survey reported that employers feel there is an "inadequate supply of applicants of sufficient calibre". It is well known that graduates from top financial insitutions are desirable academically but are lacking in many other important skills such as building client-vendor relationships.
According to the LSE Careers Office, "commercial awareness and business acumen are what employers from investment banks are looking for. These are developed through entrepreneurial skiUs."
Alongside networking capabilities, banks are looking
for "employees with excellent communication skills who can effectively communicate depending on the audience" as well as "people who can summarise and write brief memos."
This year, London has the highest percentage of vacancies for graduate jobs, accounting for 46 percent of total vacancies, reported the AGR survey. Jobs and attractive salaries are available, and graduates are qualified, but a deficiency in essential basic skills remains.
Global head of recruiting for Goldman Sachs Aaron Marcus said: "Remember that at a company with a strong meritocratic culture, the importance of your contribution outweighs any degree you might earn."
Regardless of the weight attached to the reputation of the university, graduates must hone important skills that extend beyond their xmiversity education.
Halls' web connection slowed by heavy use
Michael Deas Senior Reporter
A sixty percent increase in internet usage has slowed internet connections in LSE residences since the beginning of the year. IT Services is planning to upgrade IT infrastructure in March to improve connection speeds.
High Holborn resident Nick See told The Beaver he found the internet to be "too slow, even for essential func-
Download time for an episode of All Around You:
LSE:20 min
UCL:7 mln
Cambridge: 6 min
tions like accessing WebCT and Public Folders. I've stopped trying to watch videos on sites likeYouHibe."
Increased usage of band-width-hungry services, such as video streaming and peer-to-peer file sharing, is responsible for slowing the connections, according to IT Services. User Services Manager Amber Miro also explained there has been
an overall increase in the number of residents using laptops this year.
Miro responded to complaints that users are unable to watch videos or use software such as Skype or MSN Messenger by explaining that bandwidth is being reserved for key functions such as web-browsing and email while the upgrade is being prepared. She said: "Unfortunately, this has resulted in a degraded service for other traffic types including peer-peer communication and large downloads at peak times. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."
However, investigations by The Beaver have found that other universities have not been affected by similar increases in bandwidth demand.
It takes 20 minutes to download an episode of the TV series All Around You from alluc.org from Bankside residence, but the same video takes seven minutes to download from UCL halls and just six minutes from Cambridge halls.
When asked if this suggests that problems faced by users are as much a result of a failure to plan for increased numbers of people living in halls as an overall change in Internet usage patterns, IT Services did not comment.
IT Services said that once they have delivered and configured the infrastructure in conjunction with the new main internet line in March, users should receive a much improved, faster service.
Schroder speaks
Johonn Custodis Selma Stern_
Former	German
Chancellor Dr Gerhard Schroder spoke to LSE students last Monday on the prospects for peaceful development in a globalised world.
Chaired by LSE Director Howard Davies, the lecture marked the grand opening event of the LSE's 2007 German Symposium organised by the German Society.
Schroder recently exited the political arena following the national elections in Germany in September 2005.
Schroder was introduced by the German Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger.
In his speech, the former Chancellor said that globalisation and security presented the two biggest challenges to the international system and the European Union must play a special role in ensuring that both challenges are resolved.
Regarding Iraq, Schroder criticised the United States" planned troop increases and emphasised that he had opposed the invasion plans when he was in government. He demanded a credible exit strategy instead of "prolonging a mistake". He argued that "we Europeans must do all we can to encourage and support stability in Arab countries", respecting territorial integrity and avoiding the fulfilment of the "Clash of Civilisations "prophecy.
Major topics of discussion included Russia and the Middle East, both areas associated with Schroder's future legacy. His amicable relations with the
current Russian government and his personal benefits from that relationship dominated German press a year ago, and Schroder was accused of indifference to the grave civil rights situation in Russia while striking deals with the Kremlin.
Schroder said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to lead Russia into a stable democratic era.
The majority of questions
lere is no
___tradiction
)etween Islamic faith and an enlightened, modern society
Former? Germi^ Chanc^Uof Dr
___ ScfitrlMer
directed to Schroder concerned the EU. The former Chancellor said he favoured the accession of Turkey to the EU, and he said that its accession would act as "clear proof that there is no contradiction between Islamic faith and an enlightened, modem society".
He also underscored the necessity of ratifying a European Constitution Treaty as a first step towards closer political unity in Europe.
Davies closed the event saying: "Thank you Mr Schroder for taking us on a round-the-world trip with this speech."
06 Reaver
13 February 2007
NEWS
SU Commuriications Officer
Name:
All bewji
Postion:
Communications Officer History:
Dewji lost every single election he contested in SU politics except for gaining a seat on the Consitution and Steering Committee (C&S) on one occasion. In the Lent of 2005, he was elected Communications Officer by a margin of 48 votes. In a Politcs Feature of Issue 630 of The Beaver, Dewji was described as the "Most Unsuccessful Hack".
pe
Dewji is described as "innovative" and "a guy with some great ideas". However, his readiness to implement these ideas has often been called into question, with some doubt of his level of commitment to his post.
job description
The LSE SU Connmunications Officer is responsible for obtaining advertising and sponsorship for all areas of Union activity. He liaises with societies, convenes the LSE SU Media Group and chairs the Global and RAG Week taskforces.
WHAT HE SAID:
"Better press for society events - Many society events have quality speakers but don't get coverage in the press. I will contact the press and get these events the coverage they deserve."
SU Societies' Officer Arthur Krebbers said: "There have been some severe lags in responding to certain society queries, but generally Ali's been relatively efBcient in getting back to societies."
When questioned on this, Dewji agreed that "there have been plenty of times when societies have emailed me and it's taken me a while to get back to them" but stated that "almost all of those requests have been web related". He cited difficulties with conversion to the redesigned SU Website, but said that the situation is now improving.
As far as better press coverage for societies is concerned, Klrebbers said: "I don't think much progress has been made in improving general advertising facilities or targeting external press."
However, most society committees organise their own publicity. Many stated that they rarely seek Dewji's assistance with press
coverage.
Recently, Dewji courted controversy as he spoke against a motion in the UGM which aimed to give students a referendum on the future School appointments of Chair of Council and Director. A member of the Executive has since alleged that Dewji's conduct "made a mockery of democracy in the Union" and had "denied students their right to a voice", an opinion shared by many present at last week's UGM. There has been
tension between Dewji and some of the Executive since Michaelmas Term elections, when Dewji's absence at the counting of votes provoked criticism.
WHAT HE SAID:
"Make PuLSE more relevant -1 want a 'listen now' link put on every LSE desktop, to help increase the online listenership."
This has not occurred, though Dewji said that he will secure "a link in the 'Favourites' section for PuLSE" and a folder in the Start menu with links to SU Media sites by the end of the year.
PuLSE has recently been critical of Dewji. In an email sent to Dewji earlier this month, PuLSEfm Station Manager Kayt Berry said: "In a meeting over Christmas you told me it [the desktop update] would be done on the Brst of January. Obviously this has not occurred...we would appreciate an explanation rather than being left to assume that you have let it fall by the wayside." Dewji said that the arrangement was agreed at a meeting last year with the IT User Services Manager. Since then, he added, that IT Services has requested a second meeting to discuss further details.
Other concerns include the SU shop failing to play PuLSEfm and the infringement of the Media Group Protocol when the Global Cup interrupted PuLSEfm's broadcast. Berry concluded in her email: "The Communications OfGcer is the head and convenor of the LSE SU Media and I personally feel that you are not fulGll-
ing this ro/e." Dewji did explain at a recent Union General Meeting (UGM) that PuLSE did not play in the SU shop due to a probem with technical equipment.
Dewfji feels that his "up and down, random, chaotic relationship
with the Media Group" constitutes his biggest failure as Communications Officer: "I'm not saying I blame myself for it. They seem to think that I'm lazy, or that I waste time. Everyone else seems to see me as very hardworking and very busy. I tldnk I am because I'm the guy who doesn't get any sleep."
WHAT HE SAID:
"More sponsorship for the SU -1 have a proven track record of raising £4000 in sponsorship for the Debate Society this year."
After adjusting for the prevailing rate of inflation, the £5040 which Dewji has raised, is only £116 (2.5 percent) more than the amount raised by his predecessor.
SU Sabbatical appraisals
Part 2
On 6 March 2006, a new team of LSE SU sabbatical officers were elected. They campaigned on a number of pledges. Elections are once again approaching, and Senior Reporters Rajan Pate! and Doug Oliver have investigated their pledges in light of what they have actually achieved.
Name:
Joel Kenrick
Position:
Treasurer History:
Kenrick served on the Financial and Services Committee (F&S) of the LSE SU. He was also a member of the SU Executive Committee in his capacity as the Environment and Ethics Officer for two years. He was elected by a large margin of 309 votes - sufficiently larger than all of the other sabbatical officers.
job description
The Treasurer is responsible for all aspects of Union finance and the connnnercial services. The Treasurer also chairs the F&S Committee and is responsible for the budget of the Union, as well as the financial regulation of SU societies.
WHAT HE SAID:
"more support for SU campaigns"
Kenrick has doubled funding for campaign weeks such as Rise and Women's weeks to £300. He also offered training days to certain Societies on running effective campaigns. Kenrick also worked closely with Alexandra Vincenti and Jimmy Tam to support the "Admission Impossible" campaign against tuition fees - which led to around fifty LSE students participating in last term's central London demonstration.
Financial Planning
Kenrick has built on the work of his predecessor Natalie Black in keeping the Union's finances in order. Black left the Union with a small surplus of around £8,000 and Kenrick says that he has "budgeted for a surplus of £4,000 this year, but I hope and think it will be much higher".
WHAT HE SAID:
"more recycling facilities and water fountains"
There has been little success in obtaining more recycling boxes. They often go missing and are not always used for their intended purpose. Kenrick said: "Success with water fountains has been 6:us-tratingly slow."The SU is currently awaiting the results of an audit by the School's Estates Manager. However, Kenrick said that he was "still working hard to make progress on this front".
Kenrick has been widely hailed for being a "competent, committed and caring" as well as for a strong work ethic and for fulfilling most of his manifesto commitments. Others praised his "pragmatism which has brought new funding from the School". A member of the SU Executive said: "He shows remarkable patience, professionalism and energy -he is brilliant, even though I disagree with him over the Sutherland issue."
Kenrick has described the first seven months of managing the finances of the SU, as a "good experience despite being an amazing roller coaster". While Kenrick accepts that at times the Union has been acrimonious in nature this year, he believes that it has been no worse than in some previous years.
WHAT HE SAID:
"more money and support for societies"
Kenrick successfully managed to double the joint society events
budget.
He admitted that it has been harder than he anticipated to gain
more storage room for societies. While more room has been accommodated under the Old Building, he says that he is "still working for more".
However, Refreshers Fayre, which Kenrick campaigned to make a larger event was a poorly attended by LSE students.
The Sutherland Affair
Kenrick's participation in last term's sit-in protest which led to Peter Sutherland's lecture in the Old Theatre being moved, has been controversial with some students. One member of the SU Executive said: "Joel seems to justify his pledge for 'a more ethical union' as an excuse for all his less popular activist leanings. "
However, Kenrick said that he did not regret the actions, which he claimed had led to "the School is taking us more seriously than they have at various times in the past few years".
WHAT HE SAID:
"campaigning for students"
Kenrick aimed to keep Wednesday afternoons free for all students. He has succeeded in aiding the passage of a UGM motion aiming to lobby the School on to prevent departments from holding classes and lectures at this time.
In pledging "a better deal for students" by extending Travelcard discounts, Kenrick has succeeded in pushing for the TFL discounts campaign, which gathered student signatures for a petition.
SU Treasurer
COMMENT&ANALYSIS
leaver 1 13 February 2007 107
COMMENT
&
ANALYSIS
c&a@thebeaveronline.co.uk
C&Al Response what has rising top-up fees got to do with student opposition to Peter Sutherland? Erik Vogt sees the hnk
Choose fees or freedom
Erik Vogt
It's a sad truth in life that everyone has something to complain about; leave it to the LSE student, however, to cry on as many shoulders as he or she can possibly find. "Boo-hoo investment banks" or "my teachers are not making me smart" or"fees are too high" or "BP is bad" or "BP is good" are
a few of my favourites.
What most of these unfortunate souls don't realise is that they're not alone. In fact, they all liave each other to rant to because these problems are very much related. The complaints are, in one way or another, tied to the LSE's slow evolution from an academic institution of higher learning to an industry-driven machine that takes in naive children and spits out savvy businessmen. But what does this change imply for LSE students?
Well, we've all seen it already; student 'A' will cry about being whored out to capitalism, while student 'B' quickly kicks 'A' in the shins in order to get to the comer of Houghton Street first, ready to flaunt those well-rounded 2:1 breasts at passing employers.
But change can be good. It could pacify those students worried about "spiralling" tuition fees because the LSE's close ties to business will inevitably result in revenues in some form or another, revenues that are sorely needed to
Fees or freedom? Have your say! The Beam wants to bear from you.
E[mS[c&a@theheaveronline.co.uk
mMi 6
stay competitive as a university. After all, if Harvard can unscrupulously charge £15,000 a year for its diploma, and if LSE students want to stick to their "spiralling" £3,000, then it's only fair that these revenues come from a more reliable source than the govem-
If the School can't make its money through its students, can you really blame it for deciding to marry rich?
ment's vacuous pockets. And what can these funds be used for? Why, they could improve the teaching in the History Department! Do you see how it's all related? Fucking brilliant analysis on my part.
But we must not forget that funds of this kind come with an associated non-monetary cost: The dissolution of our venerable academic ivory
tower into an imitation of the London Business School, save for the fact that we'd have undergrads. Yahoo! (that's me rejoicing whilst plugging for one of our potential future sponsors).
Another cost would indeed be the appointment of representatives of our corporate benefactors to governing positions at the LSE. Howard Davies and BP Chairman Peter Sutherland won't be the only such non-academic appointments. In fact, a long line of industrialists might succeed
them, although some not as beneficial to the Shetland Islands as one might hope.
So in the end, there must always be a trade-off: Either tuition fees rise to meet inflationary pressures and competitive standards, or the LSE turns to other sources of income by opening itself to the corporate world. Both are rather undesirable, but alas, it seems that students have chosen to block the former in favour of the latter. So stop complaining and bear the costs of your decision. If the School can't make money through its students, can you really blame it for deciding to marry rich?
Taking a break from essays and problem sets, Molly Tucker reminisces of a childhood far far away
Vive les LEGO!
Tucke
I love LEGO. This is an opinions page, so there it is: I LOVE LEGO. It's amazing. Unlike toys of today like Nintendo, that require fairly useless and sometimes dangerous skills such as good thumb dexterity and a desire to gun dovra as many virtual people as possible, LEGO is not only extremely absorbing (building a good attention span) but also teaches excellent hand eye coordination (no, seriously, a monkey COULDN'T do it) and, dare I say it, a basic grasp of physics.
But I'm sure I don't need to sell it to you; every child I knew had a collection of some size or description, with at least one of the
with pieces of every size and description and one of the big green square bases, but I ended up with 3 crates of the stuff and countless themed sets. My crowning glory was the castle, complete with little glow in the dark ghost and dungeon. And of course the first time you build it, you follow the instructions religiously and sob uncontrollably when you can't get it to look anywhere near what does on the box cover (enter your poor father who spends HOURS recreating the perfect LEGO castle on Christmas morning). Eventually, you get to the point where the LEGO set is your oyster and you can do ANYTHING with it. It was that potential, that moment which allowed your imagination to run wild, that meant that even though I was •gasp* a girl (a fact for which my younger brother never really forgave me) I had.
isfying about planning your LEGO project, then watching each brick slot into place, and looking at the finished product and knowing it was all you. The first time you build a wall that won't fall over, or manage to find enough red pieces to build an entirely red house.
So there it is: I LOVE LEGO. It's amazing
you feel pride in something you did. Learning at the age of eight that you can make your own successes is no small thing, and is a lesson most modem toys make no attempt to teach.
Of course, LEGO has its dark side, too; the hours you spend investing yourself in a particvdar project means that there is a quite a large emotional tie to the , finished master-u piece, so that .'•<.'1.' when a /. smaller sib-
iiliiti
ling 'accidentally' knocks a tower off, the rage you feel is totally out of proportion to the crime. And when your brother destroys your LEGO estate complete with swimming pool and stable because its bigger and better than his, you say your first ever expletive and have to lock yourself in your room and stare mutely at the remains of the dream for very long time afterwards. And as any parent will attest, educational in the ways of the world as LEGO may be, it was sent by God to push them to the limits of their patience. When the baby has to be rushed to the emergency room because the little idiot thought that eating a rectangular brick the size of its own thumb would be a good plan, or when their big parent feet stepped on one of those tiny but always surprisingly painful little pieces, the temptation to throw the whole lot away and start over with something non-toxic and squishy instead is very great indeed.
I find those people who are never able to leave the LEGO behind kind of creepy. By this I don't mean those who are looking after a kid, spy that familiar bright blue bucket, and suggest that 'we' build a house and end up telling the kid to bug off because they are "screwing up the east wing."; that's perfectly normal. I mean the sad ones who find the real world just too scary in comparison to the easily controlled bright plastic universe that LEGO offers them; the ones that build the giant working models of clocks and musical instruments for LEGO conventions, the ones who write the blogs and the fanzines. LEGO belongs in the world of childhood, and the successes you have there and the satisfaction you gain from playing with it are just that, play, and as such

are practice for the real world; they don't belong there.
Which isn't to say that you shouldn't look back on it fondly, and I really do. It hasn't made me an engineer and let's be honest, my hand-eye co-ordination still isn't all that great, but I loved it and it made me happy, and if that isn't the mark of a good toy, I don't know what is.
Chaos broke out amongst the Hacks last we^ and with the Loony Left ttying desperate to revive the spirit of the '60s» and storm the gates of the School - the Eyes of Hacktavist certainly had their work cut out dtasing than around campus.
It b^an with a coi^ d'etat of the Government common room and soon enough Comrade Ca^>ell and his clones, had seized control of the room - quidcly transforming it into a base for their endless protests, rationing water supplies and even coercing one notable right winger to join them to fi^t the Fbrces of Evil with a mop.
Hacktavist watched closely as the Fbsdst Green Army O^d fcy Ffeld-Marshall CouztnQ'), Fknatic fkninists and all sorts of anarchists raucous^ rioted in the Old Building. What a wdccme party for some fat Irish guy!
Meanwhile one much-loved sabbatical, suffered the most terrible torment last week, while simply trying to do his duty. Poor Constipated AU declared he had "society heads coming outta ass". Ihis painful e:q)eriaice was apparently due to the strain of the MisKcanmunication officer actually hav-
ing to do some work for a change, and not some bizarre consequence of Dewj's frequent Mass-Debating. Although his giiifriend was away in New York... In any case Hacktavist hollers a big 'Get Wdl Soon' to everyone's favourite falafel vendor
But de^iite the predicament of our poor Cocntns Officer, critics of Comical Ali have dis-re^pectfulty continued their accusatioos. One Hack whinged about how predous uruoQ funds weie wasted on the £100 C^obal Qq;) while others launched attacks on how the Dewj is "destrpyirig democracy". Luckity a Do-ji-^t defence ^'ston was in place in the fbnn of Green Ken; who continued to remind us all what a sweetie our Comms officer realfy is.
And finally, Hacktavist in His efforts to do his duty and dish the dirt was 'facebooking* Hacks of all shapes, sizes and political affiliation last week - an activity whidi led to some rather interesting revelations. One Caress HeathCock states she likes what hs* boyfriend "makes [her] watch". Hacktavist will leave what this could be up to the reader's iinagina< tion...
HacktavistOthebeaveronline.co.uk
08 leaver! 13 February 200':
COMMENT&ANALYSIS
COMMEN

ANALYSIS
Is freedom of expression too much to ask for? Andrew Perraut demands justice for imprisoned Egyptian blogger
Free speech at what price?
c&a@thebeaveronline.co.uk
IBeaver
2nd Floof, East Building ISE Students' Union London WC2A 2AE email: fhebeaverSlse.ac.uk Published since 1949.
While we study at the LSE we live in a free country, but imagine that this was not so. Imagine that, after your last class of the day, you decide to write a brief blog post before heading off to dinner with friends. A day goes by—perhaps a week—but suddenly there is a knock on the door, and as you open it, you immediately know that your life is over.
The knock on the door may be nothing but an Orwellian nightmare for you and me, but it is the reality for millions of people who are subject to tyranny every day. However, it is reality for Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer, who desperately needs your help.
Kareem is my age, twenty-two, and, like me, he occasionally posts on a blog. But Kareem's 'knock on the door'
came last November, when he was arrested by Egypt's state security service. He was imprisoned without bail for the "crime" of promoting secularism and daring to suggest that women should be considered equals in society. Since then, his family has not been

15th Febraary has been declared "Free Kareem Day"
allowed to see him, and they live in fear of what might be happening to him.
Kareem's trial will take place later this month, and experts believe that the judge will sentence him to nearly a decade's imprisonment for nothing more than expressing
his opinions. This case is not an isolated incident; it is part of a recent crackdown on political dissent throughout the country. Amnesty International has called Kareem's arrest "a further erosion of freedom of expression in Egypt" and a dangerous precedent for the future. If a stand is not taken now, the consequences for liberty in that country will be dire. This
case is about more than just one man. 'Whether you personally agree with what Kareem said or not, I hope that everyone is prepared to defend his right to say it.
I urge everyone who believe in human rights, everyone who believes in freedom of expression, to do something about it. And there is something very real that you can do. This Thursday, IStfi February
has been declared "Free Kareem Day," a time when Amer's supporters will demonstrate peacefully in six cities throughout the world. The London rally will take place in front of the Egyptian Embassy from 3pm to 6pm. By protesting, we will show the government that they cannot destroy Kareem's life—or his right to speak his mind—while no one is watching. Each person who participates puts more pressure on Egypt to honor their pledge to protect human rights within their borders. They can get away with tyranny only if we are willing to look away.
Join us on Thursday—LSE students will meet in front of the Peacock Theatre at 2pm to walk to the Embassy and join the protest. I encourage you to visit FreeKareem.org for more information about the case and to sign the online petition for his release. Send an email to Andrew.Perraut@gmail.com to leam more about the rally or to help out. Come to support Kareem. Come to support the right to free speech.
Dan Sheldon and Aled Fisher thinks the LSE can do more to improve its IT services through open source technology
Adulation for open source
Dan Sri Ion
isher
WebCT, Outlook, LSE for You... so much of our time at the LSE is spent interacting with computers, it's surprising we even find time to speak to each other. Yet how much do we actually know about the software that we use? Our attitude is generally one of technological ignorance; hardly surprising considering we are a social sciences university. However, is it sensible to leave something so integral to our degrees to the whim of IT Services and contractors behind closed doors?
This closed-door attitude extends to the software itself: the LSE mainly uses closed source, proprietary packages such as Microsoft Windows and Office. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but if it doesn't do what we want it to do, there's not a lot we can do about it. Despite paying for this software, its usage is highly restricted by law. In general, you cannot study, copy, modify or redistribute the software that you use. This raises some big civil liberty questions: does Microsoft retain any rights to documents you produce with their software? And what claim does YouTube have on your videos?
This is where open source comes in. In essence, open source means that the mechanics behind the software is freely available to all to read, adapt and improve. The result of this is a public, collaborative form of development which is highly responsive to
demand (no matter how niche) and unconcerned with commercial pressures. It isn't profitable to make software which caters specifically to people with disabilities, but open source democratises innovation like this. To allow scientific and cultural progress to be constrained by strict legal and commercial interests is hugely damaging - just imagine if you had to pay a licence fee each time you quoted an author in your essays! Think this is some
fif
Our website, the primary window into LSE student life, is an embarassment
hippy dream? Speak to Facebook, Google, Wikipedia and countless other leading technology firms who owe their success to open source. Open source is a proven model not only for producing well designed, virus free and cost effective software but also for profitable businesses, too.
The potential of open source for social good is even greater when writ large. ¦Wikipedia is an incredibly successful experiment in free knowledge which has challenged the media monopoly. There are even attempts to create open source consumer products like 'OpenCola', which aims to liberate the
instructions and ingredients behind the brown stuff! Whist the LSE is making some strides towards a smarter approach on technology with blogs and podcasts, it is not enough. For example, we are still using a five year old, barely usable version of WebCT when we could be using the open source alternative, Moodle.
Believers in the power of the market should support open source too. Why is there no real alternative to Outlook? Because it is difficult to reverse engineer the protocol that it uses to communicate with Exchange servers. The anti-trust cases against Microsoft demonstrates its perverse distortion of the market - the only way to combat this is through open standards. As the network neutrality debate in the US highlighted, open standards and the principle of equality are essential to balance the dangerous effects big business can have on the technology we depend on. We should embrace projects like the $100 laptop project, which aim to close the digital divide and reduce inequalities. Brazil has taken a lead by adopting Linux, the open source operating system, in its government offices, saving millions of dollars in licence fees.
It is not enough to demand that the School wises up to technology - the SU must, too. Our website, the primary window into LSE student life, is an embarrassment; poorly designed, rarely updated and inaccessible. We have been tied into a contract with a web marketing firm for the past few years which, on first glance, looks like a good deal: we pay nothing and get a slice
of advertising revenues. However, their one-size-fits-all approach to websites clearly doesn't suit our Union. With exciting things like Web 2.0 and social networking in vogue we should be using technology to build a truly democratic Union, reaching out to .all students and prospective students and capitalising on our name to bring in more revenue.
You only have to walk down Houghton Street to see how old-fashioned we are: masses of paper are wasted on posters for our vibrant student events. If we had an effective way of communicating online
we could take the lead on this crucial environmental issue and shame the School into scrapping the masses of printed committee reports they produce. Equally, it is pointless to substitute paper for PCs when banks of computers hum away unused 24 hours a day. Any future policy the SU and School devise must balance environmental concerns with the diverse and energetic nature of our student body.
With ID cards, RFID chips and online voting (at least in our SU) coming soon, it is time for all of us to reclaim the code that rules our lives from the control of the rich, geeky few.
aph: Nigel Stead

EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Sidhanth Kamath
MANAGING EDITOR
Chris Lam
SECRETARY
Lucie Gouiet
NEWS EDITORS
Laura Deck; Alt Moussavi; Timothy Root
C&A EDITOR
Chun Han Wong
FEATURES EDITORS
Charlie Samuda; Christine Whyte
PART B EDITORS
Kevin Perry;
Daniel B.Yates
SPORTS EDITOR
Laura Parfitt
DESIGN EDITOR
Aditi Nangia
WEB EDITOR
Min Ou
PHOTOGRAPHY SUB EDITOR
Liam Chambers COMMISSIONING SUB-EDITOR Charlie Hallion LISTINGS SUB-EDITOR
Neeraj Patel
THE COLLECTIVE:
Chair: Fatima Manji collectivechair@the-beaveronline.co.uk Ismat Abidi; Ross Allan; Sam Ashton; Sancha Bainton; Fadhil Bakeer-Markar; Vlshal Banerjee; Wit Barber; Alex Barros-Curtis; Peter Barton; Rothna Begum; Neshy Boukhari; Clem Broumley-Young; James Bull; Sam Burke; Andy Burton; Sumit Buttoo; Ed Calow; Jess Cartwright; James Caspell; Claire Cheriyan; Chris Colvin; Laura Coombe; Owen Coughlan; Patrick Cullen; Peter Currie; James Davies; Michael Deas; Ali Dewji; Jan Daniel Dormann; Matt Dougherty; Simon Douglas; Aled Dilwyn Fisher; Alex George; Ben Gianforti; Patrick Graham; Rupert Guest; Steve Gummer; Andrew Hallett; Shanela Haque; Chris Heathcote; Josh Heller; Kevin Heutchi; Tahiya Islam; Lois Jeary; William Joce; Andhalib Karim; Laleh Kazemi-Veisari; Joel Kenrick; James Ketteringham; Arthur Krebbers; Sanjivi Krishnan; Laura Kyrke-Smith; Ben Lamy; Charles Laurence; Roger Lewis ; Shu Hao Don Lim; James Longhofei; Ziyaad Lunat; Jami Makan; Kim Mandeng; Jessica McArdle; Joey Mellows; Nitya Menon; Llbby Meyer; Sophie Middlemiss; Daisy Mitchel-Forster; Richard Morrow; Doug Olhrei; Erin Orozco; Aba Osunsade; Rob Parker; Matthew Partridge; Rajan Patel; John Philpott; Rebecca Pillinger; Keith Postler; Danielle Priestley; Joe Quaye; Tanya Rajapakse; Gareth Rees; Ricky Ren; Louise Robinson; Daniel Sheldon; Alex Small; Rebecca Stephenson; Jimmy Tam; Alex Teytelboym; Meryem Torun; Angus Tse; Molly Tucker; Vladimir Unkovski-Korica; Rosamund Urwin; Louise Venabies; Alexandra Vincenti; Simon Wang; Claudia Whitcomb; Greg White; Amy Williams; Yee To Wong;
PRINTED BY THE NORTHCLIFFE PRESS
If you have written three or more articles for The Beaver and your name does not appear in the Collective, please email:
thebeaver.editor@lse.ac.uk and you will be added to the list in next week's paper.
The Beaver is available in alternative formats.
The views and opinions expressed in The Beaver ate those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or the LSE Students' Union.
COMMENT&ANALYSIS
heaven 13 February 2007 09
COMMENT
&A
NALYSIS
c&a@thebeaveronline.co.uk
leaver
Established 1949 - Issue 658
LSE teaching quality in question
...perhaps some soul searching is in order
The front-page article in this week's Beaver may seem like a scoop, but to be honest, it will come as no surprise to any student at the LSE; this is what is most shocking about the new figures. For the teaching at a world-class institution such as this one to be almost universally acknowledged as 'crap' by its students, something must be going drastically wrong.
At any university, most students will admit that they have at least one sub-par lecturer or teacher: the sort who grade unfairly, can't speak in public to save their lives or who are, well, just plain rubbish. That's understandable - academics are notoriously uninterested in anything besides their field of research. Even Oxbridge produces complaints about some of its teaching staff. However, Oxford and Cambridge employ the tutorial system, which makes up for lack of quality with sheer quantity of face time - students spend hours a week with each of their class teachers, not to mention compulsory lectures and independent study. Previously, the LSE was the only university among the top 3 in the UK without it, and the fact that it maintained such high standards with a minimum of teacher-student contact was credited to superb teaching quality. This survey shows that students, at least, have a very different view.
The information also highlights the LSE's plummet from eleventh to seventeenth in the 2006 World University rankings from the Times Higher Education Supplement. What could have been dismissed as a fluke now looks ominously foreboding for the School's future as a global centre of excellence. Even worse from the student perspective, as the academic reputation of the School suffers, so do graduate prospects. If a majority of students find the teaching quality at odds with the School's reputation, it will not be long before the world takes notice and begins to agree.
The survey begs the question; what is causing such widespread dissatisfaction among students, the people who make the LSE what it is (and pay the salaries of the 'shit' staff in question)? Surely a major factor is the impracticality of fobbing undergraduate teaching off on Ph.D students, who are paid a pittance and are understandably more concerned with their own degrees. It's also not clear how much training class teachers are offered.
The problem of personal tutors relates not only to the academic performance (or lack thereof) of students, but also to their pastoral care; the ease with which students can fall off the radar during the year is embarrassing. Each tutor is assigned a large number of students, and there is no system in place to ensure regular contact; is it any wonder tutors and students barely even recognise one another?
In an institution where so much emphasis is placed on self-discipline and independent study, it's vital for the school to be taking more responsibility for their progress and keeping a better eye on its' students. Whatever the reasons for the results that The Beaver has uncovered, it is clear the School needs to do something about it.
Mile-high on LSE money
...is far from responsible expenditure
An institution aiming to provide an all-round academic experience to its students should look beyond classrooms and seminars. First-class administration, organisational efficiency, student welfare and support services, provision of accommodation; the non-academic aspects which count little towards intellectual stimulation, but bear great significance towards a wholesome education. To be able to invest quality money towards the satisfaction of student needs, responsible spending of school funds is fimdamental.
The recent release of travel expenses of top LSE personnel is highly revealing with regards to school policy on responsible expenditure. It is rather disconcerting to discover that Henrietta Moore, Deputy Director and Professor of Social Anthropology, spent £4,084.00 on a trans-Atlantic flight to New York in November 2004 when it cost only £3,790.00 for her flight to Thailand a mere four months later. The fact that a similar trip to the Big Apple made by Ms Moore a year ago cost a comparatively inexpensive £2,658.20 should have sent alarm bells ringing. To add insult to injury, £1,807.00 was all it cost for Deputy Director Sarah Worthington on a New York flight in December 2005. First-class administration? Or first-class lavishness?
Such are the unnecessary luxuries that could easily have been spent on more meaningful things. Money that could have seen better usage through emergency student loans, research grants, refurbishment of school facilities, organisation of public lectures or raising the meagre salaries of LSE cleaners. How justifiable are demands for increases in top-up fees when senior school officials are thoughtlessly splashing LSE cash on official trips? As premier institution of social sciences with an economic focus, the irony cannot be lost on students who show concern for the nature of governance of our School.
Letters to the Editor
The Beaver offers all readers the right to reply to anything that appears in the paper. Letters should be sent to thebeaver.editor@lse.ac.uk and should be no longer than 250 words. All letters nnust be received by 3pm on the Sunday prior to publication.
The Beaver reserves the right to edit letters prior to publication.
"student night"
Dear Sir
Your paper last week contained a number of damaging and false allegations apparently made by Bernie Taffs with regards to security in the Students' Union which must be refuted.
Firstly, Mr Taffs seems to misunderstand the Data Protection Act and our CCTV cameras. The Students' Union has a sophisticated and fully legally compliant CCTV system. We will shortly be upgrading our system at considerable expense, and these plans have been fully discussed and agreed with LSE Security.
Secondly, Mr Taffs claims that we do not allow LSE Security to attend Crush. This again is untrue. Unless legally required (for example if they were to be in a drunk or disorderly state) LSE Security staff are welcome to attend Crush. Indeed we believe they would be impressed to observe what is an extremely well run and safe student night. However SIA legislation would make it illegal for them to take an active part in the securty of the venue unless they are SIA (Sectirity Industry Authority) badged, something that all concerned are fully aware of.
Thirdly, Mr Taffs claims that we under-report incidents of crime, and do not provide names and addresses of those involved. If an incident occurs all relevant details are passed on to Mr Taffs by the next working day. While all are asked for names and addresses if these are often not available this is due to many students, even if victims, being unwilling to provide them. The only recent incident where a theft was not reported to Mr Taffs was because LSE Security staff at reception did not record it, something Mr Taffs should consider before accusing LSESU staff of negligence.
LSE Security and the Students' Union should continue to work closely together for the safety of our students. Unfortunately, Mr Taffs' good work in many other areas of the school is imdermined by untrue or outdated outbursts like that reported in your last edition.
Joel Kenrick LSE SU Treasurer On behalf of the Team
Sabbatical
"great job"
Dear Sir
We would like to express our disillusionment with the simplistic and one dimensional debate over the appointment of Peter Sutherland KCMG as Chair of LSE Council.
It appears commonplace for hacks to discard British Petroleum as "environmental and social abusers". Some have even resorted to accusing Sutherland of violating human rights and "murder" in his role as chairman of BP. Such populist anti-business rhetoric has entered the mainstream of the SU. BP has helped local communities prosper. It is an outstanding employer that offer great job prospects. Having links to BP is beneficial to students.
It is misleading to morph the oil company into some 'big evil monster' based on a select number of scattered incidents. The facts tell a different stoiy. Since January 2003, BP group companies have received over 80 independently-judged awards related to their environmental and social performance, including; No. 2 world's top green company (BusinessWeek),	"Most
Respected Energy Company" (Financial Times), "Energy Company of the Year" and Gold Award winner in the Renewable Energy category (2005 Energy Business Awards), 2006 Catalyst Award for advancing women in the workplace
Whilst BP may have damaged the environment, it is undeniable that if global warming is to be avoided, companies with the capital and innovative potential of BP will be central to solving it.
It is illogical to assume Sutherland is inherently "evil" and obsessed with "marketisa-tion" of education, based on his involvement with BP. Sutherland has had a distinguished past in politics, the judiciary and business, and is a generous philanthropist. Whilst BP has committed serious mistakes, presenting an inaccurate portrait of it is intellectually lazy and potentially dangerous. This attitude - which rejects the nuances of complex issues - offers no solutions to the problems facing students, the School, society and the environment at large.
Mud-slinging and personal attacks don't foment constructive politics. P^cts do, and it would be beneficial if The Beaver had been more willing to report them in your recent coverage of this issue.
Eddy Fonyodi Arthur Krebbers Student members of the Court of Governors, 2005 onwards Kav Patel
AU and SU Executive Gareth Rees Gustav Lange Eva-Maria Asari Ross Allan Society Presidents Ben Biggs Daisy O'Brien Cliff Chow Chris Heathcote Charles Laurence Carys Morgan Doug Oliver
_"jack last"_
Dear Sir
After having the honour of being mentioned in the Union Jack last week, I felt it necessary to write to you and tell you that my name is Ruhana Ali. 'Thank you and keep up the good work.
Unnamed Deputy of the UGM
"history's obiection"
Dear Sir
I write to express the Department of International History's objection to the article by Sachin Mehta (LSE: Not value for money, 30 January 2007), in particular his claims about its pastoral provision. The Department is proud of its deserved reputation for thorough and rigorous teaching. It has played a leading role in the
creation of the School's new code of practice for personal tutors, and members of staff observe this code scrupulously. I have seen evidence which suggests that every one of Mr Mehta's teachers and tutors in the Department have gone out of their way to be helpful to him. They share my disappointment that he has, unfairly and without foundation, chosen to drag the Department into his broadside against proposed rises in tuition fees.
Undergraduates in the Department have a forum - the Staff-Student Committee- at which they can raise issues. The minutes of Staff-Student Commmittee meetings are brought to Departmental staff meetings at which they are discussed in detail; the Department takes students' concerns seriously and does its best to respond to specific issues or criticisms. It is unfortunate that the students making these complaints have failed to take advantage of this apparatus.
Dr J Chatterji Departmental Tutor Department of International History
"hates Sacha"
Dear Sir
I read Simon Douglas' letter with regards to the International	History
Department. Frankly, I didn't understand why he felt the need to identify his tutor by name. Perhaps he just wasn't brave enough to confront her directly during his first two years, so since he was editing the C&A pages, he felt he can finally have a go at her. How mature! Also, he complained that his former tutor "couldn't pick me in a line-up", yet he got the tutor's surname and position wrong.
I was also puzzled by Ariel Elkin's response to Sacha (Ed-sic) Mehta. My guess is that he was either approached by the principal or the PR department, or has unusually close ties to the LSE, or just hates Sacha (Ed-sic) with a passion. And he's "sick and tired" of hearing opinions like Sacha's (Ed-sic)? I agree, let's just impose our views on everybody else! Who cares about freedom of speech?
Also, I'd like to ask him which other University of London libraries LSE students can "freely borrow books from", apart from Senate House.
Romina Spina
"the finger"
Dear Sir
Following my article dated 30th January, I would like to make the following points clear. My article was not a wholesale attack or slamming of the History Department, but simply a criticism of the LSE and the tuition fee process in general. To reiterate, I believe that students pay too much, and that if intuitions continue to wish for increases in the level of fees, there must be greater justification and accountability of where this money is being spent. I feel that some people believed mistakenly that I was pointing the finger solely at the History
Department, however this was not the case, instead I was commenting on areas I believed that the LSE could improve on as a whole, if tuition fees continue to increase. The impression people got was that I totally dismissed the teaching of the History Department as woeful, again this was not my intension, and I apologize for any hurt caused. However I am glad that the article has caused some debate over whether the LSE is worth the money!
Sachin Mehta
"impressively free"
Dear Sir
As a member of the Media Group "old guard", I feel compelled to comment on what appears to be a steady decline in the quality and objectivity of your news, to say nothing of the editorial independence of the paper. It is an open secret that this year's sabbatical team are asserting increasing influence over content, both directly under the guise of checking for libel, and indirectly through their relationship with editors. I wiU not pretend that the "old days" were wholly wonderful and impressively free of outside influence, but perhaps The Beaver might consider a return to reporting, disinterested editors, proper sourcing and real news.
Stacy-Marie Ishmael Honorary Student
"thought police"
Dear Sir
The signatories of the "parental instinct" letter published last week either didn't read or imderstand my column, are stupid, or as is more probable - both. I think the number of signatories says more about the bandwagon mentality and egos of the signatories than it does about serious objection to my pen.
The whole point of the part in which I discussed my approaching the feminist stall was self-deprecation, a sentiment which seems wholly lost on the signatories. And I didn't misrepresent anybody or anything - if the ladies who I spoke to were out of step with the signatories, that's their problem. In fact, sounds like a case for the thought police!
With regard to the discussion of "maternal instinct"; it is not an exclusive term. Maternal instinct does not preclude paternal instinct, as the signatories suggest. Furthermore,	maternal
instinct does not just mean having children; it can be expressed in a whole variety of ways - and to think it was me who was being accused of narrow-mindedness!
I end with this plea: do not employ hysterical, inflated nonsense whenever someone says "ladies" or "girls". Your silly whines betray the noble acts of the suffragettes, whom I admire beyond measure. To modify Michael Winner's remarks: "Calm down dears, it's just a newspaper column!"
Samuel Burke The Right Approach
io| leaver I 13 February 2007
COMMENT&ANALYSIS
COMMENT
&
ANALYSIS
c&a@thebeaveronline.co.uk
Students'Union Rant
RAG heart-Break: SU's bad
Jessi Cartw
The highly-anticipated fundraiser extraordinaire RAGbreak met an unceremonious still-bom end. Jessica Cartwright thinks the SU is to blame for RAGbreak's demise
This week is Raising and Giving week and it had the opportunity of being kicked off to a great start by a highly lucrative, fun and extremely	exhilarating
fundraising event. However, the LSE SU's apparent inability to successfully promote and organise this event, known as 'RAGbreak', led to its poor support and subsequent cancellation.
The majority of you are probably wondering what RAGbreak even is and why it should matter to you. The aim of RAGbreak is that groups of students have just 52 hours to get as far away from their university as possible and back again; without spending a single penny on travel. It's a fun-filled challenge and it's all in the name of charity. In recent years participants at the University of Cambridge have made it as far a field as Tokyo, Toronto and Prague. The winners of the 2006 Manchester RAGbreak escaped to New York! Unfortunately almost every LSE student we asked for sponsorship hadn't even heard of RAGbreak and no one knew it was occurring at the LSE; as a result just 2 groups applied to take part. This is largely due to the fact that RAGbreak had very limited
publicity; it doesn't even exist on the LSE SU RAGweek website. Any publicity that existed lacked detailed information and if you took the initiative to find out more at the SU reception, your questions went unanswered.
The failure of RAGbreak is yet another example of the SU's ability to squander opportunities
The failure of RAGbreak is yet another example of the SU's ability to squander opportunities through a lack of reviewing their policies in how they promote events and carry out ideas that are poten-
tially brilliant. The purpose of the SU is surely to employ its power to draw together the diverse and fragmented nature of the 8000 strong LSE student body. It should use this power to promote events such as RAGweek to a much greater extent and realise their full potential. In reality the majority of students at the LSE have relatively little knowledge about the SU's weekly topics and agendas; fliers serve purely to add litter on Houghton Street. The very fact that many events organised by the SU have had such poor turnouts should trigger a response. However, the failure of this latest event proves that the LSE SU is making little effort to close the gap between the Union and the vast majority of students.
For us the cancellation of RAGbreak was a personal disappointment, and it also
meant that the charities will not receive the £312 of sponsorship that we alone had managed to raise.
In the future it is necessary for the LSE SU to pull its finger out and become more proactive in its organisation and promotion of events; find new ways of interacting with the majority of the student body to actively encourage greater
participation. This was a wasted opportunity; hopefully next year RAGbreak can achieve its full potential because it is a fantastic way to raise money for charity, while at the same time you get to spend the weekend travelling all over the country and potentially the world, having fun and learning some crucial skills that you won't ever gain from classes
and essays. Just to demonstrate what could potentially be raised by RAGbreak; Manchester University's 2006 RAG Jailbreak raised £9000. Hopefully next year we can all participate, because if just 10 more groups had joined us, we could have raised £3000; surely that's worth the SU investing more time and effort in promoting these events.
Democracy besieged
Be afraid. Be very afraid. The Students' Union is under siege, and Douglas Oliver makes a call to arms to resist illiberal practices
In his article dated 23rd January "New Labour are New Tories" James Caspell defines political variety in our Students' Union as that of "left and right" and warns against the "faux" left represented, he claimed, by Daniel Sheldon. Whilst this distinction is one-dimensional, it ignores a more pressing ideological battle currently faced by our Union. That is the division between those students who believe in student politics which is of a liberal and democratic nature and those - like Caspell and a small number of others - who are opposed to it. Whilst students on both sides of this division share views on important issues facing the School and the world, the gulf is borne not just out of differing modi operandi, but of fundamentally differing ideological perspectives.
Over the last year or so, the LSESU Green Party founded by Caspell has steadily increased its political strength and visibility on campus. The party has promoted issues and campaigns which many students, including myself, feel important and sympathise with; environmen-
tal issues, Iraq on a national and international level, and the nature of Peter Sutherland's appointment. Naturally, there are issues which we disagree with. This heterodoxy of outlook is not a thing to regret but rather to be welcomed - its existence facilitates the crucible of debate which students come to the LSE from all over the world to participate in. This forum of debate and argument allows us to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses or our preconceptions and hence "seek new perspectives".
This tradition of freedom of speech and discussion was established by the School's founders, the Webbs, and, with regards to the student body, is protected by the SU's Constitution. Most students would agree that these aspirations represent the essence of the LSE. It is because of this that the disdain Caspell and others have shown toward these liberal and democratic principles is so disturbing. This mindset was first illustrated after the 2004 Michaelmas Term SU elections, when Caspell sought to overturn the election of
Winston Churchill as Honorary Vice-President but have been illustrated on many occasions since. Despite the clear will of hundreds of students, Caspell temporarily succeeded in persuading C&S to over-turn the result based on an obscure interpretation of the Constitution, before sense was later seen.
Since then, the Green Party's electoral strength has been increased through poorly contested elections and prospered in conditions of student apathy. They have sought to ensure that Society "block votes" (in the form of e-mail endorsement by Society committees) play a crucial influence in deciding SU elections. In my former capacity as SU Returning Officer, I was initially shocked when he deliberately contravened election rules - such as leafleting in the voting room. However, I and others have since become used to this anti-democratic approach which came to manifest itself time and again. For instance, certain Greens orchestrated a call for the unnecessary over-turn of last year's SU Societies election. Caspell attempted before last
term's elections to persuade C&S to rule out a student's candidature based on a technicality on their nomination form. Meanwhile - and more dangerously vis-a-vis the Union - various Green Officers have sought to reduce participation in the Union General Meeting by instituting an unnecessary paper throwing ban. It came as little surprise that after The Beaver published stories which the Greens found unflattering, the
I was initially shocked when he (Caspell) deliberately contravened election rules - such as leafleting in the voting room
Party was caught attempting to fill the paper's governing body with its own members in order that it could elect its own sympathetic news editor.
Each of these anecdotes can in themselves be ignored on first inspection as innocuous examples of over-zealous student politicking and "hackery". However, taken together, they provide incontrovertible
evidence of a developing and pernicious force operating within our student governance which directly threatens the pluralism and open access which defines it. That is why the nature of the protest aimed at Sutherland last term was so passionately opposed by many students. It was not because they approved the man the protest opposed, but because it was deliberately aimed at undermining free speech and because it prevented students and members of the public from participating and questioning him. The protest taken in itself might have been more easily ignored by students had it not been indicative of a broader illiberal trend.
The authoritarian agenda that Caspell and others have pursued in recent times has damaged the Students' Union -the focus on important stu-dent-related campaigns has been lost. Nonetheless, it is regarded with great antipathy by the vast bulk of students who are generally liberal in outlook. Those who stand on that side of the divide have allowed themselves to be ignored for too long by failing to sufficiently engage in student politics. Whilst Caspell is correct to consider the importance of the left-right divisions in our Union, it is clear that its significance is far smaller than the struggle to secure a pluralistic Union open for all students. The argument can be won, but it wiU require the large numbers of normal students - typically apathetic to the SU - to get involved and give it support come the elections in week 8.
The Vladical Left
i eat u res thebea veron 1 i n e.co. uk
The Right Approach
Vladimir
Unkovski
-Korica
People have often said to me that one can't be green without being red, and one can't be red without being green.
On the face of it, that is not true. Ever larger numbers of scientists, politicians and even fossil fuel corporations are coming around to the idea that action is necessary to stop climate change before it is too late. Last year. Sir Nicholas Stern's report argued . that the cost of not acting on climate change would be greater for the world economy than taking action. Just over a week ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), bringing together more than 2500 scientists from over 30 countries, concluded that global warming was an 'unequivocal' fact very likely (90%) caused by human activity. An ever broader mood is growing across the world that we need to do something before it is too late.
A1 Gore's documentary 'An Incovenient Truth' singled out energy production and heavy industry (particularly the burning of fossil fuels to create electricity), as well as transport, as being most responsible for excessive C02 emission. Restructuring these is a massive challenge. The primary problem. Gore seems to be suggesting, is the lack of political will - borne of the power of the corporations whose activities lie at the heart of the system. As a matter of fact, the oil industiy and its associates are both the vital nerve-centres of a dynamic economy and vastly influential pressure-groups in a costly electoral and political game. Gore's spot on when he explains, quoting socialist author Upton Sinclair: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."
How can we expect change, then? This is where Gore starts getting fuzzy. He shows how, while Japan and the EU can produce more energy-efficient cars than the US as a result of environmentally-friendly legislation, similar efforts are scuppered in California by the car industries. But surely, what is missing is political leadership: mass movements led by Martin Luther King and Gandhi flash across the screen to remind us of how change is possible against the odds. Even if Gore had become President in 2000 could we have expected him to act any differently in power than Blair? Rich in rhetoric and promises. New Labour presided over a 3% increase in carbon gas emissions between 1997 and 2005. Surely, there was political support - but no political will for change.
The only solutions that are guaranteed to work are ones that challenge the fundamentals of the system itself. For it is clear that when relations of production become established, and with them great centres of wealth-creation and power, those with an interest in retaining their privileged positions become very resistant to change. The only changes they are willing to countenance are ones that will not significantly impact on their position in society. Thus, they may accept limitations in one set of fields (fossil fuel-related ones), if they are guaranteed revenues or privileges in other fields (nuclear, for example) and if they fear the costs of global climate change sufficiently. But even here, we rely on their goodwill. Frequently, we are warned not to frighten them by putting pressure on them - they may be scared off real change if they fear for their position. Best let a dynamic market sort itself out. Right?
Wrong. The task of cutting C02 emissions is not best left to those who have got us here in the first place. Instead of investing in public and mass means of transport, producing locally and opting for renewable energy, most politicians and corporations argue for the nuclear solution. That this is costlier seems not to be a problem since corporations and governments are not run by ordinary people. That extraction and transport of materials necessary for generation of nuclear power are carbon-intensive is also conveniently forgotten. That nuclear waste remains a horrific problem is downplayed. That nuclear accidents can be as destructive as a dirty bomb is not emphasised. That nuclear power-stations across the world are often a precursor to nuclear weapons as the sole guarantee of a country's sovereignty in an age of permanent war is passed over when discussing Iran.
To challenge the chaos and inertia at the heart of global capitalism - to stop global climate change - is best achieved by being green and red.
Notes on Nothing
Head of Politics Desk: Charlie Doughaty
Head of Society Desk: Ikssannund OnArin
Head of Business/Careers/Law Desk: Sminn^Qjpta
Political Correspondents: iStegiaiMDe,
Business Correspondent:
Sam Burke
It is hard to believe that problems with your gas bill could ever be fatal but for millions of pensioners living alone in the UK not being able to afford to keep the boiler running can be a life or death issue. Pensioners in Scotland are more likely to freeze to death than those in Siberia due to gross mismanagement of benefits and rising fuel bills. A report by the energy comparison website uSwitch discovered this week that half of Britain's pensioners were cutting back on other necessities to meet their rising heating costs and one in five believed their health would suffer if heating continued to get more expensive. It seems highly unlikely that, with only three years left and little action so far, the government will reach its target of taking people out of 'fuel poverty' by 2010.
Anyone who hadn't made up their mind on whether climate change is a mild concern to be worried about by sandal-wearing Guardian readers or more dangerous than a nuclear war was given food for thought by two pieces of news this week. Firstly Britain's richest ginger Sir Richard Branson offered $25 million (probably spare change for him) to whoever could come up with the best way of curbing fossil fuel emissions and save
our planet. Answers on a postcard please. Although this seemingly selfless gesture may have had something to do with the recent launch of Virgin Media it's not hard to look beyond the cynicism and feel a little more optimistic about the state of those ice caps. If big business, supposedly the enemy of ice caps, rainforests and cuddly looking polar bears, is prepared to reach into its pocket (for whatever reason) and do something which could bring about a qualitative rather than quantitative curb on emissions then maybe we can breath a little easier
"owever the government of Norway were feeling less
^__.cheerful and last week they
unveiled a 'doomsday vault' in the Svalbard mountains near the north pole. Unfortunately as exiting as that sounds this is not the home of some kind of megalomaniac or a project for the world's leaders to inhabit in the event of a nuclear winter This is the "International Seed Vault" designed to preserve specimens of crops in case they don't survive the changes in the planets environment. Doomsday vault sounds a lot cooler though.
Residents of Boston recently feared that doomsday was even closer than previously suspected when a promotional stunt by the Cartoon Network was misinterpreted as a terrorist threat. Jim Staples, manager of the channel resigned on Saturday after battery-powered signs displaying the logo of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" - a new program being launched by the network - were mistaken as bombs all over the city generating a state of high alert. Cartoon Network have paid the city $2 million in damages.
^ ^ Tf it's not broke; don't fix it!" That was my I usual retort when challenged on what I JLthought of House of Lords reform. The House of Lords has been brought into disrepute by the "Cash for Peerages" saga. Whatever, the outcome of the police enquiry, it appears that there has been at best a lack of transparency worthy of a criminal investigation, and at worst, wholesale corruption of the worst order. It's a right mess - and has been for a while.
Let's look at some of the Prime Minister's appointments to the House of Lords. Among Blair's first nominations to the Lords was tennis partner, Michael Levy. During opposition. Levy raised £7 million for Tony Blair. He is nicknamed "Lord Cashpoint".
Lord Sainsbury of Turville, another major donor who has given about £13 million to Labour since 1994 was also elevated to the Lords and made a government minister, though he resigned in October 2006 after being questioned by the police. Other donors who made it to the Lords include Ruth Rendell, the crime writer (£15,000); David Puttnam, the Oscar-winning film director, (£25,000); and Michael Montague, a largely unknown businessman who died in 1999 (£1 million). Waheed Alii, the multimillionaire founder of Planet 24 Television, made free party political films for Labour worth an estimated £100,000 and also made it to the Lords.
But Labour are not alone in the dock. The Conservatives and Lib Dems appear equally to blame. Among recent Tory peers are prominent donors Irvine Laidlaw, the Scottish entrepreneur; and Stanley Kalms, the former chairman of Dixons. I'm not going to waste time talking about the Liberal Democrats; sufficient to say that "google-ing" the terms "Michael Brown dodgy money to liberal democrats" will show you that the Lib Dems are up to their neck in it. No party is without sin. How then do we address the "Cash-for-Peerages" problem? Some friends of mine have called for the reinstitution of the old feudal lords. It's a good idea in theory, but of course, it is entirely unfeasible in today's political climate - not to mention potential gene-pool issues. Another idea is to scrap the timeless institution; such an act would be the missing piece in the constitutional vandalism jig-saw, which has been hastily put together over the past decade.
The most serious prospects arising from this saga are two fold. Firstly; House of Lords reform. The Commons will decide how far to introduce an elected element - ranging from a 50% elected to an all-elected House, The debate on this question is contrived. The aim is not to improve the House per se in it's function as a secondary revising chamber Rather, it is to add legitimacy to an institution with flagging credibility. Conservatives should work for an effective second chamber not for a PR coup for Labour.
The second prospect on the horizon is, in the absence of honours and peerages, state-funding for political parties. This would be a disaster. There is a moral wrongness of using tax-payers money to fuel the parading of political egos; money that ought to be spent where it is needed. If you cannot convince individuals and groups that your ideas and integrity are worth investing in, then you should not be allowed to rob the British people. They want to make incumbency equivalent to an appointment-for-life; ironic given that they're trying to undo just that in the House of Lords.
But what I didn't already tell you is that we already have state-funding of the political system. One of politics' best kept secrets is that Labour, the Conservatives, Lib Dems and other parties already get between £19.32m and just under £50m each year to fund their operations. This existing state fimding has also increased by a massive 430% since 1997 and there is clear evidence that MPs supplement this through their allowances.
There is little doubt that things need to change. But Conservatives must ensure that through the course of the change we do not lose the Chamber which provides so much in expertise and quality scrutiny, at such little cost. It is, in terms of the number of hours sat and the total cost of running the Chamber, the best value legislature in the world. Be on your guard; when the Government seek to replace that gem, they may well be tempted to steal the Crown - perish the thought!
12 leaver j 13 February 2007
FEATURES: Vc


Family Ties

An LSE
talks about the pain caused by prejudice.
It is heartbreaking when your own family members refuse to accept a partner based on prejudice.
My parents threatened to throw me out of the house when I brought my first boyfriend home. Simply because he was from a different part of the same country as me. Unfortunately, I am not the only one who has gone through this. The media today has sensationalised the words 'racism' and 'religious intolerance', but in daily life, the prejudices are rarely as overt. Some of the most open minded
family members can be very unsympathetic to relationships outside their accepted norms
and educated individuals can be marked by deep-set intolerances and perhaps this is what is most dangerous. These subtle prejudices can fester in one's mind until it eventually ruins good friendships and often relationships.
The LSE is 'international' in every sense of the word; our staff and students are made up of people from various ethnicities and religions. As a result, inter-racial as well as interfaith relationships are nothing new."It doesn't bother me that my boyfriend is from a different religious background than me. I embrace and respect his beliefs and he in turn does the same. In fact that's what makes our relationship so interesting," says a third year Government student.
But the story is not that simple across the board. Particularly prevalent in relationships where one or both partners are from a traditional cultural background, family members can be very unsympathetic to relationships outside their accepted norms. "I'm Chinese and my girlfriend is Caucasian. It raises a lot of eyebrows and is something I find very hard to discuss with my parents. If things get more serious it will be very hard for us to get married. It just won't be accepted in my family," says a second year Economics student.
In some families neither race nor religion is a factor that raises objections towards a relationship, but wealth, educational background or ambition can be a determining factor in the acceptance of it. Many a time parents will insist that their children must date or marry a person of the similar or higher level of education and income but as a
third year Accounting and Finance student asserts; "you can't choose these things when you're attracted to someone." Certainly, there are very successful relationships where one partner is completely career orientated while another may be a school dropout! Keeping in the spirit of Valentine's Day, incontestably, love transcends these factors. At the end of the day each of us has our own yardstick to measure the suitability of a spouse and when this is different from one's family, homes can be torn apart. "My boyfriend is Muslim while I am a Hindu. But I believe that even if my parents have objections to his religious background, when I convince them of his personality as well as academic strength and ambition they should come around," says a second year Government and History student. "Ironically, despite living in a city like London that is a melting pot of multicultural-ism and going to a university that celebrates diversity and differences, many people have to revert to a seemingly traditional lifestyle at home."
The problems are age-old but through education and awareness, there may be a new way to tackle these issues. Ultimately it can be very difficult to choose between love and prejudice, between romantic relationships and family. But as the saying goes, "you must be the change that you wish to see in others."
50% highe
the actual cost of going on a date is 50 per cent greater in London than anywhere else in the country
£8biilion
amount spent on dating per year in the UK
£200
average cost of a date in Britain
tSoiirce: www.pmewswire.co.uk
Can't buy me love
Deejay Lammers asks if it's all worth it
From the male perspective, it is difficult to be consistently cheap when taking your partner out on a date. Difficult, and perhaps quite socially unacceptable. Difficult, but not impossible.
The average cost of a date in Britain is £200. I don't usually hit this level of love, and I'd say that it is unnecessary to do so, r^^even in London. With '*<11planning, flTtf^^iy^and sound situa-j||l||B^K vw tional judge-ment ("let's go home and H	watch Star
Trek videos"), m8^@BBfcyour wallet
will forever stay filled on a night out with the missus. Briefly focussing on the dining element of humanoid relations, it seems the possibility of a 'cheap date' does exist.
However, before, I must note the disadvantages of being cheap. My thinking is that firstly, she might not like it, and if you do it consistently, she might leave you. This is when cool judgement is needed, and more money splurged out on the next date. Upgrade from the meal for two at Burger King to a burger and beer at Spoons. This usually gives you time to re-think the strategy, whilst keeping your partner feeling the loved-up
high.
More importantly, from personal experience it's quite dangerous to be always dining on the cheap, particularly if you're having to head into unknown territory to find your meal. A visit to the deep countryside in order to cull your own beef or pick your own fruit, could end up as a run from the farmer in flat cap, with rifle, shouting " Jap!"
On the other hand, one could have chosen an excursion to urban fields; a Chinese restaurant on a Peckham estate. Half an hour earlier, you were licking your lips at the thought of chicken chow-mien, followed by post dinner cosying with your
partner. Half an hour later, you are encircled by a gang of hooded teenagers who are vying for immigrant blood. On the other hand, this could also be a bit of a thrill, and might even kick-start that faltering relationship. For something dangerous, the author can suggest the seafood noodles at the cheap, (but actually pretty good) 'Big Noodle' restaurant in Elephant Castle. Approaching closing time, the concrete turns into an imaginary battlefield, and then there's the rat maze of tunnels underneath the ring road - nothing gets the adrenalin pumping more than the run from the restaurant to the tube station.
whilst dodging the hoodlums.
Many suggest that you should treat the whole thing as a game - how little money can you spend on your partner, whilst still being able to keep them keen. If he can get away with taking her on an a la carte three piece meal at Chicken Cottage (fries included), on their six month anniversary, then he's a winner
After the meal, there is even more opportunity to practice thriftiness. For instance, some of the inexpensive dating ideas suggested on www.betterbudget-ing.com include the 'follow them date'. The instructions go, that when your date arrives, you each
designate a stranger to follow on the street. If the person you are following stops, then you choose another one to follow.
Or even better is the 'scavenger hunt date'. Both of you draw up a list of totally random things to find, and you both set out to find them. The person who is first to find everything on the list wins some good loving.
Maybe it's best to actually just spend that extra, and avoid all the hassle. Some of the problems remain unmentioned - for instance the coristant nagging that you are not treating him or her with due respect. The true cost of economising. Remember that.
f
40^^'
1-
+
+
two
tuesday the thirteenth of february, two thousand and seven


K:.}'
Interview
PartB is reunited with its birth Wolfmother
JIBOMI
Valentine's Survival Kit
'm 1
I.............................................I
I llris	tile t'eiirei' j
I LOTS OF CHOCOLATE	I
I so you'll get flit ami never leave me |
I from....................................I
!<il
¦	to.....................
I
I	this coupon grouts the bearer
\	SEX.
I	EMOTIONLESS, COLD,
I	BRUTAL ANIMAL SEX.
Fucking Guide
Throw out your Kama Sutra, remember to stretch before you begin


r

Style
"Rebels and Devils" -clothing inspired by Eastenders
i-
e&c
Introducing the newest section, life will never be the same again
7
A
s—"*

n«GHLOOWC« EHTER TK£ WANQIHA

Music
Make a mixtape for your valentine - it's bound to get you laid
!<ll
this coupon grants the bearer j BARIUNG	I
MEDICAL/CLERICAL ERROR J YOU'RE PROBABLY OKAY! ! i took a test.	¦
rant conptrolL, joshheller
cartoon comptroHer alexsmail
visual art^s comptroiler daisymitcheil-forster
film comptroller angustse
literature comptroller ennorozco
theatre comptroiler mollytucker
(^mptroHer
Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day, a day on which traditions dictate we show affection for our loved ones, or alternatively ply our potential lovers with cheap incentives to sweeten the pill of satisfying our carnal pleasures.
Valentine's Day is a modern interpretation of an Ancient Roman fertility festival called Lupercalia, from the word lupus, meaning wolf, in honour of the wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus. We pay tribute to this by interviewing the similarly raised Australian rockers Wolfmother.
In a romantic mood, Dan wanted to reenact the story of those starcrossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. Kevin didn't, so he stamped on his hand.
[-J
this coupon grants the bearer ¦ ACCESS TO MY COLLECTION ¦ OF VINTAGE PORNOGRAPHYf
from....................................Jj
Style comptroHer abaosunsade
travel comptroller jessicamcardle
food & drinking comptroller kimmandeng
&c. comptrolier alexlevy
editorial assistant beafong
music comptroileri iangordon and loisjeary
I
i 4
1
I 1

-f
Literature
Learning a new language, London style

ikn -	V.

P t-]


intove^snd peace-
Keiidn Pemr and DanlriB. Yates
i
+
tuesday the thirteenth of february, two thousand and seven
three
being straight vs being gay
abaosunsade likes cock so does dominicrampat
I'm a girl and I like boys. Don't get me wrong, there are a few girls who I might be tempted to experience some lesbianism with... but I doubt Jessica Alba will be appearing drunk at Crush any time soon. Even if she did, after a few sloppy snogs we'd eventually get down to the nitty-gritty, and as fun as groping her boobies would be... I could always grope my own. Then there's the fact that she's missing a specific body part that would certainly satisfyingly "seal-the-deal". But boys! Ooh, aah. They say opposites attract for a reason, you know. Those broad, flat (hairy) chests intrigue and attract me. And Adam's apples - what's it like to have one of those? I don't know, and never will, so instead I'm drawn to those who possess them in my search for fulfilment. It's not just about physical attraction, although that certainly does help. Boys think differently, too. When a boy-toy is around, habitual time-consuming tasks such as picking out an outfit are reduced from the complicated process of "How cold is it outside?"/"Did I wear this yesterday"!"/"Should I wear my hair up or down?" to the contrasting perspective of the opposite sex: "Just wear what you're wearing now." And arguments with friends are prevented from becoming long and drawn out. While a girl may calculate how long to wait before calling the friend who did her wrong, and even then spend hours scrutinising over a text to the said wrongdoer - a boy would step in and suggest you simply let it go, or spill the beans sans complication. My point? Heterosexual relationships allow you to maximizing-ly reap the benefits of the alternative perspective. Being straight allows you to be one half of a complementary couple of contrasts. And it works for boys as well. In a male gay marriage, who teaches the adopted
teenage daughter how to use a tampon? Sure - you sometimes get the conventional "male" and "female" roles in gay couples. But it's all about opposite sexes complementing each other.
What will two lesbians do when they arrive home after a night out, aching for a late night snack, only to discover a mouse in the kitchen? With no man around unafraid of getting bitten or infected by the bubonic plague - the end result is two screaming girls crying their eyes out 'til they're sure the bastard is dead.
Homosexual, gay, queer, lesbian -call it whatever you want, but there simply is no question about its obvious superiority to heterosexuality. That simply isn't true I hear you say, but have you actually thought about it?
How many times have I heard my straight guy mates whinging about how rubbish their special lady-friend is at giving head? Or straight girls muttering about how the male species has yet to discover the clitoris? Well, I think you can see what the answer is! See, there really isn't

r
We different genders need to help each other out! I'm not talking about stereotypes - I'm talking about cold, hard facts. Not all girls hate creepy crawlies, but most do. Not all boys will squash small creatures without a moment's hesitation, but most will. I'm all for equality and liberty - but I'm still entitled to a preference. Being straight is the shit. Accept it.
much convincing for me to do. Sex with someone who knows your body inside out before you've removed a single article of clothing; sex with someone who knows exactly which parts to lick, suck and the rest of it; and best of all sex with someone who has the lethally seductive confidence of knowing just how much you are about to enjoy them. What are you opposite-sex-ers doing?! May I also add, that apart from
resigning yourself to a lifetime of bad sex with other people, you will also have to pay for porn. We queers can just look in the mirror and knock one out. Our masturbation techniques save us money, but, hey, they also do the anti-porn movement a favour too; after all, we oppressed peoples should help each other!
Being gay is a way of complete liberation. It allows you to be entirely your own person and not need to conform at all. Once you've gone against the norm, you're free to be as you please. Yes, of course there are lots of gay stereotypes and identities that you can aspire to, but the beauty of being gay is that it becomes a game: which type of gay shall I be today? T\vink, jock, scene-queen, bear, raver, drag artist, geek...the list is endless, or perhaps I'll be straight today - the whole point is that being gay gives you the choice. Gay means fighting taboos and being allowed, as a consequence, to do what ever the fuck you want. It is alternative, and when it appears that everyone is clamouring to be that little bit more individual, being gay is the clear choice. We all want to establish ourselves as an independent and unique person: here is the easiest solution.
Even better, as the gay rights movement steam rolls ahead, and we are finally granted rights to marry, adopt etc. it is even easier to be gay. But before you go thinking about switching, let me remind you: it's not a choice. So, for all you heterosexual folk, it's only a shame more of you aren't Freudians. And by the way, a note for the Bisexuals: get ofi the fence -the grass is much greener over here.
ote for the winner of Rant at: www.thebeaveronline.co.uk/Dartb
The winner will probably recieve a really nice prize.
If you would like to write a Rant and win a prize email:
rant@thebeaveronline.co.uk

9m

Leijsj hf ji
nuts'
^ck ¦ inij
® ____
i (.finun
]i||

things that are great
Gravity
by llamchambers
ducated, as I was, at a Catholic school I was 21 [before I found out about ^^^^^^^^^^wgravity. I had been ^^^^^^^^^Vtaught from an early age ^^^^^^^^that it was the weight of ^^^^^ny (many and varied) sins that kept my feet firmly planted on the floor and prevented any ascent to the literal heights of heaven. In fact, using a network of electromagnets laid beneath the floorboards of the classrooms in conjunction with the iron soled shoes which formed a compulsory, if somewhat eclectic, part of the school uniform, the school would stage regular demonstrations of the power of prayer to overcome the weight of our sins and free us from our bondage to the devilish soil.
Of course we didn't know about the magnets until the council came to remove them (as well as several senior members of the Religious Studies department) following Johnny McManus' unfortunate encounter with a ceiling fan the day after he had braces fitted but, even with the illusion shattered, the curriculum was never revised save to insert 'orthodontistry' between 'envy' and 'pride' in the list of deadly sins which bordered the school crest.
The discovery many years later, courtesy of a Newsround special on space travel, that it was gravity that had been keeping me earthbound all these years was therefore something of a revelation and, even though I'm still ashamed by the urge to go to the toilet, it changed my life for the better. Thanks gravity!
You whingeing little man. He doesn't sing, he moans. Surely the cardinal rule for this new generation of singer-: songwriters should be to never confuse wailing with emotion.
It is not folk music that he makes but; deriviative drivel. Whinging about absolutely nothing. Saying absolutely nothing. Even the melodies are bloody dull. There is absolutely nothing interesting. It would definitely send me to sleep if he could just control the fucking volume of his voice. Ranging from staccato to just slurring his speech. The man has made a career from what is essen tially drunken busking.
Maybe because he's associated with that evil little film Closer, it's almost impossible to think about him without wanting to take his tongue out with a spoon. That film echoed Damien's music totally. A vapid empty mess of bad ideas mixed with zero emotion and minimal creativity.
Perhaps the most damning indictment of his shite music, is the extraordinary number of times his songs are featured in American TV shows particularly. Seventeen different times has his music been heard in some crap py American drama. It is a TV producers dream, the music is so directionless and so completely bland that it can be used for any scene imaginable. Time after time you can see a music director with zero imagination just asking his ten year old daughter what music she's listening to at the moment. A death, a break-up, someone leaving home, someone getting a bit upset. No Damien Rice song cannot be shaped around the ideas of some hack director. Perhaps he has found his niche. It may be the only thing his music is good for. It isn't hard to imagine his entire album was a commissioned by Mischa Barton's agent or the producer of Dawson's Creek.
things that are rubbish
Damien Rice
by joshheller
four	tuesday the thirteenth of februaiy, two thousand and seven
loisjeary talks to hairy australian rockers wollmoiher about pacifism in tine mosin pit declining to advance nnusic and playing for jimmy page
This is all a bit Spinal Tap. I am being led through a bland backstage labyrinth, to meet a band that has songs with titles such as 'Tales from the Forest of Gnomes' and whose audiences make the devil horns sign without the slightest hint of irony. Wolfmother come from the biting-the-head-off-a-dove school of wailing rock and have graduated with the swagger, style and sound that commands the devotion of an audience so diverse it comprises fresh-faced pre-teens who know all the words, aggressive twenty somethings who know all the power chords and aging rockers who know what this music sounded like the first time around.
And yet, despite the fact they should be throwing television sets out of windows and choking on someone else's vomit, bassist Chris Ross, who patiently taught young children how to play guitar during his student days, is keen to stress their gentler side. "For me the most important thing in life is to get the most out of it, without hurting other people. I don't think we're hurting anyone. Actually, there are some people in our crowds that hurt other people but I don't condone that at all. Just look out for one another! I used to go to a lot of punk-rock shows in small venues and there'd be crowd surfing but everyone would be looking out for each other. When you take it to bigger festivals then people just don't care and are crushing each other. It's a totally different dynamic - I don't think that sort of crowd behaviour is a good thing at festivals. I think you have to have a little self control. We go nuts but if I throw something that hits Myles or Andrew then I'm like 'ohhhh sorry'."
I can't help but feel that maybe they should have thought of that before settling on the riff-alicious noise that excites such violent behaviour in their guitar worshipping audiences. Indeed, as Ross explains, the band spent considerable time exploring and experimenting with different genres and had ample opportunity to make nice, sensible music with acoustic guitars and harmonicas.
"We were all into a lot of different music and we'd all write songs individually then bring them together. It always felt lilce you were trying to play someone else's song. There wasn't a real unity of sound or direction - it wasn't like a homogenous identity where we were all developing together. It didn't really gel that well when it came to writing songs, so we tended to just jam because it was so much easier. We collected a lot of vintage toys, all sorts of different things like synthesizers and acoustic guitars, and instead of focusing on one instrument and trying to get the most out of it we'd just muck around and make sounds -when you run out of ideas you'd try and play a different instrument. We went through a period of exploring heaps of distortion and guitar noise and that was really cool. We kept falling
back in to this stoner rock - really groove-based but more of an up-tempo groove. I like a lot of stoner rock, Kayuss and Sleep, but that's all heavy droning stuff, full on and intense. We were always more up-beat - like the dark and light - we've got all these heavy sounds but we always want it to be fun and crazy. That was the sound that worked for the three of us."
Having developed their sound in private, Wolfmother were free to rehearse their rock beast image which they now have down to a fine art. Guitarist and vocalist Andrew Stockdale struts around the stage with the light filtering through his halo of an afro and Ross freely throws himself and his instruments around, often ending up a crumpled pile crushed underneath his synthesisers. Somehow it manages to scream full on rock and roll without seeming cliched or try-hard and it is lapped up by the audience.
"A lot of new bands develop in a public forum - you see so many who are struggling to get their sound, write their songs and do their performance. We already knew what we were doing sonically and when it came to playing to an audience we started really getting in to our performance and trying to get people to have fun and go crazy. We've seen so many bands and you're like 'there's no energy up there'. I like a lot of stuff that's not so crazy but where you really get a sense of the organics on stage. We just wanted to make sure everything was happening on stage and there was a vibe coming off. I guess if you've already got the groundwork in place it makes it easier to set it up so that those things can happen."
For a self-confessed crowd pacifist, Ross gets rather animated when talking about how best to turn an audience on. "It's important to give people a breather as well. You can go full on and expect everyone to go crazy but it's not until you actually pull back, and people can relax for a while, then you go 'bang' again - if you keep doing a succession of things like that people think you're more exciting. Sometimes no matter how much you think everything is in the right place and it's going to be a good show, it just fucks up. Or it could be the opposite -we've had shows where I thought I was going to die, I was so exhausted from touring, and then we had one of our most amazing shows, just when you don't think you can do it."
Watching Wolfmother play is like taking a lesson in the History of Rock 101 - a sonic journey through Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath to The White Stripes and Queens of the Stone Age. Nothing in the world is entirely new and all music has its influences, but as Wolfmother's influences are so blindingly obvious it's a bit too easy to lose sight of the band as a separate creative entity itself. I ask what Wolfmother bring to music that is new and exciting? How are they contributing to the development of music and why should they be
like the dark and light - we've
got oil these heavy sounds but we always want it to be fun and
we've had shows where I
thought I was
¦ 'j; )>r}n to ¦' 1 ¦
taken seriously?
"Is it important? Do you have to do that? We played with a guy once who has a sheet of glass with a microphone taped on it and a belt full of effects pedals. It's really performance art and it sounds amazing, but it's not music. Maybe that's advancing music because he's exploring things that haven't been done before. But there are only so many notes in an octave and so many things you can do with that. I read a book when I was a student called 'The Cosmic Octave' which is all about how certain vibrations really resonate within the body. That's why there are common chord structures that you hear in pop songs all the time, because they're the sort of tones that people react well to. There are certain primal things about four-four time, it's just something that works.
"A lot of people slag us off as just being a cover band, or a retro band. People say that we sound like Black Sabbath but duh! Black Sabbath is the starting point for all stoner rock music. John Lennon said he wanted to be Elvis and Ozzy Osbourne said he wanted to be like The Beatles but then Metallica said they wanted to be Black Sabbath although they didn't like The Beatles. People used to openly declare their influences but now it seems like that's a bad thing. What we throw in to the equation is just instinctive for us. We don't set out to emulate anyone. If it sounds like something that's been done before, well, I don't care, I'm having a good time."
'Good time' is a bit of an understatement -accolades and awards have been thrown at them and they have even been honoured with inducting Led Zeppelin in to the UK Music Hall of Fame, playing 'Communication Breakdown' in front of the likes of Jimmy Page. "I've spent most of my life avoiding doing work and last year was by far the busiest year of my life. Everything is going so well. If you were to say to us three years ago that all these things would happen we'd have been like 'yeah, sure!'. It's amazing how quickly things iiave happened, but on the other hand we did spend six years hanging out, just jamming."
Honestly, he doesn't know he's born! Most bands spend their entire lifetimes touring around toilet venues, swigging warm cider and getting deep-vein thrombosis and/or herpes in the backs of cramped tour vans. Yet Wolfmother, within two years of signing to Modular records, have achieved rock-god status that defies their critics. Wolfmother give people what they want to hear - pure, unadulterated rock music that is highly entertaining without trying to be funny or ironic (stand up please The Darkness) - and they don't have some grand motive to change roclc and roll for centuries to come. They just want to play music and make people go crazy - a nice, non-violent, caring crazy at that!

a.
SIX
tuesday the thirteenth of febraary, t\
Sex Mat
Assuming it all goes well on Valentine's Day, you're probably going to need somewhere romantic to demonstrate your new found love in a physical way. While the problems of shared student housing and halls are well documented, those dark alleyways behind Houghton Street can be hard on the knees. Which is where our patented Sex Mat comes in - simply place on the ground to transform anywhere from secluded LSE corridors to the dingiest corner of London into an urban love pad. Like a game of TVvister without the charade of decency, we've also included some handy pointers for our favourite moves. Enjoy!
©






+

As a student, and a student in London at that, it is almost impossible for you to be anything else but broke. You drink the cheapest available beer, walk everywhere, and don't really eat just so that you can afford your busy social life. When you see those clipboard-carrying charity representatives on the street, you avoid them without fail, but with the self-satisfied feeling that it's alright: you're a student, you've got no money i0'h anyway. What's amazing is that for 51 weeks of the year, you almost get away with that' argument. The one week that you definitely don't, however, is RAG week. The fact is, skint and stingy as you may be, you are still about 47 times better off than the people that KAG week aims to help, and this is your opportunity to help them and have fun while you do. LSE RAG week is about doing just a little bit more than you usually do. That's not a lot more, that's just a little bit more. RAG week is about the spare change in your pocket, the half hour extra you spend volunteering, and most of all, thinking about why. With so many activities planned and so many ways to get involved, you've got absolutely no excuse.	^
In this pull-out you'll find society listings and advertisements, profiles of the official RAG Week charities and information about what RAG really means: information we think is essential for you to get the most out of RAG Week, and for RAG to get the most out of you! The money from every advert in this section goes directly to the nominated charities, as does the donation that we asked froiii you when you picked up the paper. If you didn't donate, go back and do it now.
Dig deep!



+
13 February 2007
me baby
Profiles of the RAG charities...just to prove that all that money really is going to a good cause.
By Dan Sheldon
Link Community Development is a small group of organisations which aim to improve education in rural African communities through working with local schools and authorities, twinning with schools in Europe and placing UK teachers in African schools. It was founded in 1989 by students at Cambridge University in support of education in South Africa, and has reached out to Ghana, Uganda and Malawi since then. LCD starts from the premise that education is the key to national prosperity and health. They seek to improve the potential of disadvantaged people in Africa to gain meaningful employment by sharing and developing appropriate skills through education.
One major strand of LCD's work is the training it offers to teachers, par-
ents and officials. This is more than just telling educators what to do - LCD strives to work within existing systems to build partnerships regional education departments. It then uses this grassroots knowledge to influence national education policies across Africa. In South Africa, where LCD has a very high profile, it has been contracted by the Department of Education to provide key services at district level and helps to coordinate education policy nationally.
A key attribute of LCD is its understanding of the need for a combination of high quality teaching with effective management of schools and district education offices. They provide training for headteachers and managers to manage school finances and governance. Working with schools, they produce School Development Plans to prioritise areas of improvement. School Improvement Grants are
for the most urgent needs, and are tied to good governance and financial management.
HIV/AIDS is a major issue in rural Africa, and LCD realises the impact it has on the education sector. They provide training for headteachers and governors to help raise awareness, prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and provide support those affected by the disease in the school community.
The Linking programme is integral to LCD as an organisation. It aims to twin schools -primary, middle, special and secondary - in the UK with counterparts in Africa, teaching students about the wider world and providing essential funding to African schools. Many schools, such as Wellesley Park Primary School has found this programme invaluable. Jenny, 9, sums up her thoughts on the project succinctly: "It means that they're very special friends because they're friends so far away."
So far LCD has helped over half a million young people in Africa. LCD Events Manager Tina Sloane, a former LSE student, is adamant of the effectiveness of their work. "Because LCD is such a small charity, RAG Week really will make a massive difference. The changes we make go beyond the education system - it has been proven that it makes a lasting difference to African communities."
ADVERTISEMENT
TO; e:0;N;Ii3b^IVJjINlj TiWjE: 0;F-	llNj

WHY?
*LaS!t we<elk itssraeiJi WftjikKeits	iiPi
by a iin	ift 4m
tine to ftSu®	tlwiwselNm fliyiirtih©N
»w2iire, St wil ynfait Slue	wiii ift tm a
e?(i!e9ivat!teiifii* to mmm	tlnaft ©r way iwat itn
ij$	that
saneftmairy M to stirudtuiiral!	wdnteAt i|@@Kj|
to iii^
»Tlriie «lte®eaat»?«ii 0? *e«gitoiuis ihoBy sSte® (jmstStutes a off irttiaifnatteffiiai	tew
mON wlh^idh	tihK»	ivrad biiniite
th« to
«Tirii^ aeit of	lis
tor iin tthfst f%g|iiovi)..
Join the viaii to condemn the violation of international law
Great Ormond Street Hospital is undoubtedly a name that is synonymous with child healthcare. The largest children's hospital in the United Kingdom, it provides specialist care for patients from across the country. It is also a centre of teaching and training for children's specialists and together with the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH) forms the largest paediatric research centre outside of the United States of America.
Located close to the LSE, in Bloomsbury, GOS was founded in 1852 and initially started out with ten beds. From its early days the hospital was also a teaching institution and the Medical School was established in 1895. Over the years it has grown into one of the most famous schools in the UK and now treats over 100,000 patients a year while training nearly a quarter of the paediatric nurses in the country.
The specialist nature of GOS has meant that it does not have its own Accident and Emergency service, and only accepts patients through referrals from other hospitals and community services. The clinical services on offer range from Neurosurgery to Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT), which the hospital notes as being the "widest range of paediatric specialities in the UK."The majority of patients at GOS suffer from rare, mostly life-threatening conditions and the hospital's website notes that "56 percent of pa-
Qrmx Orwioftd
Charity
By Tanya Rajapakse
tients require two or more specialists; nine percent need more than five."
As a National Health Service (NHS) Trust, the hospital receives funding from the government. However, it also operates the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity (GOSHCC) which aims to raise funds to meet the rising costs of medical care. The charity is looking to raise over £20 million this year on top of the NHS funding, and this is to be channelled towards redevelopment of the hospital.
Great Ormond Street benefits from profits from the copyright to the children's novel Peter Pan which was gifted to them by the author, JM Barrie. The hospital ran a writing competition to select an author to
write a sequel. Geraldine Mc-Caughrean was chosen from the hundreds of entrants and her book, Peter Pan in Scarlet: The Official Sequel, was published in October 2006. The hospital holds the copyright indefinitely, giving the hospital a sustainable and regular income.
The hospital is a global centre of excellence in the field of paediatrics and is the largest teaching hospital for Paediatrics outside the US. Despite its size, the staff work to make sure that every family is made to feel comfortable and supported. If you interested in the hospital, and how it works their website, http://www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/ ^ has a wealth of information.
SAmFROmSHES
By Charlie Samuda
Medecins Sans Frontiferes (MSF) is the world's leading humanitarian aid organisation renowned for its presence in some of the world's most dangerous regions. Since its formation in 1971 its purpose has been to provide medical attention to those caught up in political conflicts while remaining neutral, hence the concept of being 'doctors without borders'. The charity is based on the principle that the preservation of health transcends any side of a conflict. Often those who require the most help are the ones caught up in an armed conflict not of their making.
The organisation is most noted for its fieldwork, teams of doctors (usually volunteers) are present on the ground in almost every location and are currently working in over 70 countries. In 2004, MSF declared that it would be "irresponsible" to allow its staff to continue working in Iraq noting that "humanitarian agency staff are by no means immune to kidnappings
and brutality" - this came to the world's attention because MSF usually commit its members to any political conflict.
MSF is not limited to war-torn countries and much of their work has been, and remains to this day, concerned with endemic disease in developing nations. Their field teams focus on vaccinations against diseases such as cholera, yellow fever and polio diseases which are usually curbed in the developed world, but present a major problem for those who are living in places with poor sanitation particularly the thousands of displaced persons living in refugee camps. The organisation also assists the health services of countries to reconstruct failing systems, restoring hospitals and establishing outreach programmes. In many of the places MSF works a small amount of aid goes a long way. Since 1998 MSF, as part of its "Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines", has been lobbying pharmaceutical companies to research those diseases, which
disproportionately affect those in the developing world.
Another major branch of MSF's work is raising awareness of crises that evade the world's attention. For the past nine years, MSF has published highly respected lists of "Un-derreported humanitarian stories" - its most recent publication notes the trauma experienced by refugees in the Central African Republic, the growing tuberculosis pandemic and urban violence in Colombia. Its surveys of mortality rates and incidences of violence frequently provide a more accurate insight into life vmder some of the world's more clandestine regimes. This places pressure on governments in both the developing world and the richer nations who choose to turn a blind eye.
Medecins Sans Frontieres has received unprecedented international acclaim for its humanitarian work including winning the Nobel Prize in 1999 and Prix International pour la Paix et I'Action Humanitaire in Rome. The organization has never been afraid to stand up against national governments, in order to defend rights. For example in 2004, the President of MSF accused the Russian government of brutality in its near abroad. It is because of its courage to help patients even in the face of hostility, that MSF is truly a worthy cause to support.
t
i;j lu'bmaiy 2007
The RAGathon!
George Wetz will endure for RAG week
For the second year running PuLSE fm, the official radio station of the LSESU, is running the RAGathon in aid of the LSESU's Raising And Giving week. Pioneered by 'Botox' Berry and 'The Hutch' last year, five members of the PuLSE committee will be living, eating and sleeping on LSE campus for five days and nights, broadcasting live from the Quad 24 hours a day. The RAGathon will raise money for music therapy charity Nordoff-Robbins through sponsorship of the committee participating in the event and through donations raised through a number of events running throughout the week.
Kayt Berry, Becki Luxton, Alex Baker, Dan Dolan and George Wetz will be the five almost certainly insane people that will be broadcasting all day and all night. All shows next week will be hosted by at least one of these people, and they are only allowed to leave the Quad for short missions on campus or to sleep in the studio. The East Building shall be their home: showering in the changing rooms, sleeping on floors and sofas, cooking food in the Beaver's microwave and raising money through special events and their heroic endurance.
Here's a little taster of what's going to be happening during the RAGathon...
LSE Iron Man - Do you think you've got what it takes to be crowned the
Hulk Hogan of the LSESU? Watch as we pitch the finest specimens from the major sporting teams in the AU against each other to test their stamina, speed and strength!
Blind Date - It won't be Cilia Black hosting the show, but we'll still be asking'what's your name and where d'you come from?' in the LSESU's very own blind date extravaganza. We ask one guy and one girl to choose between three members of the opposite sex, without being able to see them first in the hope that they find beauty on the inside this Valentine's day.
Dan's Wants To Ride His Bicycle - Believe it or not, there are some human beings that reach the age of 19 and are yet to learn to ride a bike! Dan Dolan is one of those unlucky few, so to rectify the situation we are going to teach him this week. The event will culminate in Dan riding a slalom course along Houghton Street on Friday. His pride and his £100 are at stake...
Hack Idol - Listen in to your favorite hacks sing their heart out in their bid to become the LSESU's Official Hack Idol! The winner will be performing live in the Quad on Friday, just before... Gunk-A-SabI - All week we will be
collecting cash in buckets, each with one of the sabbatical officer's face on. Generously donate to the bucket with the Sab that you most want to get


drenched in Brunch Bowl off-cuts at the end of the week!
So why has PuLSE decided to donate
the money raised to Nordoff-Rob-bins? Here is an extract on music therapy from their website", www.nordoff-robbins.org.uk:
"Music is an intrinsic part of all of us. Pulse and rhythm are found in our heartbeat, our breathing and our movement, melody is created in our laughing, crying, screaming or singing. The whole range of our emotions can be held within the rhythms and harmonies of different musical styles and idioms. These intimate connections with music can remain despite disability or illness, and are not dependent on a musical training or background. Because of this, music therapists an use music to help children and adults with a wide range of needs arising from such varied causes as learning difficulties, mental and physical illness, physical and sexual abuse, stress and terminal illness. Emotional, cognitive and developmental needs can be addressed through interactive music making within a secure relationship offered by the music therapist."
So please, come and support the RAGathon in the Quad and online at www.pulsefm.co.uk. Loll into a deep sleep listening to us and wake up for breakfast still tuned in for the perfect way to start your day.
AURAG
Laura Parfitt likes games, drinking and drinking games
AU RAG - you'd better put it in!
In the true spirit of the AU, the AU Exec have organised a RAG week pub crawl. Sports teams and groupies are to dress in fancy dress, the theme this year is team kits so even the least imaginative sportsmen and women have no excuses. The idea is to move from pub to pub raising money while lowering inhibitions in hope of thinking up more and more bizarre ways to get people to hand over the cash. It is of course one big piss-up, but teams have been given the incentive to raise the most money with prizes for the teams who do. There are also free drinks available at the T\ins for anyone who makes it-to the end. My personal memories of my first AU pub crawl are blurry; it was cold but my beer jacket kept me warm and the look on the faces of the students whose unions we terrorised was priceless. It was great fun and preferable to some classic ways people attempt to raise money. I would imagine it would be considerably more enjoyable than a full body wax or a dunking in the gunge tank. The AU RAG week pub crawl starts at 3pm in the T\ins on Friday 16th. The AU has also organised a football tournament, giving pub-crawlers a chance to run off their hangovers. For more information contact AU President Kav Patel on k.patel8@lse.ac.uk
Get your RAG week shit
' ' f ' ^
" • . i I ^ '
h't	I

Wristband LSESU RAGweek wristbands Jump the queue at Crush, like a film-star or something.
ipon: ech.
intervie
IPULLOUT,

stern Response	- Wolfmothal
to climate change
Teadiers and tutors "don't give a sMl"
MumY ocMwcTiD no M4 MR WMAU mnun imwTviAcnnN wnunnuu AND cLAmmoiiM
•QiMUTV (»	MUi MOT n xruowT aracTAisiM
Houghton Street T-shirt
Get your news and feel good,
give The Beaver a ten pee piece,
The Beaver^^^

HAS YOUR T\JTOR ENHANCED YOUR STUDENT EXPERIENa?
HOWISTHtQUAUTY OF TEACHING?

All t-shirts available in six colours:
Sunflower
Poppy
Fuschia
Black
Green
'London School of Alcoholics' T-shirt
RAISING & GIVING

£9
NO ANSWER 2%
1


< « >\N"-
Pint Glass
Drink yourself into a state of i^lanthropy.
Great Oimoj-uJ Street r Children's Chartty | CiOSHCC


-H
SUwww.businesssodety.co.u
WHICH
4

fx w-M

JOIN US FOR 1 VVWW.BUSINe
Bloomberg CltigrOU|Sr Deutsche Bank m mERNi
HAS?
K) MEM
EVENTS
rAILHRED ALERTS
SSSOCIETY.CaUK
waYoung
ioldman >adis
JPMorgan O
Merrill Lynch
+
J-ebruary 2007
Advertisement





¥
RUN
•••'""'(SSSS^S^' ^
Society


WORK SMART & PLAY HARD.

RUN Society wishes every one a
iLappA^	KUAV- y^exjA
x:f
2007- the year of the Boar
And we are not done yet......
DONEl Ice Skating BBQ Paintball Karting
DONE
DONE
DONE
DONEl Bath
Cambridge Oxford	|DONE| Stonehenge
Bicester	Cardiff
Warwick Castle Newcastle Brighton	York
Portsmouth	Edinburgh
+
Emdil58i,80Q,rim<il8e,ae,ttk Website? http://www,d0uya,e©m/run/ Faeebook: RUN Society - LSE
Advertisement

13 February 2007 7
+
FTI C A
-D >3 r\.
•	Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Treaty of Rome:
European Quk, Dinner, and Night out
im Mtmk im?
<odtebr«atte nfee 5^	<of ithe	witlK tth«e	Stutot
iBSA 1$ iKdldli^ »	QhIk, >ivhkh willl <cmmi ^ 4
Oxifewl,	ISE^	UCL md Ttie wini»ei^s mil iget m eiqjMNii^ p»ld trtj^
([» 1%	GliscaiiNI
Wife will ^	in aiten©©!ft, Mtewed fey <liiiii^ m4 a ii^t te mt ©f
yUKllMI
C«sit: a jjiiowwd will fee i^uirdl (i^ diimer) fey Brd
Doftt miss mt m this great	4<& sbaw off yw«r Buir^p>^n knowkdg^ ©r t© jii^t mm
p©(0ple fwm «£)itfeer wnfs!
•	FBSA Entente Cordiale Annual Meeting: Ch&teau de
Breteuil
27th April 290?
Ardund Bdli^ 'mi Fresftdh stoimts mdi leadkg spedkefs will at the CMt^u de Breteui!
near ¥m& April to di^ss iilie foUiipe of tire Fmfteo-BrMsh rektbfts m the li^i of the pofefetas raised M Davos'" World Eeoftomic Fomin, mch as dimate change or developmeftt
T1»e Entenle Cofdiale Ammd Summit will coftskt of conferences and workshops with	^
ouManding guest speaikers, in magniiflceftt Chlteau de Breieuil Students will also take part	^
in a black-tie dianer dad	party. This eveat Is a great «i|i|>ortiinity to shure your
vkws m c^alem^rary challea^ witli stadeats fkum tlie 6 FI^A aaiversitks md guest
Saiat<^r !^deats> It will also provide exceptional communication opportunities with
imeniational students in the waim awd stimulating atmospheie of irtie event!!	£
For more tnformatton on these 2 events, email us: su.soc.fbsa@lse.ac.uk ! 1
4.
+
Wish China a peaceful and prosperous future.
piittlli
1.	On Feb. 10, 2007, China and Seychelles agreed to promote pragmatic cooperation In tourism, fishery, human resources and other areas.
2.	Construction of the village for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai began on February 8, 2007. The village has a total ground area of 540.000 square kilometers. By the time the project Is completed in 2009, It will be able to accommodate nearly 10,000 visitors.
3.	Chinese Premier Wen JIabao spent the New Year holiday visiting farmers and citizens at a revolutionary base in east China's JIangsu Province In the first two days of 2007, conveying New Year greetings to the locals.
4.	Children from Arabian countries performed at Spring Festival celebrations held by residents of the Wangling Community In the Chaoyang district In Beijing on February 8, 2007. Nearly 40,000 expatriates from 53 countries and regions live In the Wangjing Community.
5.	The children demonstrated the art of tea-making In Qlntal Road. Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Hangzhou. Chengdu and Dalian were named "China's best tourist cities" on Thursday.
6.	The Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) announced, that China vwll Invest 30 billion yuan in 147 key science programs, such as developing maglev trains and wind power stations or seawater desalination technologies.
7.	China has begun a massive reconstruction of old buildings to make them more energy efficient.
8.	The opening ceremonies of the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, occured in Beijing. February 8, 2007. The six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue resumed on Thursday afternoon In Beijing, focusing on the first steps towards denuclearization of the peninsula.
prepared by Ran Kong
r
lary, two thousand and seven
seven
.a


B.
eight
tuesday the thirteenth of february, two thousand and seven
rebels and devils
abaosunsade attends the official launch of sennple clothing,
and speaks to stuartsempte

¦¦ ^

¦ t i
¦ ¦¦ i

7^-
It appears tonight that mannequins are passe. As we arrive at "Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes" in Shoreditch, the shop windows are occupied by topless girls in metallic knickers, downing drinks and throwing sacks of flour at each other. Adorned with face glitter, the lovely ladies are the first thing you see, gyrating and staring out boldly at the sea of pervy pedestrians congregating amongst the paparazzi - this is the launch of Stuart Sample's new clothing line.
A week later, when we visit Stuart's studio, I ask where the inspiration for the concept came from.
" W e just

thought it would be fun.", he replies casually, stroking his pet iguana. Fun indeed. If the launch was a theme party, it's theme would be "Exclamation Mark". Nothing, from the attendees to the music, to the clothing collection itself, was understated. The night was about great things: great people, great music, great conversation - and great clothes.
Who did you have in mind when you designed this collection?
"I didn't target groups, I just thought of people like us... thought about what we'd wear... just amusing ourselves, really. Just having fun."
And oh boy, do Stuart and co. know how to have fun. Arriving at his launch in our everyday garb of jeans and tees, we felt direly oiit of place amongst the fashionable extravagance commonplace in London's East End. Like a disco I ball refracting infinite rays of light, so each individual (bar us and a few suits) stood out, establishing their own spectrum. My friend Nadine's favourite character was the "individual of an I indeterminable gender clad in a neon-I patterned tracksuit, with thick black I painted on eyebrows. Perhaps inspired [by a previous John Galliano catwalk I show?" Or perhaps inspired by a trip to Brick Lane's "Absolute Vintage" warehouse via an inspirational pit stop to a highlighter factory. This is Shoreditch after all, where no rulesj * apply.
I ask Stuart if this is wh; S he, like many other young artists y chose to make this neighbour-! -4^ hood his base.
w "I've been living in the East End' since I first moved to London three years ago; it's the creativej^" ' area of London. Many of the peoplej j I collaborate with work around the; fOld Street area so I'm definite!; inspired by it."
And who wouldn't be? As| we walk down Curtain Roa len route to the launch, we pass] [everything from classy bou Itiques and kitsch cafes to a j dodgy office block whose sign; I tempts you with the offer ofj
"Passports and Visas". Then there are the people: the scenesters, the fashionistas, the artists. And the druggies, drugdealers and whores. This is life as some people live it, and even the briefest of visits to Old Street makes you feel like a genuine part of it. This is a place where your reality of being another ordinary student on a straight-laced social science course fades into a mirage, as it did for us by the time we were on our third round of complimentary drinks at the launch - bopping away to the live folk band whilst chatting animatedly to the other guests. I worm my way through the crowded room to ogle at the rail displaying the collection. The hoodies and t-shirts are striking - bold cuts, bold prints and bold statements. I ask Stuart what forms the basis of his designs,
"All my work has text, usually associated with the people featured in them." Referring to my favourite t-shirt in the collection, he elaborates,"...such as Edie Sedgwick's face here, with the words 'Poor Little Rich Girl' - the Andy Warhol film she starred in." And the colours?
"It's a shade of ^ • ¦«r..
pink I've ^
always	i
used."	- ' ' ' '
Perhaps Stuart is so confident and casual about his latest project because he has experience in the field, although he isn't simply a designer, he's an artist. He tells me that whilst designing for "Just Another Rich Kid" he always had the idea of eventually designing on his own. As he takes us through his studio, we admire his paintings in progress and his collection of others' pieces, including a one-of-a-kind original woodblock of the album artwork for Thorn Yorke's "The Eraser", given to Stuart by the singer/artist himself.
I ask Stuart one last question -how does he think people will describe his clothes?
"Flamboyant. And romantic - the ruffles make it romantic." I couldn't agree more with the description, though I might add "funky" to the list. But don't take my word for it, check it out for yourselves. The collection is available now, log on to www.no-one.co.uk.
For more information on the artist, visit www. stuartsempie. com
roses are dead
hollieastman is hoving none of it this Valenine's Doy
Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-love/relation-ships, but just like a puppy at Christmas they should be for life, not for a day.
The day is supposedly about showing your love, with all couples totally, absolutely involved in the whole "I love you" ordeal. If you really love someone, should you wait to be compelled by the greeting card companies to show your feelings? Wouldn't it be more romantic if you did all the things you're coerced into doing on February 14th when you simply feel the volition to do so?
I don't get it. How did a day originating from the martyrdom of two guys called Valentine, which just so happened to occur during Roman fertility festivals, snowball into the card-buying frenzy that we find ourselves in the midst of? Feb 14th is the greeting cards companies' second biggest earner after Christmas.
Now Christmas I understand - there's food, presents and a fat guy with a beard... but with Valentine's Day, all you get is an obese, incontinent infant with wings, firing arrows at unsuspecting victims, and some half-dead, over priced foliage if you're lucky.
Today, it seems that Valentine's Day's sole purpose in the universe is to make all single people feel depressed, and all couples feel psychotically obliged to spend obscene amounts of money on oversized internal organs made out of chocolate, ill-fitting indecent lingerie, and vomit-inducing cards filled with sentiments more suited to a Fifty Cent song than a Shakespearian sonnet. The original valentines were beautiful verses scribed by Chaucer,
but now they're verbal diarrhoea. "I well luv u dar-linn" really moves me to tears, if only because of the appalling grammar.
And I can't comprehend the whole anonymity thing. On any other day of the year, if you received a card from a supposed stranger which declared their undying love, you would think you've fallen victim to a stalker. Call the police, close your curtains, set your Facebook profile to private and expect to find a horse's head in your bed.Yet when it happens on V-day it's not considered psycho, but romantic? Plus, there's always the embarrassment of the overriding doubt that the card isn't actually from Mr/Miss Right, but from your Mum.
I suggest the Anti-Valentines Day. In Korea they have a Black Day, where all the guys who didn't get valentines meet up and eat black Jajangmyun noodles. But why stop with black food? This V-Day, make a stand. Embrace your inner Year 9: wear all black, dye your hair black, paint your nails black - you get the idea.
Mourn for the old pure days of Love, when Clintons didn't dictate how people felt, when love wasn't spelt with a "u", and when "fittie" wasn't used as a redundant substitute for a compliment. Alternatively, focus on the whole anonymous gift giving idea and start sending birthday, anniversary, congratulations and sympathy cards to random addresses incognito. You're bound to make some new friends, even if it is with the local police in the form of a restraining order.
And just think; only 365 days tiU the next one... can't wait!
That totally romantic yet somewhat tacky time of year has come upon us again. Sadly, some greet this day with a sense of foreboding. For singletons, perhaps the reason is obvious - one year closer to their fate of dying a lonesome death almost as bad as receiving a^
sympa-t h e t i Valentine's card from your mum. AndJ for couples, the obliga-__
tion of spending time< _
with (and buy-" ing presents for)^ significant others can'' be a tiresome tall order.
I suggest we break free of the shackles of Valentine's Day resentment, and embrace the holiday in all its loved-up glory. It should be a chance to express our love for one another - and what better way than with roses, kinky underwear and other
^r elation-/'^shiD. and
tacky novelties? Numerous risque outlets of the Anne Summers variety (including BHS, rather disturbingly...) offer an array of gifts. Some are full to bursting with visu-4 al, tactile and edible erotica
sure to add spice to any
___
ship,
always a fantastic end to a night out in our very own London.
But "^Valentine's Day isn't just for couples; it should be a time for us to appreciate friends and family, too. Instead of allowing in depression and ice-cream Bridget FJones-style, use this time of ^year to get together with all acquaintances and celebrate life and love through an entertaining mixture of tackiness, kinkiness and perhaps even a little romance...
...or not
chrishare redefines romonce
tuesday the thirteenth of february, two thousand and seven
nine
some words
danielyates christens our new section by writing around some things
If music is the food of love, then food is... I guess, in vague syllogistic terms, the music of love. If Shakespeare can equate these two things, then who are we to argue sense? What really doesn't make sense is the idea that there are amorous symphonic qualities to a scotch pie. Or that someone looking to find love, might spend time' listening to a meringue. The sound of food is rarely sexy. The clatter, clank and whirrs of the kitchen, punctuated by high-decibel swearing when someone gets accidentally burned or a chef decides to 'speak', these are not sexual sounds. The high-frequency screaming of dying lobsters, pans hissing and spitting like particularly frightened cats, most food preparation entails some kind of violation and this can be heard. Some chefs, in the market-led drive to sexu-alise their profession, pretend the sound of food is sexy. 'Listen to that' Nigella will say, as she palpates a chicken head. And it's only because those words are sprung from such luscious and delicious lips that we pay any credence to her babbling. 20 blackbirds in a pie might be funny, but it's going to make a horrible noise. Those musical birthday cake candles might be amazingly annoying but they are also cheap and horrible and an affront to technology. No, the sound of food is terrible.
However, when mediated and imagined by musicians, food can actually sound quite hot. Cibo Matto released a fantastically delectable album dedicated to the delights of gastronomy, with songs entitled 'Beef Jerky', 'Artichoke' and 'White Pepper Ice Cream' amongst others. Artichoke includes the lyrics
"Can you peel my petals one by one? Your hands are like a rusty knife Are you gonna keep on peeling me?
Are you gonna keep on peeling me?
Are you gonna keep on peeling me?
What am I gonna be on the pan?
Will I be burnt black?
Can you squeeze a _
lemon on me?
A lemon on me?"
I think you'll agree that's impossibly hawt.
Matthew Herbert released an album called 'Plat du Jour'.
One of the tracks is a sample of the destruction, by steamroller, of the romantic dinner Nigella Lawson prepared for geopolitical love-fucks Bush and Blair in honour of dubya's 2003 visit to the UK.
The resulting*^
'song' sounds more horrific and sickening than any 'yo blair' soundbite. Crunching crockery, twisted china, it's the sound of catastrophe. And what more apt a*
sound could one hope for on valentine's day? I'm hoping that valentines will pass without my total and complete break-




down. Without the mental disintegration that being loveless on this day of love, this enshrining of amore, could entail. I'm planning to sit in my bedroom with some biscuits and a pack of tesco's sushi, watching sick porn and muttering swearwords under my breath. This does mean I have to go to tesco on valentines day, and try to remain immune to the forlorn presence of singletons buying single pints of milk and ready-meals for one. Their weird and hopeful eyes, full of whatever magazine article that told them a supermarket is a good place to meet 'prospective partners'. The	soul-
shaterring tragedy of life is rarely so clear and apparent. I might find myself falling apart in the deli aisle. Going all emotional in the frozen food section. Hopefully I'll get home in one piece, in piece enough to go online and submit some fake personal ads. Like these ->
Angry, debilitated, ex silicon-miner. Have own laudanum. WTLM someone with own limbs. For pistol fights at dusk. Must have own laudanum.
This is a terrifying world. I am the
only worthy edifice in it. You are probably a tree. You know what I'm saying. Man, 35. Box no. 7213.
Reply to this advert, then together we can face the harsh realities of my second mortgage and estranged child. M, 38, WLTM woman with 70 active credit cards. Box no. 8624
Morbidly obese, procrastinating heroin addict. Seeks someone with will enough for two. And hairy mouth.
Sqmd master. Come and see my squids. They are plentiful and will rule the world when properly trained. Male, 18. WLTM male. You are okay just there. Please don't touch the squids, EVER.
Woman, 38. Useful.
Stylish pair of jeans, seeks leopard-print spandex chin-guard, for reasons.
Ready to kill for no reason. Box no.
7436
Severely disabled veteran of two Iraq wars. Seeks someone with a flexible moral stance and enough fingers to pull a trigger. I am tired.
Pig Eyed horse-frightener with electronic part.
Crabs.
Valentine's Day...a time when people are meant to show how much they love each other. Call me cynical, but it's become a 'Hallmark holiday', one big hassle. Constantly seeing all these red hearts in shops is doing my head in, but ultimately, unless you want to make your special someone think you don't care, you're obliged to organise all the romantic gestures - cards, flowers, chocolates, gifts and, of course, dinner reservations. Admittedly, the latter is of the greatest importance; a bad meal on Valentine 's Day can quite honestly ruin it for me. Food is undeniably rather integral to love in my opinion - it's "the way to a man's heart" - or a women's too! So what could be more romantic than going to a restaurant where you can share food with your Valentine? Tapas at 'Ortega', a self-described Spanish tapas bar and cantina, sounded like a perfect idea, so I took mi amor along to check it out.
Upon entering the establishment, I was stuck by its size. Misleading from the outside, inside it was actually fairly large, with a wide sweeping staircase leading to a larger area downstairs. However this didn't detract from the cosy, intimate atmosphere. The walls appeared to be a dark red (appropriate) and though there was nothing particularly noteworthy, exposed brickwork and the occasional antique looking candelabra gave the place a certain degree of rustic charm. This was added to by the amorous alcoves along one wall, which made dining more private - and thus, more romantic. There was also red wall lighting in the alcoves, which got me wondering whether this place was designed with Valentine's Day in mind! Decent lighting is always paramount - too bright and you spend your time squinting rather than gazing into each other's eyes, too dark and you're not sure what exactly you're putting into your mouth. Ortega's
however, was just right, and I was fascinated by the collection of different lampshades (in shades of red of course) which had been made into a feature. The lighting created a perfect romantic atmosphere, topped off by the obligatory candle on the table for flickering firelight.
Not so romantic, however was being surrounded by suits.	. . .
bemused by the chatter around us, it did bring the romantic rating down a bit, however I expect on Februaiy 14th the suits won't be there.
The conversations of those around us were soon drowned out by the scraping of dishes, as every last morsel was
I

m

Though we were not the only couple there, we were clearly outnumbered by work colleagues, and either the table arrangements or the acoustics meant that I was far more informed than I wanted to be on one banker's contract, business trips, and his colleague's gossip about him chasing a 17 year-old schoolgirl. Love may be blind but it sure isn't deaf. Though rather
sought - the food was that good! Despite a large drink menu, we opted for water, and then spent ages poring over a wide selection of tapas, eventually ordering two dishes, 'Champinones con queso azul' (mushrooms with blue cheese) and 'Fabada Asturiana'. Arriving swiftly at our table, the mushrooms were succulent and delicious, though after a while the blue cheese became slightly overbearing. The 'F^bada Asturiana', cited by Ortega as 'Spain's
second most famous dish after paella', was exceptionally tasty (if a tad salty). However, consisting of a white bean and chorizo stew, it was impossible not to notice that it seemed to be a rather more up-market, classy version of that student staple - sausages and beans! Being in Spanish restaurant, trying their paella was a must. The 'Ortega' paella was flavoursome, combining seafood and chicken with mushrooms, peppers and rice so deliciously. The chicken was perhaps overcooked, and not as tender as it could have been, but everything else was spot on.
My sweet tooth craving dessert, a 'Copa de Helado' (vanilla and chocolate ice-cream sundae with fudge pieces, banana and caramel sauce) was ordered, to share romantically of course. It was one sexy sundae. Rich but not heavy, it was definitely the highlight of the evening.aiting staff was excellent, which was pleasantly surprising. It transpired upon receiving the bill that this could be explained by the fact that, contrary to my expectations (and the Ortega website!), no service charge was added. For London, the price of the meal was fairly cheap, and would have come in at £15 if we hadn't had dessert. Drinks were reasonably priced as well, with glasses of Sangria for £2.95, and cocktails for £4.95. For Valentine's Day, Ortega is offering a 'Menu romantico', a 3 course meal for £25 per person, and also offer a deal on a bottle of Cava that night.
Needless to say, after such a lovely evening I was left feeling slightly love-struck!
Ortega is a restaurant
sasharobehmed reviews a restaurant
B.
tuesday the thirteenth of february, two thousand and seven
the art of the valentine's day nnix-tape
ioisjeary saves your relationship with a last-minute present idea



If you're paralysed with fear because you still haven't brought your loved one a Valentine's Day present then worry no more, help is at hand! The art of the mix-tape is an ancient skill going back all the way to, oohh, the 1970s. It has the distinct benefit of being remarkably cheap and self-indulgent whilst appearing to be thoughtful and caring. Musos and losers have spent years perfecting their mix-tape technique and now I bring you the three golden rules of '-'4 this fine and noble art form:
¦rf--
IPick a theme - Now, it shouldn't be too hard to settle on a theme for your Valentine's Day mix-tape should it? A theme helps you to filter through the hours of music you have on iHines to pick songs that will have some sort of coherent feel and this helps you to avoid making dire mistakes, such as The Prodigy's 'Smack My Bitch Up'. 'Love' is a nice, simple idea suitable for the occasion in question, although if you're a cocky bugger you might want to go for 'sex' as a general theme (which, depending on your • : sexual tastes, might make The Prodigy a 8!ij|»^JS;i)good choice after all!). If you're sad and alone then 'I hate myself and want to die' isn't a bad idea for a title and songs should focus on desperation, loneliness ^and the black abyss of your soul. I recommend The Cure and Radiohead,
¦y J/seems to someone looking at your I Tback catalogue that you just appeared on Secretly Canadian ^itoe year as a fully formed talented act, what came before that?
Well I'd been playing music since I was a kid. You know I taught myself how to play guitar basically and just from listening to the radio I would just play along to the radio. I would throw on a record and try to come up with some version of that song. At the same time I started writing music pretty early so by the time I was about ten I could basically play to a decent enough level that I was constantly writing songs so by the time I was twelve or thirteen I was in a fully functioning band and we wrote entirely original material. So from that point on I played and toured a lot and wrote a lot of music so I had been doing it for quite a while by the time the Secretly Canadian started as a label. I ended up being one of the very first releases, but I changed, I mean the style was really evolving even from the very first record. I was trying to put a finger on how to be able to do these songs with or without a band. So you know sometimes the guitarist couldn't make it to the show and I always felt like that's no reason to cancel the whole show, maybe there's a way that I could be a solo artist.
You are definitely someone with a constantly evolving sound, where do you feel like that is heading?
I have no idea, I never have an idea about that. I once in a while have a solid idea of how I want a record to sound. Before there's any songs basically I say this is the kind of record that I want to make and these are the kinds of songs and themes and types of lyrics that I want to work on for a few months and, you know, sometimes it's a success, sometimes it turns out to be something totally different, but it's always the goal to make a record that sounds different than the last.
o
whilst interestingly, Keane, Coldplay and James Blunt have a similar effect of making me want to walk out in front of a bus.
2 Use something unusual - Of course there is room for some tradition but don't go solely for obvious choices because you'll appear boring and unoriginal.
The Beatles'
'All You Need Is Love' is as predictable as they come, as is 'Wonderwair by Oasis (which, if
you're thinking of using, may I recommend Cat Power's fabulously lo-fi version). Pretentiousness is the order of the day when you're working on a mix-tape, so don't be afraid to include the most obscure, up-itself nonsense you can find. Spoken poetry is suitably pompous and if you write and read it yourself you will earn your place in the higher echelons of
What were you objectives when you sat down to start making new album 'Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go'?
More or less I just gave myself the challenge to compose an entire record in a studio. And I gave myself I think I had like two and half days basically to do it, maybe almost three days, and I wasn't entirely sure where I wanted to go lyrically with that record, I just knew that if I got in there and worked really, really hard that all the songs would somehow be linked lyrically. And then it only took
snobbery! Alternatively, use the mix-tape as an opportunity to showcase new bands that you love, but that haven't been discovered yet. Not only will you appear to be at the cutting-edge of new music but you'll also be able to justify ripping off copy-right laws for the pur-I poses of promotion.
3 Be thoughtful - It's remarkably easy to get self-involved when making a mix-tape and end up filling it with stuff that you like but that the recipient positively abhors. Do try to take their musical preferences into consideration. A friend once made me a mix-tape full of her favourite bands, all of which can be described with the horrendous suffix '-core'. However, aware that I'm a sensi-
ing songs that we have actually had a while to work on, on tour
What led you to ditching the Songs: Ohia moniker?
It wasn't a... well basically it was because it had come up on the ten year anniversary of putting out records under that name. And you know I thought I was writing a different type of song, and I really didn't revisit most of those old songs for years and years. And I really felt like that ten years was a separate
tive soul with a fondness for harmonicas, she substituted all of the screaming, ear assaulting songs for the fluffy acoustic versions, which was friendlier on my ears and much appreciated. Also try to cast your mind back to various events during your relationship then pick songs that reflect them - how did you meet? What song was playing when you had your first dance/kiss/shag? If you don't remember ask whoever lives next door in your halls or drop it in to conversation to see if your partner remembers (if they're female there is a 99% chance they will)! If you don't put any thought into it, your carelessness will be preserved on tape for years to come and will come back to haunt you.
And there you have it. Pop the songs on a tape (for the retro amongst you) or CD (for those of you firmly in the 21st century) then write a nice lovey-dovey message, which I draw the line at helping you with, and your lover will be in mix-tape heaven. I'll be honest, you might find yourself being promptly dumped, owing to the fact that your partner will finally discover your shit taste in music or will see you for the tight-fisted emo that you really are . . . but at least you'll have something to give them when the dreaded day dawns.
about one or two songs and I realised I had a lot of ideas for the types of songs I wanted. And because I was very happy with Ghost Tropic which basically written entirely in the studio, and also Pyramid Electric Company was also basically all written in the studio. This literally just means you're in the studio and you sleep in the studio and you wake up in the morning and you record songs. And doing that in a proper studio is fantastic, it's a rare, rare, rare occurrence, I have only done that a few times.
So you go into these intense two day sessions without any Ijrics or arrangements?
Well basically as I said there's at least a framework for the song , in the more recent recording sessions it's been record-
entity, totally, and it was really that simple. It wasn't a calculated effort to write songs in a different way. It's just that after about ten years of doing it and touring a lot I realised I'd started to be less self-conscious about how the songs might be interpreted and didn't see that happening in the early days. I would write the song and if I felt like it was a good song so be it, but if there was something that didn't set right with me just because I felt that it would be misinterpreted or the people would have a hard time dealing with what the lyrics were all about or the types of recordings I did, you know, I would change it so that it felt more comfortable all around. But these days I don't really write with an audience in mind.
When you talk about interpretation, does that include the press? Is there anything we do to piss you off?
I really don't read the press and reviews. It's a waste of time. Sometimes someone has a great article or a great review. So I understand that press has it's place, I guess. And there are a lot of people who get their music based on what they read about a band or a review of a record turns someone on to a record that they might never have ever heard. I never buy my music based on that, and, like I never go to see a movie that I read a review of unless it is something pretty obscure really interesting that I would never have heard of.
Must be qxiite tempting to read the reviews though?
Well, it's fine to just glance at them, it's, you know, if it's something that they get it totally wrong, they already have their opinion and it's already in ink, I'm not going to track every interviewer down and say I think you totally misconstrued what I was saying. Like I said, it's more interesting to me to just concentrate on writing music.
Do you enjoy your time on stage?
Yeah, I mean that's the main, the main draw for me, is that in that hour or so that I'm on stage I really am able to reconfigure songs and lyrics and change it around. So to me I don't consider myself really a performer, I'm just a songwriter. And yes I'm on stage and yes there's an audience there and I appreciate that they pay their hard earned money to come see live music and buy the record and support the band. But yeah that hour on stage is really, it means everything to me.
What would your desert island book be?
I think, an unabridged dictionary.
iangordon talks to the singer-songwriter atDout his memphis blues
jason nnolina
tuesday the thirteenth of february, two thousand and seven
eleven
a climate of love
angustse doesn't want you to break up, he just wants you to see a film
It's Valentine's Day, the time when you
shower your significant other with
roses, chocolates and similar gifts, all in the name of some commercialisable quality they call love. You might be thinking of what to do on the day. I would like to recommend you see Climates, an art-house breakup film. Believe me, I have no personal vendetta against you or your relationship. The film is simply worth watching, maybe even a personal lesson of what you're in for
Isa, a photography professor, isj on a rare holiday with Bahar, a TV producer. The trip to a historic ruin is a J field day for the academic, but we seej the stark contrast of Bahar looking J bored and ultimately sad. We don't^ know why she's unhappy, but thisJ spontaneous and lonely outburst!
sets the sense of foreboding right at| the beginning. Soon the 'it's over'i moment comes, again at the ironic setting of a sunny beach. What rais-"' es the stakes is that Isa and Bahar are! played by director Nuri Bilged Ceyland and his wife Ebru Ceylanf respectively. To have a real-life cou-l pie inflict emotional harm againstl each other (even though 'it's acting')|
is at the very least admirable.
Nuri goes one step further,!
using horror film techniques to/ heighten the discomfort. A mas-f terly sequence occurs at the/
beach: we see Bahar lying still| and emotionless. A blurry figure emerges, a moment similar tol other films when someone isf knocked unconscious by ar assailant. It's actually Isa, whol gives her a kiss and says a sim-|
pie 'I love you'. The warmness isl immediately extinguished!
though, when Isa playfullyl buries Bahar in the sand but!
then covers her face completely.^
Bahar wakes up- it was a bad dream. Later, we see Isa practicing his breakup lines alone, but slowly the cam-
Since you're at LSE, you've almost certainly tried to learn a foreign language at one point or another, so you'll appreciate Z's struggles as she attempts to tell the story of her year in London learning English. The book is written as Z's (short for Zhuang Xiao Qiao, which she doesn't believe anyone will be able to pronounce) diary, from her flight from Beijing to London and her return a year later. As the story continues her English gradually improves, an attempt at showing character development.
Within two months she moves in with a man she barely knows, a supposed drifter living in Hackney. Their relationship is seemingly based]
on the differences between]
them and their previous lives.
However, this character is completely unsympathetic,
while Z appears constantly]
needy, so that the eventual]
collapse of their relationship is not so much a tragic development as it is both characters finally coming to their|
senses.
The concept is fantastic.
Anyone who has come to live
in London will sympathise]_____
with Z and native Londoners will appreciate the outsider's perspective. Yet so many of the characters, rather than appearing human or vulnerable, come across as helpless and unlovable. The male lead is sup
era moves to the left and we, see Bahar actually sittingi next to him. Such tech-T niques are particularlyj useful in conveying the j emotions ^
the.
Serap sees her stalker, hurriedly enters her home, pauses, and then lets him in. They sit down and chat. 'You haven't been around for a while. Is Bahar out of town again?' Serap asks. 'What has it got to do with Bahar?'Isa retorts. Serap gives a prolonged, almost menacing laugh, while Isa is dumbfounded.
Rape or rough sex? You may wonder during the infidelity scene. It may be comical to some- Isa trying to stuff a nut in Serap's mouth. But the disgust that one feels towards Isa is unavoidable. Climates might have some-, thing to say on mas-^c u 1 i n i t y ^PerhapSj t h (
charac-'
Jters face atl I this point ofl J their relation-l fship: the inse-1 curity, and thel fear and calcula-1 tions on what thel next move may be.
The two parti ways and return tol their jobs. Isal encounters his old^
friend Guven in al rainy day in Istanbul.!
With him is Serap, who]
iBahar referred to as 'al Serap incident' previ-'
ously at the beach. An old flame? We later see Isa hiding outside Serap's house.
life", but instead seems to be too concerned with his own anarchic-outsider sense of superiority to create any kind of chemistry with Z. When cracks appear in their whirlwind love affair, you can't help but be glad that the characters have come
scene"
reflects^
Isa's humilia-''
tion under th^
almost omnlscienP Serap. Perhaps he feels the''
need to overpower the other in^
response, or even in defence.!
Perhaps Isa is simply cruel fori 'not trying' at the first place./
But the negativity changes]
soon when Isa decides go to^
the snowy eastern Turkey/
k to reunite with Bahar. Isa isl Fa flawed man, even pathet-1 ic, but he's also a needy persoiT" seeking romantic love and companion-
ship.
Is there reconciliation in the end? It's deliberately ambiguous, and fitting for this film. The film spans the seasons of a year, the breakup occurring in the happy summer and ending with a flicker of hope in the gloomy winter Whether the relationship will blossom again in spring is left out, but .Nuri uses this structure to Ijuxtapose the constant —Jcoldness of the characters, [iflP^^^Bor simply to portray the changes in a relationship as time goes by. It is also an [opportunity to show the inner .photographer in Nuri, cap |turing the scenic kextremes of environments, [mesmerising in itself j symbolic of the peaks and Itroughs of all relationships. IThe acting may be restrained land deliberately icy, but the Icinematography is majestic, fClimates is also Nuri's love 1 letter to Ebru, the close-ups Jof her delicate face perfectly 'capturing her character's sub-f tie expressions of pain, irony l^and disquiet.
Do you want to impress your other one, (pretending) to have a sophisticated appreciation of the arts and the cinema? Do you fancy deprecating your manhood and portray yourself as just as needy (well, not as abusive) as Isa? Regardless of your intentions. Climates is an honest portrait of a relationship. It may be one that has gone wrong, but it doesn't drudge in depression. Climates is certainly one of the most beautiful films of the year, and it just might just be one of the best too.
Climates is showing in Curzon Soho, Renoir and Barbican.
takes an new slant on it by heading each diary entry with a word Z has learnt that day, starting with Hostel, moving through Hero, and ending with concepts such as Infinity. This turns the book from being a reverse-travel guide to the UK to more of a basic comparison between traditional Western and Chinese ideas, which again would be all the more appealing if the Western ones were given by someone a little more compassionate than The Man From Hackney.
While The Concise Chinese-English Dictionary) is very funny in places ("How j I finding important places j like Big Stupid Clock?"), its | humour is lost in the entirely j frustrating lead relationship, \ and the unending wish to; bang their heads against a \ brick wall until they get their j act together. Any chances of seeing London through a new set of eyes is also lost when an entire chapter is spent describing her encounter with Soho strippers. If the novel does seem a little jaded and cynical, it's not the fault of the writing, which manages to describe the situations of the characters well, despite the necessarily restricted language. Nonetheless, it is difficult to escape the feeling that you've seen these characters before in other books many times before.
back to reality rather than living in their fantasy world of egg salad and phal-lic sculptures.
While the diary structure has pretty much been done to death, 'The Concise posed to be an enigmatic loner "adrift in Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers'
a concise english-chinese dictionary for lovers
hollybontoft reviews xiaolu guo's book

iii
teajj

William Blake, who largely influenced the Romantic Movement, has been proclaimed a genius by such writers as T.S. Eliot and William Wordsworth. Yet other accounts of this supposed genius of poetry paint a different picture. From an early age, Blake was prone to mystical visions. He reportedly conversed with the angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary in addition to seeing a whole range of other ghostly historical figures. His wife once even remarked, "I have very little of Mr. Blake's company. He is always in Paradise."
The leading Romantic poet. Lord Byron, also held somewhat dubious social credentials.
Physically, Byron suffered from a club foot, which caused him to limp. Socially, it is reported that Byron once paid £7000 to a teenage Greek boy for homosexual encounters and Italian language lessons. Worse yet, several speculate that Byron and his half sister, Augusta, had a child together For a man who is said to have had sex with two hundred and fifty women in a year, I suppose this is just par for the course.
Percy Bysshe Shelley was met by personal tragedy many times. His first wife, Harriet Westbrook, drowned herself in . the Serpentine after Shelley ran away . ; with his second wife, Mary. Shortly afterwards, the custody of Harriet and Shelley's two children was given to Harriet's parents who fought for legal recognition of Shelley's inability to raise his own children. Shelley was reportedly also constantly chased by creditors.
So this Valentine's Day, just remember: even if you don't have somebody to spend the special day with, it could be worse! You could be a Romantic poet!
fun facts about romantic poets
erinorozco writes

m
B. twelve
tuesday the thirteenth of february, two thousand and seven

Down
I.	throaty (not gallopy) (6) 4. bewildered (6)
9.	more succulent (7)
10.	dead froggy currency (5)
II.	happiness or train noise (5)
12.	all the same (7)
13.	another one does it in a queen song (4-3-4)
18. between time (7)
20. detach (5)
22.	occupy for free or bend down (5)
23.	things to wear (7)
24.	little leopard (6)
25.	in a feeble way (6)
1 8	6^	1 ;
	4	8 3
1 6		9 5
1 7	5 4 S	91
4 5		7 2
7 3 2	1 7	3
Across
1.	take over (6)
2.	bye bye (5)
3.	little snort (7)
5.	not in uniform (5)
6.	really enthusiastic (7)
7.	move the tents (6)
8.	a child of five could solve this clue, fetch me a child of five. (7-4)
14.	walk in on (7)
15.	to not be a fan of (7)
16.	shambolic affair (6)
17.	squalid (6)
19. oldstyle (5)
21. letter-shaped collared jumper (1-4)


8 3	8 3 7 5 9!.....	i 2:1^^'
3 S		^411 ...........-i—
7 2	—¦ +-—¦¦¦* -¦ -	i : 8; 19
1		^8!
I ^	5j4;8 .....1........9	1 ¦ i ... 1

Er P.
i \-< rI, -
Auntie Shaw is away this week, so answering your questions will be Dr. P, in a piece os shameless advertising for his new film, School for Scoundrels.
Dear Dr P. I just can't find the courage to ask for a date - so I'll be lonely again this Valentine's Day. I'm in my final year, have lots of friends and make good grades. I can handle the big presentations but I can't deal with the pressure of asking out the girl I fancy. How can I overcome my fear of hearing the word "No"?
-	Steve, 21
Hell son you shouldn't be afraid of the word "No", you must have said it enough times! "Hey Steve, you got a date this weekend?" "Steve, you get laid last night?" - NO! You know I can't even call you a loser, because a loser is someone who tries and faUs, you're less than that; you don't even try! Get yourself into my school now before you end up Steve, 40, collecting comic book characters and listening to Lionel Richie on your own for the 900th time. If you can spare five minutes from downloading pom on your computer go take a look at my prospectus -www.schoolforscoimdrels.movie.co.uk/
Dear Dr P. I've been seeing my girlfriend for six months now and I love her a lot. Things are going great but she says she isn't ready for us to become more physical. I respect her boundaries but I'm starting to get a little impatient, especially as I know she's had physical relationships in the past. I want to make Valentine's Day special so she feels comfortable and we can take our relationship onto the next level, what do you suggest?
-	Jeff, 19
Are you kidding me? What relationship? You haven't managed to get any off this chick in six months and you think Valentine's is going to be any dif-
ferent? It's a special day son, not a miracle day! Did you ever wonder why she's got frisky in the past and not with you? It's 'cause her last boyfriends were lions, rather than whiney little pussies. A lion doesn't ask for what he wants, he takes it! My advice is either start leEiming how to run sh*t or spend the rest of your life eating it!
Dear Dr P. My boyfriend and I have had so many wonderful years but recently things are becoming stale. He's always ignoring me and going 'out with the lads', and I know him and his friends spend all their time chatting up sleazy women. I really love him and want us to get back to the way we were, what should I do?
- Kimberly, 20
It makes me sick when guys don't realise when they have it good. I see neglect like this a lot at my hospital and it always breaks my heart a little. You deserve better, a caring, sensitive guy who imderstands you. We should discuss this problem further Kimberly. You could come seem me during my office hours but I'm afraid I'm volunteering at an orphanage this week. Perhaps we could meet up for dinner instead and spend some time really focusing on you.
School for Scoundrels is released on 23rd February
Copyright © 2007 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
Auntie will return next week, If you want to share (or scare) her with your problems, rants and general nonsense, please get in touch at thebeaver.partb@Ise.ac.uk or through Auntie Shaw on Facebook. As explicit and long as you want; the juicier the better - let's push those editorial boundaries to their limits! You are guaranteed to remain completely anonymous.
/alentine's Day
IBeaverl 13 February 2007 13
Rosanruno ! ' ¦ says love is colour-blind, unless you're a Red
I did something I never thought I would do today: I paid my £5 and joined the Conservative Party. Not, I hasten to add, because I have had a Cameron conversion. Hell no, I find him every bit as objectionable as his predecessors. Rather, I did it for the boyfriend. Whilst I am a feminist and a socialist from a long line of such ilk (my grandfather stood as a Labour candidate | in 1955) and am studying the lefty subject of development, my^ boyfriend, Gregory, is not only a card-carry-ing Tory but
works at the House of Commons for one of the more right-wing Conservative MPs, a man who proudly displays his three Margaret Thatcher portraits in his office. I joke that Maggie is the other woman in Greg's life is and he has stood as a Conservative candidate: he couldn't really be any more of a Tory. My reason for joining the Party, aside from the possibility of internal sabotage, was so I would be able to sup-him in the future, even if I don't have any intention of ever voting blue.
In days of old, before Labour sold out on the NHS and just about every-
thing else it ever stood for, Greg and I would have turned up at the polls to cancel out each other's votes. If we were US citizens, we would still be doing that now. As it is, I opposed the Iraq war and thus vote for and support the Liberal Democrats, but probably for Greg this is little easier than my being a true Labourite. A fellow conservative invited him to join the facebook group "Everybody Hates Lib Dems", which he naturally had to decline, since I assume there is at least one Lib Dem he does not dislike.
A number of people have told me that they find Greg and my
with similar values to your own. Obviously, Greg and I have rather different views on many issues: on Europe, immigration, the Iraq war and the Bush administration to name but a few. We are, however, both Catholics, although this used to make our political differences seem all the more incongruous to me: it surprised me that, from similar starting points we could end up with such different views as to how the world should be. Prior to dating Greg, I thought of the Conservative Party as uncaring: to asylum seekers, the homeless and to women. A religion which teaches compassion, which asks its followers to be the Good Samaritan, is clearly incompatible with an uncaring political outlook. But Greg has shown me that my prejudices are deeply unfair, that the Tories are not the cold-hearted bastards I believed them to be. Well, not all of them anyway. Through him I have met many Conservatives, which has made me realise that Tories are human too; some of them are even rather fun, I would never have imagined two years ago that I would attend the Blue and Green Event (the poor man's Black and White Ball), but I had a great time. The free champagne
the Tories are not the cold-hearted bastards I believed them to be
relationship puzzling: whilst they consider differences in race, religion and age unproblematic, they believe such an enormous political dichotomy in a relationship to be an insurmountable problem. I suppose they feel political beliefs are an expression of a person's values, and it seems natural to them that we should choose to be with someone who shares most of ours. They are not alone in this view: there are a surprisingly large number of dating sites on the internet devoted to finding your soul mate based upon your political stance, the fairly logical justification being that you can meet people

undoubtedly helped, but actually people at the party weren't that different from my friends.
I am often asked if going out with Greg has made me more right-wing but the reverse is true: it has made me>^:, more radical, more left- '
wing, since it has forced me to think more deeply about many issues. People also keep telling me that one day I will be a Tory wife, an idea which, unsurprisingly, I find utterly repellent. Thatj title makes me think of the blue rinse brigade, fij forever baking cakes for the village fete,f^® reading "The Daily Mail", the newspaper^
I would like to see banned, and moaning that things were so much better in the "good old days". Luckily, for a Conservative, Greg is now rather in tune with the feminist movement (something few would have imagined prior to our relationship), probably entirely due to my ranting at him for the last fifteen months about the still considerable gender inequalities in society. Thus his response to the suggestion of my being a Tory wife was rather sweetly that actually it is he who is going to be the Lib Dem husband.
I am not going out with Greg for his political beliefs; I love him despite them. But there is one real positive too: we do have some very stimulating arguments. Politics is one of our most frequent topics of discussion, since it is a subject we are both passionate about. We have even had what descended into a slanging match about the legacy of Margaret Thatcher: Greg pointed out that the Conservative Party is the only party to have had a female leader, which he claims is beneficial to the feminist movement, a fair argument perhaps, but I think having a female leader would only have been significant if Maggie had pushed forward a feminist agenda. This argument got rather heated: anyone listening would ¦ have been rather surprised to discover that we were not arguing about any relationship problems but the political legacy of a former Prime Minister. Greg and I both very opinionated and like the sound of our own voices; of course, when I talk over him, it is because I am making a vitally important point and when he talks over me, he is usually failing to listen to said very important point. But generally, our arguments are rather fun, and it jii certainly beats fighting over who does the washing-up.
Greg explains our relationship with the slogan,"sleep socialist, vote Tory". I am not sure it requires any kind of explanation: I know it would bore me immensely to date someone who agreed with everything I ever said. Yet I never imagined myself going out with a conservative; I imagined J settling down with a liberal who read "The Guardian" and volun- -^ teered for Amnesty. But I doubt he would have made me laugh half as much as Greg does, nor would that relationship have given me nearly as many good stories for my memoirs.
FEATURES ilnferview
m
STERN
Fatima Manji interviews the
These days, academic Sir Nicholas Stern is quite the celebrity; as he says himself: "It's boon wall to wall media", since his report on 'The Economics of Climate Change' was published. Even as we sit outside the Stern Review office in HM Treasury building, waiting to interview him, I'm reminded of his international pi'ominence: we're informed he's on the phone to the leader of the Opposition in Australia. Storn, who has held a number of high profile jobs including Chief Economist at both the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and at the World Bank, is due to return to the LSE in June as IG Patcl Chair of Economics and Development, and Head of the India Observatory within the Asia Research Centre.
When we are introduced however, he comes across as friendly and pretty down to earth, telling me Fatima was also his mother's middle name. He smiles and seems incredibly pleased when I ask him about his imminent return to LSE - he must have been quite impressed with the reception he received when he came to speak back in November. "I've been meaning to return to the LSE, ever since I've left. It was always my intention to go back," he says. "It was only ever meant to be a temporary departure, I thought I would go back after the EBRD and indeed I did go back but after a couple of months I was offered the job as Chief Economist of the World Bank. After that I meant to go back again, but Gordon Brown intervened. This will be my third attempt to go back! Third time suc-ce.ssful!" he adds.
Stern once allegedly said he "had an idea what the Greenhouse effect was but wasn't entirely sure", I ask him if this has now changed. "I'm not an expert on the science of climate change," he says. "I wouldn't ever pretend to be, when we first started in summer 2005 - we read up and got a team together I wasn't an expert and I had an open mind." He insists upon the idea that he is primarily an economist who "built on the received science" and embarked upon the report unprejudiced: "What I wanted to stress by, saying something like that -whether I said that or not eighteen months ago - is that I started with an open mind."
But will Stern's near-celebrity status make it difficult for him to be accessible to students as an academic once again? "Look - I'm going back because I like being with academic colleagues and I like being with students," says Stern, firmly resisting any such allegation. "In the EBRD, in the World Bank...here - I worked very much with young teams and I enjoy that." He talks of his career and how much of it has been spent working in academia: "For 24 years I was a full time academic economist, close to policy - however. From late 1993 to now I have been at the EBRD, the World Bank and now in Government, but two thirds of my career has been in academic life." In his new role at the LSE, Stern will be concentrating on research relating to India, includ-
ing returning to the village he first began studying in 1974. He tells me "I don't want to be too rigid about what I want to do, but a strong Indian element, a strong Asian element and a strong climate change element will be involved."
So why is an economist studying climate change? Here Stern is brutally blunt: "Well because it was on the economics of climate change. That's why." In true (supposedly) politically unbiased civil service style, Stern simply did what was required of him. "We built on the received science, we didn't question the science...and we looked very much at the economics of risk." And to those who are critical of his work and claim 'the science' is flawed he says: "The science of climate change in my view is pretty well established. There are always a few small minority of scientific dissidents - but there are a very small minority." Some of these 'scientific dissidents' have claimed climate change is not driven by the use of fossil fuels.
We need to get people to understand the link between action now and what happens later...the longer you wait, the bigger the problem
Stern's response to such claims is that; "There is a consensus on climate change that human activity plays a powerful role. Scientific dissidents are very few. It's not for me to judge -it's for the scientific community to judge and they've given their judgement."
He simply but eloquently expresses what education people need on climate change. "We need to get people to understand the link between action now and what happens later. It is true there are very long lags in this. But the longer you wait, the bigger the problem." Stern knowledgeably explains the process of greenhouse gas concentration, what can be done to control the flow and the possibility of there being reversibilities. Clearly, now he must have more than just "an idea" of what it's all about.
Stern's report may be over 700 pages, but he evidently has the ability to summarise concepts effectively and provide clear explanations. He con-
IBeaver 113 February 2007 |i5
FEATURES:/nte?*uieu;
RESPONSE
man charged with investigating the econonnics of clinnate change
cisely outlines the role for the UK: "Whatever the UK does it has to do it in a way that makes it easy for other countries. It has to work very much through Europe. Europe is a big player and the UK is playing a big role in shaping European policy. We have to build on common trading schemes ...whatever we do has to be in the context of building collaboration. Be it in terms of common pricing, technology and so on. Now in order to do that, we have to show good policies ourselves." And all this "has to be set in context of how to bring in other countries", says Stern. "Well actually, that's strong language" he adds, looking a little thoughtful and then correcting himself: "not how to bring in other countries, but how to work with other countries."
Environmentalists have been critical of Stem and claim his report is not far-reaching enough. "Doesn't your report protect the status quo of Western industrial capitalist development?" I ask. "Why should we continue to have faith in such a system?" A buzzer rings in the office at this point, almost as if an emergency alarm bell had just gone off - perhaps I had asked the question they'd all been dreading? Turns out it was only some kind of machine. Stern meanwhile, looked unfazed and calmly replies: "We emphasised very strongly the equity part of the story - it is the richest countries that are responsible for probably - three-quarters of the greenhouse gases, which are there now. For that reason and because they are richer, they should bear the lions share of the cost in adjustment. So that is crystal clear"
SIR NICHOLAS STERN

the
statue OF
LlBERTlEi
It is the richest countries that are responsible for three-quarters of the greenhouse gases
He talks to me of how contraction and convergence (a policy endorsed by the LSE Students Union at a Union General Meeting) is one of many solutions: "The key thing is to
Nicholas Stern studied mathematics at the Cambridge and received his PhD at Oxford. He was a lecturer at Cambridge and Professor of Economics at Warwick University and LSE in addition to lecturing at universities in China, France, Japan and the United States. Out of all of his former academic institution he chose to return to LSE and will be returning here in July to be G Patel Chair of Economics and Development, and Head of the India Observatory within the Asia Research Centre.
Since leaving LSE in 2000 Stern has been Chief Economist for the World Bank, a senior adviser to the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Gordon Brown recruited him as a permanent secretary at H.M. Treasury. As a senior civil servant he has run the Government Economic Service and been the Director of Policy for The Commission for Africa. He was knighted in 2004.
Sir Nicholas is a founder of AFC Wimbledon, after the former football club was sold and moved to Milton Keynes.
In July 2005 Sir Nicholas Stern began his review into the economic impact of climate change.
recognize equity. And the importance of equity. The important thing is coming up with solutions which are both equitable and efficient. There are lots of ways of doing that, of which contract and converge is one - but the key thing that is going to drive the equity story, is for the rich countries (and we made this clear), to take on the lion's share - 60-80% of the responsibility for financing the world's carbon reductions. That's the key equity part of the story. How you put that into practice - there are many ways of doing it. The key thing is to get the rich countries to take on that responsibility."
What of the idea floating around
the media, that the Chancellor deliberately commissioned Stem's report to be able to push through green taxes? Stem seems completely unsurprised at this question, having probably heard it too many times before. Again he calmly tells me: He had an open mind. I'm sure, as I did when we started this. He hadn't spent a lot of time studying it and neither had I. We both started with an open mind, I don't think he had a pre-arranged agenda and he certainly didn't communicate one to me, I don't think he had one." And what is Stem's relationship like with Gordon Brown? Here, Stern replies rather hastily (perhaps even a little too quickly);"Its fine. Fine. We were together in India...sitting having a glass of wine with him night before last" says Stern. Once again, he reiterates: "Yeah, we get on fine. I mean, he asked me to do it. He asked me to do the report commission for Africa."
I move on to an even more interesting question: Is it true that you met Fidel Castro whilst on holiday with your family? "That's true" says Stern smiling. "He was charming. We met him just after his 75^*^ birthday...we went off for lunch with him and we were there for five and a half hours. Just the five of us and him and one of his people. He was full of ideas. We were on holiday, but I was Chief Economist of the World Bank at the time - so you can't be completely private, and he invited us all to lunch -fantastically interesting." I want to ask him more on his encounters with both Castro and the Chancellor, but my time is over
So finally, what would he like to add - perhaps a message to LSE students? "I'm looking forward enormously to coming back" he says looking delighted at another mention of the LSE. "LSE is an amazing place and one of the many reasons to love it, well let me just give you one - is the mix of the students from all countries - I enjoy that immensely. When you teach - they've experienced quite a lot of what you're talking about. And they're very smart." A pretty nice note to end on and I'm guessing he's hoping LSE students are equally excited about having him back. Later as one of his team escorts us out of the building, she speaks of how he agreed to be interviewed for The Beaver, because of his special attachment to the LSE. As we walk past what appears to be the Chancellor's office, I signal to The Beaver's photographer and take a sneaky look in. Unfortunately I couldn't spot Gordon - otherwise it would have been interesting to ask him about 'Green Taxes' and his own vei-sion of the Brown-Stem relationship.
Tfte Stem Review of the Economics of Climate Change provides the most thorou^ and rigorous analysis to date of the costs and risks of climate change, and the costs and risks of reducing emissions."
Joseph Stigtitz
"I very much welcome The Stern Review which provides a much needed critical economic analysis of the issues associated with climate change"
"Despite using many good references,
[it] is selective and its conclusions flawed. Its fear-mongering arguments have been sensationalized, which is ultimately only likely to make the world worse off."
Bjorn Lomborg
"The start prospects of climate change and its mounting economic and human costs are clearly brought out in this searching investigation. The world would be foolish to neglect this strong but strictly time-bound practical message."
Amartya Sen
"The voluminous Stern report adds
disappointly little to what is already the conventional wisdom."
Nigel Lawson
The Stern Review conclusions
The thi'i'ats of clUnate change:
—Exttvnie wt'iUhol- foiild reduce global Gross Domestic Product (CH)!') by up to I'h.,
--'I'here is a 50% chance that avevago global temperatures could rise by five degrees Celsius.
—In the woisit case scenario global consumption per he:id would fall Goven\ments slKHiltl:
- -Promote cleaner energy and transport technology, with non-fossil (ue)s accounting for (50% ol energy output by —Create a global market (or carbon pricing.
--Si;t new target to reduce carbon emissions tjv by 1!020 and (iO"n by
--Work with the World Hank and other t'inuaeial institutions to creaie a $20bu fund to tielp poov countries iidiust to climate change challenges.
ul IBeaver 113 Febmaiy 2007
FEATURES:Po/iYzcs
Get me elected.com
Politics Correspondent Greg Wliite surfs the internet for up-and-coming politicians
The Internet, that cavernous place where you get your news, celebrity gossip, sports scores, and illegal music downloads, is, being invaded. Not by porn addicts and sexual predators, they are already there, but something far more sinister: politicians.
The last domain of pure bias and candor is being stripped of reality by a set of politicians from both sides of the Atlantic seeking their country's highest offices. Candidates see this as a direct means to communicate with the electorate, make themselves appear more approachable (without ever having to shake your germ - covered hand), and funnel money more efficiently into their campaign war chests.
With this unbridled digital assault on the electorate in full swing, it is time a complete review of these characters and their Internet personalities be made.
We'll start from the West with France and their Presidential election. Now, I am not an expert on French politics, mostly because my language skills limit me to ordering food and lying that I am not American, but there really only seems to be two viable candidates in this one: Socialist leader Segolene Royal and centre-right UMP leader Nicholas Sarkozy. There are	^
other people involved, but ('
they are either quasi-fascist or quasi-communist and from where I come from they are either in power or in Vermont, respectively.
I am, for the most part, impressed with Sarkozy's site; both its layout and design. 'There is lots of personal information, a fancy countdown clock to the election, and various pictures of him looking creepy. And that is really where this site fails. Sarkozy, even when candidly speaking to some factory workers, has the appearance and style of that guy in your lecture who makes it a point to laugh at every joke the speaker makes, talk to them after, and perhaps dine with them for the sole purpose of an investment banking recommendation. No matter how flashy your website is, it will not cover up your general creepiness (or is it Frenchness)?
On to Britain, where the only real standout is the cherubic housewife pin-up David Cameron, leader of the
t

§

Conservative Party. Cameron's website is moderately stylish, utilizing more of a feng shui approach than Sarkozy. Plenty of videos here where Cameron candidly answers your questions, making vague policy points and looking like the adult version of that 16 pound baby bom in Mexico last week. He generally seems like a nice guy, who cares about tweed wearing Britain without actually wearing any. He might want to work on his analogies though; the old bottom rung of a ladder out on society bit is sounding a little tired.
And then there was America. Since they invented the Internet, they have a leg up on the competition. But my God are they awful at everything but the making money part, the websites that is.
First and foremost, I was shocked
that Republicans knew how to use computers. Do they not have people to do that sort of thing for them while they farm, sail, and eat endangered species on a whim? So, naturally, finding a candidates website was a surprise, while finding it in black and white was not.
It could be because Senator John McCain, Republican candidate for President, looks scary and deathlike in colour. Or it's because those are the only two colours he knows because he went colour-blind in that Korean torture camp, (which is just a fact and not a joke). Or it's because the world is black and white and you are either with US or the terrorists. Or maybe its because his website designer is a boring human being. Whatever the reason, this site is crap and is best left alone, in the corner, contemplating
how to convince the electorate a Republican president can read again.
Now onto the Democrats who, with the panache of Jamie Oliver or Martha Stewart, have spruced themselves up for the big show. We will start with the weaker of the two. Senator Barack Obama.
While obviously the most compelling human being since Jesus Christ, Senator Barack Obama has a lot to do to make his website compete with the quality of his opposition, Obama's site is simple and plain, but not in the balanced Cameron sort of way. More like an empty house in Chelsea: plenty of promise and high rent, but lacking a leather armchair or two. There are two videos here that could, in less democratic countries, be labeled propaganda. But he is so above politics that the story of his life seems more like an inspirational Disney film than a piece of heavy-handed electioneering. Obama has a lot to do online before he can compete with the 3000-ton gorilla of Democratic Internet politics, Clinton.
Senator Hillaiy Clinton, (a bit Thatcher a bit Oprah), is gallantly running in a soccer-mom tracksuit to the Democratic nomination. Her website, while full of fun facts, including a delightful trip down Mr. Clinton memoiy lane, cannot overcome her general scariness. She's not scary like Sarkozy, more scary like that mother of a friend that wanted to know everything about your life over break, for the sole purpose of telling everyone else at church next weekend. Hillary finds new ways of taking the 'friendly-mother-at-a-bake-sale' voice and talking about very serious things, while at the same time making you feel full of rich, chocolate goodness as you hear about the suffering of Hurricane Katrina victims. The site is a bit like those soup kitchens the Nazis had for poor people, except people who own computers are not poor, the speeches are not as well structured, and no mustache. Hilary Clinton cannot speak like her husband, sounds incredibly awkward no matter what she is talking about, and is as stiff as the mother from American Beauty. No flashy graphics can save you from her conversations, boring as a re-run of The OC (except for the lesbian one, which is always appealing).
The politicos'websites
: www.desirsdavenir.org
Tasteful and understated like a Chanel suit, there is little here for the anarcho-cynicalists.
www.d iscosa ri<o.co m
If you enjoy making Sarko dance, you can email him your life story. This will be used by the French to track dissidents. Vive la revolution!
C* wn A M	C ( n	t MC
1«HtmtOI Hw w*

www.exploremccain.com
McCain's computer is so old-school he didn't even get any colours with it.
		
¦<		
www.webcameron.org.uk
Ask Cameron questions, but call him a weed-smoking, hippie, drugged-up pimp and they'll throw you in jail.
___________
MCCAIN
nMcCaoiOOS
www.barackobama.com
Barack's website is so perfect, it defragged my hard drive and upgraded my PC's memory.
^ Obama 08
¦:an; Lom uucs MHtMco Uos Vwtm" 4G3iSSi9ll^
www.hillaryclinton.com
Join Team Hillary. Her life story emphasises the fact that she's pretty much done the job before.
«CTy>i Cv
Howard Dean: The original internet kid
By
There have been a lot of mur-murings recently about the potency of the internet's influence on politics. Web-Cameron is wooing the internet generation one at a time, Barack Obama has a Flacebook group, and according to Mr. White's piece this week. Senator McCain's website seems to be DOA.Yet before we all get excited about the internet's potential to mobilize voters and raise funds, I would like to look back at the original internet maverick: Howard Dean.
You might not recognise the name now, but Dean was the hero of grass-roots politics in the US during the 2004 elections. He was able to use the internet to create an activist base 31,000 strong using networking websites similar to MySpace or F^cebook and in a year raised more than 45 million dollars, most of it over the internet.
But, before the Dean train could get out of the station, he came an embarrassing third in the Iowa primary elections, and that was the end of that. How did his 'average joe' activists fail him and lose him the Democratic nomination? The main reason is that the internet appeals to a younger inter-net-sawy base, and in the case of most politics, it is not the internet-sawy activists who decide elections—it's the affluent and their savings. And I'm betting they're nc t surfing the net, downloading video-manifestos and subscribing to pod-casts .
His defeat underscores the importance of traditional politics in today's society. Howard Dean wasn't able to capitalize on his internet revolution because he wasn't able to exploit the more popular American political traditions of coffees and dinners, partly because of his maverick status. He simply couldn't reach the average voter.
How important vnll the internet be in upcoming elections throughout Europe and America? How successful will the internet be in helping Obama raise the $100 million that's expected to be the buy-in for the 2008 American presidential elections? If Howard Dean's story tells us anything, it's that the internet won't make much of a difference. There will be great cheers and lots of enthusiasm, but in the end it will all come down to kissing babies, visiting community
halls and, as always, the 1^: size of the campaign fund
¦'W i.


f»CCOUNTING
SOCIETY
Understanding a £270bn Financial Services Business Spealeers: Hitesh Pate! (Partner from KPMG), Professor R.Macve and Dr. J. Norton 22/2/2007 5.15PM Room H216
Deloitte.
Deloitte Firm Visit 05/03/2007
AClOO Homework Help Session Every Wednesday 1-3PM G107
Email: su,soc.accountina@lse.ac.uk
O
?t§b
LSE BridgeleeMjf
Wmmi tse	-mA
WMnfCTiTwwvTwS'. WB	vwWI VwtaH 0^009
Kor free mcmber&hip and more i nfor jrtali Hfi, «rnjii!
$M r?99	rWH
v<ith v'^ur mime. yc<ir of slwdy ana ,^<&ars or pilaiiin g exf»rl«-nc-e
Oomlni mm.»
^ ¥ a007 UK UntvMSiV	^
Wednesday 21st 1- S pm D.269
iN^	^	VitfAiHit "ifm:
iBMlMMSdMl* 3B3lr3ySKM>il' Tililiii'W-	Jtoik ll *&(& tfWtSi fcriX ShflkSell. >3^9K SMfcflJf iT^Ti IKWW "fclWfc frfl Iklk ItyiliPwAri^wAl- ftrft
mwn -«|||9rrr«>i	|99in5 vC	08 ^SNem m vma ^OtTn^ipeRvQ W 1^n9refOS ^ vwl9P»
Fritt Supwv^^s^ Platy-Stt^s^s Ourlf^ y««liinQi&
For players Of aTi stamdarts
Gftipyh	ifWt ^ im# £.1^	«iii Ir^
i-SS. fin<%c SacciTif %"0!ilsj Sikc fe 1har4? Dur -sportsw!- f?ie Cttgf'sh Bntijc- iinbri	& the
Yc->jii& Ch&ss^s Braae cyk {•(,'i-l)C,fto,i#<l for their acrterctis fi^^ilriisiitone-fNa

Imagine developing a transport system for f//
millions of people. ¦ ^
Imagine keeping it safe,
fast and reliable.
Imagine a graduate scheme that lets you.
Now stop imagining.
Graduate Opportunities witliin Transport for London
TfL manages, develops and integrates the capital's transport network, from buses, roads and tlie Tube to trams, trains, cycle paths and the river. No other organisation faces the l<ind of challenges we face. Or affects the lives of so many people in such a visible way. So join us on the journey. We have opportunities to suit graduates from a wide range of backgrounds across our organisation, including business analysis, project management, engineering, transport planning and information management.
Full details of all the schemes and how to apply are at tfl.gov.uk/graduates Please note that the final deadline for all applications, except Civil Engineering and Commercial Management is February 19th, 2007.
We want to be as diverse as the city we represent and welcome applications from everyone, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation,
faith or disability.
MAYOR OF LONDON
Transport for London
e
aLPHAjBOOKS
STARTING WEEK 4

¦¦'¦¦¦V;''".
IOCS of titles at half-price Fresh titles added every week Bargains to be foond
M

^ .

\
¦¦i
leaver 113 Februaiy 2007
LISTINGS

Profitunity!
at Mo*vida
Fashion, Glamour and After Party! by Amy Kaun
A group of 4 LSE students, selected to compete in the Profitunity!
Project run by Ernst and Young, are organising a Fashion Show and After Party on Tuesday February 20th at Mo*vida. All the proceeds will be going to The Prince's Trust.
Featuring a unique combination of high end designers such as Jenny Packham, Issa, Juicy Couture, Marchesa, Jasmine di Milo, Chloe and Myla along with new, up and coming London designers, the event promises to be a hugely stylish, glamorous and entertaining night out. The event will also include a luxury auction and raffle featuring amazing prizes such as a Chaumet necklace, a Baccarat pendant, a Monty Spa weekend away, a Donna Karan dress, a Meet et Chandon magnum and many more.
Not only is it going to be a revolutionary catwalk but a celebrity filled crowd ready to party into the early morning to Mo*vida's resident DJ in what is promising to be the after-party of the year. The venue for this exciting night is on par with the nature of the event. Mo*vida is arguably one of London's most exclusive venues.
The team aims to raise as much money as possible from ticket sales, along with revenue generated on the night. All guests will receive a free goody bag worth over £100-with brands such as Bliss Spa, Charles Worthington, Farmacia, Urban Retreat@Harrods and Club Concierge (plus many more) all contributing. The Profitunity! Project is in its first year. Designed to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation in students, it is a competition featuring selected teams from across England, notably Cambridge, Edinburgh and Durham and of course LSE. Support your fellow students in raising as much money as possible for charity and also be guaranteed a memorable evening out.
Ticket prices are only £25 for students and £40 for non-stu-| dents and must be pre-booked/paid for before the event. They will be on sale on Houghton Street on Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week and the Monday before the show . They can also be reserved by calling 07738228697 or emailing fashion.tickets@london.com. To book a table please call 07951 715 788
WHB^J WHKE
Tuesday 20th February
Mo*vida, Soho
£25
Wendy Quay: "The Problem of Evil"
Is religion the cause of wars? Can there be a God of love in the face of all the evil and suffering we see in the world? The problem of evil and suffering is one that every faith system must address. Further, it is a reality that most of us as individuals will be likely to have to deal with on a personal level at some point in our lives. This talk will present some Christian perspectives on the issue. There will also be opportunity for discussion. Join us on Tuesday 13th February at 15:30 in E168 we explore God's relationship with this world in the light of evil. There will be free food and drinks!
reviews
"What is a Chinese Investigative Journalist?"
Professor Hugo de Burgh, Professor of Journalism and Director of the China Media Centre at the University of Westminster, will be speaking on the 14th of February between 2 and 3 in U8
What is a journalist? What is a Chinese investigative journalist? Outside China it is sometimes supposed that Party controls of the media means that the functions of journalists in Chinese society are quite different to those in the Anglosphere. This is not always necessarily so; the comparison throws up some worthwhile observations of both contexts.
A former journalist. Professor Hugo de Burgh is now both professor of journalism and Director of the China Media Centre at the University. The China Media Centre was established in January 2005, and is the only European centre focussed solely on the study of the world's largest media system.Professor de Burgh has extensive experience writing about and teaching journalism in all its forms, and particularly that of China.
mm WHKE HOW MUCH
14th Februarv 14:00
Money Saving Expert and former LSE SU General Secretary Martin Lewis will be telling us how to 'SCREW THE BANKS' in this special appearance, organised by LSE Students' Union. Martin is an award-winning TV & radio presenter, national newspaper columnist and best-selling author; he is the creator of the UK's biggest money website www.moneysavingex-pert.com, the consumer revenge site leading the campaign to reclaim bank charges.
Martin was SU General Secretary from 1994-5.
mm WHERE HOW MUCH
15th February New	FVpp
14:00 Theatre
LSESU Economic History Society Debate
"The Origins of the Industrial Revolution: Why Britain? / Why Not France?"
Speakers: Professors Nick Crafts and Larry Neal, Chair: Chris Colvin
This debate considers one of the biggest questions in our understanding of the modem industrial economy. Both professors, who have published widely in their respective fields, will address each other's explanations in light of their own research. The debate will then be opened to questions from the audience.Professor Nick Crafts is Professor of Economic History at the University of Warwick. Professor Larry Neal is Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics.
[No ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.]
mm "th February,
WHKE D402
Free
LISTINGS

IBeaver | 13 February 2007
19
If-
Listings
an
<
Q CO LU 2 Q
LLI
rsj
8:30	CU prayer meeting, Chaplaincy EVERYDAY
9:10	Catholic Pro-life Group meeting, Caffe Nero
14:00	Yoga Ashtanga Yoga, Badminton Court
15:00	CSSA Chinese Classes - B-class, D206
15:30	Apologetic Talk: The Problem of Evil, E168
18:15	Yoga Intermediate Ashtanga Yoga, Parish Hall
18:30	Arabic 'Middle East Beware!' Lecture, US
19:00	Debate Weekly meeting, D302
19:00	Dance Ballet (Beginners), H216
19:00	Russian Pre-Vatentine's Speed Dating, D302
20:00	Dance Ballet (advanced) H216
11:00	SU, Societies Forum, S78
13:00	Catholic Mass, Chaplaincy
13:00	Green party. Weekly meeting, H104
13:00	Hindu,Vedic lunch, D211
13:00	Anime & Manga, Drawing Class and Gaming Session, Z129
13:00	Accounting, Homework help session, G107
13:00	Student Action for Refugees, Weekly meeting, A283
13:00	Go, Weekly meeting, VJ03
13:30	Yoga, Intemediate Hatha Yoga, D002
14:00	Pakistan, Weekly meeting, U203
14:00	Opera, Weekly meeting, HI 04
14:00	China Development Talk: 'What is a journalist?', D302
15:00	Maths and Stats, Homework help session, Z332
15:00	Chess, Weekly meeting, K05
15:00	CSSA, Chinese Classes - B-class, V103
16:00	Bridge, Weekly meeting, G107
16:00	CSSA, Chinese Classes - I-class, H206
18:15	Politics Discussion forum / meeting HI 03
19.00	Swing Dance, Improvers Classes, G108
11:00	Australia and New Zealand, Weekly meeting, D9
13:00	SU UGM, Old Theatre
15:00	CSSA, Chinese Classes, K05
17:00	AIESEC, Weekly meeting, D2II
17:30	Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Badminton Court
17:30	Argentinean, Tango classes, K05
18:00	People and planet, Weekly meeting, H103
18:00	Sikh-Punjab, Music class, S78
18:00	Dance, Intermediate hip hop class, S75
18:00	Filipino, Tagalog lessons, G107
18:00	Visual Arts, Life drawing class, D206
18:15	Catholic, Bible-sharing Group, Chaplaincy
19.00	Debate, Workshop, D302
19:00	Dance, Hip Hop (advanced), H202
20:30	Dance, Hip Hop (beginners), Badminton courts
13:00	Yoga Intermediate Acrobatic Yoga D702
14:00	CSSA Chinese Classes - A-Class Y115
16:00	CSSA Chinese Classes - 0-class S221
16:00	GO Weekly meeting H104
17:00	Hindu Gita Classes Dll
19.00	Dance Ballet Class	S75
20:00	SU RAG Crush Underground, Quad, Three Tuns
08:30	CU Prayer Breakfast, Chaplaincy
12:00	Knitting Workshop,	Quad
16:00	CSSA, Chinese Classes - B-class, K05
17:30	Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Badminton Court
19.00	Swing Dance, Beginner's Classes, D502
19:00	Dance, Street Jazz, GI
19:00	Conservative, Talk by Ann Widdecombe, D302



REMINDER
Final Year Students: complete your national student survey online at www.studentsurvey.com
National Studenty SuiV«y
WNW.Uiestudentsutvey.com
Send your ads, announcements and personals to
listings(S>tiiebeaveroiiline.co.uk
by Friday
Aled Dilwyn Fisher Environment and Ethics Officer, Monday, 13.00
Anushka Shenoy General Course Officer, Tuesday 13.00
Sid Kamath Executive Editor, The Beaver, Tuesday 14.00 E204
Fadhil Bakeer Markar International Students Officer, Tuesday 13.00
All Dewji Communications Officer, Tuesday 16.00
Emma Hallgren Students with Disabilities Officer, Tuesday 15.00
Jimmy Tam General Secretary, Thursday 14.00
Michail Retsinas Mature and Part-Time Students' Officer,
Wednesday 16.00 D302 Joel Kenrick Treasurer, Thursday 14.00 Alex Finnegan LGBT Officer, Thursday 14.00 (Alex
Vincenti's office)
Adrian Beciri Returning Officer, Thursday 14.00 James Caspell Postgraduate Officer, Thursday 15.00
Zee Sullivan Women's Officer, Thursday 10.00 D703 Louise Robinson Residences' Officer, Thursday 12.00 Alexandra Vincenti Education and Welfare Officer, Friday 14.00 Shanela Haque Anti-Racism Officer, Fhda!/11.00 Arthur Krebbers Societies' Officer, Friday 13.00
www.lsesu.com/whatson , ::y
SPORTS
13 February 2007
AU Rant
Nixon wants you to get involved
Kathryn Nixon
October 2004, and it's my first Wednesday night. I'm walking down Houghton Street with my roomie, who has joined one of the sports teams, and we're late: our first mistake but not, unfortunately, our last. We hear chanting, as if the New Zealand rugby team are singing the Hakka, and we start to get nervous. Actually "nervous" is an understatement. I was bricking myself.
Upon entering the "Tuns, we were joining an institution that we'd love to hate and hate to love for the rest of our time at LSE; little did we know then that we'd sold our Wednesday nights down the river for the next three years. Inevitably, we were fined straight away. A few games of "taps" and "the number after 20" were followed by dodgy team karaoke while the LSERFC and LSEFC hurled abuse at each other in the form of some unexpectedly witty chants ("gay are Football" - being my favourite lyric). The ladies were usually talking to the FC, after being left hanging . by Men's Rugby (since they ¦ were busy sticking to their rigid rules of no talking to girls before 9pm and only drinking with their left hands). The evening was topped oft with a visit to Walkies, where you either ended up snogging half of the rugby team or alternatively, had an intellectual conversation with Gareth Carter. Finally, Crispy Duck was on the cards; if you were really unlucky though, you wouldn't end up there but at Zac Lewis' flat instead. That being said, this is what the AU and Wednesday nights were all about and as much as I hate to admit it, I loved it.
Gone are the days, however, that the AU used to be written about in The Beaver for their appalling behaviour and sexual ways, frowned upon by their own kind, and gone are the legends that once were notorious, usually to be found in C120.
What could this be attributed to? Is this a reflection of the new AU Exec, or is this a reflection on the current 3rd years failing to show the rest how a Wednesday night is really done, in favour of the TV and their 'degree'. Or could it per-
haps be a reflection on the sorts of student that now select the LSE for their degree, or can it be due to the loss of some of the real characters that used to populate the LSE?
For example, to name but a few:
Knoxy: Notorious for turning up at the UGM battered on a Thursday after a 24hr binge drinking session, would commence smoking and then take to the stage where he'd love to
And who are the LSERFC? Yes they can often be spotted frequenting the gym after injecting various substances into their bodies in order to increase their body mass... If only they gained intelligence in proportion with this increase in size, conversation wouldn't actually be such a difficult concept for them and Wednesday nights less of a 'risk' to other members of the AU.
argue with the chair and use more than four letter words to confuse as many of his opponents as possible. What's more impressive is that he's now at Harvard.
Ball sucker: You can work that one out for yourselves.
Taffy: Won the "Tuns award" for being the biggest pisshead by a mile.
Fabs: He's got a white man's cock and remains a serial womaniser.
Miller: Possibly the biggest RFC cock you'd ever meet.
Sandy: What a legend, constantly battered... and constantly out on a Wednesday.
Hester: Was there a night she didn't end up in tears?
As of September '06, the LSEFC now clearly dominate a Wednesday night. However, despite their ever increasing numbers and wide variety of hoodies, most would prefer to spend a Wednesday night at home watching Desperate Housewives.

1
Want free food and drinKP
Then become a BeaverSports Editor.
No previous experience necessary, just enthusiasm and a sense of humour. Literacy a plus, but not essential.
To run, nominate yourself by emailing editor@thebeaveronline.co.uk
by Wednesday 5pm
My advice to you, current guys and girls of the AU, is to 'get involved', and I mean get
is thiis a reflection on the current 3rd years failing to show the rest how a Wednesday night is really done?
seriously involved. It's not fair to let such a small minority of AUers get all the liver damage. We want more banter, we want more outrageous antics. Try
not to give a flying fuck about what that prat from your econ class might think, or the guy you've had your eye on, because no matter what you do, the people you care most about will love you no matter how much of a prick you make of yourself.
Take a leaf out of Parfitt's book and punch a guy in Walkabout, or do a Swartwood and get intimate with anyone who's got their 'pot noodle horn' on. Even better, do a Burkimshur and get (fully) naked, and maybe even wrestle in various female shower areas. And for Christ's sake, do a Nixon and get so twatted that you unable to remember any of your evening; being vommed on, refused service and taking off your bra.
So for those of you who weren't aware, bring on Veterans Day: Wednesday, Feb 21st, where the oldies will show the newbies how it's really done. Quote Facebook, and the great Tristram Leach himself:
"Houghton Street will reverberate once more to the hymns of Woden and of Thor, as that impeccably noble institution, the LSERFC, is augmented by some of its finer products of recent history. These brave Vallhallans, smoking bloody execution, will return to their alma mater, eyes clouded, perhaps, with tears of reminiscence, but hearts of true English oak, and sinews of incorrodable Welsh steel: ready to do Gin with all who stand against them, and to see decorum done or death befall them first. Come one, come all, and let us roister! For goodness sake come properly attired, and bring your Gincathlon shoes!"
The AU seem all too keen to don their LSE sportswear but none are man (or woman) enough to follow anything through on a Wednesday night. So GET INVOLVED. The future of the LSE AU is at stake...
Our next AU President?
With the elections looming and no obvious choices for the next AU President, BeaverSports has come up v\dth the ideal candidate for the job. I think I may have seen this person in Walkabout before...
Shane Warne's arm: for precision paper throwing
The head of Danica Patrick: for quick thinking and asthetics of course
Unlike previous years in the AU, there appears to be a distinct lack of leadership from the current AU captains. In particular, the rugby captains, whose "gay hair" approach to rugby is failing to match up. One source would indicate that in the beforetime, people such as Tristram Leach were instrumental in the moulding and guidance of the rest of the rugby team, making them the guys that everybody loved to hate.
Either way, enough of the guys; what about the girlies? Who are you? What happened to the drunken, violent, binge-drinking statistics the papers talked about (bar WRFC and Naomi Snider)? Gone are the days of "Do you know who I am?!" upon entering Walkabout from various AU Exec members, as are the ladies who were typically known for being girls who enjoyed a night out and maybe even the walk of shame home!
Pamela Anderson's chest: for floatation in emergences and beer smugglage
George Best's liver: it lasted him well even at the extremes. An essential organ for any Wednesday night go-er
A beer belly: Not so much an ideal quality," more an inevitability
Venus William's legs: Great for the Barrel run, a pub crawl, running from bouncers, falling down stairs... oh and for sport-related activities
Beaver | 13 February 2007 21
SPORTS
Rnxing
Throwing punches below the belt
SPORTSDESK
Simon Horner
O'neil 'Supernova' Bell, the	undisputed
Cruiserweight (200 lbs) champion of the world, recently attacked a sparring partner with a hatchet. He now finds himself in police custody. Our own Prince Naseem Hamed, chose to show his remorse for paralyzing a father of two in a road accident by leaving prison in a stretched limousine and subsequently suffered the ignominy of being stripped of his MBE.. With role models like these it is small wonder that boxing has become a minority sport, watched by few and practiced by fewer.
Boxing's many enemies, who reduce the 'sweet science' to a mere visceral and malicious blood sport would undoubtedly see this only as a good thing. But it is actually a great pity, since the benefits, particularly to participants are legion. In schools across the London Borough of Bromley, children are discovering this first-hand, as boxing is back on the curriculum, and your reporter for one thinks that this can only be a good thing. It is the most physically demanding of all
British Tennis
sports requiring fitness levels above and beyond those required to complete 90 minutes of football, whilst at the same time instilling the discipline and respect that many Premier League footballers sorely lack. With the stalking horse of childhood obesity now the principle threat to our nation's health, any and all options to put this particular equine out to pasture should be considered. And for those concerned with young children dealing out internecine brain damage, most of the training is non-contact, and the small proportion that isn't, involves head guards, and large, soft sparring gloves, very different from those used in the professional ranks.
And if I could pound for moment,
t i m c -
less cliche, boxing truly is a potential focus for troubled young minds, and can save them from a life of street crime. Proof of this is easily found amongst the Boxing Hall of Flame, many of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and used boxing as a way to escape their penury.
To properly rejuvenate the sport though, (and its reintro-duction into schools is a good start) the sport needs to have spectators, and to draw those it needs popu-1 a r cham-p i o n s at its summit.
It
not a fear of obesity that compelled Robbie Fowler to kick a ball against a wall in Toxteth for hours a day, but rather seeing his idol Ian Rush celebrating goal after goal in front of the Kop.
The main obstacle to increasing boxing's audience numbers is the farcical nature of the TV coverage, dominated as it is by the inexorable politics of the American networks. To watch Ricky Hatton, Manchester's own IBF Light-Welter
the world, requires a
money and enough midnight oil to last until at least 5 AM; this is too much for the die hard fanatic, let alone the curious newby. This does not help British fighters raise their profile, and that is why so few of them are household names. There are actually British world champions at Super-Middle weight, Light Heavy weight and Cruiser weight, it would be pleasantly surprising if many could name them; this is not the arrogance of the esoteric, but the simple reality
was



that people have long stopped taking an interest. Furthermore there are 4 sanctioning bodies at each weight meaning that there are four 'world' champions per category. It is by having recognized world champions that interest in the sport is created, this current system ensures that this never happens by completely devaluing the concept.
But all is not lost, the situation has recently improved with Frank Warren, the gatekeeper of British Boxing promotion switching his franchise from Sky to ITV. People are now watching boxing in numbers not seen since the glory days of the British middle-weights, when Nigel Benn and nemesis Chris Eubank enthralled a nation that famous Saturday night. As a result millions watched Joe Calzaghe's destruction of Jeff 'Left-Hook' Lacey to become undisputed Super-Middle weight champion of the world, in March of last year. ITV have also covered the stellar rise of Olympic silver medalist Amir Khan, a potential role model to millions if ever there was one.
There is much wrong with the state of boxing but there is clear potential for the phoenix to rise from the ashes, simply by making it easier for people to get involved. If you build it, • they will come.
British tennis state? Not great
SPORTSDESK
Sumit Buttoo
^he state of British tennis...
.. .Is not great. Most of you probably already knew that, but have you looked more carefully at how relatively bad a state it's in, and why? It doesn't seem like anyone has been asking that question lately, and it's arguably a factor in causing the situation to get this bad.
Recently, people have been marvelling at Andy Murray, the teenage Scottish sensation, who apparently signals a return to the elite for British tennis. Maybe he will be a player right at the top in the very near future, but what about the other British tennis players? Seasoned pros Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski are on their last legs, and the other two players in the British top 5 are Richard Bloomfield and Alex Bogdanovic, whose low profiles (indicated by the fact that you've never heard of them) are well deserved. But wait until you've seen the British ladies top 5: Anne Keothavong, Melanie South,
Katie O'Brien, Amanda Keen, and Sarah Borwell. Unless you're a keen follower of the qualifying rounds of tournaments, I'll bet you've never heard of these people. The five aforementioned men will prob-
The weather is the obvious one that most people will try to pin the blame on, and you can't really argue
ably make up the Great Britain team in the Davis Cup tie against Holland, and that match is in the Euro/African Zone. This means that Britain is currently nowhere near the best 16 nations who play in the Davis Cup proper ie the World Group.
When I looked into this, in 2002 I came up with some interesting facts. The UK had eleven players in the top 500, one in the top 20, and zero in the top 10. Contrast that with
Spain who had forty-nine in the top 500, four in the top 20, three in the top 10, and two in the top 5 players in the world. I'm sure you'll agree that's pretty impressive. In fact in my study of the top 13 tennis playing countries, only Switzerland,	Holland,
Thailand, and Chile had fewer players than Britain in the top 500. This means we were behind countries such as Czech Republic and Argentina.
So what's changed since then? First of all, the top 5 men in 2002 were Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Carlos Moya, and...Roger Federer! The top 5 currently consist of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Roddick, and Fernando Gonzales. The UK now has one in the top 500, one in the top 20, and zero above that. At best, that's no more than a minor improvement. There's not much point in me giving you the figures for all of the countries I mentioned above, but I think it's worth comparing with Spain again, which had the most favourable numbers in 2002. Spain now has thirty-eight in the top 500, three in the top 20, two in the top 10, and one in the top 5. These numbers still put Britain to shame, and Spain is still the dominant force in the top 20.
There are several possible root causes for these embar-
rassing figures. The weather is the obvious one that most people will try to pin the blame on, and you can't really argue with that. Parts of Spain seem to be sunny almost all day and night, whilst Britons are lucky to see the sun for half the day even in the summertime. Shorter and colder days could also be a factor. Also, and possibly more problematically, Britain does not have a tennis culture. Tennis is seen, for the most part, as a fun activity that you undertake on a Sunday summer afternoon. Alas that's not
a winning formula for identifying, honing and carrying through a world-beater. Tennis also ranks behind football and rugby in schools. This means that few schools have dedicated tennis facilities, as they do for football and rugby. You can't just play tennis anywhere like you can with football. Solutions to these could be to build more indoor facilities that don't price out the lower income brackets, and improve the opportunities to play at school. That's where you are most likely to find people who
have natural ability, but who couldn't afford to do so, or didn't even know they had it. Easier said than done, perhaps, but no-one really seems to be saying it at all.
I'm sure you can think of other issues that need to be addressed for us to produce our own Roger Federer, or even someone half as good as him. Murray has the potential, but we need more hopefuls to be sure that British tennis has a successful future, or any kind of future at all.
m
22	leaver [ 13 February 2007				SPORTS
					
IbaPunter
Alternative sports
Matthew
JCG Partridge
There are two big events that are about to take place in the next few weeks. The first one is obviously the Oscars. However, I've covered the Oscars extensively in my last few columns so I doubt that you want to hear about them again. This leaves the ICC World Cup. Although the fact that sixteen teams are participating makes it difficult to handicap we can safely eliminate Holland, Canada, Bermuda, Ireland, Scotland from the running. Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Kenya are also very unlikely to win, although punters may have gone a bit too far in the odds offered. We can also eliminate New Zealand, India from the remaining seven due to their poor form. Although I appreciate that home advantage is always important I would suggest that you can eliminate the West Indies as well since their over-reliance on an aging Brian Lara makes them vulnerable.
This leaves South Africa, Pakistan, England, Sri Lanka and Australia. I don't think Sri Lanka have a good enough team and I don't really rate Australia's bowling attack without either Wame or McGrath. Therefore I am backing South Africa, Pakistan and England on Betfair.com at traditional odds of (7.2/1), (9.5/1), (12.5/1) respectively. This is because all of these three teams have both plenty of bowling and batting talent, especially England and Pakistan. Indeed, William Hill's offer of a commission-free bet of (14/1) on England winning makes the odds on England even better. Because of this offer I would only advise using Betfair.com for backing South Africa and Pakistan. If you weigh each bet so that your winnings are equal on each team (so that you place relatively more on the team with the shorter odds) this will translate into a straight bet on the three teams with traditional odds of (2.52/3).
If yop are prepared to cover your position after the first round, I would also advise putting some money down on Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Kenya since at least one of them will qualify for the final six and their odds will consequently shorten dramatically. However, this strategy is not for the faint hearted and if they do progress into the final six, I don't suggest that you keep the money on the table.
Use any advice given here at your own risk and don't gamble what you cannot afford to lose. Columnist(s) may have positions in wagers mentioned. Prices quoted are correct at time of going to press.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a Nokia 3210
r Jk S^RTSDESK
Gabs Butu

It's not about how slim it is, how many mega-pixels it has or even whether it works: it's about how far it goes, and we're not talking battery life either. You'll do better with mega-pecs as opposed to mega-pixels, and 'a 3210 will out-do the latest Samsung any day'. The sport brought to you by the very fathers of modern day mobile communications technology, the Finns, has found its way onto our shores, with the first UK Mobile Phone Throwing Championships taking place last Summer and another to come this year.
The 'sport' entails flinging a cellular phone (preferably heavy, old and no longer in J use) across a field, the win-/ ner evidently being the person that throws it the fur-1 thest. Working class heroes,* football hooligans and ' couch potatoes step^ forward ¦jva. please:
any.
one c a n"
enter and^
as the organisers state, "This is your chance to ' become a UK Champion".
Last year's victor by a comfortable margin was Chris Hughff, who hurled his handset close to the entire length of a football field - 92.3 meters - in the process setting a new national record. He was agonizingly close to Mikko Lampi of Finland's world record of 94.7 meters.
The throwing of mobiles in a competitive setting has taken the alternative sports world by storm, sweeping across Europe and gathering increased popularity with each competition. Obviously, those ingenious Finns have taken to it like fish to water . They've developed different strains of the sport; 'Original', where length of throw is all that counts and 'Fi'eestyle', where length, style, aesthetics and 'creative choreographies' are all factors in determining a winner. They've even got a junior event: according to organisers, "The children are thrilled ; to be allowed to throw 1, away	those
expensive
, phones". In J addition, the
Netherlands has particularly embraced the activity, with one of the small nation's major cell-phone networks setting up its own tournament with some great prizes and a good level of media coverage.
To most, save the radically competitive folk out there and those of us that are lucky enough to possess the innate ability to lob a cell-phone a long way, mobile phone throwing is purely a novelty. It does nevertheless serve a noble purpose: charity. "According to estimates, 75 million mobile phones are languishing in cupboards and drawers across the UK. Placed end-to-end, these would stretch the entire length of the Great Wall of China almost five times over. These phones can either be recycled for their materials or donated to poorer countries".
If your interest has been sparked by this unorthodox implementation of the cellular phone , the UK championships are set to be held at the Tooting ^B e c
"Athletics Complex in South London, some time in August. The location of training sessions may prove slightly problematic; safety and self-dignity being potential issues.
And you thought "The Extreme Ironing World Championships" showed ingenious use of a household item.
Cricket
"The Highland fling
England can celebrate now!
SPORTSDESK
Alex Small
It's funny how quickly
things change in sport.
Commentators and pundits make a living (or, in-the case of this humble unpaid hack, the occasional rude comment on The Beaver's website) joyfully proclaiming the ' terminal decline of their teams, writing things like 'tour of woe', 'my mum could bowl better than him' and 'absolutely crap'. The recent history of both England's cricket and rugby teams would seem to be a case in point. A year ago, England rugby was a complete shambles, so bad that the only rational response was one of utter disbelief and quiet, sorrowful reflection on how the mighty had fallen. Similarly, England's cricket team only two weeks ago was enduring its third successive month of playground bullying at the hands of Australia, and had only won one game on tour.
But, thank God, some of our national sportsmen evidently have more backbone than our supremely overpaid footballers. Unbeaten after the second week of the six nations,
Jonny Wilkinson and co. can look forward to Ireland next week with some hope, although their 20-7 victory against Italy on Friday was admittedly less than convincing. Both Phil Vickery, England's new captain, who looks like a bricklayer, and the coach Brian Ashton expressed some regret that England were unable to convert pressure into points against a strong Italian defence.
But with the return of experienced players like Mike Tindall, Jason Robinson and, of course, Jonny Wilkinson, the feeling is that England are a competitive team again. In particular, with Wilkinson wearing the number ten, as the Italy game seems to demonstrate, England don't even have to play that well to win. I was at Twickenham for England vs Scotland on the Friday before last, and towards the end of the game the importance of this was revealed to me. The sky had gone dark over the stadium and England were stretching their lead at every opportunity and Wilko was in his trademark squat preparing to kick for goal. In that moment of stillness, thousands of camera flashes all over the ground lit up the stadium as everyone tried to get a piece of the returning hero. Running back to his team after bagging
another three points, Wilkinson got not a nod from his team mates. To the rugby watching public, he has become an almost messianic figure; now, in his resurrection, every bit as good as he was before. To his team mates, he's just doing his job.
England's return to the game of rugby has, if anything, been less surprising than England's dramatic comeback victory in the one-day series against Australia. England sealed an impressive first finals win over Australia on Friday with a no less determined performance on Sunday in the Sydney rain (it does rain in Australia, apparently), winning by 34 runs. And the tables seemed to have comprehensively turned on the Aussies when they found themselves in
Screw you, you Aussie bastards, you can stick the Ashes up your arse
the most Pom-like position of 5 for 63 after twelve overs, courtesy of some fine opening bowling from Liam Plunkett. Andrew Flintoff had another good game back as skipper, scoring 42 and taking the decisive wicket of 'Mr Cricket' Mike Hussey for a duck, only a week or so after Duncan Fletcher had admitted that Flintoff performed better without the captaincy.
But it was Paul Collingwood's performance that was once again the catalyst for victory. Having driven England's successful run-chase of 252 last Friday with a masterful 120 not out, Collingwood impressed again on Sunday, scoring 70 and taking two wickets. Collingwood is one of those players who, not possessing a classic cover drive or flowing footwork, will always be vjrritten off in by the purists during a period of bad form. What he lacks in style, however, he makes up for with determination and absolute professionalism. Most of all, he certainly seems to enjoy sticking it to the Aussies. At Adelaide in the second match of the test series, Collingwood's magnificent 200 was followed by a terrible England crash and bum and one can only speculate as to what effect that might haw had on him. And then, at Sydney in the final test, he
made the mistake of sledging Shane Warne and received a bit of a humiliation, as Warne sledged back about Collingwood's MBE and dedicated his 71 to him, Australia winning by ten wickets. But form has returned for Collingwood and other key players and with it they have made the Warne-less Australia look ordinary.
In both these tales there is perhaps a lesson to be had. Sport, like life, goes up and down, and the temptation to gloat at the return to winning ways is immense. This is especially true with the cricket and England's recent catalogue of embarrassing defeat. At the end of the Ashes, an Australian tabloid printed the following statement with vitriolic glee: 'This time, the last time, there'll be no relief until the shell of the English cricket team lays on the SCG turf, picked bare of wings, legs and barely squirming, a chorus line of Aussie Terminators dancing around the torso'. Except that hasn't happened. In fact, England won, and the temptation to gloat is in fact so enormous that I am going to do exactly that. Screw you, you Aussie bastards, you can stick the Ashes up your arse and I don't see any Aussie Terminators now. Ah, that feels better!
+
SPORTS
Running
Beaver | 13 February 2007 23
Runners brave barbarian frontier
Sports resultsp jn brief .......ll,;:
Charlie Dougherty
I realize I'm not a native and don't understand the subtleties of the English psyche, but when I was told that the running team was in the London College League, I admit that I was naive and thought the league would be in London. It is for the most part, but when I heard that we would be oft to Reading on some frozen February afternoon, I thought "Wow!
This must be some important race!"
Well it isn't. Yet it is the venue where you see the real runners,
those that don't mind going outside the M25 to wear short shorts and gloves at the same time. LSE had one
Teann of the week
of the largest male turnouts, with seven undergrads and one sturdy lecturer showing up. However, the Women's team was nowhere to be found. Some of them were struck by the six hour flu, which prevented them from running but not (thank god) from missing the ULU social that evening. Strong characters, they are. And the rest of the team? They know who they are, and I know where they live.
Despite the lack of a women's team, the men made LSE proud and kept up the pace. The course had only one hill, but ¦ by the end of the race you had gone up it six times. The race started brilliantly, timed f to correspond with	the
release of about fifty 12 year olds from school, and one of them, being a delightful school child, decided to put his lardy ass right in our path. But after a few elbows found his face

he learned his lesson, and I learned that Schadenfreude's a wonderful thing.
Team captain Tom "my legs are much longer than yours" Beedell had a strong start, coming around the first lap in 4th and finishing a solid 6th. Lawrence Leong kept it casual, finishing 24th. He was followed closely by this writer in 30th, James May in his traditional Neon Hot Pants at 31st (believe it or not he's single, ladies) and Andy "Wouldn't it be nice to breathe out of my nose" Hardman was in 32nd. Sam Martin closed out the field at 42nd, and sadly
a delightful school child decided to put his lardy ass right in our path
Michael Lui had to pull out with an injury.
All said and done, it was a typical race, the fast were fast, the not so fast were slow, and there were dogs everywhere threatening to trip you up. It was the first LCL race of the season, and for many the transition to racing again was painful. For me it was also a journey of self-discovery. I discovered that Reading isn't an hour and a half away and there isn't border control on the M25, despite what I was told. The funny things you learn traveling outside the countr—I mean, city.
lentre back - 7ths
Adier-Full back-4ths
Kouppas - Centre mid -7ths


Football heads represent losers whose pictures I can't see on Facebook
- left wing - 6th5
Men's Hockey Ists lost to Imperial Medics in the quarter finals of the ULU cup. The score was 1-1 and 1-3 after penalties
Ladies 1st IV tennis
7-3 victory over Imperial Finished 2nd in BUSA league 1 and qualified for BUSA knockout trophy
Playing against a team we had previously lost to, the girls showed true conviction and put on a show that combined great entertainment and great tennis. - Sanch
Men's Football
LSE 7ths 2 London School Pharmacy 1
of
Women's Rugby
LSE 49 St.George's 5 LSE 15
Middlesex Uni 5
Netball
ULU Reserve final
LSE 2nds 17 UCL 2nds 51
cup semi
We've been given loads of walkovers this week - maybe the other universities ar? too afraid to pUy us?! -Libby Meyer
Men's Rugby
LSE 3rds 45 St. Barts 17
Women's hockey
Are the BUSA SE 4a league Champions! ;¦
iker - 6ths
+
Embarrasing handset? Rurm|iig
Sublime Sixes win, RUMS whinge
Nathan Capone & Rich Morrow
LSEFC 6's RUMS 4th.s St Albans
Rums 4ths are wankers. No other word can really do them better justice. Twats is too mild and although cunts would also be fitting it might be going as far to suggest that they are on the same level as the bone-headed, ill-educated morons on the Queen Mary team.
It's not that they try to break our legs in tackles or give us any nasty foul-mouthed abuse, they just whinge. The moaning, whining, griping and protesting didn't stop for the entire match. In fact, it even continued after it. At the slightest hint of bodily contact, they would complain to the referee, like that kid at primary school who would always grass you up to the teachers if you swore.
And just to'
labour their point, they would frequently dive in a style not unlike a cross between a gunshot victim, an Olympic springboard champion, and Cristiano Ronaldo. Of course they had no problem with dishing out bad tackling themselves; Bobby was unfortunate enough to take a knee right in the family jewels. The RUMS responded with a sportsmanlike "For fuck's sake get up". One only hopes that this isn't the way in which these student medics will treat their patients when they become doctors: "For fuck's sake get up", "But my leg's been cut oft..." "Get up, stop faking". We would particularly like to single out their ginger knob of a captain and their lippy striker with the receding hairline for being a pair of prize wankers.
So it was all immensely satisfying when the Sixes emerged victorious at the final whistle. Not that we made it easy on ourselves: proceedings began ominously when train cancellations meant that the trip to St. Albans had to be completed by a walk, two buses, a train, a taxi and a jet ski. Matters were not helped when	the
RUMS captain started sending skipper Rich menacing text messages, threatening that if we didn't get there by 2:30, we'd forfeit the game. We'd like to reiterate: wanker. Nor were we helped by the absence of centre-back Rob. He'd managed to get lost in a field somewhere (literally), whilst attempting to follow an ordinance survey map, which Rich, our resident geographer and (clearly) an expert on maps, had sent round in an e-mail.
The play was scrappy and chances were few and far between. 'Steady' Eddy surged forward from his left-back position and sent a curling shot just barely high and wide. Rich attempted to show him how it was done, and was similarly close from twenty yards minutes later. Unluckily, Bobby had to see his volley tipped around the post by an (admittedly superb) save by the RUMS keeper. Who is also a wanker, At twenty minutes, Drela found himself on the edge of the area with the ball perfectly teed up for a crisp volley; he let the ball fly, and fly it did, off for a throw-in. Full marks for effort.
: Ihcy would c^jniplain to the referee like that kid at pri-maiy school who would always grass you up to the teachers
anyway.
So it was left for our strikers to open the scoring. Nathan 'Brownie' Muruganadan terrorized the defence like Hezbollah (too soon?) a mazy run put him one-on-one with the keeper but he was unable to get the finishing touch, leaving birthday-boy Robyn to tuck the ball away. The 6's looked on top but as we often do, somehow nodded off at the back like we'd been slipped some Rohypnol, letting one RUMS striker stroke a ball across the goal for the other to stick into the net and equalize.
Disappointed, but not discouraged, the second half started brightly and the 6's went on the attack. Erlend was tireless down the right wing and Bobby probably covered a distance equivalent to the Tour de France throughout the match. Yet it was debutante goalkeeper Joe Wilkins who was at the top of his game, injured since trials last term with a broken finger, he made several crucial saves at the feet of onrushing RUMS players. The 6's defence was bolstered when Rob finally escaped from the field he was trapped in and slotted into the
With renewed confidence, the 6's went for the winner and duly got their reward when Brownie dashed through the defence and slotted deftly past the keeper. Not that it was over by any means. It took a heroic backwards diving save from Wilko to tip a twenty yard drive over the bar like a bodyguard taking a bullet (the slow-motion replay actually shows	him	going
"nooooooo...").
Jann and Ollie put in crunching tackles in midfield to ensure that RUMS didn't get near the goal again (by this stage they were putting double axels into their dives). The RUMS referee also did his best to fuck with the clock: "How long mate?""About twenty seconds." He called full-time about ten minutes later. Wanker. It didn't matter, the 6's were into the quarters and as happy as Gary Glitter would be if he discovered that he had the internet in his prison cell. RUMS continued to whinge even after the final whistle, complaining that we had ringers on our team. That's right, we're all Chelsea under twenty-ones in disguise. Wankers.


i

$


I	^
m : N





bet I'll find you in our room tomorrow having a sneaky old flick," Kathryn Nixon ,	. i
A Rude Awakening
Members of staff from PuLSKfm were broadcasting as pari of their RAGnthon from midnight on Monday when the hhickout disrupted their shows.
The RAGathon is an annual RAG week event, during wliich PuLSKfm broadcast non-stop for one week. The broadcast was disrupted by the bh>ckout at approximately 1:30 am. Due to RA-(iathon rules stating that PuLSEfm staff arc not allowed to leave the building PuLSKfm "staff slept in the New Theatre.
They were woken up hitcr on morning by security and asked to leave the campus due to the School being closed for the day.
Broadcasting for the RAGathon resumed at midnight on Monday.
Ali Moussavi, News Editor



Anti-clockwise from top:
1) Fire Service pumping out water from submerged power sub-station, 2) High velocity pumps working overtime, 3) King's College chaos, 4) Students outside Old Building excited about a day off, .¦5) The building above which the sub-station is located
^^eaver I i3~February^ 2007


AGListings
street Collections: Haggles will be out and about all week with tins either collecting donations on Houghton Street or raiding target zones around the neighbourhood to try to raise as much as possible! To get involved, visit the RAG stall in the Quad.
BAG Sale: Visit the RAG stall in the Quad between 10am-4pm to check out our fabulous line of RAG merchandise. We've got two types of classic RAG tshirts in 6 different colours as well as redesigned RAG pint glasses. New for this year, we've also got glow-in-the-dark RAG wristbands which let you skip the queue at RAG CRUSH this Friday!
RAGathon: PuLSEfm will be broadcasting live from the Quad all week as part of their RAGathon festivities. Visit them and cast your vote for which LSE celeb you want to get GUNKED!
RAGreels: Come down to the Quad or visit loosetv.co.uk to see a selection of shortfilms themed around 'A Helping Hand'. Vote for your favourite by donating to RAG.
Big Beaver: Big Beaver is back and better than ever this year. Visit the House by traveling through the Quad to Squash Court 3 and be sure to check out the final event on Friday at 8 in the Underground Bar
Library Fines for BAG: For all of week 6, library late fines can be paid to LSESU RAG week. Visit the service counters and pay your built-up fines: it's an easy way to contribute to RAG!
BAG Week Blind Date: Fill out a questionnaire and be matched up with your soul mate! Eternal happiness in return for a £4 donation, what more could you want? Contact Sahar at s.zafar@lse.ac.uk to sign up.
6pm - 8pm 7pm
RAG Biryani Eating Competition:" How many plates of rice can you eat in one sitting?" come and watch the LSE's bravest eaters try to down as much food as they can to raise money for RAG. [Quad]
liance Show: "So you think you can dance?" the annual dance society show. Come and see a range of stylos of dance being performed in this spectacular show.You might even get to join in... £3 in advance (buy from SU Reception). £4 on the door. Doors open: G:45pm. Performance: 7pm. All proceeds to RAG [Old Theatre)
qS
LU ^
52
8pm
RAG @ AU: Our collections teams will be out at AU Wednesday night to raise as much money as possible through wacky games and collection tins.
p 4pm - 5pm
5.30pm
Dpm - 8pm
7pm - 11pm
3pm - 7pm
u_ VD
8pm - 2am
RAGforum: "Terrorism, Torture and Trident: The many functions of International Law" with Christopher Greenwood QC. £1 donation required for admission. [Hong Kong Theatre]
RAG Pro-Evo 6 Tournament: Group stage matches. To enter sign up on Houghton Street at ISOC stall on Monday and Tliesday. Entry £4. Winners receive paintballing tickets for themselves and seven friends. (V303 and S300]
RAGreels Grand Finale: now that you've checked out the short films at www.looselv.co.uk and in the Quad throughout the week, come to the grand finale to hear from the filmakers themselves and hear the winner announced! [New Theatre]
RAGoff: Pay £1 to RAG to battle against others to be crowed "king / queen of the dance". Part of Dance Society Paily. Free if you purchased a ticket for the Dance Show (bring ticket) otherwise £1 members, £2 non-members. A free drink for the first 100 people who arrive. Free food at 7pm, [Underground Bar]
RAGcrawl: Join us for the annual RAG Week pubcrawl as we travel the city in fancy dress stopping visiting pubs to collect donations (and have drinks, of course). Meet at 3pm to join a team and be assigned a route. [The Three Ibns]
RAG Pro-Evo 6 Tournament: Knock-out round matches. To enter sign up on Houghton Street at ISOC stall on Monday and Tuesday. Entiy £4. Winners receive paintballing tickets for themselves and seven friends. [U103 and U203]
Dance Show: "So you think you can dance?" the annual dance society show. Come and see a range of styles of dance being performed in this spectacular show. You might even get to join in... £3 in advance (buy from SU Reception). £4 on the door. Doors open: 6:45pm. Performance: 7pm. All proceeds to RAG [Old Theatre]
Big Beaver Final: Come down and see the monies tallied and the winner of Big Beaver 2007 announced! [Underground Bar]
BAG Crush! There will be all kinds of RAG activities happening at CRUSH including boat races, bottle races, and even some good old fashioned RAG collecting. Wear your RAG wristband and get free queue-jump!
o
C/2
3
MONDAY-THURSDAY, 01:00 - 03:00
BIKE - I'm teaching Dan Dolan to ride a bike over the course of the week, if he fails to ride down Houghton street on Friday then he has to give us £100.
TUESDAY, 12:00
WORLD BECOBD - PuLSEfm will be attempting to break a world record. It will not be official as we were unable to get the adjudicator in for it.
TUEDAY, 14:00
LSE IBON MAN - rugby, football, hockey and martial arts go head to head and put through rigorous challenges to find LSEs Iron Man.
WEDNESDAY. 14:00
BLIND DATE - traditional Cilia Black style.
WEDNESDAY, 20:00 - 00:00
VALENTINES - live valentines double date, so if your lonesome this year tune in to hear pulsefm fall in love!! THURSDAY, 14:00 & 22:00; FRIDAY, 14:00
HACK IDOL - 4 hacks/sabbs/celebs recording a 'single' on Tuesday, these will be played on thurs between 2 and 10, with the winner being announced at 10 pm. The winner will then play live on IViday at 2.30 on the stage.
FRIDAY, 15:00
GUNKING - Sabbatical officers getting gunked with brunch bowl leftovers - throughout the week all the money raised in the quad through song requests and general collection will be placed into the bucket of choice jiepending on whom they want to see gunked.
PRESEHrS TH£ SHORT FllM FESTtl V At FOR CHARTrY
"RIMSBASiDONTHE ,<E'-A.HElWbiS+jAKD
ID ^ ^ ygy
SFETHEMO.SLlN'E ANDfNTHEOJJAD
VOTE FOR YOUR FAVOURITE BY EXJNATINGTIQRAG
WWWXOOSETV.CO.UK
FINALE - THURSDAY I5TH FEBRUARY «PM IN THtNEW TUfATRE
The films will be airing all week on a dedicated TV in the Quad and also on the website. In the Quad you'll be able to vote for your favourite film by donating money to that particular film's ¦bucket. All proceeds go to the RAG Week causes: Medecins sans jFrontieres, Great Ormond St Hospital, and Link Community pevelopment.
Then on Thursday come join us for the RAG Reels Finale, where all the films will be screened along with gag reels and a chance to hear from all of the filmmakers. Then the winner of RAG Reels 2007 will be revealed! £1 entry fee; naturally it goes to charity.