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Day: 2 November 2012

Students reach Poland in RAG charity hitch

Written by Jonathan Breen on . Posted in News.

Students took to planes, trains, ferries and any other form of transport they could as part of the annual charity event ‘Jailbreak’ last week.

Some made it to Belgium, Germany and Poland. But some didn’t make even it out of Owens Park.

Starting at 4:00pm on Friday October 26, the event – hosted by the University of Manchester Students’ Union division of Raise and Give, or RAG – saw students try and get as far away from Manchester as they could in 30 hours, all without out spending a penny.

This year’s winners, ‘Dilworth 3’, made it to Krakow, Poland.

“We officially got to Berlin in the 30 hours, but we thought we might as well try and get as far as we could,” said team member Tara Murphy. “We were in the lorry in Germany when the time was up, but at that point we already knew we were going to Poland.”

According to RAG, the rules are if you are in a mode of transport like a plane, or in this case a lorry, when the 30 hours are up, it is where you get off that counts as your final destination, regardless of the time.

“We started by going north to Newcastle then got the night coach to London then got another night coach to Dover, where we got in the lorry,” said Miss Murphy, speaking on Thursday evening. “We literally just haven’t left the lorry, we got in at Dover, then we went to Berlin, then to Krakow then Warsaw.

“We have been doing deliveries with the driver and we’ve been picking up things and we stayed with the driver’s family in Warsaw.
“We’ve been pretty much living off snacks, in Warsaw the driver’s family cooked for us.”

The trio, who also included Lewis Haines and Joshua Brown, finally got back to Manchester on Friday morning, six days after the official finish.

Participants of the event have until December 16 to raise at least £120 through sponsorship, or failing that a deposit check of the same amount is cashed, the proceeds of which go to KidsCan, a children’s cancer research charity.

Teams usually receive donations based on reaching a certain destination. Friends of ‘Dilworth 3’ chose to give £30 if they reached Berlin.

The first team out of the country were ‘When in Rome’, who found themselves on the way to Belgium after sneaking on to the Eurostar at St. Pancras International, London.

“We got to St. Pancras, got pretty drunk, and fancied going to Paris,” said one team member, a first year Music Production student. “So we ran past the security people on the Eurostar. The girls with us got kicked off the train by security. But we snuck past security doing James Bond-esque stuff.

“We were officially the first team out of the country. We were screaming on the train, everyone around us thought ‘what the hell are these guys doing.’”

Once in Brussels, the pair’s plan was to head east, “to Germany and Russia, but we got in at 10pm, there were no trains outbound so we had to spend the night in Brussels paid for by “generous donations”, some Liverpool guys on the train got us a room for the night.”
‘When in Rome’ eventually managed to make it as far as Koblenz, Germany.

For Lisa Williams, one half of team Destination Unknown, who made it to Brussels, the experience was” the best and worst weekend of my life,” said the chemistry student. “There were times when I wanted to just sit down and cry.

“It was so good, it was incredible, but there are times when I think ‘why would you do that to yourself.’”

The team almost made it to Asia in one fell swoop, but lacked the necessary paper work.

“We got offered a flight to Islamabad [at Manchester Airport],” Miss Williams said. “But we didn’t have visas and they wouldn’t issue us with boarding passes without visas.

“I wish I had a Pakistani visa, so we could have accepted that flight. It would have been great.”

But once the time limit was past, it was up to teams to get home on their own – an expensive reality for Miss Williams.

“I’m totally broke now,” she said. “We ended up buying a Ryanair flight to Manchester and we had to buy a hotel in Brussels too which was like 60-70 euros, so now I’m completely broke.

“But it was the best feeling in the world sitting down on the plane and knowing you’ll be home within an hour.”

Other teams made it to Switzerland, Holland and France, and one – team ‘Supermario bros’ – didn’t leave Owens Park.

Teams in previous years have made it to Dubai and New York.

Was the Leeds Student right to interview Nick Griffin?

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Opinion.

Yes

Becky Montacute

The only effective way to deal with views such as Nick Griffin’s is to question them, have them out in the open, and to criticise. Leeds Student made exactly the right decision by giving Nick Griffin a platform, because by allowing him to voice his opinions, they allowed us to see how ridiculous they are.

A particular favorite quote of mine (for showing just how stupid Mr. Griffin is) came when the interviewer, a gay man, asked him what exactly it is he finds so objectionable about people like himself. Griffin’s reply was to explain that gay people simply need to understand that “a lot of heterosexual people – we don’t want to persecute you – but we find the sight of two men kissing creepy.”

Another absolute gem comes when he moves onto civil partnerships, saying that as it undermines the institution of marriage “children will die over the next few years, because they’ll be brought up in homes which aren’t married.” Students aren’t stupid; the vast majority of them know that opinions like his are not just vile but absolutely ridiculous. They are not about to become BNP recruits anytime soon after seeing this sort of rubbish from him in their student newspaper. Just as the fallout from Nick Griffin’s appearance on Question Time made us question the standing of the BNP, the more people understand what his views actually, are the less they want to support him.

The NUS have a no platform policy, and have written an open letter to Leeds Student asking them to remove the interview. This policy stops criticism from happening. It is also a policy put in place by a body, who should not be trying to push policies onto member universities. The editor of Leeds Student was elected democratically by the members of her union, and so absolutely had the right to make the decision to publish the interview.

Views need to be heard to be challenged, not hidden away and for us to pretend they don’t exist. People like Nick Griffin exist, students need to know that and need to shout about just how wrong people like him are. This is the only way to fight these views, and so Leeds Student were completely right in their decision to go against the NUS and print the interview.

No

Ben Weich

In justifying the publication of their interview with Nick Griffin, the editors of the Leeds Student must ask themselves what purpose it serves. I myself struggle to come up with something worthwhile. The leader of the British National Party, as the interview itself will attest, has nothing either relevant or valid to say, leading one to wonder whether it was a mere publicity stunt. Many column inches have been devoted to the subsequent discussion and debate, so the Student has succeeded in this respect.

But I find it laughable that, in her response to the NUS’ call for the article to be retracted, the paper’s editor argued the need to confront extreme politics. This would hold more water had the interviewer actually challenged Griffin, instead of offering a predictable, recycled probe into his views on homosexuality and the Holocaust.

No, I’m afraid this smacks of an attempt to generate controversy by flogging a horse which has long since been deceased. Post-recession (and with many of their votes returning to Labour), the BNP’s last embers of popularity are flickering out, and they are no longer considered significant or threatening. Sensing his 15 minutes are almost up, Griffin has reduced himself to a Rent-a-Shock, popping up with the political equivalent of a steaming bag of excrement whenever an editor wants a cheap story. I find the validation of this tedious.

Inevitably, the other half of this article will at some point mention the importance of the freedom of speech, and this is a fair point. But we’ve heard what the BNP have to say. There’s a distinction between giving someone the chance to express their views and simply offering them the exposure they don’t merit, and that line has been crossed.

I don’t take exception with the Leeds Student publishing this interview as such, but rather the way they’ve dressed it up. It wasn’t a serious piece; it was an attempt to get Griffin to say something outrageous. They should have presented it for what it was: the closest thing political journalism comes to the Jeremy Kyle Show.

Come Have Dinner With Me Final – Ollie

Written by Emily Clark on . Posted in News.

Ollie’s menu was smoked salmon on toast with olive oil for starter, Moroccan lamb tagine for main then gooey chocolate pudding. As the expectant guests piled into Ollie’s dining room, the first thing noticed was the massive hippy tie-dye sheet that separates the kitchen from the living room. Sorry Will, your duvet divider has been outdone.

Rachel voiced an anxiety about eating lamb as she didn’t like the idea of eating babies. Will jested “the thing is, I love eating babies.” Catherine thought the menu was rather incongruous –“Where’s the flow? The starter is Italian, the main is Moroccan and the dessert is French!” Rachel replied “I like beef.”

Ollie veritably set the scene for an exotic evening; Ravi Shankar’s sitar playing filled the room; tall, flickering candles in wine bottles were crowded everywhere; burning incense – which all created the atmosphere of some sort of ashram student cave. All this effort was only slightly undermined by the kitchen roll napkins.

Innocent fresher Will once again displayed his inexperience by accidentally bringing Ollie a gift of sherry instead of wine. Will later professed the sherry had a cardboardy aftertaste.

Will sophisticatedly sups on some mistaken sherry. Photo: Jess Hardiman

Once his guests were acclimatised, Ollie clapped his hands loudly and shouted “Gustav!” whereupon two topless waiters with bowties emerged from behind the hippy sheet and served the four diners.

A couple of naked waiters helped spice up the tagine. Photo: Jess Hardiman

Will notices that one of the waiters had a better physique than the other. The girls stayed pretty quiet about the service. The starter received mixed reviews -Will said it was the best starter (perhaps he was forgetting Catherine’s caramelised tarte tatin) but Rachel and Catherine complained of cold oily bread, which wasn’t even homemade. Presentation was complemented though – Ollie had artfully grilled the bread at angles on a George Foreman.

Note the cheffy grill lines. Photo: Jess Hardiman

It transpired this was the first meal Ollie had cooked this year – who knows what he’d been eating until then?! Frugally, he’d bought the ingredients from the Curry Mile, keeping costs down even if the source of the meat was questionable.

The guests went upstairs to browse Ollie’s room. The room was very normal – posters with variations on the Keep Calm theme, an unmade bed, a manly teddy bear – something was wrong. Ollie had (purposefully?) misdirected us into his housemate’s room. Ollie’s actual room had underwear on the floor, panpipes, mini cigars, dirty mugs and a very messy bed.  Rachel said it was a bit grim.

To herald the arrival of the main course, the waiters stripped down to just their boxers. Ollie hadn’t planned this, and perhaps in fear of full nudity decided to serve the final course himself.

Will said Ollie’s lamb tagine was surprisingly nice, Catherine enjoyed it but felt a side was lacking. Rachel found a bit of bone and ate it out of politeness. Ollie was the only guest to provide an exotic main, and the guests appreciated the lamb which was delicious and rich.

Ollie’s Morrocan lamb tagine was incredible but in need of a side

Rachel provided much of the lewd conversation for the evening, asking such painful questions as “ would you rather be a man with a vagina or woman with a penis?” or “would you rather poo blood or bleed poo?” In fact, Rachel pointed out the entertainment was basically provided by the guests and if Ollie had organised something, the guests might not have been asked such ghastly questions.

The gooey chocolate pudding wasn’t such a hit. The diners complained it was dry, and Catherine thought it was because Ollie hadn’t used actual chocolate, only cocoa powder. The individual ramekins were highly envied though.

Ollie’s pudding looks pretty but didn’t quite hit the spot. Photo: Jess Hardiman

Scores

Here comes the revealing of  the scores!

-In last place with 21 was our very lovely fresher Will, who bravely went first and set a high standard.

-In third place with 22.5 was the daring Rachel, never afraid to ask a bold question.

-In second place was our refined sceptic Ollie, who was awarded a respectable 23.

-Thus in first place with 24 was Catherine, whose food was voted the best and whose “intercourse entertainment” was unrivalled.