redbrick - 12th october 2012
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Issue 1415TRANSCRIPT
Redbrick. 12th-18th October 2012 Vol. 77. Issue 1415. www.redbrick.meEst 1936 Print. Digital. Mobile.
Osborne visits campus as questions
asked over student intake
The Chancellor of the Exche-quer, George Osborne, visited campus on Tuesday to announce the creation of a new £60m high temperature research centre in conjunction with Rolls Royce.
The visit comes amidst ris-ing concerns that several lead-ing Russell Group universities, including the University of Bir-mingham, have been affected by the coalition’s ‘AAB’ policy.
The policy was designed to en-courage a free-market approach amongst universities, giving them the chance to recruit as many A-Level candidates as possible with grades better than AAB, but numbers due to be released in early November suggest that several universities have strug-gled to fill their courses. It also
comes amid reports published recently on the Times Higher Education website that UCAS had warned the coalition of the potential dangers of the policy.
The rise in tuition fees, cou-pled with a pronounced drop in A-Level grades, is widely thought to have contributed to the problem, with universities not subsequently able to recruit outside their ‘AAB’ quota, leav-ing resulting vacancies on cours-es. One Russell Group university anonymously reported that they had fallen short of the quota by 160 places; another reported that they were 260 places short. Redbrick will gain access to
the figures about the Univer-sity of Birmingham when they are released in early November.
30,076Fall in the number of students
accepting places at English institurions compared to
September 2011
£700mEstimated cost to institutions in
lost funding over three years
7.9%The percentage of exams
awarded A* grade, a fall from 8.2% from the previous year
Source: The Times Higher Education, Data as of September 2012
FilmAnita Baumgärtner reviews Taken 2, page 26
Harriet Henderson & Jemimah Shaw review Hairy Bikers, page 23
ArtsClaire Harris on a fuelling controversy page 21
Science&Tech
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EDUCATION
Leading British universities fall in tablesLeading British universities have fallen down the Times Higher Education league tables whilst Asian institutions have risen. Bristol, Sheffield, Leeds, Birmingham and Newcastle have all fallen down the rank-ings, as have Glasgow and Aberdeen.
CRIME
Man charged with the murder of April Jones
STORY OF THE WEEK
US presidential election poll update Mitt Romney has gained a four point lead ahead of Obama according to a poll taken after the first presidential TV debate. The shift is believed to have taken place due to Romney winning over many female and young voters with his performance.
ART
Man charged over defaced RothkoA Mark Rothko mural was defaced at Lon-don's Tate Modern gallery on Sunday. A 26-year-old Polish national Vladimir Umanets, also known as Wlodzimierz Umaniec, has been charged with criminal damage in excess of £5,000.
INVESTIGATION
Jimmy Savile's 4ft grave-stone is to be removed
EUROPE
German Chancellor Merkel visits Greece
SCIENCE
Nobel Prize winners for cell researchSir John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka have received the Nobel prize in physiology and medicine for work into development of cells and organisms. They discovered that all cells have the same genes and information needed to make any tissue.
BUSINESS
UK left recession in third quarter, NIESR says
SOUTH AMERICA
Chavez retains presidency in VenezuelaVenezuelan president Hugo Chavez has been re-elected for another six year period. Chavez won with a ten point margin. His opponent Hendrique Capriles Radonski ac-cused Chavez's administration of corrupting the elections.
Luidwina Santifort @Luidwina90@RedbrickNews
2 | 12th - 18th October 2012
ProofreadersEmily Hickey-MasonEmily TrivetteRebecca MeeBethany ProtteySophie TolletAshley KirkNaomi BaldwinMegan Kissane
Party Conferences.Redbrick explores the education policies of the three major parties
3 | 12th - 18th October 2012 www.redbrick.me/news
Photographs by Will Siddons
£10bn
Shruti AggarwalReporter
Liberal Democrats
At the Labour
Party Conference in Manchester, leader
Ed Miliband has prom-ised that he would address
the 'forgotten 50%' of young people who do not attend univer-
sity, by revolutionising the educa-tion system. He suggested that a new
'Technical Baccalaureate' be introduced from the ages of 14 to 18 instead of to
16, encouraging those young people who don't necessarily want to follow an aca-demic route, to follow a vocational one.
The Labour Party also announced that if they were to be elected to the next govern-
ment the tuition fee would be capped from £9000 to £6000, easing the debt of loans on
students. In order for this reduction in fees to suit the economy, Miliband said he would scrap the cuts in corporation tax, and keep the 50p income tax rate for financial services, as well as increase the interest rate
on the loans of the highest earning
graduates.
At their confer-ence held at the ICC in Birmingham, the Conservatives admit-ted that the economic recov-ery is going to take longer than expected. A further £10bn is going to be cut from state welfare meaning nearly 400,000 households may have their housing benefit cut. One idea sug-gested by Chancellor George Osborne, is to severely reduce the number of under-25s in a family that should be supported on benefits. The Education Secretary, Michael Gove, used his speech to defend his flagship policy of free schools and acade-mies, but also accused teaching unions of using their 'ideologies to hold back children'. Meanwhile, David Cameron set out his vision for UK education which featured
the flagship free schools scheme and a revised exam system. He wants 'more
free schools, more academies, more rigorous exams, more
expected of every child in every school'.
The Liberal
Democrat Confer-ence took place from 14th
to 18th September in Glasgow. The Liberal Democrats' record in coalition has
been highlighted in detail on their website. The Lib Dems say that they have 'ensured the poorest 25% of gradu-
ates will pay less for university than they do now' and that 'only the richest 30% of graduates pay the full cost of going to university.'
They confirmed that students do not have to repay tuition fee loans up-front. Instead, graduates must repay loans once they earn at least £21,000.
The party has said that in coalition it is 'ensuring 200,000 part-time students no longer have to pay costs upfront', a policy that aims
to benefit mature students. The Lib Dems also say that by 2014-15, as many as
75,000 more adults will begin apprenticeships than under Labour.
ConservativeLabour
A Trade Union Conference (TUC) protest was organised during the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. The TUC marched along Broad Street followed by speeches in Victoria Square.
The extra amount George
Osborne wants to cut
from state welfare
£6,000The yearly tuition fee
proposed by the
Labour Party
75,000The increase in adults
who according to the
Lib Dems will begin
apprenticeships by
2014-15, compared to
under Labour
50%The 'forgotten' per-
centage of people
who do no attend
university, according
to Ed Miliband
200,000The amount of part time
students who no longer
have to pay their tuition
fee loans upfront, accord-
ing to the Lib Dems
Freddie HerzogOnline News Editor @fredherz
Patrick McGheeNews Editor @patricksmcg
For more on the party conferences from Beth Dawson, Sam Jones, Isabel Hicks and Shruti Aggarwal see our websitewww.redbrick.me/news Compliled by:
Former Vice President of Education (VPE) Edd Bauer has been found guilty of 'using threatening, abusive or insult-ing words or behaviour' under Section 5.1 of the Public Order Act 1986. Bauer was fined £400, and was ordered to pay £500 compensation and £1,000 in costs in Birmingham Magistrates Court.
Bauer was involved in an incident during the 'Protest the Protest ban' dem-onstration which took place on campus in February last academic year.
Sean Farmelo, current non-sabbatical Community Action Officer (CAO) also appeared during the court case but was found not guilty of assaulting a security guard. Speaking to Redbrick, Farmelo said, 'I've failed modules and the tax-payer has spent thousands on a stressful eight month case in which the prosecu-
tion had only self-contradicting witness statements whilst there was clear video evidence showing I assaulted nobody.'
The march was backed by the Guild of Students to demonstrate against the University of Birmingham's injunction banning 'occupational' protests. How-ever, the protest was taken off of the Guild's planned route and into the Uni-versity's Staff House following a deci-sion by Bauer. The Guild was unhappy with the decision and released a state-ment at the time saying, 'The lack of communication between those students who decided to leave the agreed route and the Guild is disappointing. Whilst it is still unclear what actually took place at the time, what we can be clear about is that the Officer Team and University are very unhappy with the way the event unfolded.'
In February, Redbrick reported that Bauer described the protest as 'highly
Guild Officers. Ex Vice President found guilty
Kerrina GrayNews Editor @KerrinaGray
Former VPE Edd Bauer and current non-sabbatical officer Sean Farmelo stood trial for incidents at last year's 'Protest the Protest Ban' on campus.
'I've failed modules and the taxpayer has spent thousands
on a stressful eight month case in which the prosecution
had only self-contradicting witness statements whilst
there was clear video evidence showing I assaulted nobody.'
Sean Farmelo
successful' and he said he had 'witnessed no disproportionate or criminal use of force by students against other students or staff.' He also claimed that students were intimidated and assaulted by se-curity staff and the police during the march.
Earlier this year, Bauer was found not guilty of intentionally causing danger to the public and conspiring with others to do so after a banner drop at the Liberal Democrat Conference 2011.
4 | 12th- 18th October 2012
1
Edd BauerFrom @Simon_Furse on Twitter
Chancellor George Osborne visited campus this week to an-nounce the creation of a new £60m High Temperature Re-search Centre by the collabora-tion between the University of Birmingham and Rolls-Royce.
The government are in Bir-mingham this week for the an-nual Conservative party confer-ence at which Osborne spoke on Monday 8th October.
Rolls-Royce has provided a £40m investment which has been matched by a £20m invest-ment from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), through the UK Re-search Partnerships Investment Fund.
The centre aims to aid the de-velopment of future generations of aero engines in a bid to make a greener, more efficient mode
of air travel and is part of a range of science projects across the UK which have received a £1bn boost from joint industry, uni-versity and the government.
A site in the West Midlands, equalling approximately 6,000 square miles, will be chosen dur-ing the next four weeks with the hope of opening in 2014.
The new research centre will host a unique casting, design, simulation and advance manu-facturing facility with the hope to expand from the key manufac-
turing areas to draw in additional research competencies related to these areas through increased industry and academic involve-ment.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, Professor David Eastwood, has commented that, 'Drawing on the University of Birmingham's outstanding research base this new facility will create a step-change in research capability in the UK which will directly ben-efit the manufacturing sector of the economy and enhance the economic competitiveness of the region.'
Executive Vice President , Manufacturing Engineering and Technology at Rolls-Royce, Dr. Hamid Mughal commented, 'We are delighted to be extending our advanced manufacturing and de-sign research capabilities with the proposed development of the High Temperature Research Centre.'
Patrick McGheeNews Editor @patricksmcg
redbrick.me/news | 5
Ex-Sabbatical Of-
fi cers debate at last
year's protest ZOE POSNETTE
Professor Green,
who performed at
Fresher's BallPROFESSOR GREEN'S TWITTER
George Osbourne
visits University of
Birmingham UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
1
2
3
Chancellor George
Osbourne visits UoB
Guild President, David Franklin, has apologised to students for the Guild's errors at this term's Freshers' Ball.
As reported in Redbrick last week, 2,000 tickets were sold for the Freshers' Ball featuring a performance by Profes-sor Green, but only 700 people were allowed into the Debating Hall, where the gig was held.
At a public consultation meeting, Franklin accepted that the way the logistics of the event had been arranged did not work and said, 'We weren't as good as we could have been'.
He confirmed that those who had bought a ticket only for the Freshers' Ball had paid £20 whereas those who had bought a Freshers' Fest package paid an additional £15 for the Freshers' Ball and two other events, included in their total cost. Franklin stated that the ticket cost did not just cover Professor Green's fees but other parts of the event as well.
The students' main complaints were about the lack of communication at the event about when Professor Green would be performing or that there was a limit on the number of people who could see the gig.
One student at the meeting said 'If we'd got to see Professor Green it would have been really good value, but it was a waste of money if you didn't get to see him'.
Franklin said that he will now draw up ideas to combat the issues raised and will be in contact with those who at-tended the meeting in the near future.
Christian Union
leader resigns
The President of the University of Birming-ham Christian Union (UBCU), Ben McNee-ly, will resign his position after appearing in a photograph posted on Facebook wearing 'black-face' makeup as part of a Caribbean-themed fancy dress party.
McNeely, a 21-year-old economics student at the University, apologised for his actions, releasing a statement in which he said, 'In the summer, I went to a “Caribbean themed fancy dress party” as Bob Marley at which I “blacked up”. I realise now this was a fool-ish mistake. There was never any intention to stereotype or mock or be offensive to any-one. I did not post the Facebook photographs personally, they were posted by others at the party and the first time I was aware that my actions may have caused offense was when a friend privately messaged me suggesting this. As soon as I understood this I asked for the photographs to be taken down.
'I would like to offer a sincere and unre-served apology to the students of Birming-ham University for my actions which I realise have caused great offense. I was genuinely unaware of the history attached to this issue and how it was used to perpetuate a negative stereotype of a particular race. I have since learnt just how sensitive this is and appreci-ate why some people have been so upset. As a Christian I believe all people are equal re-gardless of their race and each individual has special dignity in bearing the image of God. I am totally opposed to the dehumanising of any individual. I have a much clearer under-standing now of how "blacking up" has been used in this way in the past. It is something I will never do again.
'From the moment BEMA drew my atten-tion to this I have sought to do everything I can to apologise in person to those I have of-fended including offering to apologise publi-cally in the University Newspaper. I am truly sorry if my thoughtless actions have in any way caused students of Birmingham Univer-sity to feel unwelcome or unable to attend Christian Union events or meetings which are open to all students regardless of faith, background or belief.
‘However, in light of recent events, it is with sadness and regret that on Wednesday evening I tendered my resignation as Presi-dent of the University of Birmingham Chris-tian Union. This was not an easy decision for me to make and took a lot of thought and consideration.
'I have become increasingly concerned that the Christian Union's main purpose – to give every student in Birmingham an oppor-tunity to hear about Jesus and his amazing message of love, forgiveness and acceptance - is not harmed and the CU continues to be known as an open society where all students are welcome.'
BEMA responded to McNeely's apology, stating, 'We accept Ben's apology whole-heartedly, and we see he is willing to educate himself on liberation issues and white privi-lege. We have always said publicly, and ac-knowledge that Ben's act does not make him a racist, as we understand he was ignorant toward the "Blacking up" issue.' BEMA add-ed, 'We are satisfied that we can move for-ward from this with a better informed student population, and that zero-tolerance is being taken seriously at our university. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Ben for his genuine apology.'
The University has stated that, 'The Uni-versity of Birmingham is a community of 150 nations situated in a vibrant multicultural city. We are extremely proud of our diversity, we actively promote tolerance and condemn discrimination of any kind. We will investi-gate this allegation of inappropriate behav-iour with the parties concerned.'
Rhiannon Doyle-MawNews Editor @Rhi_DoyleMaw
'We weren't as
good as we could
have been'
Freddie HerzogOnline News Editor @fredherz
'This new facility will create a step-change in research capability in the UK which will di-rectly benefit the manu-facturing sector of the economy' Vice Chancellor David Eastwood
2
3
@RedbrickComment
Recently, The Sun posted an article on its website in which it branded a website
named Skinny Gossip as pro-ano-rexia. After reading Skinny
Gossip for a few minutes, it becomes evident
that this is n o t
t h e case. Skinny
Gossip is a 'thinspira-tion' website, which encour-
ages its users to lose weight and 'stay skinny'. Its owner, 'Skinny
Gurl', berates and names and shames models or celebrities she deems 'fat', although a lot of people would argue that they are normal or healthy. Despite Skinny Gurl's controversial opinions and approach t o weight, (her BMI is a shocking
15.7), her website is definitely not pro-anorexia, as she states:
'We have never supported illness or self-harm,' while
pro-anorexia is com-monly defined by pro-anorexia website owners as the deci-
sion to 'not go into recovery' for their dis-order.
What The Sun’s article has shown is a general lack of
knowledge surrounding ano-rexia and pro-anorexia websites, thus demonstrating a lack of much-needed sensitivity. To incorrectly brand someone with a disorder is insensitive, both to Skinny Gurl and anorexia sufferers. However, the biggest cry for understand-ing may be needed on pro-ana websites themselves. Many non-anorexic visitors to the webpages post pictures of burgers or carb-laden plates with the tagline: 'Just eat something, seriously,' while others have called anorexia sufferers 'disgust-ing'. There also seems to be an over-whelming belief that anorexia sufferers are entirely clueless about the effects of their disorder, thus causing appalling abuse; one user called a blogger 'dumber than dumb' and another said: 'Starving yourselves is a stupid move. The last thing to go will be your brain, and you may or may not have a heart attack right before the end. Have fun with that, Stick Girls.' However, pro-anorexia websites
often show that their creators and users are very much aware of what they are doing, as many sites begin with the fol-lowing disclaimer: 'WARNING: This blog contains descriptions of unhealthy and dangerous behaviour. The content may be triggering
for persons
with an eating disorder or another mental ill-ness.' There is also a widespread misconception that pro-anorexia websites are a cause of the disorder. Whilst some websites do contain some shocking tips, such as taking an ice bath to make your body burn 200 calories for every degree it has to regain, and punching yourself in the stomach to prevent hunger pains, ano-rexia is caused by biological and psycho-logical factors, not webpages. This mis-understanding often leads to sites or blogs being closed. What is most striking about pro-anorexia websites (and Skinny Gossip) is the sense of community that is created for its users. There is a real solidarity between the site owner and their follow-ers – not in a dictatorial way, but in a sup-portive and welcoming manner; examples of competition or pressure are extremely rare. Pro-anorexia websites are also clear-ly popular - in one case, a blog had received 598,172 visits in its three-yea run. Such blogs are often a means for suf-ferers to share their secret lives with peo-ple who may also be suffering from the isolation often caused by the condition. Whilst a website might trigger a relapse in recovery, or may awake something that lies dormant in someone, it is not a direct cause of anorexia. Additionally, many pro-anorexia websites often change their tact. It is not uncommon to see a website owner stating that he or she now wants to support its users' recovery from anorexia. On the other hand, many sites seem to have simply disappeared or been aban-doned. While this may illustrate that its owner has recovered and wants to leave that part of their life behind, it may also indicate something far more sad and sin-ister.It is evident that from several peo-ple's responses to pro-anorexia and thin-spiration websites that awareness of ano-rexia needs to be raised. If we are told more about the disorder, then perhaps people who are genuinely ill will stop receiving abuse from the ignorant.
www.redbrick.me/comment6 | 12th - 18th October 2012
Pro-anorexia Websites:The misconception
Jenna ClakeCommentator @jennaclake
'Awareness of anorexianeeds to be raised'
Anorexia & Bulimia Care:
Tel: 03000 11 12 13
Parent Helpline: Option 1
Sufferer Helpline: Option 2
Self-Harm Helpline: Option 3
Birmingham Nightline
08000 274 750 6pm - 8am
If you have been affected by
this article, there is a variety
of help available.
Many websites can become a nuisance for the easily distracted student. So what if there was a pill you could take which made reading contract law fun? Well, there is! Amongst the most popular, Adderall® offers more than a good night's sleep and instant cof-fee ever could. These powerful psycostimulants allow one to focus for hours, making the plainest material as gripping as our dangerous orange friends.
Great, right? Well no: it turns out you're essentially taking speed. An amphetamine salt to be precise. In an all-too-American myopic frenzy, these drugs have been embraced at face value across the states, and are now prescribed to millions of infants allegedly suffer-ing 'learning difficulties'. Whilst cognitive enhancers have their place in modern medicine (treating severe ADHD for example), a drug commonly compared to cocaine by users really isn't to be taken with a pinch of salt. Governments have long since discouraged amphetamine consumption for good reason, so why is America so willing to dish out a derivative? Might an appetite for performance enhancers in general be cul-turally intrinsic? Whatever the reason, these drugs are now gaining disturbing ubiquity on the Western aca-demic scene. Unfortunately users can expect the side effects associated with most uppers: insomnia, loss of appetite, strong desire to redose; and a comedown if they don't. This stuff ultimately exhausts your body.Admittedly Adderall differs chemically to the speed taken by Trainspotting's Spud to fail his drug inter-view, it's a much more even lift for users. Yet it's clear that the marketing of study drugs alone has accorded them false legitimacy in American students' minds and worse still: American parents'. So just how placid is Adderall compared to its Class B brother? American friends have given desperate accounts of the length people will go to for just one pill during exam period: teenagers running across campus at silly o'clock clasping a 20 dollar bill after 38 calls failed to get their supplier out of bed. I'll let you answer that one.
Enough about why you shouldn't
take it; for anyone as disposed to procrastinate as me, something more will be required. I'm interested in whether this stuff would really make me write a more intelligent essay, because no one could resist such an edge. By all accounts students' grades do go up when they're on it, but do they become more intelligent? I could cope with peers scoring 5 per cent higher than me because they'd been brushing their teeth with their tongue all night, but not if, say, it made you philosophise better. Our question is then, to what extent do these drugs enhance the qual-ity of abstract thought? I want to make a distinction here between 'cold' logical profi-ciency and abstract reflective flare. As a student of (often medieval) philosophy, which perhaps demands something closer to the lat-ter, I'm not convinced tak-ing this stuff would help me. In particular, but per-haps true of arts in general, one's human contribution is essential. Adderall turns you into a machine. One's priority switches from quality to com-pleting all one's tasks. That's fine if you read Maths, but in my experience engineering a convinc-ing essay requires reflection, and maybe even a degree of procrastina-tion. Adderall violates this.
This isn't a moan at American prescrip-tion policy, but as suggested, being disposed to procrastinate might not be the end of the world after all; so often procrastination seems to inhere in the creative mind. By over-prescribing Adderall,
America is implicitly presenting one form of mind as superior to another.
'In my expe-rience, engi-
neering a con-vincing essay
requires reflection, and maybe even a degree of pro-
crastination. Adderall vio-
lates this.'
12th - 18th October 2012 www.redbrick.me/comment | 7
Study America's
Drugs'Users can
expect the side effects associ-ated with most uppers: insom-
nia, loss of appetite,
strong desire to redose; and a comedown if
they don't.'
Jeremy CrampinCommentator
Will Siddons. Photo by
With no aim but to express anger, frustration and dis-satisfaction, the protest outside the Conservative Party conference on Sunday had a resounding message; the Tories are not welcome in Birmingham and if the pub-lic had their way (which they rarely do), they would have hosted their conference as far away from the ICC as possible.
Crying out with the crowds, it was more than obvi-ous to me that the atmosphere was one of genuine rage. Across both the public and private sectors, the cuts are hitting hard; their consequences deep and far-reaching. From railway workers, to fire fighters, to lecturers at our University, there was cross-spectrum resistance to the Tory presence. And, despite police officers being unable to protest along with us by law, the liaison officers were sympathetic to our cause. 'Birmingham Grannies against the Cuts' were a partic-ular favourite group of mine; not least because it shows that Government policies are spanning genera-tions and the most vulnerable are, despicably, getting the rough end of the stick whilst the most fortunate are cut more and more slack.
Students, including NUS officers Vicki Baars and Aaron Kiely, also lined the ranks, demonstrating against raised tuition fees and continuing further and higher education cuts. Asked why they were demon-strating, Mathematics student Ollie Jones said they were 'angry' with the cuts that the Tory party were making in Government, particularly in opposition to changes to the NHS.
Vicki Baars, NUS Vice President for Union Development hit the spot when she tweeted, 'at the rally against #cpc12, the Conservative led government has tripled Tuition Fees, introduced FE fees for over 24’s 'Let's defend edu!' Ridiculously, Conservative Future's Loughborough University branch branded Vicki and Matt Stanley (NUS NEC) as immature and told them to 'grow up' via a message on Twitter.
Inspiring speeches were given by general secretar-ies from public sector unions including the UCU, RMT and Unite. Christine Blower, general secretary for NUT, addressed the crowds 'there is a will to pri-vatise our education' and cited that one in five young
people can't find a job, while Bob Crow, RMT, called for re-nationalisation of the railways.
Yet, the protest was disappointing; in spite of a sup-posed 5,000 attendees, it felt quiet and too jovial, and both the march and the rally were over in two and a half hours. Once it had finished, it had finished. It was by far lacking the passion of previous protests. Whilst timid voices shouted for a tax on the rich, the one per cent, Cameron stood, unscathed and with security for protection, that his Government would not be intro-ducing a mansion tax. Once again, our demands were ignored.
Fortunately, I can confidently say that the upcom-ing protests by the TUC and the NUS in London will be much more impactful. If #demo2012 is anything like the student protests of 2010, we will see 50,000
take on Westminster and show this shambles of a Government that we will not just sit back and take what they throw at us. For ourselves, and future genera-tions, we will say 'no more'.
James PhillipsPolitical Commentator @MisterJames_
'Nasty Party' Conference
8| 12th - 18th October 2012
NewsFreddie Herzog. Boris Johnson this week may
have just showed a beacon of light in the pitch-black darkness of modern politics. By emphasising what is great about Britain (yes, apparently there is a lot to shout about – the London Olympics, chocolate hobnobs, films made in Soho) he gave hope that there might actually be a way out of the fiasco-ridden times we are in. The real promise shown by Boris is that he is so very different to the clone politician we have become used to. Yes he wore a suit, but in what he says, he manages to perfectly blend humour and serious politics together. Gone are the days of his foppish gaffes being laughed at – now we are
all laughing along with him.
Owen Earwicker. We simply can't imagine the horror the family of April Jones has gone through since her disappearance on the 1st October this year. But one cannot help but wonder if such horror has only been exacerbated through the way it has been covered in the media. Naturally there is no question of public interest here. But what kind? Is it the fact that someone has tragically been kidnapped? Or the fact that the someone was a five-year-old white girl, and this sells news? The latter is more likely. It is a dilemma posed every time news of a similar nature breaks, and part of a culture which pairs with the illegalities of the phone hacking
scandal.
MEDIA
POLITICS
Views
News
in BirminghamActivism
It's been a busy week in the world of local activism. A crowd of thousands
amassed outside the Conservative party conference in protest, whilst Defend
Education held their first meeting of the year on campus . James Phillips, Rosie
Booth and James Bowker report...
James PhillipsPhoto by
This Monday at 6pm saw the first gathering of a Defend Education Birmingham, a not-exactly-clandes-
tine group of students whose passion for education and equality lit the fire of activism last year, culminat-ing in last the occupation of North House and the now infamous injunction on occupational protests on cam-pus – which afterwards led to a condemnation of the
university by Amnesty International and Liberty. It was an enlightening experience for the newer,
fresh-faced students, with one saying 'it was so wel-coming and everybody felt equal, like they could say whatever they thought'. Perhaps this feeling is due to the use of ‘consensus decision-making’, a procedural technique that aims to break down some of the struc-
tural barriers which make it difficult for minority groups and new members to be actively involved. With its roots in the feminist movement and more
recently adopted by ‘Occupy’, this is indicative of the philosophy behind Defend Education, whose credo is
fundamentally focused on the defense of education quality and student rights.
The summit began with two presentations outlin-ing the various issues at stake in higher and further
education, beginning with a contextual analysis of national concerns and finishing with a
memorable account of what is happen-
ing within our own university. These were not
only eloquently presented and incredibly informative but were themselves well informed, based on publicly
available statistics and evaluations. Many had expected merely a series of rants by
greasy-haired, idealist Marxists. What we actually experienced was a multiplicity of peoples, of every
creed and various political persuasions. The cohesive nature of the group was purely down to their shared
horror at what is happening in Birmingham and across the country and their wish to do something about it.This was where the group excelled most pertinent-
ly. It is not a clique, nor is there a hegemonic ideolo-gy. Granted, many of the attendants were reading
political degrees, however given the political nature of any activist society this is neither surprising nor
uncommon. Indeed a significant proportion of mem-bers were in fact studying courses with no relation to
politics at all – examples including physics, computer science and mathematics.
Open debate was encouraged throughout the con-ference, with various styles of discussion utilized,
allowing for students who would usually be less likely to voice an opinion. When combined with the incredi-
bly friendly environment and the use of consensus and ‘safe space’ rules, this allowed for a freely flow-ing debate leading to quick and exciting idea genera-
tion. We discussed what the aims of the group were for
the coming term which focused primarily on mobiliz-ing the student community for the Trade Union
Congress (TUC) and National Union of Students (NUS) demos and increasing awareness of the cam-paign. The discussion was nuanced and sensitive, as well inspiringly inventive. It was immediately clear
that Defend Education are a serious, but friendly group who are intent on achieving their aims and will
employ well-considered techniques to do so. The organizers also made everybody aware of the
activist training that the Guild is running on Saturday 6th October and encouraged interested students to
attend and learn from what was on offer, in order that the group might benefit from the increased knowledge and experience. I enjoyed this meeting immensely and cannot wait to see what happens over the next term. I
couldn’t encourage people to get involved strongly enough, because it involves every student at this uni-
versity. The recent decision to break up the IAA is just the latest in a worrying trend over the last few
years, perhaps beginning with the Sociology depart-ment sever. Find the group on Facebook, join Defend Education Birmingham and help to protect your edu-
cation and student rights!
James Dolton. This week saw the opening of St George's Park, a new £105m centre designed to 'fix English football'. However, what must be done for English football and by proxy the English National Team (deep down, any grumbling England fan is only dreaming of '66) to be successful is not a building but a culture that doesn't prioritise a will to win over any per-sonal advancement and self-fulfilment. Our youth teams play with too heavy a ball on too big pitches that encour-age 'lumping it long' tactics and bigger players, a style that has at recent international tournaments proved entirely dissatisfactory and unsuccessful. St. George's Park is a step in the right direction, but only a step.
SPORT
Sophie Tollet. Although it is rather annoying to be consistently boxed into that elusive and, as is so often implied, threatening mass referred to by the media as 'young people', I find Radio 1's recent attempt to attract a 'younger audience' downright insulting. It was the 'well-connected' Nick Grimshaw that the BBC roped in to complete this task. I would hope, however, that the lure of a witty anecdote involving Harry Styles, a hilari-ous story about Kate Moss, or the most recent offering from Rihanna would not be enough to coerce my con-temporaries into listening. Perhaps the BBC has under-estimated us. Perhaps 'young people' are no longer entertained by inane chatter.
USA
ENTERTAINMENTLexie Wilson. Last week saw the first debate
between the US Presidential hopefuls, with Barack Obama intellectually squaring up to his competitor, Republican Mitt Romney. Despite the fact that Romney's dazzling levels of charisma appeared the foil to Obama's exhausted appearance and uninspiring rhetoric, the actual ideologies behind that winning smile present a frightening reality that Romney not only hasn't been laughed out the political arena, but is actually shaping up to be a viable threat. Any sane person should not vote for Romney. If you won't take it from me, maybe Snoop Dogg's appeal will set you straight: 'this muthafucka's
name is Mitt.' Come on now, America.
Defend
EducationJames Bowker & Rosie BoothCommentator
www.redbrick.me/comment | 9
10| 12th - 18th October 2012 www.redbrick.me/comment
Comment Cartoon
by Olivia Rhodes
We've all had a time when we've
boiled the kettle but found the milk
carton empty, when vague delivery
instructions have meant all we know is
that a parcel will arrive some time
between Monday and Friday, when
we're going home for the weekend but
can't take the goldfish with us. These
situations are at best irritating, and at
worst (at least in the case of the gold-
fish) life-threatening. But there's a
magical solution to all of these prob-
lems, a solution which is all too often
overlooked or taken for granted. And
it goes by the name of the Friendly
Neighbour.
If there's one place where becoming
acquainted with 'them next door' is
pretty much unavoidable, it's Selly
Oak. The terraced houses, thin walls
and disintegrating fences mean that
we're all living on fairly close quar-
ters. It's not unusual to have heard a
neighbour during one of their more
'intimate' moments before actually
having exchanged hellos with them.
So when we moved into our house at
the beginning of September and real-
ised that the fence between ours and
our neighbours' garden was not just
broken, but inexistent, we thought
we'd make a special effort to go round
and break the ice.
It began with an innocent knock on
their kitchen window (just across the
shared patio). The light was on in the
living room but the curtains were
drawn, so when our third knock
remained unanswered, we assumed it
must have been because they were
busy upstairs.
A couple of days later, we saw that
a trampoline had been erected in the
garden. Desperate to have a go, we
once again gathered outside their back
door ready to introduce ourselves and
politely ask if we could have a bounce.
Again our knocking fell on stony
ground. But seeing as the trampoline
was on mutual ground, we figured that
technically we had the right to use it,
and so spent the next hour practising
our swivel-hips. The next day we
opened the curtains to find a traffic
cone placed surruptitiously in the cen-
tre of said trampoline.
By now we were grasping at straws.
During one of my more desperate
moments of dejection, I decided to
enter their house number instead of
ours whilst making an ASOS order.
That way I knew they'd have no choice
but to place the package into our
hands, and I'd be able to apologise for
the trampoline incident and introduce
myself. I should have known better.
The parcel appeared outside our back
door a few days later, sodden with
rain, and looking about as alone and
rejected as I felt.
We've been at our new house for a
month now, and we still have yet to
exchange pleasantaries. We thought
we'd made progress the other week
when we spotted one of the members
wave at us as he stood doing the wash-
ing up. Until we realised he was just
reaching to draw the blind down.
Let's just hope they'll be a bit more
keen to make friends after they've had
Bonnie Raitt's 'I can't make you love
me' playing on repeat through their
living room wall for three days.
Alicea FrancisCommentator
Love Thy Neighbour
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The Student Mentor Scheme provides advice and
guidance to all students living in university residences.
Whatever the need help with, and whenever you need it, the Student Mentor Scheme service is here for you.
Look out for our forthcoming events and activities…
We will be hosting a Halloween Film night on Tuesday 30th October in Fusion (Shackleton, the Vale) and face painting on :HGQHVGD\���VW�2FWREHU�WR�FRLQFLGH�ZLWK�RXU�3HUVRQDO�6DIHW\�&DPSDLJQ��:H�ZLOO�EH�KROGLQJ�IXQ�DQG�LQWHUDFWLYH�ÀQDQFH�DFWLYLWLHV�
in Shackleton over the next 2 weeks to promote budgeting and employability.
For more information please visit our facebook page. If you would like to talk to a Student Mentor then please contact us:
Visit:
7KH�0HQWRU�:HOIDUH�2IÀFHBased at Shackleton on the Vale
Monday - Friday 2 -6pm (term time)
Email:
Call:
0121 257 4490
‘Like’ us on: facebook.com/studentmentorscheme
Follow us on Twitter:
@StudentMentors1
Advice& Guidance
IF YOUR STUDIES ARE BEING AFFECTED BY PERSONAL
CIRCUMSTANCES WE CAN GIVE YOU INFORMATION AND
SUPPORT WITH EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES
WE ORGANISE EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES TO
HELP YOU MEET OTHER LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE
WE CAN ADVISE YOU ON PERSONAL SAFETY WHEN
OUT AND ABOUT
WE CAN HELP YOU TO CREATE YOUR OWN BUDGET PLANNER,
ENABLING YOU TO MANAGE YOUR MONEY BETTER
WE WILL JUST LISTEN WHEN YOU NEED TO TALK
WE PROVIDE A SAFE PLACE TO AIR ANY CONCERNS YOU MAY HAVE IN OUR MENTOR WELFARE OFFICE
WE WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH INFORMATION AND ADVICE ON HOUSE HUNTING
WE CAN HELP YOU WITH ANY ACADEMIC WORRIES
WE CAN HELP YOU TO FIND PART-TIME WORK,
INCREASING YOUR EMPLOYABILITY AS WELL AS YOUR INCOME
IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING PROBLEMS IN YOUR FLAT, WE CAN HELP YOU TO RESOLVE THESE ISSUES THROUGH MEDIATION
WE CAN PROVIDE YOU WITH ONE TO ONE SUPPORT, WHENEVER YOU REQUIRE SOME EXTRA GUIDANCE
WE WILL BRING YOU IMPORTANT INFORMATION
TO HELP YOU TACKLE COMMON STUDENT ISSUES
@RedbrickFood
A Meaty Issue: The Omnivore's Dilemma.
How often has the question, ‘What shall we have for dinner?’ left you sweating at the collar, on the verge of having a panic attack? OK, maybe I exaggerate slightly, but we humans expend a hell of a lot of time and energy every day answering what should be a very easy question.Michael Pollan's 'The Omnivore’s Dilemma' has a more poignant way of summarising my first paragraph. Only humans and rats dedicate such a large part of their brain to deciding what to eat. Poisonous foods, maggot-infested foods, bitter foods: all things to avoid. Some anthropologists believe that the reason we developed such intricate brains was to find a solution to the Omnivore’s Dilemma. Now more than ever, it should be easy deciding what to eat – supermarkets lavish us with phe-nomenal choice and variety – but, it is in fact more difficult than ever to make the ‘right’ choice when it comes to what to fuel up on. Trans-fats, free-range, organ-ic, high fructose corn syrup, additives, preservatives, E-numbers...the list goes on. The supermarket has become a dan-gerous minefield where a few wrong turns could lead you to Obesity Lane or Malnutrition Avenue.
Pollan discusses how the humble grain that goes by the name of ‘corn’ is slowly and steadily taking over the world. It’s cheap to produce and can be fed to almost all animals, as well as
being used in making petroleum-based products. Unfortunately though, the cows that are fed this cheap corn are not able to properly digest it. This means that farmers pump into these creatures cocktails of antibiotics to help them digest it; those same antibiotic cocktails then end up in your Big Mac. Mmmm, antibiotic goodness...
Although Pollan writes about US agriculture, the UK is inextricably linked since we import millions of pounds worth of corn-made products every year. The UK itself would love to produce more corn, but unfortunately our lovely British weather keeps getting in the way.
Pollan samples three different types of meal: a fast-food (industrial) meal, an organic meal and a meal that he hunted-and-gathered. He takes his wife and kid to a McDonalds for meal number one, and between them they have chicken nuggets, a hamburger and a salad.
‘Part of the appeal of hamburgers and chicken nuggets’ he writes ‘is that their boneless abstractions allow us to forget we’re eating animals’. He goes on to convincingly argue that this is what the industrial food chain does best: ‘Obscure the histories of foods it pro-duces by processing them so much that they appear as products of pure culture rather than nature’. This is how I’ve been happily meandering through life, never questioning the origin of the ham-burger in my clutches. Most of us have
lost our connection with the origin of our food, which is why, in my opinion, we don’t think twice about wasting it: we can always get more from Tesco’s - it’s not like we have to wait until next year's harvest!
Pollan then goes on to investigate life on an ‘ultra-organic’ farm, where he lives and works for a week. The farm is almost completely sustainable, and the farmer and his family and workers only buy toilet paper and other basic essen-tials from outside. Unlike the corn-based industrial farms, this farm is based on good-old fashioned grass. The farmer, a man who goes by the name Joel Salatin, is an opinionated Christian liberal envi-ronmentalist. He hates the US govern-ment and is making every effort to get ‘off the grid’ and to be completely self-sufficient. Pollan tries his hand at slaugh-tering chickens himself, and writes that ‘In a way, the most morally troubling thing about killing chickens, is that after a while it is no longer morally trou-bling’.
Finally Pollan has to hunt and gather his last meal. This part of his narrative deals with the ethical issues around eat-ing meat. As more and more people in the developing world turn to vegetarian-ism, Pollan writes, ‘ It may be that our moral enlightenment has advanced to the point where the practice of eating ani-mals – like our former practices of keep-ing slaves or treating women as inferior beings – can now be seen for the barbar-
ity it is, a relic of an ignorant past that very soon will fill us with shame’.
So, the day came when Pollan was to finally kill a pig, and he made an inter-esting observation. Crouching down amongst some leaves in a North California forest, he likened his mental state waiting for the prey as being simi-lar to the one induced by smoking mari-juana: acute mental awareness and incredible focus. It didn’t take long before he spotted a wild pig, aimed and hit it. For the first few minutes, he says he felt nothing but pride, happiness and gratitude for his ‘achievement’. Later though, as he watched his friend ‘dress’ the pig, and remove its internal organs, his feelings turned to disgust. After hav-ing gathered, grown and hunted all of the ingredients for his final meal (including salt which he gathered from the San Francisco bay), Pollan dished up his findings to a group of friends. The meal contained ‘scarcely an ingredient in it [that] had ever worn a label or bar code or price tag’, but it had cost him several months of hard work.
Pollan took me on a fascinating and revealing gastronomical food ride. I’m now a lot more active at finding out, as far as possible, where my food comes from instead of just ignorantly shovel-ling it down my mouth. Maybe one day, I’ll even make an entire meal out of things that I’ve grown, hunted and gath-ered myself. What do you think? Do we need to know the origin of our food?
Writer Amira Mullaney reviews Michael Pollan's controversial
investigative novel and asks: what lies behind the food we eat?
Amira Mullaney
Food Writer
Whilst our fridges struggle to stay intact after a trip to the local supermarkets, many students (especially those in stu-dent accommodation) find that the freez-er is left with ample space. Fast forward to the end of the week, and millions of tonnes of food are thrown out every year across the UK. The answer to both of these problems is freezing.
MilkFreezing milk can sometimes produce a slightly scary result, as full fat milk has a tendency to separate. Semi or fully skimmed is less likely to, but in any case simply shake it when defrosted and you’ll be left with fresh milk.
BreadBy transferring slices, buns or rolls into freezer bags and freezing them in small-er batches, a loaf can go a long way and can easily be defrosted in a fridge or simply by popping it into a toaster on a ‘defrost setting’. Rolls, buns and baguettes can be put in the oven whole on a low setting to defrost and enjoyed as if freshly baked that day!
HerbsIt’s often difficult for students to buy fresh herbs, as they are sold in large quantities and do not last very long, especially those that are not potted. The solution is to chop up herbs such as
spring onions, c o r i a n d e r , dill, chives, parsley etc. and store each in a separate labelled container to be used at will. Herbs defrost very quickly, so often these can be sprinkled into dishes at the last minute. Depending on how much you buy initially and when you use it, it is entirely possible that a year’s stock could be made up from one large bunch of each herb, as none of it would have to be thrown away. Remember to remove any yellow leaves before freezing.
VegetablesVegetables such as onions, sweetcorn, beans, peas and carrots can be pre-bought frozen in most supermarkets. However fresh vegetables can also be frozen and kept ready to be used as needed. To maintain the best quality freshness, blanche vegetables before freezing to remove bacteria and reduce cooking time later on.
MeatWhen buying large quantities, it is useful to freeze each piece (or more if your por-tions are larger!) in separate freezer bags. Remove as much air as possible and tie a secure knot before placing in the freezer. This means that when defrost-ing, only as much as is needed can be placed in a bowl in the fridge to thaw during the day or overnight.
YogurtBy freezing individual pots with a lolly stick poked in, you can make easy frozen yogurt lollies that are perfect for sum-mer. Frozen yogurt desserts can also be made by adding fresh fruit and sugar to plain natural yogurt.
CakeSliced or whole cakes can be frozen and remain fresh to be eaten another day. Whether shop bought (read guidelines) or homemade, cake can be frozen to maintain freshness, as well as saving you from baking one after a long day on campus. An alternative could be to pop a frozen cake in the post for a UK friend, and it will be perfectly defrosted when they get it.
Bread DoughDough is simple and cheap to make, and yields you not only countless possibili-ties for bread but also pizza bases! Once made, single portions of dough could be frozen in individual bags, so that once defrosted, they can cut down the time of making your own pizza by more than half. Roll out the thawed dough, add a tomato sauce and some grated mozarella and all that’s left to do is to throw on your toppings and pop it in the oven!
Safiyyah Gareeboo
Food Writer
The Big Freeze
@RedbrickFood
12 | 12th - 18th October 2012
www.redbrick.me/food | 13
Izzy GibbinFood Editor
Food&Fiction
Food & fiction: occasionally the two combine so fan-
tastically that suddenly you’re transported into a kind
of edible Dahlian paradise, chowing down on yellow
meta-flowers and taking great gulps from a chocolate
river of prose whilst Gene Wilder croons tunelessly in
the background. One such image that’s stayed with me
my entire life is C.S Lewis’s Queen of Narnia present-
ing young Edmund with a box of ‘the best Turkish
Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very
centre and Edmund had never tasted anything more
delicious.’ But there is a world of fictional food that
extends far beyond the whimsical descriptions found in
children’s fiction – sardines, condensed milk, lashings
of ginger beer and suchlike – and it has long served as
inspiration for some of the greatest literature in the
world. Now, who’s for some fava beans and a nice
Chianti?
James Joyce Ulysses
Ulysses. Making sense of it can only be likened to sift-
ing through an enormous pile of rubble in search of
diamonds but finding nothing more than, well, rubble.
But that's alright because Ulysses isn't designed to be
understood; like modern art or Swedish furniture, it's
for marvelling at without understanding exactly what
the point is. Nevertheless I must grudgingly concede
that Joyce’s descriptions of food make me want to eat
myself into oblivion and vomit simultaneously – and if
that’s not great writing, I don’t know what is.
J.D SalingerFranny & Zooey
Salinger doesn’t go in much for lengthy descriptions of
meals, and yet you can always be sure that his protago-
nists will either be eating or smoking. What’s clever
about Salinger’s use of food is that it’ll always give
you clues about the person that’s doing the eating. Take
the opening scene in which Franny, who is on a zen-
inspired spiritual journey, orders a plain chicken sand-
wich which she leaves untouched, whilst her preten-
tious and image-conscious boyfriend Lane prattles his
way through a platter of frog’s legs and snails.
Virginia WoolfA Room of One's Own
Virginia Woolf might not have been the best company,
but she sure knew how to throw a great fictional dinner
party, deftly guiding the reader through lavish descrip-
tions of meaty stews of isolation and dark, brooding
fruit bowls. Woolf would never dream of serving up a
dish without a great side-helping of analogous mean-
ing; her extended essay ‘A Room of One’s Own’ uses
some wonderful descriptions of an elaborate feast to
deliver hard-hitting criticism on the economic and
social disparity between men and women. Tasty stuff.
Roald Dahl The BFG
I’m certain there’s a very strong case for Roald Dahl
being the most imaginative writer ever to have put pen
to paper, particularly when it comes to the world of
food. The visceral nature of Dahl’s writing lends a
quite disgusting and unsettling note to his otherwise
fantastical and glittering creations, from the epony-
mous Giant Peach to the loathsome Snozzcumber.
Evelyn WaughBrideshead Revisited
If university life involved as many amazing meals as
Evelyn Waugh makes out, I doubt I’d leave with any-
thing except besides a low 3rd and a chronic heart
condition. The exotically wealthy world of Sebastian
Flyte and Charles Ryder is punctuated by extravagant
feasts of caviar, duck and sole – all seemingly drowned
in vats of dairy and vaguely sinister religious under-
tones.
“Mr. Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls. He
liked thick giblet soup, nutty gizzards, a stuffed roast heart, liver slices fried with crust crumbs, fried hencods’ roes. Most
of all he liked grilled mutton kidneys which gave to his palate a fine tang of
faintly scented urine.”
"You don't even have sense enough to drink when somebody brings you a cup of consecrated chicken soup – which is
the only kind of chicken soup Bessie ever brings to anybody around this mad-
house. So just tell me, just tell me, buddy. How in hell are you going to rec-
ognize a legitimate holy man when you see one if you don't even know a cup of
consecrated chicken soup when it's right in front of your nose?"
“The lunch began with soles, sunk in a deep dish, over which the college cook
had spread a counterpane of the whitest cream, save that it was branded here
and there with brown spots like the spots on the flanks of a doe. The par-
tridges came with all their retinue of sauces and salads, the sharp and the
sweet; their potatoes, thin as coins but not so hard; their sprouts, foliated as
rosebuds but more succulent.”
“In this sloshflunking Giant Country, happy eats like pineapples and pigwin-
kles is simply not growing. Nothing is growing except for one extremely icky-
poo vegetable. It is called the snozzcum-ber.”
“I remember the dinner well – soup oseille, a sole quite simply cooked in
white-wine sauce, a caneton à la presse, a lemon soufflé. The cream and hot but-ter mingled and overflowed, separating
each glaucous bead of caviar from its fellows capping it in white and gold.”
We all remember the heartwarming ending to Charles
Dicken's 'A Christmas Carol': Scrooge, finally seeing
the error of his ways, buys an enormous turkey for
Tiny Tim and his family of do-gooders. Turkey is the
most popular meat at Christmas time, but why not the
rest of the year?
Turkey has so many advantages over chicken, beef
and pork, the most prominent being lower in price and
saturated fat. To put this into perspective, a 500g pack
of lean beef mince is £4, or £2.70 for a normal pack
(not lean), compared to a £2 500g pack of turkey. The
£2.70 pack of beef mince has about 7g saturated fat per
portion, whereas the £2 turkey mince only has 3g, so
for 70p less you can be healthier too. It obviously
doesn’t have the same strong, meaty taste as beef but it
does still have a delicious, distinctive taste that works
perfectly in any mince dish.
You can substitute turkey in almost every meat
dish: stir fries, roast dinners, pasta bolognese, burgers
or escalopes. Try out this recipe for turkey burgers for
a healthier and cheaper version of your standard
cheeseburgr.
Ingredients (makes 2-4)
250g turkey mince
1 onion, finely chopped
75g chopped spinach
50g soft goat's cheese, crumbled
½ beaten egg
Olive oil, for frying
Toasted ciabatta and salad, to serve
Mix all the ingredients together and form into patties.
Make two big ones or three/four smaller ones depend-
ing on your appetite! Fry in some olive oil on a medium
heat until golden brown and cooked through. Serve on
toasted ciabatta with a salad, or with potato wedges.
As long as you use fresh turkey mince, instead of fro-
zen, individual turkey burgers can be wrapped up in tin
foil and put in the freezer to enjoy another day! Simply
take your frozen burgers out the night before you'd like
to eat them, place in a dish and let them defrost in the
fridge overnight.
Turkey: It's For Life, Not
Just For Christmas.
Lottie RainbowFood Writer
@RedbrickLifeStyle
Natasha WoolfLife&Style Writer
Last weekend, The Bullring and The Mailbox became host to the fashion frenzy that Style Birmingham entailed.
It was a weekend purely with the aim of creating a buzz about shopping in Birmingham, and generally making shopping fun for everyone. It’s the fifth year of the event and it proved to be as popular as ever. Run by the organisa-tion, Retail Birmingham, to promote the city centre’s shops, bars, restaurants and hotels, the event featured fashion shows, offers and even goody bags.
Chairman of Retail Birmingham, Jonathan Cheetham, said 'Birmingham has so much to offer, and with the cur-rent exciting developments taking place in the short to mid-term, it has never been more important to show that Birmingham city centre is open for business with so much to offer to shop-pers and visitors from all over the coun-try, and indeed, the world'.
14| 12th - 18th October 2012
Style Birmingham Martine McCutcheon hosted the main
event at the Mailbox while Lydia Bright hosted the fashion show ‘Enchanted’ in the Bullring. I was at the show in the Mailbox where the focus was to display some of the best Autumn/Winter looks that can be bought in the Mailbox or in the Bullring. Items on the catwalk ranged from Zara to high-end fashion.
In addition, Olympic gold medallist and honourable member of Team GB, Greg Rutherford, made his catwalk debut in the Harvey Nichols opening scene. As soon as he stepped foot on the catwalk, there was a loud applause and the odd wolf whistle.
Themes in the show included Hide & Chic, Geo-graphic, Country Days & City Nights, Very Berry, Heritage, Japanese Oriental Flowers, Drama & Decadence, with my personal favourite being Futuristic Glamour by Selfridges. This included Peter Pilotto, Hervé Léger,
Break-Up or Make-Up?
With Rihanna and Chris Brown report-edly getting closer again, and Kristen Stewart hitting the headlines this week for moving back in with R-Patz, it seems it’s not only us students that fall back into the trap of a bad relationship.
University is a testing time for any relationship, and when some don't make the cut it's not always an easy thing to get over someone - especially if you’re the one that’s left broken-hearted. It will seem like the worst thing in the world at the time, but all you need is a bit of perspective.
The relationship is over and that’s OK because who knows what will hap-pen in the future and what's waiting for you around the corner, but right now you need to make a decision.
You can either choose to drown your sorrows, eat a lot of ice-cream and go for everything with a pulse, which may make you happy for a week or two, but after a while it will wear thin (and
you’ll feel a bit sick). Or you can choose to get a grip, real-
ise you weren’t perfect for each other and get back on track. I’m fully aware that it’s easier said than done, and that the second option is much harder. Let’s be honest, we’ll all slip into the first one at one point or another. But the best thing you can do is pick yourself up and move on. Surround yourself by people who care about you, find yourself a new hobby and get back out there.
A top tip I was given was to say YES to every invite you're offered. Now I don’t mean say yes to everything; use a little discretion and some initiative. It sounds clichéd but you’ll open yourself up to so many more opportunities and maybe that’s how you’ll meet Mr (or Mrs) right. And if not, hey, you might make some good friends along the way.
Always remember that one of the most attractive things about someone is their confidence, so hold your head up high and use it!
Gemma HubbardLife&Style Writer
Victoria Beckham and Lanvin. After each show, Martine and celeb-
rity stylist Bradley Taylor took to the floor for questions and broke down how the looks seen on the catwalk could be re-created for all shapes and sizes.
Under the Suffolk Queensway was live music from The Jazz Ramblers and Chinese Jitterbug Squad, circus per-formers and 3D art. There was also the opportunity to win a £250 shopping spree at the Mailbox, a £500 personal shopping experience at Harvey Nichols and a pair of Louboutins.
The event was visited by over 3000 tickets holders and over 250,000 shop-pers took advantage of the discounts and special events.
Check out all what shopping in Birmingham has to offer and much more on events and offers on the newly relaunched website: www.shoppingin-birmingham.com.
SCOTT First Year English Literature JOHN First Year English Lit & History
'A relationship can work out at univer-sity. Mine is going well. It depends on the person to be honest and strength of the couple'.
JAMIE Final Year History & Philosophy
Manthropology: Should you come to Uni single or taken?Sarah WelsbyLife&Style Writer
'It is better to be single. You don't want to be tied down and restrictedto what you do. Single life gives youmore freedom and opportunity'.
'I came to uni with a girlfriend and it works if you are both aware you can't see each other as frequently. Depends on how long you have been together'.
www.redbrick.me/lifestyle 15
It’s over-the-top, it’s glitzy, and it’s defi-nitely not for the fashion-shy. Thursday 4th October saw the international launch of Anna Dello Russo’s collection for H&M, another in a long line of high-profile designer collaborations for the Swedish highstreet chain.
Customers were soon tweeting their purchases from the fifty-piece accessory c o l l e c t i o n . Door-knocker earrings, bright blue suitcases, and cat-eye sun-glasses topped with gold croco-diles are just a few of the pieces from the collec-tion that stand out, not to men-tion the skyscrap-er heels we’re sure many a fash-ionista would risk A&E for.
Dello Russo, editor-at-large of Vogue Japan, is
Topless sunbathing by the pool, nude snaps of a drunken night in Vegas – it would be easy to mistake our current youngest royals for...well, any other celebrity whose lives are splashed across the pages of newspapers on a daily basis. But, they’re not any other celebrity – they’re members of the royal family. A fam-ily so integral and important to British society that it manages to install a sense of patriotism in us like no other institu-tion can.
Therefore, following Kate Middleton marrying into this family just over a year ago, surely she realised that her days of top-less sunbathing had come to an abrupt end. I realise at the time she was in a private cha-teau and the photographer in question was allegedly using a super-long lens to take the photos, but come on Kate, top-less sunbathing...really?
Regardless of how private this holiday destination was I think she should have had the sense and decorum to know that a woman of stature can no long-er sunbathe topless- it was an unnecessary and preventable mistake on her part.
Obviously the invasion of the young royal’s privacy was unacceptable and a poll by YouGov stated that three out of four people agreed that the royal couple were right to take legal action against the French magazine. But this whole little mess could have been easily avoided if Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, hadn’t chosen to leave her bikini back in the palace.
Seemingly of late, the royals have been baring a whole load of naked ambition. If it isn’t Harry’s drunken stripping, it’s Kate tanning topless in the South of France. Kate however, was stone cold sober and not privy to prying eyes. In fact, if it wasn’t for that pesky photographer and their over zealous zoom button, Kate’s modesty would still be intact. This wasn’t some lewd act to be caught on camera, it was simply
'safe sunbathing'. It’s a violation of her privacy, not a vio-
lation of her regal position. The editor of French Closer magazine defended the publication of the photos by saying that they 'just show a young woman sunbath-
ing topless like millions of women you see on the beach'. Firstly, this clarifies that what she did was perfectly acceptable. Secondly, if that’s the case, then why make it the cover story?
She is a royal, but she’s also a human being, and it’s quite nice to know that just like the rest of us, she wants her white bits golden too!
Alex Landes Life&Style Writer
Fierce
Finished
X Factor Live Finals: Our Saturday nights start right here with the live finals starting this weekend.
Paris Fashion Week: Prints, leather, baroque, turtlenecks and velvet are this autumn’s top trends.
October: Autumn is officially here; cue the chunky knits and woolly hats.
Mumford and Sons: We don’t know about you but we can’t stop babbling about Babel.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Plenty of pink treats to get your hands on and all in the name of a good cause, aw.
Kardashian Collection: We can't wait until November when we get our hands on a bit of Dash fashion at Dorothy P!
One D Take Over at Radio 1: Our 5 fave boys become DJs for the after-noon and had everybody dancing in their seats.
Katarina BickleyLife&Style Writer
Twitter Trolls: Lady Gaga is not in any way fat. End of.
The Festive Spirit: We swear it starts earlier every year; it hasn't even been Halloween yet. HO! HO! HO!
Fresher’s Flu: All those big nights are starting to catch up with us now. Boo.
Our Bank Accounts: Thursday’s Bullring student event has eaten into our overdrafts already.
Fashion Week or Play-Pen?: Celeb kids on the FROW? Emme Lopez, Harper Beckham... It's not fair!
Dip-Hem Skirts: So last season!
Amy Childs: Using twitter to abuse the granny that stole her phone. LOL.
Housing Flyers: It's too soon, most of us haven't sorted the heating yet.
noted for her eccentric, experimen-talist taste in fashion and she’s a woman whose style cre-ates a buzz everywhere she goes.
Each collection piece is a true object of desire
(including the luxe packag-
ing), and the range is already a defi-nite hit, if the queues at H&M stores world-wide were anything to go by on Thursday morning.
Many had waited around for hours to be the first to snap up items (which start at £14.99 for a pair of earrings), and in antici-pation of the frenzy many shoppers were restricted to a mere five minutes in each sec-tion.
Dello Russo designed the pieces keeping in
mind the value of a lit-tle bit of luxury every
day, transforming ordinary
Rosie BesantLife&Style Writer
The Debate: Is it OK for the Royals to get naked?!
items into the extraordinary; the effects are s p r e a d i n g already, and not only on the shop floor and in the street. In the
last few days, eBay has
become overrun with people selling
on pieces from the col-lection at overblown prices
(over £700 for a £99 suitcase anyone?) and the pace of the black market doesn’t look likely to slow down as the pieces are rolled out across stores.
Like Versace did in 2011, giving Anna Dello Russo the chance to design anoth-er H&M collection in the future looks like a smart move for both collabora-tors...watch this space.
Anna Dello Russo launches at H&M
YESNOLizzie Duffin
Life&Style Writer
@RedbrickTravel
16 | 12th - 18th October 2012
Journeys from Hell
So, we had booked our tick-ets to Hideout, a Croatian festi-val and now we just needed a way of getting there. Direct flights were in the region of £150, but a flight to Bratislava, around 300 miles away, was a measly £30.
After patting ourselves on the back for procuring such a shrewd deal, we discovered that the train actually took 14 hours. Still, we had given ourselves a generous margin to get to Croatia, and this would give us the perfect excuse to explore Bratislava during the day, and then take a sleeper train to Croatia, arriving refreshed and rested.
Having already been awake for almost 24 hours, we arrived in Slovakia at 7am their time. After some dubious interpreta-tion of the automated ticket machine, we boarded the bus from the airport to the train sta-tion. The journey showed the side of Bratislava that doesn’t make it into the tourism books – think third world – and as we were dropped at the station, there was a nervous sense among us that this could be what Eastern Europe is all about.
Nevertheless, we opened our rudimentary map, and found that we were actually on the periphery of the old town of Bratislava. We stopped at the President’s Palace gardens, which in hindsight were very impressive, for a well-earned rest, but our fatigued state of mind apprecated the lie down more than the historic land-
mark. With several hours left to
kill, the “lads on tour” mentality kicked in, and we got a pint for just under €1; things were look-ing up.
Navigating the road map resulted in an hour-long walk, in 30 degrees heat, as the scale was unbelievably wrong. The plan was simple: catch a train to Vienna, to Salzburg and then a sleeper to Rijeka, Croatia. We boarded our train to Vienna, and then a quick tram across town to the south station, which was free due to our impressive fail-ure to master the self-service ticket machine.
Arriving in Salzburg, we went straight to book our sleep-er, to discover that you had to book sleeper cabins 24 hours in advance, and that they are all taken. We are told to return at 1.30am to see if we can have the privilege of spending this 8 hour journey in any of the remaining upright seats.
Still in a surprisingly chipper mood, we settled down at a bar to watch the semi-final of the Euros, with an eccentric Austrian, who spoke perfect English and had an apparent love of darts. After the match, with a couple of hours to kill, that “lads on tour” mentality kicked in again and we settled in at the station with a huge crate of beer, doing nothing to harm that unfortunate English hooligan stereotype.
We entered the train search-ing for any free seats, with six of us and six seats to a cabin, we had to split up. Two of us ended up with two lads from Bath and a German woman who
had booked two seats so she could put her feet up. Great. Luckily the well known combi-nation of GSCE German and Hugh Grant-esque British awk-ward yet charming persona served to get rid of her.
A couple of hours into the journey, those beers came back to haunt me, and with no leg room, there is no manoeuvrabil-ity to get comfortable. Every time I shut my eyes, I could feel the room spinning, and the increasingly real threat of vom-iting was exacerbated by the slow, swaying motion of the train. But after five hours we arrived in picturesque Ljubljana for a connecting train to Rijeka.
On the Hideout website, Rijeka is branded a “hidden gem” so we weren’t too upset that we had to wait 10 hours for a ferry to the island, but after almost two days solidly awake, tensions were wrought. Everybody hated everybody.
We decided to treat ourselves to a sit-down meal to try and lighten the mood. After three carbonaras were ordered, all with a mystery crunchy ele-ment in the dish, and two almost instantly came back up; the atmosphere was at an all time low. After 10 hours of sit-ting on concrete, waiting for the ferry, we finally arrived on Pag Island.
After totting up how much we would have spent on a direct flight, about £150, compared with the expenditure of our arduous journey, the flight was £30, around £30 each day on spends, so call it £90, we did save ourselves some money. But the physical and emotional cost of it all? Immeasurable.
Hideout Festival, CroatiaOllie HigginsTravel Writer
Armed with just his camera and a notepad, travel writer Tom Troughton has been busy around campus this week finding out where fellow stu-dents dream of going on their travels, and what items they cannot travel without. Who will you recognise?
Name: Jacob Smith, Studies: English and Creative WritingOne place you would most like to visit:‘I really want to visit Canada so I can go skiing. My friend has been and keeps pushing me to check it out.’One item you could not travel without:‘I love my kindle. It’s great to have when you’re on holiday. Whether it’s raining or sunny, I can just crack it out wherever I am.’
Name: Ahmed SaeedStudies: Maths and Sports ScienceOne place you would most like to visit:‘Cordoba in Spain. I love places that are busy and bustling with tourists.’One item you could not travel with-out:‘Definitely my phone - everything is on my phone and I could never go without it.’
Name: Zoe ZhangStudies: AccountingOne place you would most like to visit:‘If I could go anywhere, it would be Italy. Everyone is so fashionable there. I would spend a whole day just checking out all of the shops and boutiques.’One item you could not travel without?‘My laptop as it keeps me connected with all of my friends and family.’
Name: Marie GiraudStudies: History of Art One place you would most like to visit:‘Definitely the Philippines. I’ve heard that everything is ridiculously cheap there. My friend lived out there and told me the beer is cheap, the people are wel-coming, and the views are idyllic - what more could you want?’One item you could not travel without:‘I’ve got a wicked pair of walking boots so it would have to be those - I’m a big walker.’
Photo by Hideout Style Diaries
Travel Vox Pop
Top Four Picks
www.redbrick.me/travel | 17
It is 9am and the 30 degree heat of the Bulgarian sun is shining on the day care centre in Gorna, as little Bistra tugs my arm and directs me to the see-saw. Having not been on one for about 15 years, I had forgotten how much I disliked this childhood game, but after a few seconds Bistra is giggling and clapping her hands.
I know that despite the fact that the seat is beyond uncomfort-able and I am tired within minutes, I don’t mind staying there for hours as long as she keeps laughing.
This summer, as part of the InterVol society I went to Bulgaria and worked with disabled children. The whole experience was unlike anything I had ever done before. Three other University of Birmingham students and I spent our days playing games and doing crafts with 20 Bulgarian children who would otherwise have had to amuse themselves.
Playing with a spinning top that lights up and sings the crazy frog song would be something that I would go out of my way to hide from any child here in the UK in order to keep myself sane, but when we found one in a local shop in Gorna it was as if we had struck gold, and when we gave it to one of the autistic chil-dren, it put the whole project into perspective.
For the first time in two weeks we saw him smile, dance and laugh wholeheartedly. Although it may seem like such a small thing, we knew that we had made that child really happy.
Bulgaria may not usually be your first idea.for a summer holi-day, however for students it is the perfect destination. Whether you are interested in its political history, religious architecture or just having a fun night out, there is there something for every-one.
The cost of living there is next to nothing; the typical price for a good meal was the equivalent of £3.
Away from the day care centre, we had the opportunity to travel around the country, to vibrant Varna and to historical Sofia. Less tourist oriented than Spain or Greece, Bulgaria's beautiful beaches aren’t constantly crowded with the typical holiday mak-ers that make it so difficult to relax.
Arriving back in the UK and realising that we weren’t going back to the day care centre in the morning made us want to get on a plane and fly straight back. The fun memories and the amazing children are unforgettable.
Journeys from Hell
www.facebook.com/groups/intervolbirmingham
Do you want to get away this summer? Need to boost the CV? Want to volunteer
with children, vulnerable adults or animals? If the answer is yes to any of these ques-tions, then InterVol is the society for you!
Come to our presentation events on the 11th October 6pm, the 12th October 6pm or 13th
October 11am to find out more about the great projects that you can get involved in!
Oktoberfest, MunichSophie MorelandTravel Writer
This weekend marks the finale to the famous Oktoberfest celebrations in Munich Germany, a hedonistic beer fuelled festival that takes starts every year around the end of September and continues for one week of binge drinking, sausage eating and lederhosen.
Tourists from all over the world flock to the city to enjoy its traditional Bavarian delights, and on looking at the calendar this week and seeing it was the infamous Oktoberfest weekend, my mind was on my trip there in 2011. Yes, the day we spent in the beer tents was mind blow-ing, but what left a lot to be desired about my experience of it was the journey to and from Munich.
As I was spending my Erasmus year living in Strasbourg, France, my friends and I were offered the chance to go to the festival by coach for the mere price of 30€, and the journey was expected to last four to five hours. Oktoberfest for 30€? Naturally, we jumped at the opportunity.
When one friend woke up 15 minutes before the coach was meant to depart, 3:45 am to be precise, and ran to the coach with neither makeup nor brushed teeth, we should have read it as an ominous sign. The pilgrim-age to those coveted beer-filled tents was clearly not off to a good start.
I’m not sure how we main-tained the energy to tackle Munich, as instead of taking a mere four hours, the journey lasted an arduous eight, after an
impromptu tour of the German countryside. as the coach driver couldn’t seem to manage the simple journey down the auto-bahn. As with anything, the early bird catches the beer, but we were better late than never.
At midday we finally arrived in a beer tent, the coach trip seemed like a distant memory. Soon we were merrily clinking glasses and dancing on the tables. But as the day drew to a close we had to make a move believing that the coach depar-ture was imminent.
In true fashion, problems arose the minute we left the tent. One particular friend was separated from us in the fair-ground in a drunken haze. Fearing that the coach had left without him, he decided the sensible thing to do was turn himself into the nearest police station. Ridiculed by the German police, he was quoted a small sum of 600€ for a taxi back to Strasbourg.
Hopelessly lost in Munich with neither money nor phone credit, he had to abandon this brilliant idea; meanwhile, 80 of us were impatiently waiting by the coach for his return, in varying stages of fatigue and drunkenness. Luckily, another member of the group eventual-ly saved the day by finding said friend wandering the streets, and brought him back to our departure point.
The return journey was spent lapsing in and out of conscious-ness; one minute awaking to find ourselves on the motor-way, the next in some back-end village of Bavaria. Yet again, the expedition was never-end-ing, emphasised by the fact that we had no food, no water, no preplanning.
The motorway service sta-tion was a far cry from a ‘Welcome Break’, where the sign above the tap said the water was not suitable for drinking. But we had no choice, desperate times called for des-perate measures.
With fragile stomachs we soldiered on, bin bags at the ready. The rest of the journey passed as a blur, until someone spotted a road sign and the shining lights of Strasbourg in the distance. Realising we were truly homeward bound, a huge sigh of relief rippled through the coach.
How did we do it? We sur-vived, and I stand by the fact that it was one of the best expe-riences ever. Despite the ques-tionable travel arrangements, we refused to let it ruin our day. Lederhosen, litres of beer, German folk songs and schnit-zel burgers, it’s an unmissable experience. Just don’t go by coach. Prost!
"I’m not sure how we maintained the energy to tackle Munich, as instead of taking a mere four hours, the jour-ney lasted an ardu-ous eight, after an impromptu tour of the German coun-tryside. as the coach driver couldn’t seem to manage the simple journey down the autobahn."
Photo by Sophie Moreland
Intervol. BulgariaHannah PattersonTravel Writer
@RedbrickMusic
You may have seen Birmingham boys, PEACE, standing tall over Digbeth on their very own billboard this summer, having been recently signed to Columbia Records. Bringing ‘indie’ back to Brum, their four song EP, Delicious, is mouth-watering and refreshing (as their album artwork suggests),demonstrating that they are indeed deserving to be leering over the city.
The EP opens with ‘Ocean’s Eye’, beginning with a swingy drum beat, it leads to grungier, thicker guitars, and lyrics, ‘she stole my mind with the ocean’s eye’, introducing the band’s capabilities.
‘Bloodshake’, a rework of the band’s previous track, ‘Bblood’, experiments with lay-ers of plucky guitar riffs, echo-ing those of Foals, before reach-ing a crescendo of symbols and heavier guitar. The psychedelic video shows frontman Harrison Koiser singing, ‘spit blood at
the sun, spit blood in the ocean’, whilst kissing a fish and chop-ping fruit with a machete. Bizarre, yet somehow it works, as this band just oozes cool-ness.
Although their first single, ‘Follow Baby’, does not feature on the EP, ‘California Daze’ offers a slower, chilled listen. Reminiscent of summer days, this track is full of sensual, peaceful harmonies and hazy guitar, before, once again break-ing out into a stimulating guitar solo, singing, ‘she tastes like sunlight’, reflecting how PEACE can combine the upbeat with the relaxed, and can still create a scrumptious sound.
The last song, but by no means least, is 10 minute long ‘1998’. The sound changes throughout, experimenting with loop pedals, dense electric gui-tars, flamboyant drum beats, to moodier riffs. This is the perfect finale to a short-but-sweet EP, portraying that these B-town boys are infusing the local, and larger music scene with excit-ing and promising music.
The very title of Frenchwoman Melody Prochet’s solo project denotes a certain kind of intro-verted euphoria, a chamber filled with kaleidoscopic sonic delights teetering between lucid acid dream state and night mare. Beginning with the sweet caress of ‘I Follow You’ before drift-ing into the kraut-beat hypnosis of ‘Crystalised’, the record vac-illates from breathy dream-pop towards periods of harsh psych-rock freak out. Stand out track ‘Snowcapped Andes Crash’ best demonstrates Melody’s Echo Chamber’s more disturbing side; lyrical themes of cannibal-ism masked by Ms Prochet’s languid vocal make for a pretty unnerving listen.
Melody’s cooing vocals are perfectly pleasant, but this album is really a testament to the creative production from Tame Impala psychedelic whizz kid Kevin Parker to avoid the cries of self-indulgence. These subtle references, whether
through the numerous beatlesque reverse tape loops or the can styled drums on ‘You Won’t Be Missing That Part Of Me’ enhance rather than undermine the artistic integrity of the record and in turn conjure a retro-futuristic vibe which could hardly be seen as copyist.
The end result is an album exhibiting an overwhelming sense of authenticity, a curious anomaly in a contemporary indie scene dominated by bands that have scrapped their tele-casters in favour of a second hand synthesiser and burnt their copy of ‘Is This It’ to make room for an obscure Neu! rarity compilation . Perhaps this feel-ing of sincerity is summoned through the stellar production job or the technical chops of the classically trained Mademoiselle Prochet, or maybe it’s because I really fancy her. But rest assured Melody Prochet isn’t merely Zooey Deschanel twiddling with a MicroKorg; this gal seems the real deal.
18| 12th - 18th October 2012
Album Revie-w:
Melody's Echo Chamber
Melody's Echo Chamber
4/5
Preview: OxjamBrumAndrew PollardCritic
EP Review:
Peace
DeliciousTayler MeredithCritic @Tatlermeredith
Bethany GriffithsCriti
4/5
On the 13th of October something special is com-ing Birmingham’s way: The OxjamBrum Takeover Festival! Twelve hours of music, comedy and cul-ture, set to submerge all in sight (or even ear shot) in a positive plethora of goodwill and awesome times.
Set in seven of Birmingham’s best underground and independent venues (including the likes of The Yardbird and The Victoria), the Takeover Festival works to raise money for the life saving efforts of Oxfam. It features as part of a month long festival organised by the charity each year. In the process punters will be treated to an eclectic mix of music, from no less than forty up-and-coming and estab-lished artists, ranging in style from Folk to Reggae to DJ Sets. No matter your taste, there’s sure to be something to peak your interest. If that wasn’t enough there will also be poets, comedians, artists and much much more.
Starting at 2 PM and raging all the way through
to 2 AM the festival promises the perfect opportu-nity for freshers and old-hats alike to wander from Birmingham’s beaten path into the heart of its vibrant music and arts scene. The proceeds of all tickets (priced at £10 advance) will go entirely to Oxfam. This is made possible by the dedicated team of organisers, all of which are volunteers. A spokesperson for OxjamBrum voiced their excite-ment for the upcoming event “We can’t wait to share this fantastic day of gigs, performances, sets and sessions with music fans and culture junkies from across the region, whilst raising funds for Oxfam’s vital work around the world.”
Headline acts include the award-winning sing-er-songwriter Scott Mathews as well as folk legend Paul Murphy. Tickets are available now from the oxjambrum.org.uk website, where further informa-tion can be found on venues and performances (including secret shows yet to be revealed via twit-ter @OxjamBrum). You’d be silly to miss it!
www.redbrick.me/music |19
On the 13th of October something special is com-ing Birmingham’s way: The OxjamBrum Takeover Festival! Twelve hours of music, comedy and cul-ture, set to submerge all in sight (or even ear shot) in a positive plethora of goodwill and awesome times.
Set in seven of Birmingham’s best underground and independent venues (including the likes of The Yardbird and The Victoria), the Takeover Festival works to raise money for the life saving efforts of Oxfam. It features as part of a month long festival organised by the charity each year. In the process punters will be treated to an eclectic mix of music, from no less than forty up-and-coming and estab-lished artists, ranging in style from Folk to Reggae to DJ Sets. No matter your taste, there’s sure to be something to peak your interest. If that wasn’t enough there will also be poets, comedians, artists and much much more.
Starting at 2 PM and raging all the way through
to 2 AM the festival promises the perfect opportu-nity for freshers and old-hats alike to wander from Birmingham’s beaten path into the heart of its vibrant music and arts scene. The proceeds of all tickets (priced at £10 advance) will go entirely to Oxfam. This is made possible by the dedicated team of organisers, all of which are volunteers. A spokesperson for OxjamBrum voiced their excite-ment for the upcoming event “We can’t wait to share this fantastic day of gigs, performances, sets and sessions with music fans and culture junkies from across the region, whilst raising funds for Oxfam’s vital work around the world.”
Headline acts include the award-winning sing-er-songwriter Scott Mathews as well as folk legend Paul Murphy. Tickets are available now from the oxjambrum.org.uk website, where further informa-tion can be found on venues and performances (including secret shows yet to be revealed via twit-ter @OxjamBrum). You’d be silly to miss it!
Seeing a DJ more accustomed to the stages of Fabric, Berghain and Sonar festival in the inti-mate setting of The Bulls Head in Moseley is an opportunity not to pass up. Jacques Greene, a Canadian DJ-turned-producer was clearly in a mood to please. With a back catalogue ranging from two step garage beats to the dreamy Radiohead Lotus Flower remix that he capped off his set with on Wednesday night, the 21 year old prodigy knows how to mix it up. Opening with a huge tune from his new Concealer EP, he pro-ceeded to warm the crowd up with driving tech house such as the un-YouTube-able (to coin a phrase..?) techno release by Shed, WK7. After having put down some really interesting and thoroughly enjoyable tracks, Greene switched direct-ly into full party mode, clearly
Live Review: Jacques Greene The Bulls Head
3rd Oct
enjoying the freedom that a 100-strong crowd permits, stringing together the R’n’B track Pyramids of Frank Ocean, Justin Timberlake’s LoveStoned and the recent Kanye release, Clique. Interspersing this ear-friendly collection with the monstrous Hudson MoHawke and Lunice collaboration, Higher Ground, Greene then returned full circle to some deep techno with Helix’s flipside Honig and the minimalist Leko by Kink. The seamless mixing of this eclectic collection of
tracks, genres and BPMs ech-oes his Boiler Room set of 2011, which exhibits mind-blowing variety.
Witnessing a DJ of Greene’s status in his element is a real pleasure, as he let his hair down behind the decks in the Birmingham venue, allowing himself to indulge in his R’n’B tastes whilst enticing a raptur-ous reaction with his house banger, Another Girl. With a crowd showing huge apprecia-tion for his set, Greene brought the evening to a close with his previously mentioned delirious remix of Radiohead to leave the evening on a euphoric high note. A raucous night held in the sympathetic setting of The Bulls Head; a fully deserved 10/10. Look out for the next Leftfoot and Le Lieu event with Jackmaster on December 14.
Witnessing a DJ of Greene’s status in
his element is a real pleasure
Essential Album:Cream
Disraeli Gears1967
blues saviour. Arrogant and young he may have been but the results are timeless. When Disraeli Gears was released in 1967, Clapton had already established himself as a talent-ed performer, beginning his musical career as a guitarist in The Yardbirds in the early six-ties and later with John Mayall’s Blues Breakers. I suppose I can’t call all of the songs on the album ground breaking- British blues during the sixties was in its heyday and some of the songs on the album are so Chicago blues ('Take it Back', 'Outside Woman Blues'), they could be considered unoriginal by die-hard blues fans. However, the album success-fully fuses British heavy rock, psychedelia and blues in a way that few others could pull off and as a result, the album really is progressive. If you want proof of genius song-writing and Clapton's talent, listen to the opening riff of 'Sunshine of
Your Love' - a legendary bit of guitar playing. Blues inspired it may be, but Disraeli Gears is an admiring nod to great American bluesmen such as Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, as well as an exploration of the world of psychedelic-rock. Songs like 'Strange Brew' remain a personal favourite and the sheer musical talent of the band continues to astonish me.
Acceptance and develop-ment of the American blues movement, among which there were some renowned musi-cians, brought to Britain a whole new approach to making music and it is thanks to bands like Cream and musicians such as John Mayall that blues pros-pered in Britain. For these rea-sons and many more, Disraeli Gears should be hailed as one of the best albums to come out of the sixties and indeed, all of rock history.
Rock ‘n’ roll, classic Clapton solos, blues, psychedelia this album has it all. In his own right, Eric Clapton remains a household name of British rock, but Cream, a power-trio made up of Clapton, Jack Bruce (bassist/vocalist) and Ginger Baker (drummer) seems a less-er known entity today. Formed in 1966, the band acted as the back drop for Clapton’s appar-ently egocentric musical endeavours.
Clapton himself admits that during the sixties he considered himself some sort of British
John RaymondCritic
Claire CastleCritic @cl_castle
20 | 12th -18th October 2012
Ed BarclayWriter @EdBarclay17
@RedbrickSci&Tech
The best ofKickstarter
FIFA 13 has
landed and
it’s bigger
than ever.
Shifting over
1.23 million
copies in its
first 48 hours
on UK
shelves, it’s
already the
‘biggest sports videogame
launch of all-time’ according to
publishers EA. What makes
this year so special and different
enough to warrant a portion of
your hard earned student loan?
While most agree that FIFA
12 was a great game, it was a
rough diamond. FIFA 13
improves on last year’s game to
no end, making it a much more
polished experience. Tactical
defending remains, but there is
more of an emphasis on strength
now. Gone are the days when
your defender, while jockeying
for the ball, would simply tug
on the opponent’s shirt making
the advantage symbol pop up.
The defender now attempts to
muscle the attacker off the ball,
the size of players coming into
play a lot more. To counter this
defensive advantage, FIFA 13
introduces ‘complete dribbling’,
a massive improvement that
means Messi now moves like
Messi without the need to spam
skill moves. Adding further
polish is the new first touch
control. This allows you to con-
Review: FIFA 13 (PS3, 360, PC)
Game Reviews
The latest offering from Terry
Cavanagh (creator of VVVVVV)
is everything an iOS game
should be; highly polished
gameplay, devilishly difficult
and an addictive quality that
always leaves you wanting one
more go. The aim is to move
your triangle to dodge the
incoming lines that close in on
the central hexagon. The adher-
ence to this simple core game-
play means that success is pure-
ly down to your reflexes and
skill, an idea that is sadly often
lost in many modern games.
The hyped up visuals, with the
pulsating shapes and changing
colours, can become confusing
at times but add to the feeling of
urgency and really help the
game stand out.
Simultaneously being one of
the most punishing, rewarding
and engrossing games on iOS
today, Super Hexagon is well
worth a try.
Review: Super Hexagon (iOS)
04.2009
Launched the same day that the Kickstarter site was
launched, every page in this crowd-funded book was
sold to one backer of the project who could then do
whatever he or she wanted with the page. Was an
immediate success raising over $3000.
09.2009$84,613 was invested in this self-pub-
lished book collaborating art and design
from President Obamas campaign, mak-
ing it the most successful project at the
time.
10.2010
When the movie based on the book Blue Like Jazz was put on
hold due to funding issues, investors backed a project aimed at
giving the directors all the money they needed to make the film
a reality. This topped Designing Obama, receiving $345,992,
almost triple the initially pledged amount.
12.2010Even more successful at the end of the year was
TikTok, narrowly missing the million dollar mark.
This smart watch uses the iPod Nano to make an
innovative multi-touch device that looks slick and
feels comfortable round the wrist.
Joshua UnsworthWriter @Joshua_Unsworth
Purchase Super Hexagon now from Apple Store for £1.99
8
All our game reviews are scored out of 10
trol the direction in which the
player puts his first touch of the
ball, adding fluidity to the
game. Lower league players
will often take heavier or less
controlled touches, giving away
possession.
The collision engine has also
been improved, with develop-
ers using the word ‘fixed’
before launch. No longer will
the slightest of contacts make
the players involved fall over
in an often comical manner; in
fact, it runs so smoothly that
you tend to forget it’s even
there. Also fixed is the finesse
shot, which many hailed as
overpowered in the previous
instalment. Instead of any play-
er neatly scoring, only the
greatest can deliver a goal
accurately now, with most play-
ers missing the target com-
pletely.
Improved commentary is
included in the new ‘Match
Day’ system, allowing you to
select updates from matches of
your choosing. This lets you to
keep up to date with what’s
happening in those other
matches you’d like to keep an
eye on.
The game is improved off
the pitch too, with the afore-
mentioned 'Match Day' system
updating player and club statis-
tics depending on their form.
There are also several changes
to manager mode such as
Transfers where you can now
give the incoming player an
idea of their role before they
sign the contract. As you gain a
reputation as a manager you
will also get the option of man-
aging an international team,
and you can now move clubs
within a season. If you’ve been
especially good at managing
your current team, other clubs
will start to become interested
in your skills as a manager.
Overall, FIFA 13 addresses
the issues that marred FIFA
12’s otherwise infallible finish,
adding new features that only
serve to enhance the game fur-
ther. A must buy for any foot-
ball fan.
9
Have something to say about our reviews? Check the website for more reviews and to tell us what you think at:
www.redbrick.me/tech
The debate continues to rage over the controversial energy source tar sands. Could it be another potential source of fuel? Unfortunately, like most of our energy, it comes with an environmental price. With global campaigns head-ed up by environmental giants such as WWF, Greenpeace and even our own People and Planet soci-ety, it’s about time we all got involved in the argument.
Petroleum enriched, they are also known as Oil Sands. The deposits of oil can be found inside a mix of water, sand, clay and bitumen. However, before this fuel source can be accessed, the area must undergo an inten-sive mining process. This extraction is then refined to produce a fuel which we can then use. By far the biggest percentage of these reserves can be found in the beautiful Alberta Province, Canada. The total estimated size is 170 billion barrels of oil, around the size of England and Wales put together.
Why all the controversy? Well, first of all, there are two methods of accessing this ‘unconventional oil’. Method one involves scoop-ing up huge areas of top-soil to cart away the layers of sand underneath. The equally
destructive second method pumps water into the sand which is liquified and pumped to the surface. Both tech-niques require massive amounts of energy, develop-ing the tar sands could be seen as having the worst car-bon footprint of all our ener-gy sources. Not to mention that all this water is pumped from the nearby Athabasca river, with very little safe enough to return.
The toxic waste is the main worry for environmentalists. Kept in large pools, it slowly seeps down into the river providing long term impact to the surrounding environ-ment.
But with the world crying out for more energy options, it is easy to see why govern-ments would like to invest money in projects such as these. Bringing in substantial economic benefits for Alberta, as well as providing more jobs, has meant that Alberta has had the highest
rate of economic growth over the last twenty years in com-parison to the rest of Canada.
Recent developments have also seen Shell Canada approve a $1.36 billion project in an effort to cut emissions at the Alberta site. The new technology, Quest Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) aims to capture around one million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year and inject this into a storage layer of sandstone. Due for comple-tion in 2014 this could be the first of many similar
projects.So, what is the future of
oil sands? Still undecided it seems, as we are warned that CCS could be expensive and full of risk, equally prolong-ing our reliance on fossil fuels. In any case, develop-ments at the tar sands site continue, leaving us to ques-tion whether we are further endangering our fight against climate change.
www.redbrick.me/tech | 21
Fuel, but at what
cost?Recent analysis has discovered half of
the coral in Australia's Great Barrier Reef has
disappeared in the last 30 Years.
Claire Harris Writer
Tar sands could be a potential fuel for the future but there is great controversy over
the matter. Here is a look at why.
05.2012
Improving dramatically on the TikTok watch, Pebble E-Watch rightfully claims its place as the most successful project to date on Kickstarter. It works by connecting via Bluetooth to both iPhones and Android to act as a smart watch unlike any other that exists currently. The Watch App store also creates endless possibilities.
07.2012This incredibly clever console received over $8 million in investment by more than 63,000 backers. It is an inexpensive android-based device that can play video games designed for playing on the TV. Anyone can design an Android game which can easily be played on the TV through OUYA.
With global campaigns headed up by environ-mental giants such as
WWF, Greenpeace and even our own People and Planet society, it’s about time we all got involved
in the argument.
NASA's Mars Curiosity is currently
in the process of analysing soil from the surface of Mars.
Space X is the first of 12 contracted mis-
sions to resupply the International Space Station with food,
gear and replacement parts.
Since it was launched in April 2009, Kickstarter has made an incredible difference for peo-
ple with very innovative ideas. It has brought a vast range of extremely clever projects into
reality. Many of these ideas, without Kickstarter, would have lacked the key funding
required to make them possible. However, now with the ability of anyone around the world
to invest as much or as little money as they want in a project they like the look of, with
exciting incentives for people investing, there are some gems of innovation that can be
found on the site. Kickstarter is due to launch very soon in the UK. Here is a look at the
best and most backed projects on Kickstarter.
The Latest
in Science
Andrew SpencerScience & Technology Editor @AndrewSpencerr
Science Debate
Fears of power shortages by 2015
have recently arisen with the worry that gas prices may soar
too.
A t r u e
f e s t i v a l a t m o s p h e r e
could be felt in Birmingham on Thursday
the 4th of October. The day saw the launch of the 14th Birmingham Book Festival, National Poetry Day and the announcement of the new Birmingham Poet Laureate for 2012/2013 - quite a day in Birmingham’s literary calendar. Birmingham Book Festival is a hand-crafted event; it’s incredi-bly current and specific to Birmingham. The festival pro-vides a vibrant stage for both established and new local writ-ers, whilst infusing the interna-tional.Stretching from the 4th of October to the 13th, events range from the delights of acclaimed writers Liz Lochhead, Jackie Kay, Patrick Gale, David Edgar, Femi Oyebode, Tiffany Murray, Peter F Hamilton and Stuart Maconie. There is also the opportunity to hear from
writers facing a
new Libya since the fall
of Gaddafi. Awaited with particu-
lar excitement is the out-rageous and hilarious Caitlin
Moran, best-selling author of How to be a Woman, and Simon Armitage's story of tackling the Pennine Way without a penny to his name.There is something for every-one, workshops, readings, an emergency poet, talks and ques-tion and answer sessions on
fascinating topics such as the psychiatry of character; even a performance by the extraordi-nary poetry-music band LiTTLe
MACHiNe at the closing party. Particularly thrilling is the inter-active storytelling installation, the first of its kind, commis-sioned by the Birmingham Book Festival.
Reliable Witness is an interactive transme-
dia installation that allows you to influence the
outcome of the story, written by Mez Packer and Rochi Rampal. Based around ‘Darren’ and ‘Amy’ and their group of friends, the story so far includes a failed wedding proposal at Artsfest. Now you can follow the characters on Facebook and Twitter, become a spectator or participant in their life together. Even meet and see them in the offline world in the Pavillions Shopping Centre.If the launch party was any-thing to go by, it should be an inspirational festival. Elvis Mcgonagall had the Yumm Café in stitches with his raucous Scottish humour after Stephen Morrison-Burke was announced Birmingham’s new Poet Laureate. Morrison-Burke is certainly exciting; he’s young, urban and incredibly current.He has recently won a regional Poetry Slam Final in Cambridge which put him through to the national final, expected to take place in March 2013. Morrison-Burke works as a Freelance Poet teaching workshops to youth offenders and young car-ers when not taking to the stage to perform. He’s only been on the performance poetry scene about 18 months and says he started his work because he ‘used the page to confide in’. He said he was ‘over the moon’ to have been selected Birmingham Poet Laureate 2012/13, and we can certainly expect great things from him.
22| 12th - 18th October 2012
@RedbrickArtsS
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Lizzie PlaceCrtitc
T h e resilience of poetry in the modern world is an exhausted topic, but it won’t go away regardless of how many times it’s discussed. It could be thought that exam-ining its role gives it vitality; if it’s being debated then it surely still exists in our conscience and has an important part to play in life. When Michael Gove announced last June that he intended to introduce the recital of poetry for children in primary school on the national curriculum it seemed like an attempt to resuscitate an interest in poetry by indoctrinating people at a young age. However this treatment doesn’t do poetry any favours. Not because suggesting that its popularity is wavering is an acknowledgement of it as an ebbing art form, but because the perception of poetry as a rival to X-factor or iPhones is a fallacy. It’s much healthier to see poetry as something that runs parallel to all of this; something which adapts to the present day and remains significant to those who seek it. This perception was put to the test recently by poet Simon Armitage who in his most recent book, Walking Home, stretched the lengths of its value. Travelling as a modern troubadour along the 256-mile Pennine Way, he relied on his poetry as currency, replacing Pound Sterling with verse.Starting in Kirk Yetholm on the Scottish border, traditionally the end of the route, Armitage gave poetry readings in village halls and church function rooms in return for board and lodging as he made his way to the Derbyshire village of Edale via his home in Marsden, Yorkshire. After each of these readings a sock was passed around as a receptacle for donations, allowing each person to give their own personal valuation. At the end of 19 days, with 18 readings conducted, Armitage accumulated a gross profit of £3,086.42. At a simple glance this quantifiable figure may be enough to say that ‘yes, poetry still remains an important concept amongst people.’ So much so that someone is able to earn, accord-ing to Armitage’s sums, £1.11 above minimum wage, which is even more impressive when one considers this was done in villages with relatively small populations. However greater testimony to the undwindling appreciation of poetry can be seen amongst those who trav-elled with Armitage on his route. Most of them there were strangers who endeavoured the challenging terrain and temperamental weather simply for the chance to accompany one of the country’s most popular contemporary poets.Speaking last Friday at an event put on by Birmingham’s Book Festival at Adrian Boult Hall, Armitage stated the journey made him feel that his chosen art form had been validated. ‘I’ve always wanted to appeal to anybody and everybody with my poems. Whether that’s somebody who is studying literary criticism with a scalpel or whether that’s somebody picking up a book of poems for the first time. It is an impossible ambition, but a worthy one I think, and in that respect I felt that there was still an appetite out there for somebody saying things in, what I hope is, a memorable way.’Armitage’s desire to appeal to anybody and everybody is admirable, as is his acknowledgement that not everybody will be drawn to it. It’s treating poetry not as an essential part of life, but something that is readily available. It can be seen in his own experience with poetry; he wasn’t entrenched amongst literature all his life, he studied geography at university and then went on to work as a probation officer. His passion for language and poetry was helped by being exposed to it at school, but its growth was organic, rather than it being forced upon him. ‘I started being interested in poetry when I was about 14 or 15 at school and we started reading Ted Hughes’ work. Up to that point I was asleep, I thought the world wasn’t a very interesting place. Those Hughes poems woke me up, and they woke me up to language and the power of language.’The other night I asked him what his thoughts were on Gove’s plans and how he thinks poetry should be administered within the education system. ‘I think it’s good to be exposed to good things at school, that’s how I got in to poetry. But my feeling is you need to find or to be shown the poems which are meaningful or exciting to them and my worry about what Michael Gove was saying is that we’ll all be forced to recite ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’. If it’s about giving people the access to forms of language which they understand, which excites them, or gets their imaginations going and is meaningful to them in some way rather than completely alienating and putting them off poetry forever, then I’m completely in favour of it.’Armitage has recently been involved with a project called ‘Stanza Stones’ which saw the placement of stones engraved with his poetry through-out rural Yorkshire. The depth of the engraving on these particular stones means that they’ll remain there for at least a 1,000 years. This innovative display of public art acts as the perfect metaphor for poetry. It will always be there, it is there to be read just as the Pennine way is there to be walked. However it must be approached, rather than forced upon people, otherwise it’s an unwelcomed challenge.
Last Thursday evening the first ‘Don’t be a Dickhead’ event of the University year took place in Beorma Bar. For those of you who are unaware of this function, it is a heckle- free stand up event where aspiring comics of any experience can try their hand in front of an affable and welcoming audience.Whilst the thought of performing in front of a large number of people is cer-tainly a daunting one, the audience of around one hundred that packed into Beorma Bar were exceptional. They cre-ated an amiable atmosphere and gave each comic a raucous welcome, allow-ing each of them to perform to their full ability, giving the evening a cheerful ambiance.They were certainly not to be disap-pointed. ‘Don’t Be a Dickhead’ is char-acterised by the diversity of the acts who take part. Each performer has approxi-mately five to ten minutes to make their mark and every person who took to the stage had a different perspective on humour and subject to cover. The acts were kicked off by an extreme-ly witty acoustic rendition by Jack Toop; depicting a man who had untoward feel-ings to his grandmother’s car ‘Cecilia’, during which time the phrases ‘paraphil-ia’ and ‘necrophilia’ appeared rather more than appropriate. He was followed by amongst others, Graham Broome who had a seemingly never ending sup-
ply of puns. Those who did pure stand up were able to comically slander a wide range of topics. Alice Weleminsky- Smith took a much needed dig at the film industry, pointing out particularly atro-cious film productions. Daniel Moroney also spun an amusing tale of that amongst other things included a Bruce Willis lookalike. A personal highlight was an explanation on how the mixed martial arts discipline was ‘strangely inti-mate’. In between performances the audience were kept entertained by a humorous pair of hosts. Out of all their cameos the
one which was most
enjoyable was the instructional video on how and how not to socialise at universi-ty. This included a demonstration on how to socially alienate yourself with course mates and females alike.I can only suggest that if you enjoy com-edy, come along to the next ‘Don’t be a Dickhead’ event. The footnotes society and performers created a memorable and hilarious evening.
www.redbrick.me/arts | 23
Trigger warning. This piece deals with serious issues in comedy. As all good art should. The stage is not merely vehicle for raw ‘free speech.’ When a performer goes blue, they have a responsibility to treat their audience and their material with respect. Plundering tabloid horror stories to make jokes at the expense of the mar-ginalised is unacceptable, and a ‘joke’ is never simply ‘just a joke’. Yes, mocking the weak might appear to be legitimate career choice, but it needn’t be one of a racist, misogynistic, etcetera-ist bent. If both the artist and observer are able to contextualise a joke, we can all laugh, bond and change the world for the better. For example, we must treat issues like knocking on doors with the respect that they deserve and with due concern to the many elements that can upset and hurt people. Like splinters. Next time you tell a tale of blindly, ignorantly knocking on a door, think of the eighty year old woman who lives within, whose heart will be raised at the thought that finally, after three weeks of silent and solitary thought, someone has been reminded of her existence and come round.
Contextis
everything
Knock knock. She was sit-ting down, as was the fashion of the day. Her mother said that any problem, no matter how great could be solved simply by sitting down. But not this one. Never mind if it’s the postman, never mind if it’s the bailiffs, what matters is that she matters to someone. She gets up, slower than she used to, and she picks her way through her spartan living room toward the threshold, trembling yet eager to see what humanity has thrown her. Knock knock. Finally now she reaches for the handle yet now she’s anxious, so anx-ious. People, strangers have let her down before. Knock knock. The knocks short-en in length and increase in rapidity. She felt like she was in a poem she once read. It had a bird. She
used to have a bird. Knock knock. At once her Poe-
ian vision melts away as a percussive, splinter-
ous symphony la siege to a sound-
s c a p e
marred usually only by a boiling kettle and the plop of a single tea-bag. Can she trust this knocking, this imposition with no knowledge of it’s context? She freezes and calls out in a quavering, rasping voice - “Who’s there?”
“The Doctor.”Not again. She doesn’t remember him ever appearing unannounced, but then, she doesn’t remember much. She
racked her brain, her mind bereft of the synaptic grease of youth - cogs stutter and jam as she struggles to sat-isfy this self-imposed inquisition. Why has he called? How did he know where I live? Have I ran out of jam? Who is he? Yes.
Who is he? “Doctor Who?”“I have your results. I think you should sit down.” And that was the last time she did.
There are few words to describe the evening spent with the Hairy Bikers, other than bizarre and slightly disturbing. The majority of time was filled with semi-nudity, embarrassing dad jokes and a disappointingly minimal amount of cooking.
The performance began harmlessly enough, with a mockumentry featuring the bikers as a parody of them-selves; cross-dressing, lazy and anti gastronomic, arguably the best part of the show.
They then appeared on stage behind a cloud of smoke in what can only be described as ‘pimped up’ motorbike thrones, equipped with an array of kitchen utensils and a hearty supply of vodka, much to the delight of (some!) of the audi-ence.
The show relied chiefly on audience participation through which the show maintained its momentum and ensured that the bikers could charm the key demographic; menopausal women. Aside from this, the performance was based solely around a comedy routine, but it is difficult to put this show in to a specific genre, as it seemed unsure of exactly what it was trying to achieve and whom it was specifically targeting. It was interspersed with many awkward dance routines accompanied by ridiculous cos-tumes (one of which was par-ticularly memorable, shown via video clip, in which they were accompanied by Kristina and Robin from Strictly Come Dancing). It also featured bad singing, and an odd escapology act that added nothing to the overall content apart from an increasing dread of what was to come.
Considering the Bikers are nationally renowned chefs, known for their hearty and no nonsense food, this hardly fea-tured in what can only be described as a rather embar-rassing spectacle involving two men aged 50 plus men prance around in spangles.
So, if middle-aged stripping, curry and escapology acts are your idea of fun then this is a highly recommendable show; but if not, then avoid it at all costs.
In Britain we have a saying, “start as you mean to go on”. Never in my experience has this feat been so expertly achieved as through Mark Watson’s entrance into his current live show “the information.” It sets the bar for a unique and highly enjoyable night of comedy.
Watson has made a signifi-cant name for himself over the
millennium with several awards and appearances on well know programmes such as Mock the week, QI and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, yet he still retains a kind of self-deprecating insecu-rity which has become his comic identity. At one point, after per-forming a hilariously bland original song which he has titled “the bouncy castle”, he attempts
to be “rock ‘n’ roll” by pushing over his mike stand, only to pick it up again and declare it meekly a stage too far.
Watson’s tour alludes to the pros and cons of the technical age, whereby information is available to all. Asides from his fluid ramblings on an array of topics, Watson also possesses the gift of spontaneity. He inter-
acts seamlessly with the audi-ence, ridiculing and consoling in equal measure, and even hid-ing behind the seat of one audi-ence member who leaves for the toilet. Watson’s tour is cleverly constructed, original and well worth the watch. Despite not being the big-gest name in the comedy circuit, he is a still-rising talent and brilliantly entertaining.
Birmingham
Footnotes: Don't
be a Dickhead.
James Diffley Critic
Hairy Bikers:
Larger than Live.
Harriet Henderson &
Jemimah Shaw
Critics
Mark Watson: 'The
Information'.
Rosie KelbyCritic
Richard Higgs &
James Dolton
@RedbrickTV
24 | 12-18th October 2012
How would you describe your time
playing Chas on Emmerdale over
the years?
I have loved every second of it, every storyline, each day filming. We are so professional when it comes down to doing the job, but in between takes we have such a laugh, you couldn’t ask for better people to work with. It’s brilliant and I hope that they keep challenging me for many years to come!
Are you nervous about the live
episode?
It's an experience that I am going into with the best people possible, and I’m doing the most challenging thing I’ve ever done. Hopefully the two weeks of rehearsing beforehand will settle our minds. It’s the first time anything like this has been done purely on location, so logistically and technically it’s not just a matter of us remembering our lines. I’m trying not to think about it because at the moment we are doing all the scenes for the episodes before and after the live one, so it’s really heightening what we are going to have to put ourselves through during that hour.
Have you done any live TV before?
No, and I’ve never really done any theatre. I’m slightly worried about my burping problem! I burp when I’m under pressure. A lot of the cast have done theatre before but nobody has done a live. Many of the crew and our director have done it before so they all know what it involves.
How does it feel to be playing such a
big part in the 40th celebrations?
It’s a massive honour, but also a mas-sive responsibility. I just hope I don’t disappoint anyone.
Tell us about Chas’s state of mind in
the lead up to the 40th birthday
week?
Chas is in a state of total confusion and fear. She’s not in a great place at all but she’s completely determined to marry Dan.
Do you think she’s over Cameron?
I don’t think she is completely over
Cameron, and I think the decision to get over him was made when he went back to Debbie. Although she has accepted he’s back with her, she’s not particularly happy about it and she just has to get on with her life.
Everyone is quite cynical about her
relationship with Dan. Is she genu-
inely in love with him?
I think she sees everything in Dan that she had hoped for in Carl and Cameron. He completely adores her and would do anything for her. With Dan she sees security and she loves him for the per-son he is. I think Chas just wants to know which direction her life is going in and to be settled and happy, and she wants to be there as quickly as possi-ble.
Do you think if Cameron left Debbie
Chas would go back to him?
I think she might go back to Cameron because she does still have feelings for him. He would have to completely convince her that he wasn’t going to change his mind though. Jeepers! Can you imagine trying to live in the vil-lage as a couple around Debbie and the family?
Carl has been threatening to ruin
everything for Chas. What’s going
through her mind?
She is desperate to keep him quiet. Letting this secret come out to Debbie is not an option. She’s terrified about what could happen and worried as Carl is getting very intense and scarily involved with her life. He seems to be getting quite obsessed with her again and loving the fact that he can control her like a puppet. He’s admitted he loves her and he’s adamant that all this worry can go away because he’s in control. He just wants to be back with her.
What would you tell viewers to
expect from the 40th episodes?
Drama in buckets full. Tears, fear, sur-prises and a few giggles. Absolutely everything you would expect from this show all thrown into one episode.
Lips are sealed about the content of
the live episode, but can you give
any hints?
There are a couple of really big shocks in store. It’s not going to end the way everybody thinks it is going to end and fans of the show are going to be very very surprised with the outcome of the live episode. We certainly were!
Top TV News
Of The WeekRosie PooleyTV Critic @rosiethings
StarProgramme.Take Me Out
The hit dating show Take Me Out is back. Yes, the programme where Paddy McGuinness struts around a garish set, spouting inane catchphrases (‘no likey, no lighty!’ and ‘let the pinky see the perky’) while trying to pair up couples. It’s not intellectual viewing, but exactly the sort of guilty-pleasure television you’d expect on a Saturday night.
The show derives much of its popu-larity from the cringe-worthy aspect of the would-be bachelors’ attempts to woo the ladies. On Saturday’s show, a postman, looking like one of the cast from Geordie Shore, boasts ‘I always deliver!’, and one of the girls earnestly claims ‘I think we’ve got a connection already’ - they both like Coronation
Street, you see. Unlike Blind Date, where the contestants couldn’t see each other, Take Me Out seems largely based on looks. Indeed the women have the opportunity in the first round to turn their light off, ostensibly based on what the men are wearing (but I suspect there’s a more physical aspect to their choices).
The awkward dinner exchanges between couples on their romantic hol-iday never fail to amuse; it’s true to say that the dates nearly always go wrong. It would seem that judging someone based on a self-promoting two minute video and looks alone doesn’t make for a match made in heaven. Who knew? And temporary failure doesn’t matter so much for the girls, because they’re going to be back on the show next week anyway.
Paddy just about makes the whole debacle bearable, as the host with a load of so-bad-they’re-good jokes at his fingertips, and witty comments that salvage the more awkward moments. For all the vacuousness and superfici-alities of the show, the whole affair is just a bit of fun. With this in mind, next Saturday unplug your brain for an hour, sit back, and enjoy the spectacle.
Daniel LeadbetterTV Critic
Charlotte GoodwinTV Editor @C_E_Goodwin
The record-makingaudience for The Great British Bake Off
Terry Pratchett has set up his own tele-vision company, Narrativia, which has exclusive rights to adaptations of all of his novels.
The F-bomb was accidently
overheard on BBC Breakfast
as a microphone was left on and
picked up the expletive.
Lucy Pargeter Interview
4.8m
Jo Kendall
TV Critic
www.redbrick.me/tv | 25
843,000The latest series of TOWIE launched with its lowest ever view-ing figures.
61The number of cast members who will be involved in Emmerdale's live episode
It’s nice to see you,
to see you nice!
The sequins were out as this weekend saw the beginning of the latest series of the popular BBC1 show Strictly Come
Dancing. As we prepare for ‘Strictly mania’ to sweep the country, who will be the champions and who will be a ‘dance disaaaster’?
This year’s line-up is impressive, however surely the favourites going into this series have to be found amongst the sportspeople and singers. With the likes of Denise Van Outen, Louis Smith, Kimberly Walsh and Victoria Pendleton competing for the title, this year’s com-petition is going to be fierce. But who will be the underdogs? Those who will enter the hall of fame alongside John Sergeant and Anne Widdecombe for their comical yet horrific performances. In my mind, Jonny Ball and Lisa Riley have to be shortlisted as this year’s potential comedy act. Despite their
enthusiasm, they at first appear to lack the skills required to succeed in the competition.
Friday night saw the introduction of new judge Darcy Bussell, and perform-ances from the first six couples. Nobody was surprised when Denise Van Outen wowed the judges with a beautiful waltz. However, the evening held two surprises as Colin Salmon exceeded everyone’s expectations with a cheeky ‘cha cha’, while Pendleton collapsed under the pressure.
Saturday saw the remaining eight couples take to the floor. The show opened with a stunning professional dance, and the evening commenced with the celebrities exceeding Friday’s standards. Most of the celebrities per-formed as expected, until Lisa Riley came out and blew everyone away with her ‘cha cha’, which shockingly left her top of the leader board. Perhaps she could be the real surprise package if her ballroom matches her latin.
So the first weekend has wetted our appetites for the series to come. As the phone lines open next week, who will be the first to fall?
Strictly Class
of 2012
Jo Kendall evaluates the new batch of celebrities that are taking to the dancefloor this term.
#SCD
Hunted
Modern FamilyRosie PooleyTV Critic @rosiethings
Yasmin Jones-HenryTV Critic
Critically praised at this year’s Emmys, American comedy Modern Family fol-lows the lives of three households that have only one thing in common - they are family.
Season 4 finds us straight back where we left off last Spring. Mitchell and Cam (Emmy and Golden Globe winner Eric Stonestreet) are dealing with the failed attempt at their second adoption, and are left with the difficult task of explaining it all to their already adopted daughter Lily - who quite frankly would be just as happy with a cat called Larry. Mean-while Gloria is wondering how to break last season’s pregnancy bombshell to husband Jay, whose 65th birthday has arrived, and he really doesn’t like sur-prises.
The aptly titled 'Bringing up Baby' nods to the screwball comedy film it gets its name from, and reminds us why Modern Family has been going wrong as of late. When patriarch Jay falls in the lake for a second time, the slapstick fell short of a slight titter on my part.
However, despite this episode’s obvi-ous pitfalls, the redeeming moment from Friday’s instalment came from a brief conversation between Dad, Phil and son Luke - with the other characters deal-ing with the baby bombshell Luke leans over to his dad, ‘Gross, I didn’t know Grandpa could still do it!’ To which Phil replies ‘Don’t be disrespectful, Luke, anyone could do it with Gloria.’
It is these moments that Modern Fam-
ily does so well.In the past two seasons it seemed that
Modern Family might have been losing its way - often steering towards the ob-vious and forgetting the comedic charm of the first series.
Although it may sound like typical sitcom fodder, what Modern Family is good at is touching on the sensitive sub-jects that every family deals with, and producing heartwarming moments of comedy gold. After its slow start, the fourth series opener is a welcome re-minder why Modern Family has won 'Best Comedy Series' at the Emmys three years running.
If Hunted is the future of British spy thrillers, we'd better hope that 007 will not be taking an early retirement.
Unbelievable is the only way to de-scribe this new series. In this ‘thriller’ these spies don’t do slick action. They stare into the distance, out of windows pouting throughout. Laced with cli-chés, this had the potential to be a very funny spoof. Unfortunately, it was not a parody. You are expected to take this seriously.
Sam (Melissa George) is the spy who is the prey. It isn’t difficult to tell. She gets shot by a sniper – who turns out to be an accomplice. Having successfully fooled the villain into thinking that she has been murdered, she walks past him moments later, with the fake blood removed. Naturally he sees her, and naturally he chases after her. She gets shot - again. How and why is not im-mediately explained as the next scene has her staggering up a hill in Scotland. After a year of taking lots of baths and reading the newspapers, she returns to headquarters in London.
Her return brings with it the revela-tion that not only is there a leak within the organisation, but someone is trying to kill her. Knowing this, she still signs herself up for another high risk assign-ment: living in a gangster’s mansion. There is just one problem - her assassin will also be staying at this hospitable gangster’s residence. CAUTION: There is a particular scene towards the end of the episode that viewers may find dis-turbing and a little out of place with the rest of the action. The final scenes were clearly intended to have the viewers coming back for more. However, after 58 minutes and 14 seconds, the poor viewer may be too exhausted to care.
Olympic bronze medalist
Tom Daley is set to
co-host a new celebrity diving
show on ITV
NewsreelTHOMAS LOFKINCritic
The 85th Academy Awards will be hosted by Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane. On being chosen to host the Oscars next February, McFarlane said: 'I will do my utmost to live up to the high standards set forth by my predecessors.' This comes from the man who created and voiced a pot-smoking teddy bear.
The first trailer from The Lords of Salem, the new film from metal musician/di-rector Rob Zombie, has been released. It looks terrifying and shows a very different style from his previ-ous work. Channelling the likes of Stanley Kubrick, the film will once again star Zom-bie’s wife and muse, Sheri Moon Zombie.
The first image has been released of Daniel Radcliffe in Horns, a dark fantasy film adapted from the novel of the same name, writ-ten by Joe Hill (son of Stephen King). The image features Radcliffe sporting a stylish leather jacket, as well as two goat-like horns protruding from his forehead.
On the Road
FilmReviews
How far would you go to save your daughter from the hands of human traffickers? In Taken we saw ex-CIA-agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) answer this question - he literally walked over dead bodies.
One year after this incident Bryan is still troubled by his teen-age daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), as she cares more about her boyfriend than passing her driving test. But when daughter and ex-wife come to Istanbul to surprise the overprotective father, this routine will soon be broken again. That’s because the kidnappers’ relatives now seek revenge for the murder of their "sons and fathers". Unfortunately (for them) the ex-cop is well-prepared and comes up with a number of gadgets to counter their attacks. Consequently there’s everything you could look for in an action-filled movie and it doesn’t skimp on explosions, breathtaking fighting scenes and wild car-chases. However, it fails to provide any deeper moral.
Four years have passed since the filming of the first movie and, as Neeson himself stated, Bryan has grown tired. Nevertheless, he can still go berserk for the sake of his loved ones. The mixture of family reunion and action works just as well as in the first movie - with many new ideas and enough plot-changes to prevent redun-dancy. Even if you haven't seen part one, Taken 2 is entertaining-throughout and action fans are going to love it.
Release Date: 4th October 2012 Director: Olivier MegatonCast: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace
Taken 2
ANITA BAUMGÄRTNERCritic
This entry may cause a few raised eye-brows, but it is completely justifiable. 127 Hours is based on the gruesome tale of Aron Ralston (James Franco). Boyle has the ability to keep you on the edge of your seat, in awe of a man’s battle for freedom (a very squeamish freedom at that). This simply-structured yet utterly effective film has the power to keep an audience gripped right to the end without the need for car explosions or over-complicated storylines.
Slumdog Millionaire has to be one of Boyle’s most inspiring pieces - an astonish-ing film, introducing us to the world of Mumbai’s slums. This film has fantastic, colourful imagery and a cleverly focused storyline. It follows the life of a young man (Dev Patel), depicting the horrors, the pain and the love he experiences on his journey to winning Who Wants to be a Millionaire. A genuinely inspirational and heart-warm-ing film – very Oscar worthy!
Gritty, graphic, incredibly well-acted by an ensemble of brilliant actors and, as anyone who has watched this dark comedy will confirm, totally addictive (pardon the pun). Boyle’s representation of the Edinburgh drug scene provides both the shock and entertaining elements sure to leave an audi-ence in immense appreciation of his style. Thought-provoking, vibrant and definitely the crème-de-la-crème of Danny Boyle films.
OutNow
On the Road has been picked up and put down by probably every idealistic 16-year-old in the world. Though the film's backdrop is just as the book suggests, the acting leaves a lot to be desired. Sam Curtis is one of Britain's finest, but as Sal he’s not ideal and he’s probably better sticking to his native accent. Garrett Hedlund’s easy-on-the-eye Dean Moriarty picks up the pace a bit, with some beautiful scenes of the troubled alcoholic and carefree vagabond, but there is still a bit of rogue lacking.
Although the scenery and music of mid-century America is bewitching, it isn’t enough to carry the film. On the Road serves as more of a compendium of ‘best bits’ from the book, but it's not the masterpiece it should be.
TAMARA ROPERMusic Editor
Release Date: 12th October 2012 Director: Walter SallesCast: Garrett Hedlund, Sam Riley and Kristen Stewart
The Perks of Being...
The phrase 'Based on the novel by...' has led to many cinema clas-sics, but can cause trepidation and concern. Will the film version match the artistic quality and vision of the source material? In the case of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the answer is an emphat-ic yes. This is partially because the book’s writer is also the film’s director, but mostly thanks to a wonderfully witty and sparkling script delivered with panache and feeling by the film’s cast, as well as sharp, clever cinematography and direction. Wallflower explores divisive social issues without ever feeling trite or overly sentimen-tal, and barring a few brushes with the maudlin, succeeds in deliv-ering a smart and poignant coming-of-age drama.
JOE ALLENCritic
Release Date: 3rd October 2012 Director: Stephen ChboskyCast: Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller
Jessica Green reveals which Danny Boyle films are in medal positionTopThree #1 127 Hours #2 Slumdog... #3 Trainspotting
"Where we're going, we don't need roads."Doc BrownBack to the Future (1985)
@RedbrickFilm
26 | 12th - 18th October 2012
He is multi-award-winning, renowned by film critics internationally and yet most people know little-to-nothing about French animator and director Sylvain Chomet, who has clearly established himself as the most successful creator of adult animation films (that don’t fall into the ‘blue movie’ category). His innovations, despite containing only snatches of muffled dialogue have opened global film festivals - so what is the magic behind Chomet’s animations that have led him to acquire a kind of cultish following?
His first film project, La Vieille Dame et les Pigeons, I am not ashamed to admit, terrified me on first viewing. It is a grotesque fusion of surreal-esque dream sequence and the stark reality of an individual in isolation: a thread which will evolve in Chomet’s subsequent ventures. Lasting only 25 minutes, it is a good introduction to Chomet’s artistic psyche. The plot centres on a hungry and lonely policeman who, whilst on his rounds, spots an old lady feeding pigeons in a Parisian park. Naturally he manu-factures a giant pigeon costume, visits her house wearing it and, falling for the bluff, she feeds him during his regular visits. Transforming into a man remi-niscent of Monty Python’s Mr Creosote,
our now heavily over-weight and waddling p r o t a g o n i s t realises the little old lady isn’t quite what she seems – but is it too late?
B e l l e v i l l e Rendez-vous was Chomet’s first glo-bal success nominat-ed for two Academy Awards: ‘Best Animated Feature’ and ‘Best Original Song’. We first meet Champion as a young boy, lonely and melancholy. His grandmother, Madame Souze, finding his hidden album of cycling related photographs accumulat-ed from newspapers and magazines, buys him his first bike, and years later we see him as a professional cyclist in the Tour de France. But he is kid-napped by two French mafia hench-men who take him and two other cyclists to North America on an ocean liner and chaos ensues. Madame Souze and their dog Bruno follow on a pedalo until they reach the ironically named ‘Belleville’. They
are helped in their quest to find Champion by the now aged music hall singers 'the
Triplets of Belleville', who feast on frogs and make music with fridges, vacuums and newspapers. Oh, and all of this happens against the backdrop
of a terrific jazz soundtrack by Benoît Charest; it is a deli-
ciously French gem.
Eight years following the success of Belleville, Chomet’s latest film The Illusionist opened the 2010 Edinburgh Film Festival and again received much critical acclaim; nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award and won the first César Award for 'Best Animated Feature'. Set in the late 1950’s, this enchanting yet heart-breaking film fol-lows a lone illusionist as he finds him-self trailing European music halls for work in an era where nobody is impressed by magic anymore. He and his tempera-mental white rabbit travel to a remote Scottish island and there he meets Alice, a young girl who believes he possesses supernatural powers. The two embark on a touching companionship as they travel to Edinburgh, the illusionist hav-ing to take on night time work to afford their upkeep while Alice continues liv-ing in a fantasy, believing her magician really is magic. Meanwhile, all the per-formers continue to grow more destitute and depressed and we witness the har-rowing dark side of the industry.
His films are like nothing you have ever seen or will see again. Chomet has a masterful skill for beautiful subtlety and his stories explore the darkness of human loneliness, finding solace in
unlikely friendships. They simul-taneously display a cutting satire on Western culture amongst the
comedic scenes, but a tender warm-ness permeates the relationships that the characters form. Yet there remains a consistent sinister underpinning – these films really aren’t cartoons for c h i l - dren.
The phenome-non of hype is part and parcel of modern film-making. It can be the differ-ence between a Titanic-esque blockbuster or a
John Carter-shaped lead bal-loon. Such results have a huge bearing on whether a film is
seen as successful, but success in these terms is rarely to do
with quality. The extent to which a film is hyped
by the media and the public is something executives are
keen to manipulate, but in some circumstances the films hype themselves. But when there is such a furore for a new release,
can they ever live up to the billing they are given? Financially they may
do, but will the hopes of those willing them to be the best
thing since cinematic sliced bread (now in 3D!) be
inevitably dashed?
An example of such a film is this summer’s Prometheus. With Ridley Scott, the creator of Alien, returning to the franchise with the promise of providing answers to such head-scratchers as 'who’s the big space-dude in the chair?' it almost became assumed knowledge that Prometheus was going to be fantastic. While the film had its good points, it ultimately left me wondering: 'is that it?' This seemed to be the consensus, as it achieved predominantly average-poor reviews.
But the question is, could it ever have met our expectations? Those eager to see it had already decided how good it was, and upon seeing a different film to the one they had imagined, left feeling let down. Despite this, the hype over the film still led to it taking a substantial amount of money at the box office, basically guaranteeing the sequel that Scott has talked up.
At the other end of the spectrum is a film like Dredd 3D. Without a director of Scott’s prestige, an A-List cast (with respect to Karl Urban) and ultimately a budget like Prometheus, many people were unaware of the film. This was not helped by the fact
that Judge Dredd’s only previous big screen appearance was the disap-pointing 1995 Sylvester Stallone effort. This, coupled with under-whelming trailers, left me initially uninterested in Dredd. However, on a friend’s recommendation and encour-aged by reviews, I decided to try it. The result was a pleasant surprise; my (admittedly low) expectations were far surpassed - the complete opposite to my emotions post-Pro-metheus.
It appears I wasn’t alone in my initial misgivings as Dredd performed poorly at the box office, making a sequel (more deserved than Prometheus) unlikely. But this is the nature of the hype machine. Films carrying designer cinematic baggage such as Prometheus’ connections to Alien are always likely to out-perform a film like Dredd 3D, encumbered as it was with the soggy paper bag of disappointment that was its predeces-sor. Hype makes us raise certain films to levels where we can only be disap-pointed, while disregarding others, at times, of better quality. With the majority of our money going on ‘must-see’ blockbusters, it’s a trend that looks set to continue.
www.redbrick.me/film | 27
Chomet super-fan Alice Grimes wants you to say 'Bonjour!' to one of France's greatest exports
Hype...er...reality?What happens when a highly anticipated film fails to meet our expectations? Thomas Williams discusses the mixed
emotions surrounding movie hype
Introducing:
Sylvain Chomet
@RedbrickSport
28 | 12th - 18th October 2012
Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage!
Birmingham's 1st XV suffered a heavy 26-11 defeat against Durham 2nds in their first competitive game of the season at Bournbrook. The hotly anticipated match saw the two sides face each other in front of an enthusiastic home crowd, with Birmingham hoping to improve on their three warm up fixtures.
Coach Mike Umaga said before kick off: 'the close matches in warm up season brought many positives out and we purposely picked tough matches to give ourselves the best start for the season'. Umaga aims this year for his side to be promoted from Premier North B league onto bigger and better things.
The game started positively, with the home crowd cheering their team on for a penalty in the second minute of the game, which was suc-cessfully converted by 'kicker Wood'. After the re-start, Durham woke up and made two big drives for the try line, with their backs making darting runs through Birmingham's defence. With sever-al big pushes from the opposition, the home team buckled and an off-side gave Durham their first penal-ty. The score line read 3-3 and the game was well and truly under-way.
Pressure from Birmingham's for-wards forced Durham into a kick-
ing game, with many successfully gathered by the home team's backs. However, sloppy passing from both sides meant that penalties were a defining feature of the game. The first scrum of the match exhibited Birmingham's strength and agility, but Durham struck back with their fierce, damaging breaks, eventually leading to a converted penalty.
The hosts countered with strong, hard tackles from all of the for-wards, particularly Jamie Rose, keeping Durham at a standstill and forcing them to concede a penalty. Wood took this with aplomb to bring the home side back level at 6-6. The hard fought match saw some outstanding passages of play by Durham, who claimed the first try of the match following a flurry of passes just before half-time.
The second half saw Birmingham back on form with fly half debutant James Wilson contributing some savage tackles and quick runs. The home team fought hard and showed some impressive skill, but poor passing gave Durham the initiative, seeing them score a further two tries. Birmingham showed resist-ance as the game drew closer to the end, when excellent rucking and a charge down behind Durham's try line hooker saw Jake Knowles touch the ball down for their only try, putting the score the way it would finish at 26-11.
After the game coach Umaga concluded by saying 'some players stepped up, others didn’t. Durham played well but we can take many positives from the match.' Birmingham clearly have a talented squad, but will have to improve if they want to achieve their ambi-tious aim of promotion from what will prove a tough division.
This match was the fi rst in our 'Game of the Week' series. Go to redbrick.me to see the report alongside multimedia con-tent such as audio interviews and video
highlights.
Brum fall short in difficult opener
Metchley and Bournbrook were hives of activity as the University of Birmingham's rugby teams got their seasons underway...
Ellie Jones Sport Reporter @EllieJones_bham
Men's Rugby Union
Birmingham 1sts 11
26Durham 2nds
www.redbrick.me/sports | 29
Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage!
In the opening league fixture of the
season, Birmingham's men's rugby
league first team put in a dominant
performance to win 28-0 against
opponents Coventry University.
After finishing a disappointing
eighth in the league last season,
coach Russell Parker made very
clear before the game his ambition
for the Bulls to win the league this
time round, and they got their cam-
paign off to the best possible start.
In the first half Birmingham were
dominant in both possession and
territory, although they had nothing
to show on the scoreboard for their
early pressure. Felix Sharp had a
try disallowed for the hosts at 20
minutes as the referee adjudged that
his right foot had hit the flag before
the ball had made contact with the
ground. It was not until the 30th
minute that captain Sam Edgar
broke away down the right hand
flank to score the home side's first
try, giving them a lead of 4-0.
The first telling pressure from
Coventry came just before the half
time whistle. After being awarded a
penalty, Coventry's fly half decided
to kick and came agonisingly close,
hitting the post from 40 yards out.
When the whistle blew, Coventry
should have granted themselves
very lucky that they were only trail-
ing by four points.
As the second half began,
Birmingham's quality shone through
as they scored four tries without
response from the visitors. Despite
Coventry's early pressure, in the
50th minute Birmingham's Andrew
Burton latched on to a missed catch
by the Coventry fullback and coolly
finished underneath the posts. The
conversion was made giving
Birmingham a lead of 10-0.
It was not long before the home
side put more points on the board
with Scottish international Dan
McCloud finishing off a slick pass-
ing move down the left hand side.
The opposition lacked imagination
throughout, their style of play being
very one-dimensional and relying
too much on predictable runs from
their big men.
Birmingham's fourth and argua-
bly best try of the afternoon came at
67 minutes when Captain Edgar
rounded off a fast counter attacking
move that included a switch in the
play by fly half Andrew Gale, and a
seemingly impossible offload by
Matt Bligh.
Coventry had the best of the last
ten minutes of the game, but were
unable to penetrate a solid
Birmingham defensive line. Tom
Shepherd capped off an excellent
afternoon for the home side with
their fifth try in the last minute of
the game. Fittingly Edgar made the
conversion to cap a man of the
match performance and a 28-0 vic-
tory for the home side.
After the game, the coach Russell
only had good words to say about
his team's performance. 'I was dis-
appointed we did not go into half
time with more points on the board.
We were very impressive in both
attack and defence, with Coventry
never looking like they were going
to score. No player had a bad game
and I am confident that both the
first team and the second team can
win their respective leagues this
season.'
A resilient defensive performance
from Birmingham saw them push a
dominant Durham side close before
going down to a 14-15 defeat at the
Metchley pitches on Wednesday.
Tries from Garnet Mackinder and
Sam Voyle weren't enough for the
hosts as the visitors held on to a
narrow lead to record their first
ever victory on Birmingham soil.
With the sides finishing third and
second in last year's table respec-
tively, a close game was expected.
But this didn't appear to be the case
when a five minute spell of posses-
sion straight from the kick off saw
the away side take a 5-0 lead cour-
tesy of a Laura Hind try.
Any thoughts of a whitewash
that this early supremacy may have
given rise to were quickly quashed
by Brum, who, against the run of
play, took the lead two minutes
later. Touted as the hosts' players to
watch by captain Mel McKirdle,
Voyle and Mackinder combined for
Mackinder to run in a try under the
posts. Her conversion meant the
home side led 7-5.
Play then became stuck in the
middle of the field, as strong
Birmingham defending prevented
Durham from making any inroads
into their 22, until, on the stroke of
half time, the resistance was bro-
ken. Mia Borgesen scored and then
converted a try, to give the visitors
a 12-7 half-time lead.
A Borgensen penalty early in the
second half increased that lead to
15-7, as the home side struggled to
get out of their own half. And it
appeared that Birmingham were
going to struggle to find a way back
into the game until, with eight min-
utes remaining, Voyle took advan-
tage of a rare spell of Brum pres-
sure to get the team back into the
game with a try. Mackinder's con-
version meant the home side trailed
by just one point.
However, despite visible renewed
hope in the hosts' play, this was the
way the score was to stay. Mackinder
got to within a yard of the line, as
Brum piled forward into one corner
in search of the win, but their
efforts proved in vain as Durham
took all the points on the long bus
journey home.
Despite the defeat, McKirdle
took the positives from her side's
performance by praising the for-
wards' play, as well as the two try
scorers, whom she described as
'amazing'. The team will now look
to take those positives and use them
to build another successful season.
James Newbon Sport Reporter
Brave Brum give Durham a fright
Second half onslaught gives league lads perfect start
James CampbellSport Reporter
Photos:
Will Siddons
(above)
Meurig
Gallagher
(left)
Women's Rugby Union
Birmingham 1sts 14
15Durham 1sts
Men's Rugby League
Birmingham 1sts 28
0Coventry 1sts
30 | 12th - 18th October 2012 www.redbrick.me/sports
Spring when you're winningAfter unprecedented success for the British Olympic gymnastics team in
London, Tom Garry catches up with the University of Birmingham's
'Development Club of the Year' about their hopes for the year ahead...
After being named as Development Club of the Year for 2011-12, the Gymnastics and Trampolining Club are going from strength to strength. The club captain for gymnastics, Vicki Harris, is full of enthusiasm for the new season after a huge increase in membership.
The club, dubbed 'Gym and Tramp' is one of the University's best run sports clubs and when asked what the club's recipe for success was, Vicki was quick to praise the entire committee: 'It was a combination of a significant increase in membership and massive organisation. Everyone on the committee worked harder than expected for the team to help build the club's membership.'
Last year's success appears to be con-tinuing this year too, with a staggering 290 students signing up for gymnastics taster sessions at last month's sports fair. Significantly, 160 people then turned up, which represents a big improvement in the number of people following through on their interest in the sport compared to previous years. This is no surprise though to Harris, who added 'we have some lovely new equipment and lots more social activities, plus there are a lot more opportunities for people to compete, so altogether there are plenty of reasons to join the club.'
Harris, herself the winner of the Guild of Students' highly prestigious 'Outstanding Individual Contribution' award for last year, went on to add that the club now expects to smash their membership income targets, which is further good news. Alex Pear, the club captain for trampolining, added 'We've had a really good grass-roots intake this year. Our number of novices is really up on last year, which is great.'
The success of the British gymnastics team at the Olympic Games has clearly reinvigorated the sport nationally and the effect seems to be a boost at University level too. 'I think the British team, especially with the men's team coming third, had a massive effect on the country', Harris said. 'The girls did really well too and I think it has made everyone remember how much they love gymnastics. It's a sport for the whole nation that is generally well-loved. The Olympics helped share that love even more and that could be why so many more people have followed through their interest for gymnastics at our first sessions.'
The club is very active, with multiple weekly sessions. The gymnastics club runs full club sessions on both Wednesdays and Sundays, with four groups for varying abilities, running from novice to advanced. Additionally, on Mondays the club have a squad ses-
sion for gymnastics, with performance group training for those hoping to com-pete at the BUCS championships. Similarly, the club's trampolining run specific ability sessions throughout the week too, right from novice to elite.
The club are not only competing in, but also hosting competitions this year, namely the Birmingham Cup, which is set to be bigger than usual this year now that there will be three ability levels so that more people can compete. The event, which is run for fun, attracted more than 60 students from six different universities last year.
In terms of BUCS competitions, the primary gymnastics event is held in February near Guildford and captain Harris has high hopes for competitive success to add to the club's success in terms of participation, saying: 'One of our men is a potential medallist and we'd love for him to finish in the top three. Our men's team is aiming for the silver medal and this is also our women's team's strongest year for gymnastics, so we're really excited!' Harris added that, amongst the new membership, there are a number of students who are self-defin-ing advanced gymnasts and they hope to introduce them to the BUCS squad which could lead to further success.
However, the club's best asset is the number of participants. 'Obviously we have our squad group who train inten-sively on Mondays for next term's BUCS, but our whole club is based on participation, getting people to come and try gymnastics, even if they've never performed in their lives.'
The club appears to have a superb spirit too. 'You can always find some-thing new to learn, to improve on. We're a really sociable club so we have fun as well as taking it seriously, we work hard but have a good time. Really good club spirit.' Rachel Jones, the trampolining competitions rep, explained that the club hopes to take 25-30 people to their first competitive meet of the year in November, which is being held in Loughborough. 'There are four competi-tions this year and we're hoping to win again after coming first last year in two categories of the Northern English Universities Trampolining League'.
If you want to try gymnastics and/or trampolining for yourself, it is not too late to sign up. Email [email protected] to register your interest. New students can simply turn up and the cost is just £3 for one session. There are four groups for different abilities and the club committee will sit down with mem-bers to see where they would fit in.
GYM AND TRAMP FACTS
The word gymnastics comes from the Greek gymnos,
meaning naked.
It is the only sport which has taken place at every
modern Olympics, although trampolining did not take
its place in the games until Sydney 2000.
Both the men's and women's gymnastic teams took
bronze medals at the BUCS championships last year.
It is the third biggest sport in Birmingham behind ath-
letics and hockey.
Photographs by Charlotte Wilson
www.redbrick.me/sports31 | 12th -18th October 2012
Tweet of the Week
9/1
The Redbrick CrosswordAntonia Morris Crossword Editor
Please complete this form before
you hand in your completed
crossword to the Redbrick office.
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This week's prize is a £5 Waterstones Gift VoucherCompleted crosswords to be submitted to the Redbrick office, located in the Guild basement
Online this week
Back from the wilderness
Kevin Pietersen signed a cen-tral contract with the ECB last week, but Ross Highfield
asks whether it is the right move to bring back such a divisive figure at this time.
Tuesday Debate
After four horses died in the last two runnings of the Grand National, Fraser
Kesteven and Nick
Sharpe debate whether the changes to the Aintree showpiece are appropriate.
5 Sporting Name Changes
On the back of Leyton Orient owner Barry Hearn proposing
to change their name to London
Orient, Nick Sharpe exam-ines five name changes in the past from the world of sport.
World T20 Review
With the West Indies' victo-ry over Sri Lanka bringing the fourth tournament to an end, Tom Kelly asks whether England are paying for not having more players compet-ing in the IPL.
Sports Shorts
Women's Football 1sts v
Durham 1sts
Munrow Track Pitch 5pmMen's Hockey 1sts v
Durham 1sts
Bournbrook 3.45pmNetball UoB 1sts v
UoB 2nds
Munrow Sports Hall 7pm Men's Badminton 1sts v
Manchester 1sts
Munrow Sports Hall 1pmWomen's Lacrosse 1sts v
Manchester 1sts Munrow Track 4.30pm
Men's Volleyball 1sts v
Derby 1sts
Munrow New Gym 7.30pm
Fixtures - 17th October
Page 31
Birmingham have been one of the trailblazers and most
sucessful universities at Korfball, which this week-
end will receive some well-deserved publicity. The
sport will be profiled on Sky Sports News at 7.30am on
Saturday as part of their 'Get Involved' series. Make
sure to tune in!
Korfball on Sky Sports
Heroes... ...and villains
Marlon Samuels
Samuels hit a match-win-ning 78 which included six 6s to help the West Indies to victory in the World T20 final against hosts Sri Lanka on Sunday, as well as posting fig-ures of 1-15 in his 4 overs.
The Rugby League power-house made history by win-ning a sixth grand final, defeating the Warrington Wolves 26-18. The Rhinos' captain Kevin Sinfield con-tinued his record of never having missed a kick in the sport's showpiece event.
Luis Suarez & Gareth Bale
Both of these men dis-played the worst parts of their game this week with
theatrics that belong on the West End stages rath-
er than the football field. Redbrick sport suggests a
three-match ban to stop the would-be floppers and
flailers.
Romain Grosjean
The Frenchman was involved in his seventh first
lap incident of the year in the Japanese
Grand Prix, causing Mark
Webber to drop from sec-
ond to the back of the field. Grosjean
recently served a one race ban for dangerous driving;
when will he learn?Redbrick road to glory
The first training session was a success, with 14 turning out for a good old fashioned kickaround, which ended 5-4 following a 'next goal wins' scenar-io. However, the strength in depth has left the man-ager with a selection head-ache, with the squad being trimmed to eight for this week's first competi-tive match. Our opponents are 'One Direction' (ironi-cially, surely), and your guess as to what will hap-pen is as good as mine.
[email protected]@redbricksportsRedbrick Sport
Newmarket hosts the his-toric Cesarewitch Handicap on Saturday, and in this most unforgiving of tests, 9/1 market leader Countrywide Flame
appears to tick all the boxes. The Triumph Hurdle winner has stamina in abundance, a high cruising speed, and is unexposed having made his seasonal bow last month.
Weekend Wager
@TheRealAC3
Hahahahaa, well done #fa I lied did I, #BUNCHOFTWATS.
Interested in being part of Redbrick Sport? Get in touch:
Game of the Week (Wednesday)
Women's Hockey
1sts v Durham 1sts
Bournbrook 5.15pm
Leeds Rhinos
Down
1. The Vice Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, David _______ (8)2. Swedish pop group famous for the single 'Waterloo' (4)3. Collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers (7)4. Mammary gland of female quadruped mammals (5)5. The capital of Australia (8)6. The most consumed alcoholic drink worldwide (4)11. Noticeably happy (8)13. Blocking the way (8)14. Youth beloved of Hero (7)17. Perfect (5)19. Curve in a doorway (4)21. Golf equipment used to hit a golf ball (4)
Across
7. Ideal source of energy in the body (12)8. The capital of Canada (6)9. To board a vessel as for a voyage (6)10. Agreement of opinions (7)12. Malicious burning of property (5)15. Person who does no work (5)16. Setback in an illness (7)18. The capital of Spain (6)20. Sweet liquid secretion that is attractive to pollinators (6)22. Bravely (12)
32 | 12th - 18th October 2012 www.redbrick.me/sports
Rampant start for new school of sharks
Aussie Rules side Birmingham Sharks
ran out comfortable 142-61 winners
against the experienced Wolverhampton
Wolverines in a game which they domi-
nated from start to finish. The perform-
ance was even more impressive consid-
ering the rebuilding they had to do after
losing graduates last year. The Sharks
only had one taster and training session
before the start of the season, but you
couldn't tell from the way they played.
In their first game as an official
University of Birmingham team they
struggled to keep possession early on,
but opened the scoring when fullback
Ollie Di-Lieto scored a rare goal from a
break on the left side. Further goals
from David Wheaton, coach Anish Patel
and two from Andy Morton left them at
36-19, but in truth the scoreline didn't
reflect their dominance.
The hosts simply got better as the
game went on and continued to increase
their advantage after the break. Morton
was found by Di-Lieto and scored from
a tight angle before captain Ed Clampitt
powered out of a breakdown and con-
verted another six points. The Sharks'
midfield continued to find space and
club president Ben Massey added anoth-
er six points from a distance. The Sharks
would have been out of sight had more
behinds been turned into goals.
The third quarter continued in a
similar vein with Wolves being largely
outplayed, although in this high-scoring
sport they did continue to keep up the
scoring. The Wolverines' defence was
beginning to tire and attackers Ian Kafka
and David Fisher took full advantage;
first Kafka getting in behind the full-
back to score and then Fisher picking up
the pieces from a scrappy move to add
another six. There was still time for the
impressive Morton to add to his per-
sonal tally and move the Sharks to
95-52 coming into the final quarter.
It was in the last quarter that Brum
really moved away from Wolves, scor-
ing 47 points to their opponent's nine.
The large squad of the Sharks proved
particularly helpful towards the end, as
they were able to exploit the tired
defence with fresh legs. A first goal for
Sam Willet was followed by a second
for Wheaton and a quick-fire brace from
Fisher, who was playing his first game
for the Sharks and exemplified their
performance. By this point the
Wolverines were looking defeated and
counting down to the final whistle. The
Sharks ran riot in the opponent's half,
adding the icing to the cake via goals
from Clampitt and Kafka.
When the final whistle blew player-
coach Patel was thrilled with his teams'
performance, saying: 'This is a perform-
ance we can all be proud of. The new
guys integrated well and we really gelled
as a team. This bodes well for the season
ahead.' Birmingham Sharks will now
hope to keep their number one ranking
and unbeaten record from last season,
which saw them beat both Oxford and
Cambridge.
RedbrickSportRugby League victory
Read about a tremendous victory for the rugby league first team in the their
opening fixture.p29p30
The big kick-off... p28-29
Felix KeithSport Reporter @FelixKeith
George Killick
Will Siddons
Aussie Rules
Birmingham 142
61Wolverhampton
Welcome to the gym...Redbrick Sport get to grips with Gymnastics and Trampolining, our Development Club of the Year.