A record-breaking audience witnessed a cultural extravaganza at the Hammersmith Apollo last Wednesday Full story, page 4 Photo: Vincent Mok _ Applicants shun LSE for 2011 entry Time for Timeless Saim /fiiJsS THEB1MOCIETY Ideological srnokescSjmmrBurkeian blueprint? Comment page 7 The Beaver 8 February 2011 Newspaper of the LSE Students' Union thebeaveronline .co.uk twitter, com/beaver onli ne Oliver Wiseman Despite a dramatic drop in the number of undergraduate applications for 2011 entry, the LSE maintains that "both the quality and quantity of applicants to the LSE remain excellent". A document presented to the Academic Planning and Resources Committee on 18th January reported a 7 per cent decrease in overall undergraduate applications on last year. UK undergraduate applications were down 16 per cent on the same time last year, and EU undergraduate applications fell by 2 per cent over the same period. Overseas undergraduate applications rose by 2 per cent, and postgraduate applications climbed by 9 per cent. The paper provided "a comparative overview of the student recruitment situation at 11th January 2011 as against the same point last year". The deadline for domestic undergraduate applications was the 15th January. The school remains defiant in spite of the lower numbers. Catherine Baldwin, the LSE's head of recruitment and admissions, told the Beaver, "The LSE operates in an extremely competitive environment and we are not complacent about the level of undergraduate applications this year. We continue to monitor the situation. However, we are confident that the standard and number of applicants here is very healthy." The LSE's drop in applicant numbers stands at odds with a nationwide surge in undergraduate applications. UCAS has reported a 5.1 per cent increase in the number of students looking to begin studies in September. Undergraduates enrolling in 2011 will be the last students to pay under the current fee structure. LSE Students' Union General Secretary Charlotte Gerada told the Beaver there is "a widespread expectation that applications to university are set to soar before the increase in fees is instituted for 2012 entry - so this decrease definitely comes as a surprise." Baldwin cited tougher entry standards at the school as an explanation for fewer undergraduate applications. "While the number of undergraduate applications have fallen by five per cent on the same time last year, this is largely due to the fact that we have increased our A-level entry requirements for 17 programmes, almost half of our undergraduate portfolio," Baldwin told the Beaver. "This means that some people who would have applied to the LSE in previous years...no longer meet the entry requirements and therefore do not apply" she said. The document echoes this analysis, noting that degree programmes that have introduced an A* requirement at A-level, such as economics and law, have experienced the largest decreases in applications. Six key Russell Group "competitor institutions" have reported a 1 per cent decrease in applicants, according to aggregated data included in the report. The report also points to a "more targeted analysis" indicating a 4 per cent decrease for "subject groupings which map onto our subject profile". Baldwin said, "We have compared our application rates with those of our main competitors and they have also seen a drop in many of those subjects that we offer". Gerada has raised concerns about the demographics of applicants for 2011 entry. "It would be reassuring for LSE Admissions to do further investigation into possible reasons for this reduction, and the makeup of the incoming student population, to assess if the increase in entry requirements has had a negative impact on student diversity", she told the Beaver. The report notes that "the UK [applicant] decrease is made up of a 16 per cent decrease in state school applications and a 20 per cent decrease in independent school applications." "Our selectors report that we have sufficient high-quality applications from state schools", said Baldwin, "We have seen that the decline in applications from independent schools has outstripped the decline in applications from state schools". Removal of Post-Study Work Visa would be "more damaging" than fee rise Bethany Clarke Heather Wang Senior Reporters LSE officials and Students' Union officers have spoken out in the last week against government proposals to alter the "post-study" programme for foreign students, which currently allows internationals to stay in the UK to work after graduation. The government's proposals call for a reduction in the number of migrants to the United Kingdom per year "from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands" and changes to, and potential termination, of the current Post-Study Work Visa programme. LSE Academic Registrar Simeon Underwood has described the government's recent proposal of changes to UK immigration policy as "driven by fear and a response to xenophobic attitudes in some parts of British society" and Underwood told the Beaver last week that the LSE has "heard informal statements by UK Border Agency (UKBA) officers saying that the implementation of the changes to the Post-Study Work Visas will not be immediate". The School is "pushing hard to get that in writing", Underwood added. Any changes to the Post-Study Work Visa programme would undoubtedly affect universities nationwide. But such changes are expected to have an especially strong impact at the LSE, due to the international nature of the School's student body, Underwood said. In the 2009-10 academic year, international students accounted for 41 per cent of the LSE's undergraduate population, and 59 per cent of the post-graduate population. International students provided 30 per cent of the School's income, according to Underwood. As such, School officials are concerned potential government policy deterring international students from applying to the LSE could drastically redefine the demographics of the School's student body, possibly leading to a significant gap in the School's finances, Underwood said. The Financial Times reported last week that the LSE recently conducted an anonymous survey of international students to gauge opinions about the possibility of changes to the visa system. Of the 1,800 responses received, 56 per cent of respondents indicated the Post-Study Work Visa programme was a factor in their decision to study at the LSE. The results proved higher among Indian and Chinese students. One participant wrote in the survey that the Post-Study Work programme was "an essential element of my decision to attend graduate school in the UK". "If the government follows the proposals through to their full extent it could be more damaging to us [the LSE] than the changes arising from the new fees regime", Underwood told the Beaver. continues on page 4 Report raises questions over Middle East Centre management Bethany Clarke Senior Reporter A report raising serious questions about the management committee of the LSE's Middle East Centre has recently been published by a non-profit, non-partisan organisation working to oppose extremism on university campuses. The report, authored by Student Rights, questions the appointment of LSE professors Martha Mundy and John Chalcraft to the Centre's management committee, claiming that their personal political affiliations "seriously undermine the role of the Centre", according to Ra-heem Kassam, director of Student Rights. The report accuses neither Mundy nor Chalcraft of racism or anti-Semitism. The Middle East Centre, founded in October 2010, is a "multidisciplinary research centre focusing on modern Middle Eastern cultures, societies, economies and international relations", according to the LSE website. Upon the Centre's founding, LSE Director Howard Davies said the School would invite individuals who "share our values of impartiality and academic freedom to examine the LSE's strength in Middle East studies, and to contribute materially to the Centre's development". This is not the first time Mundy has received criticism this academic year. At a debate concerning an academic boycott of Israel, held this term, Mundy allegedly said she could "slap" the Vice President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. She has admitted to the use of such language, but denies using it in a threatening manner. Last December, Mundy chaired an LSE event with the pan-Arab newspaper editor Abdel Bari Atwan, which resulted in many students walking out in protest and sparked a police investigation into allegations of anti-Semitism. The report also questions John Chal-craft's appointment as Manager of the Middle East Centre. Chalcraft, a professor in the Department of Government, participated in the academic boycott debate, which was co-hosted by the Students' Union's Israel and Palestine societies, in which he spoke in favour of an academic boycott of Israel. Chalcraft has described Israel as a "heavily militarised, nuclear armed, expansionist apartheid state with extensive illegal settlement, land seizure and wall-building activity". Chalcraft is treasurer of the British Committee for Universities for Palestine (BRICUP), which also supports an academic boycott of Israel while encouraging academics to break their professional links with the country. Mundy is a co-convener for BRICUP. The Student Rights report claims Chalcraft and Mundy's participation in the boycott movement runs "against the principles of the LSE's Middle East Centre". "The Centre includes Israel in its definition of the region, yet both academics are committed to the omission of Israeli institutions within their research", according to the report. The report ends with several recommendations for the LSE, suggesting the School review its management of the centre, "opting away from vested interests in the name of impartiality". The report also suggests the Centre diversify its funding stream to avoid accusations of bias based on financial sources. The centre is currently funded by the Emirates Foundation and The Aman . Trust. A spokesperson for the LSE told the Beaver the School stands by its management of the Middle East Centre. "The Middle East Centre is committed to rigorous research and scholarship through the scrupulous preservation of its academic independence" the spokesperson said. The spokesperson defended the decision to include Mundy and Chalcraft as managers of the Centre: "There is a distinction between the policy of an institution and the views of individual academics, who retain their freedom of opinion, and hold diverse views on many subjects. This variety can help provide collective strength and balance in dealing with controversial matters". "More than twenty academics are involved in the Middle East Centre, through it is a research group and management group, and all of them are outstanding scholars of the region", the spokesperson added. » continues on page 4 I ~t(^M 8R The Beaver 8 February 2011 Editorial Board Executive Editor Sachin Pate! e4itor@thebeaverQiiline.co.uk Managing Editor Oliver Wiseman managing@thebeaveroniine.co.uk News Editors Nicola Alexander Lauren Fedor netv8faHhebeaveronline.co.uk Comment Editor Rimmel Mohydin commentfaithebeaveronline.co.uk Features Editors Bianca Nardi Alexander Young features@thebeaveronline.co.uk Social Editor Benjamin Butterworth 80cial@tl1ebeaver0nlinc.c0.uk Sport Editors Matthew Box Rome Boyle sports@thebeaveronline.co.uk PartB Editor Kerry-Rose O'Donnell Jonathan Storey partb@tJsebeaver0nline.co.uk Photo Editor Aisha Doherty photo@thebeaveronline.co.uk Design Editor Ahmed Alani design@thebestveronline.co.uk Web Editor Liam Brown web@thebeaveronline.co.uk General Manager Pcrn-Yi Quah info(aithebeaverontine.co.uk Collective Chair Luke Smolinski coliective@thebeaveronline.co.11k The Beaver would like to thank the LSE students who contributed to this issue. The Beaver is published by the London School of Economics' Students' Union, East Building, Houghton Street, WC2A 2 AE. Printed at Guardian Print Centre, Rick Roberts Way, Stratford, London E15 2GN. The Beaver uses pictures from flickr.com which have been issued under a Creative Commons license. The Beaver is printed on 100% recycled paper. In 2006, recycled paper made up 79% of UK newspaper raw materials. Please recycle your copy. 9 C^jph'ccrifcni Get involved in The Beaver www.tinyurl.c0m/2010beaver 02079556705 East Building LSE Students' Union London WC2A 2AE JL x Guess vje'u. THKE THAT CSi£ THEM The Beaver fAantsaicfrJsfr Established in 1949 Issue No. 743 Telephone: 0207 955 6705 Email: editor@thebeaveronline.co.uk Spurious correlation Another week, another inane protest. This time, the lucky recipient of our Students' Union's finest was Greek -education minister Anna Diamantopoulou; the venue, once again the Sheikh Zayed Theatre (see page 3). It seems this tribute to the colourful figure regarded as the architect of the United Arab Emirates has of late taken on a life fitting its back story. Ms. Diamantopoulou had the misfortune to inherit a war chest entirely emptied by years of incompetent governance. Howard Davies is often keen to highlight the number of world leaders who have learnt their trade at the LSE; perhaps he will be more circumspect of this accolade given the number of discredited Greek politicians who once strolled among the olive groves of Aldwych. Ms. Diamantopoulou is a minister made of sterner stuff: recognising the dire state of the public finances, which required bail-outs from the international community, she has embarked on a journey of unpopular but ultimately necessary spending cuts in her area of control. All of this makes the picture of higher education in Greece wholly incomparable with that in the UK; consequently, this newspaper is entirely baffled as to why some of our own dear leaders deemed her appearance at the LSE worthy of demonstration. We are understandably cool towards the coalition government's swingeing cuts to higher education, especially since its programme of action is poised to deliver a frustrating in-year cut to the School's teaching and research grants (see page 3). But regardless of one's position on the financial landscape in the UK, any rational being would surely observe how very different the situation is in Greece, and why that situation would necessitate more drastic action. Thus, in our view, the protest, limp and ineffective as it was, represented the nadir of logical thought. We applaud Ms. Diamantopoulou for remaining unflus-tered, though faced by obviously clueless audience members. One area where we will happily stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Students' Union is their campaign against changes to regulations for post-study work visas (see page 1), previously issued to graduates in recognition of the future contributions they would make to our economy. In this newspaper's view, these changes are doubly dangerous: not only will they pose an unavoidable threat to this year's finalists who happen to be domiciled abroad, but they will also act as a strong disincentive to potential applicants in the future, who may think twice about applying to the LSE if they know their prospects of staying in the country after completing their studies have been significantly reduced. Though we are loath to offer as pessimistic an outlook as the School's registrar, we recognise Mr. Underwood's concerns as being valid, and strongly urge the government to reconsider. This newspaper recognised the argument for raising the cap on tuition fees; however, to meddle with too many elements of the system at one time is a recipe for disaster - the radical overhaul of the NHS being a prime example. We understand there needs to be a mechanism by which our schools can raise their game and produce more attractive candidates for universities, but the right method is not to force universities to play their hand by removing, at a stroke, favourable conditions for overachieving foreign students. Even if the potential shortfall in funding can be plugged by higher tuition fees, that does not make it the best policy to pursue. The answer lies in more effective investment in full-time education, which will give us the strong British teenagers who can compete in a global market for education. Back when the UGM was fun (and Jack Tindale but a Yorkshire urchin), this newspaper remembers some resourceful students persuading the Students' Union to support a policy of giving interesting names to buildings and facilities in the School. Towers 1,2 and 3 may be functional, but they are also merely perfunctory. Ditto the Fourth Floor Restaurant, which replaced an architecturally moribund refectory blessed with a delightful name - the Brunch Bowl. Where is the ingenuity and wit in today's campus planners? And, more importantly, can the collective power of students be leveraged to enact real change? This newspaper will lend its support to any students willing to take on the challenge. Uf Collective Ajay Agarwal; Shrayans Agarwal; Presca Ahn; Raidev Akoi; Ahmed Alani; Nicola Alexander; Hasib Baber; Fadhil Bakeer-Markar; Pria Bakhshi; Vishal Banerjee; Ramsey Ben-Achour; Alex Blance; Matthew Box; Rosie Boyle; Nathan Briant; Liam Brown; James Bull; Georgina Butler; Benjamin Butterworth; Bobby Cee; Beth Cherryman; Bethany Clarke; Oliver Courtney; Tomas Da-Costa; Sara Downes; Eden Dwek; Hannah Dyson; Lauren Fedor; Leon Fellas; Allie Fonarev; Alice Leah Fyfe; Katy Galbraith; Yan Giet; Ben Grabiner; Siddharth George; Justin Gest; Ira Goldstein; Mira Hammad; Aula Hariri; Poorna Harjani; Yisum Heneghon; Charlie Hodgson; Tahiya Islam; Harriet Jackson; Judith Jacob; Felipe Jacome; Alex Jones; Megan Jones; Naeem Kapadia; Sam Tempest Keeping; Pooja Kesavan; Alizeh Kohari; Marion Koob; Vivek Kotecha; Anna Krausova; Ashok Kumar; Ashma Kunde; Daniel Lahey; Dominic Lam; Phyllis Lui; Nizar Manek; Filipe Henriques Martins; Jamie Mason; Duncan McKenna; Nitya Menon; Anna Mikeda; Rimmel Mohydin; Vincent Mok; Aditi Nangia; Bianca Nardi; Chu Ting Ng; Brett Noble; Mustafa Okur; Bryan Ong; Kyle Packer; Rhiannon Parkinson; Aameer Patel; Anup Patel; Jaynesh Patel; Rajan Patel; Sachin Patel; John Peart; Ahmed Peerbux; Reagan Persaud; Alex Peters-Day; Chloe Pieters; Hannah Polly Williams; Shrina Poojara; Danielle Priestley; Pern-Yi Quah; Rahim Rahemtulla; Annika Ranga; Anjali Raval; Ricky Ren; Aimee Riese; Chris Rogers; Leonora Rumsey; Conor Rushby; Ahman Sahni; Thienthai Sangkhaphanthanon; Amrita Saraogi; Benedict Sarhangian; Lukas Slothuus; Luke Smolinski; Katerina Soukeras; Jonathan Storey; Masaya Tanikawa; Andre Tartar; Pooja Thakrar; Kerry Thompson; Jack Tindale; Vladimir Unkovski-Korica; Aliabbas Virani; Heather Wang; Joseph Watson; Jonathan Weir; Chris Westgarth; Sam Williams; Matthew Willis; Chris Wilkins; Oliver Wiseman; Natalie Wong; Vincent Wong; David Woodbridge; Daniel Yates; Alexander Young; Calum Young; Sofia Zabolotskih; Mehek Zafar; Sadir Zayadine The Collective is The Beaver's governing body. You must have contributed three pieces of work, or contributed to the production of three issues of the paper (editorially or administratively), to qualify for membership. If you believe you are a Collective member but your name is not on the list above, please email Luke Smolmski Collective Chair col!ective(§)thebeaveironline.co.Oik Cued up In E204 Walking Far From Home - Iron & Wine I Never Learnt To Share - James Blake Regulate -Warren G ft. Nate Dogg Union Basho Mouthpieces--- That motion of mine, my friends proposed it without my assent - Tindale. Basho hails Jack Tindale, Democracy God, Competent UGM Chair Third Class, (Potty) Guardian ofBankside's Bathrooms etc., etc. GO GREEN WEEK 2011- The GREENEST, most ETHICAL week of the year! Gain a few freebies, meet some fabulous new people and learn a little bit more about how KP to LOVE the Planet. All round win. Check out www.isesu.comfor all th£ times, venues and other details Sustainable Munching Monday- * Launch of Meat Free Mondays * Organic Food Coop "Screening of The ir. _t« Turn-it-off Tuesday * Student Switch Off take over campus *Sustainable Revolution lecture and networking 4 ,..4 k JP Wellbeing Wednesday "Cycling cinema * Dr Bike on campus * Roof garden build s. * Thursday fashion frenzy * ReLovefair * Bead workshop * Petition-Ethical procurement k No-throw Friday * Ever Can Counts competition =PR!ZES "Carbon Speed dating with FREE gpttry to Crush Love the Planet Valentine's Day "Watch out for planet loving cupids taking over campus! I 2011 ratlin RAG-TINARY +1 News 8 February 2011 i The Beaver Lauren Fedor LSE officials say they are disappointed but not surprised by the recent announcement of major cuts to funding for university teaching, research and capital projects in the years ahead. Last Wednesday, 2nd February, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), which allocates government funding for teaching and research to British universities, announced nearly £1 billion in budget cuts for the 2011-12 academic year. For the first time, the HEFCE also told universities they will receive an in-year cut. That is, for the current academic year, universities will now receive £190 million less than they had planned. Teaching budgets will be reduced by £162 million; research funding, by £27.6 million. A spokesperson for the LSE told the Beaver the announced cuts are "disappointing, but not unexpected". The LSE will not alter its expenditure plans for the next two academic years, the spokesperson said. Instead, the School anticipates "reduced income resulting in less money to invest in improvements for future years", he said. For 2011-12, teaching budgets nationwide will be reduced by £180 million, or 4 per cent in cash terms, while research fUnding will be cut by £17.4 million, or 1.1 per cent in cash terms. Capital funding will see the most dramatic cuts, used for projects such as new buildings, of 58 per cent, in cash terms, to £223 million. Last academic year, univer- To cut or not to cut Nathan Briant Martin Wolf, associate editor and chief economics commentator for the Financial Times, joined LSE Professor Tim Besley and Dr Jonathan Hopkin for a public debate entitled "To Cut or Not to Cut: Debating the Comprehensive Spending Review" last Friday evening at the LSE. The event, held in the Old Theatre, was chaired by Professor Simon Hix of the LSE's Department of Government. The first speaker of the three, Wolf gave a presentation focusing on the apparent "fiscal deficits, unprecedented outside wartime", arguing the near-10 per cent GDP growth, which had been lost to the UK in the credit crunch and subsequent recession of the last couple of years, was likely to be permanent in its absence. Wolf also said it was unlikely there would be a huge expansion in tax rates, stressing people in the UK "don't want to pay taxes likes Swedes or French people". Wolf added, though, that while he was unsure the "end of the world is yet here", it was "impossible" to improve the current tax system. Besley's presentation sought to answer some of the questions posed by Wolf. Though the academic, who is a professor in the Department of Economics, did not agree with Wolf's assertion that the GDP loss was permanent, he said it was certain Britain was "in for a slow and difficult Besley also said the British public service provision is "creaking" and the tax system is "in a bad mess". He said he found the popular assertion that national insurance contributions and income tax were similar to be particularly worrying. Besley added, however, that he felt the current coalition government's position on cuts was largely understandable, considering the "political constraints they're under". He also emphasised the importance of looking at the macroeco-nomic, in addition to the microeconomic, circumstances in moving forwards from the credit crunch. In his presentation, Hopkin, a senior lecturer in the Department of Government, argued that, from a political science point of view, "we don't really know" what to do, even though there are "models [to choose from] that sound plausible". He added politicians can "lead up us the garden path" with "jolly phonics" in convincing the public certain action must be taken, because of the lack of knowledge or expertise of economics amongst the general public. There was little agreement among Friday's panelists as to whom the cuts would hit the hardest. For example, Hopkin said he believed increasing tuition fees and cuts to child benefits would be felt by the "very poorest', while Besley said because the university experience had been reduced to a middle-class pursuit, the middle-class would be forced to pay "the most" to reduce the deficit. recovery. Greek education minister brushes off demonstrators I School faces in- Luke Smolinski Tensions ran high at the LSE last week when Anna Diamantopoulou, Greece's minister for education, lifelong learning and religious affairs, delivered a public lecture at the School on Wednesday, 2nd February. Student protesters in the audience at Wednesday's lecture challenged the minister to respond to questions on the future of Greek universities, before unveiling a hand-made banner reading "Resistance"and marching out of the Sheikh Zayed Theatre chanting, "No ifs! No buts! No education cuts!" Student demonstrators had gathered outside the New Academic Building earlier in the evening, but the demonstration moved inside when protesters with tickets to the lecture went to the theatre to hear the minister's speech. Security was tight at the event, with both private security guards and London Metropolitan police stationed in and around the New Academic Building. The LSE Students' Union had announced students' plans to protest the public lecture in a press release Tuesday. In the press release, Education Officer Ashok Kumar asked: "Does the LSE have no shame? They are hosting a Minister who will devastate education in the same way the Government of the UK has successfully done here". "Greek students who protested the British Embassy against our governments policies were arrested for their actions, Aimee Riese Senior Reporter The LSE Students' Union re-launched 'Your Hall, Your Call', an initiative to address student concerns in halls of residence, last week. The initiative saw Community and Welfare Officer Hero Austin visit LSE halls to hear the concerns of students. Recommendations gathered from the initiative will be put forward to the LSE Residences Committee. The meeting was a particular success at Rosebery Hall, where approximately fifty students turned up to raise issues related to overrunning bathroom refur-bishments. Rafie Faruq, president of Rosebery Hall, praised the initiative, telling the Beaver, "We have Hero Austin to thank for her 1 k 1111 sities received £532 million for building initiatives. The School spokesperson told the Beaver the announced cuts are not expected to affect the school's investments in future building projects. "With support from donors, we expect to maintain our £38111 investment in the New Student Centre with building work starting in late spring this year, and the £48m purchase and development of the Land Registry Building for occupation later this year". , The cuts come at a particularly challenging time for universities, as tuition fees are not set to rise until the 2012-13 academic year. Sir Alan Langlands, chief executive of the HEFCE, said the Council is working to "support a smooth transition for all institutions to the new student finance and funding arrangements which will take effect in academic year 2012-13". "Universities and colleges have anticipated the challenges ahead and many have already taken difficult decisions to reduce their costs," Langlands said. David Willetts MP, the Universities Minister, told the Guardian last week he had requested for the teaching budget to be protected as far as possible. "Higher education, like other areas of public spending, has had to take its share of savings," Willets said, adding, "It is essential that universities move quickly to prepare for the different environment in which they will operate in future years, striving to meet the aspirations of students for high quality teaching". it is only right that we stand with them in solidarity and against Anna Diaman-topoulou's austerity measures" Kumar added. In Greece, all universities are public, and private universities are constitutionally banned. Due to recent government budget cuts, however, there has been speculation that the country's Social Democrats plan to amend the constitution as to allow for private universities. The minister blamed Greece's ongoing economic struggles on the previous government. She said the current government inherited overwhelming public-debt mismanagement, but they were now making progress. In 2010, she said, the Greek government had cut the country's deficit by 6 per cent. Challenging the minister, one audience member said, "You talk about education being central to the Greek economy. We had a Prime Minister who said something along those lines. It was, 'Education, Education, Education!' And yet, he was the man who introduced student tuition fees. Does Greece plan UK-style tuition fees, too?" After applause from some members of the audience, the minister replied, "We have a constitution that is very strict and very clear on this. In the UK, you can decide to introduce fees. In Greece, no government can decide on this". Interrupting, the audience member then said, "They will stay 100 per cent free?" The minister replied they would. Students' Union Education Officer Ashok Kumar asked the minister if she resourceful approach to the situation". Shyam Thakrar, president of Bank-side House, agreed, calling the initiative a "good one". However, due to confusion with advertising, the Bankside event was unattended. Even so, prior to the launch of "Your Halls Your Calls", Bankside residents were asked to complete a survey to raise any complaints. The survey followed episodes of broken heating in the hall during the first week of the Lent Term. Residents have since been offered a complementary meal in the canteen as a gesture of goodwill and are awaiting details of monetary compensation. There have been ongoing maintenance issues in Rosebery Hall. Complaints about new shower fittings, as reported in the Beaver last week, are yet to be fully resolved. Austin said she is working to ensure would defend cuts to courses in social sciences and humanities. She defended the Greek government's decision to cut its higher education budget by 20 per cent, in light of the recent economic crisis. The minister remained calm, despite the fevered atmosphere. At one point, clearly surprised by the number of questions relating to UK budgetary measures, she asked, "Is it clear that I'm a Greek minister?" At another point, in response to a particularly controversial statement, one audience member slow-clapped the minister for dramatic effect. There was a tense silence, before she looked up and said, "Thank you. It's a very good policy." "new deadlines and conditions are followed through and that appropriate levels of compensation are received". "In the long term, we hope to formalise some of these amendments and processes to reduce the likelihood of this reoccurring". Eden Dwek, a first-year Rosebery resident, said, "The Students' Union should ensure that there is a protocol put in place, which is automatically triggered when issues arise. This protocol should ensure student welfare, privacy and safety aren't being compromised and should negotiate for compensation if any of them have been significantly impacted". First-year Rosebery resident John Peart suggested a possible student rating system for residences, saying, "Students need to be more aware of the experience they are signing up to and where the 'problem halls' tend to lie". UH The lecture's chair, Professor Kevin Featherstone of the LSE's Hellenic Observatory, appeared rattled by proceedings. When he selected the last member of the audience to ask a question, one audience member yelled out, "You haven't chosen a single woman to ask a question yet!" To the surprise of many attendees, Feather-stone replied, "Oh, get a life". Even so, the chair then chose a woman to ask the last question, to which a student called out, "Right, a token woman!" When Featherstone attempted to wrap up the lecture, he was cut short by the education minister, who said—to much applause—"Wait. Can we have one more question from a woman, please?" News in brief DAVIES SAYS NO TO "DOUBLE DIP" LSE Director Howard Davies has said the UK is in no danger of a "double dip" recession, providing consumer and investor confidences do not slip. In an appearance on CNBC Europe, on 26th January, Davies described the world market as a "two speed economy", pointing to the the "upbeat" recoveries of China and India, compared to a relatively sluggish West and "mixed" performance in Europe. Davies said in the years since the financial crisis, "there isn't the same commonality of interest... as there was before". Davies also said reforms to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, as set out two years ago, have been set aside for the foreseeable future. HONEY, THE THIEVES ARE HOME Research from academics at LSE, finding a direct link between higher crime and lower property prices, may become the bane of homeowners and real estate agents alike. A new police website, Police, uk, is set to publish data on crime in various English and Welsh neighbourhoods, including numbers of robberies, burglaries and violent street crime. Whilst this research has been praised for raising public awareness about crime, it may cause fluctuations in the prices of houses, as demand is expected to increase for homes in neighbourhoods marked by less crime. Researchers report that a 10 per cent decrease in an area's crime can boost house prices by as much as 1.7 per cent. BIRD DROPS BOMB AT LSE John Bird, founder of The Big Issue, a magazine sold by homeless people seeking to generate revenue, said last week that London faces a "tsunami" of homelessness. At a panel discussion held on 3rd February at the LSE, Bird suggested impending government budget cuts will cause individuals in need of help to "fall through the net and councils will export their poor to other boroughs". Bird, joined by Richard Blakeway, the Mayor's advisor on housing, called for councils to re-think the way that London deals with the issue of homelessness. A "revolution" is necessary, he said. GIRL POWER According to Dr Alexandra Beauregard of the LSE Department of Management, the number of female entrepreneurs is set to "explode" over the next few years, as women choose to start their own businesses instead of pursuing a more traditional route of attending to university. A report released by Professor Beauregard, in conjunction with Avon Cosmetics, found that 72 per cent of 2000 women polled wanted to "be their own boss". The report pointed to increasing tuition fees as a main cause for a new found spirit of entrepreneurship. Beauregard also said she found women had a heightened determination to triumph despite a dismal economic climate. CRUSH A NO-GO In a rare occurrence, Crush was cancelled last week as a result of poor attendance at the previous week's Crush. "This is the first time that I have ever known Crush to be cancelled", said one second-year undergraduate. Another student told the Beaver he thought the discontinuation of a popular 'Happy Hour', which ran during Michaelmas Term, might be to blame. The Three Tuns remained open till 11PM, however, in order to screen to the first matches of the Six Nations Rugby Championship. RUNNERS AND RIMERS Three LSE Students' Union-sponsored "Thinking about becoming a candidate" information sessions, held on 31st January, 2nd February and 4th February, attracted a total of eleven students interested in standing in the Lent Term elections. Just four students attended the 4th Februaiy meeting intended for students interested in running for full-time Sabbatical positions. This year marks the firstyear such meetings have been held for prospective candidates. Four advising sessions on such topics as manifesto writing and public speaking, are planned for the weeks ahead. GOT A SCOOP? If you've got a story that you think we should be printing, send us an e-mail: news (a)thebeaveronline.co.uk m +• Community and Welfare Officer reinstates Your Hall, Your Call 4 The Beaver ! 8 February 2011 News Shrina Poojara Senior Reporter Nearly 2,000 people packed the Hammersmith Apollo theatre for the LSE Students' Union's annual cultural show. Timeless, last Wednesday. The culmination of more than six months of preparation, and the collaboration of nearly 280 students, this year's Timeless raised £12,000 for Cancer Research UK and Polio Children India. Siddharth Viswanath, the director and producer for the show, told the Beaver this year's Timeless was "incredible", citing Wednesday's record-breaking audience. "Our committee's plan at the start was simple: we wanted to take Timeless to the next level", he said. Viswanath said Timeless's move from the Sadler's Wells Theatre, the 1,200-seat Finsbury venue used for last year's show, to the 3,000-seat Hammersmith Apollo allowed for a much larger audience. This year's storyline revolved around the kidnapping of a princess, played by third-year management undergraduate Evie Begy, by the evil puppeteer, played by third-year law undergraduate Dilz Hussain, and the quest of the story's hero, played by second-year accounting undergraduate Ash Rajah, and his sidekick, played by General Course student Johnson Brock, to find her. Twenty-two dance and musical performances were integrated into the story. The performances showcased many styles of dancing and music, including Bhangra Punjabi folk dancing, ballet, Sri Lankan Gaana, swing dancing and Bollywood. Though most involved in Timeless were LSE students, many of the choreographers and some of the dancers were from other London universities. For example, Bansri Dhokia, a second-year LSE undergraduate, co-choreographed the Bollywood routine with Akanksha Agarwal, a student from UCL. "I think it's great that we got the chance to work with students from other universities- they definitely brought fresh opinions to the table when it came to the choreography," Dhokia told the Beaver. Timeless was founded during the 2007-08 academic year by then-LSE undergraduates Seeta Haria and Mikesh Vora, with the first ever Timeless show held in January 2008 at Her Majesty's Theatre. Since its start, the show has aimed to not only raise money for charity but also allow students to display their talents and cultures. Haria, who attended this year's show, told the Beaver she was "pleased" to see Timeless is "still going strong". "The unique storyline was acted beautifully with all the performances blending into it really well", Haria said. "I'm sure that those who took part in this year's show will agree that taking part in Timeless was a great experience and creates memories that you will treasure for a longtime!" Changes "driven by fear" - School registrar Centre should diversify its funding stream - Student Rights continued from pagei Speaking on behalf of Professor Mundy, the LSE's Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) branch secretary, Mike Cushman, said: "The attack on Martha Mundy has all the characteristics of a witch hunt and therefore an attack on the values of academic freedom that are central to LSE." Cushman added, "Despite their name, 'Student Rights' have no concern with the rights of students: an examination of their website shows a narrow focus on the Israel-Palestine debate." Dr. Chalcraft told the Beaver all the staff at the centre were "working hard to promote excellent research and teaching". He added, "Students, colleagues and the wider public understand that it is normal that Middle East Studies involves strongly held views on all sides. Strident and one-sided complaints about this vital diversity tend to shut down the debates that universities exist to promote. "I don't think that any of us will be distracted." When asked about the report, Students' Union Anti-Racism Officer Ben Grabiner said, "I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Laugh that two pro-boycott academics sit on the management of a Centre that aims to strengthen ties with Israeli universities, or cry that the LSE is incapable of setting up a Middle East Centre in an unbiased or impartial way". "I hope the Centre lives up to its aims and provides good quality, unbiased research but I doubt that it will," Grabiner said. » continued from pagei Underwood pointed to similar circumstances in Australia as evidence as to why the UK government should not amend the current visa scheme. In 2009, similar government policy changes in Australia led to an immediate downturn in the number of international applications, forcing Monash University in Melbourne to fire 300 members of its academic staff. "The Australian example does give us reason to be worried", Underwood told the Beaver, adding the LSE, as such, continues to lobby strongly to ensure that the Post-Study Work Visa programme continues unchanged. The School has written to LSE alumni in government, including MPs, for support, Underwood said. The School also hopes to encourage members of the Board of Governors engaged in the effort. Last week, Underwood appeared in front of the Home Office Select Committee to speak against government actions. Meanwhile, the LSE Students' Union, working together with Underwood and Pro-Director for Teaching and Learning Janet Hartley, has made strides to organise "Defending Global Education", a campaign aimed at allying with other universities in the hope of influencing the government's policy concerning visas. "The Post-Study Work Visa is critical to attracting top-notch applicants from developed and developing countries alike", Student's Union Postgraduate Officer Daniel Kroop, told the Beaver. "We can't afford to lose out on the best and the brightest by letting this draconian proposal become law," he added. Students' Union International Officer Michael Lok told the Beaver he recently learned that a "major graduate recruiter has significantly reduced its hunt for foreign students for its London headquarters". Such news will only heighten international students' concern, and deter them from applying to UK universities, Lok said. Underwood speculated the government's changing policy will damage not only the LSE's, but the nation's overall international standing. "Many people who are currently very well disposed to the UK will be disappointed at the stance the government seems to be taking," he said. Regarding the possible impacts of MikeCushman's letter in full Comment page 8 m : . m m m m PalSoc mentors Gaza university students Conor Rushby The LSE Students' Union Palestine Society has launched a pilot scheme allowing students at the School to mentor university students in Palestine, via email and online video conferencing. The scheme pairs LSE students with counterparts atTthe Islamic University of Gaza. The scheme aims to allow LSE students to provide Palestinian students with academic assistance, such as help with with essay structuring, through email and Skype. While the scheme is largely academic, programme organisers told the Beaver they also hope to "boost morale" and encourage ties of friendship between the LSE and Palestinian students. "We are interested in raising awareness on our campus of the ongoing plight of the people of Palestine, particularly those in Gaza", said Zac Sammour, president of the Palestine Society, "and we hope that this scheme will provide a window into a bleak and distressing world that is nonetheless filled with brave and tireless people". The scheme is part of the Palestine Society's ongoing 'Right to Education' campaign, which had its start in the 2009-10 academic year. In 2009, this campaign saw a hotly-debated partnership with the Islamic University of Gaza eventually being ratified by the Union General Meeting (UGM), as well as the sharing of academic materials with universities in the occupied Palestinian Territories. Sammour told the Beaver all of the campaign's efforts thus far have "focused around building institutional and academic links with Palestinian universities" and the latest mentoring scheme added a "further dimension by involving students directly in the campaign". The pilot scheme will continue through to the end of the 2010-11 academic year, at which point LSE participants will provide feedback, and programme organisers will assess the scheme's strengths and weaknesses. Organisers told the Beaver they hope the scheme will continue next year. Elsewhere at LSE, the Pakistan Society has implemented a similar scheme this year for Pakistani school children. Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been blockaded by Israel in response to the electoral victory of Hamas. This move has been internationally condemned, with UN officials likening it to a "medieval siege" and having described it as "collective punishment" to Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants. Israel on the other hand, has cited rocket attacks from the north of the Gaza Strip as cause for the policy, whilst also arguing that it allows enough essential supplies into the area. Tensions were further raised in May last year, when Israel intercepted a flotilla hoping to break the blockade and bring supplies to the Strip, such as building materials and medical equipment. the policy in the field of higher education, Underwood told the Beaver, "The damage will probably be greater among Britain's top universities because it is often the high-flying students who are making conscious choices on whether to come here, or go to the States or Australia". WW "The consequences will threaten the existence of institutions like thelSE" Features page 14 +m News 5 8 February 20111 The Beaver "(cm The new recycling bins are colour-coded to encourage users to categorise their waste, and reduce non-recycled refuse Graphic: Sachin Patel TH£S£ YtUWS MINDS Chair of the UGM Jack Tindale did well padding a meeting that was going nowhere from the start, and mainly did so by reading out what was going on at UGMs in a couple of weeks' time. But why-oh-why did (your correspondent) Jack hear boos for the legendary Andy Farrell? Why wasn't there a boo for die Liberal Democrat MP for St Austell and Newquay Stephen Gilbert for being a member of the coalition - oi! oi! - his and their stance on tuition fees, and for pulling out of his appearance - even if he has rearranged. Jack wonders whether it will get to just before 24th March, the date on which Gilbert will apparently appear, and there will be a missed phone call in the Sabbs' office. Down the line, a 'Sony, I can't make it, got to vote on a bill an' that' comes through the answer machine, since all the Sabbs are all out protesting - or working. Perhaps. Later, a couple of the Sabbs pushed their long-standing campaign to ensure that their achievements were documented in this newspaper, telling the Beaver's representatives across the Old Theatre of events that would definitely be documented, certainly definitely, and obviously; and if not, no doubt, this Jack's colleagues will off be to the Pulse gulag. In continuing the radical lefty thing, there are going to be strikes at the LSE, according to our People's Commissar of Education Kumar, after he talked to the UCU and other lecturers' unions over the last few weeks. All that's now needed to catapult us back to the late 1970s is an infamous strike in a film-processing plant in Willesden. Meanwhile, Hero Austin's word-of-the-week this week was 'shocking-ness', for anyone interested. The context is unimportant. The next minute, she was talking about the English Defence League in Luton. Apparently, "people are saying that they're going to go and attack people," and although the protest was obviously awfid, would EDL members have openly said that they were threatening to deck people opposing them in Luton, as our Hero said, "going door-to-door"? Hmmm. -^ jgj| For the record, Charlie Glyn was there again - yippee! But then sadly Daniel (Liberal arts, Ivy League, Cambridge, Massachusetts) Kroop was not. Perhaps he'd been made sick after too many of his snacks? Hopefully not, hopefully not. Polly McKinlay was once again good value entertainment. This week the Disabilities Officer was talking about the head of 'the doors' around campus because some people are finding it difficult to open them. People around Jack thought initially that she was referring to Jim Morrison, but it became clear that she definitely wasn't. Jack would rate the possibility of McKinlay owning a copy of an album by The Doors unlikely. Shortly after, she announced the establishment of a knitting club. The star of the UGM over the last cover of weeks, where unpredictable interventions are concerned, has been Ms McKinlay. After, the editor of this newspaper got a bit of a barracking/shellacking -pages have been cut (and this makes it in!) - and, gasp! - it reported that a scrote in Manchester last Saturday had made an anti-Semitic remark to Aaron Porter, who incidentally is not Jewish. But from a number of people on the floor there was outrage that any student could have done such a thing - they're a student: they could have done no wrong! Perhaps the questioner thought that Edward Woollard - that Noddy Holder loo-kalike, circa 2010 - was helpfully passing down that fire extinguisher to policemen outside Millbank late last year for them to extinguish those fires so stupidly lit by Horace and Maurice. Obviously, woe betide any person suggesting that any student has done anything that wouldn't seem brilliantly commendable. Jack's been able to stretch this uneventful meeting to this - and this, even before he's got to the big bit, the reason, the motion for which the whole meeting was held for. The pinnacle of this UGM of UGMs was when it was clarified on stage that the motion 'Jack Tindale: Democracy God' was "bullshit". And thank the Lord for someone saying it. Next week: something that won't reach quoracy - again. Sustainable Revolution Chaired Dimitri Zenghelis Senior Research Fellow Gronthom Reeoorcn Institute-. London School of Economics SpeoKers ot this event will include MorK WtfltarosWs o«ciUe Sue Riddlestone Heiier Ososas arid Mortin Chilcott ceo wstwam : Date: 8m of February 2011 Tt>& Cccvnc" Roexr-.Sth .CW E*j#Ar>Q. The Loeekrx School of CcT(yri<**u» vx importantly. trie cf\ar.-g:ng business landscape especially with the compeilirig need for organisations to imbibe o business unusual stance around sustdnabiftty has =nFormed the urgent need Tor environnwjntoi sustoinabiifty to be the foundation for endunnq financsoi performance, in order to ginger competitive advantage through a change -In poradigm. important themes such as managing: innovation in sustosnobility, rtsKs 'nvoived and aligning this with the bigger picture while harnessing th»se opportunities will be discussed at Sustoinobie Revolution at the London School of Economics. This event wiil be hosted by These Young Minds at the £ost Theatre London School of Economics. LSE on tns 8th of February during which oil these issues and mare will &e addressed. Union Jack Motion to deify Chair debated at UGM now equipped with communal recycling stations, with results to be aggregated in a few months' time, when the first waste audit results are published. "The real challenge is to engage people in questioning how they can produce less waste and minimise the waste we can", Hands said. This involves contacting suppliers, such as LSE Catering, who have already aimed to minimise the environmental impact of takeaway packaging and encouraged the use of reusable "Smart Mugs" instead of disposable drinks containers, she explained. The recycling categories available in the stations are divided by colours, each symbolising a different type of waste, including paper recycling, plastic bottles and bags, food compost, and general waste. Recycling stations now also have special spots for liquid disposal, where individuals can pour liquids down a drain before recycling their containers. The LSE allocated almost £100,000 last academic year to sustainability and environmental improvement projects, Michael Mason, a senior lecturer in environmental geography, told the Beaver. "I think the Sustainability Team and Estates Department have made excellent progress in a relatively short time," he said, adding, "I think the main challenge is to get staff and students into the habit of zero-waste behaviour, which is difficult when the reality elsewhere in London is often still a throwaway waste culture". Bin it to win it Dana Andreicut Senior Reporter The LSE has upgraded its waste disposal facilities on campus and in halls of residence by implementing communal recycling stations. The scheme follows previous initiatives in the Library, the Fourth Floor Restaurant, the New Academic Building and Rosebery Hall. The new stations are intended to help the School send less waste to landfill, segregate food waste for composting and achieve higher rates of recycling. Dr Victoria Hands, environmental and sustainability manager at the LSE, told the Beaver that after a few minor delays with the implementation, the Library is Vincent Wong Senior Reporter At last Thursday's Union General Meeting (UGM), a motion to celebrate Jack Tindale's performance as UGM Chair was debated. The motion, entitled "Jack Tindale: Democracy God", proposed hanging a picture of Tindale, a second-year government and history undergraduate, in the Activities Resource Centre and the Kingsley Rooms - the office used by the Students' Union's Sabbatical Officers. It also proposed the weekly reading of a haiku about Tindale, and an annual celebration of his birthday, to be held during the UGM. The motion was proposed by second-year social policy undergraduates Adam Connell and Katie Spark. Tindale has denied any involvement in proposing the motion, and temporarily suspended himself as UGM Chair in order to oppose it. He was joined, in opposition, by second-year international history undergraduate Emma Kelly, while UGM Vice-Chair Lukas Slothuus took over the meeting to chair the debate. In his speech, Connell praised Tin-dale's "fantastic" performance as UGM Chair, a position Tindale has held since Lent Term of the 2009-10 academic year. Connell said it was "proper" that Tindale be rewarded for "his hat, his gentle, calm manner, and for his fantastic grasp of issues facing students today". "You really make me laugh", Spark, who previously ran against Tindale for the position of UGM Chair said. "You make UGM fun for us all". "I think you're a really nice guy" she added. "Maybe you want to go out some time?" Tindale responded by curling up, into a ball, on the stage. Tindale's opposing speech consisted mostly of self-deprecation. "I don't deserve to be put on a pedestal" he told the audience. "I'm not Mao. I'm not even Kim II-sung". "I fear that if you [hang pictures of me] I will not be able to leave this theatre in a week's time because my massive, swollen head will not be able to scrape through the door," Tindale added. Kelly said the motion was "pointless", adding she wondered if it would prompt the degeneration of UGM into a platform for personal requests. Sachin Patel, a philosophy and economics finalist, asked the proposition whether it thought Tindale was fulfilling all his duties as UGM Chair, while another questioner asked the opposition if the According to Sir Stuart Rose, Immediate Past Chairman of MorKs and Spencer. "!n today's climate, more so than ever, putting sustamobility at the very heart of your business is not just the right thing to do ethically, it maKes commercial sense too. A sustainable business means a business that con thrive in. the long term - it forces us to look over the horizon, accelerate innovotion and respond to the chplienges that lie ahead." motion was a "worthwhile" break from partisanship. "A lot of people at the LSE take themselves too seriously", first-year geography and economics undergraduate Eden Dwek said. "This is something where we can all have a laugh and a bit of fun". Kelly said she would agree with him, if recent UGMs had been characterised by partisanship. Connell said the motion was his attempt to make UGM "fun again". He added the motion highlighted "how ridiculous the UGM has become". The motion did not reach the quorum of 250 votes. The Students' Union Sabbatical Officers, Part-Time Officers and Media Group also reported during the UGM. General Secretary Charlotte Gerada called the performances in Wednesday's Timeless "phenomenal", praising those students involved in the annual multicultural show. Gerada also announced she planned to present a paper on fees, bursaries and widening participation to LSE Director Howard Davies and his management team this week. Education Officer Ashok Kumar reported anti-cuts demonstrations, held on Saturday, 29th January, in London had gone well. He suggested there would be further student involvement in protests in the weeks ahead. Community and Welfare Officer Hero Austin encouraged students who have been contacted by the police regarding student protests to seek support from the Students' Union. During the Part-Time Officers' reports, one student asked Anti-Racism Officer Ben Grabiner why he had not attended many UGMs this year. Grabiner responded saying he had been absent from only one UGM during the Lent Term. During the Media Group reports, Kimia Pezeshki, head of communications at Pulse Radio, reported in the absence of Station Manager Stuart McColl, who was said to have been "getting a haircut". "He won't be Station Manager for long," said Pezeshki, referring to forthcoming elections at Pulse. Pezeshki also encouraged audience members with ideas for RAGathon, a week-long broadcast of the radio station, in which participants are unable to leave campus, to submit them to Pulse. The Executive Editor of the Beaver accounted for this term's "patchy distribution" of the newspaper. Sachin Patel said the paper's printers had been "massively disorganised" and that this was "not on". Patel also confirmed two pages of the paper had been cut, citing the rising cost of ink and newsprint, and an unwillingness to change printers at this stage of his tenure. One audience member raised concern about the validity of an article in last week's Beaver, which alleged that Aaron Porter, president of the National Union of Students, had been subjected to anti-Semitic abuse during a recent protest in Manchester. Patel said that the paper goes through a "fairly stringent" libel check and denied accusations that the Beaver sources from the Daily Mail. On his way out of the Old Theatre, Patel was harangued by the Students' Union's Education Officer, Ashok Kumar, who repeatedly asked him for the source of the paper's allegations. Patel insisted the claims had been . made in several other media outlets, including the Guardian, and said the paper was not trying to stereotype student protesters as anti-Semitic. 6 The Beaver | 8 February 2011 News Grimshaw hosts Muslim journalist RaheelRaza says jihad has "noplace in modem Western society" Liam Brown Canadian author and journalist Raheel Raza spoke to students at the LSE last Tuesday, 1st February, at an event held by the Students' Union's Grimshaw International Relations Club. Raza, a self-described "Pakistani by birth, Canadian by choice and Muslim by faith", is recognised for her work in fostering inter-faith dialogue among religions, and for denouncing radical Islam. A former presenter for the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC), Raza is perhaps best known for her 2005 book Their Jihad... Not My Jihad, a collection of her opinion columns from the Toronto Star. During the event at the LSE, Raza said that with a steadily increasing Muslim population, the West "can run but cannot hide" from the issue of radical Islam. She said the impetus is not on the West to tolerate extreme views of Islam, but instead on Western Muslim leaders to denounce violence and jihad which, Raza said, has "no place in modern Western society". With reports of growing terror cells in cities such as Toronto and London, Raza said she believes her "faith has been hijacked" and the "silent moderate majority are not speaking out" on the issue of terror and extremism in Islam. During the question-and-answer session which followed Raza's talk, attendees asked Raza questions on a variety of issues, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Raza said she believes in the "right of Israel to exist", but the violence of both sides of the conflict did little to advance the peace process. Another student asked Raza about the possibility of equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Muslims within the Islamic community. Raza said Islam and homosexual equality are not necessarily in conflict. She pointed to Toronto's large community of gay Muslims as proof that the two are not diametrically opposed. Most students who attended Tuesday's talk said they were pleased with the event. Marshall Palmer, a first-year studying international relations, told the Beaver he was pleased to see a compatriot speaking at the School. "I'm glad I got to see a Canadian speaker, there doesn't seem to be too many around here", Palmer said, adding he was also impressed by Raza's message. "I think what she had to say was quite poignant considering what is currently going on in the Islamic world", he said. "It is quite refreshing to see an Islamic community leader stand up and fully denounce violence and extremism". comi (sssji Patrick French, historian, addresses an audience in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre Photo: Shawn Shariati Culture key to Indian success in business Marion Koob Senior Reporter Historian and researcher Patrick French gave a lecture last Thursday at the LSE, entitled "Why Indians Win in Business", to promote his latest book, India: A Portrait. The lecture aimed to offer an explanation for the fast rate of India's economic growth since its liberalisation in the early 1990s, following an initiative of the then-Union Cabinet Minister for Finance Manmohan Singh. French noted that Singh, India's current Prime Minister, had written his doctoral thesis on Indian exports, the recommendations of which he was able to apply during the country's balance of payments crisis. These measures led to an extraordinary change in the rate of India's economic growth, French said. "Probably even he did not expect that these measures would have such a dramatic effect on the turnaround of India's economy", French said. According to French, several factors contributed to India's success, including the country's talent for adaptability and flexibility. French also said the Indian culture of the family business has proven itself a boon to the country's economic success. In this context, many Indians consider the accumulation of wealth as a means of survival and protection against instability. He added, however, this also resulted in a significant increase in nepotism among the political sphere. "The situation in Indian politics has become more nepotistic now than at any point since Independence," French said. "If you look at a graph of MPs under the age of thirty, a hundred per cent come from political families". The emphasis on education within modem Indian culture formed another of French's arguments. "Studying is something more than a duty to yourself, but it also has a religious, and also a strong family sanction," French said. Indians are also more willing as a nation to move abroad and replicate ideas developed at home, French noted. This higher propensity to be mobile created greater flexibility in the labour market. But French heightened levels of inequality and corruption as key issues limiting the further development of the Indian economy. He added, however, that technological advances are now being increasingly used to promote further development. Professor of Development Studies Stuart Corbridge, who chaired of the lecture, told the Beaver French provided an "entertaining" and "well-received" talk. "Not everyone agreed with Patrick's mainly cultural account of recent Indian successes - family structures, appetite for education - but,'endogenity issues aside, this was a well received and crisply delivered lecture by a well known writer on contemporary India," Corbridge said. Alice Leah Fyfe A group of models wearing the works of London's up-and-coming designers transformed the Shaw Library from a room of dusty bookcases to a vibrant and futuristic catwalk last Friday evening. LSE's chic and stylish flocked to the Old Building for the Students' Union Fashion Society's annual fashion show. Held on Friday, 4th February, the "LDN by LSE"-themed event raised over £800 for charity. Event organisers told the Beaver they had selected a theme for the show which embodied both the School and the dynamic city in which students work and live. All the designers featured in Friday's show were emerging London talents, many hailing from the nearby Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, alumni of which include the designer Jeff Banks and the painter Lucian Freud. Designers included a variety of labels, from sustainable brands such as Partimi and Tamman, to futuristic knitwear from Carol Li, to the flowing, asymmetrical designs of Timur Kim. Also featured was LSE's home-grown street wear label, Jacqstar, by second-year sociology under- graduate Jacqui James. Stephanie Oula, a General Course student, hosted Friday's show in a royal blue vintage cocktail dress. She was introduced by Emma Roberts, president of the Fashion Society, who wore a similarly glamorous, gold sequined jacket and black bustier jumpsuit. Both students sang the praises of all of the students who worked on the show, from the hair and makeup team to lighting and sound volunteers. The catwalk-style show featured music from the Students' Union Electronic Music Society, ranging from Vampire Weekend to more obscure house numbers. Each song was curated to fit with the designs. A charitable event, Friday's fashion show raised over £800, which will be used by the MicroLoan Foundation to fund a small fishing community in Malawi. The money raised will help women start and maintain small fishing and trading busi- 1% Full coverage ' PART B Newsnight editor warns weak economies Chris Rogers Senior Reporter Paul Mason, economics editor of BBC's nightly news programme Newsnight, talked about moving forward from the financial crisis in a public lecture entitled "Phase Three of the Global Crisis", last Monday, 31st January, at the LSE. In the lecture, Mason drew upon his observations as an editor at the BBC, as well as research he completed for his 2009 book, Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed. Mason began his lecture by urging audience members to remember the advice of John Maynard Keynes: "The next move is with the head, and fists must wait". Mason added that despite protests, austerity measures are necessary to get the economy moving again. He argued recent economic hardships are the result of the financial instability the nation has experienced with the introduction of marketisation into the economy. Comparing data about the Great Depression with similar information about the 2008 financial crisis, Mason said the United Kingdom averted disaster thanks to government intervention. Mason went on to warn about states whose economies are not strong enough to bear the brunt of economic crisis, such as Ireland and Greece. He then said the 2008 crisis had demonstrated the shortcomings of the Eurozone. "Monetary union without a fiscal union doesn't work", he said. Mason also argued that rather than "socialising" banks or allowing them to bust, governments ought to institute a new framework and follow the middle path advocated by the late American economist Hyman Minsky, who argued for socialising the losses and gains of the system to allow the market to move freely, without sporadic interference. "A new framework is needed and it needs to affect all companies simultaneously" Mason said. Mason concluded by making the point that in a global economy, we need to raise our ideas to the level of global significance. He said he was disappointed "so few statesmen and women are prepared to raise this to the global level". i [cm +« 8 February 20111 The Beaver THE BmSpCIETY Ideological smokescreen orBurkeian blueprint? LANCTON If I had to explain to someone what the phrase 'polishing a dog turd' meant to someone, it would be Cameron's approach to the Big Society. Whatever way you tell it to us Dave, it still stinks, and no one in their right mind would go near it if they knew how utterly terrible an idea it really is. Dave once said that the foundations of an ethical society lie in 'responsibility'. A fair point, you might say, but not when he seems to think that it doesn't apply to him and his government. I may only be part of the inferior pond life that is the Social Policy department, but I'm pretty sure that the Big Society is essentially one big mythical substitute for public sector cuts and privatisation. What better way to justify cuts? Even Thatcher would be proud of shifting responsibility to the public. Once Nick and Dave had settled down after taking their sexual frustration for each other out on the public sector, it must have occurred to them that government-funded organisations and services don't actually work without any money. Instead, the people who paid for duck houses and second homes are now expected to work for free to keep things going. This is the turd that Dave has been attempting to polish and dress up ever since the Big Society idea hit the headlines. What makes the turd look even more obviously like something squeezed out of a dog's arse is that the Big Society makes citizens accountable for many services that should be fully provided for them in the first place. If the Big Society ever fully takes off, it may well be the people of Great Britain who will be unfairly 'responsible' if it fails. The government is apparently an exception when it comes to the responsibility that 'makes up the foundations of an ethical society', because they don't seem to want to have a great deal of it. All governments have a moral responsibility to fully provide public services to citizens when such high levels of tax are imposed upon the population. When this is the case, the government should be accountable for the success and failure of the respective services. Many would argue, however, that the shift of responsibility from the state to the people is in fact something to be celebrated and encouraged. In some cases, I would not disagree, but what our current government is attempting to cany out with the Big Society is not a genuine move towards empowering local communities. It is a facade of innocence that conceals an ugly neo-liberal agenda. We are the kids, the Big Society is Gary Glitter. Yes, the private zoo and obscenely large playground of individual freedom and responsibility may earn our trust, but the actual result might not quite be what we had in mind. In its essence, true lefties will oppose the Big Society on the basis that it is insincere and fanciful. The Con-Dem government wishes to justify massive public sector cuts by imposing an unrealistic ideal behind which is concealed a neo-liberal agenda. The state is walking away from their true responsibility to protect and represent the people, and leaving us to pick up the pieces. Critical situations breed disillusion - do not let that cloud your judgement. U? Think it's right to go Right or does Left make a point? Let the two Sams help you decide. Over the coming weeks we'll have them battle out what happens on Downing Street in our brand new Sam V Sam column. STAYTUNED~. I'm pretty sure that the Big Society is essentially one big mythical suhstitutefor public sector cuts and privatisation The importance of a strong civil society in curbing the hegemony c the state, and serving the private interests of citizens, is almost indisputable 1 recently sat in the studio audience of a BBC4 programme entitled 'Justice: Fairness and the Big Society', in which Harvard Professor of Government Michael Sandel led a debate about the Conservative vision of the 'Big Society'. Sandel took a poll. Interestingly and unsurprisingly — roughly 70% of the audience concluded that the Big Society is nothing more than a vacuous political slogan, which, if allowed to informpolicy-making, will contribute not to a revival of localism and community-activism, but rather to an unpleasant proliferation of petty individualism and a acceleration of social atomisation. While opposition to government plans for deficit reduction, reform of higher educational finance, and support for the Trident nuclear deterrent is understandable, opposition to the Big Society is not. Which plausible political ideology criticises 'community-spirit' on ideological grounds? Civil society, the banner term for the sphere of organisations and institutions that the Big Society is concerned with, is a necessary predicate for healthy democracy. Theorists spanning the political spectrum, from Burke to Rousseau, have all emphasised the significance that communal associations have in public life. The importance of a strong civil society in curbing the hegemony of the state, and serving the private interests of citizens, is almost indisputable. Wanting an organic 'society' to occupy the space between markets and government is reasonable. Yet it is distinctly unsurprising that Cameron's plan for the Big Society has been met with such fervent resistance. It seems its critics come in two forms. First, those for whom a galvanisation of civil society would be a very bad thing. The insidious, blob-like sprawl of the state over the last 15 years or so has created a class of people whose interests are entrenched in big government, who consume taxes to provide services that should, and otherwise would, be provided by a triad of private firms, individuals and community organisations. Their continued employment relies on the seeds of communal engagement being systematically uprooted, and is validated by their peddling the deception that it is only possible for the state to provide whatever service it is that they are providing. Those discussed above don't recognise the fundamental benefit of having a Big Society and view it as an existentialist threat. But the other critics are different. They lay into Cameron's idea with a zealous passion, accusing it of being nothing more than a 'vanity project'. Yet simultaneously, they envisage a sunlit upland in which a Labour government somehow stimulates the formation of'a more active, engaged and gregarious society' — characterised by 'community activism and mutual, cooperative endeavour'. Their hypocrisy is laughable. They claim to support measures that will solidify support for charities and voluntary organisations, and yet, in puerile fashion, denigrate a version of the Big Society that looks remarkably similar to their own, simply because it was uttered by David Cameron. In an otherwise excellent article in this newspaper two weeks ago, Mr Benjamin Butterworth exemplified this type of critique: Conservative version of the Big Society? Boo! Labour version of the Big Society? Hurrah! This is not rational discourse. The details of Cameron's plan are undoubtedly too vague, yet the concept is clear enough. Unfortunately, electrifying an ailing civil society is difficult when opposition is coming from all sides; partisan critics, sacrificing their own principles for political points scoring, make its passage impossible. If I may adapt a line from Mr Butterworth's article: the challenge faced now is not to reveal the Big Society, but to reveal opposition to the Big Sociepr, as the ideological smoke-screen it is. 111 | cm 8 The Beaver I 8 February 2011 Comment AU: Accusations Unravelled A response to last week's criticism of the Athletics Union's drinking culture Ahmed Alani As I sat there reading last week's comment piece on the Athletics Union (AU: Alcoholics Unanonymous), I was torn between feeling irritated and downright annoyed. For those of you who missed it, Hajani offered her opinion on the culture of the AU, and concluded her 800-word barrage by suggesting that the Students' Union conduct an investigation into the pressures of drinking alcohol within the group. Now, while I accept peoples' rights to voice their opinions, I would hope that when formulating such opinions, the author would try to understand the full story. Indeed, last week's piece seems so painfully narrow-minded, that I wonder why on earth the writer even included statements in support of the AU when she ignored them entirely in formulating her opinion. I'm a sort of'peripheral' member of the AU, but I wholly disagree with the stance adopted in that article. The AU is possibly one of the most positive and inclusive bodies of students at the LSE. People get to know members from different teams and from different clubs, and it's a breath of fresh air away from the highbrow intellectuals, the radical activists and the cliques that form at the School. With the AU, people are allowed to enjoy aspects of'university life' that some feel is seemingly non-existent at our institution. LSE students are extremely focused on their academics and it seems only fair that each person be allowed their own ways of bringing balance to their lives. Don't begrudge the AU because it provides a balance in a different way to the Literature Society, or the Drama Society. The portrayal of the AU as a drinking 'hub', as it were, is so exaggerated it verges on ridiculous. Last Wednesday, the AU hosted a charity version of'Take Me Out', which raised nearly £1,000 for Child Reach. Whilst this alone was an impressive endeavour, I'd also like to point out that the last bachelor on stage was a non-drinker and was described as the 'epitome of the AU'. Note his popularity amongst the students notwithstanding the fact that he does not drink. Many other members of the AU also choose not to drink, and at no point are they criticised for their choice, so to suggest that people are pressured into drinking is farcical. This writer also appears to forget that AU teams train several times every . week, on top of any games they might play that week. So to begrudge them for the one night during the week where people choose to go out and celebrate just seems unjustified. To write "It may be that the celebrations of winning should be limited to the playing field only" epitomises the institutionalised mold of the LSE that the AU seeks to break away from. Suggesting that bonding be limited to the time that you're obliged to spend together shows how little the writer values the rapport that you build with teammates. It is this rapport that develops into friendships, and ultimately broadens the range people with whom you interact on a daily basis, much like any other club within the Students' Union. Bringing up the damage done to King's College in 2005 further highlights The portrayal of the AU as a drinking 'hub', as it were, is so exaggerated it verges on ridiculous how little the writer knows of the AU. That event happened six years ago, with a wholly different student body. It is no way a reflection of the actions of the AU in its current state. Personally, I can see little of the alleged detrimental behaviour that the writer suggests arises as a result of the attitude of the AU. On a minor note, initiations do not happen at the Tuns, not because of any clandestine activity, but because it would be a logistical nightmare. Organising them at captains' houses is simply a far easier way of bringing members of a team together. If the School felt that initiations breached the Code of Conduct with people wearing Speedos on campus, it would take appropriate action - it is not for disgruntled individuals to demand better policing of societies and adherence to rules. In all honesty, I have no idea what prompted the seemingly unprovoked, and poorly constructed comment piece last week. Harjani says there was a "growing concern amongst the student body" about the allegedly "unacceptable" behaviour involved in initiations. It is a weighty claim to notice a trend amongst the "entire student body", and I would personally like to see what tangible evidence there is, if any, of this growing concern, especially if it is on as wide a scale as is claimed. On the other hand, it might simply that she refuses to approve of the more down-to-earth fun that's enjoyed in the AU. Uf Letters to the Editor Sir - As avid followers of the Sports section, with its long, clumped sentences and infantile bantarrrr, we at times find that the standard of literacy leaves something to be desired. We direct your attention to last weeks edition - the use of 'that' in reference to the anonymous, bin-pissing, netballer, who pissed in a bin. OMG. Anyway, it offends our sensibilites to read 'that' to describe the poor girl (/guy). From your semantic misprision, we can only conclude that AU writers don't read. Respect our inductive logic. Bottoms up, bins on the ground, induce to the MAX. Yours sincerely, W&J Sir -1 am disturbed to hear that you are giving coverage and therefore credence to the attack on Professor Mundy from the self-described anti-extremism group 'Student Rights'. ' The attack on Martha Mundy has all the characteristics of a witch hunt and therefore an attack on the values of academic freedom that are central to LSE. Student Rights thrives on coverage of its partisan and frequently inaccurate statements and it will cite coverage in Beaver as evidence of its respectability and influence and strengthen its future attacks on academics and others whose politics they dislike. To present their claims, even if you counter them with the excellent statement by LSE managers, is to imply they have a far more substantial status than they deserve. Despite their name 'Student Rights' have no concern with the rights of students; an examination of their website shows a narrow focus on Israel/Palestine. While their manifesto suggests a "nonpartisan stance" and the defending of the right to freedom of speech, there is no evidence of anything other than a narrow attack on supporters of Palestinian rights, on the Muslim population of the UK and on the exercise of free speech when students express opinions that incur their displeasure. You have the right to run articles of your choice however we ask you to reflect before you use your rights of free expression to attack the right of free expression of others. Yours sincerely, Mike Cushman, LSE UCU Secretary Our library, ourselves If only LSE students used the library, maybe we'd be able to get a computer Poorna Harjani ft Can you think of one issue in the LSE that would have a utilitarian approach - that is giving the maximum amount of happiness to the greatest number in the student body? According to my view, this would be targeting the underlying problems of the LSE Library. Issues of the LSE Library are not new to the Beaver newspaper. Yet each academic year, the same issues of network problems, failing printers, broken doors, and limited space prevail. We need a top-down approach; policy implementation that will once and for all solve these issues. Something from Howard's mouth. Nothing less. Providing laptops for lack of computers does not overcome the fact that a disproportionate numbers of students in tiie LSE library are not from the LSE. This issue would be resolved if this was a two-way relationship. However, in practicality the majority of the LSE students do not visit Kings or UCL Libraries. They prefer their own. Therefore, there is no actual utility to LSE students in letting in outsiders. A University that is centred around economics should be smarter. They should know that resources are scarce, therefore we need a rationing mechanism to our Library. Then there are smaller problems that are disruptive to our dynamic in the LSE Library. For weeks, two out of the four doors to enter the Library have been stuck. If a library cannot fix a simple problem like its automatic doors, what hope can we have for bigger issues? Then there were major network disruptions recently. I was in disbelief when an IT technician turned around to me and told me that not a single printer was working in the LSE Library. I panicked and ran to my course administrator to print my essay. I can forgive the LSE for not providing a higher standard of social events than Fridays at Crush, and I can ignore the fact that teaching can be impersonal, but what I will not turn a blind eye to is our right to study on LSE grounds. There are times when one cannot find a desk space, or yet, a bean bag to sit on. Students make jokes of wanting to carry fold-up beach chairs to campus. The LSE Library becoming twenty four hours, seven days a week is forcing a minority of students who prefer the atmosphere of a Library than home to do nightly revision sessions, where we can actually find a place to sit and a computer. Outsiders from the LSE do not bring added value to our Library. In fact they do not adhere to all the Library policies, often because they know they can make that bit much more noise, and litter, solely because they attend another University. The LSE Library needs to get its act together. This is not news. There is little purpose in having a feedback box to slip written comments into when network problems, broken printers, and limited space are obvious and regular occurrences. It's time to ban outsiders and employ some real technicians. This would achieve the maximum degree of satisfaction for the greatest number of students at the LSE. %£ i *«Si! 2*: hp sSiiS ;v ¦ m. sg - . j- Leave our library alone! Photo: Beaver archive* Green is the colour Go Green Week proposes that we need to be turned on to turn it off Hannah Polly Williams S u o yeah, I never take the lift unless it's absolutely necessary. For every fifteen second journey I've wasted as much energy as it takes to power a sixty kilo watt light bulb for an entire hour..." By this point in the conversation, the ill-fated individual I am absorbed in conversation with has probably switched off. Maybe he still has his eyes open, (although even this is unlikely) but his mind is almost certainly thinking of his next pint, problem-set or Facebook. It doesn't matter. Like many eager greenies, I am so thrilled by the opportunity to let loose my ideas about how we could all do our bit to love the planet, I hardly realise that the once keen and handsome stranger is now decidedly not so keen. 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle' has never been an easy sell. Given the non-satiation assumption of consumer choice, concepts such as these were always unlikely to meet with widespread enthusiasm. For anyone who hasn't experienced the joys of EC201, non-satiation stipulates, without getting too technical, that one cannot be worse off on account of consuming more. This makes the task of this week's Go Green Week team even harder, and has led us to consider how we can best promote all the green campaigns, surveys and events that we have spent so long organising. One way of course, is to appeal to self-interest. For those interested in a career in the green sector, the opportunity to network with the likes of Sue Riddlestone, CEO of BioRegional; Martin Chilcot, CEO of 2degrees, the world's leading community for sustainable business and Nick Heller, who is responsible for New Business Development across EMEA at Google, can certainly been seen as an incentive to attend the Sustainable Revolution lecture (Senior Common Room, 5pm on Tuesday). Fifty pounds worth of Amazon vouchers are up for grabs for those who complete the online Meat-Free Monday survey. You can experience the novelty of powering your own film screening at the Cycling Cinema showing of Avatar at 7pm on Wednesday in the East Building, and you can pick up some real goodies at the ReLove stall in the Quad from 10.30am on Thursday. With more than three activities organised most days this week, the list could go on for longer. But we need to do more. Environmentalists often have an unfortunate reputation for being killjoys; compelling their victims to turn off in order to shield themselves from criticism and intimidation. No one likes to be made to feel guilty for not doing enough, especially if you already feel like you're working hard and there aren't enough hours in the day. Go Green Week aims to be a turn on for people who have previously abstained from the greener living discussion. Everyone needs to feel respected and valued. So here's a promise. If you come to any events, sign up for any petitions or simply stop and have a conversation with us on Houghton Street; you won't feel a twinge of guilt, even if previously you got your kicks from burning trees. Go Green Week this year is all about fabulous, diverse events and friendly, approachable people offering as much or as little information as you fancy. We want to hear about your experiences and your ideas, and answer any questions you may have. Check out the Students' Union website www.lsesu.com or contact h.p.e.williams@lse.ac.uk for the full Go Green Week line up, or better still, come and find us on Houghton Street. We'll help turn on your inner green warrior, and maybe you'll find yourself turning off that light switch.^ i "(cm m m +< Comment 9 8 February 2011 i The Beaver Why pain shouldn't be patronised A response to Alexander Young's 'Studious or suicidal?' article two and half times more likely to become disabled from physical or mental illness than those in the top fifth (Alcock 2006). We hope in future contributors to The Beaver consider how their writing might affect readers. Most people know someone who has had depression, with 1 in 3 suffering from it within their lifetime. Those who commit suicide over loss, debt etc. do so not because they weren't strong enough to bear it. Lack of consideration for others is a genuine weakness and unlike suicide, trying to be more thoughtful in future can be a rational decision. %£ This article has been countersigned by Jen Izaakson-fones - LSE Love Music Hate Racism Society Polly McKinlay - Student Disabilities Officer Charlotte Gerada - General Secretary Hero Austin - Welfare & Community Officer — Quick — COMMENT Should the library reduce the Set Text Fine? No, instead it should digitalise all Course Collection books so we don't have to borrow physical copies. -Lukas Slothuus, 2nd year, BSc. Govern -ment Increase fees on lesser courses to cross subsidise provision of more Set Texts and reduced fines for serious Economic disciplines. -James Hanson & Sam Barclay, 2nd year, BSc. Economics The entire library attitude needs to befixed. It's too strict; uptight, out of touch and ugly. -GauravMehta, 2nd year BSc. Economics Jennifer Izaakson-Jones ft Alexander Young's article 'Studious or Suicidal' featured 3 weeks ago in The Beaver makes some erroneous comments about suicide. In regard to NUS research about the impact of debt causing strain to students thus increasing risk of suicide and depression Young states 'concern over maintenance and tuition fee loans is completely irrational given the nature and terms of the loans'. There is nothing rational about wanting to take your own life. People who suffer from depression and feel suicidal do not do so rationally. To cast suicide as a rational decision is only to undermine the suffering that those with mental health issues face, and contributes to the lack of understanding society has on the subject. The idea that someone who suffers a mental break-down, to the point where all natural survival instinct, reason to live and feeling of worth subsides, because of debt, only has their own 'weakness' to blame is absurd Besides, even if one were to overlook this, Young's argument of the insignificance of debt as an issue fails as there are objective conditions of debt. Money problems induce reactions such as perpetual anxiety. The limits that debt places on freedom can cause genuine sadness and despair. This is experienced by many people and not all make their way to the roof of the Old Building. This is where mental health issues come in - mental illnesses are decidedly not rational. However, this doesn't mean we blame the person suffering from a mental illness by labelling them as less strong than the rest of us because they're being 'irrational' about their situation. This is exactly what Young does, putting responsibility with the individual, asserting those who commit suicide over debt relates 'in any case, to a weakness on the part of the student'. I don't want to verge into liberal moralism and use words such as 'offensive' here, though I've met some students who were deeply upset by this accusation, rather I just want to term this argument as outright ridiculous. The idea that someone who suffers a mental break-down, to the point where all natural survival instinct, reason to live and feeling of worth subsides, because of debt, only has their own 'weakness' to blame is absurd. We live in a society with a debt-crisis, where the burden of the banking bailouts is being laid onto the most vulnerable in our society which means they are all facing huge cuts and increasing debt with the cost of living and education. As a result, the NHS budget for mental health is also not spared. Research has shown that since the economic crisis suicide has risen. Is this because people were just too weak to survive? Social Darwinism isn't a road we should go down - it didn't end well during the 1930s. There's a reason why LGBT people are more likely to kill themselves than straight people - because we live in a homophobic society. Those suffering abject poverty, burdened with debt, are more likely to commit suicide than affluent, upwardly mobile individuals. This isn't because the poor are 'weak' but because in the society we live in, your life can be pretty awful and so the onset of mental illness is likely. Unsurprisingly, those in the poorest tier of income distribution are Ben Brown's bad behaviour Why students won't accept such major disrepect for Jody Mclntyre You should just be able to renew them online as with other texts. - Rosie Boyle, Sports Editor, The Beaver Yes, we're students who clearly can't afford any unnecessary expenditure on stupid library fines. If we wanted to waste money we would buy the bloody books. - Suraiya Secetary 1st year, LLB. Laws No. It sucks to pay that much but it sucks more to never find a book that you need. We need a stronger incentive to ensure compliance. -Eva Okunbor, 2nd year, BSc. International Relations I think it should be increased, so people like me can't keep books away from people who read them. - Louise Helferty, 2nd Year, BSc. Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method Sometimes you have a genuine reasonfor not being able to return them and you can end up with an unaffordablefine. The library needs to be more flexible. - Pam Gore, General Course, Sociology £107. Just saying. - Colin Langer, 1st Year, BSc. Management NEXT WEEK... Should non-Law students get a reading week as well? Send in your submissions! Email comment(a)thebeaveronline. -U™ m m m m m m + Polly McKinlay I am writing this to complain about the interview that Ben Brown held with Jody Mclntyre. I found the content of the interview to be distasteful and think that Jody was treated with disrespect. As a representative for disabled students at a leading university, I feel a responsibility to comment on the matter, given that it reflects the negative way in which society treats young people with disabilities. The interviewer repeatedly accused Jody of having posed a threat to the police by asking whether Jody had been throwing bricks or rolling towards the police. Despite Jody pointing out that these would be physical impossibilities, and that there was no credible way in which he could have posed a threat to the police, the interviewer continued this line of thought, asserting that because Jody had described his political views as revolutionary, he must have set out to cause harm. Dragging a disabled person out of their wheelchair would never be the right course of action to take Also of concern was the way in which the interviewer focused on the nature of Jody making a complaint. The interviewer implied that because Jody had not made a complaint, the matter was not worth complaining about. Clearly, for Jody to consult legal advice first is the most sensible option, and the interviewers ignorance of this detracted from the matter at hand. Speaking on behalf of a diverse body of students, I am not intending to advocate a particular position on the demonstration. But as a single incident, it is unacceptable. Dragging a disabled person out of their wheelchair would never be the right course of action to take, and it was wrong of the interviewer to question this. By being physically forceful, the police could have seriously damaged his physical health and his confidence. The interviewer showed very little sympathy for or even apathy with Jody, and was barely willing to consider that the police could have acted unreasonably. This makes it a poor interview in itself due to the fact that it is unbalanced. Jody should be congratulated for how well he dealt with the interviewer and for how calm he remained. I hope that the BBC will reconsider how it treats people in the future, as well as apologising to Jody.ttf This article was sent as a letter to the BBC and was countersigned by Charlotte Gerada, LSE Students' Union General Secretary Ashok Kumar, LSE Students' Union Education Officer Hero Austin, LSE Students' Union Community and Welfare Officer Daniel Kroop, LSE Students' Union Postgraduate Officer Adam Connell, LSE Students' Union Labour Society Secretary Emma Clewer, LSE Students' Union Socialist Workers' Society Chair Maisie Jobe, LSE Students' Union Women's Officer Lois Clifton, Jacob Schaefer, Carsten Jung, Amena Amer, Lucy McFazdean, Isla Woodcock, Sasha Salmon, Sherelle Davids, Stephanie Gale, Alice Stott, Sophie Newman, Hugh Rowland, George Edwards, Hannah Ellerman, Teddy Groves, Lukas Slothuus, Alex Peters-Day, Robin Burrett, Nicola Ticlhe, Shendi Veli, Matt Wilde, Ella Ingram, Ruby Hirsch (La Swap Sixth Form consortium) TUITION FEES PROTEST Met Police refers Jody Mclntyre case for investigation E|M^SSlB|B|cCQ^g msssmHim Hi___________________¦ The Beaver | 8 February 2011 From Tahir to Tiananmen A Chinese popular uprising could happen, writes Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and Syria are all facing popular uprisings: could China be next? Popular anger is spilling over across the whole Arab world. Thanks to Facebook and Twitter, revolts are crossing borders. Today they are pushing the frontiers of democracy further and further in the Middle East. Despite the casualties, the brutality of repression and the great uncertainties about what will come next, the sociopolitical turmoil has nevertheless achieved what was once unthinkable - at least in two emblematic cases. In Tunisia, protesters successfully broke down the 23-year reign of ex-president Ben Ali, who shamefully ran away from the country on 14th January. Just like dominoes falling down one by one, the movement then spread to Egypt, the most populous country of the Arab world (with more than 84 million people) and the most influential regional power - Egypt is the second greatest recipient of United States military aid after Israel and a key ally of the US in the Middle East. There, the 6th April Movement empowered millions of protesters who took the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, and other major cities, leading president Mubarak to announce, on 1st February, that he would not run for another term. On 4th February, Mubarak told American TV network ABC that he was "fed up with being President" and that he "would like to leave office now but cannot for fear that the country would sink into chaos". His moves and declarations undeniably demonstrate his attempt to cling on power at whatever cost, something he has successfully be doing since 1981. However, they also show that political headlocks are gradually blowing up in Egypt. Given the increasing international pressure, Mubarak might well have to leave office a bit earlier than he expected. Now, could the Middle Eastern revolutions travel the Silk Road, and give rise to similar protests in the People's Republic of China? A move from the Middle East to the Middle Square, from Tahrir Square to Tienanmen Square: this may sound like political fiction, yet Chinese leaders are paying great attention to what is unfolding in the Middle East. On Chinese websites, comparisons between China and Egypt have been carefully avoided, being strictly prohibited by Internet censors. On 1st February, according to AFP, keywords such as "Egypt" and "Cairo" were blocked on popular microblogging websites. This online control shows that China, home of 457 million Internet users, fears similar calls for political reforms. Chinese media response also gives us some clues: on 30th January, the influential and very official Global Times said that democracy was "still far away for Tunisia and Egypt" and warned that "it takes time and effort to apply democracy to different countries, and to do so without the turmoil of revolution". Revolutions are not likely to bring democracy, in a nutshell. Last but not least, the Chinese diplomats are calling for stability and non-interference. On 30th January, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said: "Egypt is a friendly country with China, and we hope Egypt could restore social stability and normal order at an early date". Again, on 4th February, Li Baodong, Chinese ambassador to the UN, commenting on Ban Ki-moon's calls for an immediate transition in Egypt, said that the revolution in Egypt was an "internal affair that should be resolved by the people in Egypt". Recently, China has been prone to social unrest: the revolts in Turkish-speaking Xinjiang autonomous province in 2009, and the anti-Chinese riots in Tibet in 2008, have shown that China was still very far away from achieving the "harmonious society" - the flagship policy of Chinese leaders. But now that China is getting ready for next year's top leadership replacement, with Hu Jintao and six other top leaders expected to leave power, similar protests to those that have shaken the Middle East could well happen in the Middle Kingdom, again. At first sight, it might seem odd to compare China with Egypt, given the great cultural and political differences. It seems even more risky to compare China and Tunisia: a country as large as the size of Europe populated by more 1.3 billion people, with a small country of more than 10 million people. These comparisons, however, may have some utility. Interestingly, China and Egypt share quite similar socio-economic situations. Both countries have not been able to distribute equally the social benefits of high-speed economic growth, leaving their middle classes and to their youths with a strong feeling of social injustice. Then came the economic downturn, which brought increasing unemployment for those who had stayed behind, and sharpening social divide between the rich and the poor. Both countries are struggling with roaring food prices, a catalyst for unrest in the Middle East, as well as the French Revolution of 1789. Both countries aso face endemic corruption, a strong driver of popular discontent and cynicism about government and politics. China is, however, facing these issues on a far greater scale. To take only one example: the Chinese government is today increasingly unable to provide jobs to the 6 million students who graduate each year from mainland universities. As a result, urban unemployment is rising and young graduates are less and less likely to find their dream job after university. This leaves China with a powerful source of popular anger and social unrest. We have to remember that it is precisely the tragic death of Mohammed Bouazizi, a 26-year old Tunisian graduate who set himself on fire on 17th January which triggered the revolutions in the Middle East. He could well have been Chinese: the social despair of Mohammed Bouazizi, a fruit street seller despite his university degree, echoes quite sadly the situation of the Chinese "ants" - a popular term for describing the cohorts of Chinese young graduates living in modest dormitories at the outskirts of China's major cities. China has many ingredients for a revolution to happen. This is why Chinese leaders are closely monitoring the events in the Middle East to avoid a "Chinese spring" in 2011. Revolutions in Numbers (as of 6th February) Days of protest: Algeria: 40 days Egypt: 13 days Jordan: 30 days Tunisia: 47 days Protester deaths: Algeria: 3 Egypt: 135+ Jordan:0 Tunisia: 219+ Protester injuries: Algeria: 420 Egypt: 3000+ Jordan: 0 Tunisia: 94 Unemployment: Algeria: 10.2% Egypt: 9-4% Jordan: 13.5% Tunisia: 14.2% C-A-QXO H~tcM m •§ +1 11 8 February 20111 The Beaver Do you remember the unbounded ambition of childhood games? You and your comrades would concoct a handsome plan to convert your bedroom into a supermarket, build a go kart, or refashion the garden shed as a medieval Century castle. Invariably, these plans never got further than the creative destruction phase; you'd have made a mess of your room, or wasted money on raw materials, or begun digging your moat, when you were dragged to the dinner table. Of course, after supper, there would be a cartoon to watch and then it would be bedtime. So, thankfully, the supermarket, kart, or castle never came into being. It would appear Russian cosmonauts haven't lost this childish zeal. More dangerously, they've supplemented it with an endless supply of patience. The result of this cocktail is Mars-500, one of the more absurd missions in aeronautical history. Its ridiculousness begins with the fact that its participants will never leave a Moscow basement. The crew, comprising three Russians, two Europeans and a Chinese national are guinea pigs in a test of man's ability to last the length of a flight to Mars by sitting in a mock-up of a cramped space shuttle for over a year. The tedium of this 520 day study of boredom will be alleviated by various simulations of the shit hitting the fan (power failures and the like) and, most amusingly, a mock landing on a basement spoof of Mars. Once the 'shuttle' 'lands' on 'Mars', the volunteers will have to carry out a series of geological experiments. Their findings, I suspect, will be unremarkable. If the ridiculousness of Mars-500 is not yet clear to you, that the experiment has fundamental problems must convince you. Some question whether the political and economic impetus needed to commit to a manned mission to Mars will be there in the coming years. Others sensibly wonder how similar to flying to Mars eating tinned food in a box in Moscow really is. A lack of gravity is bound to add stress to whatever the astronauts are doing. When it comes to psychology, how can you compare hurtling towards a planet millions of miles away with lazing about for a year? Isn't the latter just the average experience of most British undergraduates? I'm fairly sure one's longing for home is somewhat heightened when there's a chance that some mishap means you become space-junk, drowning in airless silence. This, to me seems different to a year of Skype calls with loved ones. So, like the best boyhood games, Mars-500 will be an anticlimax for those involved and, ultimately, utterly fruitless. U? m +• The Mastery of John Le Carre Galum Young hails the Author who came in front the cold As I write this I am half-way through John Le Carre's most recent novel, Our Kind Of Traitor. So far a middle-class couple - she is a barrister, he is an academic - has been drawn into a murky underworld of international finance and ill-gotten gains. The action centres on the City of London, and a private bank which has been approached by a Russian Oligarch seeking a safe place to store his millions and British citizenship. The bankers are in no doubt about the unsavoury sources of their new client's wealth but they take it anyway, promising a decent rate of interest and no political complications. Fifty pages in, the oligarch has a South Kensington residence, dual nationality and financial peace of mind. He has bought enough high-level connections to dodge awkward questions about his background and sits contentedly in an exclusive members club, just off the Mall. In many ways Our Kind of Traitor is typical Le Carre. Like so many of the twenty or so novels he has published in the last forty years, it is an intellectual thriller, which accumulates tension through its pages, whilst flagging-up poignant hypocrisies in Britain's ruling classes. Its moral compass is full of grey areas. The bankers are let-off the hook earlier in the plot when one says to the other: 'if we don't take this money, someone else will.' But the book also offers a measured critique of uninhibited capitalism and the massive sums of money being accumulated unjustly in developing states, only to be laundered into the British economy. The assertion which underpins this work is that in an age of austerity, even the state has lost the will to be moral when offered the chance to get its hands on big money. It is surprising to see Le Carre turning-on the global economy. He started-out in life as a spy, running a network of informers throughout East Berlin during the Cold War, a career which was to be cut-short when his position was revealed by the Soviet mole, Kim Philby. This background in intelligence was to inform most of his early literary work, which revolves around underhand plots to out leading members of the Stasi. Yet un- It would be easy for Le Carre's work to lose its realism. But this is not James Bond. like most 'Cold War Warriors' Le Carre's politics have shifted left rather than right following the events of 1989. A recurring protagonist in the novels, George Smiley, who often acts as the author's mouthpiece, notes following the end of the Cold War: 'At the eclipse of the Twentieth Century we have ended the iniquitous communist system, in the next century; we must end the iniquities within our own system.' The inbuilt injustice within the capitalist system is brought to the fore in another of Le Carre's novels, The Constant Gardener, later made-into a film. Here Western drugs companies are depicted testing carcinogenic drugs on African children, only to deny any wrong-doing when the press gets hold of the story. Although his plots regularly involve some sort of conspiracy and critique the free market, it would be wrong to paint Le Carre as an anti-establishment figure. His upbringing took-in the quadrangles of power, Eton and Oxford. And in his rare interviews, he speaks in a clipped sotto-voce. The critique of the world, then, doesn't spring from an uninformed standpoint. In fact, it's clear from the characterization in all his work that Le Carre knows the people he is writing about. Our Kind of Traitor is alleged to of sprung from dinner with an employee at Coutts & Co. Writing spy thrillers which sprawl across a host of glamorous European locations and involve a cast of characters which are impossibly eloquent, it would be easy for Le Carre's work to lose its realism. But this is not James Bond. For one thing, spies both from the East and the West are given a healthy dose of fear. In the autobiographical masterpiece The Perfect Spy, the protagonist Magnuss Pym is both contemptibly intelligent and bedevilled by human weakness. Shorn of sexual grandstanding, the world of espionage become as harrowing as it is exiting, sucking-in bright young things from university, and spitting them out forty years later with a chequered view of humanity. It's having been on the inside, but obviously hating it, that give Le Carre's novels their punch. His breakthrough novel The Spy who came in from the Cold War, published in 1963 was composed whilst he was working at the British Embassy in Bonn. It was written in the small hours of the morning, when Le Carre wasn't liaising with diplomatic corps and amongst others, Konrad Adenauer. The Spy's style is minimalist, the plot is drip-fed to the reader over the course of only 200 pages in which the action shift from London's soggy Cambridge Circus, to Bern, and finally to Berlin. As it book it taught be that the novel of ideas could also be a thriller, and it rightfully appears on list of the last Century's greatest fiction. But Le Carre novels are a victim of their own success. Their massive sales figures and translation into multiple languages mean they're seldom taken seriously by the literary powers that be. It's is only when you take a step back and regard the Oeuvre in its totality, that the tens of volumes published between 1963 and 2010 start to look world class. Le Carre has lived and breathed the Cold War in a way no other man or women of letters has; his work chronicles a war of systems and ideologies from the perspective of the individual lives which were entangled in the messy leviathan. The foot-soldiers of the period, may have worn suits not uniforms, and carried microphones not Mausers, but their contribution was no less significant and their patriotism no less abundant. It is as much, then, the failure of the Western World to think coherently about the Cold War, as it is their massive sales which explain the lack of critical attention paid to Britain's greatest post-war novelist. How else can we explain the petty resistance of authorities in Stockholm to award him the Nobel Prize for literature? .a layman's look at science Some people call them the space cowboys. Not me 12 The Beaver 5 8 February 2011 Features The London Security Exercise Teddy Nicholson, describes how LSE got its MUM conference I am a Model United Nations nerd. This is something that I have been dealing with for the past few years and as anyone who has been to an MUN conference before knows, there is something uniquely attractive about the combination of intense debate and extreme frustration that inevitably occurs in taking the role of a diplomat and arguing with people for a weekend. I started Model United Nations in school and went to a couple of conferences which were populated by unenthusiastic pupils dragged along by enthusiastic teachers. I knew though that many of the problems that plagued MUN at school level would all go away by the time I got to the sunny uplands of university where everyone was bright and committed and enthusiastic about this sort of thing. Oh the naivete. When I got to the LSE, I quickly joined the United Nations Society, the home of MUN here and a month later, I went to the Cambridge conference. I was excitedly expecting a large, impressive conference run by one of the best universities in the world. If there is anywhere where you should be able to meet the proverbial best and the brightest aspiring for a career in international politics, it should be there. Unfortunately, I found an uninspiring conference that was just as lull of people who didn't really want to be there as the school level ones were. As always there were some excellent people, but I failed to understand the presence of those who would sit in the committee room for three days without saying as much as a word, shrinking from getting involved. On getting back home, I started asking myself why LSE doesn't run a conference itself. We had talked about this before in the society and the general answer was a combination of inertia and the Conferences Office just being too difficult to work with to get a venue. Add to this the fact that we help run the London International MUN conference each year with the rest of the London colleges and no one had much of an incentive to do anything here. After seeing what university MUN offered, I decided that it was time I put my money where my mouth is and set up a conference here with the conviction that LSE had the resources and the people to do it better than what I'd seen. The challenge was to create something that was practically realisable and unusual enough that we could stand out in an increasingly crowded MUN market. Most conferences these days have one committee known as a 'crisis' committee. The idea is that instead of a simulated Security Council debating a static issue, they will deal with a moving target - people in the background will simulate developing events which delegates have to deal with. It was a simple process to find a group of friends who were better at MUN than I was and knew more about crisis committees than me. We decided'to take the crisis idea further and, drawing on the strength of the International Relations department, simulate an entire geopolitical crisis from six angles simultaneously. The idea was to go way beyond what MUN normally means and turn it into an exercise in realtime security policy with cabinets and national security councils debating how to interact with each other in real-time. Out of this came the name of the conference, complete with convenient acronym: the London Security Exercise (LSE). The conference we held in March 2010 was the first of its kind at the LSE. The simulation was of the war in Afghanistan with the Security Council, NATO and the cabinets of the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan and also the Taliban represented. The aim was to create as realistic as possible a simulation of the political dynamics around the region in a crisis situation. As always with a simulation, things didn't completely stick to that, but the conference was characterised by intense negotiations within and between committees. The director of ISI, Pakistani intelligence, spent a great deal of time negotiating with various factions within the Taliban and brokering deals with members of the Afghan cabinet while the Security Council debated whether to sanction Pakistan and the US dealt with a hostage rescue mission along the border, among other events. This year, the London Security Exercise is back, to be held over the weekend of the 19th March. In keeping with the tradition we have established of accurately simulating geopolitical hotspots, the topic will be the Middle East. The committees available are the Security Council and the cabinets of the US, Israel, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The aim is to take a region that is in the news daily and scratch below the surface and the politicised rhetoric that often characterises debate, and to further offer an accurate simulation of the political dynamics that drive international relations in the region. Without giving too much away, the focus will be on the ongoing political divide between Shia dominated Iran and Sunni dominated Saudi Arabia that has polarised the Middle East, as well as Israel's relationship with neighbouring powers and Turkey's ongoing balancing act in the region. Last year was our first time and it went well. Since then we've learned a lot and it will be better, though not bigger -keeping it small is crucial to the appeal. Finally, we are very excited to welcome A1-varo de Soto, the former special envoy of the Secretary General to the Middle East Peace Process, to speak at the opening ceremony. It is going to be an outstanding conference, and everyone involved is proud that we can bring a unique and exciting conference to LSE. Applications for the conference are currently open to anyone interested, go to www.lsemun.org to apply. Into the Tropersphere Jack Tindale divulges plot pastiches TV Tropes Ruined My Life. Basically, a bunch of Magnificent Bastards got together and concocted a Xanatos Gambit consisting of a Magical Database where it's All There In The Manual. If you're looking at me with Flat What bewilderment, the chances are that you have yet to be introduced to the most addictive website on the Internet. This is TV Tropes, a collaborative wiki consisting of thousands of documented and referenced plot devices and pop culture dissections. Originally established in 2004, the website has expanded from simply attempting to create a codex detailing the world of television into a vast library of the entirety of human culture outputs: ranging from anime to real world events; and from web comics to medieval literature. This Troper, as collaborators refer to themselves, who contributes slightly under his forum user-name of Lord Roem, first came across the website while researching for an English essay in the heady days of 2007 and rapidly became addicted to closest substitute that the Internet has for crack cocaine. Unlike the rather dry and pedantic world of Wikipedia, in which discussions over the official diplomatic status of Tibet and the correct mode of address for Prince Albert II of Monaco rapidly devolve into long-winded and increasingly irrelevant rants, TV Tropes prides itself on its ap-proachability for newcomers. Editing and personal opinions are more than welcome. If you think that Auska from Neon Genesis Evangelion is more of a Jerkass Woobie than a Tsundere then you would be well within your rights to think so. Obviously, she has characteristics of both, although personally, this Troper believes she falls far more into Jerk With A Heart of Gold in Rebuild, and even more so in the doujinshi, Re-Take, which many consider to be Basically Canon for the impressive art and Hourglass Plot. This Troper was in no way attracted to the Peggy Sue fanfic by a more primordial attraction to the numerous Contemptible Covers... As you may be able to see, aside from the crassness of this Suspiciously Specific Denial, the distillation of fiction to its basic components has some obvious downsides. In a sense, this Troper finds himself often drawn towards a dissection of everything that he reads into component parts, rather as a surgeon may find themselves mentally dissecting their patients even during a routine consultancy. The first trope mentioned at the very start of this article is one spoken from authority. The relative merits of great works of cinema and literature may become rather diluted as one finds oneself being drawn into something of a cultural lepidopterist, taking choice specimens from the works and mounding them in ones memory, preventing the required holistic attitude that is usually required to properly appreciate great works of art. This troper is re-reading Nabokov's Pnin at the moment and already identified the Author Avatar, Expy from another novella and the Muse Abuse inflicted upon the unfortunate protagonist. In becoming a Troper, this writer has become slightly detached from the merits of such works. Nevertheless, TV Tropes does have a great deal to add to it. As the site is at great pains to inform newcomers, Tropes Are Not Cliches, writers depend on them to make a coherent story. Using them correctly can be difficult so by having such a comprehensive listing of them, even if some are termed under a rather flippant phrase, can greatly assist with one's writing. Indeed, one could state the benefits of using Tropes in the real world. How better to explain to a foreigner well versed in popular culture and Internet geekery but perhaps not so much in the world outside their home country the nature of British politics. Such a person is likely to be a typical citizen of Eagleland, an exaggerated version of America, and such casual xenophobia is permitted under the rules of Acceptable Targets. If one takes the example of the Deputy Prime Minister for example, Nick Clegg has gone from being an Ensemble Dark-horse to The Quisling after being Kicked Upstairs following his Dark Horse Victory at last year's general election. Translated into the common vernacular, the concise description above would read as follows; "Nick Clegg has gone from being the leader of the third-largest party in the House of Commons and a relatively obscure figure for the electorate into a hate figure for many of his erstwhile supporters since his appointment to the de jure important but de facto powerless position of Deputy Prime Minister after surprisingly becoming the leading figure in creating the current coalition government following an inconclusive election result." The paragraph above is twice as long as the one preceding it and still assumes a rather in-depth knowledge of current affairs that a visitor may not process. Obviously, tropes may not work for every news story, but they may yet have a vital role to play. Consider the current state of our own campus, the Beaver Collective is clearly a SEELE-esque Omniscient Council Of Vagueness, the SU is developing into an Absurdly Powerful Student Council, although not quite on par with the dueling maestros of Revolutionary Girl Utena, whilst this Troper's performance at the Union General Meeting is a perfect amalgamation of various oratorical and comedic plot devices, namely the Tindale Hurricane of Incredibly Lame Puns. Granted, use of the site isn't the most academic of resources, even if it was, this paper would have a field-day in the event of a lecture on the Cultural Revolution being referred to as an attempt by a Kavorka Man who Failed Economics For Ever to bring about a Revolution Which Was Not Civilized. However, these failings aside, more people should really become aware of the benefits of the wonderful wiki of works, this Troper would summarise that, contrary to a previous statement, TV Tropes Will Enhance Your Life. It may not be true, but it's still useful to have the occasional Hypocrisy Nod. Does this Just Bug You, are you offended about the problems associated with Ascended Memes? Fear that I'm a poor representative Strawman Troper? Assuming you are not one who enjoys Complaining About Shows You CLICK Click ARE YOO IN THERE? J HELP! Don't Watch, a discussion regarding the relative merits of plot devices would be greatly appreciated, especially as the third LSE Literary Festival begins. %£ CLICK OKAY, WHO LINKED YOO TO IVTfcOPES? VH/VTS kflTH THAT SITE? [ CANY... stop..* itb LIKE R1CKS0LUNG,8ut YOU'RE TRAPPED All DAY. Features 13 February 20111 The Beaver user: The U.S. Ten years on Bianca Nardi wonders whether the war is justified The war in Afghanistan has surpassed Vietnam as the longest war in American history. It began in 2001 as the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom in response to the 11th September attacks. The goals in going to war included ending A1 Qaeda's use of Afghanistan as a base for terrorist operations, finding senior members of A1 Qaeda such as Osama Bin Laden to put them to trial and the promotion of democracy in the country by removing the Taliban regime. The US, under the George W. Bush administration, claimed that it would not distinguish between states that harboured terrorists and the groups responsible for the attacks. Afghanistan has been shattered by several international wars and failed interventions. After the Soviet War, Afghanistan was engulfed in a brutal civil war - and before that the British, the Persians, the Mongols and the Arabs have The notion of 'American exceptionalism' that gives the U.S. the right to intervene abroad by promoting democracy should not be used to justify foreign policy abroad. also been in wars against them. For the past forty years, Afghanistan has been in a continuous state of conflict. Does the US-led coalition run the same risks as the interventions in the past - by being unsuccessful and causing more harm than good? Is Afghanistan on the way to becoming a failed state and breeding ground for Western hatred? The War in Afghanistan represents the American reaction to a new threat to their security - based in the new capability for harm of non-state actors. The latter has no solid central command, with communications making it possible for members to be spread around the globe with no real headquarters. Additionally, the fact that non-state actors do not have to comply with repeated games in the international arena, or build a reputation for cooperation makes any sort of communication or negotiation with them near-impossible. Does the War in Afghanistan really contribute to combating terrorism? Critics say that the war itself may be radicalizing Muslims in the West, and creating greater antagonism toward America. The number of civilian casualties in both Afghanistan and Iraq are high - and the fact that the U.S. has submitted both these states to almost a decade of war does not put America in their list of favourite states. These lengthy, unplanned wars serve to spur a negative sentiment towards this intervening, careless giant - and make a strong point for terrorist groups seeking to round up new recruits worldwide. The notion of American exceptionalism' that gives the U.S. the right to intervene abroad by promoting democracy should not be a concept used to justify foreign policy abroad. America's role as a global police comes from a feeling that they are 'God's chosen nation' - and that their geographical, political and economic position gives them the power to promote their liberal democratic values worldwide. Additionally, America holds an 'engineering' approach towards foreign policy, and believes that democracy is something which can be imposed in a country like Afghanistan without taking into account their sensitive context or cultural differences that make such an action difficult to carry through. Democracy is not a formula that can be immediately applied anywhere - it is a lengthy, delicate process that should be adapted to a country's individual needs and come from within. In terms of creating democracy by toppling the Taliban, new questions are raised. For the British and NATO forces involved - is this campaign in their national interest? It is argued that Afghanistan needs to sort their own society in their own time, and that British troops should not be dying so that Afghan girls can go to school and so that America can create a democratic state in the Middle East. In the bigger picture - should Western, wealthy states put their soldiers at risk to improve living conditions and democracy abroad? Although the Taliban or Saddam Hussein were clearly infringing on their citizen's rights - what is so exceptional about America that gives it the right to decide who should rule and how in every corner of the globe? The United States and NATO have 150,000 troops in Afghanistan, and with 692 dead last year NATO has warned that 2011 will be an even more violent year. No clear plan for leaving Afghanistan has led to what seems to be a war with no end. Ten years after the start of the War, it is difficult to believe that any thing can be achieved, and all that can be hoped for now is that the U.S. will clean up the mess in Afghanistan, provide a means for stability and finally leave them alone.^ Revolution based upon ideology serves as the prototype of an assumption of the infallibility of that idea: nothing more than a blind projection of the ideals of one or a group onto a society that does not meet their conceptions of what a given society should look like. More often than not, these are ideas without real-word backing: if one were to project a new epistemology onto the field of science with no empirical basis or testable hypotheses, issues would be immediately identified. Replacement of any given regime with another (be it under the guise of Marxist or Platonic or any other ideological attainment) is practically equivalent to replacing the rigorously tested and corroborated Theory of Relativity with an assertion that the speed of light varies dependent upon what one person decides it to be from moment to moment. Of course, the scientific example does not suffer from the normative elements that the decision upon a political system does: whereas science is concerned with matters of fact and prediction, political systems and institutions are also concerned with what should be. While some may argue that such normative elements may make the field of politics one ripe for such imposition of values, there's a far stronger case to be made against such a proposition. An ideologically based revolution is invariably going to promote a single doctrine which is expected to be held by the populace as a whole. Such a state of affairs would not be desirable, given the nature of the admission of a plurality of doctrines as being conducive to the revelation of truth through critical discussion. The admission of plurality is infinitely more likely to accommodate the needs and desires of a diverse group of individuals than the imposition of a comprehensive political doctrine adherent to only one set of values. This is not, of course, to say that the status quo is to be held as immovable, even if'right.' Through the atmosphere of critical discussion fostered by the plurality of doctrines within the political system, a process of compromise and accommodation can further lead to a process of'piecemeal engineering' whereby policy can be enacted in small steps, tested empirically and retracted with little disturbance if they are found to be ineffective. It will be conceded that this is only really a viable option if institutions exist such that feedback mechanisms exist from the subjects of the policy to the policymakers: revolution could only be justified in order to create such democratic institutions.^ Alexander Young is... } i Is revolution key to political reform? r l Revolution is, far too frequently, a word summoned by directionless radicals and overzealous grassroots socialists: a relevant exemplification being the most recent post-vote student protests in which leaders of the movement genuinely appeared to believe their nigh-on apologetic marches were the pinnacle of revolutionary behaviour. The word has been given a bad name by the modern-day Marxists stumbling blindly in weak-kneed adoration of an unattainable ideal, who purport to be genuine radicals but in actuality are frequently pint-sized resistors. Revolution has now become a byword for frenetic and unfounded state- ments of sweeping yet toothless rhetoric. Its relevance is further eroded now that we live in an advanced, liberal-democratic society that contains systems of checks and balances, albeit ones of questionable strength, where revolution is far from the minds of people who live in comfort. However we must remember that revolution is not a dirty word when framed in the context of overbearing dictatorship. It is all fair and well in a liberal society to criticise those partaking in revolution of attempting to impose unrealistic ideologies upon swathes of unwilling participants, but surely no-one would begrudge the people of Zimbabwe a revolution to free them from the crippling economic inadequacies and unpredictable bloodlust of their corrupt regime? Where, honestly, would we be without revolution? It must not be forgotten that the majority of our modern democracies (the US, England and France to name a few) were born out of the embers of revolution. Although revolutions have not always been successful, it does not allow us to condemn the idea wholesale. The idea, reconsidered, can come to signify the bravest and most worthy elements of character which define the human race. The defiance of apartheid in South Africa, in full knowledge of the brutalities that would be faced, is perhaps as fine a definition of the true ideal of rebellion that can be identified. The protest led there, through peaceful and violent means, and the removal of an inherently racist government is a true representation of what revolution can achieve in its most fidl-throated and genuine roar. Though revolution has become devalued for many, it cannot be forgotten that its relevance has dwindled in our society simply because its course has been run in reconstructing our social order in the annals of the past; this does not preclude revolution from being a legitimate means of institutional overhaul for many peoples of the world. *£ RAG-TIN SPEED DATING LSE leaving you lonely? Head to the Tuns on Valentines' Day for your chance to mingle with LSE's finest singleboys and girls. You'll have around three minutes to charm each prospective partner and at the end, if the feeling is mutual between you both, we'll help set you up. With cheap drinks and a fun atmosphere come along and let RAG find you your dream LSE partner. We promise we'll try to ensure any RAG(ging) innuendo is kept to an absolute minimum. BATTLE OF THE HALLS Which hall is the best dressed? Which hall can't handle their booze? And can ANYBODY end Rosebery's reign as the most sociable hall? The hall that gets the biggest percentage of their residents to the event will be crowned the winner. And on the night there will be further interhall competitiveness in the shape boat races, dance offs and much much more. Ticket price includes a "carnage-style" t-shirt which you can decorate with your name and which hall you're representing - fancy dress is not compulsory but is definitely encouraged!! The venue has been confirmed as the Purple Turtle in Camden where we have negotiated some great deals on drinks. Also, the Purple Turtle is one of the stops on the legendary Camden Crawl pub crawl so many halls committees will be arranging their own "Camden Crawls" through the many watering holes which are in close proximity. It's easy to get to for every hall, as it's only around 5 minutes walk from Euston Station and right next to Morn-ington Crescent. MONDAY VALENTINE'S DAY STALLS HOUGHTON STREET TUESDAY WEDNESDAY SCHEME SOCIETY BRITISH TEA PARTY UNDERGROUND i 0 h I (5 Z SPEED DATING 3 TUNS DEBATE TOURNAMENT FINAL QUAD 6PM DEBATE SOCIETY TOURNAMENT CLEMENT HOUSE BINGO 3 TUNS ' ¦ . PUB QUIZ 3 TUNS 7:30PM MR LSE QUAD u . RAG week wouldn't be RAG week without a jam-packed schedule and plenty of activities and ways to get involved. But beyond the parties and the events it's all for some brilliant causes. This year RAG week is very proud to be supporting three bril- —¦ k ¦ liant charities. St Mun-go's is primarily based in London and supports homeless people. Through street outreach teams, emergency shelters, recovery assistance and home-lessness prevention, St Mungo's offers holistic support to Homeless dt people through all aspects of their lives. The Atrium in the Old Building is currently hosting a brilliant exhibition about St Mungo's and their work, so be sure to check it out for more information. Also this year we will be supporting Women for Women. Women for Women international provides women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency. Finally, the African Street Children Organisation (ASCO) is our third charity we are supporting during RAG week 2011. Founded in 2009, ASCO provides a safe and nurturing environment for street children, enabling them to develop basic literacy and numeracy skills alongside traditional arts and crafts. ARY 2011 ERGATHON HOUGHTON STREET 9AM / n SPONGING IN STOCKS FOOTBALL VS. RUGBY TUG OF WAR HOUGHTON STREET 1PM SALSA SOCIETY WORKSHOP HOUGHTON STREET 12-5PM SPICE SOCIETY FASHION SHOW QUAD 8PM BATTLE OF THE HALLS PURPLE TURTLE 9PM-1 AM There comes a time in the life of every LSE alumnus that he or she looks back and wistfully sighs "I wish I had more LSE merchandise". Allow RAG to fill that gaping hole in your future. All week we will be selling the finest garments your money can buy. IcM Whether you wish to pledge allegiance to the campus by sporting a "Houghton Street" T-Shirt, or you want to give what is perhaps a more accurate representation of your time here by wearing a "London School of Alcoholics" t-shirt, or possibly BINGO AND PUB QUIZ On Tuesday RAG brings you a very special retro evening. First get your brain boxes working with the annual RAG pub quiz. Gather your coursemates, flatmates and teammates and come together to battle it out to win the coveted crown of LSE RAG week team you want to keep things subtle and understated by wearing a shirt with "RAG me senseless" emblazoned over; our stall on Houghton Street all week will allow you to purchase these gems and many more besides. HUMAN AUCTION Held just after RAG week 2011, The Development Society and RAG are once again teaming up to host the fantastic People Auction. Your chance to grab a date with some of LSE's best- featuring AU members, Society bigshots, lecturers and teachers, and even your opportunity to buy a ALSO, LOOK OUT FOR. of the year (with a very special prize). Then it is time for eyes down and the bingo to begin. Whether you know your Dancing Queen (17) from your Legs Eleven (11) or you are brand new to the bingo hall experience, it's bound to be a very fun night! date with the one and only Sir Howard Davies, the People Auction is one event not to be missed. Come along to the Quad on Tuesday the 22nd and get ready to bid for your date(s) of choice! PULSE RAG-A-THON ALL WEEK LINDY HOP-A-THON 26-27 FEBRUARY PAY OFF YOUR LIBRARY FINES AND HELP RAG! son + 14 The Beaver 8 February 2011 Features British universities, global education A loss of foreign students would be a loss for the country, writes Brittany Smith Recently, the British Prime Minister announced his bid to impose more stringent English language requirements on immigration entry, in an effort "to reduce the number of students coming to Britain to study at below degree level". The proposal, released by the Home Office last month, comes at a necessary time. Some UK ministers feel that such an increased language requirement is necessary to decrease the amount of immigrants who seem to abuse the visa and English language requirements to gain entry into the UK. But the other side of the debate is centered around what some believe to be the most significant piece of this proposal. Defenders of the existing visa regulation criticise ministers and their methods for citing abuse of the current system as a cover for the real reason: their goal to cut net migration from 200,000 to below 100,000 by 2015. For some, this means something else entirely: increased immigration is being seen as a threat to the current British moral and cultural fibre. What is clear is what is happening: the British government is actively pursuing a provisional route to slash levels of immigration down by more than half. By doing so, the government is challenging the judgement of admissions committees all over the country in recognising the potential of international students to learn and keep up in a classroom where the primary language spoken may not be the mother tongue of the student learning. But, if the intent for accepting students The ability to express a fully articulated argument which connects facts to an interesting conclusion is pleasant to witness and can enhance your aesthetic appeal into an academic forum of higher learning is to teach and refine their current skill set level, their approved university application should have proven their capacity to challenge their learning. If this new proposal is set in place, the government will essentially make a powerful statement to universities around this country: that their assessment of a student's application is not enough; further inspection is needed. But the consequences of this further assessment of a student's application - by increasing the language requirements of entry into the UK - will threaten the existence of academic institutions like the LSE, Oxford and Cambridge - institutions that thrive on global learning. These institutions, like so many others around the UK, have been intentional in their mission to accommodate and provide for a globally immersive educational experience; such an experience's survival is largely built upon the presence of international students. International students bring a certain cachet into the classroom that manifests itself in the various dialects of English spoken, to the interpretations of the world that we, as students, visualise ourselves in. And as an diverse social fabric will prove in the classroom, though we all live in the same world, the ways we imagine our world are profusely varied. If further preventative measures are put in place to restrict this one-of-a-kind learning that students from all over the world work so diligently to access, the humbling experience that comes with having your articulation of the world challenged, and listening to an ideological perspective that another student might not share, will be gone. The government recognises that the university forum is one of the few places of hope that this world has in introducing various continents of thinking to each other, and disbarring the wall of estrangement and insular societies and communities of people from one another. But if the government pursues their bid to reduce the number of foreign students entering universities in the UK, the ideological and physical movement between different communities will be slowed. The UK, if this provision passes, will tell the rest of the world just how honest their cosmopolitan identity is. Which, certainly, will either affirm or shift the opinion of many people's minds on just how open the British society really is, and to whom it belongs. Which will demand the ultimate question to be answered: who should have a right to access the opportunity of social upward mobility through high education? ^ ---------------- © International arrival mm • ~ ¦...........¦ -.....----- Internatio ual Arrivals mm. 1M1 ...Japan was divided? (Pt. l) Jack Tindale The Soviet invasion of Hokkaido, launched on 1st August 1945, came as a total surprise to both the beleaguered Imperial government in Tokyo and the newly-arrived General MacArthur on Okinawa. Convinced that Moscow's main objectives had been Korea and Manchuria, the American response to the invasion was rushed and primarily aimed at completing the atomic bomb project, with a view to ending the conflict before too many of the home islands fell into the rapidly advancing communist hegemony. Korechika Anami, Prime Minister since the resignation of Kuniaki Koiso, was one of the few politicians who supported continuing the war following the rapid advance of Marshal Vasilevsky's forces across the northern island. The 1st Red Banner Army had survived the rapid crossing from Sakhalin and had already secured the city of Wakkanai before the nuclear devastation of Niigata on August 4th. President Truman launched the dawn of the atomic age with deepest regret, although the chaos caused by the "Twin Shock" of the Soviet Invasion and total destruction of one of Japan's few intact cities destroyed the remaining security within the Imperial Court. On the 7th August, War Minister Yoshijiro Umezu almost came to blows with Marquis Kido, the Keeper of the Lord Privy Seal, when the latter suggested peace, but before the ash had even settled from the nuclear bombing of Kokura, the Showa Emperor had already announced the surrender of the Empire of Japan. The Pacific War had ended. The formal occupation of Hokkaido by the Soviet military had been formalised less than a week after the armistice agreement had been signed. Stalin, lacking a Kremlin-trained lackey, was forced to appoint Kyuichi Tokuda as de facto leader of the North Japanese Left, although the idealistic and charismatic politico was soon made aware of the dangers of diverging too much from Marxism-Leninism. Japan proper, which retained the Emperor after MacArthur warned of the possible risk of Socialist agitation, soon found herself under the benevolent despotism of SCAP. Although the intention remained of ' the Soviet-American occupation zones being merged into a unified nation by the end of the 1940s, the rapid divergence between the superpowers during the early stages of the Cold War soon rendered such desires hopeless, especially following the victory for the CCP in the Chinese Civil War. The tit-for-tat relationship prevented hostilities in the Korean peninsular, much to the chagrin of Kim il-Sung who was forced to purge the entire Chinese faction of the Korean Worker's Party in 1952 as a result. President Howard Stassen, inaugurated days after the assassination of Chancellor Adenauer by Soviet agents, pledged to maintain American support for West Germany and the "Two Souths" (Japan and Korea) during his administration. Eyeing each other up on either side of the increasingly militarised Tsugaru Strait, relations between the Japanese People's Republic and the State of Japan soon developed an icy tone during the early 1950s. For the shaky coalition government in Tokyo of Masayoshi Ohira, comprised of an alliance between the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives, the next few years would prove to be exceptionally challenging for the South Japan government. ^_ Measured musings Free schools or freedom for schools? The debate on free schools was further stoked this week by Manchester's anti-extremism tsar declaring that they would be 'divisive.' Ian Fenn's assertion was based upon his wonderful analogy that the establishment of free schools, administered by parents or other interest groups independent of government intervention, was the equivalent of establishing a hospital because one 'fancied a stethoscope.' This condemnation of the lack of necessity of experience in the education sector for those desiring to set up schools was bolstered by his claim, founded on the basis of his experience of working in an independent Muslim school, that the ability of inexperienced administrators to notice that the founding of schools on ethno-religious grounds would invariably lead to the division of students into ethnic or religious groups, with no scope for those of different backgrounds to mix and learn to work together. His criticisms become somewhat clearer when one considers the nature of current state religious schools, be they of Protestant, Roman Catholic, Hindu, Jewish or Muslim proclivities. These schools tend to select students based upon their religious backgrounds, with some going to the lengths of interviewing potential students (at the age of four for entrance into primary education) to verify their cre- dentials of faith. Admittedly, most schools would only do this for around 50 per cent of students, but such an action is more than likely to form an 'us' of the religious majority pitted against the 'them' of the minority groups. Bringing the precedent established by faith schools to a wider school-going audience seems incredibly likely to have negative effects: on the one hand, tensions between different groups will increase and breed resentment towards the majority group among the minority groups at a young age - an attitude which may be carried into adulthood - or, alternatively, and perhaps worse, lead to a homogenisation of the people involved. The pressures in- herent in being a minority group may well lead to yielding in inherited principles in order to better fit in with their opposing majority. Indeed, the freedom proposed by free schools appears to be a prescriptive one: freedoms for the administrators in determination of their curricula at the expense of the freedoms of the pupils within the schools to form their own conceptions of the good life under majority pressures in value-laden school structures. Uf Alexander Young Features Editor are, all the time? Is this what C was really referring to when hi wrote 1984? Are Facebook an entire retail and services indusl slowly luring usir- -> i Bia Brot state? One could definitely arc this as a possibility. Broadcast! your location to friends (c -j p you don't know so well, but ac cepted their friend request any could be a recipe for disaster, longer can you go for a coffee think, without other people stee where you are and possibly di ing thai they want to join you. is a price (namely paying for y drink in some situations) Rich i and service chains are bidding your privacy, and the price the ere willing to offer: a free drin riieel. Those who ha*e seen Th Social Network may remembe Mark Zuckerberg created Fac< to allow people to meet and fii friends, and keep in touch. If s< that this innocent idea has evo into on unstoppable train that i BaeCffem=£ffl33 Q©0Gd..Psfe IHf JSf S-.-i mmmm em3 ©airOa? = Sfesaaltec1: Y?00fflg£j T?©GGID311I^7 = | 3Mb J IM : linski acebook deals with world dominati i [tosCl examines whether Faceboek and business [?qg1IJ7 0® GxegxiI 8cd CxeedcG tuck in a boring Monday lecture. Half the audience asleep. The other half on their phones, either playing Angry Birds, brows-3 Facebook, or texting friends. 1 familiar? .md myself in exactly this position lost week and as society dictates, my hands automatically found my phone find opened up the Facebook app. I am no! normally one to comment on people's trivial and unimportant statuses, let alone this new idea of being able to 'check in' to locations, thereby showing your friends on Facebook where you are (the closet Facebook stalkers among you are probably frothing at the mouth at this point: being able to know where your 'friends' are all the time). However, I was presented with an unusual "mini-feed.'' For some reason, at. least twenty of my friends Hecked-in" to Yo Sushi. cfion was "I don't I was curious as to why ¦g this. » "1 to me, Facebook had just launched 'Facebook Deals'. This agreement between retailers and Facebook allows the consumer to receive free drinks, meals and other benefits, from checking in to their shops on your phone. Yo Sushi were offering five free plates and a drink for two people if you checked in with a friend; meanwhile, Starbucks were offering a free tall filter coffee for everyone who checked in at their outlets. Facebook could be on the cusp of a new advertising strategy, which uses the consumer to advertise places to their friends. Could this signal the end of large budget advertising campaigns, in exchange for empowering consumers with promotional tools? Financially this makes sense: the aggregate cost of offering consumers a free filter coffee is surely outweighed by the potential exposure to thousands of other people. Furthermore, once people are attracted to your business, knowing that they will be picking up a freebie, it is highly likely that they will spend money on other items. And if none of this provides enough incentive for businesses to s;v get involved with Facebook's new deals', it also gives participating businesses a facade of being consumer friendly. So what actualty is checking in? Mobile Facebook applications nave an option called 'places'. Clicking on this will present you with points ol interest that are located around you, based on your GPS location. Selecting one of these points of interest, and optionally tagging someone else with you, will show your Facebook friends where you are, as well as providing some information on the site you have checked in to (contact numbers, addresses, and brief histories if they are available). You art also able to see if ahy of your friends have checked in to the same place. Sounds simple, easy, harmless and, after last week, can provide you with free benefits... or so it seems? Those of you who are clued up and concerned with privacy will stop me right here. Does this mean people will know exactly where you JSTOR: A long time ago in a Beaver far, far away (last year), PartB used to bgxq pull-out ..........iMldi ' "M®** ..... >ut together Wiml e to the in- and have an editorial-type-thingy like what you're reading here. As PartB before the rest of the Beaver, we don't get a chance to add our collective evitably contrarian viewpoint designed to piss off some/all of the LSE community.-Along with getting rid of the front cover, which became the bane of my life in certain weeks, this ends up killing two birds with one stone. Normally this is supposed to be funny, but it's been a long day. Maybe next week! K-RO'D: As PartB fresh-meat, I will take this opportunity to introduce myself as Jonathan's new sidekick. Peerbux has left an impressive legacy in his wake, one which a rather air-headed, technophobic, Beaver editorial board virgin, will inevitably find immensly difficult to live up to. I do however, plan to have a crack at filling his size 8.5 (small I know! But apparently no reflection on the proportions of other departments) shoes. To quote Jonathan, it has been a long day, and all wit (if ever I had any) has escaped me, but we will try out best to make a funny editorial next week: watch this space! J"IcM Fashion. 'loud THE Photographs by the show's Creative Director, Yan Giet Tammam Is a sustainable, organic couturier specialising in Bridal and Evening gowns. The label uses traditional tailoring techniques along with modern design to create immaculately cut and stylish dresse. Skilfully juggling ethics with aesthetics, Tammam's designs have become renowned for their innovation and dedication to people and planet. Neither design nor ethics have been compromised in this high fashion venture, showing the talent of owner, Central St Martin's Graduate, Lucy Tammam. At the forefront of ethical and luxury design, Tammam sees unique fabric development and well researched supply and production chains as the key to her success. www.tammam.co.uk 0(uick)&A with f^ARTlMl-- What's your brand's name story, how did you choose it? The name PARTIMI stems from the architectural term 'parti' which refers • to the conceptual starting point of an idea. My mother and grandfather are both architects and as I was just starting out it seemed an appropriate name to mark the beginning of the journey. It also serves as a constant reminder or 'mantra' that keeps me grounded and helps me stay centred around the reasons for starting PARTIMI - to create Striking, un-contrived designs, defined by intriguing concepts and an inherent environmental edge. Is there something you have to give up to in order to create a line which has to be considered completely sustainable? And in your opinion, in this production process, what is the thing you care more about? Time is the only thing so far. Picking fabrics that satisfy my criteria for sustainable or forward-thinking fashion can be a time consuming business. There are wonderful fabrics out there but accessibility for start-up designers is a hurdle as it is often impossible to afford even the minimum quantities from some of the mills. However, with a certain degree of flexibility, and willingness to work and problem solve together with manufacturers, many things are possible! When I first started, fabrics that were environmentally friendly were certainly my focus, but as I have developed my research and had more time to meet more people that focus has moved to a more holistic approach. The ultimate aim will always be to use materials that do not exploit our limited resources or people but for me this is a long road and I'm just taking my first steps. mmmammgmmmmsMmmmfflmmmmmmmMmmnBmmm LDN Kent & Curwen Beginning in 1926 as a supplier of College ties to Oxford and Cambridge, Kent & Curwen have grown with the inspiration of Surrey country living, to produce some of the country's best Cricket wear, most notably jumpers and blazers. It was appointed as the official supplier of the National English Cricket Team for over 20 years and the Supplier of Oxford and Cambridge rowing strips, which established it as one of the world's leading Gentleman's brands. The flagship store in Piccadilly opened in the late 80s which has become the home to new collections of sportswear and classic tailoring. www.kentandcurwen.co.uk PARTIMI London based designer, Eleanor Dorrien-Smith, CSM 2008 graduate worked for Galliano and Kishimoto before starting up ethical Fashion Label, Partimi. This collection is inspired by Ellie's grandmother's collection of Ballet Russes Costumes. The bold and confident graphics seen throughout are evidence of her skills in print, her speciality at CSM. Coupled with the simple shapes of her pieces, each garment has a unique lived-in character which stems from the theatrical roots of her inspiration. She also received a prize in the Design for a Thriving Fashion Industry category at the Fashioning the Future Awards in 2009. Her newest collection will be exhibited under Estethica at London Fashion Week in mid-February. above: Tammam Wedding Dress LSE PHOTOGRAPHY by Ben Murray Friday's long awaited Annual Charity Fashion Show was the culmination of months of preparation by the Fashion Society. LSE's fashion savvy, misapprehensively few and far between, gathered in the Shaw Library for the glitterati event of the term raising over £800 for the Microloan Foundation. An hour before the show, I walked into the Shaw Library, spotlights glaring and music blaring where a sparkling Emma Roberts, FashionSoc's President, was poised on her seat, intently watching the runthrough. Chatting to some of the models waiting for makeup, they were very excited to get the show started. Freelance makeup artists Rowan Papie, Eloise Kerr, Ezme Thomas and Gavin Pickle worked their magic on nearly thirty models, using MAC and Body Shop Products. Subsequently, the show unravelled with seamless precision. Unfortunately, there were far too many beautiful pictures to fit on this one page, but here are a select few to showcase the exquisite designs of LDN by LSE. Other designers were Shi Bo Xie from China and Central Saint Martins' (CSM) Naoyuki Yoneto and Jamie Tai. Timur Kim Graduating from CSM last year, Kim's Graduate Collection comprises beautifully elegant flowing dresses, which drape fluidly over the female form His focus on fabric and textures is enhanced by the minimalist block colour palette; red, white and black with an understated Chalayan vibe. Currently, his collection is stocked boutiques in Russia, his home country, but the range will be available in London soon. Jacqstar Brought to us by Jacqui James, LSE's very own fashion designer/sociology undergraduate, this urban street wear collection began just last year as a culmination of years of self-taught dress-making and 'sewing for barbies'. She seems to take a 'do and learn' approach to fashion design, taking every girl's fantasy hobby and making it into a reality. She finds inspiration from everything from military uniforms to dolls' dresses. This collection is called "Regiments" and you can really see her still finding its feet, but Jacqstar has great potential in both the street wear and formal couture Ultimately, Jacqui wants to establish the Jacqstar brand as means of expression to appeal to a wide range of young people. Her attitude to fashion is one of all encompassing expression which should be accessible to anyone who wants to participate. www.jacqstarlondon.co.uk (under construction) Sharon Li Graduating from the London College of Fashion (LCF) in Fashion Technology and Textiles, Sharon's collection "Organic Frameworks" draws inspiration from skeletal structures found in animals and plants, and develops beautiful fabrics in shades of white to create a fantastic homage to the human skeleton. The technology of the garments is complex and sophisticated, using laser cutting and origami styles to merge geometry with biology. The mini-dresses in this collection have a clear 60s influence with an understated futuristic twist, seen in metal-. lie embroidery and muted foil details. She held a private presentation with Vidal Sas-soon at the end of last year, whose slick, immaculate hairstyles complemented the collection perfectly. Carol Li Li's AAA/ collection is a hand-crafted knitwear range, created on a domestic sewing machine. The colour scheme reflects the elements; blues, moss greens, beige and neutral shads. The intricate textures of the fabrics were offset by the bold structures which had influences from military to lingerie. The body-con dresses are very reminiscent of Missoni in terms of texture, but perhaps a little more rustic in finish.The collection was inspired by the era of The Great Depression and the resourcefulness of women living and dressmaking in the second world war. ReLove SALE Go Green Week 2011 Thursday 10th Feb, Quad 10- 2:30, Fashion Soc are hosting the ReLove Sale If you have any clothes you don't love as much any more, donate them at any time before the event to the SU Reception for some Re Loving! All prcoeeds will go to LSE SU Green Projects Fund Mush. mmmmmm hi I Peanut butter blues, melancholy jam Ghosfpoet "Mi I usio has always been a part of me," Ghostpoet mumbled as he recollected his I experiences over the years. "But I never thought I could make a career out of it." It was a modest thing to say. His songs have garnered consistent praise from blogs and the music press: the Guardian's Paul Lester touted Ghostpoet as being on his way to 'greatness'. Judging from the success of last year's free EP, The Sound of Strangers, Ghostpoet's trajectory is set for a brighter future. After all, he has just inked a record deal with Gilles Peterson's Brownwood Recordings. At age twenty-four, Ghostpoet, also known as Obaro Eijimiwe, lives in his native South London with ancestral roots in Dominica and Nigeria. He was raised on a healthy musical diet encompassing garage, hip-hop, old-school grime and everything in-between. Though his family matched his boundless appetite for melodies and grooves, he was never encouraged to take up music seriously. Obaro's parents had wanted him to have a 'proper' job, in the vein of architecture or media editing work. Mellow and relaxed, his speech reflects the same moods in his music. "My parents were of the mind that I should get a career of some sort," he recalls, "So it wasn't like 1 woke up one day and started making songs. I've always had a passion for music, but I never really thought I'd start making it." That was when he was fourteen -when many late nights would be spent listening to albums recorded on an old, dusty tape recorder. "I remember listening to Kiss FM. I was in love with hip-hop, of both American and UK flavours," he says, "With garage and thick bass music mixed in. Then a guy at school introduced me to indie-type stuff, which got me into bands like Rage Against The Machine." As time went by, he began tuning into pirate radio stations. Afro-beat, reggae and grime was thrown into the mix. By the start of sixth form, Obaro found himself rapping to backing tracks. "It was a sort of UK-style hip-hop. A bunch of friends and I got together and we just started rapping," he recalls. "As much as I loved American hip-hop, with all its hard-hitting bass and sounds, I think I couldn't really relate. Those artists would be singing about cities I'd never been to and subjects I wasn't familiar with. "It's only by looking back now that I'm able to appreciate how affected I was by music from the UK. Particularly the early grime scene," he says, "Where I could really feel the songs with all their experimentations and wobbling bass. It really hit a chord with me." His head swirling with rap lines and rhythmic grooves, Obaro moved to Coventry when he turned eighteen. Enrolled at Coventry University, he became interested in media production and pursued a degree in film and television editing. "At the time, that was the avenue that I felt was kind of okay. I was interested in doing music, but it wasn't anything so serious that it would become my specialisation," he says. "I liked the idea of doing DJ sets and maybe doing bits of writing, but I didn't have any traditional music training. I didn't know any instruments or anything of that sort. "I hadn't taken an instrument to a sufficient level that I could have used as part of a degree situation, and there wasn't anything for electronic music production "The album was emotional, but I don't want to sound like an artsy-fartsy character...I wasn't crying into my keyboard every night" Hercules And Love Affair -Blue Songs University didn't prevent Obaro from pursuing his interests in music. In fact, the local music scene had given him much inspiration. It was a university town. Much of the music he grew up with - grime, drum and bass, old-school garage - was flourishing. "I noticed there weren't any music nights that catered to the kinds of music I was interested in, so I started putting on these club nights," he says. "One of my close sixth form mates was already up there studying, so it was pretty easy to get things going. "Pretty soon there was a group of us who were quite interested in these nights. It felt like the next logical step would be for us would be to form a collective of sorts. It just felt like a natural progression at that moment. Don't ask me how many of us there was though, it's slipped my mind," says Obaro, bursting with laughter. "I'm sorry, but it's gone. We got a few productions going, but it was nothing major." Roughly three years later, the collective 'fizzled out'. "I think it was one of those things where people wanted different things. For me, by the time it ended, it was at the point where I didn't want to be an MC anymore. The grime, the eight bar sixteen bar, the tempos, it just didn't work for me. I was already on my way out, 1 suppose." Obaro had other plans in mind. He wanted to produce his own music. "I started making little bits here and there. It was quite different from what I was doing before. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it encouraged me," he says. "I've always been an observer of sorts, and I like to put what I go through, what others go through in my songs as stories. It's always been that kind of thing for me." His unique approach to songwriting is reflected in upcoming debut album Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam. "I like the idea of shaping my lyrics around the music. It's more natural I feel than having loads of lyrics and trying to force it into a sound," he explains. "So most of my songs kind of tell a story of some kind. This album has a lot of emotions put into it, which I made over the course of a few months. "When I say emotions, I don't want to sound like an artsy-fartsy character. I wasn't crying into my keyboard every night," laughs Obaro. "The challenging part of making the album was trying to balance it with my day job. I can't have the luxury of working 100 per cent on the music, so it was more that rather than an emotional roller coaster. I didn't have a specific theme in mind either, so it was definitely more of a go-with-the-flow ordeal." Ghostpoet is hosting an album launch party on 17th February, at Islington Metalworks with support from similarly-mellow New Cross band 'Embers'. "The live experience will be different from the studio album. I really want to give people an experience to remember, so it's going to be me with a full live band and everything. I just want to thank everyone for listening to my music, and the support is always appreciated. It encourages me to keep making what I'm making." Visit www.ghostpoet.co.uk for tickets details and song previews. Band of Horses Brixton Academy - 03.02.2011 The eponymous debut from Hercules And Love Affair was the ultimate album to wallow in your own self-pity to. Charting the rise and fall of gay disco culture, from Studio 54 at its peak to the pitiless devastation of AIDS, the album was a loving and sybaritic pastiche, importing the sounds and sensations of a bygone era. Around half of the troupe's follow-up, Blue Songs, wants to be similarly anecdotal and reminiscent. Beguiling opening track 'Painted Eyes' introduces us to the album's secret emotional weapon, Venezuelan-born singer Aerea Negrot, whose intonation is as exotic as her background would suggest. Over an urgent rhythm and string arrangement, the lyrics are elegant and yearning - a trick Negrot repeats a couple of tracks later on the soulful 'Answers Come In Dreams'. At its most ambitious moments, Blue Songs is a triumph. The brace of songs that form the centrepiece, 'Boy Blue' and 'Blue Song', are autobiographical compositions. The former is an acoustic strum written as a paean to Sinead O'Connor, which builds to an echoing climax; the latter is a tropical number with woodwind, Jew's harp, and polyrhythms galore. The trouble is, the other half of the album follows more base desires, with rote and predictable outcomes. The rot begins with 'Falling', which deals in the same musical tropes they have employed to better effect elsewhere, and reaches crisis point on 'Visitor', H&LA main man Andy Butler usually wears his influences on his sleeve, but here the sticky fingers of Mark Pistel and Patrick Pulsinger are present not only in spirit but in person too. If anything, this invitation to Collaborate robs the songs of their excitement. The album closes on an even weirder note, with a wobbly cover of the Sterling Void song 'It's Alright', popularised by the Pet Shop Boys in 1989. The effect is haunting, with Butler's adolescence and futurism colliding via the strangely dispassionate singing of his partner-in-crime Kim Ann Foxman. My admittedly high expectations of Blue Songs have not been fully matched. Butler has shown he can write music that evokes the spirit of old-school disco, but here, all too often, he looks to a different historical period; one that he is unable to recreate so well, in spite of its obvious significance in his personal development. A missed opportunity. HERCVL.ES LOVE AFFAIR - BLVE somes - PAi\ TED I'VES YiY' HOV\SL ^ \"S\Y ER.S CO V;!\ DR£ A MS If ON OR A - h O Y B"l V E B I VI SONG fa [ \ i 5C G i C A \ ' T W A I T - STEP VT VISITOR • il S ALIGHT To watch Band of Horses is to temper your expectations of a headlining rock act. There are no signs of ego, no swaggering rock star entrances. Instead, the lights go off and a few blokes stroll out looking like they've just finished the evening shift at a Blockbuster. But make no mistake; the merits of Band of Horses are undoubted. Lead singer Ben Bridwell opened with an acoustic number, showing off his perfect pitch: vocals, which made the ladies' hearts melt; the gents, fill with envy. The first hit on the set list was 'The Great Salt Lake' and it showcased one of the more pleasant surprises of the gig. Compared to their studio recordings, the sound was far heavier and more bass-driven: fitting for the history of London's premier rock venue. The next track, which jumped out at me, was 'Cigarette, Wedding Bands' from the album Cease To Begin. For a pretty chilled song, it had a mesmerising quality live and allowed time to appreciate the band's stagecraft. Throughout the concert, an enormous screen displayed images of the Grand Canyon, the Himalayas and so on, reinforcing the band's natural image (Bridwell sports an awesome beard) of being an everyman - an intensely likeable character. This may have appealed to me especially as I first heard Band of Horses while traversing the deserts and canyons of the American south-west, but the crescent moon shining alone during 'Is There a Ghost' definitely added to the atmosphere. And what a song that is! A definite recommendation for those new to the act. It epitomises their sound, in that it is relatively short with a mellow opening before the lead guitar comes crashing in like a cavalcade of stampeding horses. At this point, a quick note on the warm up acts: Goldheart Assembly's 'King of Rome' is worth checking out on YouTube and should you get a chance to see Mojave 3 in London, take it, just to hear Neil Halstead's lullaby-like voice. Overall though, despite the overwhelmingly positive tone of this piece, I'm forced to rate this concert a seven out of ten at beast, with the firm belief that in one or two albums' time this will rise to a nine - once Band of Horses have greater strength in depth of material. There were just a few too many bland, vibe-killing songs, which could not really be afforded with a subdued Thursday night audience. They were, after all, trying to take it easy with the prospect of work the next day. And by the time they came to close with their number one hit 'The Funeral', there was an air of fatigue around and the performance was not quite up to the exquisite standards of the recording. |cm + « Theatre. ¦mmmmmammmmmmm wmmm The Cripple of Inishmaan, Old Theatre, LSE i 10 \ a play by Mai tin McDonagh The task of a reviewer is in many ways an easy one. Matthew Wright in the Mirror once famously wrote that a show called The Dead Monkey was the "worst [he had] ever seen", despite the fact that he had not even seen it. Generally though, most reviewers do see attendance as a compulsory component of the process, but it really is a very minimal commitment in terms of time and personal investment, as compared to the vast amount of passion and graft needed to actually get a show into production. I felt this distinction keenly on Monday night when I saw the LSE Students' Union Drama Society's production of The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh, a play set in the 1930s on a small island community where a crippled boy dreams of one day escaping the small-town torment for a better life in the USA. I am lost to explain exactly how students facing the rigorous demands of LSE academic training have the time, drive and determination to put on a piece of theatre; that it should be so well-executed and funny, as this production was, only complicates the conundrum. The play has at its heart an orphaned crippled boy named Billy (Eugene Oh) who stares at cows all day to avoid the crushing insulation his two nagging foster parents impose on him. When he hears from village gossip and part-time blackmailer Johnnypateen (an incongruously dashing Pip Willett) that an American film crew are shooting on a nearby island he forges a letter from his doctor saying he is dying of TB in order to emotionally bribe local fugitive fisherman BabbyBobby (Brent Cooper) to take him to the other island such that he might try to win favour with the Americans and convince them to let him try out for a part in a film. He is invited for a screen test, and off he goes to Hollywood leaving the island in a state of shockj believing him dead. Ultimately he returns home a suicidal failure, sick with consumption (for real this time) and still lovesick for the local bully Helen (Tara Lee). Although sub-plots of disease, child abuse, clerical impropriety, alcoholism, and death abound, all is treated as wryly as such matters truly are by the Irish. The focus then was on the script which worked well, as the Old Theatre is hardly the place to try and put on technically demanding productions. Comic timing was spot on throughout the cast. Special mention in this regard has to go to Anya Clarkson and Lizzy Fergusson, who played the two shopkeeper guardians of Billy, for forming a very droll duo who are pretty much the centre piece of the comic side of the play. Pip Willett played a wily Johnnypateen who knew exactly how to manipulate everyone except his Mammy (Anya Clarkson again) round to his point of view. Helen was willfully spiteful village girl, as much put upon as viscous I feel. Mr. Cooper played a convincing BabbyBobby, although I was left wondering if his hearty beard was real or not - a doubt resolved when I passed the still hirsute actor on the stairs of Connaught House this morning. Eugene Oh should also be congratulated for physically inhabiting his character and keeping things moving apace. The tight acting and comedy carried the night The production bore many the hallmarks of classic student theatre including cross dressing, actors playing more than one role, and a whole host of dodgy accents. Ultimately the comic aspect was much better executed than the moments of dramatic intensity, and McDonagh's play would probably benefit from some cuts as it drags on a little: as though it was an idea for a short work writ large. However, the tight acting and comedy carried the night. Well done Drama Society! Vernon God Little, The Young Vic €krisfo»k< (fit mm tie Younn Wi ip#pfc sis pis Sis h of m Man p. Vernon God Little, written by the debutant author DBC Pierre, won the Man Booker Prize in 2003. Putting aside my course readings I indifferently sat down with it the night before the play, and found myself still awake at 3AM. It is a marvelous read. It's smack in the face funny, ingeniously clever, insightful and crude. It's a runaway train, whose direction you just can't figure out, changing without a moment's notice while you unflinchingly cling to its side; its mystery and honesty encourages you to hang on for the whole ride; to know just what is going on in this small southern American town. Tanya Ronder has amazingly adapted this play and the team at the Young Vic has delivered it quite spectacularly. I antagonised in my mind as to just how the play would accommodate so many set changes that are in the book, which they impressively use to their advantage by industriously putting everything on wheels. The pace of the play is thus fast, as the cast take you through a labyrinth of different places. This also adds to the feel good nature of the play, albeit on top of some dark issues. Sofas become cars, trolleys police vans and simple frames either doors or TV sets. On stage the story finds another lease of life, while losing nothing of its previous one. Instead of losing some of the key qualities of the book, the theatre makes them exist in a way the book just can't. The story revolves around Vernon (Joseph Drake), whose best friend, Jesus Navarro (Luke Brady) (for reasons that gradually becomes clear) has a 'Colum- The story finds another lease of life, while losing nothing of its former glory bine moment' and kills twenty people in his school during Math class. The Texan town's people are all desperate to place blame and with their small and poor stockpile of evidence accuse the innocent Vernon, who consequently endures a very, very rough time. Orbiting Vernon are some, on the face of it, cliched characters, but as the play progresses they become deeply original. His gullible, self-absorbed and quick to fall in love mother (Clare Burt). The ambitious, audacious and sleazy con-man/journalist, Laly (Peter De Jersey) and his drop-dead gorgeous, moronic and bubbly girlfriend, Taylor (Lily James) all are humanely stained. Their fallibility comes across throughout the play, which evokes sympathy from the audience. These connections between the audience and characters that evolve result in the comedy being of a more personal nature; like laughing at a friend, not due to some plain inclusive remark or action but instead something unique to them; that only you know. You are encouraged to feel compassion towards them, making the moments of comedy have greater depth. This is all undoubtedly aided by the quality of acting. All are mutli-talented, and they move from singing to acting to dancing, flawlessly. It would be of no surprise that they could perform surgery or fly a plane. The originality of the characters is permitted by the originality of the narrative. It has at its core some dark tensions within modern society. One is the role of the insensitive media in deeply personal issues such as death. Towards the end of the play the public can mercilessly vote on who on death row will face execution. Another is the unflinching need to place blame and to find a perpetrator to deal with an injustice - however illogical. In the book, Pierre often remarks on the impact music can play on defining a moment, whether it be on the radio in the background, or humming a tune in one's head. The emotions and feelings of the song manifest themselves within you and aid marking the moment in reality. The play grabs this idea with both hands and utilises it. Music from Johnny Cash (in Spanish), Patsy Cline and Hank Williams features throughout, creating feelings of camaraderie, which prompt the audience to move their feet and nod their head in time with the beat. It makes tense moments go from bearable to excruciating and emotional ones from lukewarm to joyful. Vernon God Little is flamboyant, ambitious, daring and gutsy. It grabs you and shakes you awake. It pulsates to a unique rhythm, with its crudeness, its hilarious comedy and sad human stories. See it, you'd be a fool not too. Vernon God Little is on at the Young Vic i in Waterloo until the 5th Marc — m- m m -m COMPETITION "Weimar years were bleak, but expression okay and wife not Nazi yet" Win a MAN copy of HUNT Guess the Director EMAIL: partb-film@thebeaveroniirie,co.uk Ak—dF..,b» James Cameron's Sanctum Sanctum uses the 3D cameras pioneered in Avatar. CinePicks Girls on the Air (plus Q&A with director Valentina Monti) The premise of a female-run radio station would have seemed absurd a few years ago, but consider Sahar FM. These stories may have been heard outside Afghanistan in the past, but only now is it possible to be trasmit them to the Afghan people. The Barbican, EC2 18:30, 9th February 2011 Winter's Bone An unflinching but very human tale of rural American poverty, with a staggering performance from Jennifer Lawrence. Deserved winner of multiple awards. The Fighter The gripping real story of former world champion boxer Micky Ward. Wahlberg's (pictured) lead is slightly upstaged by a (crack-)fiendishly dedicated performance by Christian Bale. General release Brighton Rock The new adaptation of Graham Greene's novel moves a few years forward, to the age of mods and rocker, but loses little of the brutality. Led by a menacing Sam Riley. General release My Kidnapper (plus Q&A with directors Mark Henderson and Kate Home) The fascinating story of Mark Henderson, who in 2003 was taken hostage in Colombia. Eleven months after release, he was contacted by one of his captors and they began a five-year correspondence. The Ritzy, SW2 11th February 2011 Nenette Another enlightening, intimate portrait from the director of Etre et avoir. This time, Nicholas Phillibert looks at Nenette, a forty-year old orangutan living in Jardin des Plantes. Curzon Maytair, W1 and One Lumiere, SW7 ~(cm Director: Alister Grierson Screenplay: John Garvin, Andrew Wright Cast: Rhys Wakefield, Allison Cratchley, Christopher Baker Runtime: 97 minutes Cert: 15 Yean 2010 A team of cave divers, financed by the dotcom American jackass Carl (loan Gruffudd), and led by the respected and experienced Frank (Richard Roxburgh) set out to investigate a system of unexplored caves in Puerto Rico. The cave neeks quickly find themselves in deep water as an unexpected storm traps them inside the cave, leaving them with no choice but to delve deeper in They don't add much desperation. Sanctum uses the 3D cameras pioneered in Avatar. They don't add much. The caves - the one's that aren't sets, that is - are atmospheric, but they're dark, dank and devoid of colour; a far cry from the colourful splendour of Pandora's jungle landscapes that brought out the •best of those goofy 3D glasses. And if a film is to be set almost entirely in such a claustrophobic environment, good dialogue is essential (see, for example the 2007 film Interview). Instead we have cheap cliches ("no matter what happen, you never give up"), the kind that are barely even acceptable in schmaltzy boxing flicks or anything starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Character depth is sorely lacking too. Especially damning, considering this is essentially a serious of unfortunate events thgt are supposed to tug on us emotionally. Instead the tragedy befalling these shallow character archetypes in Jhe depths of the treacherous cave waters simply fails to sink in. It's impossible to connect with such a stock, undeveloped and generic cast. The relationship between moody and brooding Frank and his neglected son Josh (Rhys Wakefield, a sort of Aussie Zac Efron) offers scope for engagement and empathy - up to a point. One's awareness that,Frank is a John Mcclane style walking cliche is never quite shaken off: "CDs and cars and mortgages. I could never be what your mother needed." With the way James Cameron's name has been plastered all over Sanctum, you come out feeling a bit short changed. His storytelling ability is markedly absent, and those patented 3D cameras are not enough to redress a one-dimensional script. Sanctum is in cinemas now MICKfY Private 3. fl PRIVATE B Having welcomed our brilliant haikuist to the News section, we welcome his equally superb half-cousin, RUBBASHO Speculum, rape rack: Petal's fertility rites; Domination whole EXCLUSIVE! Sucha Petal: misogynist bully! Sucha Petal unlikely to getBPartB bid in new sexism Head of the Beaver News Corporation, Sucha Petal, is hot-under-the-collar as fresh allegations of male chauvinism emerge. Last night, he was caught out texting a premium-rate Adult phoneline. He texted a female called 'susanrandytits' saying, "Hey slutty slaggy babes. Do you want me to executively edit you some time?" "He called me luv, then he forced me to sub-edit this boring Features • 99 piece Oliver Wiseguy She replied with a message saying, "Sure petal; have to defo meet up and play some time...;-) xox" Mr. Petal texted back, "Inappropriate use of the semi-colon. Plus, a classic split infinitive". Sexist Petal! The allegations come after a series of accusations that Mr. Petal is a leering sexist pig. An anonymous source, Ms. F***r told the Beaver, "The office definitely has a male-dominated atmosphere. "Mr. Petal is the worst offender. Whenever you walk into the room, he is looking at your breasts. Whenever I talk to him, he is looking at my breasts. Now, that may be because they're at his eye-level, but that is no excuse!" Ms. Fe*or continued, "There's names he calls the female editors. He's called me slagtits, he's called me fannyslut, he's called me rack of the week. "He's called me sex-bunny, he's called me sex-chicken, he's called me sex-pigeon, he's called me sex-squid, he's called me sex-wombat, he's Called me sex-chihuahua! "He's called me miss, he's called me a woman. He's even called me Lauren Fedor!" The anonymous source continued, "This is the verbal abuse I get on a typical day. Of course, he's never said any of this to my face. But I bet your bottom dollar, he calls me this behind my back! And if he doesn't - he thinks it!" Phone-haclang claims! The news emerges at a bad time for Sucha Petal, as he is trying to gain control of the 60% of BPartB that he doesn't own. Despite the public uproar, the deal hs been passed on to J.R.M.E. Cunt. However, the bid is unlikely to be successful after the string of media scandals that have surrounded his executive editorship. First, there was the phone-hacking scandal, where Mr. Petal was caught talking on his phone, pretending to be an important hack. There have been repeated sightings of him pretending to be an important hack on campus... [cont.pgy] THOSE SEXIST TEXTS MR. PETAL SENT IN FULL: Hey sexy mother-breasts, Wanna f, then have some t? Best, Sucha Petal, Executive Editor. Hey Mrs. Sex-lady, I want to doyou all over the Guardian Style Guide. Best, Sucha Petal, Executive Editor. Hey large nipples, Can we have that interview some time, Howard? Best, Sucha Petal, Executive Editor. WikiLuke s, Private B can exclusively print this exclusive letter: Dear Protesters, It is clear that the world is changing, this week more than ever. Across the world, peaceful protests are making real change, holding governments to account and inspiring eveiyday people to get interested in politics. However, I would like to say how disgusted I am at a small minority of protestors who are undermining these movements as a whole. I, of course, am referring to the recent incident where nothing less than a "fire extinguisher" was thrown from the roof of the headquarters of the National Democratic Party in Cairo. There was a serious chance that someone could have been hurt or even killed and I think it's time that those who support these violent protests go home and have a jolly good think about whether it's really a good idea. Yours in solidarity, Ahmed al Porter i HOWARD DUVET'S i Who is to blame for the financial icrisis? I No. 21: Not the regulators. Definitely not the regulators. COMMENT: — Quick! — Should Mubarak go? I think he should go. - al Addin, 2ndyear, BSc Economics I think he shouldn'tgo. - al Fred, 2nd year, BSc Economics Oooh.Isay! Give 'im the boot, darling! - al Ancarr, 2nd year, BSc Economics Let m = Mubarak x=Egyptian people. Then x2+m2 = cbf/dm2 + c - al Jebr, 2nd year, BSc Economics Lisssten. I want to tell you... sumfink butp-wromiss not to tellAN-Y-ONE. I...LOVE... him, I do, I *hic* Zzzzz... - al Qohol, 2ndyear, BSc Economics Zut alors et merde dans le bibliotheque! U est un batard de grandes proportions, euf, euf, bah? - al Loallo, 2nd year, BSc Economics # At the end of the day, I don't know if he's just a bloody nutter! It's a bloody shambles, an utter bloody shambles! He should be al fired!. - al Ansugr, 2nd year, BSc Economics Did I tell you about that time I went dogging? - al Izpelton, 2nd year, BSc Economics I won X Factor two years ago. - al Exandraburq, 2nd year, BSc Economics Woof. - al Satian, 2nd year, BSc Economics Glee Series Blog ¦ SS I: It's that time of year again, folks: giant teddy bears and pink fluff everywhere can only mean one thing... Valentine's Day. But fear not! Glee is here to save the day for all of you single guys and gals...' and those couples among you who would rather just stay at home and watch E4. In Monday's"episode "Never Been Kissed", Mr Schue pits the boys and girls against each other in a singing competition (again). The guys come up with a twi3ted "original" way of dealing with their sexual frustration when their make-out sessions get a little too hot and heavy and Kurt grows sick of dealing with the homophobic bullying he encounters at school, turning to a new friend for help. Pucker up for the perfect Valentine's treat But Pucker up for the perfect Valentine's treat... If you missed the pun, let me spell it out for you: PUCK. IS. BACK. Thank you E4I The friendship that develops between Puck and Artie in the episode is fantastic, as Puck adopts Artie as his community service project and helps him in his pursuit of Tim Brittany. (That's right. I guess one night of meaningless sex can do that to a gUy, even our sweet Artie.) In true Glee Season 2 style, the producers yet again seem to have felt the need to turn the episode into an hour-long Public Service Announcement, the theme of Monday's episode being homophobia and bullying. Overall, it's tackled relatively well, and Chris Colfer's portrayal of Kurt never ceases to amaze me. However, it seems to me that the show takes the easy route in explaining bully Karofsky's behaviour and is perhaps a little naive in presenting how Kurt should deal with the problem, but I'll leave that for you to decide for yourself. One thing the episode clearly does little to bother acknowledging/clarifying is that a significant number of high school girls fall somewhere in between Santana and Rachel when it comes to "putting out" (Finn's words, not mine). Not all girls spread their legs for anything with a pulse but for such girls, you won't necessarily need a 'Grilled Chee-sus' to get a lil action. Overexposure to www.truelad.com, however, means that I kinda feel it for Sam this episode: it seems he figured that anyone in a Cheerios' uniform is easy to get out of it (Santana and Brittany alone seem to be accountable for this reputation) so he's evidently no less than gutted when he realises Quinn won't be going past first base. Look forward to Coach Beiste in a tutu, a couple of first kisses (oooh...who could it be?) and a rendition of "Teenage Dream" that puts Katy Perry to shame (though her own live performances do that anyway). Furthermore, it now seems that no Season 2 episode is complete without at least one shot of Sam in his birthday suit. Thus, if you're not getting the little somethin' somethin' you were hoping for this Valentine's Day, perhaps you'll find at least some comfort in Monday in knowing that a lot of the Glee gang aren't either. "(cm Entourage Sky Atlantic, Thursdays, at 22:30 What the Telegraph calls "Sex and the City for men" returns to our screens with the seventh season of the ultra-macho HBO comedy. The new season sees Vince landing a role in a new movie with a couple of subplots involving Johnny and Turtle. Still fresh, still funny, but still a bit shallow. Cougar Town Sky Living, Tuesdays, at 20:00 The second series of Cougar Town kicks off with a cameo by fellow Friends alumna, Jennifer Aniston, starring as kooky Jules' psychiatrist. The second season sees the show find its rhythm with strong writing and an approach of sticking the cast together in situations to see what comedy ensues. Outcasts BSC 7, Tuesdays, at 21:00 In development since 2007, the BBC's new science-fiction drama takes to our screens following a group of pioneers settling on the planet Carpathia. Described as "Battlestar Galactica meets Spooks", but don't expect any fancy special effects to keep you entertained - this is a BBC production after all. The focus is more on the relationships of the characters rather than ray guns. With Eric Mabius (Ugly Betty). Previous episodes are available on BBC iPlayer. Simon Chaudkuri'si If Tig fCu cen f Dor hate ally all of my love: I'm a twenty-three-year old i postgraduate and am con-| cernedthatlmightbegay. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate hdmosexuals. Virtually all ofmy loyers from the age of twelve have been gay men and if I ever go out it tends to be to gay clubs and bars. However I don't want to 'follow the yellow brick road' if in fact I am a closet homosexual. When I masturbate all I think about is penises. Big penises, small pe-nises, cut and uncut penises, bent penises, straight penises, wide penises, narrow penises, brown penises, white penises, even black penises. If I ever get an image of a woman flash into my head it turns me right off. I get turned on seeing lumps in men's trousers, conversely I feel physically sick if I accidentally brush up against a women's breast on, say, a bus or high speed ferry. My mother keeps asking me when I am going to find 'a nice girl'. She has promised to help out with a down payment on a flat if I 'settle down'. I have tried to drop hints. I even wore a t-shirt with the slogan "I love Big Cocks" to her retirement party. She promptly sent me a copy of the Top 8 Jewish Tips for Marriage, second edition. , However every sexual relationship I have had so far has been with a man. I fantasise about men in all forms. Happy fat men, slim moody men, clinically depressed men. Women, on the other hand, repulse me physically. Don't get me wrong, I love them as companions. My best friend is called Rebecca. There is nothing I enjoy more than going round to her house, snuggling up with a box of chocolates or taking her dog for a midnight walk in Hampstead Heath. But, if you'll pardon the language, the thought of stroking her furry Shih-tzu makes my skin crawl. Am I gay, sir? - Anon A For what it's worth, I doubt you're a homosexual. But it can be very hard to identify whether someone is in fact gay or not. Often, it's not as simple as it may seem; some people develop into homosexuality, or the other way around. Much like hay fever. One Kylie song too many, a Brokeback Mountain showing too far, that extra cheeky Mojito and bada-bum, you're a Soho sword-fighter. Take Elton John for example, he didn't become gay until his late 30s. Some people do try to conceal their true sexual identity, however. Having said that, few remain convinced the Roman Catholic priest Cliff Richard lives with is in fact his 'property manager'.This is - of course -just idle speculation. I wouldn't worry about your little side hobbies, Anon. I don't think you're gay, you just like to pilot the chocolate runway every now and again. And who doesn't like that these days? for help and advice on sexuality, (lease visit www.bgiok.org.uk What history says... Trust a nitwit society like this one to think that there are only two categories -fag and straight. Gore Vidal Bisexuality immediately douhlesyour chances for a date on Saturday night. Woody Allen Secret society speaks out Anonymous leaks the tales and taunts of LSE's own secret society, the Fewbians That there is a secret society at the LSE, be in little doubt. In its selectivity it tries to mimic the Bullingdon; in its debauchery, it almost puts AU Wednesdays to shame. The magnitude of its power is hard to estimate, the absurdity of its rituals difficult to understate. Some call them the Fewbians, others, the Anonymous; others still, the Hummus Society. This is the story of how I stumbled upon their shadowy world. I don't usually find the highlight of a conference to be the booze, but after ten hours of networking in trans-regional railway companies, things were wearing thin. I have also been told that if nobody takes, the wine at one of these things, you shouldn't. But hey, wine is wine, and it wouldn't be missed - most avoid it for fear of embarrassment in front of the finance types. Besides, the mismatch between supply and demand was distressing to say the least. So, I did what any aspiring policymaker would, nay, should do: I sat down, and I boosted AD. Equilibrium jolly well restored, I stood up and left, swaying. Out in the street, I spied a group of suited individuals, their backs turned. Hungry for a networking opportunity, I stumbled towards them -but as I approached, I realised that these were no business suits they were wearing. In fact, they were dressed in penguin suits. Their trunks were clad in those feathers which look so much like fur, on their arms were wing-shaped appendages, and covering their mouths, beaks. They held canes in their right hands, Keynes in the left. Hearing me, one turned his faux-avian head. Then they all turned. They spread their wings and advanced. A blow to the head from Johnny's General Theory sent me reeling - a thinnish paperback, yet potent. Bang went what few monetarist principles I held, and with them, my consciousness. I awoke upon a bed of flowers. The silence would have been palpable, were it not for a barfing AU member outside. It must have been a Wednesday. As I came forward I saw the penguin-men hovering over me, unsure what to do. One of them scratched his beak. "There's no such thing as a free lunch", he proclaimed, taking my Subway vouchers. (Free at the point of use, or free to society, I mused...) And did the marginal cost of voucher retrieval exceed the expected 50p saving? In'any case: to grab or not to grab, that was the question. In my indecision, I kept still. "This one is not like the others" he said. "No, he has no want of discounts" uttered another. He had his smartphone out. "Nor internships, nor networking -regard his suit.' A third mocked. "He would fit well here," one reasoned. "Though not perfectly. I propose a test." They agreed. "What is the optimum price ceiling for a medium packet of chips, assuming all chips are salted?" What? Surely there should be no ceiling? Besides, the salt assumption was beyond the plausible. Then I remembered the mighty beaked-ones were no free-marketeers. "A quid? A pound sterling?" The beaks dipped and rose. "Do you know where to find furry trousers?" asked the leader. "The Americans haven't sent us any." I nodded. "Ebay will provide." They spread their wings and recited a short verse. Morons, I thought. And then, what have I got myself into? Volunteering should be an LSE tradition Pam Runnacles on why LSE students should take tip volunteering this term The growing attention focused on the voluntary sector has generated both immense enthusiasm and criticism of its impact on society. Notably, the controversy surrounding the Coalition's Big Society policy - directed at encouraging greater volunteering and therefore empowering the individual -has been met with allegations that it is purely an ideological smoke-screen for the depressing cuts to public services. Indeed, several of the policy's critics propose valid arguments, especially when they question the idealistic nature of a Big Society that can continue to function smoothly within ever tighter government budgetary constraints: more importantly, these critics refer to the possible unreliability of volunteers. Yet such disparagement undermines the voluntary sector and the benefits it brings to society, as well as clouding the more philanthropic objectives of the policy itself. By seeking to criticise the Big Society, such pessimists belittle the ability of volunteers, and the impact of volunteering services, to generate significant economic resources and social welfare. For instance, the economic value generated by the voluntary sector in the UK is valued at no less than £40 billion a year, with volunteers carrying out 90 million hours of voluntary work each week. Thus, rather than dismissing the policy as mere public relations 'spin', we should welcome the decision to expand voluntary services in the public and private sectors because of their potential to invigorate greater social solidarity, to promote social inclusiveness and to contribute to economic recovery. More importantly, we should not be pedantically highlighting the impossibilities of the Big Society, but praising its potential benefits in terms of social and individual development and we should be willingly acting to implement it, rather than complaining. Policy aside, what I am promoting is the mutual advantage that volunteering can bring to both society and individuals. Without doubt, volunteering has become fundamental to sustaining charity organisations and community schemes, and has become integral to company ethics - particularly in large corporations. Familiar notions of sustainable and responsible development have become core values for companies' reputations, and can make a positive impact on - and connection with - the surrounding community. Such corporate social responsibility includes immersing workers within voluntary work, thus generating sentiments of brand trust - and (more importantly) boosting the morale of workers and individuals within the local community. Tata Steel is a clear and pioneering example of such ethics: since its origins, the company has focused on strengthening the nation and enhancing and developing the quality of life for people living near its plants: this it does by creating and supporting several community welfare groups. Furthermore, employers are encouraged to volunteer on a regular basis, as permitted by Tata's flexible working hours and diverse voluntary opportunities. It is implicit that volunteering does have an impact on society by building a positive culture that is represented by the symbolic power of the volunteers themselves -thereby generating a virtuous circle between the organisation, the volunteers and community in question. I have merely skimmed the surface when considering the wonders of volunteering and its impact on society, politics and business. What I believe must be tackled at the immediately local level is volunteering amongst students, especially those at the LSE. I strongly believe that students have powerful and highly effective means of encouraging widespread volunteering and creating a more compassionate community for the future. Compared with people in full-time employment, we not only have more spare time on our hands, but the ambition and strength of purpose to promote volunteering with a profound reach. On a more pragmatic and individual level, the potential networks and skills gained from volunteering can boost our CVs and give us an edge in terms of em-ployability in a competitive and saturated job market. With this in mind, and with the benefits that you can bring to society and yourself, why not explore the possibility of volunteering? If you want more information on volunteering and the opportunities available, visit the LSE careers and vacancies page under 'Volunteer Centre' or join our Facebook community page by searching for 'LSE Volunteer Centre' to get frequent updates on opportunities available. If you cannot do these things, then come along to a 'drop-in' session between 4:00 and 5:00 every Tuesday afternoon in the Student Union Quad (adjacent to Alpha Books) and between 2:00 and 4:00 on Friday afternoons at the Careers Service (Tower 3, Floor 3). We are trying to get lots of volunteering opportunities posted for the National Student Volunteering Week coming up between 22nd and 28th February, so join our Facebook page or keep checking the vacancy board on the careers page. i6 The Beaver j 8 February 2011 Social Jackie O's Ugandan Prose Straight outta H-Street Benjamin Butterworth talks with consultant-cum-rapper Master Mimz on music, migration and Mubarak Myriam Bouchentouf - or Master Mimz, as she's now better known -graduated from the LSE with her MSc in political economy last summer. But unlike most LSE graduates, her aim isn't to head-up the Bank of England or harvesting her hedge fund millions; no, Master Mimz is turning on her conservative, academic roots to pursue a career in international hip-hop. The 26 year old economist-turned-rapper, born and raised in small-town Morocco, never thought a career in music would be possible. But since fleeing from her 'third-word' upbringing for the bright lights of London, she's set about making her hip-hop hopes come true. I met with Master Mimz last week, latte in hand, to find out what's driven her from political economics to the music industry. Mimz spoke frankly with me about how a conservative background had affected her pursuit of music. "I played the piano and the hand-drums since an early age. But music never seemed possible, not with my background" she confessed. "In the beginning, I was hiding it from family and friends. LSE isn't your average college; I was meant to be doing a hard science or law as a career or something." The difficulties in having two very different aspirations hit Myriam throughout her time at LSE. On the one hand, high expectations of a consultancy career beckoned, meanwhile her heart lay in music, spending weekends giging and practicing in small clubs around London. "I'm from Morocco; I've a conservative, Muslim upbringing. I was never allowed to go to clubs or go out alone at night, and yet, I felt this. It was random, but I could feel the hip-hop in me." Things weren't as simple as following her dream, however. "Just focus on school and your job." was the automatic reaction from her parents. "But I think that's the reaction of a lot of parents. Don't go crazy when you've worked so hard." She now has to pursue a city consultancy job alongside her music career. But it whilst at LSE - in-between classes and after long days - that her passion for the genre began to flourish. "I studied hip-hop more at LSE than I did political economy. I knew I could rap along, just like someone sings in the shower; but it wasn't until in London and at LSE that I discovered I had a real talent." The reported talent is something Master Mimz takes responsibly, however. By her own admission there are few female hip-hop stars out there currently, and even fewer non-American. "It just sort of blew up. I had people coming up to me at gigs saying "Woah, we only came to see you". I had women and girls coming up to me saying I was their, like, hero; I even got recognised on the tu^e." At this point the interview was interrupted. She had an incoming call from a family member back in Morocco. Though the call was conducted in French, she later explained it had been her aunt, who'd just heard her latest piece 'Back Down Mubarak.' "It's amazing. You're flying the flag for Morocco, we love you so much." she told me her aunt had been saying. The look of relief was clear: through the swagger of Master Mimz, it was evident Myriam was dearly seeking praise for her work. Breaking out from the hard corporate world of economics for freestyle rapping in downtown London isn't for the weak hearted. "I've not reached my potential yet; I'm trying to work out who I am and where I'm going. What people think of me right now means something. It's about flow, rhythm, lyrics and it's all helping me." "I haven't told my colleagues." she concedes, though. "It feels like I'm leading a double life. It's not like I'm ashamed, but it's shocking because it's hip-hop. You think of drugs and heavy money and grime; I don't think people can accept that easily." But that isn't stopping her. Following a series of successful open-mic nights late last year, the trans-Atlantic talent was snapped up by a producer, who's now working on a series of songs with her. It's about being myself and telling my story. How it was moving to a new lire. "It was in November, he saw me perform and said we should work together. He was like, "That was amazing, you've got something girl." And he's ideal - I wanted someone who was experienced, but could bring some freshness to the sound." She's now working on a single with the new producer, 'I C U (Rub OFF)', due out February 17th. All hopes are pinned on it rocketing into the charts. "We need people checking my stuff. You know, I couldn't even send the Face-book page to my friends, and I've already had 2,500 fans. People really seem to be coming to this. It's amazing." But it isn't the pending single which has gained the LSE graduate most attention. The outbreak of riots in Egypt moved the rapper to put her emotions -founded in her North African roots - into words. 'Back Down Mubarak', exalting the deep political factions found in so many developing nations, has become her most renowned piece. "I felt wrong just sitting there and looking at what was going on. Some people write articles - but I, I do it my way. I feel the Egyptian people; the young people fighting for freedom. This isn't left jor right: this is the third world breaking out." The rap, created in just two hours, has found airplay in as far as US television and Turkish radio. "This shit don't smell like a flower. It's the rise of people power", she raps. And that theme is one which runs through the veins of Master Mimz's music - the confused fusion which occurs to all those who migrate for a better life. "There are millions out of there; millions who've had to migrate to other countries for a better education and jobs. It's not easy, you know, you can feel lost between the two. I hope to bring a voice to that." For Master Mimz, 'Back Down Mubarak' united her two lives: that of her conservative, Moroccan childhood, meeting with her modern, Western aspirations. The two aren't a natural fit, but as she confesses herself: "It's about being myself and telling my story. How it was growing up in Morocco; how it was moving to a new life; trying to manage friends and family, work and school. I want people to relate, that's all." AT LSE. Economics teacher: "It's not God that gives us a good time or bad time, its the market that does." WWF Fundraiser on Text for Tigers Campaign near LSE Garrick: "Mate if tigers become extinct, whatever will Frosties do for their advertising campaign? Come on mate think about Frosties!" Today at dinner, a friend says: "There can't be anymore international a university than LSE to study at. We have so many different kinds of Chinese and Indian people here." Straight boy in the Garrick looking at a muffin: "look how big that is! I'd love to put that in my fucking mouth!" Jackline O. Amaguru in her new column The language of Ugandan men's love: flowers are out! Last week, I actively celebrated the Chinese New Year but - unlike David Cameron - I did not televise my message to President Hu and his people. We had pizza brought in and I enjoyed a mouthwatering meal of a Chinese "hot pot" with some of my Chinese friends. As we ate, talked and laughed, one girl asked me how men in my country show love. "Do they dance to show love?" she wondered. I will try not to entertain the idea that she probably imagines that I'm from some primitive tribe in the jungles of the mother continent, where the men wear nothing, talk gibberish and shake their loins to show love to a woman. On second thoughts, give me a good dancer anytime sister, 'cos I can't understand a man who has no sense of rhythm. So, how do Ugandan men express love? I pondered. Vyhat I know is that Ugandan men show their love by caring and providing for their women. Therefore, the men pay the bills, buy their women gifts, give them money to spend as they like - even though she may have a career and earn a lot. It's hardly like the West where couples split the bills 50/50. An African man would not be caught dead making his wife pay the house bills! Call it ego or culture, or maintaining the alpha male territory. I know some Ugandan girls who find it difficult to date "westernised" guys. "My mom never paid bills no matter how much money she earned from her job; daddy sorted everything out. Now, Oliver wants me to pay the water bill. No way!" a Ugandan friend once lamented after she hooked up with a British guy in Kampala. I know that feminists can't wait to have a go at me with the 'women can look after themselves' rhetoric. But really, I'm innocent here. I was asked how men show love in Uganda and I'm telling it as it is. Frankly, we Ugandan girls are not yet complaining. If we don't like the arrangement, we shall alert you and then you can start your 'women empowerment' campaigns. Did you know the roses that end up in freezing Europe are grown in tropical Africa, but love and flowers don't go in the same sentence for us? Our men would rather give something more 'tangible' and 'long lasting' - like babies (kidding). Anyway, they simply don't understand why flowers are given to ladies yet ladies are 'flowers' in themselves! This "flower-phobia" is not just an East and Southern African attitude. A West African friend of mine in London told me how he was embarrassed as he bought flowers for his girlfriend. On the bus to her house, he said all black men were looking at him funnily. They too simply couldn't comprehend what women would want flowers for. What flowers mean for love in the west can't simply be pasted into the Afro-Caribbean culture. Therefore, ladies reading this, hook up a Ugandan or African man at your own risk - chances of getting flowers are slim. Oh, but he is sure to be a good dancer, spoil you crazy in all ways (this is a PG 13 page so no details) and you won't ever pay bills! Been on a great adventure? Got a great story to tell? Write for Social! Email us: social@ thebeaveronline. co.uk lif-(cm m -m Sport Contact Beaver Sports 1 y sports (a) thebeaveronline.co.uk 8 February 2011 | The Beaver New event, same behaviour BAD TIMES FOR A BNOC However others were not so lucky. BNOC and Kuwait's most famous male model was rejected by SuBo who had been there, done that and didn't seem very keen to go back for more. This BNOC was left out in the cold once more after Dyson 'sucked-up' to him. However, it became clear she only had eyes for the free bottle of champers on offer. BLOZZER IN THE BOGS Speaking of sucking, one rugby boy used the onstage antics as a distraction which enabled him to get a cheeky blozzer in the tuns toilets. It seems someone didn't heed GG's previous warnings about being Smedwise. GG hopes others take these public-health warnings more seriously in future. SHANKING As the AU revellers began to leave the Tuns, high on the romantic atmosphere created by 'Take Me Out', another sexually frustrated 'Hot Boy' from Canterbury's pent up testosterone led him to lash out at some members of the RFC. GG overheard him saying he was going to 'shank' these boys, for those who are not so street this means to "hit someone with a homemade knife" (GG's words). However unluckily for this 'Hot Boy' the boys his shanking victims included a black belt in Taekwon-do and someone who had recently gone through a harsh army-training regime. With no homemade knife in sight he decided, very wisely, to cut his losses and made a run for it. MULTI-NATIONAL GANGBANG All the romance on stage left GG feeling frisky and as the AU revelry resumed in Zoo it was clear GG was not the only one. Everyone's favorite rich Russian tested the California waters by allowing his Mrs and then himself to give the American Beauty a imitate kiss, a taste of things to come you ask? GG predicts that we might be on the verge of a multinational gangbang situation. ACTUAL LOVE GG can report that one Take Me Out pair made Paddy proud! After locking lips with the AU's very own Mr. Mcguinness on stage, a certain rugby fresher was left desperately trying to reclaim his manhood and searching for some lady love. Luckily his date from the show still very much had her light on. After a few hours of romancing and dancing, GG can confirm that Haigh was seen taking his lucky football lady out of Zoo. Lad. SEXING One Scottish singleton was not content with sharing her date from the show and went on the search for someone new. GG can verify the mission was extremely successful; the pair were spotted leaving Zoo in the wee hours. GG has heard whispers that the night was extremely special for the man involved, with Take Me Out not being his only 'first' of the night. This week sees many of the teams in the AU having team dinners which can be very messy. The return of the Verve and its 'shag-booths' will hopefully provide a similar levels of debauchery as this week. And remember kids GG will be watching... This week saw the debut of a new event; LSE AU does 'Take Me Out' which was organised by Netball Club Captain Charles Hacker. GG would like say well done to our resident Pocahontas, not just for raising over £i,ooo, but also for creating an night full debauchery. TITS OVER ARSE It is fair to say that all the girls involved had decided to use alcohol to deal with their stage fright. Sadly for some this meant they ended up falling 'tits over arse' rather than 'head over heels'. Miss LSE and the Women's Rowing Captain ended up entangled on the floor in a passionate embrace. GIRL-ON-GIRL Speaking of girl-on-girl action, everyone's favourite fake Califomian took the opportunity to let everyone know she was now a lesbian, and cemented this by getting with a reported 18 girls throughout the night. THREE-WAY The ladies inebriated state was a blessing for some of the gentlemen involved, one 'Hot-Boy' in particular, managed to have a three-way with the aforementioned fake-Californian and the WFC's favourite Russian, and the ladies seemed to be so into it they went back for more. MR LSI 2011 Are you man enough? Feb 16,n 8pm Quad Netball is Teammates El Capitan Rhi Edwards - C Loves the three W's: Winning, Wednesday nights and being Welsh. Natalie Davis - WA Natalie has a penchant for lying and 'slutty r 'n' b'. Light-footed and nimble, she's an asset both on court and on the dance-floor. Dyso - WD Dyso is very experienced in the ways of the AU. So much so in fact she has started a mentoring scheme for freshers. Lush Sam learnt a lot that night. Charlie 'Sabb' Glyn - GA As a Sabb she's "retired" from the Wednesday night social scene. Yet this hasn't stopped her from jumping on Dyso's bandwagon, cradle-snatching Higson. Gashleigh- GD/GK Always immaculately presented for every match - she is possibly the dappiest team member. She keeps us entertained and gives Bruce - GD Brucey is another third year who dominates in defence with her long reach and a great lean. Usually pretty crazy on a Wednesday night but has been quiet so far this term... Keely McKinlay - GS Our Aussie Keely presents a strong presence in the attacking circle. We're still trying to get this dark horse drunk, however, as we hear interesting things happen when she does... Imogen Butler-Biggs -WA/C Our lovely young fresher Imogen is a feisty and committed player. More commitment is definitely needed to Wednesday nights however. Clarissa Agnew - GA/GS Posh totty of the team Clarissa is another of our freshers this year who, although has striking force on court. Not just a pretty face she loves a political debate with Michelle. Michelle Kalu - GD/GK Philosophical Michelle is the most eager fresher. She has even been scouted by a couple of umpires. Her downing skills mean she could beat rugby in a baa-trace single-handedly. Mo Ruddy - WD/ C Bonny lass Mo is the only Post-Grad on the ists. Her increased work load means she's missed a few nighfs out,: her oncourt performance makes up for this. I "few-1 +< The Beaver i 8 February 2011 Netball 3rd Team + 5 wins in a row = miracles happen LSE Netball 3s are commonly known in the netball club as the quiet team, and in recent times seem to lack the ability to say "No" to anyone that asks whether or not we lost (it became a common question to ask whether we had lost again instead of had we won by the end of last term). However, this is all change this term. As captain, I have no idea what had got into the team over Christmas (illegal or not) but it has been a "strong" few first weeks for us. Week 2 Week 2 Started with a hurtful and painful 4 goal loss to the Vets, but forget that. It's a trip on the tube to the glorious place of Tooting, and specifically St George's Hospital grounds. With knowledge of their position, we knew St George's Medics 4s shouldn't be as tough as it had been in recent time, and we weren't wrong. With a similar scoreline to which we beat the 5s last term (45-9), we knew 3 points were in the bag by half time and breezed through to the final whistle. No problems, no complaints, just plenty of unfortunate pictures. Week 3 So on the high from that game, we were brought back down to reality when facing the prospect of the biggest game to any LSE AU sportsman at our very own fortress against... Kings College, the one and only Poly-on-the-Strand. Although the first years had only been at uni for a mere 12 weeks, they still knew the importance of this game in anyone's season, especially when it was the corresponding third team. This showed with my team's highest turnout of the year at a huge 10 players (never have I in two years seen that many people for the 3rd team). After disgusting my team on the train with my apparent shovelling of lettuce down my mouth, the team arrived at the ground in record-breaking time and with adrenaline running through their veins. wr« I have no idea what got into the team (illegal or not) but it has been a strong first few weeks for us However, the game itself definitely didn't live up to such derbies as we see in matches such as United v City. Even the umpires commented on the eeriness of the game (little did they know the celebrations on the way back). The only highlight really consisted of our centre, Marrs, being flown into by her opposing centre every quarter, and in the final quarter just giving her the ultimate death stare after being hit to the floor. Deep down she knew that it wasn't her blood being drawn but Kings' blood. The final score? 33-26 to the LSE. And to note, the first time LSE 3s had beaten any Kings team. Check out Comment for a reply to last week's AU: Alcoholics Unanonymous? MAVERICKS COMEDY CLUB A Flying Fist of Comedic Fury! 7-10pm Every Tuesday kin us each week for another presentation of London's hottest crop of comedy talent Only £3111 at The Three Tuns, LSE Students' Union, East Building, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE (5 mins from Holbom, and Temple Underground) For booking info, deals, or interested acts, visit www.maverickscomedy.oo.uk Back to the BUCS league on Wednesday and the home leg against St Georges Medics. Having absolutely smashed them, we were left wondering whether they would bring (if possible) a secret stronger team to save them from another massive loss. However, this was not the case and home advantage meant they conceded less, but our shooters scoring another 45 goals, with neither centre ever knowing whose centre it was as it was that short between every centre pass. 45-4 to LSE 3s. Week 4 Three wins in a row and although two were easier than anything we'd faced before, this week was a tough one. Firstly, St George Medics 3s, definitely not as easy as their 4s, but another hard fought game in the delightful winter temperatures of lc at Berrylands. The only notable event of the evening consisted of the 1st XV discussing loudly about Katie B and how they'd "smash" that, in true Sky Sports style. And after a few wobbles, we fought it out to a 31-22 win. After wondering how far this could go for us, on the train home it was a discussion of whether it could be extended further after analysing our next opposition's recent results, where they had beaten the team that was at the top of our BUCS league. Fluke? I think so. Egham it was for Wednesday's round against Royal Holloway 3rds. Another first for us was to make it to the venue with time to get changed and actually have a warm up. However it wasn't the actual venue, massive error on my behalf. So, after being told there are no buses to Royal Holloway's campus, we discovered the polys had lied and we actually found a bus directly to their campus for the bargain of fil. It was then a run through Royal Hollo-way's maze of a campus. We finally made it to their sports centre and got into match mode. Although it definitely didn't feel like a match against just our opposition in the first quarter, but a match against the two umpires as well. Never in any of our netball games had anyone hated/despised/ "...long let the poly-bashing continue... wanted to punch these umpires so much. Ah, so this is how they had beaten the top team at home last week, we thought. Nevertheless, after keeping our cool and no words or punches thrown, turning their centre over continuously, it was another satisfying and well deserved win for us with it being 31-10 in our favour. This being the second time we've played them after a 38-20 win at home last term (yes our only real win of last term), we had done the double, can we do the triple later on this term?... And with that win, it was a messy and loud affair on the train back with Rocky Road Triple Layer Cake (it all went, standard), cider and Pimms in a classy celebration. So, five out of five for LSE 3s, probably the first time in a number of years (and maybe never again), and long let the poly-bashing continue. edlev's Corner W3SM A beautiful game? No doubt when Arsenal and Barcelona meet for the opening stanza of their Champions League last 16 encounter in a week's time the (self-appointed) football purists will be drooling uncontrollably. When the draw was announced back in December, the superlatives were already being dished out in the direction of two sides who play some of the most attractive football on the planet. Many members of the punditocracy consider the two outfits to be carbon copies of one another, albeit with Arsenal as a sort of Barcelona-lite given the slight difference in star quality between the two sides and the Gunners' inability to add to the trophy cabinet at the Emirates Stadium for half a decade now. Yet what Arsenal's second-half meltdown against Newcastle United on Saturday showed was that the comparisons with Pep Guardiola's balletic army are somewhat wide of the mark. Sure both play football in a way that will have Brian Clough looking down from heaven with a smile on his face. But Barca would never throw away a 4-0 half-time lead and claim just a draw, even if they were down to just ten men and hampered by questionable refereeing decisions. That is because they are built to defend - and thus built tfo win - as much as they are built to attack. Lionel Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and David Villa may get the majority of the plaudits, and rightly so, for their mesmerising abilities. But it is the quartet at the back end of the team - Victor Valdes between the sticks, Carlos Puyol and Gerard Pique at the heart of the defence and Sergio Busquets playing the midfield anchor role - that turn the team from mere entertainers into winners. Ever since Guardiola took the helm at Camp Nou in 2008, these four have formed an impenetrable unit that has helped seal two straight La Liga titles and a Champions League crown. Arsenal, on the other hand, have been shaky defensively during their honours drought. Admittedly this is not a unique claim to make. But when they are compared with Barcelona, as they often are, it is something that is normally overlooked, with attentions instead focused on their own artistic frontrunners such as Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. They do currendy miss the injured Thomas Vermaelen - a modern day Franz Beckenbauer. Yet he alone does not turn their defence from being a turnstile to a watertight unit. Ever since the bonkers but brilliant Jens Lehmann left, they have chopped and changed 'keepers with abandon. At the heart of the back four, there is no longer a solid Sol Campbell or Kolo Toure figure to partner Vermaelen, while since Patrick Vieira was moved on there is nobody capable of imposing their will and do the dirty work to cover for their attacking midfielders. Until they redress these issues, the comparisons with Barcelona should be put on hold. Andy Murray's third grand slam final defeat in straight sets at the Australian Open last Sunday undoubtedly hurt the Scot. But his response that he may never win one of tennis' big four tournaments was astonishing and arguably a sign that he feels he has let more than just himself (and his lovely mum) down. He should not be disappointed though. Making a grand slam final, especially in an era dominated by Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal - is a massive achievement in itself. Furthermore, Murray should not feel burdened by desperate British desires to finally see a male grand slam winner of their own for the first time in 75 years. Instead, he should forget about the pitiful record of his predecessors, take that collective weight off his shoulders and play for himself only. After all, it's not his fault that, despite the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) being heavily funded, Britain can only produce one player capable of making it into the top 100 in the world rankings. * -- • +«